Vedas and Upanishads

Harappan Civilization Rig Veda Sama Veda Yajur Veda Atharva Veda Brahmanas Aranyakas Early Upanishads Kena, Katha, Isha, and Mundaka Later Upanishads

Harappan Civilization
Although they did use some writing with pictographic symbols at Mohenjo-daro, they were not extensive nor alphabetic nor have they been deciphered yet, and the Indo-European Sanskrit which did develop in India is probably quite different. Nevertheless the Harappan civilization of the Indus Valley in what is now Pakistan did borrow many ideas from Mesopotamia and is considered the third civilization to develop. Two seals of the Mohenjo-daro type were discovered at Elam and Mesopotamia, and a cuneiform inscription was unearthed at Mohenjo-daro.

The pastoral villages that spread out east of Elam through Iran and Baluchistan prepared the way for the cities that were to develop around the Indus River, particularly at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. By about 3000 BC they were building mud-brick houses; burials in the houses included funereal objects; and pottery had fine designs and the potters' marks. After 2500 BC farmers moved out into the alluvial plain of the Indus River valley and achieved full-sized villages using copper and bronze pins, knives, and axes; figurines of women and cattle indicate probable religious attitudes. The urban phase began about 2300 BC and lasted for about six hundred years with elaborate cities like Mohenjo-daro (called locally Mound of the Dead), which was excavated in the 1920s. This city and others not yet excavated had about 40,000 inhabitants congregated in well built houses with private showers and toilets that drained into municipal sewer lines. Suffering from occasional flooding by the Indus, Mohenjo-daro was rebuilt seven times. The largest structures were the elevated granary and the great bath or swimming pool which was 12 by 7 meters. Around the pool were dressing rooms and private baths. The people of the Harappan culture did not seem to be very warlike, although they hunted wild game and domesticated cattle, sheep, and goats. Wheat and barley were the main food supplemented by peas, sesame, and other vegetables and fruits, beef, mutton, pork, eggs, fish, and milk. Compared to other ancient civilizations, the houses were of nearly equal size, indicating a more egalitarian social structure. The potter's wheel and carts were used; children played with miniature toy carts. Cotton, perhaps first used here, and wool were made into clothing. A bronze figurine was found of an expressive dancing girl with her hand on her hip, naked except for jewelry. The numerous figurines of the Mother Goddess indicate a likely source for what later became the Shakti worship of the feminine power in India. A male god in a yoga posture, depicted with three faces and two horns, has been identified with Shiva, another important figure in later Indian religion. Phallic lingams, also associated with Shiva, have been found. A civilization that endured dangerous flooding for six hundred years very likely had a strong religion to help hold people together. With no written histories the decline of this civilization is subject to much speculation. The traditional theory is that the Aryans invaded from the northwest. Although this is likely, the decline of Harappan culture was quite gradual and indicates problems beyond foreign conquest. One theory is deforestation, because of all the wood needed for the kilns to make the bricks used to keep out the flood waters that gradually brought about salinization of the soil, as it had to Sumer over centuries, so that the Harappan culture had greatly declined by 1900 BC. However, a more comprehensive explanation comes from an analysis of the consequences of the extensive herds of cattle that indicate overgrazing and a general degradation of the ecosystem, including salinization of water supplies. This led farmers to move on to greener pastures, leaving behind abandoned villages and depopulated cities. Even though fodder was probably grown to feed the cattle, this would not have been enough; and the overgrazing by the bullocks and milk cows could have caused the surrounding land to deteriorate. By 1500 BC the Harappan civilization had faded away into a culture that was spreading throughout India with new ideas from the west. The traditional theory, well documented by the ancient hymns of the Vedas, is that a people calling themselves Aryans conquered the native peoples of India and destroyed their forts. Because of language similarities these Aryans are associated particularly with the Iranians and even further back with the origins of the Indo-European language group. The general consensus seems to be that this culture must have begun somewhere in the Russian steppes and Central Asia about 2000 BC, though some have put their origin in Lithuania because of similarity to that language. The branch of these speakers, who came to India under the name Aryans, which means "noble ones," is the Indo-

Iranian group. In fact "Iran" derives from the Persian cognate of the word for Aryan. Other branches spread into Greece and western Asia as Hittites, Kassites, and Mitanni. A rock inscription found at Boghaz Koi dated about 1400 BC, commemorating a treaty between the Mitanni and Hittites, invokes the Aryan gods Indra, Varuna, Mitra, and the twins Nasatya (Asvins). The ancient writings of the Persian Avesta and the Hindu Vedas share many gods and beliefs. Eventually they must have split, causing later authors to demonize the divinities of their adversaries. In early Hindu writings the asuras were respected gods, but later they became the demons most hated, while Ahura Mazda became the chief god of the Zoroastrians. (Persian often uses an h where Sanskrit uses an s, such as haoma for soma.) On the other hand the Hindu term for divinities, devas, was used by Zoroastrians to describe the devils from which even our English word is derived. Some scholars have concluded that the ancient Hindus did not want to admit that they came from Iran, and therefore the origin of the Aryans is never mentioned in the ancient texts, although they frankly boast of their conquest over the indigenous Dasas or Dasyus in India. The word Veda means knowledge, and the Vedas are considered the most sacred scripture of Hinduism referred to as sruti, meaning what was heard by or revealed to the rishis or seers. The most holy hymns and mantras put together into four collections called the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas are difficult to date, because they were passed on orally for about a thousand years before they were written down. More recent categories of Vedas include the Brahmanas or manuals for ritual and prayer, the Aranyakas or forest texts for religious hermits, and the Upanishads or mystical discourses.

Rig Veda
The hymns of the Rig Veda are considered the oldest and most important of the Vedas, having been composed between 1500 BC and the time of the great Bharata war about 900 BC. More than a thousand hymns are organized into ten mandalas or circles of which the second through the seventh are the oldest and the tenth is the most recent. The Hindu tradition is that even the Vedas were gradually reduced from much more extensive and ancient divine revelations but were perverted in the recent dark age of Kaliyuga. As the only writings from this ancient period of India, they are considered the best source of knowledge we have; but the ethical doctrines seem to have improved from the ancient hymns to the mystical Upanishads. Essentially the Rig Veda is dominated by hymns praising the Aryan gods for giving them victories and wealth plundered from the local Dasas through warfare. The Aryans apparently used their advances in weaponry and skill in fighting to conquer the agricultural and tribal peoples of the fading Harappan culture. Numerous hymns refer to the use of horses and chariots with spokes which must have given their warriors a tremendous advantage. Spears, bows, arrows, and iron weapons are also mentioned. As a nomadic and pastoral culture glorifying war, they established a new social structure of patriarchal families dominated by warriors and, eventually with the power of the Vedas themselves, by priests also. The Rig Veda does mention assemblies, but these were probably of the warrior elite, which may have had some controlling influence on the kings and the tribal priest called a purohita. The gods worshiped resemble the Indo-European gods and were headed by the powerful Indra, who is often credited with destroying ninety forts. Also popular was Agni, the fire-god considered a messenger of the gods. Varuna and Mitra, the gods of the night and day sky, have been identified with the Greek Uranos and the Persian Mithras respectively. Dyaus, who is not mentioned nearly as often, has been correlated with the Greek Zeus. Surya the sun-god is referred to as the eye of Varuna and the son of Dyaus and rides through the sky on his chariot led by his twin sons, the Asvins who

represent his rays; Ushas the dawn is his wife or daughter. Maruts are storm-gods shaped by Rudra, who may have been one of the few indigenous deities adopted by the Aryans. Like the Iranian Avesta, the Rig Veda refers to the thirty-three gods. Generally the hymns of the Rig Veda praise the gods and ask them for worldly benefits such as wealth, health, long life, protection, and victory over the Dasa peoples.
He, self-reliant, mighty and triumphant, brought low the dear head of the wicked Dasas. Indra the Vritra-slayer, Fort-destroyer, scattered the Dasa hosts who dwelt in darkness. For men hath he created earth and waters, and ever helped the prayer of him who worships. To him in might the Gods have ever yielded, to Indra in the tumult of battle. When in his arms they laid the bolt, he slaughtered the Dasyus and cast down their forts of iron.1

They call upon Brihaspati or Brahmanaspati, who has been related to a Hittite thunder-god, to avenge the sinner and protect them from the deceitful and wicked man. The Aryans did have a concept of eternal law called rita, which the immortal Agni in serving the gods is said to never break (Rig Veda III:3:1). In Rig Veda III:34:9 Indra killed the Dasyus and "gave protection to the Aryan color." Not only did the Aryans shamelessly pray for booty in war, but they based their militarily won supremacy on the lightness of their skin color compared to the dark colors of the native Dasyus. They arrogantly proclaimed, "Let those who have no weapons suffer sorrow." (Rig Veda IV:5:14.)
Renowned is he when conquering and when slaying: 'tis he who wins cattle in the combat. When Indra hardens his indignation all that is fixed and all that moves fear him. Indra has won all kine, all gold, all horses, Maghavan, he who breaks forts in pieces;2

Indra is praised for killing thousands of the abject tribes of Dasas with his arrow and taking great vengeance with "murdering weapons." (Rig Veda IV:28:3-4) One hymn mentions sending thirty thousand Dasas "to slumber" and another hymn sixty thousand slain. A hymn dedicated to the weapons of war (Rig Veda VI:75) refers to a warrior "armed with mail," using a bow to win cattle and subdue all regions, "upstanding in the car the skillful charioteer guides his strong horses on whithersoe'er he will." The arrows had iron mouths and shafts "with venom smeared" that "not one be left alive." Hymn VII:83 begins, "Looking to you and your alliance, O ye men, armed with broad axes they went forward, fain for spoil. Ye smote and slew his Dasa and his Aryan enemies." Only occasionally did the authors of these hymns look to their own sins.
Free us from sins committed by our fathers, from those wherein we have ourselves offended. O king, loose, like a thief who feeds the cattle, as from the cord a calf, set free Vasishtha. Not our own will betrayed us, but seduction, thoughtlessness, Varuna! wine, dice or anger. The old is near to lead astray the younger: even sleep removes not all evil-doing.3

A hymn to the frogs compares the repetitions of the priests around the soma bowl to the croaking of the frogs around a pond after the rains come. (Rig Veda VII:103) The basic belief of the prayers and sacrifices is that they will help them to gain their desires and overcome their enemies, as in Rig Veda VIII:31:15: "The man who, sacrificing, strives to win the heart of deities will conquer those who worship not." Some awareness of a higher law seems to be dawning in the eighth book in hymn 75: "The holy law hath quelled even mighty men of war. Break ye not off our friendship, come and set me free." However, the enemies are now identified with the Asuras and still are intimidated by greater weapons: "Weaponless are the Asuras, the godless: scatter them with thy wheel, impetuous hero." (Rig Veda VIII:85:9) Many of the hymns refer to the intoxicating soma juice, which is squeezed from the mysterious soma plant and drank. All of the hymns of the ninth book of the Rig Veda are dedicated to the purifying soma, which is even credited with making them feel immortal, probably because of its psychedelic influence. The first hymn in this book refers to the "iron-fashioned home" of the Aryans. In the first book of the Rig Veda the worshipers recognize Agni as the guard of eternal law (I:1:8) and Mitra and Varuna as lovers and cherishers of law who gained their mighty power through law (I:2:8). In the 24th hymn they pray to Varuna, the wise Asura, to loosen the bonds of their sins. However, the prayers for riches continue, and Indra is thanked for winning wealth in horses, cattle, and gold by his chariot. Agni helps to slay the many in war by the hands of the few, "preserving our wealthy patrons with thy succors, and ourselves." (Rig Veda I:31:6, 42) Indra helped win the Aryan victory:
He, much invoked, hath slain Dasyus and Simyus, after his wont, and laid them low with arrows. The mighty thunderer with his fair-complexioned friends won the land, the sunlight, and the waters.4

Control of the waters was essential for agricultural wealth. Indra is praised for crushing the godless races and breaking down their forts. (Rig Veda I:174) In the tenth and last book of the Rig Veda some new themes are explored, but the Dasyus are still condemned for being "riteless, void of sense, inhuman, keeping alien laws," and Indra still urges the heroes to slay the enemies; his "hand is prompt to rend and burn, O hero thunder-armed: as thou with thy companions didst destroy the whole of Sushna's brood." (Rig Veda X:22) One unusual hymn is on the subject of gambling with dice. The speaker regrets alienating his wife, wandering homeless in constant fear and debt, envying others' well-ordered homes. He finally warns the listener not to play with dice but recommends cultivating his land. (Rig Veda X:34) Hymn 50 of this most recent last book urges Indra to win riches with valor "in the war for water on their fields." Now the prayer is that "we Gods may quell our Asura foemen." (Rig Veda X:53:4) A wedding ceremony is indicated in a hymn of Surya's bridal, the daughter of the sun. (Rig Veda X:85) The first indication of the caste system is outlined in the hymn to Purusha, the embodied human spirit, who is one-fourth creature and three-fourths eternal life in heaven.
The Brahmin was his mouth, of both his arms was the Rajanya made.

His thighs became the Vaisya, from his feet the Sudra was produced.5

The Brahmin caste was to be the priests and teachers; the Rajanya represents the king, head of the warrior or Kshatriya caste; Vaishyas are the merchants, craftsmen, and farmers; and the Sudras are the workers. In hymn 109 the brahmachari or student is mentioned as engaged in duty as a member of God's own body. The hymn to liberality is a breath of fresh air:
The riches of the liberal never waste away, while he who will not give finds none to comfort him. The man with food in store who, when the needy comes in miserable case begging for bread to eat, Hardens his heart against him even when of old he did him service find not one to comfort him.6

Yet later we realize that the priests are asking for liberality to support their own services, for the "plowing makes the food that feeds us," and thus a speaking (or paid) Brahmin is better than a silent one. The power of speech is honored in two hymns.
Where, like men cleansing corn-flour in a cribble, the wise in spirit have created language, Friends see and recognize the marks of friendship: their speech retains the blessed sign imprinted.7

In hymn 125 of the tenth mandala Vak or speech claims to have penetrated earth and heaven, holding together all existence. A philosophical hymn of creation is found in Rig Veda X:129. Beginning from non-being when nothing existed, not even water nor death, that One breathless breathed by itself. At first this All was concealed by darkness and formless chaos, but by heat (tapas) that One came into existence. Thus arose desire, the primal seed and germ of Spirit. Sages searching in their hearts discovered kinship with the non-existent. A ray of light extended across the darkness, but what was known above or below? Creative fertility was there with energy and action, but who really knows where this creation came from? For the gods came after the world's creation. Who could know the source of this creation and how it was produced? The one seeing it in the highest heaven only knows, or maybe it does not.

Sama Veda
The Sama Veda contains the melodies or music for the chants used from the Rig Veda for the sacrifices; almost all of its written verses are traceable to the Rig Veda, mostly the eighth and ninth books and most to Indra, Agni, or Soma. These are considered the origin of Indian music and probably stimulated great artistry to make the sacrifices worthwhile to their patrons who supported the priests. The Sama Veda helped to train the musicians and functioned as a hymnal for the religious rites.

The animal sacrifices did not use the Sama chants, but they were used extensively in agricultural rites and in the soma rituals for which the plant with inebriating and hallucinogenic qualities was imported from the mountains to the heartland of India. By this time the priests were specializing in different parts of the sacrifices as professional musicians and singers increased. The singing was like the strophe, antistrophe, and epode of the Greek chorus and used the seven tones of the European scale. By the tenth century BC the Aryans had invaded most of northern India, and once again trade resumed with Babylon and others in the near east. As the sacrifices became more complex, the priestly class used them to enhance their role in the society. Many considered this musical portion the most important of the Vedas.

Yajur Veda
Though also following many of the hymns of the Rig Veda, the Yajur Veda deviates more from the original text in its collection of the ritual formulas for the priests to use in the sacrifices, which is what yaja means. It explains how to construct the altars for new and full-moon sacrifices and other ceremonies. The Yajur Veda has two collections or samhitas called White and Black, the latter being more obscure in its meanings. By this time (10th century BC and after) the Aryan conquest has proceeded from the northwest and Punjab to cover northern India, especially the Ganges valley. The caste system was in place, and as the warriors settled down to ruling over an agricultural society, the role of the priests and their ceremonies gained influence and justified the Aryan ways to the native workers, who labored for the farmers, merchants, craftsmen, who in turn were governed by their kings and priests. Land and wealth were accumulated in the hands of a few ruling families, and with food scarce the indigenous people were enslaved or had to sell their labor cheap to the ruling classes. By instituting more elaborate sacrifices for their wealthy patrons, the priests could grow both in numbers and wealth as well. The famous horse sacrifice was not celebrated often but was used by a king to show his lordship over potential adversaries, who were invited to acknowledge this overlordship in the ritual. The parts of the horse symbolize different aspects of the universe so that tremendous power is invoked. The complicated and obscure rituals were presided over by the priests - the three symbols of the lotus leaf, the frog (for rain), and the golden man (for the sun) representing the Aryan dominance over the land and waters of India and the natural powers that sustain agriculture. The soma sacrifice was the most important and could last up to twelve years. Since the soma plant was imported from distant mountains, it had to be purchased. A ritual drama re-enacted this business and aggressive Aryan history by showing the buyer snatching back the calf, which was paid for the soma plant, after the transaction occurs. The soma plant was then placed in a cart and welcomed as an honored guest and king at the sacrifice. Animals were slain and cut up in the rites before their meat was eaten. After various offerings and other ceremonies the soma juice is poured and toasted to different gods, and finally the text lists the sacrificial fees, usually goats, cows, gold, clothes, and food. Coronation ceremonies supported the inauguration of kings. The priests tried to keep themselves above the warrior caste though by praising soma as king of the Brahmins. Waters were drawn from various rivers to sprinkle on the king and indicate the area of his kingdom, and he strode in each direction to signify his sovereignty. The king was anointed by the royal priest, giving some water to his son, the designated prince, and ritually enacting a raid against a kinsman's cattle, once again affirming their history of conquest. The booty was taken and divided into three parts for the priest,

those who drank, and the original owner. A ritual dice game was played, which the king was allowed to win. The king then rode out in his chariot and was publicly worshiped as a divine ruler. Agricultural rites were common and regular, and chariot races were no doubt popular at some of the festivals. The Purusha (person) sacrifice symbolized human sacrifice, which may refer back to the time when a hunting and pastoral people did not allow their enemies to live because of the shortage of food. However, in an agricultural society more labor was needed and could produce surplus food. The Purusha sacrifice recognized 184 professional crafts and guilds. Finally the highest sacrifice was considered to be the Sarvamedha in which the sacrificer offered all of his possessions as the fee at the end of the ceremony. The last chapter of the Yajur Veda is actually the Isha Upanishad, expressing the mystical view that the supreme spirit pervades everything. This society was highly patriarchal, and the status of women declined, especially as men often married non-Aryan women. Women did not attend public assemblies and could not inherit property on their own. Polyandry was discouraged, but polygamy, adultery, and prostitution were generally accepted except during certain rituals. A sacrificer was not allowed to seek a prostitute on the first day of the sacrificial fire, nor the wife of another on the second day, nor his own wife on the third day. The priests placed themselves at the top of the caste system as they supervised a religion most of the people could not understand without them. After the Atharva Veda was accepted, each sacrifice required at least four priests, one on each side of the fire using the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas, plus their assistants. After the wars of conquest were completed and the warrior caste settled down to rule, the priests were needed to sustain social stability. Yet in these times the caste system was much more flexible, as it is indicated that one should not ask about the caste of a learned man. The Brahmins, as the priest caste was called, had three obligations or debts to pay back in life: they paid back the seers by studying the Vedas, the gods by offering sacrifices, and their fathers by raising a family. Like their European ancestors, the Aryan warriors considered themselves above laboring for food and so organized society that food would be provided for them. One ethical duty later found in the epics was that of taking care of refugees, probably because as marauding raiders they had often been refugees themselves. The priests assured their livelihood by making sure that penance through religious ritual was a prime social value.

Atharva Veda
The latest and fourth Veda is in a different category. For a long time many referred to only three Vedas, by which complete ceremonies could be conducted with the Rig hotr reciting, the Sama udgatri singing, and the Yajur adhvaryu performing the ritual. Even later the Atharvan Brahmin's part was often performed unaccompanied by the other three priests. Also much of it draws from the customs and beliefs of pre-Aryan or pre-Vedic India. The Atharva Veda is much longer than the Sama and Yajur and only about a sixth of it is from the Rig Veda. The Atharva Veda is primarily magical spells and incantations. The line between prayer and magic and between white and black magic is usually drawn by ethical considerations. The bheshajani are for healing and cures using herbs to treat fever, leprosy, jaundice, dropsy, and other diseases. The Aryans looked down on doctors and medicine, probably because the natives were more skilled in

these than they. Other more positive spells were for successful childbirth, romance, fecundity, virility, etc. The negative or bewitching spells were called abhichara and attempted to cause diseases or harm to enemies; often they were aimed at serpents and demons. The sorcery is ascribed to one of the authors, Angiras, whose name is related to Agni (Latin ignis), the divine messenger and possibly a distant cognate of the Greek word for messenger, angel. Another author, Atharvan, derives from the old Iranian root, atar, meaning fire. The third author, Bhrigu, was the name of a tribe which opposed Sudas in the battle of ten kings in the Rig Veda, and his name has also been related to a Greek word for fire. The fourth author is Brahmin, the name which was given to the Atharvan priest, which eventually became so sacred that it was used as a name not only for the priestly caste but even for God the Creator. In addition to physicians the Vedic Aryans also held in contempt Atharvan astrologers as well as magic, but from this came not only astrology but also the beginning of Ayurvedic medicine. Like most ancient peoples, they also believed that the main cause of disease was evil spirits, possession, or what we would call psychological factors. The magical elements, particularly the abhicara, and the subjects of healing, herbs, and cooking, which were mostly in the woman's domain, made the Atharva Veda obnoxious to many Vedic priests. However, these rituals were very popular, and the Brahmin priest's share of the fees soon became equal to the other three priests' combined. Eventually this shamanic tradition had to be incorporated into the Vedic religion, especially later when it faced the new challenges of Jainism and Buddhism. The Brahmin caste became even stronger, and their wealth can be seen by the belief that the cow by right belonged exclusively to them. Taxes were collected probably by the warrior Kshatriya caste from the Vaisya artisans, farmers, and merchants. The Sudra workers were too poor to be taxed, and the Brahmins were exempt. One verse (Atharva Veda 3:29:3) describes heaven as "where a tax is not paid by a weak man for a stronger." Marriage ceremonies are included. Here is a brief example:
I am he; you are she. I am song; you are verse. I am heaven; you are earth. Let us two dwell together here; let us generate children.8

According to the Atharva Veda (5:17:8-9), a Brahmin could take a wife from the husband of any other caste simply by seizing her hand. Book 18 contains only funeral verses. There are coronation rites for kings, though the prayer is that the people will choose the king, usually already selected by heredity or the council. Philosophy and abstraction are creeping in, as there are two hymns to the deity of time, and kama (love, desire, pleasure) is praised as "the first seed of the mind" that generated heaven. (Atharva Veda 19:52) Let us conclude this section on the Atharva Veda with some selections from its beautiful hymn to the Earth as a sample of the more positive expression of the Vedas:
High Truth, unyielding Order, Consecration, Ardor and Prayer and Holy Ritual uphold the Earth, may she, the ruling Mistress of what has been and what will come to be, for us spread wide a limitless domain.

Untrammeled in the midst of men, the Earth, adorned with heights and gentle slopes and plains, bears plants and herbs of various healing powers. May she spread wide for us, afford us joy! On whom are ocean, river, and all waters, on whom have sprung up food and plowman's crops, on whom moves all that breathes and stirs abroad Earth, may she grant to us the long first draught! To Earth belong the four directions of space. On her grows food; on her the plowman toils. She carries likewise all that breathes and stirs. Earth, may she grant us cattle and food in plenty! On whom the men of olden days roamed far, on whom the conquering Gods smote the demons, the home of cattle, horses, and of birds, may Earth vouchsafe to us good fortune and glory! Bearer of all things, hoard of treasures rare, sustaining mother, Earth the golden-breasted who bears the Sacred Universal Fire, whose spouse is Indra - may she grant us wealth! Limitless Earth, whom the Gods, never sleeping, protect forever with unflagging care, may she exude for us the well-loved honey, shed upon us her splendor copiously! Earth, who of yore was Water in the oceans, discerned by the Sages' secret powers, whose immortal heart, enwrapped in Truth, abides aloft in the highest firmament, may she procure for us splendor and power, according to her highest royal state! On whom the flowing Waters, ever the same, course without cease or failure night and day, may she yield milk, this Earth of many streams, and shed on us her splendor copiously! May Earth, whose measurements the Asvins marked, over whose breadth the foot of Vishnu strode, whom Indra, Lord of power, freed from foes, stream milk for me, as a mother for her son! Your hills, O Earth, your snow-clad mountain peaks, your forests, may they show us kindliness! Brown, black, red, multifarious in hue and solid is this vast Earth, guarded by Indra. Invincible, unconquered, and unharmed, I have on her established my abode. Impart to us those vitalizing forces that come, O Earth, from deep within your body, your central point, your navel, purify us wholly. The Earth is mother; I am son of Earth. The Rain-giver is my father; may he shower on us blessings! The Earth on which they circumscribe the altar,

on which a band of workmen prepare the oblation, on which the tall bright sacrificial posts are fixed before the start of the oblation may Earth, herself increasing, grant us increase! That man, O Earth, who wills us harm, who fights us, who by his thoughts or deadly arms opposes, deliver him to us, forestalling action. All creatures, born from you, move round upon you. You carry all that has two legs, three, or four. To you, O Earth, belong the five human races, those mortals upon whom the rising sun sheds the immortal splendor of his rays. May the creatures of earth, united together, let flow for me the honey of speech! Grant to me this boon, O Earth. Mother of plants and begetter of all things, firm far-flung Earth, sustained by Heavenly Law, kindly and pleasant is she. May we ever dwell on her bosom, passing to and fro!... Do not thrust us aside from in front or behind, from above or below! Be gracious, O Earth. Let us not encounter robbers on our path. Restrain the deadly weapons! As wide a vista of you as my eye may scan, O Earth, with the kindly help of Sun, so widely may my sight be never dimmed in all the long parade of years to come! Whether, when I repose on you, O Earth, I turn upon my Right side or my left, or whether, extended flat upon my back, I meet your pressure from head to foot, be gentle, Earth! You are the couch of all! Whatever I dig up of you, O Earth, may you of that have quick replenishment! O purifying One, may my thrust never reach Right into your vital points, your heart! Your circling seasons, nights succeeding days, your summer, O Earth, your splashing rains, your autumn, your winter and frosty season yielding to spring--may each and all produce for us their milk!... From your numberless tracks by which mankind may travel, your roads on which move both chariots and wagons your paths which are used by the good and the bad, may we choose a way free from foes and robbers! May you grant us the blessing of all that is wholesome! She carries in her lap the foolish and also the wise. She bears the death of the wicked as well as the good. She lives in friendly collaboration with the boar, offering herself as sanctuary to the wild pig....

Peaceful and fragrant, gracious to the touch, may Earth, swollen with milk, her breasts overflowing, grant me her blessing together with her milk! The Maker of the world sought her with oblations when she was shrouded in the depth of the ocean. A vessel of gladness, long cherished in secret, the earth was revealed to mankind for their joy. Primeval Mother, disperser of men, you, far-flung Earth, fulfill all our desires. Whatever you lack, may the Lord of creatures, the First-born of Right, supply to you fully! May your dwellings, O Earth, free from sickness and wasting, flourish for us! Through a long life, watchful, may we always offer to you our tribute! O Earth, O Mother, dispose my lot in gracious fashion that I be at ease. In harmony with all the powers of Heaven set me, O Poet, in grace and good fortune!9

Brahmanas
Between about 900 and 700 BC the Brahmanas were written in prose as sacerdotal commentaries on the four Vedas to guide the practices of the sacrifices and give explanations often mythical and fanciful for these customs. However, their limited focus of justifying the priestly actions in the sacrifices restricted the themes of these first attempts at imaginative literature. Nevertheless they do give us information about the social customs of this period and serve as a transition from the Vedas to the Aranyakas and the mystical Upanishads. The caste system based on color (varna) was now established, though not as rigidly as it became later. The essential difference was between the light-skinned Aryans, who made up the top three castes of the priestly Brahmins, warrior Kshatriyas, and artisan Vaishyas, and the dark-skinned Dasas, who were the servant Sudras. Sudras, like women, could not own property, and only rarely did they rise above service positions. The Vaishyas were the basis of the economic system of trade, crafts, and farming. The Vaishyas were considered inferior by the Brahmins and Kshatriyas, and a female was generally not allowed to marry below her caste, though it was common for a male to do so. Even a Brahmin's daughter was not supposed to marry a Kshatriya. The rivalry for prestige and power was between the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas or rajanyas. Brahmins often held debates on Brahman and other religious issues. Janaka, a rajanya gained knowledge and defeated some Brahmins in discussion. So some Brahmins suggested a symposium on Brahman to prove who was superior, but since Brahmins were expected to be superior on these issues, Yajnavalkya prudently replied, "We are Brahmins; he is a rajanya. If we win, whom shall we say that we have defeated? But if he defeats us, they will say a rajanya has defeated Brahmins; so let us not convene this symposium."10 Kings were consecrated by Vedic rites and ruled with the help of the assembly (sabha) that met in a hall to administer justice; women were excluded. Ordeals were used, such as making a suspected thief touch a hot ax to see if his hand burned, which might be the origin of the saying, "being caught red-handed." Politics and legislation took place in a larger council (samiti). Taxes were collected to support these institutions and the army.

Each village was administered by a Gramani, a Vaisya who functioned like a mayor with civil rather than military authority. The Gramani and the royal charioteer (Suta) were considered the kingmakers. This latter privileged position was not merely the driver of the king but also his chief advisor and perhaps storyteller as well. The royal priest or Purohito was also supposed to advise the king in peace and protect him in war. The season of dew after the monsoons ended was considered the time for "sacking cities," as ambitious kings came into conflict with each other in wars. In addition to the discussions of sacerdotal matters, the Brahmanas do contain some stories meant to explain or rationalize their religious practices. Some of these are quite imaginative, though the usual pattern is for the hero to discover a rite to perform or a chant to intone which miraculously solves whatever problem is pressing to give a happy ending. Wendy O'Flaherty has translated some stories from the Jaiminiya Brahmana, illustrating how they dealt with the fears of death, God, the father, wives, and demonic women; many of these stories are sexually explicit, indicating that these people were not afraid of discussing their sexuality. However, since the usual way of handling these fears was to use a sacrificial ritual, the solutions probably had only limited social and psychological value. The most famous of these stories, and the best in my opinion, is the tale of Bhrigu's journey in the other world. Bhrigu was the son of Varuna and devoted to learning, and he thought that he was better than the other Brahmins and even better than the gods and his own father. So Varuna decided to teach him something by stopping his life breaths, causing Bhrigu to enter the world beyond, where he saw someone cut another man to pieces and eat him, a second man eating another who was screaming, a third eating a man who was silently screaming, another world where two women were guarding a treasure, a fifth where a stream of blood was guarded by a naked black man with a club and a stream of butter provided all the desires of golden men in golden bowls, and a sixth world where flowed five rivers of blue and white lotuses and flowing honey with wonderful music, celestial nymphs dancing and singing, and a fragrant odor. When Bhrigu returned, his father Varuna explained to him that the first man represented people who in ignorance destroy trees, which in turn eat them; the second are those who cook animals that cry out and in the other world are eaten by them in return; the third are those who ignorantly cook rice and barley, which scream silently and also eat them in return; the two women are Faith and non-Faith; the river of blood represents those who squeeze the blood out of a Brahmin, and the naked black man guarding is Anger; but the true sacrificers are the golden men, who get the river of butter and the paradise of the five rivers. To me this myth is a clear warning against the harmful actions of deforestation and meat-eating, and even the eating of living vegetables is to be done in silent respect. It shows an intuitive understanding of the principle of karma or the consequences of action as well as the growing importance of the concept of faith in addition to the usual theme of the sacrifice. The power of the word is increasing, as the sacrifices were glorified and given power even over the Vedic gods. Japa or the practice of chanting a mantram like Aum practiced ascetically with the sacrifices was believed to produce all one's desires. At the same time knowledge was beginning to be valued. In one exchange mind says that speech merely imitates it, but speech emphasizes the importance of expression and communication; however, Prajapati decides that mind is more important even than the word. This new god, Prajapati, is said to have given birth to both the gods and the demons. The ethical principle of truth appears as the gods are described as being truthful and the demons as being false.

However, realizing the ways of the world, many complain that the demons grew strong and rich, just as cattle like salty soil; but by performing the sacrifice the gods attained the whole truth and triumph, as, analogically I might add, people will eventually realize that cattle as well as salt ruins the land. Prajapati not only was the first to sacrifice but was considered the sacrifice itself. He practiced tapas to create by the heat of his own effort, and this heat was also related to cosmic fire and light as well as the warmth of the body and breath. Another concept of energy associated with the breath was prana; it also was identified with goodness, as the texts imply that as the life force it cannot be impure or bad. Prajapati not only created but entered into things as form and name, giving them order. Eventually Prajapati would be replaced by Brahman, who was identified with truth and would become the Creator God in the trinity that would include Vishnu, a sun-god who becomes the Preserver, and Shiva, who is derived from the indigenous Rudra, the Destroyer. With all the mental activity going on analyzing the rites and their explanation, abstractions were increasing in the religion. A judgment after death using a scale to weigh good against evil is described in the Satapatha Brahmana, an idea which may have been transported from Egypt by merchants. This text recommends that the one who knows this will balance one's deeds in this world so that in the next the good deeds will rise, not the evil ones. Belief in repeated lives through reincarnation is indicated in several passages in the Brahmanas. A beef-eater is punished by being born into a strange and sinful creature. As knowledge rivaled the value of ritual, this new problem of how to escape from an endless cycle of rebirth presented itself.

Aranyakas
The larger body of Vedic literature is divided into two parts with the four Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Samhitas and their Brahmanas making up the Karmakanda on the work of the sacrifices and the Aranyakas and the Upanishads the section on knowledge called the Jnanakanda. The Aranyakas and the Upanishads were tacked on to the end of Brahmanas, and the only three Aranyakas extant share the names of the Brahmanas they followed and the Upanishads they preceded: Aitareya, Kausitaki, and the Taittiriya; the first two are associated with the Rig Veda, the last with the Yajur Veda. The Aranyakas are called the forest texts, because ascetics retreated into the forest to study the spiritual doctrines with their students, leading to less emphasis on the sacrificial rites that were still performed in the towns. They were transitional between the Brahmanas and the Upanishads in that they still discuss rites and have magical content, dull lists of formulas and some hymns from the Vedas as well as the early speculations and intellectual discussions that flowered in the Upanishads. The sages who took in students in their forest hermitages were not as wealthy as the Brahmins in the towns who served royalty and other wealthy patrons. The Taittiriya Aranyaka tells how when the Vataramsa sages were first approached by other sages, they retreated; but when the sages came back with faith and tapas (ardor), they instructed them how to expiate the sin of abortion. Prayers were offered for pregnant women whether they were married or not, even if the father was unknown because of promiscuity. Yet the double standard against women for unchastity was in effect, unless a student seduced the teacher's wife. Truth was the highest value; through truth the right to heaven was retained. Debtors were in fear of punishment in hell, probably because the social punishments in this world were severe---torture and perhaps even death.

The emphasis now was on knowledge, even on wisdom, as they prayed for intelligence. The concept of prana as the life energy of the breath is exalted as that which establishes the entire soul. Prana is found in trees, animals, and people in ascending order. Human immortality is identified with the soul (atman), not the body. Hell is still feared, but by practicing austerity (tapas) to gain knowledge individuals hope to be born into a better world after death or be liberated from rebirth. Non-attachment (vairagya) also purifies the body and overcomes death. The essence of the Vedic person was considered Brahman, and the knower or inner person was known as the soul (atman). The guardians of the spiritual treasures of the community were called Brahmavadins (those who discuss Brahman). A son approached his father and asked what was supreme. The father replied, "Truth, tapas, self-control, charity, dharma (duty), and progeny."11

Early Upanishads
The term Upanishad means literally "those who sit near" and implies listening closely to the secret doctrines of a spiritual teacher. Although there are over two hundred Upanishads, only fifteen are mentioned by the philosophic commentator Shankara (788-820 CE). These fifteen and the Maitri are considered Vedic and the principal Upanishads; the rest were written later and are related to the Puranic worship of Shiva, Shakti, and Vishnu. The oldest and longest of the Upanishads are the Brihad-Aranyaka and the Chandogya from about the seventh century BC. The Brihad-Aranyaka has three Aranyaka chapters followed by six Upanishad chapters. The first chapter of the Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad describes the world as represented by the horsesacrifice. The primordial battle between the gods and the devils accounts for the evil found in the senses, mind, and speech, but by striking off the evil the divinities were carried beyond death. The priest chants for profound aspiration, one of the most famous verses from the Upanishads:
From the unreal lead me to the real! From darkness lead me to light! From death lead me to immortality!12

The primary message of the Upanishads is that this can be done by meditating with the awareness that one's soul (atman) is one with all things. Thus whoever knows that one is Brahman (God) becomes this all; even the gods cannot prevent this, since that one becomes their soul (atman). Therefore whoever worships another divinity, thinking it is other than oneself, does not know. Out of God (Brahman) came the Brahmin caste of priests and teachers and the Kshatriyas to rule, development through the Vaishyas and the Sudras. However, a principle was created as justice (dharma), than which nothing is higher, so that a weak person may control one stronger, as if by a king. They say that those who speak the truth speak justice and vice versa, because they are the same. By meditating on the soul (atman) alone, one does not perish and can create whatever one wants. Whatever suffering occurs remains with the creatures; only the good goes to the soul, because evil does not go to the gods. The soul is identified with the real, the immortal, and the life-breath (prana), which is veiled by name and form (individuality). By restraining the senses and the mind, one may rest in the space within the heart and become a great Brahmin and like a king may move around within one's body as one pleases. The world of name and form is real, but the soul is the truth or reality of the real. Immortality cannot be obtained through wealth, and all persons and things in the world are dear not for love of them (husband, wife, sons, wealth, gods, etc.); but for the love of the soul, all these are dear. The soul is the overlord of all things, as the spokes of the wheel are held together by the hub.

The principle of action (karma) is explained as "one becomes good by good action, bad by bad action."13 How can one get beyond the duality of seeing, smelling, hearing, speaking to, thinking of, and understanding another? Can one see the seer, smell the smeller, hear the hearer, think the thinker, and understand the understander? It is the soul which is in all things; everything else is wretched. By passing beyond hunger and thirst, sorrow and delusion, old age and death, by overcoming desire for sons, wealth, and worlds, let a Brahmin become disgusted with learning and live as a child; disgusted with that, let one become an ascetic until one transcends both the nonascetic and the ascetic states. Thus is indicated a spiritual path of learning and discipline that ultimately transcends even learning and discipline in the soul, the inner controller, the immortal, the one dwelling in the mind, whom the mind does not know, who controls the mind from within. The one departing this world without knowing the imperishable is pitiable, but the one knowing it is a Brahmin. The following refrain is repeated often:
That soul is not this, not that. It is incomprehensible, for it is not comprehended. It is indestructible, for it is never destroyed. It is unattached, for it does not attach itself. It is unfettered; it does not suffer; it is not injured.14

The soul is considered intelligent, dear, true, endless, blissful, and stable. As a king prepares a chariot or ship when going on a journey, one should prepare one's soul with the mystic doctrines of the Upanishads. The knowledge that is the light in the heart enables one to transcend this world and death while appearing asleep. The evils that are obtained with a body at birth are left behind upon departing at death. One dreams by projecting from oneself, not by sensing actual objects. In sleep the immortal may leave one's nest and go wherever one pleases. In addition to being free from desire the ethical admonition of being without crookedness or sin is also indicated. At death the soul goes out first, then the life, and finally the breaths go out. The soul is made of everything; as one acts, one becomes. The doer of good becomes good; the doer of evil becomes evil. As is one's desire, such is one's resolve; as is the resolve, such is the action, which one attains for oneself. When one's mind is attached, the inner self goes into the action. Obtaining the consequences of one's actions, whatever one does in this world comes again from the other world to this world of action (karma). By releasing the desires in one's heart, one may be liberated in immortality, reaching Brahman (God). One is the creator of all, one with the world. Whoever knows this becomes immortal, but others go only to sorrow. The knowing is sought through the spiritual practices of repeating the Vedas, sacrifices, offerings, penance, and fasting. Eventually one sees everything, as the soul overcomes both the thoughts of having done wrong and having done right. The evil does not burn one; rather one burns the evil. In the soul's being the world-all is known. The student should practice self-restraint, giving, and compassion. The Chandogya Upanishad belongs to the Sama Veda and is the last eight chapters of the tenchapter Chandogya Brahmana. The first two chapters of the Brahmana discuss sacrifices and other forms of worship. As part of the Sama Veda, which is the chants, the Chandogya Upanishad emphasizes the importance of chanting the sacred Aum. The chanting of Aum is associated with the life breath (prana), which is so powerful that when the devils struck it, they fell to pieces. The religious life recommended in the Chandogya Upanishad has three parts. The first is sacrifice, study of the Vedas, and giving alms; the second is austerity; and the third is studying the sacred

knowledge while living in the house of a teacher. One liberal giver, who had many rest-houses built and provided with food, said, "Everywhere people will be eating of my food."15 The soul in the heart is identified with Brahman (God), and it is the same as the light which shines higher than in heaven. Knowing and reverencing the sacrificial fire is believed to repel evil-doing from oneself. To the one who knows the soul, evil action does not adhere, just as water does not adhere to the leaf of the lotus flower. To know the soul as divine is called the "Loveliness-uniter" because all lovely things come to such. The doctrine of reincarnation is clearly implied in the Chandogya Upanishad as it declares that those whose conduct is pleasant here will enter a pleasant womb of a Brahmin, Kshatriya, or Vaisya; but those of stinking conduct will enter a stinking womb of a dog, swine, or outcast. Thus reincarnation is explained as an ethical consequence of one's actions (karma). At death the voice goes into the mind, the mind into the breath, the breath into heat, and heat into the highest divinity, the finest essence of truth and soul. Speaking to Svetaketu, the teacher explains that a tree may be struck at the root, the middle, or the top, but it will continue to live if pervaded by the living soul. Yet if the life leaves one branch of it, it dries up; and if it leaves the whole of it, the whole dries up. Then the teacher explains how the soul is the essence of life and does not die, concluding with the repeated refrain that his student thus ought to identify with the soul.
Truly, indeed, when the living soul leaves it, this body dies; the living soul does not die. That which is the subtle essence this whole world has for its soul. That is reality (truth). That is the soul. That you are, Svetaketu.16

Then the teacher placed salt in water and asked his student to taste different parts of the water. Just so is Being hidden in all of reality, but it is not always perceived. Just as the thief burns his hand on the hot ax when tested, the one who did not steal and is true does not burn his hand, so the whole world has that truth in its soul. Speech is to be valued, because it makes known right and wrong, true and false, good and bad, pleasant and unpleasant. Mind is revered, because it enables one to do sacred works. Will is valued, because heaven and earth and all things were formed by being willed. Thought is important, because it is better not to be thoughtless. Meditation is revered, because one attains greatness by meditating. Understanding is valued, because by it we can understand everything. Strength maintains everything. Food, water, heat, and space each have their values. Finally also memory, hope, and life (prana) are to be revered. Those, who take delight in the soul, have intercourse with it and find pleasure and bliss in it and freedom; but those, who do not, have perishable worlds and no freedom. The seer does not find death nor sickness nor any distress but sees the all and obtains the all entirely. The soul is free of evil, ageless, deathless, sorrowless, hungerless, and thirstless. For those, who go from here having found the soul here, there is freedom in all worlds. No evil can go into the Brahma-world. The chaste life of the student of sacred knowledge is the essence of austerity, fasting, and the hermit life, for in that way one finds the reality of the soul. The soul must be searched out and understood. The Chandogya Upanishad concludes with the advice that one should learn the Veda from the family of a teacher while working for the teacher, then study in one's own home producing sons and pupils, concentrate one's senses upon the soul, be harmless toward all living things except in the

sacrifices (The religion has not yet purified itself of animal sacrifices.), so that one may attain the Brahma-world and not return here again. The implication is that one may become free of the cycle of reincarnation. The Taittiriya and Aitareya Upanishads were associated with Aranyakas of the same name. In the Taittiriya Upanishad once again Aum is emphasized, as is peace of soul. Prayers often end with Aum and the chanting of peace (shanti) three times. This may be preceded by the noble sentiment, "May we never hate."17 One teacher says truth is first, another austerity, and a third claims that study and teaching of the Veda is first, because it includes austerity and discipline. The highest goal is to know Brahman, for that is truth, knowledge, infinite and found hidden in the heart of being and in the highest heaven, where one may abide with the eternal and intelligent Spirit (Brahman). Words turn away from it, and the mind is baffled by the delight of the eternal; the one who knows this shall not fear anything now or hereafter. Creation becomes a thing of bliss, for who could labor to draw in breath or have the strength to breathe it out if there were not this bliss in the heaven of one's heart? The Aitareya Upanishad begins with the one Spirit creating the universe out of its being. As guardians for the worlds, Spirit made the Purusha (person). Out of the cosmic egg came speech, breath, eyes and sight, ears and hearing, skin, hair, and herbs; from the navel and outbreath came death, and from the organ of pleasure seed and waters were born. In the concluding chapter of this short Upanishad the author asked who is this Spirit by whom one sees and hears and smells and speaks and knows? The answer is the following:
That which is heart, this mind---that is, consciousness, perception, discernment, intelligence, wisdom, insight, persistence, thought, thoughtfulness, impulse, memory, conception, purpose, life, desire, will are all names of intelligence.18

All things are guided by and based on this intelligence of Spirit (Brahman). Ascending from this world with the intelligent soul, one obtains all desires in the heavenly world, even immortality. The Kaushitaki Upanishad begins by asking if there is an end to the cycle of reincarnation. The teacher answers that one is born again according to one's actions (karma). Ultimately the one who knows Spirit (Brahman) transcends even good and evil deeds and all pairs of opposites as a chariotdriver looks down upon two chariot wheels. A ceremony is described whereby a dying father bequeaths all he has to his son. If he recovers, it is recommended that he live under the lordship of his son or wander as a religious mendicant. This practice of spiritual seeking as a beggar became one of the distinctive characteristics of Indian culture. A story is told of Pratardana, who by fighting and virility arrives at the beloved home of Indra, who grants him a gift. Pratardana asks Indra to choose for him what would be most beneficial to humanity, but Indra replies that a superior does not choose for an inferior. Pratardana responds that then it is not a gift. After bragging of many violent deeds and saying that anyone who understands him is not injured even after committing the worst crimes such as murdering a parent, Indra identifies himself with the breathing spirit (prana) of the intelligent soul (prajnatman). This breathing spirit is the essence of life and thus immortal. It is by intelligence (prajna) that one is able

to master all of the senses and faculties of the soul. All these faculties are fixed in the intelligence, which is fixed in the breathing spirit, which is in truth the blissful, ageless, immortal soul. One does not become greater by good action nor less by bad action. One's own self (atman) causes one to lead up from these worlds by good action or is led downward by bad action. The soul itself (atman) is the world-protector and the sovereign of the world. Thus ultimately the soul is responsible for everything it experiences. It is mentioned in the Kaushitaki Upanishad that it is contrary to nature for a Kshatriya to receive a Brahmin as a student. However, the Upanishads represent a time when the Kshatriya caste began to compete with Brahmins in spiritual endeavors. Though the Brahmins had control of the formal religion in the villages where the Kshatriyas controlled the government, by tutoring their sons and others in the forest the Kshatriyas developed a less ritualistic and traditional spirituality that is recorded in the mystical Upanishads.

Kena, Katha, Isha, and Mundaka

The Kena Upanishad consists of an older prose section and some more recent verse with which it begins. The word Kena means "by whom" and is the first word in a series of questions asking by whom is the mind projected, by whom does breathing go forth, by whom is speech impelled? What god is behind the eye and ear? The answer to these questions points to a mystical self that is beyond the mind and senses but is that God by which the mind and senses operate. Those, who think they know it well, know it only slightly. What relates to oneself and the gods needs to be investigated. Beyond thought it is not known by those who think they know it. Beyond understanding it is not known by those who think they understand it, but by those who realize they do not understand it. It is correctly known by an awakening, for the one who knows it finds immortality. It can only be known by the soul. If one does not know it, it is a great loss. The wise see it in all beings and upon leaving this world become immortal. In the prose section this mystical Spirit (Brahman) is shown to transcend the Vedic gods of fire (Agni), wind (Vayu), and even powerful Indra, who being above the other gods at least came nearest to it, realizing that it was Brahman. In summary the Kena Upanishad concludes that austerity, restraint, and work are the foundation of the mystical doctrine; the Vedas are its limbs, and truth is its home. The one who knows it strikes off evil and becomes established in the most excellent, infinite, heavenly world. The Katha Upanishad utilizes an ancient story from the Rig Veda about a father who gives his son Nachiketas to death (Yama) but brings in some of the highest teachings of mystical spirituality, helping us to realize why the Upanishads are referred to as the "end of the Vedas" in the double sense of completing the Vedic scripture and in explaining the ultimate goals. When Vajashrava was sacrificing all his possessions, faith entered into Nachiketas, his son, who asked his father three times to whom would he give him. Losing patience with these pestering questions, the father finally said, "I give you to Death (Yama)." Nachiketas knew that he was not the first to go to death, nor would he be the last, and like grain one is born again anyway. When he arrived at the house of Death, Yama was not there and only returned after three days. Because Nachiketas had not received the traditional hospitality for three days, Yama granted him three gifts. His first request was that his father would greet him cheerfully when he returned. The second was that he be taught about the sacrificial fire. These were easily granted.

The third request of Nachiketas was that the mystery of what death is be explained to him, for even the gods have had doubts about this. Death tries to make him ask for something else, such as wealth or long life with many pleasures, but Nachiketas firmly insists on his original request, knowing that these other gifts will soon pass away. So Death begins by explaining that the good is much better than the pleasant, which Nachiketas has just proved that he understands. He wisely wants knowledge not ignorance, and Death describes how those, who think themselves learned but who are ignorant, run around deluded and are like the blind leading the blind. Those, who think this world is the only one, continually come under the control of Death. Death explains that this knowledge cannot be known by reasoning or thought, but it must be declared by another. I interpret this to mean that it must be learned by direct experience or from one who has had the experience. Death tells how the truth is hard to see, but one must enter into the hidden, secret place in the depth of the heart. By considering this as God, one through yoga (union) wisely leaves joy and sorrow behind. One must transcend what is right and not right, what has been done and will be done. The sacred word Aum is declared to be the imperishable Spirit (Brahman). The wise realize that they are not born nor die but are unborn, constant, eternal, primeval; this is not slain when the body is slain. Smaller than the small, greater than the great, the soul is in the heart of every creature here. The one who is not impulsive sees it and is free of sorrow. Through the grace of the creator one sees the greatness of the soul. While sitting one may travel far; while lying down one may go everywhere. Who else but oneself can know the god of joy and sorrow, who is bodiless among bodies and stable among the unstable? This soul is not obtained by instruction nor by intellect nor by much learning, but is obtained by the one chosen by this; to such the soul reveals itself. However, it is not revealed to those who have not ceased from bad conduct nor to those who are not peaceful. Those, who drink of justice, enter the secret place in the highest heaven. Thus correct ethics is a requirement, and one must also become peaceful. Psychology is explained in the Katha Upanishad by using the analogy of a chariot. The soul is the lord of the chariot, which is the body. The intuition (buddhi) is the chariot-driver, the mind the reins, the senses the horses, and the objects of the senses the paths. Those, who do not understand and whose minds are undisciplined with senses out of control, are like the wild horses of a chariot that never reaches its goals; these go on to reincarnate. The wise reach their goal with Vishnu and are not born again. The hierarchy, starting from the bottom, consists of the objects of sense, the senses, the mind, the intuition, the soul, the unmanifest, and the person (Purusha). Though hidden, the soul may be seen by subtle seers with superior intellect. The intelligent restrain speech with the mind, the mind with the knowing soul, the knowing soul with the intuitive soul, and the intuitive soul with the peaceful soul. Yet the spiritual path is as difficult as crossing on the sharpened edge of a razor. By discerning what has no sound nor touch nor form nor decay nor taste nor beginning nor end, one is liberated from the mouth of death. A wise person, seeking immortality, looked within and saw the soul. The childish go after outward pleasures and walk into the net of widespread death. The wise do not seek stability among the unstable things here. Knowing the experiencer, the living soul is the lord of what has been and what will be. This is the ancient one born from discipline standing in the secret place. This is the truth that all things are one, but those, who see a difference here, go from death to death like water runs

to waste among the hills. The soul goes into embodiment according to its actions and according to its knowledge. The inner soul is in all things yet outside also; it is the one controller which when perceived gives eternal happiness and peace. Its light is greater than the sun, moon, stars, lightning, and fire which do not shine in the world illuminated by this presence. The metaphor of an upside down tree is used to show that heaven is the true root of all life. The senses may be controlled by the mind, and the mind by the greater self. Through yoga the senses are held back so that one becomes undistracted even by the stirring of the intuition. Thus is found the origin and the end. When all the desires of the heart are cut like knots, then a mortal becomes immortal. There is a channel from the heart to the crown of the head by which one goes up into immortality, but the other channels go in various directions. One should draw out from one's body the inner soul, like an arrow from a reed, to know the pure, the immortal. The Katha Upanishad concludes that with this knowledge learned from Death with the entire rule of yoga, Nachiketas attained Brahman and became free from passion and death, and so may any other who knows this concerning the soul. Greatly respected, the short Isha Upanishad is often put at the beginning of the Upanishads. Isha means "Lord" and marks the trend toward monotheism in the Upanishads. The Lord encloses all that moves in the world. The author recommends that enjoyment be found by renouncing the world and not coveting the possessions of others. The One pervades and transcends everything in the world.
Whoever sees all beings in the soul and the soul in all beings does not shrink away from this. In whom all beings have become one with the knowing soul what delusion or sorrow is there for the one who sees unity? It is radiant, incorporeal, invulnerable, without tendons, pure, untouched by evil. Wise, intelligent, encompassing, self-existent, it organizes objects throughout eternity.19

The One transcends ignorance and knowledge, non-becoming and becoming. Those, who know these pairs of opposites, pass over death and win immortality. The Isha Upanishad concludes with a prayer to the sun and to Agni. The Mundaka Upanishad declares Brahman the first of the gods, the creator of all and the protector of the world. Connected to the Atharva Veda the Mundaka Upanishad has Brahman teaching his eldest son Atharvan. Yet the lower knowledge of the four Vedas and the six Vedangas (phonetics, ritual, grammar, definition, metrics, and astrology) is differentiated from the higher knowledge of the imperishable source of all things. The ceremonial sacrifices are to be observed; but they are now considered "unsafe boats," and fools, who approve them as better, go again to old age and death. Like the Katha, the Mundaka Upanishad warns against the ignorance of thinking oneself learned and going around deluded like the blind leading the blind. Those, who work (karma) without understanding because of attachment, when their rewards are exhausted, sink down wretched. "Thinking sacrifices and works of merit are most important, the deluded know nothing better."20 After enjoying the results of their good works, they enter this world again or even a lower one. The Mundaka Upanishad recommends a more mystical path:

Those who practice discipline and faith in the forest, the peaceful knowers who live on charity, depart without attachment through the door of the sun, to where lives the immortal Spirit, the imperishable soul. Having tested the worlds won by works, let the seeker of God arrive at detachment. What is not made is not attained by what is done.21

To gain this knowledge the seeker is to go with fuel in hand to a teacher who is learned in the scriptures and established in God. Approaching properly, calming the mind and attaining peace, the knowledge of God may be taught in the truth of reality by which one knows the imperishable Spirit. The formless that is higher than the imperishable and is the source and goal of all beings may be found in the secret of the heart. The reality of immortal life may be known by using the weapons of the Upanishads as a bow, placing an arrow on it sharpened by meditation, stretching it with thought directed to that, and knowing the imperishable as the target. Aum is the bow; the soul is the arrow; and God is the target. Thus meditating on the soul and finding peace in the heart, the wise perceive the light of blissful immortality. The knot of the heart is loosened, all doubts vanish, and one's works (karma) cease when it is seen. Radiant is the light of lights that illuminates the whole world. God truly is this immortal, in front, behind, to the right and left, below and above; God is all this great universe. By seeing the brilliant creator, the God-source, being a knower, the seer shakes off good and evil, reaching the supreme identity of life that shines in all beings. Enjoying the soul, doing holy works, such is the best knower of God. The soul can be attained by truth, discipline, correct knowledge, and by studying God. Truth conquers and opens the path to the gods by which sages, whose desires are satisfied, ascend to the supreme home. Vast, divine, subtler than the subtle, it shines out far and close by, resting in the secret place seen by those with vision. It is not grasped by sight nor speech nor angels nor austerity nor work but by the grace of wisdom and the mental purity of meditation which sees the indivisible. Whatever world a person of pure heart holds clearly in mind is obtained. Yet whoever entertains desires, dwelling on them, is born here and there on account of those desires; but for the one whose desire is satisfied, whose soul is perfected, all desires here on earth vanish away. This soul is not attained by instruction nor intellect nor much learning but by the one whom it chooses, who enters into the all itself. Ascetics with natures purified by renunciation enter the God-worlds and transcend death. As rivers flow into the ocean, the liberated knower reaches the divine Spirit. Whoever knows that supreme God becomes God.

Later Upanishads
These Upanishads are being discussed in this chapter in their estimated chronological order. The previous group is from about the sixth century BC, and thus some of them are probably contemporary with the life of the Buddha (563-483 BC). This next group is almost certainly after the time of the Buddha, but it is difficult to tell how old they are. The Prashna Upanishad is also associated with the Atharva Veda and discusses six questions; Prashna means question. Six men approached the teacher Pippalada with sacrificial fuel in hands and questions in their minds. Pippalada agreed to answer their questions if they would live with him another year in austerity, chastity, and faith.

The first question is, "From where are all these creatures born?"22 The answer is that the Creator (Prajapati) wanted them, but two paths are indicated that lead to reincarnation and immortality. The second question is how many angels support and illumine a creature and which is supreme? The answer is space, air, fire, water, earth, speech, mind, sight, and hearing, but the life-breath (prana) is supreme. The third question seeks to know the relationship between this life-breath and the soul. The short answer is, "This life is born from the soul (atman)."23 The fourth question concerns sleep, waking, and dreams. During sleep the mind re-experiences what it has seen and heard, felt and thought and known. When one is overcome by light, the god dreams no longer; then all the elements return to the soul in happiness. The fifth question asks about the result of meditating on the word Aum. When someone meditates on all three letters, then the supreme may be attained. The sixth question asks about the Spirit with sixteen parts. The sixteen parts of the Spirit are life, faith, space, air, light, water, earth, senses, mind, food, virility, discipline, affirmations (mantra), action, world, and naming (individuality). All the parts are like spokes of a wheel, the hub of which is the Spirit. In the Shvetashvatara Upanishad monotheism takes the form of worshipping Rudra (Shiva). The later quality of this Upanishad is also indicated by its use of terms from the Samkhya school of philosophy. The person (Purusha) is distinguished from nature (Prakriti), which is conceived of as illusion (maya). The method of devotion (bhakti) is presented, and the refrain "By knowing God one is released from all fetters" is often repeated. Nevertheless the Upanishadic methods of discipline and meditation are recommended to realize the soul by controlling the mind and thoughts. Breathing techniques are also mentioned as is yoga. The qualities (gunas) that come with action (karma) and its consequences are to be transcended. Liberation is still found in the unity of God (Brahman) by discrimination (samkhya) and union (yoga). By the highest devotion (bhakti) for God and the spiritual teacher (guru) all this may be manifested to the great soul (mahatma). The short Mandukya Upanishad is associated with the Atharva Veda and delineates four levels of consciousness: waking, dreaming, deep sleep, and a fourth mystical state of being one with the soul. These are associated with the three elements of the sacred chant Aum (a, u, and m) and the silence at its cessation. Thus this sacred chant may be used to experience the soul itself. The thirteenth and last of what are considered the principal Upanishads is the Maitri Upanishad. It begins by recommending meditation upon the soul and life (prana). It tells of a king, Brihadratha, who established his son as king and, realizing that his body is not eternal, became detached from the world and went into the forest to practice austerity. After a thousand days Shakayanya, a knower of the soul, appeared to teach him. The king sought liberation from reincarnating existence. The teacher assures him that he will become a knower of the soul. The serene one, who rising up out of the body reaches the highest light in one's own form, is the soul, immortal and fearless. The body is like a cart without intelligence, but it is driven by a supersensuous, intelligent being, who is pure, clean, void, tranquil, breathless, selfless, endless, undecaying, steadfast, eternal, unborn, and independent. The reins are the five organs of perception; the steeds are the organs of action; and the charioteer is the mind. The soul is unmanifest, subtle, imperceptible, incomprehensible, selfless, pure, steadfast, stainless, unagitated, desireless, fixed like a spectator, and self-abiding. How then does the soul, overcome by the bright and dark fruits of action (karma), enter good or evil wombs? The elemental self is overcome by these actions and pairs of opposites, the qualities (gunas) of nature (prakriti) and does not see the blessed one, who causes action standing within

oneself. Bewildered, full of desire, distracted, this self-conceit binds oneself by thinking "This is I," and "That is mine." So as a bird is caught in a snare, it enters into a good or evil womb. Yet the cause of these actions is the inner person. The elemental self is overcome by its attachment to qualities. The characteristics of the dark quality (tamas) are delusion, fear, despondency, sleepiness, weariness, neglect, old age, sorrow, hunger, thirst, wretchedness, anger, atheism, ignorance, jealousy, cruelty, stupidity, shamelessness, meanness, and rashness. The characteristics of the passionate quality (rajas) are desire, affection, emotion, coveting, malice, lust, hatred, secretiveness, envy, greed, fickleness, distraction, ambition, favoritism, pride, aversion, attachment, and gluttony. How then may this elemental self on leaving this body come into complete union with the soul? Like the waves of great rivers or the ocean tide, it is hard to keep back the consequences of one's actions or the approach of death. Like the lame bound with the fetters made of the fruit of good and evil, like the prisoner lacking independence, like the dead beset by fear, the intoxicated by delusions, like one rushing around are those possessed by an evil spirit; like one bitten by a snake are those bitten by objects of sense; like the gross darkness of passion, the juggling of illusion, like a falsely apparent dream, like an actor in temporary dress or a painted scene falsely delighting the mind, all these attachments prevent the self from remembering the highest place. The antidote is to study the Veda, to pursue one's duty in each stage of the religious life, and to practice the proper discipline, which results in the pure qualities (sattva) that lead to understanding and the soul. By knowledge, discipline, and meditation God is apprehended, and one attains undecaying and immeasurable happiness in complete union with the soul. The soul is identical with the various gods and powers.
Having bid peace to all creatures and gone to the forest, then having put aside objects of sense, from out of one's own body one should perceive this, who has all forms, the golden one, all-knowing, the final goal, the only light."24

The means of attaining the unity of the One is the sixfold yoga of breath control (pranayama), withdrawal of the senses (pratyahara), attention (dhyana), concentration (dharana), contemplation (tarka), and meditation (samadhi).
When one sees the brilliant maker, lord, person, the God-source, then, being a knower, shaking off good and evil, the sage makes everything one in the supreme imperishable.25

When the mind is suppressed, one sees the brilliant soul, which is more subtle than the subtle; having seen the soul oneself, one becomes selfless and is regarded as immeasurable, without origin - the mark of liberation (moksha). By serenity of thought one destroys good and evil action (karma). In selflessness one attains absolute unity. The sound Aum may be used. Meditation is directed to the highest principle within and also outer objects, qualifying the unqualified understanding; but when the mind has been dissolved, there is the bliss witnessed by the soul that is the pure and immortal Spirit. But if one is borne along by the stream of the qualities, unsteady, wavering, bewildered, full of desire, and distracted one goes into self-conceit. Standing free from dependence, conception, and self-conceit is the mark of liberation.

The influence of Buddhism can be seen in the description of liberation from one's own thoughts. As fire destitute of fuel goes out, so thought losing activity becomes extinct in its source. What is one's thought, that one becomes; this is the eternal mystery. By the serenity of thought one destroys good and bad karma; focused on the soul, one enjoys eternal delight. The mind is the means of bondage and release. Though the sacrificial fire is still important, meditation has become the primary means of liberation. The Mahanarayana Upanishad is a long hymn to various forms of God with prayers for everything from wealth to liberation. At one point the author identifies with the divine light:
I am that supreme light of Brahman which shines as the inmost essence of all that exists. In reality I am the same infinite Brahman even when I am experiencing myself as a finite self owing to ignorance. Now by the onset of knowledge I am really that Brahman which is my eternal nature. Therefore I realize this identity by making myself, the finite self, an oblation into the fire of the infinite Brahman which I am always. May this oblation be well made.26

The Jabala Upanishad, which is quoted by Shankara, gives a description of the four stages of religious life for a pious Hindu. Yajnavalkya suggests that after completing the life of a student, a householder, and a forest dweller, let one renounce, though one may renounce while a student or householder if one has the spirit of renunciation. Suicide apparently was not forbidden, for to the one who is weary of the world but is not yet fit to become a recluse, Yajnavalkya recommends a hero's death (in battle), fasting to death, throwing oneself into water or fire, or taking a final journey (to exhaustion). The wandering ascetic though wearing an orange robe, with a shaven head, practicing non-possession, purity, nonviolence, and living on charity obtains the state of Brahman. The Vajrasuchika Upanishad claims to blast ignorance and exalts those endowed with knowledge. It raises the question who is of the Brahmin class. Is it the individual soul, the body, based on birth, knowledge, work, or performing the rites? It is not the individual soul (jiva), because the same soul passes through many bodies. It is not the body, because all bodies are composed of the same elements even though Brahmins tend to be white, Kshatriyas red, Vaishyas tawny, and Sudras dark in complexion. It is not birth, because many sages are of diverse origin. It is not knowledge, because many Kshatriyas have attained wisdom and seen the highest reality. It is not work, because good men perform works based on their past karma. It is not performing the rites, because many Kshatriyas and others have given away gold as an act of religious duty. The true Brahmin directly perceives the soul, which functions as the indwelling spirit of all beings, blissful, indivisible, immeasurable, realizable only through one's experience. Manifesting oneself directly through the fulfillment of nature becomes rid of the faults of desire, attachment, spite, greed, expectation, bewilderment, ostentation, and so on and is endowed with tranquillity. Only one possessed of these qualities is a Brahmin. This flexible viewpoint indicates that the caste system may not yet have been as rigid as it was later to become. Although as the major teachings passed down orally from the century before the Buddha, the Upanishads don't tell us too much about the worldly society of India, they do express a widespread mysticism and spiritual life-style that was to prepare the way for the new religions of Jainism and Buddhism as well as the deepened spirituality and mystical philosophies of Hinduism. The values

of the teachers and ascetics of this culture that has been likened to the New Thought movement of the recent New Age philosophy were spiritual and other worldly, but if they did not do much to improve the whole society, at least they did not do the harm of the conquering Aryans. A personal educational system of spiritual tutoring for adults developed, and individuals were encouraged to improve themselves spiritually as they gave and received charity. (When renouncing they gave to charity; then they accepted charity for basic sustenance.) The rituals of animal sacrifices were de-emphasized, and knowledge became greatly valued, especially self-knowledge. The doctrine of reincarnation made the sacrifices for a better life now or in the future eventually give way to the higher spiritual goal of liberation from the entire cycle of rebirth. Thus austerity and meditation became the primary methods of spiritual realization.

Notes
1. Rig Veda tr. Ralph T. H. Griffith, II:20:6-8. 2. Ibid. IV:17:10-11. 3. Ibid. VII:86:5-6. 4. Ibid. I:100:18. 5. Ibid. X:90:12. 6. Ibid. X:117:1-2. 7. Ibid. X:71:2. 8. Atharva Veda, W. D. Whitney, 14:2-71. 9. Atharva Veda 12:1:1-17, 32-36, 47-48, 59-63 tr. Raimundo Panikkar The Vedic Experience: Mantramanjari, p. 123-129. 10. Bhattacharji, Sukumari, Literature in the Vedic Age, Vol. 2, p. 109. 11. Taittiriya Aranyaka 10:63:1. 12. Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad tr. Robert E. Hume, 1:3:28. 13. Ibid. 3:2:13. 14. Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad tr. S. Radhakrishnan, 3:9:26. 15. Chandogya Upanishad tr. Robert E. Hume, 4:1:1. 16. Chandogya Upanishad tr. S. Radhakrishnan, 6:11:3. 17. Taittiriya Upanishad 2:1:1. 18. Aitareya Upanishad tr. S. Radhakrishnan, 3:1:2. 19. Isha Upanishad English version by Sanderson Beck 6-8. 20. Mundaka Upanishad English version by Sanderson Beck 1:2:10. 21. Ibid. 1:2:11-12. 22. Prashna Upanishad English version by Sanderson Beck 1:3. 23. Ibid. 3:3. 24. Maitri Upanishad tr. S. Radhakrishnan, 6:8. 25. Ibid. 6:18. 26. Mahanarayana Upanishad tr. Swami Vimalananda, 1:67.

Mahavira and Jainism

Parshva Mahavira Jainism This chapter has been published in the book INDIA & Southeast Asia to 1800. For ordering information, please click here.

The legendary founder of Jainism was called Rishabha, but claims that he lived many millions of years ago are obviously exaggerated. This first Tirthankara (literally "maker of the river-crossing") is said to have invented cooking, writing, pottery, painting, and sculpture, the institution of marriage and ceremonies for the dead. Not much else is recorded about Rishabha and the next twenty Tirthankaras, but the ancient Jaina tradition that there were ascetic religious teachers in India before the coming of the Vedic Aryans is likely from evidence found in the Harappan culture. The twenty-second Tirthankara, Arishtanemi, is mentioned in the Kalpa Sutra. All of the Tirthankaras were Kshatriyas, and Arishtanemi was the son of King Ashvasena of Varanasi (Benares) and cousin of Krishna, who is supposed to have lived during the great Bharata war probably about 900 BC. According to legend Krishna negotiated his marriage to princess Rajamati. However, when Arishtanemi discovered the great number of deer and other animals to be sacrificed at his wedding, he changed his mind to prevent their slaughter, brooded over the cruelty and violence of human society, and soon renounced the world to seek and find enlightenment.

Parshva
The twenty-third Tirthankara, Parshva, probably lived in the eighth century BC. Legends connect him with snakes, one of whom he saved from fire when a Brahmin ascetic was about to burn a log where it was hiding. He married a princess, and up to the age of thirty he lived in great splendor and happiness as a householder. Then he gave up all his wealth to become an ascetic. After 84 days of intense meditation he became enlightened and taught as a saint for seventy years. Parshva was called "Beloved" and organized an order (samgha) of monks, nuns, and lay votaries of many thousands, though the numbers are probably exaggerated. He had eight or ten disciples (ganadharas) according to different sources. His religion was open to all without distinction of caste or creed, and women were a large part of the order. He allowed his followers to wear an upper and lower garment. The main emphasis of Parshva was on the first vow of non-injury (ahimsa) or abstinence from killing any living beings. The other three vows Parshva required were truthfulness, not to steal, and freedom from possession. These vows are exactly the same as the first four vows of the sannyasins of the Vedic tradition who renounce the world. The Brahmanic fifth vow of liberality could not be practiced by mendicants without possessions. Two centuries later during the life of Mahavira there were still followers of Parshva, and they are mentioned in Buddhist texts as well as in Jaina scriptures. In addition to Brahmanical sects of ascetics like those described in the Upanishads who acknowledged the authority of the Vedas, new shramana (ascetic) sects were appearing which challenged the Vedas and their rituals, emphasizing ethics and allowing those of any caste and women to renounce the world as well.

Mahavira
Before turning to Mahavira and the Buddha, let us briefly examine a few of the other teachers who appeared in India in that spiritually rich sixth century BC. Purana Kassapa was a respected teacher who promulgated a no-action theory (akriyavada). Once he explained to King Ajatashatru that there is no guilt for causing grief or torment or killing, robbing, etc., and no merit for offering sacrifices, self-mastery, or speaking truth; because the soul is passive, no action can affect it. Nothing can defile one nor purify one. Purana Kassapa claimed that only an infinite mind could comprehend a finite world, and it was said that he could perceive anything. The Buddha even credited Kassapa and other heretical teachers with the ability to know where a particular dead person was reborn.

Another esteemed religious leader was Pakudha Katyayana, who may have been the one who asked Pippalada in the Prashna Upanishad about the roots of things. His doctrine classified everything into seven categories: earth, water, fire, air, pleasure, pain, and soul, all of which are eternal. Like Kassapa, Katyayana denied the reality of action, asserting that the soul is superior to good and evil and untouched by any change. His doctrine was called Eternalism by Mahavira and the Buddha, who both considered it another theory of non-action. The founder of materialism in India was Ajita Keshakambalin. He found no merit in sacrificing or offering or doing good either, because nothing exists but the material world - no other world, no afterlife, no benefit from service, no ascetics who have attained enlightenment or perfection. When a person dies, the body returns to earth, fluids to water, heat to fire, and breath to air, the senses into space, and no individuality remains. He criticized the view of Katyayana and others that the soul existed independently of the body. Ajita saw the individual as a whole, which the apprehending mind can conceive. Mahavira criticized Ajita's philosophy for encouraging people to kill, burn, destroy, and enjoy the pleasures of life, but actually Ajita taught people to respect life and honor the living while they are alive rather than death and those who are dead. The leader of the agnostics (Ajnanavada) was Sanjaya Belatthiputta. He found so many contradictory views of the soul and body current that he believed it was better to realize that one is ignorant of these things than to adopt one folly or another. His followers were described as wriggling out of answering questions like an eel and were criticized by Jainas for walking around in ignorance. However, in disregarding speculative questions he did attempt to focus the attention of his many followers on the attainment and preservation of mental equanimity. Sanjaya may have prepared the way for Mahavira's doctrine of antinomies (syadvada) and the Buddha's method of critical investigation (vibhajyavada), for they both found that there could be no final answers to some of the difficult questions of cosmology, ontology, theology, and eschatology. The leader of the Ajivaka sect at this time, Mankhali Gosala, became closely associated with Mahavira. Gosala traveled with Mahavira for six years, but then he left because of doctrinal differences and was the leader of the Ajivaka sect for sixteen years in Savatthi at the pottery workshop of the woman Halahala. Gosala taught a theory of transformation through re-animation like the seeds of plants. Humans are purified through transmigration, and the complete cycle of reincarnation periods is said to be eighty-four hundred thousand, possibly the origin of the term "wheel of eighty-four." He believed that everything was pre-destined, and nothing could change fate. Thus he denied the usefulness of effort or manly vigor, rationalizing that these, like all things, are unalterably fixed and predetermined. Everything acts according to its own nature, and nature is a self-evolving activity making things come to pass and cease to be. Gosala believed that karma is independent of individual will and follows its own logic. He categorized humanity into six groups and put himself with only two other individuals in the "supremely white" category. He described eight stages of life from babyhood to renunciation, and his followers practiced the fourfold discipline of asceticism, austerity, comfort-loathing, and solitude. Although criticized by Jainas and Buddhists as amoral, Gosala taught that although it was predetermined, it was still one's duty to be lawful, not trespass on other's rights, make full use of one's liberties, be considerate, pure, abstain from killing, be free from earthly possessions, reduce the necessities of life, and strive for the best and highest of human potential. Aside from the determinism one can find many similarities in the teachings of Gosala and Mahavira. They divided living beings into the same six categories, and both recommended nudity for the saints and believed in the omniscience of the released.

Mahavira was born in Kundapura near Vaishali. The traditional Jaina date for Mahavira's birth is 599 BC, but comparison with the life of Buddha and the Magadha kings Bimbisara and Ajatashatru indicate that his death at the age of 72 was probably about 490 BC. An elaborate legend is told in the Acharanga Sutra and in the Kalpa Sutra how he was conceived in the womb of the Brahmin Devananda, who had fourteen prophetic dreams but then after three lunar cycles divinely transferred to the womb of the Kshatriya Trishala, who also had the same fourteen prophetic dreams. These fourteen dreams are supposed to indicate that the child will become either an emperor or a great Tirthankara (prophet). This unbelievable story probably resulted from the Jaina tradition that all the Tirthankaras were Kshatriyas, perhaps converting his stepmother into a second mother. The father of Mahavira was King Siddartha; he and Trishala were both pious and virtuous followers of Parshva. Trishala was the sister of King Chetaka of Vaishali, the capital of a federation where the Jainism of Parshva was popular. King Chetaka had seven daughters, one of whom was initiated into the Jaina order of ascetics while the other six married famous kings, including King Shrenika (Bimbisara) of Magadha and Mahavira's own brother, Nandivardhana. Since the wealth of his father's kingdom had increased during the pregnancy, the child was called Vardhamana. He was raised in princely opulence and showed his courage as a child by mounting a charging elephant by the trunk and on another occasion picking up a large snake and casting it aside. For his courage and self-control in enduring the rules of penance, Vardhamana was given the name Mahavira, which means great hero. Jaina comes from jina meaning victor or conqueror. He probably received the usual education for an aristocrat in philosophy, literature, military and administrative sciences, and the arts. Mahavira married a princess named Yasoda, and they had a daughter, Anojja. She eventually married his nephew Jamali, who later caused a schism in the order. When Mahavira was 28 years old, both his parents died. He wanted to renounce the world; but to please his elder brother he agreed to live at home for two more years during which he practiced self-discipline, giving up all luxuries and giving charity to beggars every day of the last year. At the age of thirty Mahavira renounced all his wealth, property, wife, family, relatives, and pleasures. In a garden of the village Kundapura at the foot of an Ashoka tree, no one else being present, after fasting two days without water he took off all his clothes, tore out the hair of his head in five handfuls, and put a single cloth on his shoulder. He vowed to neglect his body and with equanimity to suffer all calamities arising from divine powers, people, or animals. Having already attained before marriage the first three levels of knowledge (knowledge from the senses and mind, knowledge from study, and knowledge from intuition), at this initiation it was said he attained the fourth level of knowledge that includes the psychological movements of all sentient beings. Thus Mahavira became homeless. As he was leaving the garden, a Brahmin beggar, who had missed out on the last year of Mahavira's almsgiving, asked him for alms; he gave him half of the garment on his shoulder. After thirteen months he gave up clothes altogether.
Neglecting his body, the venerable ascetic Mahavira meditated on his self, in blameless lodgings and wandering, in restraint, kindness, avoidance of sinful influence, chaste life, in patience, freedom from passion, contentment; practicing control, circumspectness, religious postures and acts; walking the path of nirvana and liberation, which is the fruit of good conduct. Living thus he with equanimity bore, endured, sustained, and suffered all calamities

arising from divine powers, men, and animals, with undisturbed and unafflicted mind, careful of body, speech, and mind.1

After a few months of wandering Mahavira went to an ashram in Moraga, where he was invited to spend the four-month rainy season by its abbot who was a friend of his father. Mahavira was assigned a hut with a thatched roof. The previous summer had been so hot that the grass in the forest was destroyed, and the cattle ran to eat the ascetics' grass huts. The other ascetics beat off the cattle, but Mahavira just let the cattle eat the thatched roof. The ascetics complained to the abbot, and so Mahavira decided to leave the ashram and spent the rainy season in the village of Ashtika. Reflecting upon this experience, Mahavira resolved to follow the fivefold discipline of never living in the house of an unfriendly person, usually standing with the body like a statue (kayostarga), generally maintaining silence, eating out of his hand as a dish, and not showing politeness to householders. Thus he practiced meditation and severe austerities. In the summer he would meditate in the sun or walk through sun-baked fields, and in winter he would meditate naked in the open air. Each year during the rainy season he stayed in one place. He walked quietly, carefully keeping his eyes on the ground so as to avoid stepping on any insects. He stayed in deserted houses, crematoriums, gardens, or any solitary place. What little food he ate he got from begging. If he saw any other beggar, animal or bird waiting for food at a house, he would silently pass by to another house. He fasted for fifteen days at a time and up to a month. He passed the second rainy season at Nalanda, where he met Gosala, who was impressed by Mahavira and joined him. Traveling with Gosala, his fasts now extended as long as two months. According to Jaina biographies of Mahavira, Gosala often insulted others and misbehaved, while Mahavira remained silent and still (in kayostarga). This brought upon them abusive behavior. In Choraga of Bengal they were taken for spies and imprisoned. Another time they were both tied up and beaten. In Kuiya they were once again imprisoned as spies but were released at the behest of two sisters. In the sixth year Gosala left Mahavira for six months; but he returned until the tenth year when he left Mahavira and proclaimed himself a prophet and leader of the Ajivika sect. Mahavira went to Vaishali where the republican chief Sankha rescued him from trouble caused by local children. In the eleventh year Mahavira was tested by a god named Samgamaka, who gave him terrible physical pain, accompanied him begging, and contaminated his food. Mahavira gave up begging and sat in meditation. For six months Samgamaka inflicted tortures on him, but unable to disturb him he finally fell at his feet and begged his forgiveness before returning to his own place. Government officials in Tosali took Mahavira for a thief and tried to hang him, but he was rescued in time. In the twelfth year Mahavira took a vow that he would fast until an enslaved princess with a shaven head and fettered feet, in tears and tired after three days fasting, would lean out a window and offer him boiled pulse. It was five months and twenty-five days before such an event occurred in Champa. While in this town a Brahmin questioned him about the soul and its characteristics. Mahavira explained that what one understands by the word "I" is the soul. In Chammani a bull strayed while grazing, and a cowherd asked Mahavira about it. Met with silence, the cowherd became enraged and pushed grass sticks into Mahavira's ears. Remaining peaceful and undisturbed, Mahavira continued his wanderings until eventually a physician noticed the condition, removed the painful plugs from his ears, and cured the wound with medicine.

Seeking the highest enlightenment, Mahavira meditated for six months sitting motionless, but he failed. He did penance in a cemetery when Rudra and his wife tried to interrupt him. Finally in the thirteenth year of this ascetic life while meditating after two and a half days of waterless fasting, Mahavira attained nirvana and the highest awareness called kevala or absolute knowledge. The first message of Mahavira after his enlightenment is recorded in the Buddhist text Majjhima Nikaya:
I am all-knowing and all-seeing, and possessed of an infinite knowledge. Whether I am walking or standing still, whether I sleep or remain awake, the supreme knowledge and intuition are present with me---constantly and continuously. There are, O Nirgranthas, some sinful acts you have done in the past, which you must now wear out by this acute form of austerity. Now that here you will be living restrained in regard to your acts, speech and thought, it will work as the nondoing of karma for future. Thus, by the exhaustion of the force of past deeds through penance and the non-accumulation of new acts, (you are assured) of the stoppage of the future course, of rebirth from such stoppage, of the destruction of the effect of karma, from that, of the destruction of pain, from that, of the destruction of mental feelings, and from that, of the complete wearing out of all kinds of pain.2

After attaining omniscience Mahavira attended a religious conference by the river Ijjuvaliya, but his first discourse had little effect. Then he traveled to another conference in the garden of Mahasena, where in a long discussion he converted eleven learned Brahmins, who had gone there to sacrifice. Breaking the tradition of speaking in Sanskrit, Mahavira spoke in the Ardhamagadhi dialect, and all the Jaina Agama scriptures are written in Ardhamagadhi. Hearing of a magician, the Brahmin Indrabhuti Gautama went to expose him; but as he approached the garden, Mahavira called him by name and reading his mind, said, "Gautama, you have a doubt in your mind about the existence of the soul." Then Mahavira explained how to interpret a passage in the Vedas so as to understand that, although categories of knowledge may disappear, this does not affect the existence of the soul. This mind-reading and wisdom convinced Indrabhuti of the omniscience of Mahavira. After hearing Mahavira's discourse on his essential teachings, Indrabhuti decided to renounce the world and was initiated by Mahavira into the religion. Having heard of his brother's defeat by Mahavira, Agnibhuti Gautama came to debate with Mahavira; but he too, won over by Mahavira's explanation of the reality of karma and the soul's bondage to it, also became initiated. According to tradition nine more scholars argued with Mahavira and were converted, becoming his eleven disciples. Jaina tradition also claims that these eleven brought along 4400 of their pupils into the new faith. Then Mahavira wandered in silence for sixty-six days until he reached Rajagriha, the capital of the powerful state Magadha. King Shrenika (Bimbisara) and his family attended, and he received satisfactory answers to his questions. Indrabhuti was quite learned and vain; but when an old man came to him for an explanation of a sloka Mahavira had quoted before becoming lost in meditation,

Indrabhuti could not explain it. When Mahavira explained it, all of Indrabhuti's pride fell away in the presence of the great ascetic. Mahavira organized his order into four groups of monks, nuns, male householders, and female householders. All those initiated had to take the five vows, which included the four vows of Parshva (nonviolence, truthfulness, non-stealing, and non-possession) plus chastity. After spending the rainy season at Rajagriha, Mahavira went to Vaishali, where he initiated his daughter and son-in-law Jamali and spent the next year's monsoon season. Perceiving telepathically that the king of Sindhusauvira wanted to meet him, Mahavira traveled there and initiated King Rudrayana into the religion of the Shramanas. Returning from this long journey through the desert of Sindhu, they suffered from lack of food and water but remained indifferent. At Benares a multi-millionaire and his wife were converted. Spending two more rainy seasons in Rajagriha twenty-five of King Shrenika's sons were initiated into the Shramana community. It was recorded that Ardraka Kumara, a non-Aryan prince, who knew his past births, traveled to Mahavira to join his order and on his way defeated in argument Gosala, Vedic Brahmins, and other ascetics. At Kaushambi Mahavira converted King Prodyota and several queens, who were admitted into the order of nuns. After spending a rainy season at Vaishali he went back to Rajagriha, where he converted many followers of Parshva's religion who adopted the fifth vow of the Shramana community as well. Later he convinced Keshi Kumara, the leader of the Parshva religion, that he was the 24th Tirthankara, and Keshi brought his disciples into the new order. A few years later his son-in-law Jamali left the Shramana order with his disciples to form the Vahurata sect; but it was not successful, and most of his disciples returned to Mahavira's order. A dispute arose when Mahavira said that Gosala was not omniscient. Hearing of it and approaching Mahavira, Gosala tried to explain to him that he was no longer his disciple, because he was a different soul, who had entered Gosala's body and founded a new religion. Mahavira asked why he was vainly trying to conceal his identity. The irate Gosala swore at him and abused two of the Jaina monks, according to tradition destroying them, although Mahavira had warned them not to argue with Gosala. However, the negative energy that Gosala aimed at Mahavira returned to himself. He said that he would cause Mahavira to die of a fever in six months. Mahavira replied that he would live on, but that Gosala would be struck by his own magical power and die from fever in seven days, which came to pass. Mahavira outlived Gosala by sixteen years, but the Ajivika sect Gosala founded lasted for many centuries. When Kunika (Ajatashatru) forcibly took over his father's kingdom of Magadha, he moved the capital to Champa, where many princes and townspeople adopted Mahavira's religion. Although Ajatashatru liked to listen to Mahavira, it did not stop him from gathering a large army and allies to attack and defeat the Vaishali confederacy in a major war that killed King Chetaka. Finally at the age of 72 Mahavira left his body and attained nirvana, liberated and rid of all karma, never to return again. His first disciple, Indrabhuti Gautama, died also at dawn the next morning.

Jainism
According to Jaina tradition nine of the eleven disciples attained the highest knowledge of kevala during Mahavira's lifetime, usually many years before their nirvana and final death. Indrabhuti Gautama, the first disciple, attained kevala and nirvana the same night Mahavira died. The other disciple, Sudharma, became the leader of the Nirgrantha community (Nirgrantha means unfettered

ones.) and attained kevala knowledge after twelve more years and died eight years later at the age of one hundred. Thus Sudharma led the Order (Samgha) for twenty years and was succeeded by Arya Jambu Swamy, who had been initiated at the age of 16, attained kevala knowledge twenty years later, and directed the community until his nirvana death when he was 80. According to Jaina tradition he is the last person to have attained omniscience and nirvana. The essential metaphysical ideas of Jainism are nine cardinal principles. The universe is divided into that which is alive and conscious (jiva) and matter which is not (ajiva). Jivas (souls) are either caught by karma (action) in the world of reincarnation (samsara) or liberated (mukta) and perfected (siddha). Though their number is infinite, jivas are individuals and each potentially infinite in awareness, power, and bliss. Matter (ajiva) is made up of eternal atoms in time and space which can be moved and stopped. The other seven principles explain the workings of karma and the soul's liberation from it. The soul (jiva) is attracted to sense-objects by the principle of ashrava which leads to the bondage (bandha) of the soul by karma, which covers up and limits the soul's natural abilities to know and perceive in its blissful state, resulting in delusions and a succession of births. The next two principles are virtue (punya) and vice (papa) by which all karma either works beneficially toward liberation or negatively toward bondage. The seventh principle samvara is how the soul prevents ashrava (the influx of karma) by watchfulness and self-discipline of mind, speech, and body. This eventually leads to nirjara, the elimination of karma. Finally moksha or liberation is attained. In one's last life at death, nirvana (literally "being extinguished") describes the end of worldly existence for the soul, which then rises to the highest heaven. Although Jainas believe that souls may have some lives as gods and goddesses in heavenly worlds or suffer in hell and become demon-like, there is no total God lifting up souls or punishing them in hell. Rather each individual jiva is responsible for itself and completely determines its own destiny, although these jivas do have the divine attributes of infinite knowledge, power, and bliss. This doctrine of individual responsibility makes Jainism a primarily ethical religion, as does the severity of their five vows of nonviolence, truthfulness, non-stealing, chastity, and non-possession. Ahimsa (nonviolence) means not injuring any living thing in any way, and the Jainas took it very seriously. Injuring an animal or causing anyone to do so was considered a sin. This meant walking carefully so as not to injure even the tiniest creatures. The mind had to be watched to prevent thoughts and intentions that might lead to quarrels, faults, pain, or any kind of injury. Similarly one's speech had to be carefully monitored. The Jaina must be careful in laying down their begging utensils so as not to hurt a living being, and food and water must be carefully inspected to make sure no living things are hurt or displaced. As with nonviolence one must not speak any lies nor cause any lies to be spoken nor consent to any lies being spoken. Thus the Nirgrantha (Jaina) speaks only after deliberation and renounces anger, greed, fear, and mirth so that no falsehoods will be uttered. This vow combined with nonhurting (ahimsa) meant that speech must be pleasant and not painful or insulting in any way. Silence as a discipline was observed most of the time. Non-stealing means that nothing must be taken that is not freely given. Thus the Nirgrantha begs only after deliberation and according to strict rules, consumes food and drink only after permission is granted, occupies only limited ground for short periods of time, continually renewing the grant to be there.

Chastity is the renunciation of all sensual pleasures. To achieve this discipline monks do not discuss women nor contemplate their lovely forms nor recall previously enjoyed pleasures nor occupy a bed or couch used by women, animals, or eunuchs. A Nirgrantha does not eat and drink too much nor drink liquor nor eat highly seasoned food. Finally all attachments must be renounced, even to the delight in agreeable sounds or being disturbed by disagreeable ones. Similarly with all the five senses, one may not be able to avoid all experiences, but one is not to be attached to the agreeable ones, for those who acquiesce and indulge in worldly pleasures are born again and again. By these disciplines the wise avoid wrath, pride, deceit, greed, love, hate, delusion, conception, birth, death, hell, animal existence, and pain. In order to find liberation four things must be attained: human birth, instruction in the teachings, belief in them, and energy in self-control. This meant freeing oneself from family bonds, giving up acts and attachments, and living self-controlled towards the eternal. Collecting alms one may be insulted and despised, but the wise with undisturbed mind sustains their insults and blows, like an elephant in battle with arrows, and is not shaken any more than a rock is by the wind. The sage lives detached from pleasure and pain, not hurting and not killing; bearing all, one's luster increases like a burning flame as one conquers desires and meditates on the supremacy of virtue, though suffering pain. The great vows, which are a place of peace, the great teachers, and the producers of detachment have been proclaimed by the infinite victor (Jina), the knowing one, as light illuminating the three worlds (earth, heaven, and hell). The unfettered one living among the bound should be a beggar, unattached to women, and speak with reverence, not desiring this or the next world. The dirt of former sins committed by a liberated mendicant walking in wisdom, who is constant and bears pain, vanishes like the tarnish from silver in the fire. Free from desire with conquered sensuality, one is freed from the bed of pain like a snake casts off its skin. Renouncing the world, the sage is called "the maker of the end," for that one has quit the path of births. The soul cannot be apprehended by the senses, because it possesses no corporeal form and thus is eternal. The fetters on the soul are caused by bad qualities, which cause worldly existence. The golden rule is a part of the Jaina teachings and is extended to all living beings:
Having mastered the teachings and got rid of carelessness, one should live on allowed food, and treat all beings as one oneself would be treated; one should not expose oneself to guilt by one's desire for life; a monk who performs austerities should not keep any store.3

Once a disciple of Parshva, the 23rd Tirthankara, asked Gautama why Mahavira taught five vows instead of four. Earlier chastity was practiced as part of non-possession or detachment, but Keshi also explained that the first saints were simple and slow of understanding; they could practice the teachings better than they could understand them. The last saints were prevaricating and slow of understanding; though they might understand them, they had difficulty practicing them. Those in between were simple and wise; they easily understood and practiced them. The three gems of Jainism are right attitude, right knowledge, and right conduct. The right attitude takes an unbiased approach, believes in the nine essential principles, and uses discriminating perception. Right knowledge proceeds through the five stages of sense perception, study, intuition, clairvoyance, and omniscience (kevala). Right conduct or character comes from self-discipline,

renunciation, and pure conduct in practicing the five major vows. The rationale for self-discipline is explained in the Uttaradhyayana
Subdue yourself, for the self is difficult to subdue; if your self is subdued, you will be happy in this world and the next. Better it is that I should subdue myself by self-control and penance, than be subdued by others with fetters and corporal punishment.4

The rules for walking, sitting, begging for food, and evacuating one's bowels were very strict. In order to avoid causing anyone else even to do injury in preparing food, for example, monks must not accept food that is especially prepared for them. The monk must not encourage a lay person to give alms by playing with their children, giving information, praising charity, declaring one's family, expatiating on one's misery, curing the sick, threatening, showing one's learning, and so on. Attending a sacrifice performed by a Brahmin, a sage named Jayaghosha explained that a true Brahmin is one who has no worldly attachment, who does not repent being a monk, who delights in noble words, who is exempt from love, hate, and fear, who subdues oneself and reaches nirvana, who thoroughly knows living beings and does not injure them, who speaks no untruth from anger or fun or greed or fear, who does not take anything that is not given, who does not love carnally divine, human, or animal beings in thought, words, or action, who is undefiled by pleasure as a lotus growing in water is unwetted, who is not greedy, lives unknown with no house or property or friendship with householders, who has given up former connections with relations, and who is not given to pleasure. Showing that character and actions are more important to what one is than outward symbols or birth and color in regard to caste, Jayaghosha declared,
The binding of animals, all the Vedas, and sacrifices, being causes of sin, cannot save the sinner; for one's works are very powerful. One does not become a Shramana by the tonsure, nor a Brahmin by the sacred syllable aum, nor a Muni by living in the woods, nor a Tapasa by wearing kusha-grass and bark. One becomes a Shramana by equanimity, a Brahmin by chastity, a Muni by knowledge, and a Tapasa by penance. By one's actions one becomes a Brahmin or a Kshatriya or a Vaisya or a Sudra.5

Then Jayaghosha warned the Brahmin that there is a kind of glue in pleasure. Those who are not given to pleasure are not soiled by it, but those who love pleasures wander around in Samsara (reincarnation) and are not liberated. He said that if you take two clods of clay, one wet and one dry, and fling them against the wall, the wet one will stick to it. So the foolish are fastened to karma by their pleasures; but the dispassionate are not, just as the dry clay does not stick to the wall. Mahavira's theory of knowledge (syadvada) is relativistic and tentative to allow for the relativity of this world. Anything may be or not be or be indescribable or any combination of these to allow for various perspectives.

Mahavira taught 73 methods for exertion in goodness by which many creatures, who believed in and accepted them, studied, learned, understood, and practiced them, and acted according to them, obtained perfection, enlightenment, deliverance, beatitude, and an end to all misery. Briefly they are: longing for liberation, disregard of worldly objects, faith in the law, obedience to other monks and the guru, confession of sins, repenting to oneself and the guru, moral purity, adoration of the 24 Jinas, expiation, meditating without moving the body, self-denial, praises and hymns, time discipline, penance, asking forgiveness, study, recitation, questioning, repetition, pondering, discourse, sacred knowledge, concentration, control, austerity, cutting off karma, renouncing pleasure, mental independence, using unfrequented lodgings, turning from the world, not collecting alms in only one district, renouncing useful articles, renouncing food, overcoming desires, renouncing activity and the body and company, final renunciation, conforming to the standard, doing service, fulfilling all virtues, freedom from passion, patience, freedom from greed, simplicity, humility, sincerity of mind and religious practice and action, watchfulness of mind and speech and body, discipline of mind and speech and body, possession of knowledge and faith and conduct, subduing the five senses, conquering anger and pride and deceit and greed and wrong belief, stability, and freedom from karma. In disciplining the mind, speech, and body, Jainas often stood in one position for a long time. Meditation might focus on such thoughts as the impermanence of worldly things, human helplessness, transitory quality of human relations, aloneness, separateness of the conscious soul from the unconscious body, the impurity of the body, how attachment binds the soul by karma, how good thoughts may release the soul, how karma may be eliminated, the difficulty of attaining perfection, and how the teachings may save one. Mahavira's travels spread Jainism to various parts of northern India, and later migrations of monks enabled the religion to take hold in most of India. A poetic work on the rules of behavior for monks by Arya Sayyambhava written about 400 BC expresses concern that an act might "undermine the prestige of the Jaina order."6 This lapse of humility, one of the main virtues emphasized in this work, does indicate that Jainism was very likely respected by many. The examples of these extremely conscientious ascetics surely must have had their affect on people wherever they went; since they were homeless, they traveled constantly. Though they seem to have argued over doctrinal differences, no major schism occurred in the religion until the first century CE, and that was only over whether monks ought to go naked or whether they could wear a garment. In evaluating the ethics of Jainism we must keep in mind that the ascetic monks and nuns were probably far outnumbered by the householders, who practiced a minor version of the five vows. The primary goal of those who have renounced the world is spiritual liberation (moksha) from the wheel of reincarnation (samsara). Thus their lives were essentially motivated by this intention of removing their souls from the world. Though they lived lightly on the Earth, using as little of its resources as possible, they were still dependent on lay people for their meager survival needs. The complete focus on this other-worldly goal does seem to prevent them from contributing much to society except their example of self-discipline and possibly some teaching. Yet the lay people, who practiced Jainism while earning a living and providing for their families, were contributing to society while doing their best not to harm others or any living creature. Thus they were vegetarians and, if true to the teachings, lived profoundly ethical lives. Although they provided examples of peace, Jainas often supported the wars that were common in ancient India. Their individual ethic somehow was not able to expand into a larger social ethic to convert society as a whole to the nonviolence they practiced as individuals.

The extremity of their ascetic disciplines seems to have disregarded personal pleasures and happiness so much that the religion never became as popular as Hinduism or Buddhism, although it managed to persist in substantial numbers. Jainism has contributed a marvelous example of individual harmlessness to our world, and though it may not be a complete solution to all human problems, it provided a spiritual path for those seeking liberation and an outstanding model of selfdiscipline and reverence for all life.

Notes
1. Acharanga Sutra tr. Hermann Jacobi, 2:15:24. 2. Majjh. I, p. 92-93 quoted in Jain, K. C, Lord Mahavira and His Times, p. 56-57. 3. Sutrakritanga tr. Hermann Jacobi, 1:10:3. 4. Uttaradhyayana tr. Hermann Jacobi, 1:15-16. 5. Ibid., 25:30-33. 6. Sayyanmbhava, Arya, Dasa Vaikalika Sutra, 5B:12.

Buddha and Buddhism

Siddartha Gautama Buddha Doctrine (Dharma) Dhammapada Questions of King Milinda Community (Sangha) This chapter has been published in the book INDIA & Southeast Asia to 1800. For ordering information, please click here. The oldest known date in the history of India is the death of the one called Buddha in 483 BC, and even that date is somewhat controversial. Buddha means "one who is intuitive, awakened, or enlightened." The famous historical person known as Buddha was also called the Tathagata, which means "the one who has come thus," and Shakyamuni, which means "the sage of the Shakya tribe." He is said to have lived eighty years, and thus was probably born in 563 BC.

Siddartha Gautama
His father Suddhodana of the Gautama clan was elected king of the Shakya tribe by its five hundred families just south of the Himalaya mountains in the realm of influence of the powerful Kosala monarchy. The son was born in the Lumbini garden and named Siddartha, which means "he who has accomplished his aim." Many myths and legends surround the birth of Siddartha, but most of these seem to have been developed centuries later in the Jatakas. A famous seer named Asita predicted that the child would either become a great king or, if he left home, a great teacher. His mother Maya died seven days after giving birth, and her younger sister Mahapajapati, who was also married to Suddhodana, became his foster mother. By all accounts Siddartha was raised amid the finest luxuries of the time. Later he said that three palaces had been built for him - one for hot weather, one for cold, and one for the rainy season. His clothes were of the finest silk. When he walked on the grounds, someone held a white umbrella over his head. Even the servants were well fed, and music was played only by beautiful women.

Having demonstrated his skill in archery, Siddartha chose Yasodhara to be his wife, and they were married when he was about sixteen years old. For the next thirteen years he continued to live in luxury with his wife and concubines. Then about the time of the birth of his son Rahula, the famous four signs occurred. According to legend, his father had tried to prevent his princely son from experiencing any suffering or sorrow or religious contact so that he would become a king rather than a spiritual teacher. However, one day while traveling outside the palace gates, Siddartha happened to come across an old man for the first time in his life. He was appalled at the wrinkles and decrepitude. On another occasion he happened to observe a sick person and learned about the loathsome nature of disease. The third sign came when he witnessed a funeral procession and was able to see the lifeless corpse that was being carried. The suddenness of these three experiences set him thinking about the transitoriness of human life. Finally he came upon a religious ascetic, who had renounced the world to seek enlightenment, a common occupation for Kshatriyas like himself as well as for Brahmins. With the birth of his son he had fulfilled his obligation to continue his family line and decided that he too must renounce his kingdom and seek a way out of the human miseries of old age, sickness, and death. So he took off his silk garments and put on the coarse clothes of an ascetic and went south to Magadha seeking enlightenment. While begging for his food in Rajagriha, the capital city of Magadha, his princely demeanor was observed by King Bimbisara (Shrenika). The king went to see Siddartha to find out who he was and what he was doing. Siddartha told him that he was purifying himself in order to achieve nirvana, and he promised to teach the king after he attained enlightenment. Like the sages of the Upanishads, Siddartha practiced yoga and meditation. At Vaishali to learn meditative concentration he studied with Alara Kalama, who was said to have had hundreds of disciples. Siddartha soon learned how to reach the formless world, but still having mental anxieties he decided not to become a disciple of Alara Kalama. Nor did he become a disciple of his second teacher, Uddaka Ramaputra, after he attained the higher state of consciousness beyond thought and non-thought. Still not satisfied, Siddartha decided to practice the path of extreme austerities, and in this quest he was joined by the sage Kaundinya and four others. He pressed his tongue against his palate to try to restrain his mind until the perspiration poured from his armpits. He restrained his breath and heard the violent sounds of wind in his ears and head. He went into trances, and some thought he was dead. He fasted for long periods of time and then decided to try limiting his food to the juice of beans and peas. As his flesh shrank, the bones almost stuck out of his skin so that he could touch his spine from the front; after sitting on the ground his imprint looked like a camel's footprint. For six years Siddartha practiced such austerities, but instead of achieving superhuman knowledge and wisdom he only seemed to get weaker and weaker. Finally he thought that there might be a better way to attain enlightenment. He remembered how, while his father was working, he would sit in the shade of an apple tree free of sensual desires. Perhaps in concentrating his mind without evil ideas and sensual desires he should not be afraid of a happy state of mind. However, to gain the strength he felt he needed for this concentration he decided to start eating again. When he gave up practicing the extreme austerities, the five mendicants who were with him became disillusioned and left him, saying that Gautama lives in abundance and has given up striving. Siddartha reasoned that a life of penance and pain was no better than a life of luxury and pleasure, because if penance on Earth is religion, then the heavenly reward for penance must be irreligion. If

merit comes from purity of food, then deer should have the most merit. Those who practice asceticism without calming their passions are like a man trying to kindle fire by rubbing a stick on green wood in water, but those who have no desires or worldly attachments are like a man using a dry stick that ignites. Regaining his strength from normal eating of the food he begged, Siddartha once again practiced meditation. Now he easily attained the first stage of joy and pleasure, then a joyful trance arising from concentration with serenity and the mind fixed on one point without reasoning and investigation. The third stage produced equanimity to joy and aversion in a mindful, happy state. In the fourth stage pleasure and pain were left behind in a mindful purity. With his mind thus concentrated and cleansed he directed it to the remembrance of former existences from previous births, also perceiving cycles of evolution and dissolution of the universe. Then he directed his mind to the passing away and rebirth of beings, perceiving how the karma of evil actions, words, and thoughts leads to rebirth in miserable conditions and suffering in hell; but those beings leading good lives are reborn in a happy state in a heavenly world. Finally directing his mind to the means of ultimate release Siddartha realized that there is pain, a cause of pain, the cessation of pain, and a way that leads to that cessation of pain. Thus his mind was emancipated from sensual desires, the desire for existence, and ignorance. According to legend this whole process occurred in one night after he had decided to sit under a tree until he became enlightened or died. It was also said that he was tested by Mara, the tempter, but Siddartha could not be swayed from his purpose. Thus darkness and ignorance were dispelled by the light as Siddartha Gautama became enlightened and was henceforth known as the Buddha.

Buddha
Having gained this doctrine, the Buddha thought how difficult it would be for humanity to understood because of their attachments and lust. Trying to teach it to them would be vexation for him. However, the god Brahma asked him to teach the doctrine, because some people, who were not too impure, were falling away from not hearing the teachings. Then the Buddha in pity for beings surveyed their conditions and saw some of little impurity whom he could teach. At first he thought of his former teachers Alara Kalama and Uddaka, but in his clairvoyant awareness he realized that both of them had just died in the last few days. Then he decided to teach the five mendicants who had been with him in their striving. Perceiving that they were in the deer park at Benares, he decided to go there. Along the way he met an Ajivika ascetic named Upaka, who when told of the Buddha's enlightenment, merely said that he hoped that it was so and went his way. When the five mendicants saw Siddartha Gautama, they thought they would not rise in respect but would offer him a seat. However, as the Buddha arrived, they spontaneously greeted him as a friend. They still criticized him for living in abundance, but the Buddha explained that he does not live in abundance. He spoke to them as one enlightened, and they had to agree that he never had spoken to them in that manner before. While he admonished two of them, the other three went off to collect alms; then he spoke with those three while the other two went for alms. In this way all five soon attained insight and the supreme peace. In this deer park at Benares the Buddha gave his first sermon in which he explained that the two extremes are not to be practiced by the one who is enlightened - what is joined with the passions and luxury which is low, vulgar, common, ignoble, and useless, nor what is joined with self-torture which is painful, ignoble, and useless too. Avoiding these two extremes the enlightened follow the

middle path which produces insight and knowledge and leads to peace, wisdom, enlightenment, and nirvana. Buddha then expounded the four noble (aryan) truths of his doctrine.
Now this, monks, is the noble truth of pain: birth is painful; old age is painful; sickness is painful; death is painful; sorrow, lamentation, dejection, and despair are painful. Contact with unpleasant things is painful; not getting what one wishes is painful. In short the five groups of grasping are painful. Now this, monks, is the noble truth of the cause of pain: the craving, which leads to rebirth, combined with pleasure and lust, finding pleasure here and there, namely the craving for passion, the craving for existence, and the craving for non-existence. Now this, monks, is the noble truth of the cessation of pain: the cessation without a remainder of craving, the abandonment, forsaking, release, and non-attachment. Now this, monks, is the noble truth of the way that leads to the cessation of pain: this is the noble eightfold way, namely, correct understanding, correct intention, correct speech, correct action, correct livelihood, correct attention, correct concentration, and correct meditation.1

The Buddha declared that Kaundinya had understood the doctrine, and he welcomed him as the first monk in the community by saying, "Come, monk, well proclaimed is the doctrine; lead a religious life for making a complete end of pain."2 After further instruction the other four mendicants were also admitted into the community (sangha). Then the Buddha preached to the five that the body, perceptions, feelings, the mind, and even discriminating consciousness are not the self or soul. By turning away from the body, perceptions, feelings, mind, and discriminating consciousness, one becomes free from craving and emancipated. Life then becomes religious and is no longer under finite conditions. Yasa, the son of a wealthy guildmaster, lived in luxury at Benares, and like Siddhartha he became disgusted with his palace attendants. After hearing the Buddha's doctrine he left home and became the first lay disciple in the new community. The first women to become lay disciples were Yasa's mother and former wife. They were soon followed by four friends of Yasa and then fifty more. The Buddha then suggested that the sixty disciples wander around separately to preach the doctrine so that others may be liberated from the fetters of illusion, while he went to Uruvela in Magadha. There thirty men of royal blood had entered the forest with their 29 wives and a courtesan for the one who was not married. When the courtesan ran off with their gold, silver, and gems, they all went to search for her and found the Buddha. He asked them if it was more important to seek for that woman or for themselves. When they agreed that their selves were more important, they sat down so that the Buddha could teach them how to seek within themselves. Shakyamuni was sitting under a banyan tree when a Brahmin named Drona approached him in awe, asking if he was a god. The Tathagata said no. The Brahmin asked if he were a kind of nature spirit

(gandharva or yaksha), but again the Buddha denied it. When he asked if he were a human, he denied that too. Finally Drona asked him if he was neither divine nor non-human nor human, then what was he? The reply was that he is Buddha (awake). Shubha, a Brahmin student, asked the Buddha why humans differed so much in birth, intelligence, health, and so on. Shakyamuni explained that beings are heirs of karma, the consequences of their actions. Evildoers may experience happiness until their deeds ripen, and the good may experience bad things until their good deeds ripen. The pure and the impure create their own destinies; no one can purify another. Also living in this region were three Brahmin brothers of the Kashyapa family. They were ascetics with matted hair over the age of seventy and were the most respected religious leaders in Magadha with a total of about one thousand disciples. The Buddha spoke with the oldest, Uruvilva Kashyapa, but it was difficult for him to accept that such a young man could be so holy. Finally the Buddha used his mystic powers, and convinced of the Buddha's superiority Uruvilva decided to follow him. The Buddha suggested that they ask his five hundred followers what they wanted to do, and they all decided to join as well, shaving their hair and beards and throwing their ceremonial utensils into the river. The two Kashyapa brothers saw the implements in the river and eventually joined as well with their disciples. On the way to Rajagriha the Buddha and the thousand disciples saw the volcanic mountain Gayashirsa with its glowing fire. The Buddha preached his sermon on fire - how the sensations, perceptions, thoughts, and actions are burning with the poisons of covetousness, anger, and ignorance. At the capital he preached to King Bimbisara about the triple doctrine of charity, precepts, and good works. The king declared that all five of his wishes had been fulfilled - that he might be king, that a Buddha would come to his kingdom, that he would meet him, be instructed by him, and understand the teachings. After the sermon King Bimbisara donated a bamboo grove near the capital as a site for a monastery. Also at Rajagriha lived the agnostic Sanjaya, who also had many disciples under two named Shariputra and Maudgalyayana, who were seeking enlightenment and a better teacher. Shariputra observed Assaji (one of the first five mendicants in the community) begging and learned of the Buddha's teachings. He told Maudgalyayana, and they told the two hundred fifty disciples of Sanjaya. Even though Sanjaya tried three times to stop them from going away, they all went to find the Buddha, who greeted them with the revelation that these two would become his greatest disciples. Within two weeks of joining the community both Shariputra and Maudgalyayana had become enlightened. In meditating Maudgalyayana had trouble with drowsiness and falling asleep. The Buddha suggested several remedies including laying down for a while to sleep before resuming meditation. The uncle of Shariputra was a skeptic like Sanjaya and told the Buddha that he could not accept any conclusive doctrine. Shakyamuni simply asked him if he recognized his own doctrine as conclusive. Caught in self-contradiction, he realized the weakness and limitation of skeptical philosophy. Then the Buddha explained the law of causation in human life. Having heard that his son had become a Buddha, King Suddhodana sent Udayin to invite Shakyamuni to the capital at Kapilavastu. Udayin was converted to the new religion, and Shakyamuni returned to his home town. His father criticized him for begging for food when he was rich enough to feed thousands of followers. Shakyamuni replied that mendicancy was the correct custom for his line, by which he meant the line of Buddhas. Verbal discussions were not enough to

win over people who had known him as a boy; so the Buddha used his mystical powers to convince them. Siddartha's half-brother Nanda was about to be declared crown prince and married to Sundari, the most beautiful woman in the kingdom, but he decided to join the community instead. However, he could not help thinking about Sundari; so the Buddha gave him a vision of hundreds of heavenly maidens, though this was later criticized by others as a wrong motivation for seeking enlightenment. Eventually Nanda repented of this motivation and asked the Buddha to dissolve his promise of these maidens, and Nanda attained enlightenment and became an arhat (a term meaning "worthy" or "honorable" used for disciples who attained the highest level of awareness). Siddartha's son Rahula was also admitted to the community at the age of ten, but later a rule was made that minors under twenty could not join the community without permission from their parents. Many Shakya nobles also joined the community at this time (according to legend 80,000) including Ananda, Anuruddha, Devadatta, Bhaddiya, and Kimbila. On the way to Buddha they were accompanied by their barber and slave, Upali. They sent him back to Kapilavastu with their jewels, but afraid of the Shakyas' reaction, he put them on a tree and rejoined the five aristocrats. Upali, who was of the lowest caste, was ordained first giving him seniority over the nobles he had served so that their Shakya pride might be moderated. Like Mahavira, the Buddha taught in the ordinary language of the people rather than in the aristocratic Sanskrit. Complaints that monks wandering around during the rainy season trampled the grass and destroyed living creatures led the Buddha to adopt the custom of staying in retreat during the three months of rain. After one of these retreats, a wealthy householder from Shravasti, who became known as Anathapindada ("Giver of alms to the unprotected"), confessed to the Buddha that he enjoyed his investing and business cares. Shakyamuni suggested that he be a lay disciple and continue his work and use it as a blessing for other people. So Anathapindada invited the Buddha to spend the next rainy season at Shravasti, the chief city in Kosala, where he purchased and built the Jetavana Monastery. Later when Anathapindada was dying of a painful illness, Shariputra went and taught him the mental concentration for the avoidance of pain usually only taught to monks; Anathapindada died in peace. The Buddha liked the Jetavana Monastery to be quiet, for he once dismissed Yashoja and five hundred monks for talking too loudly after they arrived. However, they went to another place near Vaishali and made great spiritual gains. Later when the Buddha traveled to Vaishali, he noticed that the area was illuminated. He told Ananda to invite Yashoja and the five hundred monks to the hall with the peaked roof. When they arrived, the Buddha was sitting in silent meditation; they too joined him in silent concentration. Every few hours Ananda approached the Buddha to ask him to greet these monks, but Shakyamuni remained silent and in the morning told Ananda that if he understood meditation better, he would not have kept asking him to greet the monks, who were likewise sitting in immovable concentration. A new monk once confessed to the Buddha for having eaten meat in his almsbowl, but the Buddha forgave those who ate meat that was not prepared for them. Their ethical principle was not to harm any living creature. Yet he criticized those who hunt and kill animals for sport and warned his followers not to accept any food from such blood-stained hands. After Shakyamuni's father died as a lay disciple, he declared that a lay disciple, whose mind is free from the poisons of lust, attachment, false views, and ignorance, is no different than anyone else who is free. Fearing a famine, the Shakya warrior chiefs agitated for a war with the Kolyas over water rights to the Rohini River. The Kolyas had built a dike to conserve water; when they refused

the Shakyas' demand to dismantle it, both sides prepared for war. Just before the battle was to begin, the Buddha spoke to both sides, asking them to compare the value of earth and water to the intrinsic value of people and the human blood they were about to spill. He told a parable about a decrepit demon, who fed on anger and took over a royal throne, becoming stronger as more anger was directed at him until the true king came and calmly offered to serve the throne, which led to the diminishment and disappearance of the anger demon. In this way the war was avoided. Krisha Gautami was stricken with grief when her only son died. Unable to find a physician who could bring him back to life, someone suggested that she go to the Buddha. He told her to get a handful of mustard seed in the city, but it must be from a house where no one has ever lost a child, spouse, parent, or friend. Eventually she came to realize how common death was and put aside her selfish attachment to her child. Prajapati, the aunt and foster mother of Shakyamuni, asked to be admitted to the community. With Ananda acting as intermediary, the Buddha established eight conditions for the admittance of nuns into the community. Nuns had to make obeisance to all the monks, even the newest, and nuns were not allowed to criticize a monk even though monks criticized nuns. Although they were not treated equally, at least women were allowed to join the community. The sexism was also apparent when the Buddha told Ananda that the religious life would only last five hundred years instead of a thousand because women had been admitted. A legend tells how a disciple used magical power to get a sandalwood bowl that had been tied from the top of a bamboo pole as a kind of contest. When the Buddha heard of it, he forbade those in the community to use such magical powers and had the bowl broken up and used as perfume. He suggested that his disciples only gain adherents by the miracle of instruction. In the ninth year after the enlightenment the Buddha was at Kaushambi, and the monk Malunkyaputra complained that the Buddha never explained whether the world is eternal or temporary, finite or infinite, or whether life and the body are the same or different, or whether arhats are beyond death or not. He even threatened to leave the community if the Buddha would not answer his questions. First the Buddha asked him if he had ever promised to explain these things; he had not. Then he told the parable of a man who was pierced by a poisoned arrow, and his relatives summoned a doctor. Suppose, he said, the physician had said that he would not remove the arrow nor treat the patient until his questions had been answered, such as who made the bow, what kind it was, all about the arrow, and so on. The man would die, and still the information would not be known. Then the Buddha told Malunkyaputra that a person would come to the end of one's life before those metaphysical questions he had asked could be answered by the Tathagata. Those questions do not tend toward edification nor lead to supreme wisdom. However, the Buddha's teaching regarding suffering, its cause, and the means of ending it is like removing the poisoned arrow. A conflict arose in the community when a monk who refused to admit he had committed an offense was expelled. Some complained that this violated their principle that only evil deeds committed with conscious intent are morally reprehensible. However, the Buddha declared that the two greatest ways to obtain demerit are not to ask forgiveness after committing a wrong and not to forgive one who has confessed and asked for forgiveness. A Kalama nobleman from north of Kaushambi admitted that he had doubts because various teachers expressed contradictory views. The Buddha responded that he was wise not to believe everything

but to question with reason and by experience. After thorough investigation whether the teachings are good, free from faults, praised by the noble, and when practiced lead to the welfare and happiness of oneself and other beings as well, then they may be accepted and lived. At Asyapura they found Brahmin priests sacrificing horses, sheep, goats, cows, and other animals on bloody altars decorated with images of gods. The Buddha told his followers not to be deceived but to purify their hearts and cease to kill. They should not refuse to admit they are ascetics, who enjoy robes, bowl, bed, and medicine. In their simplified lives they learn how to calm their bodies and concentrate their minds to awaken the four religious qualities of loving friendship, compassion, altruistic joy, and equanimity. The Buddha also declared that in regard to this ascetic life all the castes are equal. A monk named Sona in the Sitavana Monastery at Rajagriha was so zealous in walking that his feet left a bloody trail. The Buddha asked him if his lute could be played well if the strings were too tight or too loose. Just so, excessive zeal may make the mind weary and one's thoughts irritable and uncertain. He suggested to Sona that gradual progress led to self-mastery and happiness rather than anxiety. A young Brahmin named Vakula was so infatuated with the Buddha that he continually kept him in his sight. The Buddha explained that the one who sees the dharma (doctrine) sees the Buddha, but Vakula still always remained in his presence. Finally at the end of the rainy season the Buddha asked him to go away. Realizing that Vakula was climbing Vulture Peak to commit suicide, Shakyamuni went after him and called him back lest he destroy the conditions for winning great fruit. An ambitious disciple named Purna decided to spread the doctrine to the Shronaparantakas. The Buddha, knowing that they were a dangerous people, asked him what he would do if they insulted and abused him. Purna said he would consider them good and kind for not hitting him and throwing rocks at him. But what if they hit and throw rocks? Then he would be glad they did not use clubs and swords. If they used clubs and swords, he would be glad they did not kill him; even if they kill him, they will have delivered him from his vile body. So equipped with patience and love Purna went to the Shronaparantakas and was about to be killed by a hunting archer for fun, when the hunter was so struck by how willing this person was to die that he stopped and eventually accepted the three refuges of the Buddha, the doctrine, and the community. Another monastery at Purvarama near Rajagriha was donated by Vishakha, the daughter of a rich man. Once at this monastery the Buddha remained silent on the moon day when the preaching service and confessions by the monks took place. Finally the Buddha said to Ananda that the assembly was not wholly pure. Maudgalyayana, perceiving who the immoral person was, asked him to leave; when he refused to leave three times, he was escorted out of the hall by the arm. The Tathagata thought it strange that he should wait until he was thrown out. Then the Buddha declared that he would no longer attend these sessions, but the monks would recite the regulations themselves. When Shakyamuni was about 55, his personal attendant at the time, Nagasamala, insisted on taking a different road than the Buddha advised and was beaten by robbers. At the Shravasti Monastery the Buddha announced that he wanted to have a permanent attendant. Shariputra volunteered, but the Buddha said his work was teaching. Maudgalyayana and others were also rejected. Ananda remained silent, but Shakyamuni asked him if he would find it a bother. Ananda said that it would not be bothersome, but he did not consider himself worthy. Then he offered to do it on the following eight conditions: that he not have to accept gifts or alms given to the Buddha nor dwell in

his chamber nor accept invitations offered only to him and that he may accompany the Perfect One when the monks are invited, that he may present him to those who come from a distance, that he may have access to him at all times, and that whatever teaching he missed by absence should be repeated to him by the Perfect One's own lips. The Buddha heartily agreed, and Ananda was his personal attendant for the rest of the Buddha's life. Shakyamuni was able to tame a dangerous robber and admitted him into the community. He also bathed and treated a monk, who was suffering from dysentery and had been neglected by the other monks because he lay in his own excrement. On another occasion he found that a leper understood the doctrine very well as he explained that whatever has a beginning must have an end. About 491 BC when Shayamuni was 72, a schism arose in the community, because his cousin Devadatta wanted to take over as head of the community; but Buddha refused, saying that he would not even turn it over to Shariputra or Maudgalyayana much less to a vile one to be vomited like spit. Devadatta became resentful and used his magical powers to win the favor of Prince Ajatashatru, the son of King Shrenika Bimbisara. They plotted together to take over the kingdom of Magadha and the Buddhist community. Bimbisara and the Buddha were to be murdered; but since Bimbisara turned over his kingdom to his son, he was merely put in prison. There he soon died, though chronicles stated he was killed by his son. Hired killers were converted by the Buddha, but Devadatta tried to roll a huge boulder from Vulture Peak down upon him. However, only Shakyamuni's foot was scratched. Yet spilling the blood of a Tathagata with murderous intent created terrible karma for Devadatta. When he had learned of his intent, the Buddha had already declared that Devadatta's words and actions were not to be considered as representing the community in any way. Although he had gained a few followers, these were persuaded to return to the real community after long sermons by Shariputra and Maudgalyayana when Devadatta fell asleep after his own talk. Abandoned and with his psychic powers destroyed by his evil intentions, Devadatta soon became ill and died. King Ajatashatru, who had also listened to Mahavira, was eventually converted by the Buddha; but his previous evil intentions and actions prevented him from attaining the enlightenment he might have achieved in that life. Ajatashatru married the daughter of the Kosala king Pasenadi, and Pasenadi's son married a maiden of the resentful Shakyas who was secretly of low birth. Her son, Vidudabha, swore revenge against the Shakyas. Pasenadi killed his powerful general and his sons, replacing them with the nephew Digha Karayana. While Pasenadi was listening to the Buddha, Digha hurried off and put Vidudabha on the throne. Pasenadi tried to get help from Ajatasatru but died of exposure on the way to Rajagriha. Surveying the world, the Buddha became aware of Vidudabha's intention to attack the Shakyas and three times was able to convince him to turn back; but on the fourth time the Shakyas' karma for poisoning the river could not be averted, and they were massacred. Enough Shakyas remained, however, to accept a portion of Shakyamuni's relics after his death. When Shakyamuni was 79, both his chief disciples, Shariputra and Maudgalyayana, died. Shariputra died in the home where he was born, but Maudgalyayana was killed by robbers to balance karma from a former life. At the age of eighty the vitality of the Tathagata's body seemed to diminish, and he declared that he had only three months to live. Ananda missed the opportunity to plead with him to stay until the end of the eon as Buddhas could do, and Ananda was later blamed for that by the community. Finally Shakyamuni took his last meal, ordering a smith named Cunda to give him some mushrooms (literally pig's food or pork) and give the monks other food and then bury the rest of the mushrooms. Sharp sickness arose with a flow of blood and deadly pains, but the Buddha mindfully

controlled them and declared that he would die in the third watch of the night. He sent word that Cunda was not to feel remorse but consider this giving of alms of the greatest merit. Ananda asked the Buddha how he was to act toward women. The Buddha advised him not to see them; but if he saw them, not to speak to them; but if speaking, to exercise mindfulness. Then he said his burial was to be handled by the local Kshatriyas. That evening Ananda brought the local families to say goodby, and then the Buddha answered the questions of an ascetic named Subhadda. Before going through the four stages of higher awareness into nirvana, the last words of the Buddha were, "Decay is inherent in all component things. Work out your salvation with diligence."3

Doctrine (Dharma)
Having taught for forty-five years from his enlightenment to his death, the Buddha left behind a large compendium of teachings that were memorized by various of his disciples. Since writing was a rarity then in India, they were passed on through the community until they were written down several centuries later. These earliest texts are in the common Pali language and usually are dialogs between the Buddha and others. Often the Buddha emphasized that it was more important for disciples to see the dharma (doctrine) than the Buddha, because the dharma would remain and was what they needed to practice to attain enlightenment and even afterward. The third refuge for the Buddhist was in the community (sangha) of monks and nuns. The Buddha advised his followers not to feel ill will or get angry when others spoke against them, because this might disrupt their self-mastery and prevent them from being able to judge whether the criticism was valid or not. For the same reason they should not be overly glad when the doctrine is praised. In regard to the moral precepts, the Buddha described himself as having put away the killing of living things, holding himself aloof from the destruction of life. Having laid aside weapons, he is ashamed of roughness and full of mercy, being compassionate and kind to all creatures. He does not take what has not been given, is chaste, and speaks truth being faithful and trustworthy, not breaking his word to the world. He has put away lying and slander and does not raise quarrels. Thus does he live:
as a binder together of those who are divided, an encourager of those who are friends, a peacemaker, a lover of peace, impassioned for peace, a speaker of words that make for peace.4

In describing the fruits of living as a recluse the Buddha emphasized to King Ajatasatru the importance of mindfulness toward the ethical significance of every action and word. Then having mastered the moral precepts, restrained the senses, endowed with mindfulness and self-possession, filled with content, the recluse chooses a lonely and quiet spot to meditate in order to purify the mind of lusts, the wish to injure, ill temper, sloth, worry, irritability, wavering, and doubt. At the end of this long dialog King Ajatasatru confessed his sin in putting to death his father and asked to be a disciple of the blessed one. The Buddha accepted his confession and noted that in the tradition of the noble ones' discipline whoever sees one's fault as a fault and correctly confesses it shall attain self-restraint in the future. The Buddha was quite a penetrating psychologist and described the psychological causality that leads to suffering in his theory of pratitya-samutpada (dependent origination). Sorrow, lamentation, misery, grief, despair, old age, and death are all caused by birth, which depends on existence, which

depends on attachment, which depends on desire, which depends on sensation, which depends on contact, which depends on the six senses, which depend on name and form, which depend on consciousness, which depends on karma, which depends on ignorance. However, by ending ignorance, then karma, consciousness, name and form, the six senses, contact, sensation, desire, attachment, existence, and birth with all the misery that comes after birth can be ended. Sensation and desire also lead to pursuit, decision, gain, passion, tenacity, possession, avarice, and guarding possessions, which can lead to blows and wounds, strife, quarreling, slander, and lies. This process is further described in a parable about an ancient kingdom where the celestial wheel symbolizing the dharma disappeared. The king ignored the advice of the sages that he should share some of his wealth with the destitute. This led to widespread poverty and theft. At first the king gave some wealth to a thief to solve his problem, but then not wanting to reward stealing he ordered that thieves have their heads cut off. This led to the arming of the poor, increased violence associated with their stealing, and more murders. This also caused more lying, evil speaking, and false opinions. Eventually greed, adultery, perverted lust, and incest became common, followed by lack of respect for parents, religious teachers, and the heads of the clans. Human life became like hunters feel toward their game, and at times people treated each other like wild beasts. Finally deciding to do something good, people started to abstain from taking life, which led to abstaining from taking what is not given, abstaining from lying, and abstaining from adultery. As the virtues were practiced, the health of the society returned. When this happens, a fully awakened one (Buddha) called Maitreya will come. Until then the Buddha recommended that people live as islands unto themselves, taking the dharma as their refuge, letting the mind be filled with love, compassion, joy, and equanimity. In another dialog the Buddha clarified the meaning of the eightfold path by saying that right view is knowledge of the four noble truths of suffering, its cause, cessation, and the way that leads to its cessation. Right aspiration is towards benevolence and kindness. Right speech is to abstain from lying, slander, abuse, and idle talk. Right doing is to abstain from taking life, from taking what is not given, and from carnal indulgence. Right livelihood is only described as putting away wrong livelihood. Right effort is toward preventing bad states from arising, putting away evil that has arisen, toward good states arising, and nurturing good that does arise. Right mindfulness is being self-possessed and mindful in regard to the body, overcoming craving and dejection in feelings, thoughts, and ideas. Right rapture is being aloof from sensuous appetites and evil ideas, entering into and abiding in the four levels of higher awareness. The first of these has cogitation and deliberation born of solitude and is full of ease and joy. The second suppresses cogitation and deliberation evoking by itself concentration, calming the mind and dwelling on high. In the third stage one is disenchanted with joy, is calmly contemplative and aware. The fourth state leaves behind ease and transcends former happiness and melancholy by entering into the rapture of pure mindfulness and equanimity, feeling neither ease nor ill. According to the Buddha the four motives that lead to evil deeds are partiality, enmity, stupidity, and fear. The six channels for dissipating wealth are being addicted to liquors, frequenting the streets at unseemly hours, haunting fairs, gambling, bad companions, and idleness. These ethical teachings and discourses on many other subjects are from the sayings (Nikaya) of the Buddha in the first of the Three Baskets (Tripitaka) that make up the Pali Canon. The second basket contains the discipline (Vinaya) books for the monks and nuns. Later commentaries on the original teachings make up the third basket of "higher doctrines" (Abhidharma). The first book in this last collection has been called A Manual of Psychological Ethics (Dhamma-sangani).

The Dhamma-sangani lists the good states of consciousness as the following: contact, feeling, perception, volition, thought, application, sustained thinking, zest, ease, self-collectedness; the faculties of faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, insight, ideation, gladness, and life; right views, endeavor, mindfulness, and concentration; the powers of faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, insight, conscientiousness, and the fear of blame; the absence of greed, hate, dullness, covetousness, and malice; serenity, lightness, plasticity, facility, fitness, and directness in mind and mental factors; intelligence, quiet, intuition, grasp, and balance. The list of bad states of consciousness is similar except that the views, intention, endeavor, and concentration are wrong instead of right, and there is unconscientiousness, disregard of blame, lust, dullness, and covetousness instead of their absence. In a further discussion of these ties the perversion of rules and rituals and the disposition to dogmatize are added to covetousness, lust, and ill will. To the cankers (asavas) of sensuality, rebirth, and ignorance is added speculative opinion about useless metaphysical questions such as whether the world is eternal, the soul is infinite, the soul and body are different, or whether one exists after death. A work on human types (Puggala-pannatti) analyzes individuals in terms of many characteristics such as the six sense organs and their objects (including mind as the sixth sense); eighteen elements of cognition, twenty-two faculties or functions, and such negative traits as being wrathful, vengeful, a hypocrite, a charlatan, jealous, avaricious, shameless, impudent, disobedient, associating with the wicked, having unguarded senses, being immoderate as to food, forgetful, unmindful, infringing moral laws, having wrong views, and internal and external fetters as well as their opposites. However, these texts mostly consist of dry and abstract lists with many repetitions.

Dhammapada
One of the greatest literary works of early Buddhism is the Dhammapada, which was placed among the smaller sayings in the first basket of sutras although it contains 423 stanzas in 26 chapters. Put together from highlights of Buddha's ethical teachings, it was in existence by the time of Emperor Ashoka in the third century BC. It begins with the idea that we are the result of our thoughts, impure or pure. Those who harbor resentful thoughts toward others, believing they were insulted, hurt, defeated, or cheated, will suffer from hatred, because hate never conquers hatred. Yet hate is conquered by love, which is an eternal law. Those who live for pleasures with uncontrolled senses will be overthrown by temptation. Those who cleanse themselves from impurity, grounded in virtues, possessing selfcontrol and truth are worthy of the yellow robe. Those who imagine truth in untruth and see untruth in truth follow vain desires. Passion enters an unreflecting mind like rain comes into a badly roofed house. Wrong-doers suffer and grieve in this world and the next, but the virtuous find joy and happiness in both. The second chapter is on awareness and begins:
Awareness is the path of immortality; thoughtlessness is the path of death. Those who are aware do not die. The thoughtless are as if dead already. The wise having clearly understood this delight in awareness and find joy in the knowledge of the noble ones. These wise ones, meditative, persevering, always using strong effort, attain nirvana, the supreme peace and happiness.5

It is good to control the mind, but thought is difficult to guard and restrain. Yet a tamed mind brings happiness. A wise person, who shows you your faults, may be followed as though to hidden treasures. The wise, who teach, admonish, and forbid the wrong, will be loved by the good and hated by the bad. The wise mold themselves, as engineers of canals guide water and carpenters shape wood. The path of those who have stilled their passions and are indifferent to pleasure, perceiving release and unconditional freedom, is difficult to understand like that of birds in the sky. Whoever conquers oneself is greater than the person who conquers in battle a thousand times a thousand people. In regard to punishment this text warns that those who inflict pain on others will not find happiness after death. Self is the master of the self, and a person who is self-controlled finds a master few can find. By oneself wrong is done and suffered, and by oneself one is purified. In regard to the world the Buddha recommended not following a bad law any more than a wrong idea or thoughtlessness. He advised us not to be attached to the world but to follow the path of virtue, for the world is like a bubble or mirage. Most of the world is blind, but the wise are led out of it by conquering temptation. The teaching of the awakened ones is not to blame nor strike, but to live alone and restrained under the law, moderate in eating, and practicing the highest consciousness. Joy is the natural state for those who do not hate those who hate them. Craving is the worst disease and disharmony the greatest sorrow. Health and contentment are the greatest wealth, trusting the best relationship, and nirvana the highest joy. Grief comes from pleasure, attachment, greed, lust, and craving. Anger may be overcome by love, wrong by good, avarice by generosity, and a liar by truth. The wise hurt no one and always control their bodies.
There is no fire like lust, no chain like hate; there is no snare like folly, no torrent like craving. The faults of others are easy to see; our own are difficult to see. A person winnows others' faults like chaff, but hides one's own faults, like a cheater hides bad dice. If a person is concerned about the faults of others and is always inclined to be offended, one's own faults grow and one is far from removing faults.6

Anyone who tries to settle a matter by violence is not just. The wise consider calmly what is right and wrong, proceeding in a way that is nonviolent and fair. For the Buddhist one is not noble because of injuring living beings; rather one is noble, because one does not injure living beings. Whoever realizes that all created things suffer, perish, and are unreal transcends pain. There is no meditation without wisdom and no wisdom without meditation, for in meditating one becomes wise; but in not meditating wisdom is lost. Whoever has wisdom and meditation is close to nirvana.
Lift up your self by yourself; examine your self by yourself. Thus self-protected and attentive you will live joyfully, mendicant. For self is the master of self; self is the refuge of self. Therefore tame yourself, like a merchant tames a noble horse. Joyful and faithful in the doctrine of the Buddha, the mendicant finds peace, the joy of ending natural existence.7

No one should hurt a holy one, but no holy one should strike back. The sooner the wish to injure disappears, the sooner all suffering will stop. The holy are free of all attachment, anger, and lust. Though having committed no offense, the holy bear reproach, ill treatment, and imprisonment. They are tolerant with the intolerant, peaceful with the violent, and free from greed among the greedy, speaking true words that are useful and not harsh. The holy call nothing their own, letting go of attachment to humans and rising above attachment to the gods. Eventually a holy one knows one's former lives, perceives heaven and hell, and reaches the end of births, having attained perfection.

Questions of King Milinda

Another great literary work of the Theravada ("way of the elders") school of Buddhism is The Questions of King Milinda. Menander was one of the Greek kings who ruled Bactria after the conquests of Alexander, carrying Greek power further into India than any of his predecessors in the last half of the second century BC; his name was Hinduized to Milinda by the unknown Buddhist author, who wrote this work a century or so later. The philosophical dialog is preceded by a prophecy from the previous lives of the two individuals whereby the Buddha foretold they would have this discussion some five centuries hence. While living as a god in a heavenly world, Mahasena is persuaded to be reborn as Nagasena so that he could help to enlighten this king. King Milinda delights in philosophical discussion and has never met his match until he encounters Nagasena. He asks the sage every difficult question he can think of and is continually amazed at the sagacious replies of Nagasena. In this way the Buddhist doctrine is thoroughly tested and explained. Even the first question asking his name elicits the response from Nagasena that there is no permanent individuality. King Milinda asks then who it is who lives, receives gifts, devotes himself to meditation, attains enlightenment, etc. Like a chariot it is none of the separate parts though their combination comes under the name "chariot," and he is known as Nagasena. Nagasena wants to know if Milinda will be discussing as a scholar who may be convicted of error or as a king who punishes disagreement, and King Milinda agrees to discuss as a scholar. The next day the king asks Nagasena what is the goal of his renunciation. The highest aim is the end of sorrow and the complete passing away. Sinful beings are reindividualized after death; sinless ones are not. True wisdom is cutting off one's failings, and this is accomplished by good conduct, faith, perseverance, mindfulness, and meditation. Good conduct is achieved by virtue and wisdom. Faith frees the heart of lust, malice, mental sloth, pride, and doubt. Perseverance renders support, and mindfulness discerns the good qualities from the bad; but meditation is the leader of all the good qualities. The one who will not be born again is more aware and, though suffering physical pain, is free of mental pain. But if there is no soul or individuality, how does reincarnation occur, and what reincarnates? Nagasena explains the doctrine of karma - how causes have their effects even from one life to the next. One who sets a fire is responsible for the other things that are burned by the spread of the fire. A person who prepares poison and drinks it oneself as well as giving it to others is responsible for one's own pain and shares responsibility for the pain of the others too. According to the Buddha it is karma that causes the many differences among people. The king asks why the recluses are so concerned about taking care of their bodies if they don't love their bodies. The body is like a wound that must be treated with salve, oil, and a bandage even though one does not love the wound. Although Buddhism is in many ways a pessimistic

philosophy, Nagasena nonetheless finds more merit than demerit, because eventually the wrongdoer acknowledges the wrong and feels remorse, eventually correcting and ending demerit. Yet those who do well do not feel remorse but gladness and peace and blissful feelings; thus good increases. After seven days of abstinence the king continues his discussion with Nagasena, asking him about various dilemmas he found in the Buddhist doctrine. Nagasena solves every problem by giving various illustrations. For example, the Buddha admitted Devadatta to the order even though he knew that he would cause a schism because he perceived that even this contact with the Buddha would keep Devadatta from becoming even worse. Social prejudice is transcended as even a prostitute is able to perform a miracle by the power of truth. Eleven advantages come to those who feel love toward all beings and put it into practice. Such people sleep in peace, awake in peace, have no sinful dreams, are dear to people and spirits, watched over by gods, not harmed by fire nor poison nor a sword, are easily tranquilized, calm, undismayed by death, and if arhatship is not attained, are reborn in the Brahma world. Though of a loving disposition, Prince Sama was shot by a poisoned arrow, because the virtues are not inherent in the person but are only effective at that moment while in use. The king is convinced that the felt presence of love has the power to ward off all evil mental states. Nagasena agrees heartily:
Yes! The practice of love is productive of all virtuous conditions of mind both in good and in evil ones. To all beings whatsoever, who are in the bonds of conscious existence, is this practice of love of great advantage, and therefore ought it to be sedulously cultivated.8

The king asks Nagasena whether virtue or vice is more powerful. The karma from vice seems to be effectively punished, this balancing in fact causes it to die away rather quickly; while virtue because of its grandeur lasts for a long time. Because virtue is rarely rewarded immediately as vice is often so punished, the results of virtue usually are received more abundantly in the lives to come. Also according to Nagasena vice only affects the doer, while virtue overspreads the whole world of gods and people. By giving the individual no peace the remorse from wrong-doing leads more quickly to the eradication of that evil. Finally at the end of their discussions King Milinda ordered a building constructed for Nagasena and the monks, turned his kingdom over to his son, abandoned the household life to become homeless, grew in insight, and eventually became an arhat himself.

Community (Sangha)
After the Buddha's death in 483 BC, the first Buddhist Council was led by Mahakassapa during which Ananda recited the discourses on the doctrine and Upali the rules of the discipline. These were then memorized and became the first two baskets of the Pitaka, the Sutta and Vinaya. Buddhism added abstinence from intoxicants to the four cardinal rules of abstaining from violence, stealing, lying, and sexual misconduct. At Buddhist gatherings the Pratimokshasutra was recited, followed by confessions of monks who felt they had violated any of it. The four offenses that led to expulsion were having sexual intercourse, taking what was not given, taking of a human life or persuading anyone to commit suicide, and falsely boasting of supernatural attainments. The thirteen offenses deserving

suspension included sexual misdemeanors, harming living beings by building a hut, falsely accusing another monk of a major offense, persisting in causing divisions in the community, and refusing to move when admonished by other monks. Other minor violations were eating between meals, attending secular entertainment, using unguents and jewelry, using high or luxurious beds, and handling money. A century after the death of the Buddha the monks of Vaishali relaxed the rules on ten minor points, leading to contributions of money to the monks. These were protested by the elder Yasa, who organized a council to condemn the changed rules. The easterners from Vaishali became known as Mahasanghikas, and the traditional westerners Theravada. According to tradition Theravada soon divided into eleven sects and Mahasanghikas into seven. Thus Buddhism was administered locally, though a monk could reside in any monastery irrespective of sect. In the third century BC the Emperor Ashoka tried to unite the Buddhists, but he was stricken with remorse when his minister beheaded monks refusing to comply. Advised by the most learned monk of the time, Moggaliputta Tissa, all monks who did not follow the Theravada were dismissed from the community, and refutations of heretical views were published in the Kathavatthu of the Abhidamma basket. The number of sects was reduced, but others later denied that Ashoka ever held such a council. Regardless of whether that council was held, the support of Ashoka for Buddhism greatly expanded its influence so that it was even adopted and promoted by Greek rulers such as Menander. The deification of the Buddha by the non-Theravadins led to the ideal of the Bodhisattva or future Buddha instead of the mere arhat. Bodhisattvas are enlightened persons, who postpone their own nirvana in order to help save all sentient creatures. This along with the conception of the pure mind (vijnana) eventually led to the "Greater Vehicle" or Mahayana Buddhism. According to Edward Conze the earliest part of the Prajnaparamita Sutra is from about the first century BC.9 It explains that the Bodhisattva comprehending the truth does not retire into the blessed rest but dwells in wisdom to help others. In this wisdom one finds that all truths are empty. The Bodhisattva, assured of future Buddhahood by previous Buddhas, whether absorbed in trance or not, knows the essential original nature. Seeing everything and everyone as illusion, the Bodhisattva is not attached to anything, while guiding all beings to nirvana. The world is transcended in this practice of wisdom, the highest perfection. Later during the Christian era this form of Buddhism was to spread into China and throughout Asia. Among the major religions Buddhism is unusual, like Jainism, in that it did not originally believe in God, though it recognized gods and goddesses and heavens and hells. Less stringent and more popular than the ascetic Jainism, it's emphasis on ethical behavior and the quest for enlightenment appealed to both those who renounced the world and laypeople. Though it also offered excellent individual models of ethical behavior and friendly attitudes, except in its religious community it was unable to convert society as a whole to its way of nonviolence any more than Jainism could. Nevertheless in my opinion both Jainism and Buddhism even more provided outstanding examples of supremely ethical attitudes and actions. They were not afraid to criticize the priestly corruptions of Brahminism nor the violent ambitions of the ruling class (Kshatriyas). Mahavira and the Buddha were great teachers and leaders, and the non-theistic religions they founded nourished and enriched the spiritual tradition of India and encouraged ethical behavior among its people. Perhaps the greatest contribution they both made was to make nonviolence a noble path in a culture where the word for noble (Aryan) had stood for racism based on color and the violent conquest of

India. Their devotion to truthfulness and their ability to live simple lives with few material possessions as well as their chastity kept their lives relatively pure and free of entanglements and exploitation. Though surely not without their individual imperfections and occasional schisms, the good contributed to the world by these teachings and the lives of their best followers must have been substantial.

Notes
1. Samyutta Nikaya 5:420 tr. Sanderson Beck. 2. Thomas, Edward J., The Life of the Buddha, p. 88. 3. Maha Parinibbana Suttanta 6:7 (156). 4. Brahma-Jala Sutta 1:9 (4). 5. Dhammapada 2:1-3 tr. Sanderson Beck. 6. Ibid. 18:17-19. 7. Ibid. 25:20-22. 8. The Questions of King Milinda tr. T. W. Rhys Davids, 4:4:16. 9. The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines & Its Verse Summary tr. Edward Conze, p. x.

Political and Social Ethics of India

Magadhan Ascendancy Alexander's Invasion of India Mauryan Empire, Ashoka and Sri Lanka Dharma Sutras Laws of Manu Artha Shastra Kama Sutra This chapter has been published in the book INDIA & Southeast Asia to 1800. For ordering information, please click here. So far most of our knowledge about the ethics of ancient India has come to us from the religious writings of the Vedas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, Upanishads, Jainism, and Buddhism. These are the oldest sources, as there were no significant historians of ancient India except for the Greek and Roman accounts of Alexander's conquests. Later we shall see what epic poetry revealed about Indian civilization. This chapter will review what we do know about the history of ancient India and then examine the writings about dharma (law, duty), politics, and pleasure. As we learned from the Vedas, ancient India was ruled by kings and councils of prominent men in varying degrees of monarchy and republican influence. Megasthenes, a Greek ambassador to India shortly after Alexander's death, wrote a book on India stating that monarchies were dissolved and democratic governments were set up in the cities. Jainism and Buddhism flourished particularly in the independent clans. According to Buddhist texts, in the sixth century BC there were sixteen major states in northern India of which Magadha, Kosala, and Vatsa were the most powerful. Our last chapter recounted how Kosala massacred the Shakya clan; after the Buddha's death, Kosala also took over Kashi. Vatsa was a prosperous country known for its fine cotton; its capital was Kaushambi. Their heroic king, Udayana, was descended from the Kurus of Bharata and was the subject of several poems and dramas. He was captured by the cruel king Pradyota of Avanti, but he contrived to escape with the

help of Pradyota's daughter. Interested in Buddhism, Udayana was converted by Pindola, but not before he had tortured Pindola with brown ants while in a drunken rage.

Magadhan Ascendancy
Magadha rose to imperial power during the long reigns of Bimbisara (c. 544-491) and his son Ajatashatru (c. 491-460); their relations with the Buddha have been told. Only fifteen years old when he was anointed king by his father, Bimbisara conquered Anga, which had defeated his father. His son was installed in its powerful capital at Champa, and his diplomatic and matrimonial relations with Pradyota of Avanti also enhanced his power with the annexation of Kashi. The Magadha empire included republican communities such as Rajakumara. Villages had their own assemblies under their local chiefs called Gramakas. Their administrations were divided into executive, judicial, and military functions. Bimbisara was friendly to both Jainism and Buddhism and suspended tolls at the river ferries for all ascetics after the Buddha was once stopped at the Ganga River for lack of money. After the death of Bimbisara at the hands of his son, Ajatashatru, the widowed princess of Kosala also died of grief, causing King Prasenajit to revoke the gift of Kashi and triggering a war between Kosala and Magadha. Ajatashatru was trapped by an ambush and captured with his army; but in a peace treaty he, his army, and Kashi were restored to Magadha, and he married Prasenajit's daughter. Jain and Buddhist accounts differ slightly as to the cause of Ajatashatru's war with the Licchavi republic, but precious gems figured in both accounts. This conflict would determine the fate of eastern India and drew the attention of the Buddha, who suggested to the democratic Licchavis that they strengthen themselves by holding full and frequent assemblies while maintaining internal concord and efficient administration honoring elders, institutions, shrines, saints, and women. However, Ajatashatru sent a minister, who for three years worked to undermine the unity of the Licchavis at Vaishali. To launch his attack across the Ganga River Ajatashatru had to build a fort at a new capital called Pataliputra, which the Buddha prophesied would become a great center of commerce. Torn by disagreements the Licchavis were easily defeated once the fort was constructed. Jain texts tell how Ajatashatru used two new weapons - a catapult and a covered chariot with swinging mace that has been compared to modern tanks. Approaching the Buddha's assembly of monks to ask forgiveness for ending the life of his father, Ajatashatru could not understand how at night it could be so quiet near an assembly of more than a thousand people and exclaimed, "Would that my son Udayi Bhadda might have such calm as this assembly of the brothers has!"1 This conversation with the Buddha was a turning point in the life of Ajatashatru, and after the Buddha's death the chief disciple, Mahakassapa, entrusted the bulk of the relics to Ajatashatru. The king also repaired the facilities at Rajagriha used by the Buddhists and sponsored the first Buddhist council by providing clothing, food, residences, and medicine for about five hundred monks and elders. According to Buddhist texts the four kings, who ruled Magadha after Ajatashatru, all killed their fathers, though Jain texts claim that his first successor was an adherent of their religion who was assassinated by his political rival, Palaka, the son of the Avanti king Pradyota, who had become powerful by conquering Kaushambi. Finally the people rose up against being ruled by murderers and elected Sishunaga king of Magadha; he destroyed the power of the Pradyotas and took over Avanti as well as Vatsa and Kosala. His son, Kalashoka, succeeded to a powerful empire, but he was murdered by a low-caste barber named Ugrasena, who founded the Nanda dynasty, which

ended the traditional Kshatriyas' rule by exterminating their principalities. The last king of the Nandas was overthrown shortly after Alexander's Greek invaders left India in 326 BC because he was hated by his people for his wickedness, miserliness, and low origin.

Alexander's Invasion of India

Alexander's Conquest of the Persian Empire Although the Persians extended their rule over the western edge of India under Cyrus, Darius, and Xerxes, the only major threat of foreign conquest came when Alexander of Macedonia invaded India in 326 BC. According to Greek historians, "None of the Indians ever marched out of their own country for war, being actuated by a respect for justice."2 Arrian also added that all the inhabitants were free, since no Indian was a slave, though he did describe seven castes as the naked wise men, farmers, animal herders, artisans, warriors, supervisors, and royal officials. Tillers of the soil were so respected that even when a war raged nearby, they plowed and gathered their crops in peace. After conquering Bactria Alexander crossed the Hindu Kush mountains. Taking advantage of rivalries between kingdoms, Alexander gained in advance the allegiance of Shashigupta and eventually Ambhi, king of Taxila. Alexander sent Hephaestion and Perdiccas with half his forces through the Khyber Pass, and they laid siege to the Astenoi for thirty days before their king Astes fell fighting. Alexander also met opposition from the free peoples, and in one of these skirmishes he was wounded while scaling the walls. An Athenian quoted Homer that Ichor flows from the blessed gods, but the conqueror denied this divine implication, declaring flatly that it was blood. Because their glorious leader had been wounded, the Greeks massacred the entire population of that tribe. Forty thousand Aspasians were taken prisoner, and the 230,000 oxen captured indicates the prosperity of the area. The Assakenoi resisted Alexander with tens of thousands of cavalry and infantry in a fortress at Massaga. After the king was killed, the army was led by his mother, Queen Cleophes, and included the local women. After several days of heroic fighting, Alexander offered these brave people their lives if the mercenaries would agree to join his army; the city capitulated. But not wanting to fight other Indians, the seven thousand mercenaries tried to run away from the camp and were slaughtered by Alexander's soldiers. Next the town of Nysa surrendered, and the Greeks celebrated with Bacchic revels the taking of a town they thought was founded by Dionysus. Then Alexander delighted in taking the town of Aornus, because he heard that Heracles had failed to do so. These incidents indicate that the motive for these conquests was the glory of mythic renown, since there was no other known provocation or rationale for the invasion of another country so far from home except perhaps to steal their wealth or the propaganda they were spreading Greek culture. King Ambhi of Taxila responded to Alexander's messengers with gifts and agreed to surrender his prosperous dominions with the following argument:
To what purpose should we make war upon one another, if the design of your coming into these parts be not to rob us of our water or our necessary food, which are the only things that wise men are indispensably obliged to fight for? As for other riches and possessions, as they are accounted in the eye of the world, if I am better provided of them than you,

I am ready to let you share with me; but if fortune has been more liberal to you than me, I have no objection to be obliged to you.3

Alexander, not wanting to be outdone by this generosity, gave Ambhi even greater gifts, plus one thousand talents in money. However, a Macedonian military governor was appointed over Taxila, and Ambhi provided military support to help the Greeks fight his Indian enemies. A naval officer named Onesicritus heard a lecture on ethics from the wise teachers, who received free food in the Taxila marketplace. They admired Alexander's love of wisdom even though he ruled a vast empire; they said he was the only philosopher in arms they had seen. They asked about Socrates, Pythagoras, and Diogenes, but they felt they paid too much attention to the customs and laws of their country, an illuminating insight from one of the earliest cross-cultural discussions. One of the naked sages, Calanus, refused to talk with Onesicritus because he would not strip off his clothes; but he did show Alexander an analogy of his government by trying to stand on a shriveled hide, which when trod on its edges would not stay flat; but when he stood in the middle, it did. This was similar to the point Dandamis had made when he had asked Onesicritus why Alexander had undertaken such a long journey. A young man named Pyrrho, who went on to found the skeptical school of Greek philosophy, also talked with these sages, causing his entire outlook to change. Alexander tried to negotiate with the other two major Indian kings, Abhisara and Poros. Abhisara sent gifts and promised to submit, but Poros said that he would meet Alexander on the field of battle. Alexander drafted five thousand Indian troops into his infantry, had a bridge of boats built to cross the Indus River, and met Poros on the banks of the Jhelum River, which his soldiers were finally able to sneak across at night to avoid confrontation with the elephants of Poros. This strategic battle fought in the rainy season was won by Alexander using flanking movements around the elephants. Thousands were slain, and after receiving nine wounds himself King Poros surrendered. When Alexander asked the defeated king what treatment he wanted to receive, Poros asked only to be treated in a kingly way. Winning Alexander's respect and friendship, Poros was granted the rule over his own people and later additional territory equal to his own that Alexander also annexed. Alexander took Sangala by storm, killing 17,000 Indians and capturing 70,000, while only one hundred of his own men were killed, though more than twelve hundred were wounded. Once again Alexander offered to spare independent Indians; but when they fled, about five hundred were caught and killed. He ordered Sangala razed to the ground. He could see no end to war as long as some were hostile to his conquering. Alexander was enthusiastic when he learned of prosperous farmland on the other side of the Hyphasis River, but that July Alexander's officers and soldiers, seeing the vast plains that stretched to the east, refused to invade any further, having already traveled 11,000 miles in seven years. When Alexander could not persuade them to follow him, he had to admit that the omens had changed. Arranging for Arsaces to pay tribute to the king of Abhisara, he left his conquered territory under this king Ambhi and Poros, then planned his voyage back to the sea. Having built a fleet of a thousand boats and expropriating another eight hundred, in November 326 BC Alexander began the voyage down the rivers to the sea. Hearing of opposition at the confluence of the Jhelum and the Chenab, Alexander marched his army forty-eight miles across the desert to attack the Mallians by surprise. Alexander led the attack personally, and the Greeks killed about five thousand Indians. Impatient with the slowness of those climbing the ladders into the enemy fort, Alexander jumped down into the fort almost alone where he was shot by an arrow through his breastplate into his ribs. Fighting until he fainted from loss of blood, he was then protected by

bodyguards, and the arrow was eventually removed. Alexander recovered, but in revenge all the Indians in the fort were massacred, including the women and children. Other independent cities of Brahmins revolted; 80,000 Indians were slain by the Greeks, and many captives were auctioned as slaves. After this bloody detour Alexander and his men returned to their ships and sailed down the Indus to the sea and returned to Babylon. On his boat Alexander questioned ten of the naked sages he captured for persuading Sabbas to revolt. Known for their pertinent answers to questions, Alexander threatened to kill those who gave inadequate responses. According to Plutarch these philosophers declared that the cunningest animal is the one people have not found out, that to be most loved one must be very powerful without making oneself too much feared, and that a decent person ought to live until death appears more desirable than life. Alexander had entered India with an army of 120,000 with 15,000 horses but returned with not much more than a quarter of them, mostly because of disease and famine. Although this conquest did open up communication between the Greeks and the Indians, it seems to me that this could have been done much better without all the killing and plunder. Alexander's Conquest of the Persian Empire

Mauryan Empire, Ashoka and Sri Lanka

Alexander's conquests affected only the westernmost portion of India, as most of the empire of the Nandas remained intact. However, within a year or two of Alexander's departure this great empire was overthrown, not by the Greeks but by Chandragupta, the founder of the Mauryan dynasty. According to Greek historians the young Chandragupta met Alexander, angered him, and was ordered to be killed but fled. A Pali work describes how Chandragupta and his minister Chanakya recruited an army from the disaffected people of the Punjab who had resisted Alexander and then overthrew the existing government of India. The Greek satraps Nicanor and Philippus were killed; when Alexander's empire was divided up after his death in 323 BC, the Indus valley had already been lost to Chandragupta; Eudemus left India in 317 BC. Seleucus, the ruler of the eastern portion of the Greek empire, encountered Chandragupta in 305 BC and had to cede the Hindu Kush mountain area for 500 elephants, which enabled him to defeat Antigonus at Ipsus. Megasthenes was sent as the Greek ambassador to the court at Pataliputra, where he wrote a book on India. A royal road of more than a thousand miles connected the northwest territory with this capital. Megasthenes described how this vast empire was ruled by Chandragupta, who conducted public business and judged causes throughout his waking day. Provinces were ruled by governors and viceroys and the Emperor himself with the help of his council. An intelligence system, which included courtesans, reported to the king. Irrigation was regulated, and the army had more than 600,000 men; but they were outnumbered by the farmers, whose work was respected even in wartime. Literary legends portray Chanakya as the genius behind the throne and the author of Kautilya's Arthashastra. Jain tradition claims that in the last days of his life Chandragupta was converted and joined their migration led by Bhadrabahu. Chandgragupta ruled for a quarter of a century and was succeeded by his son Bindusara, who ruled for about 27 years. According to a Tibetan source, Chanakya also helped Bindusara destroy sixteen towns and master all the territory between the eastern and western seas. Bindusara corresponded with the Syrian king Antiochus I, offering to buy

wine, figs, and a sophist; but Greek law prohibited the selling of a sophist. Bindusara appointed his son Ashoka viceroy of Avanti, and about 273 BC Ashoka became emperor of India. Buddhist texts portray Ashoka consolidating his empire by killing ninety-nine of his brothers; but some consider this an exaggeration to set off the contrast after his conversion because some of his rock edicts indicate loving care of his brothers. With a sense of his historic mission Ashoka had these rock edicts and stone pillars carved all over India with descriptions of his intentions and actions. These tell a remarkable story of the philosopher king H. G. Wells called the greatest of kings. Ashoka admitted in Rock Edict 13 that eight years after his consecration as king when "Kalinga was conquered, 150,000 people were deported, 100,000 were killed, and many times that number died."4 Yet after that, he was converted to justice (dharma), loved it, and taught it. With great remorse Ashoka transformed himself and attempted to transform his kingdom and the world, though he warned offenders that they might be executed if they disobey. Eliminating capital punishment was not one of his reforms, although he did often delay executions. Ashoka expressed his main concern for the next world. Ashoka renounced the violence of war, stating that he would have to bear all that could be borne. He refused to conquer weaker and smaller states, allowing even forest tribes an equal sovereignty. He wanted all people to enjoy the benefits of non-injury, self-control, fair conduct, and gentleness. As a benevolent monarch he declared all people his children and expressed his desire that all his children obtain welfare and happiness both in this world and the next. He thus engaged in preaching but also worked hard to serve his people. Instead of organizing military expeditions, he sent out peace missions throughout his kingdom and beyond to teach virtue and conversion to a moral life by love. In another rock edict Ashoka said he had been an open follower of the Buddha for two and a half years. He abolished royal hunting and animal sacrifices in the capital, reducing the palace's killing of animals for food from several thousand a day to two peacocks and an occasional deer, and he promised to eliminate even those three. He banned sports involving the killing of animals and cruel animal fighting. In the 26th year of his reign he restricted the killing and injury of parrots, wild geese, bats, ants, tortoises, squirrels, porcupines, lizards, rhinos, pigeons, and all quadrupeds that were neither used nor eaten. Ashoka provided medicinal plants for people and animals to neighboring kings as well as throughout his own kingdom, seeing no more important work than acting for the welfare of the whole world. He appointed governors who would serve the happiness and welfare of the people, and he insisted on justice and consistent punishments. He commanded that reports be made to him at any hour of the day and at any place, so intent was he in working for the good of all. To protect people and beasts Ashoka had trees planted and shelters built at regular intervals along the roads. Mango groves were planted, and wells were dug. Although he followed Buddhist dharma, Ashoka respected all the religious sects and also encouraged his people to do so by guarding their speech in neither praising one's own sect nor blaming other sects except in moderation. He believed that whoever praises one's own sect and disparages another's does one's own sect the greatest possible harm. "Therefore concord alone is meritorious, that they should both hear and obey each other's morals (dharma)."5 He wanted all sects to be full of learning and teach virtue, and he promoted the essence of all religions, their unity in practice, their coming together in religious assemblies, and learning the scriptures of different religions.

Ashoka's emphasis was on ethical action rather than ritual and ceremonies, which he found of little use. The ceremonies of dharma that he found useful were "the good treatment of slaves and servants, respect for elders, self-mastery in one's relations with living beings, gifts to Brahmins and ascetics, and so on."6 For thirty-seven years Ashoka ruled a large empire that included most of India except the southern tip. Yet his efforts were to bring justice and virtue to the whole world. Thanks to his rock edicts and human memory, his admirable intentions will never be forgotten. Little is known of Ashoka's successors, but it took about fifty years before the Mauryan dynasty came to an end about 187 BC with the assassination of Brihadratha by his general Pushyamitra and the invasion of the Bactrian Greeks. Pushyamitra was able to drive out the Greeks and ruled for about 36 years, but Buddhists complained that he was a cruel persecutor of their religion who offered gold coins for the killing of monks. The Shunga kings ruled for more than a century and were followed by the Kanvas, whose dynasty in Magadha lasted 45 years and was overthrown in 30 BC. By this point the empire was broken up, and little is known of this history except of some of the Greek rulers in Bactria, such as Demetrius II who conquered the Punjab and northwest India between 180 and 165 BC, Eucratides who was murdered by his son about 150 BC, and Menander who ruled for about 25 years in the late second century BC and was said to have become a follower of the Buddha. Ashoka recognized three neighboring kingdoms in southern India as Chola, Pandya, and Chera, where the Tamil language was spoken. Legends indicate Dravidian and Aryan tribes coming in from the northwest; Agastya was said to have brought farmers from the homeland of Krishna. The Chola ascendancy over the Tamil states began in the first century BC when King Karikala escaped from prison and eventually defeated the combined forces of the Pandya and Chola kings with the help of eleven minor chieftains. King Karikala also invaded the island of Sri Lanka and removed 12,000 inhabitants to work building a fortification at the seaport Puhar. He also had irrigation channels built there at the River Kaveri. A Buddhist monastery at Mahavihara recorded in the Mahavamsa the early history of Sri Lanka. The pre-Dravidian aborigines were called Nagas and Yakshas. About the fourth century BC they were colonized by people from Bengal led by Vijaya, who had been banished by his father for evil conduct; he invaded the island with seven hundred men followed by the importation of a thousand families and many maidens. A century later King Devanampiya Tissa sent an embassy to Emperor Ashoka, who sent back envoys to consecrate this king. Ashoka's brother Mahendra went to Sri Lanka to convert them to Buddhism, and a branch of the Bodhi tree was planted in the capital Anuradhapura. Devanampiya Tissa ruled Sri Lanka for forty years until about 210 BC, and he was succeeded by his three brothers. Then two brothers from southern India named Sena and Guttika usurped the throne and ruled for twenty years. The noble Elara from Chola overcame Asela and ruled the island for many years with justice for friends and enemies. Legend records that he even had his own son executed for accidentally running over a calf and killing it. Elara introduced their tradition of the bell of justice. However, he was considered a Tamil usurper, and after fifteen years of war he was defeated and killed by King Dutthagamani (r. 161-137 BC), who battled thirty-two chiefs to establish a united kingdom in Sri Lanka. He was succeeded by his brother Saddhatissa (r. 137-119 BC). Upon his death his younger son Thulatthana was chosen king by counselors and Buddhist monks, but the elder son Lanjatissa defeated the younger brother and held the throne for ten years. He was succeeded by his younger brother Khallatanaga, who was killed by rebels after ruling for six years. The rebel king was soon killed by another brother Vattagamani, who married the widowed queen in 103 BC. However, the same year King Vattagamani faced a Tamil invasion and a rebellion by one of his governors. He tried to quell the rebellion by using the invaders, but then the seven invaders drove him out of the

country. His queen and the Buddha's alms-bowl were taken back to India by two invaders while the other five invaders ruled Sri Lanka 103-89 BC. Vattagamani recovered his kingdom from the Tamil invasion in 89 BC and governed for twelve years during which the extensive Buddhist Tripitaka was written down along with the Atthakatha. Vattagamani was succeeded by two sons, but the second, Choranaga (r. 63-51 BC), had Buddhist sanctuaries destroyed. He and several succeeding kings were poisoned by his wife Anula; then she was killed by Kutkannatissa, who ruled for 22 years until about 20 BC.

Dharma Sutras
In ancient Indian culture political and social ethics were focused around the three goals of dharma (justice, duty, virtue), artha (success, prosperity), and kama (pleasure). The fourth goal of moksha (liberation) was considered the highest goal sought through spiritual and religious endeavor. Ways of attaining this spiritual release from the cycle of rebirth have been discussed in the chapters on the Upanishads, Jainism, and Buddhism, and will also be discussed in the next chapter on Hinduism. The era of the sutras in Hindu culture slightly preceded the development of Jainism and Buddhism in the sixth century BC and lasted until the law codes began to become more formalized in the Laws of Manu starting around the 2nd century BC. Each school of the Brahmins had their own collection of duties with the Shrauta Sutras on the Vedic sacrifices, the Grihya Sutras on domestic ceremonies, and the Dharma Sutras on personal and social conduct. All of these follow the sacred traditions of the Aryan Vedas and distinguish the various duties, obligations, and privileges of the four castes. The Grihya Sutras delineate detailed rules for the householder in regard to marriage and household customs, manners, and rituals. The Dharma Sutras cover broader areas of social customs and offer specific rules for almost every aspect of life. The four castes of the Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (rulers), Vaishyas (farmers and merchants), and Sudras (workers) were a strict hierarchy with each preceding caste superior by birth to the one following. The twice-born top three are ordained through initiation to study the Vedas and kindle the sacred fire, but the Sudras were only ordained to serve the other three superior castes. Brahmins were initiated in the eighth year after conception in the spring, Kshatriyas in the eleventh year in the summer, and Vaishyas in the twelfth in the autumn. The one initiating them became their teacher and must be served loyally according to strict rules. Initiates were not supposed to associate with those families that were not initiated called "slayers of Brahman." Respect was to be shown to those in a superior caste and to those of the same caste venerable for their learning and virtue. Belief in the caste system was based on the idea of karma that those who act well in this life will be born in better circumstances or a higher caste next time, and those who do not fulfill their duties will be born in a lower caste and worse circumstances. Nevertheless this arbitrary system based on birth does tend to violate the principles of justice and equal opportunity for all. The student phase of life was quite strict and celibate. These youths were not allowed to look at dancing, attend festivals or gambling halls, gossip, be indiscreet, talk with women unnecessarily, nor find any pleasure where one's teacher could be found. Students were to restrain their organs, be forgiving, modest, self-possessed, energetic, and free of anger and envy. The teacher was to love the youth as his own son and give him full attention in teaching the sacred knowledge without hiding anything in the law; teachers were not allowed to use students for their own purposes to the detriment of their studies except in times of distress.

The syllable Aum was chanted prior to studying the Vedas, and twelve years were considered necessary for the study of each of the four Vedas, although not everyone studied all four, as family traditions tended to focus on one of the Vedas. Meditation was practiced to gain wisdom and recognize the soul (atman) in all creatures as well as the eternal being within oneself. The eradication of faults such as anger, exultation, grumbling, covetousness, perplexity, doing injury, hypocrisy, lying, gluttony, calumny, envy, lust, secret hatred, and neglecting to control the senses or mind was accomplished by means of yoga. Detailed rules of penance are described for numerous offenses. When adequate knowledge of the Veda has been gained by the student, he goes through a bathing ceremony and is henceforth known as a snataka. Rules for the snataka are detailed as are the duties of the householder after marriage. Rules of inheritance are defined, and funeral ceremonies are described. Beyond student and householder are two more stages of life available to spiritual seekers, who leave their home to become a chaste hermit in the forest, possibly to be followed by the final stage of renouncing everything as an ascetic (sannyasin) who must
live without a fire, without a house, without pleasures, without protection. Remaining silent and uttering speech only on the occasion of the daily recitation of the Veda, begging so much food only in the village as will sustain his life, he shall wander about neither caring for this world nor for heaven."7

Such a person is clearly seeking spiritual liberation (moksha). The beginnings of criminal and civil law are also outlined in the Dharma Sutras, but punishments are differentiated according to the perpetrator's caste and also the victim's. Neither capital nor corporal punishment were to be inflicted on Brahmins. A Brahmin might be exiled, but he was allowed to take his things. The Apastamba Sutra concludes with the idea that duties not taught in the text must be learned from women and men of all castes.

Laws of Manu
Based on earlier Dharma Sutras, the most influential and first great law code of the Hindus, the Laws of Manu, was written between the second century BC and the second century CE. The sage Manu begins by describing the creation from the divine self-existent reality, which can be perceived by the internal organ. The best of the created beings are those animated ones who subsist by their intelligence, and of those humans the best are the Brahmins who learn the Vedas and know God (Brahman). Manu declared the sacred law as it pertains to the four castes (varna meaning color). Though action from a desire for rewards is not laudable, there is no exception in this world. The study of the Veda is based on the idea of action (karma) - that acts, sacrifices, and the keeping of vows and laws are kept on the belief that they will bear fruit. Those who obey the revealed laws and the sacred tradition gain fame in life and after death unsurpassable bliss. The sacred law comes from four sources: the Vedas, the sacred tradition, the customs of the virtuous, and one's own conscience. The Vedas represent the revealed truth (sruti), and on them are based the Sutras and these laws which define the sacred tradition (smriti). Thus study of the Vedas is still primary for the three castes who are initiated.

The best way to restrain oneself from sensual pleasures is by constant pursuit of knowledge. The student is to abstain from honey, meat, perfumes, garlands, spices, women, any acid, and from doing injury to living creatures. Students especially must watch out for women, because it is their nature to seduce men, and they can lead astray even a learned man, causing him to become a slave of desire and anger. Originally the castes and laws may not have been as rigid as they later became. With faith, says the Laws of Manu (2:238), one may receive pure learning even from a person of lower caste, the highest law from the lowest, and an excellent wife may come from a base family. Many of the rules for students and snatakas follow those in the Dharma Sutras. There is the deeper belief that injustice practiced in this world may not bear fruit at once; but eventually it will cut off one's roots, and it may even fall on one's sons or grandsons, though one may prosper for a while through injustice. The following advice is given to the twice-born:
Let him always delight in truthfulness, the sacred law, conduct worthy of an Aryan, and purity; let him chastise his pupils according to the sacred law; let him keep his speech, his arms, and his belly under control. Let him avoid wealth and desires, if they are opposed to the sacred law, and even lawful acts which may cause pain in the future or are offensive to people. Let him not be uselessly active with his hands and feet, or with his eyes, nor crooked nor talk idly, nor injure others by deeds or even think of it.8

Though one may be entitled to accept presents, one should not get attached to accepting them lest the divine light in one be extinguished. The Brahmin, who accepts gifts without performing austerities or studying the Veda, sinks like a boat made of stone. Everyone is born single and dies the same way. Single, one enjoys virtue or sin, for in the next world neither father, mother, wife, nor sons stay to be one's companions; only spiritual merit alone remains. The persevering, gentle, and patient shun the company of the cruel, and doing no injury gains heavenly bliss by controlling one's organs and by liberality. To lie to the virtuous is the most sinful thing as it steals away one's own self. What is most salutary for the soul is to meditate constantly in solitude in order to attain supreme bliss. Noninjury (ahimsa) is essential to this ethic. Those who injure beings in giving themselves pleasure never find happiness in life or death, but those who do not cause suffering to living creatures and desire the good of all obtain endless bliss.
Whoever does not injure any attains without effort what one thinks of, what one understands, and what one fixes one's mind on. Meat can never be obtained without injury to living creatures, and injury to sentient beings is detrimental to heavenly bliss; let one therefore shun meat. Having well considered the origin of flesh and the fettering and slaying of corporeal beings, let one entirely abstain from eating flesh.9

In spite of these thoughts animals were still sacrificed.

Though where women are honored, the gods are pleased, females were to be subordinate to men throughout their lives - the child to her father, the woman to her husband, and after his death to her sons. They apparently believed that the child was completely determined by the seed of the man and that the womb was only like the soil of the field. Yet the law also held that what was sown in someone else's field belonged to the (owner of the) field. A wife may accompany her husband in the third stage of life as a hermit in the forest. There one meditates and studies the Upanishads in order to attain complete union with the soul. After studying the Vedas, having sons, and offering sacrifices, in the fourth stage one may direct one's mind to the final liberation. The ascetic gives up all worldly things, bearing patiently hard words, anger, and curses without returning anger, drinking purified water, and uttering only speech purified by the truth. Abstaining from all sensual enjoyments, one sits alone delighting in the soul. In deep meditation indifferent to all objects one may recognize the supreme soul that is present in all organisms. The ten-fold law of all four stages of life is contentment, forgiveness, self-control, non-stealing, purification, control of the organs, wisdom, knowledge, truthfulness, and abstention from anger. The Kshatriya, whose highest model is the king, has the sacred duty to protect everyone and must also act as judge, prescribing proper punishment for those who commit wrongs. If the king did not punish those who needed it, the stronger would roast the weaker. The king was to be just to his own subjects, chastise enemies, be honest with friends, and lenient toward Brahmins. The main vices the king must watch out for come from the love of pleasure and wrath. Vice is to be feared more than death, because the vicious sink down while the one who dies free from vice ascends to heaven. Here we also find for perhaps the first time the atrocious belief that a warrior who fights hard in battle goes to heaven if killed. In spite of the concept of non-injury, warfare was still socially acceptable. However, the wise king arranges everything so that no ally or neutral or foe may injure him, and this is considered the sum of political wisdom. Foes may be conquered by conciliation, by gifts, and by creating dissension, but never by fighting. Civil and ceremonial laws fall into the following eighteen categories: non-payment of debts, deposit and pledge, sale without ownership, concerns among partners, resumption of gifts, non-payment of wages, non-performance of agreements, rescission of sale and purchase, disputes between owner and servants, boundary disputes, assault, defamation, theft, robbery and violence, adultery, duties of husband and wife, inheritance partition, and gambling. Justice violated destroys, but preserved justice preserves. Justice is the only friend one has after death, for everything else is lost. Yet the soul is the witness of the soul and the refuge of the soul. The wicked may think no one sees them, but the gods see them distinctly. Those who commit violence are considered the worst offenders, and the king who pardons the perpetrators of violence incurs hatred and quickly perishes. The Laws of Manu are summarized as non-injury, truthfulness, non-stealing, purity, and control of the organs. The main duty of the Brahmin is to teach, the Kshatriya to protect, the Vaishya to trade, and the Sudra to serve. Penances are detailed but can be summarized as by confession, repentance, austerity, and by reciting (Vedas), or by liberality. In proportion as one confesses and loathes the wrong, one is freed from guilt; one is purified by stopping the sin and thinking, "I will do so no more." Austerities are to be repeated until one's conscience is satisfied. Realizing what comes after death, one will always be good in thoughts, speech, and actions. Mental faults are coveting the property of others, thinking what is undesirable, and adhering to false

doctrines. Wrong speech comes from untruth, detracting from the merits of others, abuse, and talking idly. Bad actions are taking what has not been given, injuring, and intercourse with another's wife. The doctrine of reincarnation helps people to realize that the consequences of their actions may occur in another life. All actions are good (sattva), passionate (rajas), or dark (tamas). Goodness comes from knowledge, darkness from ignorance, and passion from love and hate. Goodness results in bliss, calm, and pure light; passion ever draws one towards pleasure and pain; and darkness leads to delusion, cowardice, and cruelty. The good in their next life are more divine; the passionate are human; and the dark more animalistic. Ultimately knowledge of the soul is the first science, because by self-knowledge immortality is attained.

Artha Shastra
The classic work on the goal of material success is the Artha Shastra by Kautilya, who is identified with Chanakya, the advisor of Chandragupta, first king of the Mauryan dynasty. This treatise is a collection of political, legal, and economic advice from earlier sources put together and commented on by Kautilya. Unfortunately it is another step down ethically from the Dharma Sutras and traditional law codes to a worldly strategy of how to enhance one's own kingdom often at the expense of others. The complete text of this work was discovered in 1905 and has been translated into English. In the third chapter Kautilya repeated the traditional views of the Vedas, the caste system, the four stages of life, and lists the duties common to all as harmlessness, truthfulness, purity, freedom from spite, abstinence from cruelty, and forgiveness. However, he then goes on to analyze government as the art of punishment based on discipline. Kautilya saw his work as the science of politics, which deals with the means of acquiring and maintaining the Earth. The study of any science depends on the mental faculties of obedience, hearing, perception, memory, discrimination, inference, and deliberation. Princes were to be celibate until they came of age at sixteen, at which time they were expected to marry; girls came of age at twelve. Restraining the senses depends upon abandoning lust, anger, greed, vanity, haughtiness, and overjoy. Kautilya begins to reveal his value system when he places wealth above charity and desire, because these two depend on wealth. He seemed to forget truthfulness and harmlessness when he recommended the institution of spies using fraud and duplicity. Although Kautilya declared that the prince should be taught only justice (dharma) and wealth (artha) and that he should do what pleases his subjects, to his rational mind this may mean warfare and treachery against their enemies. After describing the villages, land, and forts, Kautilya goes on to delineate the duties of the chamberlain, the collector general, account keepers, and the superintendents of gold, storehouse, commerce, forest produce, armory, weights and measures, tolls, weaving, agriculture, liquor, slaughterhouse, prostitutes, ships, cows, horses, elephants, chariots, infantry, passports, pasture land, and the city. Brahmins, ascetics, children, the aged, the afflicted, royal messengers, and pregnant women are to be given free passes to cross rivers. Diplomatic negotiation is to be carried out by praising the other's qualities, discussing mutual benefits, future prospects, and the identity of interests. Law is based on justice, evidence, history, and the edicts of kings; but for Kautilya the royal will is the most important, though the justice of the sacred law takes precedent over history when they disagree. Marriage cannot be dissolved by the husband or wife against the will of the other; but if

there is mutual enmity, divorce may be obtained. Neighborhood elders may be consulted to settle disputes about fields. Kautilya recommended cooperation with public projects and suggested, "The order of any person attempting to do a work beneficial to all shall be obeyed,"10 and those disobeying may be punished. The native Mlecchas, who were considered barbarians, may sell their offspring into slavery, but Aryans may not. A person who has voluntarily enslaved oneself and runs away is to be enslaved for life, and one who has been mortgaged into slavery is enslaved for life for running away twice. Violation of female servants, cooks, and nurses earns them their liberty at once. If a master fathers a child with a slave, both the child and the mother are to be recognized as free. Slaves can buy back their freedom for their sale price, and Aryans captured in war can also purchase their freedom. Kautilya described the various punishments for offenses, which can include torture, mutilation, and capital punishment, though fines were most often applied. Verbal abuse was punished with a fine, whether it was true or false, and the penalties for assault were halved if the offense was due to carelessness, intoxication, or loss of sense. Fines generally varied according to the rank of the person and the seriousness of the offense. "No man shall have sexual intercourse with any woman against her will."11 Mercy was to be shown to pilgrims, ascetics doing penance, those suffering disease, hunger, thirst, or fatigue, rustic villagers, those suffering punishment, and paupers. People were to be honored for their learning, intelligence, courage, high birth, and magnificent works. Revenues were to be collected like fruits, only when they were ripe; to try to collect revenue when unripe may injure the source and cause immense trouble. In addition to the usual services, artists, and musicians, the court also supported a foreteller of the future, a reader of omens, an astrologer, a reader of the Puranas, a story-teller, and a bard. Advisors are to tell the king what is good and pleasing but not what is bad; though when the king is ready to listen, he may be told secretly what is unpleasant but good. For Kautilya the elements of sovereignty were the king, the minister, the country, the fort, the treasury, the army and its ally, and the enemy. A good king was described as born of a high family, godly, virtuous, courageous, truthful, grateful, ambitious, enthusiastic, not addicted to procrastination, powerful in controlling neighbor kings, resolute, with a good assembly, having a taste for discipline, with a sharp intellect and memory, trained in various arts, dignified, with foresight, discerning the need for war, not haughty, free of passions and bad habits, and observing traditional customs. The acquisition of wealth and its security was dependent on peace and industry. Kautilya defined three kinds of strength as the ability to deliberate being intellectual strength, a prosperous treasury being strength of sovereignty, and martial power being physical strength. The traditional six forms of state policy were peace, war, neutrality, marching (preparing), alliance, and the double policy of making peace with one and waging war against another. Although Kautilya was not reluctant to use warfare, at least he did recognize that if the situation is equal, peace is preferable, because war involves loss of power and wealth, traveling, and sin. Kautilya used rational calculations of selfinterest in deciding whether to march against enemies. In my opinion Kautilya is to be severely criticized for recommending the use of war as a political instrument in disregard of human welfare. His position can clearly be seen as a degeneration from his own teacher's more humane views in the following passage:
My teacher says that in an open war, both sides suffer by sustaining a heavy loss of men and money; and that even the king who wins a victory will appear

as defeated in consequence of the loss of men and money. No, says Kautilya, even at considerable loss of men and money, the destruction of an enemy is desirable.12

Kautilya believed that peace, dependent on honesty or an oath, is more immutable in this world and the next than that based on security or a hostage, which is for this world only. Kautilya thought that he and those who know the interdependence of the six forms of policy can play at pleasure with kings bound round with chains skillfully devised by himself; but I would submit that those chains based on human violence and suffering bind such an advisor as well and cause untold misery. Once again Kautilya valued wealth most of all, for with money one can buy treasure and an army. Kautilya, who has been compared to Machiavelli, believed that the skill of intrigue is more important than enthusiasm and power when invading another country. He coldly calculated whether the expected profit will outweigh the loss of trained men and diminution of gold and grains when deciding whether to march. By conciliation and gifts the conqueror should use corporations (mercenaries) against an enemy; but if they oppose him, he should sow seeds of dissension among them and secretly punish them. He may also use rewards for those who help him fulfill his promises to his people. Kautilya did believe the king should follow the will of the people.
Whoever acts against the will of the people will also become unreliable. He should adopt the same mode of life, the same dress, language, and customs as those of the people. He should follow the people in their faith with which they celebrate their national, religious and congregational festivals or amusements.12

He then went on to recommend that spies be used to persuade the local leaders of the hurt inflicted on enemies in contrast to the good treatment they receive from their conqueror. He advised the extensive use of spies even in the guise of ascetic holy men. Various descriptions of magical remedies and superstitions are based on traditional folklore. Though worldly wise, the ethics of Kautilya leaves much to be desired.

Kama Sutra
The fourth aim of life to be discussed is kama, which means pleasure. The main aspect of pleasure discussed in the Kama Shastra is sexual love. Like the Artha Shastra these ideas on erotic techniques and methods were passed down through an oral tradition from the ancients. The legendary founder is Nandi, Shiva's companion, and about the eighth century BC Shvetaketu known to us from the Brihadaranyaka and Chandogya Upanishads, is said to have summarized them. This extensive work was passed down through the family of Babhru, and between the third and first centuries BC several authors wrote shorter works on different aspects of eroticism, including Suvarnanabha on erotic approaches, Ghotakamukha on the art of seducing girls, Gonardiya on the wife's duties and rights, Gonikaputra on relations with other men's women, Kuchamara on occult practices, and Dattaka who wrote on courtesans with the help of a famous courtesan of Pataliputra. These were combined together in the oldest text we have today, the Kama Sutra by Vatsyayana, who probably lived in the fourth century CE. In style and language the Kama Sutra is considered quite similar to Kautilya's Artha Shastra. Famous as the world's oldest and the most detailed sex manual prior to our century, the Kama Sutra reveals the life-style and sexual morals of ancient India.

Vatsyayana declared that everyone in life must pursue three aims successively. Childhood is dedicated to acquiring knowledge and is a celibate phase; the erotic predominates in adulthood; and old age is dedicated to the practice of virtue (dharma) and spiritual liberation (moksha). Vatsyayana defined artha as material goods or wealth and said that it "consists of acquiring and increasing, within the limits of dharma, knowledge, land, gold, cattle, patrimony, crockery, furniture, friends, clothing, etc."14 Kama is the mental inclination toward the pleasures of the senses and is particularly connected to the erotic. Sexual behavior may be learned with the aid of this text and the counsel of worthy experts in the arts of pleasure. Nevertheless Vatsyayana acknowledged that money and social success are more important than love and that virtue is more important than success and fortune. With money one can realize the three aims of life, even in the case of prostitutes. Since sex is natural to all animals why does it need to be studied? The preliminary acts between a man and a woman can benefit from rules of conduct. Among animals the female is driven by instinct with little consciousness during the sexual season. Although Vatsyayana said he is a fatalist, he recognized that success depends on human effort. The pursuit of pleasure must be coordinated with virtue and material goods. The lewd man is vain and scorned, and exaggerated emphasis on the sexual life can be self-destructive as well as ruining others. Nevertheless sexuality is essential to human survival. The one accomplished in wealth, love, and virtue attains the greatest happiness in this world and the next. The art of loving so pleasing to women, which allows children to be born, has been described by sages in sacred books. The erotic science should be studied along with other subjects even before adolescence and after marriage with one's mate. A girl may learn from a woman who has had sexual experience. Vatsyayana listed 64 arts which include music, dance, drawing, carpets, flower bouquets, mosaics, bed arrangement, games, charms, garlands, ornaments, dressing, perfumes, jewelry, conjuring, magic, manicure, cooking, needlework, lacemaking, quoting, riddles, bookbinding, storytelling, basketmaking, woodwork, furnishing, gems, metals, stones, arboriculture, stockbreeding, teaching parrots, massage and hair care, sign language, foreign languages, decorating, observing omens, using memory, reciting, puns, poetry, cheating, disguise, manners, rules of success, and physical culture. There are also 64 erotic arts from Panchala country. Prostitutes who are beautiful, intelligent, and well educated in these arts are honored in society and called courtesans. A man who is expert in the 64 arts is much appreciated by women. It is recommended that sexuality be satisfied within the caste, and marrying one's son to a virgin gained a good reputation, though Gandharva marriages based on mutual affection were generally considered the happiest. Exceptions to caste were made for prostitutes or widows, provided that it was only for pleasure. Young girls were also considered suitable for love affairs, and Gonikaputra recognized a consenting married woman as a fourth category. An atrocious statement was made about a pair of lovers murdering the husband and taking his goods once the wife has fallen in love. The author also found nothing wrong with a poor man having a love affair to become rich. However, he must not show indifference to her, or she will ruin his reputation with accusations. Yet generally the seduction of another man's wife was considered an avoidable risk. There follows detailed chapters on how to stimulate erotic desire, embraces, petting and caressing, scratching, biting, copulation, blows and sighs. Although a woman may be submissive or reticent, she is quick to learn the games of love. Vatsyayana declared that passion knows no rules nor place

nor time, and variety fosters mutual attraction. "Whether they continue having sexual relations, or live chastely together, true love never decreases, even after one hundred years."15 Vatsyayana believed that suffering is not the Aryan way and is not suitable for respectable people. An educated man knows how to check the violence of his impulses and knows the limits of the girl's endurance. Amorous practices vary according to the place, the country, and the moment. Oral sex is described but not recommended by some teachers as defiling of the face, though it was popular in some regions. Female and male homosexuality are both described. A man should respect the woman and consider her pure as a matter of principle even though she may appear guilty by her behavior. Since moral codes and local customs differ, one should behave according to one's own inclinations. Vatsyayana asked rhetorically, "Practiced according to his fantasy and in secret, who can know who, when, how, and why he does it?"16 After making love one should be affectionate so that a solid attachment may be established through friendly conversation. Courting and seduction are discussed in chapters on how to relax the girl and on ways of obtaining the girl. Those who gain each other's trust end up becoming attached to one another out of habit. The totally trusting wife considers her husband a god and is completely devoted to him. She takes responsibility for the household. Widows may remarry and begin a new existence, and according to the ancient tradition an unsatisfied woman may leave her husband and choose another to her taste. Vatsyayana recognized the ethical marriage as the best and said that some men do not pursue adulterous relationships for reasons of ethics. The man who is educated in this erotic art cannot be deceived by his own wives, according to Vatsyayana. "Reasonable people, aware of the importance of virtue, money, and pleasure, as well as social convention, will not let themselves be led astray by passion."17 What is refreshing in this treatise is the openness to sexual pleasure and its naturalness without the shame and puritanical guilt so well developed in other cultures which have invaded modern India as well. The erotic is treated as an important aspect of human life and as the sacrament of marriage which unites the couple closer than anything else can, though relations outside of marriage are not forbidden. Instead of being burdened by inhibitions in ancient India people were encouraged to learn about their sexuality and develop the art of loving through education and practice. Only now in the late twentieth century does the world seem to be acknowledging the wisdom of these techniques and this highly skilled art.

Notes
1. Samanna-phala Suttanta 12 (Digha 1:50). 2. Arrian, Indica tr. E. J. Chinnock, 9. 3. Plutarch, Alexander, tr. J. Dryden, p. 569. 4. Sources of Indian Tradition ed. DeBary, p. 143. 5. The Age of the Nandas and Mauryas ed. Sastri, p. 236. 6. Sources of Indian Tradition ed. DeBary, p. 149. 7. Apastamba Dharma Sutra 2:9:21:10 in The Sacred Laws of the Aryas tr. Georg Bhler, Part 1, p. 154. 8. Laws of Manu tr. Georg Bhler, 4:175-177. 9. Ibid. 5:47-49. 10. Kautilya, Arthashastra tr. R. Shamasastry, 3:10:173, p. 199. 11. Ibid. 4:12:231, p. 261. 12. Ibid. 7:13:303-304, p. 335. 13. Ibid. 13:5:409, p. 438. 14. Vatsyayana Kama Sutra 1:2:9 in Danielou, p. 28.

15. Ibid. 2:5:43, p. 144. 16. Ibid. 2:9:45, p. 194. 17. Ibid. 7:2:53, p. 520.

Hindu Philosophy
Nyaya and Vaishesika Mimamsa and Vedanta Samkhya and Yoga Bhagavad-Gita This chapter has been published in the book INDIA & Southeast Asia to 1800. For ordering information, please click here. In India there are six orthodox schools of philosophy which recognize the authority of the Vedas as divine revelation, and they generally function as pairs - Nyaya and Vaishesika, Mimamsa and Vedanta, and Samkhya and Yoga. Those who did not recognize this authority were the Jains, Buddhists, and materialists. Even in India, where spiritual ideas dominate the culture, there were some who were skeptical of those ideals and held to a materialist view of the world; they were called Carvaka, and their doctrine that this world is all that exists is called Lokayata. The materialists did not believe in an afterlife and found sense perception to be the only source of knowledge, denying the validity of inference or general concepts. They focused on the senses and the four traditional elements of earth, water, fire, and air. Consciousness for the Carvaka is only a modification of these elements in the body. The soul is also identified with the body, and pleasure and pain are the central experiences of life, nature being indifferent to good and evil with virtue and vice being merely social conventions. This worldly philosophy naturally ignored the goal of liberation (moksha) or simply believed that death as the end of life and consciousness was a liberation. However, they also tended to neglect the value of virtue or justice (dharma), placing all of their attention on the worldly aims of pleasure (kama) and wealth or power (artha). Although Carvaka ideas are mentioned in some ancient writings, their own ancient writings were lost, and much of what we know of the early materialists is based on criticisms of other schools. However, a famous, ancient drama called The Rise of the Moon of Intellect (Prabodhacandrodaya) reveals some of the beliefs of this worldly movement. In this play Passion is personified and speaks to a materialist and one of his pupils. Passion laughs at ignorant fools, who imagine that spirit is different from the body and reaps a reward in a future existence. This is like expecting trees to grow in air and produce fruit. Has anyone seen the soul separate from the body? Does not life come from the configuration of the body? Those who believe otherwise deceive themselves and others. Their ancient teacher Brihaspati affirmed the importance of the senses, maintaining that sustenance and love are the objects of human life. For the materialists the Vedas are a cheat. If blessings are obtained through sacrifices and the victims ascend to heaven, why do not children sacrifice their parents? How can fasting, begging, penance, and exposure to the elements be compared to the ravishing embraces of women with large eyes and prominent breasts? The pleasures of life are no more to be avoided because they are mixed with pain than a prudent person would throw away unpeeled rice because it has a husk. Sacrifices,

reciting the Vedas, and penance are merely ways that ignorant and weak men contrive to support themselves. Yet upon analysis it was often found that the materialists' theory that no general inferences can be made contradicted their own views about the nature of the world. Nevertheless their hedonistic philosophy at times gave a humanistic criticism of the ethical contradictions of others. In the great epic Mahabharata a Carvaka is burned to death for preaching against the bloodshed of the great war and condemning Yudhishthira for killing thousands to regain his kingdom. They did criticize sacrifices and valued the arts as a means of pleasure. Hell they believed to be the pain experienced in this world, but all this ended in death. Like Epicureans, they found that pleasure could be maximized and pain minimized by detachment (vairagya). Immortality was only found in the fame one leaves behind for noble deeds performed.

Nyaya and Vaishesika

The Nyaya and Vaishesika schools are primarily analytic and are therefore more concerned with logic and epistemology than ethics. The word nyaya means that by which the mind is led to a conclusion. The Nyaya school formed about the fourth century BC with the Nyaya Sutras by Gautama. The first sentence declares that supreme happiness is attained by knowledge of the sixteen categories which are right knowledge, objects of knowledge, doubt, purpose, example, tenets, inference, confutation, ascertainment, discussion, sophistry, cavil, fallacy, quibble, futile rejoinder, and losing arguments. Knowledge comes from perception, inference, comparison, and verbal testimony. Objects of knowledge are self, body, sense organs, sense objects, intellect, mind, activity, defects, rebirth, fruit, pain, and release. The soul is distinct from the sense organs and the mind, which it uses to make judgments with the aid of memory. Judgments and actions are transitory but produce karma, which causes the union of the soul with the body, the soul transmigrating from a dead body to another birth. Gautama recognized the soul as the cause of the body but also acknowledged parents and food as other causes as well. Ethical concerns can be found in the discussion of the defects and the means of liberation. Gautama mentioned three categories of defects as attachment, aversion, and misconception. Vatsyayana, who wrote the first commentary on the Nyaya Sutras in the 4th century CE, explained that attachment can come from lust, jealousy, avarice, greed, and covetousness; aversion from anger, envy, malice, hatred, and resentment; and misconception from wrong apprehension, suspicion, pride, and negligence. Gautama considered misconception the worst sin because without it attachment and aversion do not occur. By fruit Gautama referred to what is produced by activity and defects. These results of action (karma) may occur immediately or after a long interval. Release is defined as the absolute deliverance from pain. Release does not occur though because of debts, afflictions, and activities. However, when knowledge is attained, wrong notions and defects disappear, removing pain and bringing about release. Since false concepts are the cause of the chain of events that leads to pain, correct knowledge is the solution. Even hatred of pain and attachment to pleasure can bind one. The activities of mind, speech, and body must be good and not bad but must also be performed without attachment. Selfishness is associated with false concepts, and virtuous actions emphasize the soul rather than the body and its senses. True knowledge comes from meditation, which is prepared for by good deeds. Gautama recommended practicing yoga in forests, caves, and on riverbanks. To attain final release the soul

may be embellished by the restraints and observances of the internal discipline learned from yoga. Study and friendly discussion with those learned in knowledge is also suggested. The Vaishesika philosophy is considered the oldest of the six orthodox schools and may even be pre-Buddhist. The Vaishesika Sutras by Kanada were written shortly before Gautama's Nyaya Sutras. The word vishesa means particularity, and this philosophy emphasizes the significance of individuals. Vaishesika recognizes three objects of experience as having real objective existence, namely substance, quality, and activity, and three products of intellectual discrimination which are generality, particularity, and combination. The reality of the soul is inferred from the discernment that consciousness cannot be a property of the body, senses, or mind. However, the life of the soul's knowing, feeling, and willing is only found where the body is. Each soul experiences the consequences of its own actions, resulting in the differences between individuals, from which the plurality of souls is inferred. Even liberated souls maintain unique characteristics in the Vaishesika philosophy. The Vaishesika Sutra begins with the idea that virtue (dharma) is the means by which prosperity and salvation are attained, but it acknowledges the authority of the Vedas as the word of God that leads to this prosperity and salvation. As with Nyaya the supreme good results from knowledge, in this case of the six predicables substance, quality, activity, generality, particularity, and combination. In addition to the four traditional elements of earth, water, fire, and air, they name ether (akasha), time, space, soul, and mind as the only other substances. One need not fall back on the scriptures to know the existence of the soul, because the expression of "I" makes its reality clear. The qualities are color, taste, smell, touch, numbers, size, separation, conjunction and disjunction, priority and posteriority, understanding, pleasure and pain, desire and aversion, and volition. Activity is going up or down, contracting, expanding, and motion. Action (karma) is opposed by its effect, which is how it is neutralized. Individuals are only responsible for voluntary actions; actions from organic life are considered involuntary. Worldly good is attained by ceremonial piety, but spiritual value is found by insight. The highest pleasure of the wise is found in independence from all agencies involving memory, desire, and reflection, and this knowledge results from peacefulness of mind, contentment, and virtue. Pleasure and pain result from the contact between soul, senses, the mind, and objects. When the mind becomes steady in the soul through yoga, pain can be prevented. Liberation (moksha) is not having any conjunction with the body and no potential for a body so that rebirth cannot take place. The traditional character of this school can be seen from the actions recommended for achieving merit.
Ablution, fast, abstinence (brahmacharya), residence in the family of the preceptor, life of retirement in the forest, sacrifice, gift, oblation, directions, constellations, seasons, and religious observances conduce to invisible fruit.1

Progress comes from virtue (dharma), but even this has consequences which neutralize it; for ultimate release cannot occur until even virtue is eradicated in selfless insight. So long as one is dominated by desire and aversion, virtue and its opposite are stored up, preventing liberation. When one realizes that all objects that seem either attractive or repulsive are merely compounds of atoms, their power over one ceases. True knowledge of the soul dispels self-interest in universal awareness. Each soul reaps the harvest of its deeds in this life or a future one, but with liberation it becomes absolutely free. The awareness of the seer is the vision of perfection which results from virtue.

Mimamsa and Vedanta

The Mimamsa philosophy is also very ancient, and the Mimamsa Sutra by Jaimini was written about the 4th century BC. This text begins with the subject of dharma, which the Vedas consider the means most conducive to the highest good. Dharma transcends sense perception, because the senses only perceive what exists in the present; dharma in the Mimamsa philosophy has a metaphysical reality that carries into the future. The soul also transcends the body, senses, and mind, being omnipresent, eternal, and many. In Mimamsa the soul is the agent that causes all movement of the body. Like in Vaishesika, salvation occurs when the fruits of all good and bad actions are exhausted, and the generation of new effects is stopped. However, in Mimamsa Vedic prayers, rituals, and sacrifices are emphasized as the means of achieving this. Women as well as men were allowed to perform sacrifices, but Sudras were still forbidden. In the ancient Mimamsa philosophy the experience of happiness in heaven was the ultimate goal. Mimamsa is based on the revelation in the Vedas, which are considered as eternal as the world. The metaphysics of this ethics even comes close to replacing God as the source of all action that governs the universe. Essentially everything is determined by character (dharma) or lack of it through the law of karma or action with its consequences. Not only is the soul as the agent of action real, but the action itself is a spiritual reality that transcends space and time, determining the nature of the universe. This unseen force is called apurva, which means something new, extraordinary, or unknown. Thus dharma or action (karma) supports the universe. If it is ethically right, it produces enjoyment; if it is wrong, then suffering is experienced. This force (shakti) of dharma or karma is extraordinary and unseen. The universe, being eternal, is not created by this force, but it is shaped by it. A unity to this universal force is posited to control and guide individuals in a single cosmic harmony. Yet humans are free and determine their own destiny by their actions. The karma from past actions does not limit free choices but is like capital that can be spent in various ways as it is resolved. The soul usually carries a mixture of good and evil consequences, and these may cancel each other. Obligations are actions which must be performed, or one gets demerit, though there is no merit for doing them. Prohibited actions if done also cause demerit, but if avoided likewise do not give merit. Optional actions may produce merit or demerit according to their consequences. Focusing primarily on the spiritual effects of rituals, the Mimamsa philosophy relies on the Dharma Sutras for guidance in worldly ethical questions. The Vedanta school complements Mimamsa's focus on the Vedas and sacrifices by illuminating the knowledge of the Upanishads as the "end of the Vedas," which is what Vedanta means. The Vedanta Sutra, written between the 500 and 200 BC by Badarayana, is also called the Brahma Sutra since it discusses knowledge of Brahman (Spirit) and sometimes Shariraka Sutra because it concerns the embodiment of the unconditioned self. The Vedanta Sutra attempts to clarify the meaning of the Upanishads and is rather terse, but it has been made famous by the commentaries written by the great Vedanta philosophers of the middle ages - Shankara, Ramanuja, and Madhva. If the way of action derives from the Mimamsa theory of karma, Vedanta suggests a way of knowledge by the soul of Spirit. The first chapter of the Vedanta Sutra describes Brahman as the central reality and creator of the world and the individual souls. The second chapter answers objections and explains the world's dependence on God and its evolution back into Brahman. The

third chapter suggests ways of knowing Brahman, and the fourth chapter indicates the rewards or fruits of knowing this Spirit. Badarayana is traditional in that he believed knowledge comes from scripture (sruti) and other authorities (smriti), though sruti as revelation is identified with perception and smriti as interpretation with inference. Scripture refers to the Vedas and smriti to the Bhagavad-Gita, Mahabharata, and Laws of Manu. Reason for Badarayana must conform to the Vedas, but it is nonetheless subordinate to intuitive knowledge, which can come from devotion and meditation. Brahman as Spirit is considered the light of the soul, which is also eternal, though Brahman is distinguished from the intelligent soul and the unintelligent material things. As in Mimamsa individuals are responsible for their own actions and thus determine their own happiness or suffering. The soul is affected by pleasure and pain, but the highest Lord is not. Injunctions and prohibitions exist because of the connection of the soul with the body. Ethical action helps the soul attain a body fit for knowledge of Brahman, which then may be attained through service, renunciation, and meditation. Meditation on the highest yields unity with the infinite and knowledge of Spirit (Brahman), enabling one to stop producing karma and end the cycle of karma and reincarnation. Badarayana combined earlier views of Brahman as indeterminate intelligence and a definite personal Lord. While developing itself in the universe, Brahman is still transcendent. Though Brahman is in individual souls, it is not polluted by their defects. Human purpose comes through knowledge of Brahman, which also results in bliss and the nullification of works (karma). To obtain knowledge one must be calm and in control of the senses. Works can be combined with knowledge, but those performing them must not be overcome by passion. Knowledge may also be promoted through special acts such as prayer, devotion, and fasting. Meditation, though, should focus not on symbols of the soul but the reality. Through immobile meditation, thoughtfulness and concentration are increased, and meditation needs to be practiced up to death. By resolving karma through knowledge, oneness with Brahman is attained. At death the liberated soul is released from the body and does not return to another.

Samkhya and Yoga

Kapila, the legendary founder of the Samkhya school, is said to have been an incarnation of Vishnu or Agni; he probably lived during the seventh century BC at the time of the early Upanishads. Kapila was endowed with virtue, knowledge, renunciation, and supernatural power, and taking pity on humanity, he taught the Samkhya doctrine to the Brahmin Asuri, who is mentioned in the Satapatha Brahmana as an expert in sacrificial rituals. The Samkhya knowledge of discerning the spirit from nature is explained in the Shvetashvatara Upanishad. The word samkhya means discriminating knowledge and came to mean number as an exact form of knowledge. In Asvaghosha's Life of the Buddha (Buddhacarita), Siddartha is taught Samkhya ideas during his ascetic phase. Aradha described nature (prakriti) as consisting of the five subtle elements, the ego, intellect, the unmanifest, the external objects of the five senses, the five senses, the hands, feet, voice, anus, generative organ, and the mind. All of these make up the field which is to be known by the soul. Worldly existence is caused by ignorance, the merits and demerits of former actions, and desire. He then explained the problems of mistakes, egoism, confusion, fluctuation (thinking that mind and actions are the same as the "I"), indiscrimination (between the illumined and the unwise), false means (rituals and sacrifices), inordinate attachment, and gravitation (possessiveness). The wise must learn to distinguish the manifested from the unmanifested. When the prince asked how

this is to be accomplished, Aradha explained the practice of yoga. Though an orthodox Hindu school, Samkhya did criticize the killing of animals in the sacrifices. Samkhya ideas also appeared in the Mahabharata in the portions known as the Bhagavad-Gita and the Mokshadharma from book 12. In the latter the intellect (buddhi) controlled by the spirit (purusha) evolves the mind (manas), the senses, and then the gross elements. The three qualities found in all beings are goodness (sattva), passion (rajas), and darkness (tamas). Goodness brings pleasure, passion pain, and darkness apathy. The knower of the field is emphasized as the spirit (purusha) or soul (atman), and Samkhya and Yoga are considered two aspects (knowledge and practice) of the same philosophy. The standard 25 Samkhya principles are enumerated as the eight material principles and the sixteen modifications completed by the all-important spirit (purusha) or unmanifest knower of the field. Ethically the Mokshadharma explains the Samkhya follower as:
Unselfish, without egotism, free from the pairs, having cut off doubts, he is not angry and does not hate, nor does he speak false words. When reviled and beaten, because of his kindness he has no bad thought; he turns away from reprisal in word, action, and thought, all three. Alike to all beings, he draws near to Brahma (God). He neither desires, nor is he without desire; he limits himself to merely sustaining life. Not covetous, unshaken, self-controlled; not active, yet not neglecting religious duty; his sense-organs are not drawn to many objects, his desires are not widely scattered; he is not harmful to any creature; such a Samkhya-follower is released.2

In meditation the soul may be seen by the yoga of concentration and the Samkhya yoga of discriminating reason as well as the yoga of works. By knowing all the courses of the world one may turn away from the senses so that after leaving the body that one will be saved, according to the Samkhya view. Disciplined purity and compassion to all creatures are important; the weak may perish, but the strong get free. The field-knower governs all the strands of the material world. Making thought come to rest by meditation, perfected in knowledge and calm, one goes to the immortal place. The elaborated Samkhya doctrine is attributed to Pancashikha, but the earliest Samkhya text is the Samkhya Karika from the second or third century CE by Ishvara Krishna. According to this text the three qualities of goodness (sattva), activity (rajas), and ignorance (tamas), whose natures are pleasure, pain, and delusion, serve the purpose of illumination, action, and restraint. The great principle of intellect (buddhi), which evolves the world, in its good (sattvic) form has virtue, wisdom, non-attachment, and lordly powers; but the reverse are its dark (tamasic) forms. Yet it is the will that accomplishes the spirit's experiences and discriminates the subtle difference between nature (prakriti) and spirit (purusha). Uniting with the all-embracing power of nature, causes and effects lead to virtue and ascent to the higher planes or vice and descent to lower. Goodness comes from wisdom, bondage from the opposite. Attachment and activity lead to transmigration. Attainments come from correct reasoning, oral instruction by a teacher, study, the suppression of misery, intercourse with friends, and purity. Sattva predominates in the worlds above, tamas in those below, and rajas in the middle with the pain of decay and death.

Evolution from the will down to specific elements modifies nature and emancipates each spirit. Just as one undertakes action in the world to release the desire for satisfaction, so does the unevolved function for the liberation of the spirit. Thus spirit is never really bound or liberated nor does it transmigrate; only nature in its manifold forms is bound, migrates, or is liberated. The pure spirit, resting like a spectator, perceives nature which has ceased to be productive and by discriminating knowledge turns back from the dispositions. When virtue and other karma cease to function, the spirit of the individual remains invested with the body by past impressions; but when separation from the body comes, its purpose is fulfilled as it attains eternal and absolute independence. The practice of yoga in India is very ancient, probably even pre-Aryan. Yoga is mentioned in several Upanishads, and its philosophy is described in the great epics, particularly in the BhagavadGita portion of the Mahabharata. The classic text for what is called the royal (raja) yoga is Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, probably written in the second century BC, although scholarly estimates range from the fourth century BC to the fourth century CE. The word yoga has the same origin as the English word "yoke" and means union. In the Katha Upanishad the senses are to be controlled as spirited horses are by a yoke. The raja yoga tersely described by Patanjali as having eight limbs is considered the psychological yoga. The Yoga Sutras begin with the idea that yoga (union) is the control of the modifications of consciousness; this enables the seer to stand in one's own form instead of identifying with the modifications. The five modifications are knowledge (perception, inference, and testimony), error (ideas not formed from reality), imagination (ideas without objects), sleep, and memory (experienced objects). These are controlled by practice and detachment. Practice requires constant attention for a long time, and detachment comes from getting free of the desire for experiences. Mastery of this comes from the spirit overcoming the qualities. Meditation can be reasoning, discriminating, and joyful awareness of the unity of the universe and self or cessation by renunciation and constantly dissolving impressions, resulting in undifferentiated existence, bodilessness, absorption in the supreme, or faith, enthusiasm, memory, and wisdom. Intense practice brings the best results, or it may be achieved by surrendering to the Lord. The perfect spirit of the Lord is untouched by afflictions, actions, and their results; it is the infinite seed of omniscience beyond time, and its symbol is the sacred word. Constant practice of that brings cosmic consciousness and the absence of obstacles. The obstacles that distract consciousness are disease, laziness, indecision, apathy, lethargy, craving sense-pleasure, erroneous perception, lack of concentration, and unstable attention. These distractions are accompanied by sorrow, worry, restlessness, and irregular breathing. Cultivating the feelings of friendship, compassion, joy, and equanimity toward those who are happy, suffering, worthy, and unworthy purifies consciousness, as does breathing in and out. Subtle vision modifies the higher consciousness by bringing the mind stability, as does the transcendent inner light, the awareness that controls passions, the analytical knowledge of dreams and sleep, and concentration according to choice. The lessened modifications become transparent and transformed, and the memory is purified and empty so that objects shine without thought. The subtle elements become undefinable nature in the meditation with seed. Beyond discrimination the oversoul is blessed with direct truth, which is different from verbal inferences. This impression prevents all other impressions, and control of even this controls everything in seedless meditation. The practice of yoga and meditation is enhanced by discipline, self-study, and surrender to the Lord in order to remove obstacles such as ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion, and clinging to life.

Obstacles result in action patterns that cause suffering in this life and the next, as virtue and vice bear the fruits of pleasure and pain; but concentration overcomes their effects. Future suffering can be avoided if the perceiver does not identify with the perceived. Discriminating undisturbed intelligence removes ignorance and suffering by the absence of identity and the freedom of the perceiver. The practice of union proceeds through the eight steps of restraint, observances, posture, breath control, sublimation, attention, concentration, and meditation. The restraints are not injuring, lying, stealing, lusting, nor possessing and are called the universal great vows we have often seen before. The second step of observances involves cleanliness, contentment, discipline, self-study, and surrender to the Lord. Patanjali suggested that destructive instincts may be overcome by cultivating the opposites of greed, anger, or delusion. In confirming nonviolence the presence of hostility is relinquished. Not lying brings work and its fruits; not stealing brings riches; not lusting brings vigor; and from not possessing comes knowledge of past and future lives. Cleanliness brings protection of one's body; goodness purified becomes serenity; and singlemindedness conquers the senses. Being content gains happiness. Discipline perfects the senses and destroys impurities. By self-study one may commune with the divine ideal, and meditation is successfully identifying with the Lord. Stable and pleasant postures (asanas) release tension and transform thought. Regulating the inhalation and exhalation of the breath (pranayama) prepares the mind for attention. By withdrawing consciousness from its own objects, the senses are sublimated (pratyahara) and under control. The last three steps of attention (dharana), concentration (dhyana), and meditation (samadhi) are the same as the last three steps of the Buddha's eightfold path. Attention is defined by Patanjali as the original focus of consciousness, concentration as continuing awareness there, and meditation as when that shines light alone in its own empty form. These three work as one in inner control leading to wisdom and are the psychological steps. As the control of destructive instincts and impressions evolves, the flow of consciousness becomes calm by habit, and oneness arises in meditation. As this oneness evolves, past and present become similar in the conscious awareness. Patanjali then described various psychic abilities that can be attained from the practice of yoga. Supernatural powers may come from birth, drugs, chanting, discipline, or meditation. Yet he warned that worldly powers are obstacles to meditation. Only the knowledge of discriminating between goodness and spirit brings omnipotence and omniscience, and only from detachment to that is the seed of bondage destroyed in freedom. The soul of the discriminating perceiver is completely detached from emotion and mind so that with serene discrimination the consciousness can move toward freedom. Finally the evolution of transforming qualities fulfills its purpose and stops, cognized as a distinct transformation. Patanjali concluded,
Empty for the sake of spirit the qualities return to nature. Freedom is established in its own form, or it is aware energy.3

This yoga text has been tremendously influential in India and beyond, and is in my opinion a very positive guide to spiritual liberation as well as being beneficial to ethical development.

Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad-Gita, which means The Song of the Lord, was written between the second century BC and the second century CE. It synthesized many ideas from the Samkhya philosophy and practice of yoga, but it is also claimed by Vedanta and Hindu philosophy in general as its greatest work on spirituality. The text is actually contained in Book 6 of the epic poem Mahabharata, which tells the story of the great civil war that may have occurred in India as early as about 1400 BC or as late as about 900 BC. These stories will be discussed in the next chapter, but the dramatic context for the dialog between the warrior Arjuna and his charioteer Krishna is the beginning of the actual battle between the rival ruling families, the Kauruvas and Pandavas. The Bhagavad-Gita is narrated by the sage Sanjaya, who clairvoyantly perceives what is going on and relates it to the blind King Dhritarashtra. Krishna is an uncle and friend of the Pandavas, but remaining neutral he allowed one side to use his vassals in battle, while the Pandava Arjuna got to have him as charioteer, although he would not fight himself. By the time this was written, Krishna was considered an incarnation of the god Vishnu, the preserver, and he teaches Arjuna several kinds of yoga for achieving union with God. This is the earliest work that emphasized the religious worship of God through devotion to an avatar or incarnation of God which developed into the Vaishnavite faith in medieval Hinduism. The poem begins with Dhritarashtra asking Sanjaya what is happening not only on the field of Kuru but also on the field of dharma (virtue, duty). Sanjaya describes how both armies are arrayed against each other blowing their conch horns to show their readiness to fight. Then Arjuna asks Krishna to position his chariot between the two armies, and there he sees many of his relatives on the other side, causing him to feel faint and consider not fighting. Even though the others are killing, Arjuna does not think it would be worth it to do so, even for sovereignty of the three worlds, let alone an earthly kingdom. Evil would come to him, he says, if he should kill his relatives. How could this bring happiness? This family destruction is wrong and would destroy ancient family duties and bring on lawlessness, which would lead to corruption of the women and caste mixing. Why should he kill for greed of royal pleasures? It would be greater happiness for him to be killed unresisting and unarmed. Thus Arjuna's mind was overcome by sorrow. Krishna, who is called the Lord, responds by upbraiding Arjuna for timidity and cowardice that would cause disgrace, urging him to stand up. Arjuna answers that it would be better to live by begging than be smeared with the blood of his noble teachers. He does not see what would remove this sorrow even if he were to win unrivaled prosperity and royal power. Once again Arjuna declares that he will not fight. The Lord now tells Arjuna that he is grieving unnecessarily even though his words are wise. As he is eternal, so are the slain, and all will exist forever. No one can cause the destruction of the imperishable; though the bodies have an end, the infinite soul is indestructible and eternal. Like a person abandoning worn-out clothes takes new ones, so does the soul enter new bodies. Therefore he should not mourn, because death is certain for those born; but the soul is eternally inviolable. According to Krishna Arjuna should look to his duty as a Kshatriya to battle; to avoid this duty would be evil. If he is killed, he will go to heaven; if he conquers, he will enjoy the Earth. Making pleasure and pain the same, gain and loss, victory and defeat, he should fight to avoid evil. From the perspective of universal ethics I have to criticize this justification of the caste system and war mentality. While I agree that it is our duty to act courageously and not refuse to act out of cowardice, the principles of love, freedom, responsibility, health, justice, and others guide us by the

all-important principle of not harming (ahimsa) which is violated in organized war to a maximum extent. The duty of a Kshatriya is to work for justice and protect lives, not to kill people. Mahatma Gandhi and others have shown us that we can stand up to wrong and refuse to capitulate to it without using violence, which merely multiplies the wrong and harm. I think it is especially important to criticize this error in one of the world's otherwise wisest books so that it cannot as easily be used as a justification for this violent behavior, which had not been purified out of Aryan culture in that time. Krishna explains how to use the unified intuition of the Samkhya philosophy and Yoga practice to act without attachment to the fruits of action. Following the letter of the scripture and performing rituals does not avail. Staying in yoga with unified intuition and letting go of the fruit of action, one will be free of misery and the bondage of birth. When in meditation the intuition stands unmoving, union is attained. Arjuna asks Krishna what such a person is like. When one gives up all desires in the mind and is satisfied in the soul by the soul, then one is steady in wisdom. In pain free of anxiety, in pleasure free of desire, the sage departs from passion, fear, and anger. Withdrawing from the senses, like a tortoise in its shell, one should sit unified with the Lord in the supreme with senses under control. From contemplating objects comes attachment, then desire, anger, delusion, memory wandering, and loss of intuition until one perishes. By eliminating lust and aversion while still engaging the objects of the senses, the self-governing attains tranquillity, clear thoughts, and steady intuition. The undisciplined have no intuition, no concentration, and no peace; but by giving up desires, longing, and possessiveness one attains the holy state of peace. Once again Arjuna asks if intuition is better than action, why is he being urged to this terrible action. Krishna teaches that Samkhya knowledge and yoga action are to be performed but without attachment. To renounce action and then remember the senses is to be a deluded hypocrite. Maintaining the body requires action, and so controlled action is better than inaction. God-produced action originates in the imperishable God of the sacrifice. Observing what the world needs, one should act free of attachment. Even the Lord must act and set an example for others to act, or confusion would result. All actions are performed by the qualities of nature; only the deluded self thinks the "I" is the doer. The deluded are attached to qualified actions, but the knower of the whole does not disturb fools. He should entrust all his actions to the Lord, meditating on the supreme soul and not complain. Even the wise act according to their own nature, and it is better to follow one's own duty than another's, which can be dangerous. Arjuna asks what compels a person to do harm. The Lord replies that desire and anger from the emotional quality are injurious. These obscure knowledge as smoke does fire. The senses must be restrained. Higher than the senses is the mind; higher than the mind is the intuition; and even higher is the soul. Krishna says that he knows his past lives and that as an avatar he is born from age to age to protect the good and destroy evil-doers in order to establish justice. By trusting the Lord and being purified by disciplined knowledge many have attained the Lord. The ancient way of action is for liberation. The enlightened can see action in inaction and inaction in action. Independent action is without hope, possession, and envy. God is attained by contemplating the action of God. Action without desire is consumed in the fire of knowledge. Yogis practice sacrifice to the divine by restraining their senses, controlling the breath, and regulating food. Attaining knowledge works better than sacrificing material possessions.

Krishna does not see Samkhya and yoga as separate, but either practiced correctly yields the results of both. Though renunciation yoga can lead to the best, the yoga of action is even better. By putting actions in God, free of attachment, one is not affected by evil and attains peace. Unattached to external contacts, the soul, united to God, enjoys imperishable happiness, but delights from contact give birth to pain with a beginning and an end. Enduring the agitation brought on by desire and anger, the united one has inner happiness and light, attaining oneness with God. With sins wiped out and dualities dissolved, the self-controlled, attaining nirvana, rejoices in the welfare of all beings. One should uplift the self by the soul, not lower the soul. The self may be the friend or enemy of the soul, depending on whether the self is mastered by the soul or not. The self-mastered is peaceful, steadfast, content with self-knowledge, detached from companions, and neutral toward enemies and friends with impartial intuition. Krishna recommends disciplined moderation in eating and sleeping, not either extreme. Seeing the soul in the soul, one is not disturbed even by heavy sorrow. Mastering the senses with the mind, the intuition may then quiet the mind, the soul making it stand still. When the mind wanders, one should master it by directing the will in the soul. The united soul observes the soul in all beings, seeing the Lord everywhere. Arjuna confesses that his mind is unstable and hard to hold back. Krishna replies that no one doing good suffers misfortune but improves from life to life toward perfection. Persevering in mental control and cleansed of guilt, one goes toward the supreme goal. The mind, absorbed in the Lord practicing union, will know this completely; but deluded evil-doers, robbed by illusion, do not. Practicing union, one goes to the divine Spirit at death. The light path leads to liberation from rebirth with God, but the dark path brings return to reincarnation. Krishna recommends a path of devotion to him as a way of supreme liberation and describes to Arjuna his extraordinary characteristics. Then Arjuna asks to see his divine form, and he is blessed with that overwhelming vision. When Arjuna asks Krishna who has the best knowledge of union, he replies that those who worship him with the greatest faith are most united, although those who worship the imperishable, unmanifest, and omnipresent also attain him. Knowledge is better than practice, meditation superior to knowledge, and renunciation better than meditation. The yogi is a friend of all beings, free of ego, indifferent to pain and pleasure, patient, self-restrained, and devoted to God. Those who worship the immortal justice with faith and devotion are beloved by the Lord. Next Krishna differentiates nature and spirit, the field from the knower of the field. The field is composed of the elements, ego, intuition, the senses and their objects, desire, aversion, pleasure, pain, and consciousness. Spirit is the cause situated in nature which experiences the qualities born of nature. Attachment to those qualities is what brings about birth.
The supreme spirit in this body is also said to be the observer, allower, supporter, experiencer, the great Lord and the supreme soul. whoever thus knows spirit and nature together with the qualities, even in any stage of existence, this one is not born again.4

Whoever perceives the same supreme Lord in all beings that never perishes goes to the supreme goal. The imperishable soul dwelling in the body free of qualities does not act and is not stained.

Krishna explains that the quality of goodness is bound by attachment to happiness and knowledge, the quality of emotion by attachment to desire and action, and the dark quality by ignorance, confusion, neglect, and laziness. Goodness works by knowledge, emotion by greed, effort, action, restlessness, and lust, and darkness by negligence and confusion. By transcending all three qualities the observer perceives and knows the highest and attains immortality. Arjuna asks how this may be accomplished. The Lord answers that by sitting impartially one is not disturbed by the qualities; standing firm one does not waver, the same in pain and pleasure, selfreliant, equal to blame and praise, to friend and foe. In devotional union these qualities are transcended, making one fit for God realization. The endowment of the divine comes from fearlessness, purity, perseverance in knowledge of union, charity, restraint, sacrifice, spiritual study, austerity, straightforwardness, nonviolence, truth, no anger, renunciation, peace, no slander, compassion for creatures, no greed, kindness, modesty, no fickleness, vigor, patience, courage, no hatred, and no excessive pride. Hypocrisy, arrogance, conceit, anger, harshness, and ignorance lead to the demonic, who are untruthful, unstable, and godless. Attached to desire and accepting false notions, clinging to anxiety ending in death, with gratification of desire their highest aim, convinced that this is all and using the unjust means of wealth, they acquire property and slay enemies; but they are wrapped in a net of delusion, attached to desires, and fall into an unclean hell. Clinging to ego, force, insolence, desire, and anger the envious hate the soul in other bodies, and entering a demonic womb, are deluded in birth after birth. One should renounce desire, anger, and greed as the threefold gate of hell. An example of the practical experience of the three qualities is how they are related to food.
Promoting life, goodness, strength, health, happiness, and satisfaction, flavorful, juicy, substantial, and hearty foods are liked by the good. Pungent, sour, salty, hot, spicy, dry, burnt foods are wanted by the emotional, causing pain, misery, and sickness. Spoiled, tasteless, putrid, stale, and what is rejected as well as the unclean is the food liked by the ignorant.5

The austerity of the good is pure, virtuous, and nonviolent; the austerity of the emotional is hypocritical for honor and respect on Earth; and that of the dark is for the purpose of destroying another. The good gift is given freely at the proper time and place to a worthy person; the gift given for a reward or unwillingly is emotional; and the dark gift is given at the wrong place and time to the unworthy with contempt. Action according to the three qualities is also described.
Liberated from attachment, not egotistical, accompanied by courage and resolution, unperturbed in success or failure, the actor is called good. Passionate, wishing to obtain the fruit of action, greedy, violent-natured, impure, accompanied by joy and sorrow, the actor is proclaimed to be emotional. Undisciplined, vulgar, stubborn, deceitful, dishonest, lazy, depressed, and procrastinating, the actor is called dark.6

Finally Krishna summarizes his teachings for attaining perfection and God, the highest state of knowledge.
United with cleansed intuition, controlling the self with will, and relinquishing, starting with sound, sense objects, and rejecting passion and hatred, living isolated, eating lightly, controlling speech, body, and mind, constantly intent on union meditation, relying on detachment, releasing ego, force, pride, desire, anger, possessiveness; unselfish, peaceful, one is fit for oneness with God. Becoming God, soul serene, one does not grieve nor desire, the same among all creatures, one attains supreme devotion to me. By devotion to me one realizes who and what I am in truth; then knowing me in truth one enters immediately. Performing all actions always trusting in me, one attains by my grace the imperishable eternal home. Surrendering consciously all actions in me, intent on me, constantly be conscious of me relying on intuitive action.7

Thus Krishna offers himself as a refuge and guide toward liberation through knowledge and detachment from the fruits of action in one of the wisest and most inspiring books ever written.

Notes
1. Vaishesika Sutra tr. Nandalal Sinha, 6:2:2. 2. Mokshadharma in Mahabharata 12:295:33-36 quoted in Larson, G. J., Classical Samkhya, p. 128. 3. Patanjali, Yoga Sutras (author's version), 4:34. 4. Bhagavad Gita (author's version), 13:22-23. 5. Ibid. 17:8-10. 6. Ibid. 18:26-28. 7. Ibid. 18:51-57.

Literature of India
Ramayana Mahabharata Jatakas Panchatantra This chapter has been published in the book INDIA & Southeast Asia to 1800. For ordering information, please click here. The greatest imaginative literature of ancient India can be found in the long epic poems, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Written over many centuries and not completed until sometime between the fourth century BC and the fourth century CE, they probably grew out of the storytelling of the traditional bards (sutas) who acted as charioteers to kings. Since its setting is more ancient, let us begin with the Ramayana.

Ramayana
The Ramayana is considered the first ornate poem and is attributed to the sage Valmiki. Its present form has seven books and about 24,000 slokas or verses, though the last book is an epilog written later as was probably most of the first book. Treatment of Rama as an immortal god, an incarnation of Vishnu, is mostly found in these later books. Nevertheless the entire poem is heroic, and Rama along with his wife Sita are superhuman in their virtue and perfection. For Indian culture they represent models of ideal behavior and attitudes. The time period of the Ramayana has been estimated as between the twelfth and tenth centuries BC when the Kosalas and Videhas ruled northern India. A legend about the author Valmiki tells how he was a robber chief, who once waylaid two ascetics; they offered him spiritual wisdom in place of gold and silver, which they did not have. Won over by their ideas, Valmiki became a devotee of Rama, the seventh incarnation of Vishnu, and after meditating much on Rama and his virtues he was given a vision of his entire life. Valmiki asked Narada, who was most heroic and virtuous, and was told of Rama as the most selfcontrolled, valiant and illustrious, the Lord of all. Narada declared that he is equal to Brahma, a protector of the people, supporter of the universe, subduer of those who violate the moral code, the inspirer of virtue in others, and one who grants grace to his devotees. Having told Valmiki the story of Rama, Narada asked permission to leave and ascended to heaven. Then the poet Valmiki put the story into verse based on the details he perceived in his meditative vision. The story begins in Ayodhya, where Rama's father ruled as king in the tradition of Manu. The community was prosperous and happy, and the Brahmins understood the six systems of philosophy. Dasaratha's ministers were guided by the moral code and reason; it was a golden age, an age of truth (satya-yuga). According to the first book, Vishnu decided to incarnate in the sons of Dasaratha in order to destroy the cruel leader of the demons, Ravana, who through austerity had gained the boon of being invulnerable to all but man. Dasaratha had more than one wife, and each of his four sons was born to a different mother, but clearly the greatest was the oldest, Rama, followed by Lakshmana, Bharata, and Shatrughna. Taught by the sage Vishvamitra, Rama slays the demon Takaka and is given celestial weapons. Sita, who was mysteriously born in the furrow of a field, which is what her name means, was to be given in marriage to the one who could bend a certain bow. When Rama bent the bow, it broke in two; so Rama and Sita were married. Rama proves his valor and skill by stringing another bow and defeating Parasurama in combat. Sita communicated all her thoughts to Rama and could clearly read his mind, so dear were they to each other. The second book begins by describing Rama's many virtues. The elderly King Dasaratha decides to hand over the rule of his kingdom to his illustrious eldest son, Rama; but on the day before his installation, Queen Kaikeyi, the mother of Bharata, is persuaded by her hunchback servant Manthara to ask the king for the two boons he owes her for having saved his life. Her son Bharata must be made regent, and Rama must go into exile in the forest for fourteen years. While the people of Ayodhya are celebrating the expected coronation of Rama, he goes to the palace only to be commanded into exile by the king. Everyone who loves Rama is stricken with grief, but Rama allows himself no sign of emotion and willingly submits to the royal will. Lakshmana protests and wants to fight for Rama's rightful place, but Rama persuades him that they must obey their father out of duty and not use violence; what is right is more important than a mere

kingdom. Rama also urges his mother, Kaushalya, to stay with her husband rather than follow him into the forest. Sita, however, is able to convince Rama that it is her duty to be with her husband. Unable to persuade her to stay behind, Rama says he cannot abandon his wife. Sita gives away her possessions in preparation, and Rama is acclaimed by the people for his virtues of harmlessness, compassion, obedience, heroism, humility, and self-control. The king believes that he must have deprived countless beings of their offspring to have to suffer this separation from his beloved son. Lakshmana accompanies Rama and Sita, and the emotional parting is ended by Rama's ordering the chariot-driver to hurry away. They cross the Ganges River and enter the wild forest. Rama sends the chariot-driver back to the court to tell them he will live as an ascetic, and so Kaikeyi should not be suspicious but enjoy supreme authority in the name of her son Bharata. Rama's small group is guided further into the forest by local leaders and sages. Rama realizes that his mother must have done something in a former life to have her son taken away in this one, and Dasaratha tells how once while hunting he accidentally killed the son of two blind parents as he was getting water for them. Realizing the fruit of that action in his current sorrow, King Dasaratha soon dies of grief. Kaushalya reprimands Kaikeyi, saying that one who is ambitious is unaware like one who eats unripe fruit. The counselors decide that Bharata should be made king. He has been living in Rajagriha with his grandparents, but a dream reveals the death of his father. Returning to Ayodhya, Bharata reproaches his mother Kaikeyi for her selfish plot to put him in Rama's rightful place, and he suggests that she commit suicide. Bharata consoles Kaushalya, and the funeral ceremonies are held amid much sorrow. Shatrughna wants to punish the hunchback woman, Manthara, but Bharata persuades him that Rama would not approve of such killing, or Bharata would have killed his own mother too. Bharata decides to refuse the throne and offer it to Rama. Bharata crosses the Ganges and eventually finds Rama in the forest. When Lakshmana sees Bharata's army approaching, he fears the worst and is ready to fight; but Rama explains he only would want the throne to protect his brothers and would never fight against them. He correctly perceives that Bharata is coming to offer him the throne. When the four brothers are reunited, Bharata and Shatrughna allow their tears to fall. Rama asks Bharata if he is fulfilling his royal duties, but Bharata says that as the oldest Rama ought to be king. However, Rama declares that the royal word of their father must be their law, and therefore Bharata must rule for fourteen years while Rama is in exile. Bharata begs Rama to return to Ayodhya, but Rama steadfastly refuses. Rama explains that morality is the soul of government, and that is how the people are upheld. The essence of duty is truth, and therefore he must keep his word to his father. Rama renounces the so-called duty of the warrior which is violent, saying it is injustice under the name of justice and the practice of the cruel, depraved, and ambitious who do evil. He prefers to live in the forest free of sin in peace, enjoying pure roots, fruit, and flowers. Bharata asks for the golden sandals of Rama and is given them as a symbol of Rama's absent rule through Bharata. Celestial gifts are conferred on Sita as she declares her loyalty to her husband as her guru and master of her heart. She believes that obedience to one's Lord is the crowning discipline for a noble woman In the third book Sita is carried off by the demon Viradha, but Rama and his brother get her back again by slaying the demon. In the forest the sages ask Rama for his protection, and he promises to

deliver them from the oppression of the Titans. Sita implores her husband, however, not to attack the Titans, for there are three failings born of desire: uttering falsehood, associating with another's wife, and committing violence without provocation, the last of which is now showing itself in Rama. Sita pleads that the bearing of arms alters one's mind the way fire changes a piece of wood. She asks Rama to renounce all thought of slaying the Titans, pointing out that the practice of war and asceticism in the forest are opposed to each other. She begs him to honor the moral code as it relates to peace. Rama replies that the sages are unable to enjoy a peaceful life in the forest because of the Titans, and he has promised to aid them if they ask for his help. A female demon Shurpanakha tries to seduce Rama and Lakshmana; but when she attacks Sita, Lakshmana cuts off her ears and nose. Shurpanakha complains to her brother Khara, and he sends demons, who are slain by Rama. Then Khara leads his army of demons against Rama, who destroys them and kills Khara. Ravana, king of the demons, hears of their defeat and is persuaded by Shurpanakha to try to kill Rama so that he can wed Sita. The demon Maricha tries to dissuade Ravana, warning him against the sin of interfering with someone's wife. However, Maricha assumes the form of a fawn and is slain by Rama. Hearing his cry, Sita insists that Lakshmana go to assist him even though it is his duty to guard Sita. In a rare lapse of character in her excessive love for Rama, Sita accuses Lakshmana of caring more for her than his own brother. With Lakshmana out of the way, Ravana approaches Sita, who defies him. Nevertheless he abducts her by force and takes her to the island of Lanka. Ravana tries to make Sita his consort, but she refuses and is given to Titan women to be guarded. In vain Rama and Lakshmana search for Sita, and Rama's sorrow turns to wrath. Eventually Rama is told what happened and where he can find Ravana. The fourth through the sixth books narrate the war against Ravana and the Titans by Rama and his allies in southern India who are referred to as monkeys. Their king Sugriva sends the powerful Hanuman to aid Rama. The monkeys search everywhere for Sita; only after they refuse to eat, does someone tell them where she is hidden. The monkeys are discouraged when they see the ocean; but Hanuman is able to fly over to Lanka and explore the enemy's territory. Once again Ravana tries to woo Sita, but she refuses again and prophesies the destruction of the Titans. Hanuman finds Sita; she refuses to be rescued by him, though she gives him her jewel to take to Rama. Hanuman does considerable damage but is captured by the Titans. The Titan Bibishana pleads for Hanuman's life out of respect for messengers. Hanuman escapes and sets fire to Lanka, then returns and urges the monkeys to rescue Sita. Bibishana advises Ravana to send back Sita to avoid the war, warning that being in the wrong, they are sure to be defeated by Rama. Ravana calls a council of war and is supported by flattering speeches. Bibishana is rebuffed by his brother Ravana and departs to the monkeys, who doubt his loyalty; but Rama accepts him as an ally, saying, "I shall never refuse to receive one who presents himself as a friend."1 Bibishana tells them of the strength and extent of Ravana's army. The army of monkeys and Rama cross the sea to Lanka. Once again Ravana is advised, this time by his grandfather, the Titan Malyavan, to return Sita and make peace with Rama. Again Ravana closes his ears to this speech, relying on his power to overcome the exiled Rama. In the battle Rama and Lakshmana are struck down by Ravana's son, Indrajita, but they are revived by Garuda. Rama then defeats Ravana in battle but does not kill him. Ravana's brother Kumbhakarna is able to turn the monkeys back, but he is slain by Rama.

Using invisibility, Indrajita puts the monkey army out of action. Hanuman gets herbs from the Lord of the Mountains to heal the wounds of Rama and Lakshmana, and Lanka is set on fire again by the monkeys. Indrajita devises the stratagem of killing an apparition, which seemed to be Sita. When Rama hears the news that Sita has been slain, he falls to the ground like a tree whose roots have been severed. Lakshmana then delivers a despairing speech that virtue must not have its reward if such things could happen to the noble Rama. Bibishana, explaining that he is fighting against his brother because of the wrongs he has committed, helps Lakshmana to kill Indrajita. Finally Rama and Ravana fight with magical weapons. Ravana flees; but later they fight again, and Ravana is killed. After the funeral and mourning for Ravana, Bibishana is installed as king of Lanka. Hanuman carries the news to Sita, who pleads for mercy toward her former captors now captured themselves. Sita quotes an ancient saying,
A superior being does not render evil for evil; this is a maxim one should observe; the ornament of a virtuous person is their conduct. One should never harm the wicked or the good or even criminals meriting death. A noble soul will ever exercise compassion even towards those who enjoy injuring others or those of cruel deeds when they are actually committing them; who is without fault?2

Rama sends for Sita; but when they meet, he repudiates her because of suspicions based on her having lived in the house of another. He cannot believe that Ravana would not have enjoyed her ravishing beauty; so he tells her she may go where she pleases. Hearing this harsh speech from Rama, Sita weeps bitterly. Sita laments that she was always faithful to her husband in whatever was under her control. She accuses Rama of being worthless and to prove her innocence enters the flames of the sacrificial fire. Then Brahma reprimands Rama for acting like a man when he is really a god. After this divine speech Sita is restored from the extinguished pyre and given back to Rama by the fire god Agni, who declares her innocent. This ordeal by fire had to occur though, so that other people would know Sita's innocence. Rama and Sita return to Ayodhya, where Rama is installed as king. In the later epilog (seventh book) a dark cloud still hangs over Sita, and people criticize Rama for taking her back. So she goes once more to live in the forest and is taken in by Valmiki, the author of the epic. Sita gives birth to twins, who are taught to recite the poem. Rama recognizes his sons as minstrels and asks Valmiki to return his wife; but unable to remove the people's suspicions, her heart broken, she asks the Earth to take her back, and her end mirrors her beginning. Finally death seeks out Rama, and he ascends to heaven. This story which justifies the conquest of southern India and the island of Lanka nevertheless acknowledges the virtue of the dark-skinned southern peoples, who though referred to as monkeys are nonetheless on the side of good. The military hero Rama is divinized and becomes an object of worship as an incarnation of the Preserver Vishnu, and Sita is held up as the model of outstanding womanhood, exemplifying beauty, patience, loyalty, kindness, and mercy.

Mahabharata
The legendary author of the Mahabharata is Vyasa, who is also given credit for compiling the Vedas and writing the Puranas. The 24,000 couplets of the Bharata were gradually expanded to become over 100,000, making the Mahabharata the longest poem in the world and probably the

work of many hands. Vyasa managed to portray himself in the poem as the progenitor of the two kings whose sons fight for the kingdom of Bharata, as his mother asks him to father sons on a widow and the wife of the celibate Bhishma and a third on a low-caste servant maid. Dhritarashtra is born blind because his mother closed her eyes, and Pandu is pale because his mother Ambika was pale with fear. Ironically the third, who is of low caste, Vidura, turns out to be the wisest, resembling the god Dharma (justice, virtue) even more than Yudhishthira, who is the son of Dharma. Because of Dhritarashtra's blindness, Pandu was made king. One day while hunting Pandu shot a deer that was coupling with its mate and was cursed with the fate that if he ever mated with his wife, he would also die. So Pandu was celibate and practiced austerity in the forest along with his wives Kunti and Madri after they gave away their royal wealth to charity. Pandu asked Kunti to give him sons from a man equal or superior to him. Kunti had been given a mantra by which she could summon any god she desired to father children. She had already given birth to Karna, whose father was the sun; she had put him in a basket, and he, not knowing his parents, was raised by a charioteer. Then through Kunti, Dharma (Justice) became the father of Yudhishthira, Vayu (Wind) the father of Bhima, and the powerful Indra father of Arjuna. She told the mantra to Madri, who gave birth to Nakula and Sahadeva, twin sons of the Ashvins. However, Pandu made love to Madri and died, joined on his funeral pyre by Madri. Kunti raised the five Pandava sons, while the blind Dhritarashtra ruled the kingdom. Meanwhile the latter's wife gave birth to a hundred sons with Duryodhana the oldest. Vidura prophesied that Duryodhana would bring about destruction, but his warnings were ignored. Duryodhana tried to kill Bhima but failed. Bhishma arranged for the Brahmin Drona to teach all the princes. Arjuna excelled in the martial arts and was given special attention by Drona. Karna was also a great warrior and became a friend and supporter of Duryodhana. For Drona's tutorial fee Karna, Duryodhana and his brothers captured King Drupada. Dhritarashtra declared the oldest and most honest Yudhishthira heir to his throne. So Duryodhana and his brothers planned to burn to death Kunti and her five sons, but the Pandavas discovered the plot and escaped through underground tunnels from the burning house. Arjuna won a beautiful bride in Draupadi, but when he told his mother he had a gift for her, she said that he must share it with all his brothers. Since the mother's word could not be broken, all five brothers married Draupadi, a practice forbidden by the Vedas. Both Bhishma and Drona advised Dhritarashtra to give the Pandavas a share in the kingdom with his own sons. The Pandavas were given the city of Indraprastha, from where they could rule their half of the kingdom. Accidentally breaking in on his brother Yudhishthira with their wife, Arjuna had to go into exile for twelve years and practice chastity (brahmacharya). But the maiden Ulupi persuaded Arjuna that his celibacy only related to his wife Draupadi, and he eventually married Krishna's sister Subhadra, who gave birth to their son Abhimanyu. Draupadi also had a son by each of her five husbands, while Arjuna's efforts gained him divine weapons from Indra. Krishna, who later was made into a god, urged Yudhisthira and his brothers to attack Jarasandha, who had captured some kings. Bhima defeated Jarasandha in single combat, and Krishna released the imprisoned kings. Then Yudhishthira sent his four brothers in the four directions to conquer India. Krishna is criticized by Sishupala for killing women and cattle, but Krishna slices off Sishupala's head with a discus. To win the Pandavas' territory Duryodhana invites Yudhishthira to the palace to play dice with the skilled dice-cheater Shakuni. Yudhishthira's weakness for gambling causes him to lose everything he owns and even his four brothers, himself, and finally their wife. When Draupadi is summoned,

she is in retreat because of her monthly period. She is dressed only in a single blood-stained garment, but she is dragged by the hair into the hall by Dushasana. Draupadi questions what right her husband had to stake her when he had already lost his own freedom. Nonetheless she is insulted by Duryodhana and his brothers, who try to disrobe her; a miracle is performed by Krishna so that the cloth pulled from her body never ends. (In the past Draupadi had bandaged the wounded Krishna.) Spared this ultimate humiliation, Draupadi is given three boons by King Dhritarashtra and asks only for the return of Yudhishthira and his four brothers. Finally they decide to play one more dice game for the kingdom, the loser of which will have to go into exile for twelve years and be in hiding without being discovered for one year after that. Once again Yudhishthira loses, and the Pandavas depart for the forest. Vidura pleads with his brother to allow the Pandava sons to return, or else ruin will result; but once again he is ignored. In the forest Yudhishthira learns the value of forgiveness. Draupadi is a model and devoted wife to the brothers. Of the many stories there is one in which each of the brothers drinks water and dies at a river before answering a question, but Yudhishthira wisely answers all the questions and brings his brothers back to life. Nonviolence is considered the highest duty. During the thirteenth year they take on disguises and live in Virata's kingdom. A general tries to molest Draupadi, but he is killed by Bhima. After this dangerous year is completed, Krishna is sent as an envoy to ask for the Pandavas' half of the kingdom. When this is refused, everyone prepares for the great war. Krishna offers one side his army and the other himself, though he will not fight. His army fights with Duryodhana, and Krishna becomes the charioteer for Arjuna. As the war is about to start, Arjuna refuses to fight his cousins; but in the Bhagavad-Gita Krishna encourages him to fight as a warrior and teaches him about yoga and non-attachment to the fruits of action. Arjuna then decides to fight, and Yudhishthira approaches both Bhishma and Drona, asking for their blessings, although they are on the opposite side. After eight days of battles Yudhishthira also wants to stop fighting and retire to the forest; but Krishna tells him to ask Bhishma how he can be killed, because Bhishma has control over his own death. Shikhandin, reincarnation of the woman Amba, who had been rejected by Bhishma and swore to kill him, is able to attack Bhishma because he will not fight a woman. Tired of all the killing, Bhishma wants to die, and he is mortally wounded by Arjuna's arrows. Drona is given command of Duryodhana's armies. He is practically invincible, but he is discouraged by the lie that his son is dead. Yudhishthira, who is known for his truthfulness, says that Ashvatthaman is dead after Bhima kills an elephant with that name; but the intent is clearly to mislead Drona. Drona lays down his weapons, and his head is cut off by Dhrishtadyumna. In a family quarrel Arjuna is on the verge of killing Yudhishthira, but Krishna intervenes and says that nonviolence (ahimsa) is even more important than truthfulness. Truth is the highest virtue; but when life is in danger, even lying is permitted. Karna has sworn to kill Arjuna; but he is killed by Arjuna after his chariot gets stuck in the mud. The rules of fair fighting are increasingly being ignored. On the eighteenth day of the war Duryodhana is wounded in the legs by Bhima even though this was also a violation of the rules they agreed on before the war. Krishna responds to Duryodhana's taunts by reminding him that the dice game was crooked, how Draupadi had been insulted, and how Arjuna's son Abhimanyu had been killed. All of Gandhari's sons have been killed, but the five Pandavas have miraculously survived a war that was supposed to have had millions of warriors involved. In revenge Ashvatthaman violates another rule of war by attacking the Pandava camp at night and kills all of Draupadi's sons. In anger Arjuna readies the weapons that could destroy the

three worlds of heaven, Earth, and hell; but the sages Narada and Vyasa appear to dissuade him from this use of omnicidal weapons. Most of the rest of the poem after the great war is probably stories and ideas added later. Vidura explains that the story of the man enjoying a few drops of honey while in a well caught between a carnivore and a monstrous snake, hanging by a vine eaten away by rats is told by the knowers of liberation to suggest serenity in the midst of troubles. The long twelfth book called Peace (Shanti) has been discussed in relation to Samkhya philosophy. Bhishma, before he dies, gives his teachings. Ironically the nine duties common to the four castes seem to have been much violated by the characters in this poem; they are: controlling anger, truthfulness, justice, forgiveness, having lawful children, purity, avoidance of quarrels, simplicity, and looking after dependents. According to Bhishma the duty of the warrior (Kshatriya) is to protect the people. Truth is the highest duty but must not be spoken if the truth actually covers a lie. From desire comes greed and wrong-doing, wrath, and lust, producing confusion, deception, egoism, showing-off, malice, revenge, shamelessness, pride, mistrust, adultery, lies, gluttony, and violence. Vidura believes that justice (dharma) is more important than profit (artha) or pleasure (kama) ; but Krishna argues that profit is first because action is what matters in the world. However, Yudhishthira chooses liberation (moksha) as best. Bhishma says that nothing sees like knowledge; nothing purifies like truth; nothing delights like giving; and nothing enslaves like desire. By being poor, one has no enemies, but the rich are in the jaws of death; he chose poverty because it had more virtues. Giving up a little brings happiness, while giving up a lot brings supreme peace. Before Bhishma dies, the preceptor of the gods, Brihaspati, appears and explains that compassion is most virtuous because such a person looks at everyone as if they were one's own self. He teaches them the golden rule that one should never do to another what one would not want another to do to you; for when you hurt others, they turn and hurt you; but when you love others, they turn and love you. Brihaspati ascends to heaven, and Bhishma realizes that ahimsa (not hurting) is the highest religion, discipline, penance, sacrifice, happiness, truth, and merit. Yudhishthira performs the kingly horse sacrifice and rules over a wide realm his family has subdued before he passes on the kingdom to Arjuna's grandson Parikshit and retires with his brothers to seek heaven. On their divine ascent each of the brothers dies because of his shortcomings, but Yudhishthira will not leave behind his faithful dog, who is allowed into heaven with him as a symbol of dharma. Yudhishthira is thus able to enter heaven alive where he finds Duryodhana. Narada explains that there are no enmities in heaven, but Yudhishthira asks to see his brothers. He is led to a stinky unpleasant place, but he prefers to be in hell with his brothers. This too is a test, and he is reunited with Draupadi, who was an incarnation of Lakshmi, goddess of prosperity. The author concludes that profit and pleasure come from virtue. Pleasure and pain are not eternal; only the soul is eternal. This poetic story of a great war that probably took place in the late tenth century BC is filled with stories and situations that describe the culture of ancient India and has been an entertaining schoolbook for millions. Along with the virtues it also reveals the vices of the conquering and warlike Aryans and their racist caste system. Even the divine Krishna becomes a spokesperson for the warrior mentality, as a nearly apocalyptic disaster destroys millions and threatens their whole world. Still a heroic epic of military glory like the Ramayana, the Mahabharata contains much more real and well defined characters and portrays many aspects of life. If only humanity could learn from its negative lessons of violence and ambition, perhaps the peace of the sages could be found.

Jatakas
Ancient folktales of India come down to us primarily in two collections of stories, many of which are about animals. These are the Buddhist tales of the former lives of the Buddha known as the Jatakas and the Panchatantra. Many of the original stories probably predate the Buddha, but the Jatakas were organized into verses about the Buddha and placed into his biography starting about the fourth century BC, though the whole collection with its prose stories and commentaries was not completed for several centuries. The Jataka tales always begin with an incident in the life of the Buddha, usually a sermon he is giving which he illustrates with a story from one of his previous lives. After the tale is told he often indicates who were the other characters in the story of their previous existence. In this way the law of karma, or the consequences of actions, is illustrated, and the deep patterns of different souls can be seen. The Buddha, who is referred to as the Bodhisattva in the stories since he is then a future Buddha, is usually the most heroic and wisest character. He is often an animal or a tree spirit and is frequently the leader of his group. He never seems to be a female, and in fact there is a strong bias against women in many stories. The Jatakas are primarily moral tales illustrating the wisdom and goodness of the Bodhisattva figure, and, with the exception of the prejudice against women, the ethical lessons are usually quite good. The Devadhamma-Jataka (#6) is a good example. This story resembles that of Rama. The Bodhisattva is the eldest prince of Benares followed by Prince Moon and, when their mother died, Prince Sun, whose mother was given a boon by the king. This queen, being naturally wicked, plots against the others and demands that her son be made king for her boon. The Bodhisattva and Prince Moon go off to live in the forest, but they are joined by Prince Sun as well. A water-sprite imprisons Prince Sun and Prince Moon when they answer that what is truly godlike is the sun and moon and the four quarters of heaven; but the Bodhisattva wisely states that the godlike are the white-souled votaries of the Good who shrink from sin. The water-sprite offers him one of his brothers, and he chooses the youngest because the queen had asked for the kingdom for him; if he chose Prince Moon instead, no one would believe that Prince Sun had been devoured by a demon. Impressed by his wisdom, the demon returns both brothers, and the Bodhisattva explains that the demon is suffering the consequences of his evil deeds and is continuing the pattern. However, the demon is converted; when the father dies, the brothers return to Benares with the Bodhisattva as king, Prince Moon as viceroy, and Prince Sun as general. The tale ends with the usual conclusion that he lived correctly until he passed away to fare according to his deeds. Then the Buddha explains that the demon was the monk who had been hoarding extra clothes. Devadatta is often cast as the villain in the tales. In the Mahilamukha-Jataka (#26) a follower of the Buddha is seduced into eating the luxurious food of Devadatta's schismatic group. The Buddha tells how in a past life he was an elephant named Damsel-face, who heard the evil talk of robbers and went on a rampage, killing everyone in sight until the Bodhisattva, the king's counselor, figures out that it was the influence of bad talk and advises the king to have Brahmins talk of goodness in the elephant's stall. The oldest part of the tale is usually the moral verse, which in this story runs thus:
Through hearing first the burglars wicked talk Damsel-face ranged abroad to wound and kill; Through hearing, later, wise men's lofty words The noble elephant turned good once more.3

The Kulavaka-Jataka (#31) is an elaborate tale that shows the progression of several lives of a woman called in the first Highborn. The Bodhisattva does good and wins over friends, who keep the five commandments; but their good works clearing roads take away the graft of the headman, who

accuses them of villainies. Condemned to be trampled by an elephant, the great beast flees from them, making the king think he has a spell. The Bodhisattva explains that their spell is not to destroy life, nor take what is not given, nor commit misconduct, nor lie, nor drink alcohol, and to be loving, show charity, level the roads, dig tanks, build a public hall, and so on. In the Bodhisattva's house are four women - Goodness, Thoughtful, Joy, and Highborn. In their next lives the first three from their good works have pleasant situations with Sakka (the Buddha again), but Highborn, not having performed any act of merit, is reborn as a crane. However, she is taught to keep the commandments and proves her worthiness to Sakka and then is reborn in the family of a potter. Once again she keeps the commandments and is reborn as the beautiful daughter of an Asura king. This story makes the important Buddhist point that it is one's actions not one's birth that determines the future. The Mahasilava-Jataka (#51) shows how a good king can overcome a violent villain, who is an earlier incarnation of Devadatta. This minister is sent away from Benares for dealing treacherously in the king's harem. He persuades the king of Kosala to attack Benares, knowing that they will be rewarded with gifts and get off free. Sure enough when brought before King Goodness of Benares, he asks them why they made this raid; and hearing that they could not make a living, he gives them presents and warns them not to do it again. To prove the point other raiders are sent, and the result is the same. So the king of Kosala decides to attack Benares, but King Goodness refuses to fight and orders the city gates opened. Captured and buried alive up to the neck, King Goodness teaches his fellow captives to shout in order to frighten away the jackals, who come at night to eat them. No longer scared, the jackals come, but King Goodness bites the neck of the jackal leader and manages to get his hands free. They escape, and King Goodness wins the friendship of two ogres, who are fighting over a corpse by dividing it equally for them. Using their magical powers he miraculously appears in the royal bedchamber and wins over the king of Kosala, ending up with more ministers and a larger kingdom than before. Often a prince, the Buddha did not always assume the kingship in his previous lives. In the Asadisa-Jataka (#181) Prince Peerless allows his younger brother to rule so that he can renounce the world. When a slander made his brother fear he wanted to take over the kingdom, he secretly returned as a hired archer, proving his skill by severing a mango branch with an arrow on its downward flight, directed by a second arrow that entered heaven and was caught by the deities. When his brother was surrounded by seven attacking kings, he sent for Prince Peerless, who shot an arrow with a message that landed in the golden dish where the seven kings were eating. Frightened he would kill them all, they fled. Thus without shedding even as much blood as a fly might drink, the situation was resolved. Then Prince Peerless renounced his lusts and the world to cultivate the faculties and attainments; when his life ended, he came to Brahma's heaven. The Daddabha-Jataka (#322) is told against heretics who practice excessive austerities, the Buddha denying the merit of unnecessary suffering. In this story the Bodhisattva as a lion stops a panic started by a hare, who heard the sound of fruit falling and began running away, causing other hares to run in fear and eventually all the animals of the forest. By roaring the lion stops the panic and then investigates to find the harmless source of all the fear. Jataka #330 compares desire to birds fighting over a piece of meat such that whichever bird picks up the meat suffers attack from other birds. In a second example a female slave anxiously awaits the coming of her lover; but when she gives up hope that he will come, she sleeps peacefully. He concludes that in this world and in the next there is no happiness greater than the bliss of meditation.

In many stories, such as the one in which the Bodhisattva solves nineteen problems (#546), the Buddha-to-be uses his intuitive intelligence to figure out and solve or explain difficult dilemmas, complicated problems, or mysteries. Some of these may be the earliest detective stories, and the message is always that justice and goodness prevail when the Bodhisattva is involved.

Panchatantra
Panchatantra means "five formulas" and is divided into five sections of stories illustrating them called "Loss of Friends," "Winning of Friends," "Crows and Owls," "Loss of Gains," and "Illconsidered Action." In these traditional Hindu animal tales the worldly values of wealth and pleasure are more prominent than in the Jatakas. The Panchatantra may have been written down as early as the second century BC, and numerous versions spread to Persia in the sixth century and to Europe during the middle ages. A German version in 1481, for example, was one of the earliest printed books. The Panchatantra is considered a textbook for wise conduct in this world. The basic struggle for survival underlies the competition between animals, who are personified to portray different human traits, and these primordial instincts are often illustrated dramatically by some animals eating others. Thus the struggle for life is not only to find enough to eat but also to keep from being eaten by others. Nevertheless friendship between different creatures is a way to find peaceful co-existence and mutual benefit amidst the dangers. Finding that his three sons are hostile to the usual education, a king asks the Brahmin Vishnu-Sharman to teach them the art of practical life in a way they will understand. Vishnu-Sharman accomplishes this task by making the boys memorize the stories of the five books. In the first book on the loss of friends, the king is represented by a lion named Rusty, who befriends a wounded bull called Lively. Most of the tales are told by two jackals named Cheek and Victor, who are the sons of royal counselors and out of a job. Victor persuades Rusty to give a safe conduct for him and Lively, who has been bellowing in the forest because of his wound. Victor sets himself up as a counselor and illustrates his advice to Lively with parables. The lion Rusty protects the bull Lively, and they become close friends, while the two jackals, Victor and Cheek, are suffering hunger along with other animals normally dependent on the king of beasts. So Victor and Cheek counsel each other with stories how they can regain the lion's favor. They decide that Rusty has fallen into the vice of attachment that can manifest in drinking, women, hunting, scolding, gambling, greed, and cruelty. The other vices are deficiency, corruption, devastation, and mistaken policy. Deficiency can be in the king, counselor, people, fortress, treasure, punitive power, or friends. Corruption comes from restlessness. Devastation can be from fire, water, disease, plague, panic, famine, excessive rain, or an act of God. Mistaken policy occurs when the six political expedients of war, peace, change of base, entrenchment, alliance, and duplicity are not used correctly. By being captivated by Lively, Rusty is accused of falling into the deficiency of a "vegetarian morality" by ignoring his counselors. Victor tells how a crow killed a black snake, a crab killed a heron, and even a rabbit killed a lion by causing it to look down a well at its own image. Then Victor tells how a weaver won the love of a princess by adopting the power of Vishnu to fly as Garuda. Gaining the king's ear, Victor tells Rusty that the bull Lively is planning to take over his kingdom; he warns him that no king should ever give his power over to a single counselor. Although Lively is not a carnivore, Victor argues that a bull is food, and he may egg on others like worms breeding in his excrement. A louse was living nicely in the king's bed until a flea stirred up trouble and caused a search that found the louse's hiding place. Having made Rusty suspicious of

Lively, Victor next tells the bull that Rusty is planning to kill and eat him. Now Lively greatly fears the lion. Lively tells how a swan befriending an owl is shot by a hunter. Fearing he too will be eaten by Rusty, Lively tells the story of how a camel was eaten by a starving lion and a carnivorous leopard, jackal, and crow. Self-knowledge and self-restraint are lacking when the stupid turtle opened its mouth to talk when being carried on a stick by helpful birds to a new home; falling to the ground the turtle's meat is cut to bits by knives. The approaches of three fishes are contrasted as Forethought and Ready-wit are adaptable and survive, but Fatalist cannot keep alive. An old gander's advice is at first ignored, causing the geese to be captured by a hunter; but when the gander tells them to play dead, they are thrown on the ground and can fly away. The jackals advise people to look to their own advantage; otherwise studying books is merely mental strain. Finally when Rusty sees the bull approaching so warily, he springs at Lively, and they fight. Cheek reproaches Victor for causing this enmity and threatening the kingdom. Discerning counselors aim for conciliation and postpone harsh deeds. Power with intelligence can lead to peace if it is cultivated. A countermeasure is needed to avoid misfortune. Harsh comment may be needed when flattery can be treason. So Cheek tells some stories that show that cheating and lying eventually backfire. Wrong-mind's schemes for cheating Right-mind are eventually revealed, and he is punished. A pawnbroker claims that mice ate Naduk's iron balance-beam; so Naduk hides the pawnbroker's son, saying that a hawk must have carried him off. Since the boy is fifteen, this is as unbelievable as mice eating iron. So the magistrate orders the return of the balance beam, and Naduk tells them where the boy is hidden. Cheek tells two stories that indicate that an enemy may prove better than a friend, and that therefore right should be done and wrong avoided. This causes Victor to slink away; but Rusty and Lively renew their battle, and the lion kills the bull. Rusty feels guilty, but Victor advises him to remain resolute, claiming that normal morality does not apply to kings. Cheek reprimands Victor for stirring up strife and causing the master to fight his own servant, for victory is not what the gods command. It is fools who fight; the wise find nonviolent ways. The truth must be spoken, for pleasant lies lead the royal mind astray. Several counselors ought to be consulted separately for independent views. A master should be mindful of human differences and not let his mind be taken astray by others' advice. The second book on the winning of friends is more positive. These stories are mostly by four friends: Swift the crow, Gold the mouse, Slow the turtle, and Spot the deer. Swift tells how doves escaped from the cruel hunter's snare by flying up all together. The mouse Gold then chewed through the snare to free the doves, showing the value of friendship. Although crows usually eat mice, Gold is won over to friendship by Swift's worldly wisdom. Friendship involves taking and giving, listening and talking, dining and entertaining. Because of a drought the crow wants to visit his friend Slow the turtle, and Gold accompanies him riding on his back. Gold tells several stories to show that the brave and friendly can prosper, but the fatalistic slacker does not. The wealthy who are greedy may be miserable, while the contented beggar is rich.
No treasure equals charity; Content is perfect wealth; No gem compares with character; No wish fulfilled, with health.4

Slow the turtle tells of the money troubles of a weaver. Then the crow, mouse, and turtle are joined by a deer named Spot, and they all become friends. Spot tells how mice, who were being trampled by elephants, persuaded them to stay away from their homes, and in return the mice gnawed the ropes to free the elephants when they were captured. One day Spot is missing, and Swift finds him

caught in a trap. The crow flies back to get Gold, who gnaws the trap to free Spot. Slow the turtle made the mistake of joining them and was captured by the hunter. So Spot laid down by the water as though dead, and the crow pretended to peck at him. The hunter put down the turtle, who escaped into the water, while Spot dashed off into the forest, and Swift flew away. Thus free of all injury, the four friends lived in mutual affection and happiness. The third book tells the story of the war between the crows and owls. The crows resent that the chief owl has been named king by the birds. Cloudy the crow-king consults his advisors, who each recommend one of the six strategies related to war and peace. Live-Again counsels peace with the powerful. Live-Well suggests war or else violence will come again. Live-Along recommends a change of base, a retreat followed by an invasion. Live-On dislikes all three of these approaches and advises entrenchment in a strong fort. Live-Long recommends an alliance. Finally Live-Strong counsels duplicity and plans a clever spy mission in which he appears to have been attacked by his king and is found by the owls. Diplomacy is demonstrated in a story in which a rabbit is a clever envoy to the elephants, but another rabbit and partridge died by confiding in a cat. When the owls find Live-Strong wounded by the crows, they have to decide what to do with him. The owl-king Foe-Crusher asks his five advisors. Red-Eye says he should be killed as a dangerous enemy. Fierce-Eye says it is wrong to kill a suppliant, and Flame-Eye, Hook-nose, and Wall-Ear agree Live-Strong should not be killed. Live-Strong asks to be burned by fire so that he could be reborn as an owl to get back at Cloudy. Disregarding Red-Eye, the owl-king agrees to feed LiveStrong in his fortress, and the wily crow regains his strength. Red-Eye and his followers leave the fortress, and with Live-Strong's help the crows are able to attack and burn down the owls' refuge. The crafty advice of Live-Strong is victorious, and he declares that kingship requires prudence, selfsacrifice, and courage. Cloudy is amazed at the value of this political skill that leads to wealth, fame, and power. The last two books are shorter. In "Loss of Gains" the wife of a crocodile talks her husband into killing a monkey, who has shared fruit with them so that she could eat his heart. The crocodile invites the monkey to his home but confesses his purpose on the way so that the monkey can pray. The monkey says he has another heart at home and convinces the crocodile to take him back. Further attempts to capture the monkey are vain, unlike the story where the jackal invites a donkey, who is eaten by a lion. The jackal then eats the heart and ears of the donkey, and the lion is annoyed; but the jackal explains that a donkey, who would return to the forest after being attacked by a lion once, obviously has no heart or ears. In the last book on ill-considered action a merchant named Jewel dreams that a Jain monk appears, and he hits him on the head with a stick, whereupon the monk turns to gold. The dream actually occurs the next day. A barber witnesses it and tries to attack some Jain monks and is thrown in jail, showing that his action was ill-considered because not guided by a dream. Four treasure seekers find in turn copper, silver, and gold, the fourth expecting to find something better. Instead he must replace a man tortured by a wheel on his head. The difference between scholarship and sense is revealed in the story of the lion-makers. Finding the carcass of a dead lion, one scholar assembles the skeleton, the second provides flesh and blood, and the third is going to give it life; but the non-scholar, having only sense, says not to bring a dangerous lion to life. So he climbs a tree, and the three scholars are killed by their ill-advised creation. Greed and revenge are the themes of the tale of the unforgiving monkey, who gets back at the household of a king for using the monkey-fat to cure horses' burns by offering to take them to a

lake, where he got a pearl necklace, when he knows they will be killed by the demon in the lake. Everything grows old, but one thing remains young forever - greed. Although the tales of the Panchatantra emphasize the ambitious goals of wealth and power, their crafty lessons in entertaining stories do give people important lessons in survival and the ways of the fiercely competitive human and natural worlds.

Notes
1. The Ramayana of Valmiki 6:18, tr. Hari Prasad Shastri, Vol. 3, p. 40-41. 2. Ibid. 6:115, p. 331-332. 3. The Jatakas tr. Robert Chalmers, Vol. 1, p. 69. 4. Panchatantra tr. Arthur W. Ryder, p. 259.

India 30 BC To 1300
India 30 BC-320 CE Gupta Empire and India 320-750 Plays of Bhasa, Kalidasa, and Bhavabhuti Hindu Kingdoms 750-1000 Tibetan Buddhism India and Muslim Invaders 1000-1300 Literature of Medieval India This chapter has been published in the book INDIA & Southeast Asia to 1800. For ordering information, please click here.

India 30 BC-320 CE
In the Andhra land Satavahana king Simuka overthrew the last Kanva king in 30 BC and according to the Puranas reigned for 23 years. The Andhras were called Dasyus in the Aitareya Brahmana, and they were criticized for being degraded Brahmins or outcastes by the orthodox. For three centuries the kingdom of the Satavahanas flourished except for a brief invasion by the Shaka clan of Kshaharata led by Bhumaka and Nahapana in the early 2nd century CE. The latter was overthrown as the Satavahana kingdom with its caste system was restored by Gautamiputra Satakarni about 125 CE; his mother claimed he rooted out Shakas (Scythians), Yavanas (Greeks and Romans), and Pahlavas (Parthians), and records praised Gautamiputra for being virtuous, concerned about his subjects, taxing them justly, and stopping the mixing of castes. His successor Pulumavi ruled for 29 years and extended Satavahana power to the mouth of the Krishna River. Trade with the Romans was active from the first century CE when Pliny complained that 550 million sesterces went to India annually, mostly for luxuries like spices, jewels, textiles, and exotic animals. The Satavahana kingdom was ruled in small provinces by governors, who became independent when the Satavahana kingdom collapsed. An inscription dated 150 CE credits Shaka ruler Rudradaman with supporting the cultural arts and Sanskrit literature and repairing the dam built by the Mauryans. Rudradaman took back most of the territory the Satavahana king Gautamiputra captured from Nahapana, and he also conquered the Yaudheya tribes in Rajasthan. However, in the next century the warlike Yaudheyas became more powerful. The indigenous Nagas also were aggressive toward Shaka satraps in the 3rd century. In the Deccan after the Satavahanas, Takataka kings ruled from the 3rd century to the 6th.

Probably in the second half of the first century BC Kharavela conquered much territory for Kalinga in southeastern India and patronized Jainism. He was said to have spent much money for the welfare of his subjects and had the canal enlarged that had been built three centuries before by the Nandas. In addition to a large palace, a monastery was built at Pabhara, and caves were excavated for the Jains. Late in the 1st century BC a line of Iranian kings known as the Pahlavas ruled northwest India. The Shaka (Scythian) Maues, who ruled for about 40 years until 22 CE, broke relations with the Iranians and claimed to be the great king of kings himself. Maues was succeeded by three Shaka kings whose reigns overlapped. The Parthian Gondophernes seems to have driven the last Greek king Hermaeus out of the Kabul valley and taken over Gandhara from the Shakas, and it was said that he received at his court Jesus' disciple Thomas. Evidence indicates that Thomas also traveled to Malabar about 52 CE and established Syrian churches on the west coast before crossing to preach on the east coast around Madras, where he was opposed and killed in 68. However, the Pahlavas were soon driven out by Scythians Chinese historians called the Yue-zhi. Their Kushana tribal chief Kujula Kadphises, his son Vima Kadphises, and Kanishka (r. 78-101) gained control of the western half of northern India by 79 CE. According to Chinese history one of these kings demanded to marry a Han princess, but the Kushanas were defeated by the Chinese led by Ban Chao at the end of the 1st century. Kanishka, considered the founder of the Shaka era, supported Buddhism, which held its 4th council in Kashmir during his reign. A new form of Mahayana Buddhism with the compassionate saints (bodhisattvas) helping to save others was spreading in the north, while the traditional Theravada of saints (arhats) working for their own enlightenment held strong in southern regions. Several great Buddhist philosophers were favored at Kanishka's court, including Parshva, Vasumitra, and Ashvaghosha; Buddhist missions were sent to central Asia and China, and Kanishka was said to have died fighting in central Asia. Kushana power decreased after the reign of Vasudeva (145-176), and they became vassals in the 3rd century after being defeated by Shapur I of the Persian Sasanian dynasty. In the great vehicle or way of Mahayana Buddhism the saint (bodhisattva) is concerned with the virtues of benevolence, character, patience, perseverance, and meditation, determined to help all souls attain nirvana. This doctrine is found in the Sanskrit Surangama Sutra of the first century CE. In a dialog between the Buddha and Ananda before a large gathering of monks, the Buddha declares that keeping the precepts depends on concentration, which enhances meditation and develops intelligence and wisdom. He emphasizes that the most important allurement to overcome is sexual thought, desire, and indulgence. The next allurement is pride of ego, which makes one prone to be unkind, unjust, and cruel. Unless one can control the mind so that even the thought of killing or brutality is abhorrent, one will never escape the bondage of the world. Killing and eating flesh must be stopped. No teaching that is unkind can be the teaching of the Buddha. Another precept is to refrain from coveting and stealing, and the fourth is not to deceive or tell lies. In addition to the three poisons of lust, hatred, and infatuation, one must curtail falsehood, slander, obscene words, and flattery. Ashvaghosha was the son of a Brahmin and at first traveled around arguing against Buddhism until he was converted, probably by Parshva. Ashvaghosha wrote the earliest Sanskrit drama still partially extant; in the Shariputra-prakarana the Buddha converts Maudgalyayana and Sariputra by philosophical discussion. His poem Buddhacharita describes the life and teachings of the Buddha very beautifully. The Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana is ascribed to Ashvaghosha. That treatise distinguishes two aspects of the soul as suchness (bhutatathata) and the cycle of birth and death (samsara). The

soul as suchness is one with all things, but this cannot be described with any attributes. This is negative in its emptiness (sunyata) but positive as eternally transcendent of all intellectual categories. Samsara comes forth from this ultimate reality. Multiple things are produced when the mind is disturbed, but they disappear when the mind is quiet. The separate ego-consciousness is nourished by emotional and mental prejudices (ashrava). Since all beings have suchness, they can receive instructions from all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and receive benefits from them. By the purity of enlightenment they can destroy hindrances and experience insight into the oneness of the universe. All Buddhas feel compassion for all beings, treating others as themselves, and they practice virtue and good deeds for the universal salvation of humanity in the future, recognizing equality among people and not clinging to individual existence. Thus the prejudices and inequities of the caste system were strongly criticized. Mahayana texts were usually written in Sanskrit instead of Pali, and the Prajnaparamita was translated into Chinese as early as 179 CE by Lokakshema. This dialog of 8,000 lines in which the Buddha spoke for himself and through Subhuti with his disciples was also summarized in verse. The topic is perfect wisdom. Bodhisattvas are described as having an even and friendly mind, being amenable, straight, soft-spoken, free of perceiving multiplicity, and free of self-interest. Detached, they do not want gain or fame, and their hearts are not overcome by anger nor do they seek a livelihood in the wrong way. Like an unstained lotus in the water they return from concentration to the sense world to mature beings and purify the field with compassion for all living things. Having renounced a heavenly reward they serve the entire world, like a mother taking care of her child. Thought produced is dedicated to enlightenment. They do not wish to release themselves in a private nirvana but become the world's resting place by learning not to embrace anything. With a mind full of friendliness and compassion, seeing countless beings with heavenly vision as like creatures on the way to slaughter, a Bodhisattva impartially endeavors to release them from their suffering by working for the welfare of all beings. Nagarjuna was also born into a Brahmin family and in the 2nd century CE founded the Madhyamika (Middle Path) school of Mahayana Buddhism, although he was concerned about Hinayanists too. He was a stern disciplinarian and expelled many monks from the community at Nalanda for not observing the rules. A division among his followers led to the development of the Yogachara school of philosophy. Nagarjuna taught that all things are empty, but he answered critics that this does not deny reality but explains how the world happens. Only from the absolute point of view is there no birth or annihilation. The Buddha and all beings are like the sky and are of one nature. All things are nothing but mind established as phantoms; thus blissful or evil existence matures according to good or evil actions. Nagarjuna discussed ethics in his Suhrllekha. He considered ethics faultless and sublime as the ground of all, like the earth. Aware that riches are unstable and void, one should give; for there is no better friend than giving. He recommended the transcendental virtues of charity, patience, energy, meditation, and wisdom, while warning against avarice, deceit, illusion, lust, indolence, pride, greed, and hatred. Attaining patience by renouncing anger he felt was the most difficult. One should look on another's wife like one's mother, daughter or sister. It is more heroic to conquer the objects of the six senses than a mass of enemies in battle. Those who know the world are equal to the eight conditions of gain and loss, happiness and suffering, fame and dishonor, and blame and praise. A woman (or man), who is gentle as a sister, winning as a friend, caring as a mother, and obedient as a servant, one should honor as a guardian goddess (god). He suggested meditating on kindness, pity, joy, and equanimity, abandoning desire, reflection, happiness, and pain. The aggregates of form, perception, feeling, will, and consciousness arise from ignorance. One is fettered by attachment to religious ceremonies, wrong views, and doubt. One should annihilate desire as one would

extinguish a fire in one's clothes or head. Wisdom and concentration go together, and for the one who has them the sea of existence is like a grove. During the frequent wars that preceded the Gupta empire in the 4th century the Text of the Excellent Golden Light (Suvarnaprabhasottama Sutra) indicated the Buddhist attitude toward this fighting. Everyone should be protected from invasion in peace and prosperity. While turning back their enemies, one should create in the earthly kings a desire to avoid fighting, attacking, and quarreling with neighbors. When the kings are contented with their own territories, they will not attack others. They will gain their thrones by their past merit and not show their mettle by wasting provinces; thinking of mutual welfare, they will be prosperous, well fed, pleasant, and populous. However, when a king disregards evil done in his own kingdom and does not punish criminals, injustice, fraud, and strife will increase in the land. Such a land afflicted with terrible crimes falls into the power of the enemy, destroying property, families, and wealth, as men ruin each other with deceit. Such a king, who angers the gods, will find his kingdom perishing; but the king, who distinguishes good actions from evil, shows the results of karma and is ordained by the gods to preserve justice by putting down rogues and criminals in his domain even to giving up his life rather than the jewel of justice. After 20 BC many kings ruled Sri Lanka (Ceylon) during a series of succession fights until Vasabha (r. 67-111 CE) of the Lambakanna sect established a new dynasty that would rule more than three centuries. Vasabha promoted the construction of eleven reservoirs and an extensive irrigation system. The island was divided briefly by his son and his two brothers, as the Chola king Karikala invaded; but Gajabahu (r. 114-36) united the country and invaded the Chola territory. A treaty established friendly relations, and Hindu temples were built on Sri Lanka, including some for the chaste goddess immortalized in the Silappadikaram. Sri Lanka experienced peace and prosperity for 72 years, and King Voharika Tissa (r. 209-31) even abolished punishment by mutilation. However, when the Buddhist schism divided people, the king suppressed the new Mahayana doctrine and banished its followers. Caught in an intrigue with the queen, his brother Abhayanaga (r. 231-40) fled to India, and then with Tamils invaded Sri Lanka, defeated and killed his brother, took the throne, and married the queen. Gothabhaya (r. 249-62) persecuted the new Vetulya doctrine supported by monks at Abhayagirivihara by having sixty monks branded and banished. Their accounts of this cruelty led Sanghamitta to tutor the princes in such a way that when Mahasena (r. 274-301) became king, he confiscated property from the traditional Mahavihara monastery and gave it to Abhayagirivihara. The Tamil epic poem called The Ankle Bracelet (Silappadikaram) was written about 200 CE by Prince Ilango Adigal, brother of King Shenguttuvan, who ruled the western coast of south India. Kovalan, the son of a wealthy merchant in Puhar, marries Kannaki, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy ship-owner. The enchanting Madhavi dances so well for the king that he gives her a wreath that she sells to Kovalan for a thousand gold kalanjus, making her his mistress. They sing songs to each other of love and lust until he notices hints of her other loves; so he withdraws his hands from her body and departs. Kovalan returns to his wife in shame for losing his wealth; but she gives him her valuable ankle bracelet, and they decide to travel to Madurai. Kannaki courageously accompanies him although it causes her feet to bleed. They are joined by the saintly woman Kavundi, and like good Jains they try not to step on living creatures as they walk. They meet a saintly man who tells them that no one can escape reaping the harvest grown from the seeds of one's actions. In the woods a charming nymph tries to tempt Kovalan with a message from Madhavi, but his prayer causes her to confess and run away. A soothsayer calls Kannaki the queen of the southern

Tamil land, but she only smiles at such ignorance. A priest brings a message from Madhavi asking for forgiveness and noting his leaving his parents. Kovalan has the letter sent to his parents to relieve their anguish. Leaving his wife with the saint Kavundi, Kovalan goes to visit the merchants, while Kavundi warns him that the merits of his previous lives have been exhausted; they must prepare for misfortune. Reaping what is sown, many fall into predicaments from pursuing women, wealth, and pleasure; thus sages renounce all desire for worldly things. A Brahmin tells Kovalan that Madhavi has given birth to his baby girl; he has done good deeds in the past, but he warns him he must pay for some errors committed in a past existence. Kovalan feels bad for wasting his youth and neglecting his parents. He goes to town to sell the ankle bracelet; a goldsmith tells him only the queen can purchase it, but the goldsmith tells King Korkai that he has found the man who stole his royal anklet. The king orders the thief put to death, and Kovalan is killed with a sword. Kannaki weeping observes the spirit of her husband rise into the air, telling her to stay in life. She goes to King Korkai and proves her husband did not steal the anklet by showing him their anklet has gems not pearls. Filled with remorse for violating justice at the word of a goldsmith, the king dies, followed quickly in this by his queen. Kannaki goes out and curses the town as she walks around the city three times. Then she tears her left breast from her body and throws it in the dirt. A god of fire appears to burn the city, but she asks him to spare Brahmins, good men, cows, truthful women, cripples, the old, and children, while destroying evildoers. As the four genii who protect the four castes of Madurai depart, a conflagration breaks out. The goddess of Madurai explains to Kannaki that in a past life as Bharata her husband had renounced nonviolence and caused Sangaman to be beheaded, believing he was a spy. His wife cursed the killer, and now that action bore fruit. Kannaki wanders desolate for two weeks, confessing her crime. Then the king of heaven proclaims her a saint, and she ascends with Kovalan in a divine chariot. King Shenguttuvan, who had conquered Kadambu, leaves Vanji and hears stories about a woman with a breast torn off suffering agony and how Madurai was destroyed. The king decides to march north to bring back a great stone on the crowned heads of two kings, Kanaka and Vijaya, who had criticized him; the stone is to be carved into the image of the beloved goddess. His army crosses the Ganges and defeats the northern kings. The saintly Kavundi fasts to death. The fathers of Kovalan and Kannaki both give up their wealth and join religious orders, and Madhavi goes into a Buddhist nunnery, followed later in this by her daughter. Madalan advises King Shenguttuvan to give up anger and criticizes him for contributing to war, causing the king to release prisoners and refund taxes. The Chola king notes how the faithful wife has proved the Tamil proverb that the virtue of women is of no use if the king fails to establish justice. Finally the author himself appears in the court of his brother Shenguttuvan and gives a list of moral precepts that begins:
Seek God and serve those who are near Him. Do not tell lies. Avoid slander. Avoid eating the flesh of animals. Do not cause pain to any living thing. Be charitable, and observe fast days. Never forget the good others have done to you.1

In a preamble added by a later commentator three lessons are drawn from this story: First, death results when a king strays from the path of justice; second, everyone must bow before a chaste and faithful wife; and third, fate is mysterious, and all actions are rewarded. Many sanctuaries were built in southern India and Sri Lanka to the faithful wife who became the goddess of chastity. The Jain philosopher Kunda Kunda of the Digambara sect lived and taught sometime between the first and fourth centuries. He laid out his metaphysics in The Five Cosmic Constituents

(Panchastikayasara). He noted that karmic matter brings about its own changes, as the soul by impure thoughts conditioned by karma does too. Freedom from sorrow comes from giving up desire and aversion, which cause karmic matter to cling to the soul, leading to states of existence in bodies with senses. Sense objects by perception then lead one to pursue them with desires or aversion, repeating the whole cycle. High ideals based on love, devotion, and justice, such as offering relief to the thirsty, hungry, and miserable, may purify the karmic matter; but anger, pride, deceit, coveting, and sensual pleasures interfere with calm thought, perception, and will, causing anguish to others, slander, and other evils. Meditating on the self with pure thought and controlled senses will wash off the karmic dust. Desire and aversion to pleasant and unpleasant states get the self bound by various kinds of karmic matter. The knowing soul associating with essential qualities is selfdetermined, but the soul led by desire for outer things gets bewildered and is other-determined. Kunda Kunda discussed ethics in The Soul Essence (Samayasara). As long as one does not discern the difference between the soul and its thought activity, the ignorant will indulge in anger and other emotions that accumulate karma. The soul discerning the difference turns back from these. One with wrong knowledge takes the non-self for self, identifies with anger, and becomes the doer of karma. As the king has his warriors wage war, the soul produces, causes, binds, and assimilates karmic matter. Being affected by anger, pride, deceit, and greed, the soul becomes them. From the practical standpoint karma is attached in the soul, but from the real or pure perspective karma is neither bound nor attached to the soul; attachment to the karma destroys independence. The soul, knowing the karma is harmful, does not indulge them and in self-contemplation attains liberation. The soul is bound by wrong beliefs, lack of vows, passions, and vibratory activity. Kunda Kunda suggested that one does not cause misery or happiness to living beings by one's body, speech, mind, or by weapons, but living beings are happy or miserable by their own karma (actions). As long as one identifies with feelings of joy and sorrow and until soul realization shines out in the heart, one produces good and bad karma. Just as an artisan does not have to identify with performing a job, working with organs, holding tools, the soul can enjoy the fruit of karma without identifying. In The Perfect Law (Niyamsara), Kunda Kunda described right belief, right knowledge, and right conduct that lead to liberation. The five vows are non-injury, truth, non-stealing, chastity, and nonpossession. Renouncing passion, attachment, aversion, and other impure thoughts involves controlling the mind and speech with freedom from falsehood and restraining the body by not causing injury. The right conduct of repentance and equanimity is achieved by self-analysis, by avoiding transgressions and thoughts of pain and ill-will, and by self-contemplation with pure thoughts. Renunciation is practiced by equanimity toward all living beings with no ill feelings, giving up desires, controlling the senses, and distinguishing between the soul and material karma. A saint of independent actions is called an internal soul, but one devoid of independent action is called an external soul. The soul free from obstructions, independent of the senses, and liberated from good and bad karma is free from rebirth and eternal in the nirvana of perfect knowledge, bliss, and power.

Gupta Empire and India 320-750

After the disintegration in northern India in the third century CE, the Kushanas still ruled over the western Punjab and the declining Shakas over Gujarat and part of Malwa. Sri Lanka king Meghavarna (r. 301-28) sent gifts and asked permission to build a large monastery north of the Bodhi tree for Buddhist pilgrims that eventually housed more than a thousand priests. Sasanian king Shapur II fought and made a treaty with the Kushanas in 350, but he was defeated by them twice in 367-68. After two previous kings of the Gupta dynasty, Chandra-gupta I by marrying Kumaradevi, a Lichchhavi princess, inaugurated the Gupta empire in 320, launching campaigns of territorial conquest. This expansion was greatly increased by their son Samudra-gupta, who ruled for about

forty years until 380, conquering nine republics in Rajasthan and twelve states in the Deccan of central India. Many other kingdoms on the frontiers paid taxes and obeyed orders. The Guptas replaced tribal customs with the caste system. Rulers in the south were defeated, captured, and released to rule as vassals. Local ruling councils under the Guptas tended to be dominated by commercial interests. In addition to his military abilities Samudra-gupta was a poet and musician, and inscriptions praised his charity. His son Chandra-gupta II (r. 380-414) finally ended the foreign Shaka rule in the west so that his empire stretched from the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea. He allied his family with the Nagas by marrying princess Kubernaga; after marrying Vakataka king Rudrasena II, his daughter ruled as regent there for 13 years. In the south the Pallavas ruled in harmony with the Guptas. The Chinese pilgrim Fa-hien described a happy and prosperous people not bothered by magistrates and rules; only those working state land had to pay a portion, and the king governed without using decapitation or corporal punishments. Kumara-gupta (r. 414-55) was apparently able to rule this vast empire without engaging in military campaigns. Only after forty years of peace did the threat of invading Hunas (White Huns) cause crown prince Skanda-gupta (r. 455-67) to fight for and restore Gupta fortunes by defeating the Huns about 460. After a struggle for the Gupta throne, Budha-gupta ruled for at least twenty years until about 500. Trade with the Roman empire had been declining since the 3rd century and was being replaced by commerce with southeast Asia. The empire was beginning to break up into independent states, such as Kathiawar and Bundelkhand, while Vakataka king Narendra-sena took over some Gupta territory. Gupta decline continued as Huna chief Toramana invaded the Punjab and western India. His son Mihirakula succeeded as ruler about 515; according to Xuan Zang he ruled over India, and a Kashmir chronicle credited Mihirakula with conquering southern India and Sri Lanka. The Chinese ambassador Song-yun in 520 described the Hun king of Gandara as cruel, vindictive, and barbarous, not believing in the law of Buddha, having 700 war-elephants, and living with his troops on the frontier. About ten years later the Greek Cosmas from Alexandria wrote that the White Hun king had 2,000 elephants and a large cavalry, but his kingdom was west of the Indus River. However, Mihirakula was defeated by the Malwa chief Yashodharman. The Gupta king Narasimha-gupta Baladitya was also overwhelmed by Yashodharman and was forced to pay tribute to Mihirakula, according to Xuan Zang; but Baladitya later defeated Mihirakula, saving the Gupta empire from the Huns. Baladitya was also credited with building a great monastery at Nalanda. In the middle of the 6th century the Gupta empire declined during the reigns of its last two emperors, Kumara-gupta III and Vishnu-gupta. Gupta sovereignty was recognized in Kalinga as late as 569. In the 4th century Vasubandhu studied and taught Sarvastivadin Buddhism in Kashmir, analyzing the categories of experience in the 600 verses of his Abhidharma-kosha, including the causes and ways to eliminate moral problems. Vasubandhu was converted to the Yogachara school of Mahayana Buddhism by his brother Asanga. Vasubandhu had a long and influential career as the abbot at Nalanda. As an idealist Vasubandhu, summing up his ideas in twenty and thirty verses, found all experience to be in consciousness. Seeds are brought to fruition in the store of consciousness. Individuals are deluded by the four evil desires of their views of self as real, ignorance of self, self-pride, and selflove. He found good mental functions in belief, sense of shame, modesty, absence of coveting, energy, mental peace, vigilance, equanimity, and non-injury. Evil mental functions he listed as covetousness, hatred, attachment, arrogance, doubt, and false view; minor ones included anger, enmity, concealment, affliction, envy, parsimony, deception, fraud, injury, pride, high-mindedness, low-mindedness, unbelief, indolence, idleness, forgetfulness, distraction, and non-discernment. For Vasubandhu life is like a dream in which we create our reality in our consciousness; even the

tortures of hell have no outward reality but are merely projections of consciousness. Enlightenment is when mental obstructions and projections are transcended without grasping; the habit-energies of karma, the six senses and their objects, and relative knowledge are all abandoned for perfect wisdom, purity, freedom, peace, and joy. Vasubandhu wrote that we can know other minds and influence each other for better and worse, because karma is intersubjective. In 554 Maukhari king Ishana-varman claimed he won victories over the Andhras, Sulikas, and Gaudas. A Gurjara kingdom was founded in the mid-6th century in Rajputana by Harichandra, as apparently the fall of empires in northern India caused this Brahmin to exchange scriptures for arms. Xuan Zang praised Valabhi king Shiladitya I, who ruled about 580, for having great administrative ability and compassion. Valabhi hosted the second Jain council that established the Jain canon in the 6th century. Valabhi king Shiladitya III (r. 662-84) assumed an imperial title and conquered Gurjara. However, internal conflicts as well as Arab invasion destroyed the Valabhi kingdom by about 735. The Gurjara kingdom was also overrun by Arabs, but Pratihara king Nagabhata is credited with turning back the Muslim invaders in the northwest; he was helped in this effort by Gurjara king Jayabhata IV and Chalukya king Avanijanashraya-Pulakeshiraja in the south. After Thaneswar king Prabhakara-vardhana (r. 580-606) died, his son Rajya-vardhana marched against the hostile Malava king with 10,000 cavalry and won; but according to Banabhatta, the king of Malava, after gaining his confidence with false civilities, had him murdered. His brother Harshavardhana (r. 606-47) swore he would clear the earth of Gaudas; starting with 5,000 elephants, 2,000 cavalry, and 50,000 infantry, his army grew as military conquests enabled him to become the most powerful ruler of northern India at Kanauj. Somehow Harsha's conflicts with Valabhi and Gurjara led to his war with Chalukya king Pulakeshin II; but his southern campaign was apparently a failure, and Sindh remained an independent kingdom. However, in the east according to Xuan Zang by 643 Harsha had subjugated Kongoda and Orissa. That year the Chinese pilgrim observed two great assemblies, one at Kanauj and the other a religious gathering at Prayaga, where the distribution of accumulated resources drew twenty kings and about 500,000 people. Xuan Zang credited Harsha with building rest-houses for travelers, but he noted that the penalty for breaching the social morality or filial duties could be mutilation or exile. After Gauda king Shashanka's death Harsha had conquered Magadha, and he eventually took over western Bengal. Harsha also was said to have written plays, and three of them survive. Xuan Zang reported that he divided India's revenues into four parts for government expenses, public service, intellectual rewards, and religious gifts. During his reign the university in Nalanda became the most renowned center of Buddhist learning. However, no successor of Harsha-vardana is known, and apparently his empire ended with his life. Wang-Xuan-zi gained help from Nepal against the violent usurper of Harsha's throne, who was sent to China as a prisoner; Nepal also sent a mission to China in 651. The dynasty called the Later Guptas for their similar names took over Magadha and ruled there for almost a century. Then Yashovarman brought Magadha under his sovereignty as he also invaded Bengal and defeated the ruler of Gauda. In 713 Kashmir king Durlabhaka sent an envoy to the Chinese emperor asking for aid against invading Arabs. His successor Chandrapida was able to defend Kashmir against Arab aggression. He was described as humane and just, but in his ninth year as king he was killed by his brother Tarapida, whose cruel and bloody reign lasted only four years. Lalitaditya became king of Kashmir in 724 and in alliance with Yashovarman defeated the Tibetans; but Lalitaditya and Yashovarman could not agree on a treaty; Lalitaditya was victorious, taking over Kanauj and a vast empire. The Arabs were defeated in the west, and Bengal was conquered in the east, though Lalitaditya's record was tarnished when he had the Gauda king of Bengal murdered after promising

him safe conduct. Lalitaditya died about 760. For a century Bengal had suffered anarchy in which the strong devoured the weak. Arabs had been repelled at Sindh in 660, but they invaded Kabul and Zabulistan during the Caliphate of Muawiyah (661-80). In 683 Kabul revolted and defeated the Muslim army, but two years later Zabul's army was routed by the Arabs. After Al-Hajjaj became governor of Iraq in 695 the combined armies of Zabul and Kabul defeated the Arabs; but a huge Muslim army returned to ravage Zabulistan four years later. Zabul paid tribute until Hajjaj died in 714. Two years before that, Hajjaj had equipped Muslim general Muhammad-ibn-Qasim for a major invasion of Sindh which resulted in the chiefs accepting Islam under sovereignty of the new Caliph 'Umar II (717-20). Pulakeshin I ruled the Chalukyas for about thirty years in the middle of the 6th century. He was succeeded by Kirtivarman I (r. 566-97), who claimed he destroyed the Nalas, Mauryas, and Kadambas. Mangalesha (r. 597-610) conquered the Kalachuris and Revatidvipa, but he lost his life in a civil war over the succession with his nephew Pulakeshin II (r. 610-42). Starting in darkness enveloped by enemies, this king made Govinda an ally and regained the Chalukya empire by reducing Kadamba capital Vanavasi, the Gangas, and the Mauryas, marrying a Ganga princess. In the north Pulakeshin II subdued the Latas, Malavas, and Gurjaras; he even defeated the mighty Harsha of Kanauj and won the three kingdoms of Maharashtra, Konkana, and Karnata. After conquering the Kosalas and Kalingas, an Eastern Chalukya dynasty was inaugurated by his brother Kubja Vishnuvardhana and absorbed the Andhra country when Vishnukundin king Vikramendravarman III was defeated. Moving south, Pulakeshin II allied himself with the Cholas, Keralas, and Pandyas in order to invade the powerful Pallavas. By 631 the Chalukya empire extended from sea to sea. Xuan Zang described the Chalukya people as stern and vindictive toward enemies, though they would not kill those who submitted. They and their elephants fought while inebriated, and Chalukya laws did not punish soldiers who killed. However, Pulakeshin II was defeated and probably killed in 642 when the Pallavas in retaliation for an attack on their capital captured the Chalukya capital at Badami. For thirteen years the Pallavas held some territory while Chalukya successors fought for the throne. Eventually Vikramaditya I (r. 655-81) became king and recovered the southern part of the empire from the Pallavas, fighting three Pallava kings in succession. He was followed by his son Vinayaditya (r. 681-96), whose son Vijayaditya (r. 696-733) also fought with the Pallavas. Vijayaditya had a magnificent temple built to Shiva and donated villages to Jain teachers. His son Vikramaditya II (r. 733-47) also attacked the Pallavas and took Kanchi, but instead of destroying it he donated gold to its temples. His son Kirtivarman II (r. 744-57) was the last ruler of the Chalukya empire, as he was overthrown by Rashtrakuta king Krishna I. However, the dynasty of the Eastern Chalukyas still remained to challenge the Rashtrakutas. In the early 8th century the Chalukyas gave refuge to Zoroastrians called Parsis, who had been driven out of Persia by Muslims. A Christian community still lived in Malabar, and in the 10th century the king of the Cheras granted land to Joseph Rabban for a Jewish community in India. Pallava king Mahendra-varman I, who ruled for thirty years at the beginning of the 7th century lost northern territory to the Chalukyas. As a Jain he had persecuted other religions, but after he tested and was converted by the Shaivite mystic Appar, he destroyed the Jain monastery at Pataliputra. His son Narasimha-varman I defeated Pulakeshin II in three battles, capturing the Chalukya capital at Vatapi in 642 with the aid of the Sri Lanka king. He ruled for 38 years, and his capital at Kanchi contained more than a hundred Buddhist monasteries housing over 10,000 monks, and there were many Jain temples too. During the reign (c. 670-95) of Pallava king Parameshvara-varman I the Chalukyas probably captured Kanchi, as they did again about 740.

On the island of Sri Lanka the 58th and last king listed in the Mahavamsa was Mahasena (r. 274301). He oversaw the building of sixteen tanks and irrigation canals. The first of 125 kings listed up to 1815 in the Culavamsa, Srimeghavanna, repaired the monasteries destroyed by Mahasena. Mahanama (r. 406-28) married the queen after she murdered his brother Upatissa. Mahanama was the last king of the Lambakanna dynasty that had lasted nearly four centuries. His death was followed by an invasion from southern India that limited Sinhalese rule to the Rohana region. Buddhaghosha was converted to Buddhism and went to Sri Lanka during the reign of Mahanama. There he translated and wrote commentaries on numerous Buddhist texts. His Visuddhimagga explains ways to attain purity by presenting the teachings of the Buddha in three parts on conduct, concentration, and wisdom. Buddhaghosha also collected parables and stories illustrating Buddhist ethics by showing how karma brings the consequences of actions back to one, sometimes in another life. One story showed how a grudge can cause alternating injuries between two individuals from life to life. Yet if no grudge is held, the enmity subsides. In addition to the usual vices of killing, stealing, adultery, and a judge taking bribes, occupations that could lead to hell include making weapons, selling poison, being a general, collecting taxes, living off tolls, hunting, fishing, and even gathering honey. The Buddhist path is encouraged with tales of miracles and by showing the benefits of good conduct and meditation. The Moriya clan chief Dhatusena (r. 455-73) improved irrigation by having a bridge constructed across the Mahavali River. He led the struggle to expel the foreigners from the island and restored Sinhalese authority at Anuradhapura. His eldest son Kassapa (r. 473-91) took him prisoner and usurped the throne but lost it with his life to his brother Moggallana (r. 491-508), who used an army of mercenaries from south India. He had the coast guarded to prevent foreign attacks and gave his umbrella to the Buddhist community as a token of submission. His son Kumara-Dhatusena (r. 50816) was succeeded by his son Kittisena, who was quickly deposed by the usurping uncle Siva. He was soon killed by Upatissa II (r. 517-18), who revived the Lambakanna dynasty and was succeeded by his son Silakala (r. 518-31). Moggallana II (r. 531-51) had to fight for the throne; but he was a poet and was considered a pious ruler loved by the people. Two rulers were killed as the Moriyas regained power. The second, Mahanaga (r. 569-71), had been a rebel at Rohana and then its governor before becoming king at Anuradhapura. Aggabodhi I (r. 571-604) and Aggabodhi II (r. 604-14) built monasteries and dug water tanks for irrigation. A revolt by the general Moggallana III (r. 614-19) overthrew the last Moriya king and led to a series of civil wars and succession battles suffered by the Sri Lanka people until Manavamma (r. 684-718) re-established the Lambakanna dynasty. Included in a didactic Tamil collection of "Eighteen Minor Poems" are the Naladiyar and the famous Kural. The Naladiyar consists of 400 quatrains of moral aphorisms. In the 67th quatrain the wise say it is not cowardice to refuse a challenge when men rise in enmity and wish to fight; even when enemies do the worst, it is right not to do evil in return. Like milk the path of virtue is one, though many sects teach it. (118) The treasure of learning needs no safeguard, for fire cannot destroy it nor can kings take it. Other things are not true wealth, but learning is the best legacy to leave one's children. (134) Humility is greatness, and self-control is what the gainer actually gains. Only the rich who relieve the need of their neighbors are truly wealthy. (170) The good remember another's kindness, but the base only recall fancied slights. (356) The Tamil classic, The Kural by Tiru Valluvar, was probably written about 600 CE, plus or minus two centuries. This book contains 133 chapters of ten pithy couplets each and is divided into three parts on the traditional Hindu goals of dharma (virtue or justice), artha (success or wealth), and kama (love or pleasure). The first two parts contain moral proverbs; the third is mostly expressions of love, though there is the statement that one-sided love is bitter while balanced love is sweet.

Valluvar transcends the caste system by suggesting that we call Brahmins those who are virtuous and kind to all that live. Here are a few of Valluvar's astute observations on dharma. Bliss hereafter is the fruit of a loving life here. (75) Sweet words with a smiling face are more pleasing than a gracious gift. (92) He asked, "How can one pleased with sweet words oneself use harsh words to others?"2 Self-control takes one to the gods, but its lack to utter darkness. (121) Always forgive transgressions, but better still forget them. (152) The height of wisdom is not to return ill for ill. (203) "The only gift is giving to the poor; all else is exchange." (221) If people refrain from eating meat, there will be no one to sell it. (256) "To bear your pain and not pain others is penance summed up." (261) In all the gospels he found nothing higher than the truth. (300) I think the whole chapter on not hurting others is worth quoting.
The pure in heart will never hurt others even for wealth or renown. The code of the pure in heart is not to return hurt for angry hurt. Vengeance even against a wanton insult does endless damage. Punish an evil-doer by shaming him with a good deed, and forget. What good is that sense which does not feel and prevent all creatures' woes as its own? Do not do to others what you know has hurt yourself. It is best to refrain from willfully hurting anyone, anytime, anyway. Why does one hurt others knowing what it is to be hurt? The hurt you cause in the forenoon self-propelled will overtake you in the afternoon. Hurt comes to the hurtful; hence it is that those don't hurt who do not want to be hurt.3

Valluvar went even farther when he wrote, "Even at the cost of one's own life one should avoid killing." (327) For death is but a sleep, and birth an awakening. (339) In the part on artha (wealth) Valluvar defined the unfailing marks of a king as courage, liberality, wisdom and energy. (382) The just protector he deemed the Lord's deputy, and the best kings have grace, bounty, justice, and concern. "The wealth which never declines is not riches but learning." (400) "The wealth of the ignorant does more harm than the want of the learned." (408) The truly noble are free of arrogance, wrath, and pettiness. (431) "A tyrant indulging in terrorism will perish quickly." (563) "Friendship curbs wrong, guides right, and shares distress." (787) "The soul of friendship is freedom, which the wise should welcome." (802) "The world is secure under one whose nature can make friends of foes." (874) Valluvar believed it was base to be discourteous even to enemies (998), and his chapter on character is also worth quoting.
All virtues are said to be natural to those who acquire character as a duty. To the wise the only worth is character, naught else. The pillars of excellence are five-love, modesty, altruism, compassion, truthfulness. The core of penance is not killing, of goodness not speaking slander. The secret of success is humility; it is also wisdom's weapon against foes. The touchstone of goodness is to own one's defeat even to inferiors. What good is that good which does not return good for evil? Poverty is no disgrace to one with strength of character. Seas may whelm, but men of character will stand like the shore. If the great fail in nobility, the earth will bear us no more.4

Kamandaka's Nitisara in the first half of the 8th century was primarily based on Kautilya's Arthashastra and was influenced by the violence in the Mahabharata, as he justified both open

fighting when the king is powerful and treacherous fighting when he is at a disadvantage. Katyayana, like Kamandaka, accepted the tradition of the king's divinity, although he argued that this should make ruling justly a duty. Katyayana followed Narada's four modes of judicial decisions as the dharma of moral law when the defendant confesses, judicial proof when the judge decides, popular custom when tradition rules, and royal edict when the king decides. Crimes of violence were distinguished from the deception of theft. Laws prevented the accumulated interest on debts from exceeding the principal. Brahmins were still exempt from capital punishment and confiscation of property, and most laws differed according to one's caste. The Yoga-vasishtha philosophy taught that as a bird flies with two wings, the highest reality is attained through knowledge and work. The famous Vedanta philosopher Shankara was born into a Brahmin family; his traditional dates are 788-820, though some scholars believe he lived about 700-50. It was said that when he was eight, he became an ascetic and studied with Govinda, a disciple of the monist Gaudapala; at 16 he was teaching many in the Varanasi area. Shankara wrote a long commentary on the primary Vedanta text, the Brahma Sutra, on the Bhagavad-Gita, and on ten of the Upanishads, always emphasizing the non-dual reality of Brahman (God), that the world is false, and that the atman (self or soul) is not different from Brahman. Shankara traveled around India and to Kashmir, defeating opponents in debate; he criticized human sacrifice to the god Bhairava and branding the body. He performed a funeral for his mother even though it was considered improper for a sannyasin (renunciate). Shankara challenged the Mimamsa philosopher Mandana Mishra, who emphasized the duty of Vedic rituals, by arguing that knowledge of God is the only means to final release, and after seven days he was declared the winner by Mandana's wife. He tended to avoid the cities and taught sannyasins and intellectuals in the villages. Shankara founded monasteries in the south at Shringeri of Mysore, in the east at Puri, in the west at Dvaraka, and in the northern Himalayas at Badarinath. He wrote hymns glorifying Shiva as God, and Hindus would later believe he was an incarnation of Shiva. He criticized the corrupt left-hand (sexual) practices used in Tantra. His philosophy spread, and he became perhaps the most influential of all Hindu philosophers. In the Crest-Jewel of Wisdom Shankara taught that although action is for removing bonds of conditioned existence and purifying the heart, reality can only be attained by right knowledge. Realizing that an object perceived is a rope removes the fear and sorrow from the illusion it is a snake. Knowledge comes from perception, investigation, or instruction, not from bathing, giving alms, or breath control. Shankara taught enduring all pain and sorrow without thought of retaliation, dejection, or lamentation. He noted that the scriptures gave the causes of liberation as faith, devotion, concentration, and union (yoga); but he taught, "Liberation cannot be achieved except by direct perception of the identity of the individual with the universal self."5 Desires lead to death, but one who is free of desires is fit for liberation. Shankara distinguished the atman as the real self or soul from the ahamkara (ego), which is the cause of change, experiences karma (action), and destroys the rest in the real self. From neglecting the real self spring delusion, ego, bondage, and pain. The soul is everlasting and full of wisdom. Ultimately both bondage and liberation are illusions that do not exist in the soul.

Plays of Bhasa, Kalidasa, and Bhavabhuti

Indian drama was analyzed by Bharata in the Natya Shastra, probably from the third century CE or before. Bharata ascribed a divine origin to drama and considered it a fifth Veda; its origin seems to be from religious dancing. In the classical plays Sanskrit is spoken by the Brahmins and noble characters, while Prakrit vernaculars are used by others and most women. According to Bharata poetry (kavya), dance (nritta), and mime (nritya) in life's play (lila) produce emotion (bhava), but

only drama (natya) produces "flavor" (rasa). The drama uses the eight basic emotions of love, joy (humor), anger, sadness, pride, fear, aversion, and wonder, attempting to resolve them in the ninth holistic feeling of peace. These are modified by 33 less stable sentiments he listed as discouragement, weakness, apprehension, weariness, contentment, stupor, elation, depression, cruelty, anxiety, fright, envy, arrogance, indignation, recollection, death, intoxication, dreaming, sleeping, awakening, shame, demonic possession, distraction, assurance, indolence, agitation, deliberation, dissimulation, sickness, insanity, despair, impatience, and inconstancy. The emotions are manifested by causes, effects, and moods. The spectators should be of good character, intelligent, and empathetic. Although some scholars date him earlier, the plays of Bhasa can probably be placed after Ashvaghosha in the second or third century CE. In 1912 thirteen Trivandrum plays were discovered that scholars have attributed to Bhasa. Five one-act plays were adapted from situations in the epic Mahabharata. Dutavakya has Krishna as a peace envoy from the Pandavas giving advice to Duryodhana. In Karnabhara the warrior Karna sacrifices his armor by giving it to Indra, who is in the guise of a Brahmin. Dutaghatotkacha shows the envoy Ghatotkacha carrying Krishna's message to the Kauruvas. Urubhanga depicts Duryodhana as a hero treacherously attacked below the waist by Bhima at the signal of Krishna. In Madhyama-vyayoga the middle son is going to be sacrificed, but it turns out to be a device used by Bhima's wife Hidimba to get him to visit her. Each of these plays seems to portray didactically heroic virtues for an aristocratic audience. The Mahabharata also furnishes the episode for the Kauravas' cattle raid of Virata in the Pancharatra, which seems to have been staged to glorify some sacrifice. Bhasa's Abhisheka follows the Ramayana closely in the coronation of Rama, and Pratima also reworks the Rama story prior to the war. Balacharita portrays heroic episodes in the childhood of Krishna. In Bhasa's Avimaraka the title character heroically saves princess Kurangi from a rampaging elephant, but he says he is an outcast. Dressed as a thief, Avimaraka sneaks into the palace to meet the princess, saying,
Once we have done what we can even failure is no disgrace. Has anyone ever succeeded by saying, "I can't do it"? A person becomes great by attempting great things.6

He spends a year there with Kurangi before he is discovered and must leave. Avimaraka is about to jump off a mountain when a fairy (Vidyadhara) gives him a ring by which he can become invisible. Using invisibility, he and his jester go back into the palace just in time to catch Kurangi before she hangs herself. The true parentage of the royal couple is revealed by the sage Narada, and Vairantya king Kuntibhoja gives his new son-in-law the following advice:
With tolerance be king over Brahmins. With compassion win the hearts of your subjects. With courage conquer earth's rulers. With knowledge of the truth conquer yourself.7

Bhasa uses the story of legendary King Udayana in two plays. In Pratijna Yaugandharayana the Vatsa king at Kaushambi, Udayana, is captured by Avanti king Pradyota so that Udayana can be introduced to the princess Vasavadatta by tutoring her in music, a device which works as they fall in love. The title comes from the vow of chief minister Yaugandharayana to free his sovereign Udayana; he succeeds in rescuing him and his new queen Vasavadatta. In Bhasa's greatest play, The Dream of Vasavadatta, the same minister, knowing his king's reluctance to enter a needed political marriage, pretends that he and queen Vasavadatta are killed in a fire so that King Udayana will marry Magadha princess Padmavati. Saying Vasavadatta is his sister, Yaugandharayana entrusts her

into the care of Padmavati, because of the prophecy she will become Udayana's queen. The play is very tender, and both princesses are noble and considerate of each other; it also includes an early example of a court jester. Udayana is still in love with Vasavadatta, and while resting half asleep, Vasavadatta, thinking she is comforting Padmavati's headache, gently touches him. The loving and grieving couple are reunited; Padmavati is also accepted as another wife; and the kingdom of Kaushambi is defended by the marriage alliance. Bhasa's Charudatta is about the courtesan Vasantasena, who initiates a love affair with an impoverished merchant, but the manuscript is cut off abruptly after four acts. However, this story was adapted and completed in The Little Clay Cart, attributed to a King Sudraka, whose name means a little servant. In ten acts this play is a rare example of what Bharata called a maha-nataka or "great play." The play is revolutionary not only because the romantic hero and heroine are a married merchant and a courtesan, but because the king's brother-in-law, Sansthanaka, is portrayed as a vicious fool, and because by the end of the play the king is overthrown and replaced by a man he had falsely imprisoned. Vasantasena rejects the attentions of the insulting Sansthanaka, saying that true love is won by virtue not violence; she is in love with Charudatta, who is poor because he is honest and generous, as money and virtue seldom keep company these days. Vasantasena kindly pays the gambling debts of his shampooer, who then becomes a Buddhist monk. Charudatta, not wearing jewels any more, gives his cloak to a man who saved the monk from a rampaging elephant. Vasantasena entrusts a golden casket of jewelry to Charudatta, but Sharvilaka, breaking into his house to steal, is given it so that he can gain the courtesan girl Madanika. So that he won't get a bad reputation, Charudatta's wife gives a valuable pearl necklace to her husband, and he realizes he is not poor because he has a wife whose love outlasts his wealthy days. Madanika is concerned that Sharvilaka did something bad for her sake and tells him to restore the jewels, and he returns them to Vasantasena on the merchant's behalf, while she generously frees her servant Madanika for him. Charudatta gives Vasantasena the more valuable pearl necklace, saying he gambled away her jewels. As the romantic rainy season approaches, the two lovers are naturally drawn together. Charudatta's child complains that he has to play with a little clay cart as a toy, and Vasantasena promises him a golden one. She gets into the wrong bullock cart and is taken to the garden of Sansthanaka, where he strangles her for rejecting his proposition. Then he accuses Charudatta of the crime, and because of his royal influence in the trial, Charudatta is condemned to be executed after his friend shows up with Vasantasena's jewels. However, the monk has revived Vasantasena, and just before Charudatta's head is to be cut off, she appears to save him. Sharvilaka has killed the bad king and anointed a good one. Charudatta lets the repentant Sansthanaka go free, and the king declares Vasantasena a wedded wife and thus no longer a courtesan. Although he is considered India's greatest poet, it is not known when Kalidasa lived. Probably the best educated guess has him flourishing about 400 CE during the reign of Chandragupta II. The prolog of his play Malavika and Agnimitra asks the audience to consider a new poet and not just the celebrated Bhasa and two others. In this romance King Agnimitra, who already has two queens, in springtime falls in love with the dancing servant Malavika, who turns out to be a princess when his foreign conflicts are solved. The king is accompanied throughout by a court jester, who with a contrivance frees Malavika from confinement by the jealous queen. The only female who speaks Sanskrit in Kalidasa's plays is the Buddhist nun, who judges the dance contest and explains that Malavika had to be a servant for a year in order to fulfill a prophecy that she would marry a king after doing so. In celebration of the victory and his latest marriage, the king orders all prisoners released.

In Kalidasa's Urvashi Won by Valor, King Pururavas falls in love with the heavenly nymph Urvashi. The king's jester Manavaka reveals this secret to the queen's maid Nipunika. Urvashi comes down to earth with her friend and writes a love poem on a birch-leaf. The queen sees this also but forgives her husband's guilt. Urvashi returns to paradise to appear in a play; but accidentally revealing her love for Pururavas, she is expelled to earth and must stay until she sees the king's heir. The queen generously offers to accept a new queen who truly loves the king, and Urvashi makes herself visible to Pururavas. In the fourth act a moment of jealousy causes Urvashi to be changed into a vine, and the king in searching for her dances and sings, amorously befriending animals and plants until a ruby of reunion helps him find the vine; as he embraces the vine, it turns into Urvashi. After many years have passed, their son Ayus gains back the ruby that was stolen by a vulture. When Urvashi sees the grown-up child she had sent away so that she could stay with the king, she must return to paradise; but the king gives up his kingdom to their son so that he can go with her, although a heavenly messenger indicates that he can remain as king with Urvashi until his death. The most widely acclaimed Indian drama is Kalidasa's Shakuntala and the Love Token. While hunting, King Dushyanta is asked by the local ascetics not to kill deer, saying, "Your weapon is meant to help the weak not smite the innocent."8 The king and Shakuntala, who is the daughter of a nymph and is being raised by ascetics, fall in love with each other. The king is accompanied by a foolish Brahmin who offers comic relief. Although he has other wives, the king declares that he needs only the earth and Shakuntala to sustain his line. They are married in the forest, and Shakuntala becomes pregnant. Kanva, who raised her, advises the bride to obey her elders, treat her fellow wives as friends, and not cross her husband in anger even if he mistreats her. The king returns to his capital and gives his ring to Shakuntala so that he will recognize her when she arrives later. However, because of a curse on her from Durvasas, he loses his memory of her, and she loses the ring. Later the king refuses to accept this pregnant woman he cannot recall, and in shame she disappears. A fisherman finds the ring in a fish; when the king gets it back, his memory of Shakuntala returns. The king searches for her and finds their son on Golden Peak with the birthmarks of a universal emperor; now he must ask to be recognized by her. They are happily reunited, and their child Bharata is to become the founding emperor of India. An outstanding political play was written by Vishakhadatta, who may also have lived at the court of Chandragupta II or as late as the 9th century. Rakshasa's Ring is set when Chandragupta, who defeated Alexander's successor Seleucus in 305 BC, is becoming Maurya emperor by overcoming the Nandas. According to tradition he was politically assisted by his minister Chanakya, also known as Kautilya, supposed author of the famous treatise on politics, Artha Shastra. Rakshasa, whose name means demon, had sent a woman to poison Chandragupta, but Chanakya had her poison King Parvataka instead. Rakshasa supports Parvataka's son Malayaketu; Chanakya cleverly assuages public opinion by letting Parvataka's brother have half the kingdom but arranges for his death too. Chanakya even pretends to break with Chandragupta to further his plot. Chanakya is able to use a Jain monk and a secretary by pretending to punish them and have Siddarthaka rescue the secretary; with a letter he composed written by the secretary and with Rakshasa's ring taken from the home of a jeweler who gave Rakshasa and his family refuge, they pretend to serve Malayaketu but make him suspect Rakshasa's loyalty and execute the allied princes that Rakshasa had gained for him. Ironically Rakshasa's greatest quality is loyalty, and after he realizes he has been trapped, he decides to sacrifice himself to save the jeweler from being executed. By then Malayaketu's attack on Chandragupta's capital has collapsed from lack of support, and he is captured. Chanakya's manipulations have defeated Chandragupta's rivals without a fight, and he appoints chief minister in his place Rakshasa, who then spares the life of

Malayaketu. Chanakya (Kautilya) announces that the emperor (Chandragupta) grants Malayaketu his ancestral territories and releases all prisoners except draft animals. Ratnavali was attributed to Harsha, who ruled at Kanauj in the first half of the 7th century. This comedy reworks the story of King Udayana, who though happily married to Vasavadatta, is seduced into marrying her Simhalese cousin Ratnavali for the political motivations contrived by his minister Yaugandharayana. Ratnavali, using the name Sagarika as the queen's maid, falls in love with the king and has painted his portrait. Her friend then paints her portrait with the king's, which enamors him after he hears the story of the painting from a mynah bird that repeats the maidens' conversation. Queen Vasavadatta becomes suspicious, and the jester is going to bring Sagarika dressed like the queen, who learning of it appears veiled herself to expose the affair. Sagarika tries to hang herself but is saved by the king. The jealous queen puts Sagarika in chains and the noose around the jester's neck. Yet in the last act a magician contrives a fire, and the king saves Sagarika once again. A necklace reveals that she is a princess, and the minister Yaugandharayana explains how he brought the lovers together. Also attributed to Harsha: Priyadarshika is another harem comedy; but Joy of the Serpents (Nagananda) shows how prince Jimutavahana gives up his own body to stop a sacrifice of serpents to the divine Garuda. A royal contemporary of Harsha, Pallava king Mahendravikarmavarman wrote a one-act farce called "The Sport of Drunkards" (Mattavilasa) in which an inebriated Shaivite ascetic accuses a Buddhist monk of stealing his begging bowl made from a skull; but after much satire it is found to have been taken by a dog. Bhavabhuti lived in the early 8th century and was said to have been the court poet in Kanauj of Yashovarman, a king also supposed to have written a play about Rama. Bhavabhuti depicted the early career of Rama in Mahavira-charita and then produced The Later Story of Rama. In this latter play Rama's brother Lakshmana shows Rama and Sita murals of their past, and Rama asks Sita for forgiveness for having put her through a trial by fire to show the people her purity after she had been captured by the evil Ravana. Rama has made a vow to serve the people's good above all and so orders Sita into exile because of their continuing suspicions. Instead of killing the demon Sambuka, his penance moves Rama to free him. Sita has given birth to two sons, Lava and Kusha, and twelve years pass. When he heard about his daughter Sita's exile, Janaka gave up meat and became a vegetarian; when Janaka meets Rama's mother Kaushalya, she faints at the memory. Rama's divine weapons have been passed on to his sons, and Lava is able to pacify Chandraketu's soldiers by meditating. Rama has Lava remove the spell, and Kusha recites the Ramayana taught him by Valmiki, who raised the sons. Finally Sita is joyfully reunited with Rama and their sons. Malati and Madhava by Bhavabhuti takes place in the city of Padmavati. Although the king has arranged for Nandana to marry his minister's daughter Malati, the Buddhist nun Kamandaki manages eventually to bring together the suffering lovers Madhava and Malati. Malati has been watching Madhava and draws his portrait; when he sees it, he draws her too. Through the rest of the play they pine in love for each other. Malati calls her father greedy for going along with the king's plan to marry her to Nandana, since a father deferring to a king in this is not sanctioned by morality nor by custom. Madhava notes that success comes from education with innate understanding, boldness combined with practiced eloquence, and tact with quick wit. Malati's friend Madayantika is attacked by a tiger, and Madhava's friend Makaranda is wounded saving her life. In their amorous desperation Madhava sells his flesh to the gods, and he saves the suicidal Malati from being sacrificed by killing Aghoraghanta, whose pupil Kapalakundala then causes him much suffering. Finally Madhava and Malati are able to marry, as Makaranda marries Madayantika. These plays make clear that courtly love and romance were thriving in India for centuries before they were rediscovered in Europe.

Hindu Kingdoms 750-1000

The Rashtrakuta Dantidurga married a Chalukya princess and became a vassal king about 733; he and Gujarat's Pulakeshin helped Chalukya emperor Vikramaditya II repulse an Arab invasion, and Dantidurga's army joined the emperor in a victorious expedition against Kanchi and the Pallavas. After Vikramaditya II died in 747, Dantidurga conquered Gurjara, Malwa, and Madhya Pradesh. This Rashtrakuta king then confronted and defeated Chalukya emperor Kirtivarman II so that by the end of 753 he controlled all of Maharashtra. The next Rashtrakuta ruler Krishna I completed the demise of the Chalukya empire and was succeeded about 773 by his eldest son Govinda II. Absorbed in personal pleasures, he left the administration to his brother Dhruva, who eventually revolted and usurped the throne, defeating the Ganga, Pallava, and Vengi kings who had opposed him. The Pratihara ruler of Gurjara, Vatsaraja, took over Kanauj and installed Indrayudha as governor there. The Palas rose to power by unifying Bengal under the elected king Gopala about 750. He patronized Buddhism, and his successor Dharmapala had fifty monasteries built, founding the Vikramashila monastery with 108 monks in charge of various programs. During the reign of Dharmapala the Jain scholar Haribhadra recommended respecting various views because of Jainism's principles of nonviolence and many-sidedness. Haribhadra found that the following eight qualities can be applied to the faithful of any tradition: nonviolence, truth, honesty, chastity, detachment, reverence for a teacher, fasting, and knowledge. Dharmapala marched into the Doab to challenge the Pratiharas but was defeated by Vatsaraja. When these two adversaries were about to meet for a second battle in the Doab, the Rashtrakuta ruler Dhruva from the Deccan defeated Vatsaraja first and then Dharmapala but did not occupy Kanauj. Dhruva returned to the south with booty and was succeeded by his third son Govinda III in 793. Govinda had to defeat his brother Stambha and a rebellion of twelve kings, but the two brothers reconciled and turned on Ganga prince Shivamira, whom they returned to prison. Supreme over the Deccan, Govinda III left his brother Indra as viceroy of Gujarat and Malava and marched his army north toward Kanauj, which Vatsaraja's successor Nagabhata II had occupied while Dharmapala's nominee Chakrayudha was on that throne. Govinda's army defeated Nagabhata's; Chakrayudha surrendered, and Dharmapala submitted. Govinda III marched all the way to the Himalayas, uprooting and reinstating local kings. Rashtrakuta supremacy was challenged by Vijayaditya II, who had become king of Vengi in 799; but Govinda defeated him and installed his brother Bhima-Salukki on the Vengi throne about 802. Then Govinda's forces scattered a confederacy of Pallava, Pandya, Kerala, and Ganga rulers and occupied Kanchi, threatening the king of Sri Lanka, who sent him two statues. After Govinda III died in 814, Chalukya Vijayaditya II overthrew Bhima-Salukki to regain his Vengi throne; then his army invaded Rashtrakuta territory, plundering and devastating the city of Stambha. Vijayaditya ruled for nearly half a century and was said to have fought 108 battles in a 12-year war with the Rashtrakutas and the Gangas. His grandson Vijayaditya III ruled Vengi for 44 years (848-92); he also invaded the Rashtrakuta empire in the north, burning Achalapura, and it was reported he took gold by force from the Ganga king of Kalinga. His successor Chalukya-Bhima I was king of Vengi for 30 years and was said to have turned his attention to helping ascetics and those in distress. Struggles with his neighbors continued though, and Chalukya-Bhima was even captured for a time. Dharmapala's son Devapala also supported Buddhism and extended the Pala empire in the first half of the 9th century by defeating the Utkalas, Assam, Huns, Dravidas, and Gurjaras, while maintaining his domain against three generations of Pratihara rulers. His successor Vigrahapala retired to an ascetic life after ruling only three years, and his son Narayanapala was also of a

peaceful and religious disposition, allowing the Pala empire to languish. After the Pala empire was defeated by the Rashtrakutas and Pratiharas, subordinate chiefs became independent; Assam king Harjara even claimed an imperial title. Just before his long reign ended in 908 Narayanapala did reclaim some territories after the Rashtrakuta invasion of the Pratihara dominions; but in the 10th century during the reign of the next three kings the Pala kingdom declined as principalities asserted their independence in conflicts with each other. Chandella king Yashovarman invaded the Palas and the Kambojas, and he claimed to have conquered Gauda and Mithila. His successor Dhanga ruled through the second half of the 10th century and was the first independent Chandella king, calling himself the lord of Kalanjara. In the late 8th century Arab military expeditions had attempted to make Kabul pay tribute to the Muslim caliph. In 870 Kabul and Zabul were conquered by Ya'qub ibn Layth; the king of Zubalistan was killed, and the people accepted Islam. Ghazni sultan Sabutkin (r. 977-97) invaded India with a Muslim army and defeated Dhanga and a confederacy of Hindu chiefs about 989. South of the Chandellas the Kalachuris led by Kokkalla in the second half of the 9th century battled the Pratiharas under Bhoja, Turushkas (Muslims), Vanga in east Bengal, Rashtrakuta king Krishna II, and Konkan. His successor Shankaragana fought Kosala, but he and Krishna II had to retreat from the Eastern Chalukyas. In the next century Kalachuri king Yuvaraja I celebrated his victory over Vallabha with a performance of Rajshekhara's drama Viddhashalabhanjika. Yuvaraja's son Lakshmanaraja raided east Bengal, defeated Kosala, and invaded the west. Like his father, he patronized Shaivite teachers and monasteries. Near the end of the 10th century Kalachuri king Yuvaraja II suffered attacks from Chalukya ruler Taila II and Paramara king Munja. After many conquests, the aggressive Munja, disregarding the advice of his counselor Rudraditya, was defeated and captured by Taila and executed after an attempted rescue. In 814 Govinda III was succeeded as Rashtrakuta ruler by his son Amoghavarsha, only about 13 years old; Gujarat viceroy Karkka acted as regent. Three years later a revolt led by Vijayaditya II, who had regained the Vengi throne, temporarily overthrew Rashtrakuta power until Karakka reinstated Amoghavarsha I by 821. A decade later the Rashtrakuta army defeated Vijayaditya II and occupied Vengi for about a dozen years. Karkka was made viceroy in Gujarat, but his son Dhruva I rebelled and was killed about 845. The Rashtrakutas also fought the Gangas for about twenty years until Amoghavarsha's daughter married a Ganga prince about 860. In addition to his military activities Amoghavarsha sponsored several famous Hindu and Jain writers and wrote a book himself on Jain ethics. Jain kings and soldiers made an exception to the prohibition against killing for the duties of hanging murderers and slaying enemies in battle. He died in 878 and was succeeded by his son Krishna II, who married the daughter of Chedi ruler Kokkalla I to gain an ally for his many wars with the Pratiharas, Eastern Chalukyas, Vengi, and the Cholas. Krishna II died in 914 and was succeeded by his grandson Indra III, who marched his army north and captured northern India's imperial city Kanauj. However, Chandella king Harsha helped the Pratihara Mahipala regain his throne at Kanauj. Indra III died in 922; but his religious son Amoghavarsha II had to get help from his Chedi relations to defeat his brother Govinda IV, who had usurped the throne for fourteen years. Three years later in 939 Krishna III succeeded as Rashtrakuta emperor and organized an invasion of Chola and twenty years later another expedition to the north. The Rashtrakutas reigned over a vast empire when he died in 967; but with no living issue the struggle for the throne, despite the efforts of Ganga king Marasimha III, resulted in the triumph of Chalukya king Taila II in 974. That year Marasimha starved himself to death in the Jain manner and was succeeded by Rajamalla IV, whose minister Chamunda Raya staved off usurpation. His Chamunda Raya Purana includes an account of the 24 Jain prophets.

In the north in the middle of the 9th century the Pratiharas were attacked by Pala emperor Devapala; but Pratihara king Bhoja and his allies defeated Pala king Narayanapala. Bhoja won and lost battles against Rashtrakuta king Krishna II. The Pratiharas were described in 851 by an Arab as having the finest cavalry and as the greatest foe of the Muslims, though no country in India was safer from robbers. Bhoja ruled nearly a half century, and his successor Mahendrapala I expanded the Pratihara empire to the east. When Mahipala was ruling in 915 Al Mas'udi from Baghdad observed that the Pratiharas were at war with the Muslims in the west and the Rashtrakutas in the south, and he claimed they had four armies of about 800,000 men each. When Indra III sacked Kanauj, Mahipala fled but returned after the Rashtrakutas left. In the mid-10th century the Pratiharas had several kings, as the empire disintegrated and was reduced to territory around Kanauj. A history of Kashmir's kings called the Rajatarangini was written by Kalhana in the 12th century. Vajraditya became king of Kashmir about 762 and was accused of selling men to the Mlechchhas (probably Arabs). Jayapida ruled Kashmir during the last thirty years of the 8th century, fighting wars of conquest even though his army once deserted his camp and people complained of high taxes. Family intrigue and factional violence led to a series of puppet kings until Avanti-varman began the Utpala dynasty of Kashmir in 855. His minister Suvya's engineering projects greatly increased the grain yield and lowered its prices. Avanti-varman's death in 883 was followed by a civil war won by Shankara-varman, who then invaded Darvabhisara, Gurjara, and Udabhanda; but he was killed by people in Urasha, who resented his army being quartered there. More family intrigues, bribery, and struggles for power between the Tantrin infantry, Ekanga military police, and the Damara feudal landowners caused a series of short reigns until the minister Kamalavardhana took control and asked the assembly to appoint a king; they chose the Brahmin Yashakara in 939. Yashakara was persuaded to resign by his minister Parvagupta, who killed the new Kashmir king but died two years later in 950. Parvagupta's son Kshemagupta became king and married the Lohara princess Didda. Eight years later she became regent for their son Abhimanyu and won over the rebel Yashodhara by appointing him commander of her army. When King Abhimanyu died in 972, his three sons ruled in succession until each in turn was murdered by their grandmother, Queen Didda; she ruled Kashmir herself with the help of an unpopular prime minister from 980 until she died in 1003. In the south the Pandyas had risen to power in the late 8th century under King Nedunjadaiyan. He ruled for fifty years, and his son Srimara Srivallabha reigned nearly as long, winning victories over the Gangas, Pallavas, Cholas, Kalingas, Magadhas, and others until he was defeated by Pallava Nandi-varman III at Tellaru. The Pandya empire was ruined when his successor Varaguna II was badly beaten about 880 by a combined force of Pallavas, western Gangas, and Cholas. The Chola dynasty of Tanjore was founded by Vijayalaya in the middle of the 9th century. As a vassal of the Pallavas, he and his son Aditya I helped their sovereign defeat the Pandyas. Aditya ruled 36 years and was succeeded as Chola king by his son Parantaka I (r. 907-953). His military campaigns established the Chola empire with the help of his allies, the Gangas, Kerala, and the Kodumbalur chiefs. The Pandyas and the Sinhalese king of Sri Lanka were defeated by the Cholas about 915. Parantaka demolished remaining Pallava power, but in 949 the Cholas were decisively beaten by Rashtrakuta king Krishna III at Takkolam, resulting in the loss of Tondamandalam and the Pandya country. Chola power was firmly established during the reign (985-1014) of Rajaraja I, who attacked the Kerala, Sri Lanka, and the Pandyas to break up their control of the western trade. When the Pandyas invaded the island, Sri Lanka king Sena I (r. 833-53) fled as the royal treasury was plundered. His successor Sena II (r. 853-87) sent a Sinhalese army in retaliation, besieging Madura, defeating the Pandyas, and killing their king. The Pandya capital was plundered, and the golden images were taken back to the island. In 915 a Sinhalese army from Sri Lanka supported

Pandyan ruler Rajasimha II against the Cholas; but the Chola army invaded Sri Lanka and apparently stayed until the Rashtrakutas invaded their country in 949. Sri Lanka king Mahinda IV (r. 956-72) had some of the monasteries burnt by the Cholas restored. Sena V (r. 972-82) became king at the age of twelve but died of alcoholism. During his reign a rebellion supported by Damila forces ravaged the island. By the time of Mahinda V (r. 982-1029) the monasteries owned extensive land, and barons kept the taxes from their lands. As unpaid mercenaries revolted and pillaged, Mahinda fled to Rohana. Chola king Rajaraja sent a force that sacked Anuradhapura, ending its period as the capital in 993 as the northern plains became a Chola province. In 1017 the Cholas conquered the south as well and took Mahinda to India as a prisoner for the rest of his life. In India during this period Hindu colleges (ghatikas) were associated with the temples, and gradually the social power of the Brahmins superseded Buddhists and Jains, though the latter survived in the west. Jain gurus, owning nothing and wanting nothing, were often able to persuade the wealthy to contribute the four gifts of education, food, medicine, and shelter. In the devotional worship of Vishnu and Shiva and their avatars (incarnations), the Buddha became just another avatar for Hindus. Amid the increasing wars and militarism the ethical value of ahimsa (non-injury) so important to the Jains and Buddhists receded. The examples of the destroyer Shiva or Vishnu's incarnations as Rama and Krishna hardly promoted nonviolence. Village assemblies tended to have more autonomy in south India. The ur was open to all adult males in the village, but the sabha was chosen by lot from those qualified by land ownership, aged 35-70, knowing mantras and Brahmanas, and free of any major crime or sin. Land was worked by tenant peasants, who usually had to pay from one-sixth to one-third of their produce. Vegetarian diet was customary, and meat was expensive. Women did not have political rights and usually worked in the home or in the fields, though upper caste women and courtesans could defy social conventions. Women attendants in the temples could become dancers, but some were exploited as prostitutes by temple authorities. Temple sculptures as well as literature were often quite erotic, as the loves of Krishna and the prowess of the Shiva lingam were celebrated, and the puritanical ethics of Buddhism and Jainism became less influential. Feminine creative energy was worshiped as shakti, and Tantra in Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism celebrated the union of the sexual act as a symbol of divine union; their rituals might culminate in partaking of the five Ms - madya (wine), matsya (fish), mamsa (flesh), mudra (grain), and maithuna (coitus). Although in the early stages of spiritual development Tantra taught the usual moral avoidance of cruelty, alcohol, and sexual intercourse, in the fifth stage after training by the guru secret rites at night might defy such social taboos. Ultimately the aspirant is not afraid to practice openly what others disapprove in pursuing what he thinks is true, transcending the likes and dislikes of earthly life like God, to whom all things are equal. However, some argued that the highest stage, symbolized as the external worship of flowers, negates ignorance, ego, attachment, vanity, delusion, pride, calumniation, perturbation, jealousy, and greed, culminating in the five virtues of nonviolence (ahimsa), control of the senses, charity, forgiveness, and knowledge. The worker caste of Sudras was divided into the clean and the untouchables, who were barred from the temples. There were a few domestic slaves and those sold to the temples. Brahmins were often given tax-free grants of land, and they were forbidden by caste laws to work in cultivation; thus the peasant Sudras provided the labor. The increasing power of the Brahmin landowners led to a decline of merchants and the Buddhists they often had supported. Commentaries on the Laws of Manu by Medhatithi focused on such issues as the duty of the king to protect the people, their rights, and property. Although following the tradition that the king should take up cases in order of caste, Medhatithi believed that a lower caste suit should be taken up first if

it is more urgent. Not only should a Brahmin be exempt from the death penalty and corporal punishment, he thought that for a first offense not even a fine should be imposed on a Brahmin. Medhatithi also held that in education the rod should only be used mildly and as a last resort; his attitude about a husband beating his wife was similar. Medhatithi believed that a woman's mind was not under her control, and that they should all be guarded by their male relations. He upheld the property rights of widows who had been faithful but believed the unfaithful should be cast out to a separate life. Widow suicide called sati was approved by some and criticized by others. During this period marriages were often arranged for girls before they reached the age of puberty, though selfchoice still was practiced. The Jain monk Somadeva in his Nitivakyamrita also wrote that the king must chastise the wicked and that kings being divine should be obeyed as a spiritual duty. However, if the king does not speak the truth, he is worthless; for when the king is deceitful and unjust, who will not be? If he does not recognize merit, the cultured will not come to his court. Bribery is the door by which many sins enter, and the king should never speak what is hurtful, untrustworthy, untrue, or unnecessary. The force of arms cannot accomplish what peace does. If you can gain your goal with sugar, why use poison? In 959 Somadeva wrote the romance Yashastilaka in Sanskrit prose and verse, emphasizing devotion to the god Jina, goodwill to all creatures, hospitality to everyone, and altruism while defending the unpopular practices of the Digambara ascetics such as nudity, abstaining from bathing, and eating standing up.

Tibetan Buddhism
The indigenous Bon religion of Tibet was animistic and included the doctrine of reincarnation. Tradition called Namri Songtsen the 32nd king of Tibet. His 13-year-old son Songtsen Gampo became king in 630. He sent seventeen scholars to India to learn the Sanskrit language. The Tibetans conquered Burma and in 640 occupied Nepal. Songtsen Gampo married a princess from Nepal and also wanted to marry a Chinese princess, but so did Eastern Tartar (Tuyuhun) ruler Thokiki. According to ancient records, the Tibetans recruited an army of 200,000, defeated the Tartars, and captured the city of Songzhou, persuading the Chinese emperor to send his daughter to Lhasa in 641. Songtsen Gampo's marriage to Buddhist princesses led to his conversion, the building of temples and 900 monasteries, and the translation of Buddhist texts. His people were instructed how to write the Tibetan dialect with adapted Sanskrit letters. Songtsen Gampo died in 649, but the Chinese princess lived on until 680. He was succeeded by his young grandson Mangsong Mangtsen, and Gar Tongtsen governed as regent and conducted military campaigns in Asha for eight years. Gar Tongtsen returned to Lhasa in 666 and died the next year of a fever. A large military fortress was built at Dremakhol in 668, and the Eastern Tartars swore loyalty. During a royal power struggle involving the powerful Gar ministers, Tibet's peace with China was broken in 670, and for two centuries their frontier was in a state of war. The Tibetans invaded the Tarim basin and seized four garrisons in Chinese Turkestan. They raided the Shanzhou province in 676, the year Mangsong Mangtsen died. His death was kept a secret from the Chinese for three years, and a revolt in Shangshong was suppressed by the Tibetan military in 1677. Dusong Mangje was born a few days after his royal father died. The Gar brothers led their armies against the Chinese. During a power struggle Gar Zindoye was captured in battle in 694; his brother Tsenyen Sungton was executed for treason the next year; and Triding Tsendro was disgraced and committed suicide in 699, when Dusong defeated the Gar army. Nepal and northern India revolted in 702, and two years later the Tibetan king was killed in battle. Tibetan sources reported he died in Nanzhao, but according to the Chinese he was killed while suppressing the revolt in Nepal.

Since Mes-Agtshom (also known as Tride Tsugtsen or Khri-Ide-btsug-brtan) was only seven years old, his grandmother Trimalo acted as regent. Mes-Agtshom also married a Chinese princess to improve relations; but by 719 the Tibetans were trading with the Arabs and fighting together against the Chinese. In 730 Tibet made peace with China and requested classics and histories, which the Emperor sent to Tibet despite a minister's warning they contained defense strategies. During a plague in 740-41 all the foreign monks were expelled from Tibet. After the imperial princess died in 741, a large Tibetan army invaded China. Nanzhao, suffering from Chinese armies, formed an alliance with Tibet in 750. Mes-Agtshom died in 755, according to Tibetan sources by a horse accident; but an inscription from the following reign accused two ministers of assassinating him. During Trisong Detsen's reign (755-97) Tibetans collected tribute from the Pala king of Bengal and ruled Nanzhao. In 763 a large Tibetan army invaded China and even occupied their capital at Chang'an. The Chinese emperor promised to send Tibet 50,000 rolls of silk each year; but when the tribute was not paid, the war continued. In 778 Siamese troops fought with the Tibetans against the Chinese in Sichuan (Szech'uan). Peace was made in 783 when China ceded much territory to Tibet. In 790 the Tibetans regained four garrisons in Anxi they had lost to Chinese forces a century before. After Mashang, the minister who favored the Bon religion, was removed from the scene, Trisong Detsen sent minister Ba Salnang to invite the Indian pandit Shantirakshita to come from the university at Nalanda in Nepal. The people believed that Bon spirits caused bad omens, and Shantirakshita returned to Nepal. So Ba Salnang invited Indian Tantric master Padmasambhava, who was able to overcome the Bon spirits by making them take an oath to defend the Buddhist religion. Shantirakshita returned and supervised the building of a monastery that came to be known as Samye. He was named high priest of Tibet, and he introduced the "ten virtues." When Padmasambhava was unable to refute the instantaneous enlightenment doctrine of the Chinese monk Hoshang, Kamalashila was invited from India for a debate at Samye that lasted from 1792 until 1794. Kamalashila argued that enlightenment is a gradual process resulting from study, analysis, and good deeds. Kamalashila was declared the winner, and King Trisong Detsen declared Buddhism the official religion of Tibet. Padmasambhava founded the red-hat Adi-yoga school and translated many Sanskrit books into Tibetan. A mythic account of his supernatural life that lasted twelve centuries was written by the Tibetan lady Yeshe Tsogyel. As his name implies, Padmasambhava was said to have been born miraculously on a lotus. His extraordinary and unconventional experiences included being married to 500 wives before renouncing a kingdom, several cases of cannibalism, surviving being burned at the stake, killing butchers, attaining Buddhahood, and teaching spirits and humans in many countries. In the guise of different famous teachers he taught people how to overcome the five poisons of sloth, anger, lust, arrogance, and jealousy. The Tibetan Book of the Dead was first committed to writing around this time. Its title Bardol Thodol more literally means "liberation by hearing on the after-death plane." Similar in many ways to the Egyptian Book of the Dead, it likely contains many pre-Buddhist elements, as it was compiled over the centuries. The first part, chikhai bardo, describes the psychic experiences at the moment of death and urges one to unite with the all-good pure reality of the clear light. In the second stage of the chonyid bardo karmic illusions are experienced in a dream-like state, the thought-forms of one's own intellect. In the sidpa bardo, the third and last phase, one experiences the judgment of one's own karma; prayer is recommended, but instincts tend to lead one back into rebirth in another body. The purpose of the book is to help educate one how to attain liberation in the earlier stages and so prevent reincarnation. Muni Tsenpo ruled Tibet from 797 probably to 804, although some believed he ruled for only eighteen months. He tried to reduce the disparity between the rich and poor by introducing land

reform; but when the rich got richer, he tried two other reform plans. Padmasambhava advised him, "Our condition in this life is entirely dependent upon the actions of our previous life, and nothing can be done to alter the scheme of things."9 Muni Tsenpo had married his father's young wife to protect her from his mother's jealousy; but she turned against her son, the new king, and poisoned him; some believed he was poisoned because of his reforms. Since Muni Tsenpo had no sons, he was succeeded by his youngest brother Sadnaleg; his other brother Mutik Tsenpo was disqualified for having killed a minister in anger. During Sadnaleg's reign the Tibetans attacked the Arabs in the west, invading Transoxiana and besieging Samarqand; but they made an agreement with Caliph alMa'mun. When Sadnaleg died in 815, his ministers chose his Buddhist son Ralpachen as king over his irreligious older brother Darma. After a border dispute, Buddhists mediated a treaty between Tibet and China in 821 that reaffirmed the boundaries of the 783 treaty. Ralpachen decreed that seven households should provide for each monk. By intrigues Darma managed to get his brother Tsangma and the trusted Buddhist minister Bande Dangka sent into exile; then Be Gyaltore and Chogro Lhalon, ministers who were loyal to Darma, went and murdered Bande Dangka. In 836 these same two pro-Bon ministers assassinated King Ralpachen and put Darma on the throne. They promulgated laws to destroy Buddhism in Tibet and closed the temples. Buddhist monks had to choose between marrying, carrying arms as hunters, becoming followers of the Bon religion, or death. In 842 the monk Lhalung Palgye Dorje assassinated King Darma with an arrow and escaped. That year marked a division in the royal line and the beginning of local rule in Tibet that lasted more than two centuries. Central Tibet suffered most from Darma's persecution, but Buddhism was kept alive in eastern and western Tibet. Buddhists helped Darma's son (r. 842-70) gain the throne, and he promoted their religion. As their empire disintegrated into separate warring territories, Tibetan occupation in Turkestan was ended by Turks, Uighurs, and Qarluqs. In 978 translators Rinchen Zangpo and Lakpe Sherab invited some Indian pandits to come to Tibet, and this marked the beginning of the Buddhist renaissance in Tibet. Atisha (982-1054) was persuaded to come from India in 1042 and reformed the Tantric practices by introducing celibacy and a higher morality among the priests. He wrote The Lamp that Shows the Path to Enlightenment and founded the Katampa order, which was distinguished from the old Nyingmapa order of Padmasambhava. Drogmi (992-1074) taught the use of sexual practices for mystical realization, and his scholarly disciple Khon Konchog Gyalpo founded the Sakya monastery in 1073. The Kagyupa school traces its lineage from the celestial Buddha Dorje-Chang to Tilopa (988-1069), who taught Naropa (1016-1100) in India. From a royal family in Bengal, Naropa studied in Kashmir for three years until he was fourteen. Three years later his family made him marry a Brahmin woman; they were divorced after eight years, though she became a writer too. In 1049 Naropa won a debate at Nalanda and was elected abbot there for eight years. He left to find the guru he had seen in a vision and was on the verge of suicide when Tilopa asked him how he would find his guru if he killed the Buddha. Naropa served Tilopa for twelve years during which he meditated in silence most of the time. However, twelve times he followed his guru's irrational suggestions and caused himself suffering. Each time Tilopa pointed out the lesson and healed him, according to the biography written about a century later. The twelve lessons taught him about the ordinary wishfulfilling gem, one-valueness, commitment, mystic heat, apparition, dream, radiant light, transference, resurrection, eternal delight (learned from Tantric sex), mahamudra (authenticity), and the intermediate state (between birth and death). Naropa then went to Tibet where he taught Marpa (1012-96), who brought songs from the Tantric poets of Bengal to his disciple Milarepa. Milarepa was born on the Tibetan frontier of Nepal in 1040. When he was seven years old, Milarepa's father died; his aunt and uncle taking control of the estate, his mother and he had to work

as field laborers in poor conditions. When he came of age, his sister, mother, and he were thrown out of their house. So Milarepa studied black magic, and his mother threatened to kill herself if he failed. Milarepa caused the house to fall down, killing 35 people. Next his teacher taught him how to cause a hail storm, and at his mother's request he destroyed some crops. Milarepa repented of this sorcery and prayed to take up a religious life. He found his way to the lama Marpa the translator, who said that even if he imparted the truth to him, his liberation in one lifetime would depend on his own perseverance and energy. The lama was reluctant to give the truth to one who had done such evil deeds. So he had Milarepa build walls and often tear them down, while his wife pleaded for the young aspirant. Frustrated, Milarepa went to another teacher, who asked him to destroy his enemies with a hail storm, which he did while preserving an old woman's plot. Milarepa returned to his guru Marpa and was initiated. Then he meditated in a cave for eleven months, discovering that the highest path started with a compassionate mood dedicating one's efforts to universal good, followed by clear aspiration transcending thought with prayer for others. After many years Milarepa went back to his old village to discover that his mother had died, his sister was gone, and his house and fields were in ruins. Describing his life in songs, Milarepa decided, "So I will go to gain the truth divine, to the Dragkar-taso cave I'll go, to practice meditation."10 He met the woman to whom he was betrothed in childhood, but he decided on the path of total self-abnegation. Going out to beg for food he met his aunt, who loosed dogs on him; but after talking he let her live in his house and cultivate his field. Milarepa practiced patience on those who had wronged him, calling it the shortest path to Buddhahood. Giving up comfort, material things, and desires for name or fame, he meditated and lived on nettles and water. He preached on the law of karma, and eventually his aunt was converted and devoted herself to penance and meditation. His sister found his nakedness shameful, but Milarepa declared that deception and evil deeds are shameful, not the body. Believing in karma, thoughts of the misery in the lower worlds may inspire one to seek Buddhahood. It was said that Milarepa had 25 saints among his disciples, including his sister and three other women. In one of his last songs he wrote, "If pain and sorrow you desire sincerely to avoid, avoid, then, doing harm to others."11 Many miraculous stories are told of his passing from his body and the funeral; Milarepa died in 1123, and it was claimed that for a time no wars or epidemics ravaged the Earth. The biography of his life and songs was written by his disciple Rechung. A contemporary of Milarepa, the life of Nangsa Obum was also told in songs and prose. She was born in Tibet, and because of her beauty and virtue she was married to Dragpa Samdrub, son of Rinang king Dragchen. She bore a son but longed to practice the dharma. Nangsa was falsely accused by Dragchen's jealous sister Ani Nyemo for giving seven sacks of flour to Rechung and other lamas. Beaten by her husband and separated from her child by the king, Nangsa died of a broken heart. Since her good deeds so outnumbered her bad deeds, the Lord of Death allowed her to come back to life. She decided to go practice the dharma; but her son and a repentant Ani Nyemo pleaded for her to stay. She remained but then visited her parents' home, where she took up weaving. After quarreling with her mother, Nangsa left and went to study the sutras and practice Tantra. The king and her husband attacked her teacher Sakya Gyaltsen, who healed all the wounded monks. Then the teacher excoriated them for having animal minds and black karma, noting that Nangsa had come there for something better than a Rinang king; her good qualities would be wasted living with a hunter; they were trying to make a snow lion into a dog. The noblemen admitted they had made their karma worse and asked to be taught. Sakya replied that for those who have done wrong repentance is like the sun rising. They should think about their suffering and the meaninglessness of

their lives and how much better they will be in the field of dharma. Dragchen and his father retired from worldly life, and Nangsa's 15-year-old son was given the kingdom. Machig Lapdron (1055-1145) was said to be a reincarnation of Padmasambhava's consort Yeshe Tsogyel and of an Indian yogi named Monlam Drub. Leaving that body in a cave in India the soul traveled to Tibet and was born as Machig. As a child, she learned to recite the sutras at record speed, and at initiation she asked how she could help all sentient beings. In a dream an Indian teacher told her to confess her hidden faults, approach what she found repulsive, help those whom she thinks cannot be helped, let go of any attachment, go to scary places like cemeteries, be aware, and find the Buddha within. A lama taught her to examine the movement of her own mind carefully and become free of petty dualism and the demon of self-cherishing. She learned to wander and stay anywhere, and she absorbed various teachings from numerous gurus. She married and had three children but soon retired from the world. By forty she was well known in Tibet, and numerous monks and nuns came from India to challenge her; but she defeated them in debate. It was said that 433 lepers were cured by practicing her teachings. A book on the supreme path of discipleship was compiled by Milarepa's disciple Lharje (10771152), who founded the Cur-lka monastery in 1150. This book lists yogic precepts in various categories. Causes of regret include frittering life away, dying an irreligious and worldly person, and selling the wise doctrine as merchandise. Requirements include sure action, diligence, knowledge of one's own faults and virtues, keen intellect and faith, watchfulness, freedom from desire and attachment, and love and compassion in thought and deed directed to the service of all sentient beings. "Unless the mind be disciplined to selflessness and infinite compassion, one is apt to fall into the error of seeking liberation for self alone."12 Offering to deities meat obtained by killing is like offering a mother the flesh of her own child. The virtue of the holy dharma is shown in those, whose heavy evil karma would have condemned them to suffering, turning to a religious life. The black-hat Karmapa order was founded in 1147 by Tusum Khyenpa (1110-93), a native of Kham who studied with Milarepa's disciples. This sect claims to have started the system of leadership by successive reincarnations of the same soul, later adopted by the Dalai and Panchen Lamas. In 1207 a Tibetan council decided to submit peacefully to Genghis Khan and pay tribute. After the death of Genghis Khan in 1227, the Tibetans stopped paying the tribute, and the Mongols invaded in 1240, burning the Rating and Gyal Lhakhang monasteries and killing five hundred monks and civilians. In 1244 Sakya Pandita (1182-1251) went to Mongolia, where he initiated Genghis Khan's grandson Godan. Sakya Pandita instructed him in the Buddha's teachings and persuaded him to stop drowning the Chinese to reduce their population. Sakya Pandita was given authority over the thirteen myriarchies of central Tibet and told the Tibetan leaders it was useless to resist the Mongols' military power. He is also credited with devising a Mongolian alphabet. After Sakya Pandita died, the Mongols invaded Tibet in 1252. After Godan died, Kublai in 1254 invested Phagpa as the supreme ruler in Tibet by giving him a letter that recommended the monks stop quarreling and live peaceably. Phagpa conducted the enthronement of Kublai Khan in 1260. Phaga returned to Sakya in 1276 and died four years later. In 1282 Dharmapala was appointed imperial preceptor (tishri) in Beijing. The Sakya administrator Shang Tsun objected to Kublai Khan's plans to invade India and Nepal, and the yogi Ugyen Sengge wrote a long poem against the idea, which Kublai Khan abandoned. After Tishri Dharmapala died in 1287, the myriarchy Drikhung attacked Sakya; but administrator Ag-len used troops and Mongol cavalry to defeat them, marching into Drikhung territory and burning their temple in 1290. Kublai Khan had been a patron of Buddhism in Tibet, but he died in 1295. After his death the influence of the Mongols in Tibet diminished.

India and Muslim Invaders 1000-1300

Between 1000 and 1027 Ghazni ruler Mahmud invaded India with an army at least twelve times. About 15,000 Muslims took Peshawar and killed 5,000 Hindus in battle. Shahi king Jayapala was so ashamed of being defeated three times that he burned himself to death on a funeral pyre. In 1004 Mahmud's forces crossed the Indus River, then attacked and pillaged the wealth of Bhatiya. On the way to attack the heretical Abu-'l-Fath Daud, Mahmud defeated Shahi king Anandapala. Daud was forced to pay 20,000,000 dirhams and was allowed to rule as a Muslim if he paid 20,000 golden dirhams annually. Mahmud's army again met Anandapala's the next year; after 5,000 Muslims lost their lives, 20,000 Hindu soldiers were killed. Mahmud captured an immense treasure of 70,000,000 dirhams, plus gold and silver ingots, jewels, and other precious goods. After Mahmud defeated the king of Narayan and the rebelling Daud, Anandapala made a treaty that lasted until his death, allowing the Muslims passage to attack the sacred city of Thaneswar. In 1013 Mahmud attacked and defeated Anandapala's successor Trilochanapala, annexing the western and central portions of the Shahi kingdom in the Punjab. Next the Muslims plundered the Kashmir valley, though Mahmud was never able to hold it. To attack Kanauj in the heart of India, Mahmud raised a force of 100,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry. Most Hindu chiefs submitted, but in Mahaban nearly 5,000 were killed, causing Kulachand to kill himself. Next the Muslims plundered the sacred city of Mathura, destroying a temple that took two centuries to build and estimated to be worth 100,000,000 red dinars. After conquering more forts and obtaining more booty, Mahmud ordered the inhabitants slain by sword, the city plundered, and the idols destroyed in Kanauj that was said to contain almost 10,000 temples. In 1019 Mahmud returned to Ghazni with immense wealth and 53,000 prisoners to be sold as slaves. When Mahmud's army returned again to chastise Chandella ruler Vidyadhara for killing the submitting Pratihara king Rajyapala, the resistance of Trilochanapala was overcome, making all of Shahi part of Mahmud's empire. Although he had 45,000 infantry, 36,000 cavalry, and 640 elephants, Vidyadhara fled after a minor defeat. The next year Mahmud and Vidyadhara agreed to a peace. 50,000 Hindus were killed in 1025 defending the Shaivite temple of Somanatha in Kathiawar, as Mahmud captured another 20,000,000 dirhams. In his last campaign Mahmud used a navy of 1400 boats with iron spikes to defeat the Jats with their 4,000 boats in the Indus. Mahmud's soldiers often gave people the choice of accepting Islam or death. These threats and the enslavement of Hindus by Muslims and the Hindus' consequent attitude of considering Muslims impure barbarians (mlechchha) caused a great division between these religious groups. During this time Mahipala I ruled Bengal for nearly half a century and founded a second Pala empire. In the half century around 1100 Ramapala tried to restore the decreasing realm of the Palas by invading his neighbors until he drowned himself in grief in the Ganges. Buddhists were persecuted in Varendri by the Vangala army. In the 12th century Vijayasena established a powerful kingdom in Bengal; but in spite of the military victories of Lakshmanasena, who began ruling in 1178, lands were lost to the Muslims and others early in the 13th century. Military campaigns led by the Paramara Bhoja and the Kalachuri Karna against Muslims in the Punjab discouraged Muslim invasions after Punjab governor Ahmad Niyaltigin exacted tribute from the Thakurs and plundered the city of Banaras in 1034. Bhoja and a Hindu confederacy of chiefs conquered Hansi, Thaneswar, Nagarkot, and other territories from the Muslims in 1043. Bhoja also wrote 23 books, patronized writers, and established schools for his subjects. Karna won many battles over various kingdoms in India but gained little material advantage. About 1090 Gahadavala ruler Chandradeva seems to have collaborated with the Muslim governor of the Punjab to seize

Kanauj from Rashtrakuta ruler Gopala. In the first half of the 12th century Gahadavala ruler Govindachandra came into conflict with the Palas, Senas, Gangas, Kakatiyas, Chalukyas, Chandellas, Chaulukyas, the Karnatakas of Mithila, and the Muslims. The Ghuzz Turks made Muhammad Ghuri governor of Ghazni in 1173; he attacked the Gujarat kingdom in 1178, but his Turkish army was defeated by the Chaulukya king Mularaja II. Chahamana Prithviraja III began ruling that year and four years later defeated and plundered Paramardi's Chandella kingdom. In 1186 Khusrav Malik, the last Yamini ruler of Ghazni, was captured at Lahore by Muhammad Ghuri. The next year the Chahamana king Prithviraja made a treaty with Bhima II of Gujarat. Prithviraja's forces defeated Muhammad Ghuri's army at Tarain and regained Chahamana supremacy over the Punjab. Muhammad Ghuri organized 120,000 men from Ghazni to face 300,000 led by Prithviraja, who was captured and eventually executed as the Muslims demolished the temples of Ajmer in 1192 and built mosques. From there Sultan Muhammad Ghuri marched to Delhi, where he appointed general Qutb-ud-din Aybak governor; then with 50,000 cavalry Muhammad Ghuri defeated the Gahadavala army of Jayachandra before leaving for Ghazni. Prithviraja's brother Hariraja recaptured Delhi and Ajmer; but after losing them again to Aybak, he burned himself to death in 1194. Next the local Mher tribes and the Chaulukya king of Gujarat, Bhima II, expelled the Turks from Rajputana; but in 1197 Aybak invaded Gujarat with more troops from Ghazni, killing 50,000 and capturing 20,000. In 1202 Aybak besieged Chandella king Paramardi at Kalanjara and forced him to pay tribute. In the east a Muslim named Bakhtyar raided Magadha and used the plunder to raise a larger force that conquered much of Bengal; his army slaughtered Buddhist monks, thinking they were Brahmins. However, the Khalji Bakhtyar met tough resistance in Tibet and had to return to Bengal where he died. The Ghuri dynasty ended soon after Muhammad Ghuri was murdered at Lahore in 1206 by his former slave Aybak, who assumed power but died in 1210. The struggle for power was won by Aybak's son-in-law Iltutmish, who defeated and killed Aybak's successor. Then in 1216 Iltutmish captured his rival Yildiz, who had been driven by KhwarezmShah from Ghazni to the Punjab; the next year he expelled Qabacha from Lahore. In 1221 Mongols led by Genghis Khan pushed Khwarezm-Shah and other refugees across the Indus into the Punjab. Iltutmish invaded Bengal and ended the independence of the Khalji chiefs; but he met with Guhilot resistance in Rajputana before plundering Bhilsa and Ujjain in Malwa. Chahadadeva captured and ruled Narwar with an army of over 200,000 men, defeating Iltutmish's general in 1234, but he was later defeated by the Muslim general Balban in 1251. After Qabacha drowned in the Indus, Iltutmish was recognized as the Baghdad Caliph's great sultan in 1229 until he died of disease seven years later. Factional strife occurred as Iltutmish's daughter Raziyya managed to rule like a man for three years before being killed by sexist hostility; his sons, grandson, and the "Forty" officials, who had been his slaves, struggled for power and pushed back the invading Mongols in 1245. After Iltutmish's son Mahmud became king, the capable Balban gained control. In 1253 the Indian Muslim Raihan replaced Balban for a year until the Turks for racist reasons insisted Balban and his associates be restored. When Mahmud died childless in 1265, Balban became an effective sultan. He said, "All that I can do is to crush the cruelties of the cruel and to see that all persons are equal before the law."13 Mongols invaded again in 1285 and killed Balban's son; two years later the elderly Balban died, and in 1290 the dynasty of Ilbari Turks was replaced by the Khalji Turks with ties to Afghanistan. Chola king Rajendra I (r. 1012-44) ruled over most of south India and even invaded Sumatra and the Malay peninsula. His son Rajadhiraja I's reign (1018-52) overlapped his father's, as he tried to

put down rebellions in Pandya and Chera, invading western Chalukya and sacking Kalyana. Cholas were criticized for violating the ethics of Hindu warfare by carrying off cows and "unloosing women's girdles." Rajadhiraja was killed while defeating Chalukya king Someshvara I (r. 1043-68). In the Deccan the later Chalukyas battled their neighbors; led by Vikramaditya, they fought a series of wars against the powerful Cholas. After battling his brother Vikramaditya, Someshvara II reigned 1068-76; in confederacy with Chaulukya Karna of Gujarat, he defeated the Paramara Jayasimha and occupied Malava briefly. Becoming Chalukya king, Vikramaditya VI (r. 1076-1126) invaded the Cholas and took Kanchi some time before 1085. When the Vaishnavites Mahapurna and Kuresha had their eyes put out, probably by Kulottunga I in 1079, the famous philosopher Ramanuja took refuge in the Hoysala country until Kulottunga died. Ramanuja modified Shankara's nondualism in his Bhasya and emphasized the way of devotion (bhakti). He believed the grace of God was necessary for liberation. Although he practiced initiations and rituals, Ramanuja recognized that caste, rank, and religion were irrelevant to realizing union with God. He provided the philosophical reasoning for the popular worship of Vishnu and was thought to be 120 when he died in 1137. In Sri Lanka the Sinhalese harassed the occupying Chola forces until they withdrew from Rohana in 1030, enabling Kassapa VI (r. 1029-40) to govern the south. When he died without an heir, Cholas under Rajadhiraja (r. 1043-54) regained control of Rajarata. After 1050 a struggle for power resulted in Kitti proclaiming himself Vijayabahu I (r. 1055-1110). However, in 1056 a Chola army invaded to suppress the revolt in Rohana. Vijayabahu fled to the hills, and his army was defeated near the old capital of Anuradhapura; yet he recovered Rohana about 1061. The Chola empire was also being challenged by the western Chalukyas during the reign (1063-69) of Virarajendra. The new Chola king Kulottunga I (r. 1070-1120), after being defeated by Vijayabahu, pulled his forces out of Sri Lanka. Vijayabahu took over the north but had to suppress a rebellion by three brothers in 1075 near Polonnaruwa. After his envoys to the Chalukya king at Karnataka were mutilated, Vijayabahu invaded Chola around 1085; but he made peace with Kulottunga in 1088. Vijayabahu restored irrigation and centralized administration as he patronized Buddhism. Vijayabahu was succeeded by his brother Jayabahu I; but a year later Vikramabahu I (r. 1111-32) took control of Rajarata and persecuted monks while the sons of Vijayabahu's sister Mitta ruled the rest of Sri Lanka. The Hoysala king Vinayaditya (r. 1047-1101) acknowledged Chalukya supremacy; but after his death, the Hoysalas tried to become independent by fighting the Chalukyas. Kulottunga ordered a land survey in 1086. The Cholas under Kulottunga invaded Kalinga in 1096 to quell a revolt; a second invasion in 1110 was described in the Kalingattupparani of court poet Jayangondar. After Vikramaditya VI died, Vikrama Chola (r. 1118-1135) regained Chola control over the Vengi kingdom, though the Chalukyas ruled the Deccan until the Kalachuri king Bijjala took Kalyana from Chalukya king Taila III in 1156; the Kalachuris kept control for a quarter century. Gujarat's Chalukya king Kumarapala was converted to Jainism by the learned Hemachandra (1088-1172) and prohibited animal sacrifices, while Jain king Bijjala's minister Basava (1106-67) promoted the Vira Shaiva sect that emphasized social reform and the emancipation of women. Basava disregarded caste and ritual as shackling and senseless. When an outcaste married an ex-Brahmin bride, Bijjala sentenced them both, and they were dragged to death in the streets of Kalyana. Basava tried to convert the extremists to nonviolence but failed; they assassinated Bijjala, and the Vira Shaivas were persecuted. Basava asked, "Where is religion without loving kindness?" Basava had been taught by Allama Prabhu, who had completely rejected external rituals, converting some from the sacrifice of animals to sacrificing one's bestial self.

In his poem, The Arousing of Kumarapala, which describes how Hemachandra converted King Kumarapala, Somaprabha warned Jains from serving the king as ministers, harming others and extorting their fortunes that one's master may take. In the mid-12th century the island of Sri Lanka suffered a three-way civil war. Ratnavali arranged for her son Parakramabahu to succeed childless Kitsirimegha in Dakkinadesa. Parakramabahu defeated and captured Gajabahu (r. 1132-53), taking over Polonnaruwa. However, his pillaging troops alienated the people who turned to Manabharana. Parakramabahu allied with Gajabahu, becoming his heir, and defeated Manabharana. Parakramabahu I (r. 1153-86) restored unity but harshly suppressed a Rohana rebellion in 1160 and crushed Rajarata resistance in 1168. He used heavy taxation to rebuild Pulatthinagara and Anuradhapura that had been destroyed by the Cholas. The Culavamsa credits Parakramabahu with restoring or building 165 dams, 3910 canals, 163 major tanks, and 2376 minor tanks. He developed trade with Burma. Sri Lanka aided a Pandya ruler in 1169 when Kulashekhara Pandya defeated and killed Parakrama Pandya, seizing Madura; but Chola king Rajadhiraja II (r. 1163-79) brought the Pandya civil war to an end. This enabled larger Chola armies to defeat the Sri Lanka force by 1174. Parakramabahu was succeeded by his nephew, who was slain a year later by a nobleman by trying to usurp the throne. Parakramabahu son-in-law Nissankamalla stopped that and ruled Sri Lanka for nine years. He also was allied with the Pandyas and fought the Cholas. During the next eighteen years Sri Lanka had twelve changes of rulers, though Nissankamalla's queen, Kalyanavati reigned 1202-08. Four Chola invasions further weakened Sri Lanka. Queen Lilavati ruled three different times and was supported by the Cholas. In 1212 the Pandyan prince Parakramapandu invaded Rajarata and deposed her; but three years later the Kalinga invader Magha took power. The Culavamsa criticized Magha (r. 1215-55) for confiscating the wealth of the monasteries, taxing the peasants, and letting his soldiers oppress the people. Finally the Sinhalese alliance with the Pandyas expelled Magha and defeated the invasions by Malay ruler Chandrabanu. When his son came again in 1285, the Pandyan general Arya Chakravarti defeated him and ruled the north, installing Parakramabahu III (r. 1287-93) as his vassal at Polonnaruwa. Eventually the capital Polonnaruwa was abandoned; the deterioration of the irrigation system became irreversible as mosquitoes carrying malaria infested its remains. The Tamil settlers withdrew to the north, developing the Jaffna kingdom. Others settled in the wet region in the west, as the jungle was tamed. Hoysala king Ballala II proclaimed his independence in 1193. Chola king Kulottunga III (r. 11781216) ravaged the Pandya country about 1205, destroying the coronation hall at Madura; but a few years later he was overpowered by the Pandyas and saved from worse defeat by Hoysala intervention, as Hoysala king Ballala II (r. 1173-1220) had married a Chola princess. In the reign (1220-34) of Narasimha II the Hoysalas fought the Pandyas for empire, as Chola power decreased. Narasimha's son Someshvara (r. 1234-63) was defeated and killed in a battle led by Pandya Jatavarman Sundara. Chola king Rajendra III (r. 1246-79) was a Pandyan feudatory from 1258 to the end of his reign. The Cholas had inflicted much misery on their neighbors, even violating the sanctity of ambassadors. The Pandyas under their king Maravarman Kulashekhara, who ruled more than forty years until 1310, overcame and annexed the territories of the Cholas and the Hoysalas in 1279 and later in his reign gained supremacy over Sri Lanka. The dualist Madhva (1197-1276) was the third great Vedanta philosopher after Shankara and Ramanuja. Madhva also opened the worship of Vishnu to all castes but may have picked up the idea of damnation in hell from missionary Christians or Muslims. He taught four steps to liberation: 1) detachment from material comforts, 2) persistent devotion to God, 3) meditation on God as the only independent reality, and 4) earning the grace of God.

Marco Polo on his visit to south India about 1293 noted that climate and ignorant treatment did not allow horses to thrive there. He admired Kakatiya queen Rudramba, who ruled for nearly forty years. He noted the Hindus' strict enforcement of justice against criminals and abstention from wine, but he was surprised they did not consider any form of sexual indulgence a sin. He found certain merchants most truthful but noted many superstitious beliefs. Yet he found that ascetics, who ate no meat, drank no wine, had no sex outside of marriage, did not steal, and never killed any creature, often lived very long lives. Marco Polo related a legend of brothers whose quarrels were prevented from turning to violence by their mother who threatened to cut off her breasts if they did not make peace. Nizam-ud-din Auliya was an influential Sufi of the Chishti order that had been founded a century before. He taught love as the means to realize God. For Auliya universal love was expressed through love and service of humanity. The Sufis found music inflamed love, and they interpreted the Qur'an broadly in esoteric ways; the intuition of the inner light was more important to them than orthodox dogma. Auliya was the teacher of Amir Khusrau (1253-1325), one of the most prolific poets in the Persian language. Many of Khusrau's poems, however, glorified the bloody conquests of the Muslim rulers so that "the pure tree of Islam might be planted and flourish" and the evil tree with deep roots would be torn up by force. He wrote,
The whole country, by means of the sword of our holy warriors, has become like a forest denuded of its thorns by fire. The land has been saturated with the water of the sword, and the vapors of infidelity have been dispersed. The strong men of Hind have been trodden under foot, and all are ready to pay tribute. Islam is triumphant; idolatry is subdued. Had not the law granted exemption from death by the payment of poll-tax, the very name of Hind, root and branch, would have been extinguished. From Ghazni to the shore of the ocean you see all under the dominion of Islam.14

In 1290 the Khalji Jalal-ud-din Firuz became sultan in Delhi but refused to sacrifice Muslim lives to take Ranthambhor, though his army defeated and made peace with 150,000 invading Mongols. Genghis Khan's descendant Ulghu and 4,000 others accepted Islam and became known as the "new Muslims." This lenient sultan sent a thousand captured robbers and murderers to Bengal without punishment. His more ambitious nephew 'Ala-ud-din Khalji attacked the kingdom of Devagiri, gaining booty and exacting from Yadava king Ramachandra gold he used to raise an army of 60,000 cavalry and as many infantry. In 1296 he lured his uncle into a trap, had him assassinated, and bribed the nobles to proclaim him sultan. Several political adversaries were blinded and killed. The next year 'Ala-ud-din sent an army headed by his brother Ulugh Khan to conquer Gujarat; according to Wassaf they slaughtered the people and plundered the country. Another 200,000 Mongols invaded in 1299, but they were driven back. Revolts by his nephews and an old officer were ruthlessly crushed. Money was extorted; a spy network made nobles afraid to speak in public; alcohol was prohibited; and gatherings of nobles were restricted. Orders were given that Hindus were not to have anything above subsistence; this prejudicial treatment was justified by Islamic law.

Literature of Medieval India

In addition to his three plays we also have four poems by Kalidasa. The Dynasty of Raghu is an epic telling the story not only of Rama but of his ancestors and descendants. King Dilipa's willingness to sacrifice himself for a cow enables him to get a son, Raghu. Consecrated as king, Raghu tries to

establish an empire with the traditional horse sacrifice in which a horse for a year is allowed to wander into other kingdoms, which must either submit or defend themselves against his army. His son Aja is chosen by the princess Indumati. Their son Dasharatha has four sons by three wives; but for killing a boy while hunting, he must suffer the banishment of his eldest son Rama, whose traditional story takes up a third of the epic. His son Kusha restores the capital at Ayodhya; but after a line of 22 kings Agnivarna becomes preoccupied with love affairs before dying and leaving a pregnant queen ruling as regent. Another epic poem, The Birth of the War-god tells how the ascetic Shiva is eventually wooed by Parvati, daughter of the Himalaya mountains, after the fire from Shiva's eye kills the god of Love and she becomes an ascetic. After being entertained by nymphs, Shiva restores the body of Love. Their son Kumara is made a general by the god Indra; after their army is defeated by Taraka's army, Kumara kills the demon Taraka. Kalidasa's elegy, The Cloud-Messenger, describes how the Yaksha Kubera, an attendant of the god of Wealth, who has been exiled from the Himalayas to the Vindhya mountains for a year, sends a cloud as a messenger to his wife during the romantic rainy season. Kalidasa is also believed to be the author of a poem on the six seasons in India. Bana wrote an epic romance on the conquests of Harsha in the 7th century and another called Kadambari. Bana was not afraid to criticize the idea of kings being divine nor the unethical and cruel tactics of the political theorist Kautilya. Bana was one of the few Indian writers who showed concern for the poor and humble. About the 6th or 7th century Bhartrihari wrote short erotic poems typical of those later collected into anthologies. He reminded himself that virtue is still important.
Granted her breasts are firm, her face entrancing, Her legs enchanting - what is that to you? My mind, if you would win her, stop romancing. Have you not heard, reward is virtue's due?15

Torn between sensual and spiritual love, Bhartrihari found that the charms of a slim girl disturbed him. Should he choose the youth of full-breasted women or the forest? Eventually he moved from the dark night of passion to the clear vision of seeing God in everything. He noted that it is easier to take a gem from a crocodile's jaws or swim the ocean or wear an angry serpent like a flower in one's hair or squeeze oil from sand, water from a mirage, or find a rabbit's horn than it is to satisfy a fool whose opinions are set. Bhartrihari asked subtle questions.
Patience, better than armor, guards from harm. And why seek enemies, if you have anger? With friends, you need no medicine for danger. With kinsmen, why ask fire to keep you warm? What use are snakes when slander sharper stings? What use is wealth where wisdom brings content? With modesty, what need for ornament? With poetry's Muse, why should we envy kings?16

The erotic poetry of Amaru about the 7th century often expressed the woman's viewpoint. When someone questioned her pining and faithfulness, she asked him to speak softly because her love living in her heart might hear. In another poem the narrator tries to hide her blushing, sweating cheeks but found her bodice splitting of its own accord. This poet seemed to prefer love-making to meditation. The erotic and the religious were combined in 12th century Bengali poet Jayadeva's "Songs of the Cowherd" (Gita Govinda) about the loves of Krishna. A poet observed that most

people can see the faults in others, and some can see their virtues; but perhaps only two or three can see their own shortcomings. In the late 11th century Buddhist scholar Vidyakara collected together an anthology of Sanskrit court poetry, Treasury of Well-Turned Verse (Subhasitaratnakosa), with verses from more than two hundred poets, mostly from the previous four centuries. Although it begins with verses on the Buddha and the bodhisattvas Lokesvara and Manjughosa, Vidyakara also included verses on Shiva and Vishnu. One poet asked why a naked ascetic with holy ashes needed a bow or a woman. (103) After these chapters the poetry is not religious, with verses on the seasons and other aspects of nature. Love poetry is ample, and it is quite sensual, though none of it is obscene. Women's bodies are described with affection, and sections include the joys of love as well as the sad longing of lovein-separation. An epigram complains of a man whose body smells of blood as his action runs to slaughter because his sense of right and wrong is no better than a beast's. Only courage is admired in a lion, but that makes the world seem cheap. (1091) Another epigram warns that the earth will give no support nor a wishing tree a wish, and one's efforts will come to nothing for one whose sin accumulated in a former birth. (1097) Shardarnava described peace in the smooth flow of a river; but noting uprooted trees along the shore, he inferred concealed lawlessness. (1111) Dharmakirti's verses describe the good as asking no favors from the wicked, not begging from a friend whose means are small, keeping one's stature in misfortune, and following in the footsteps of the great, though these rules may be as hard to travel as a sword blade. (1213) Another poet found that he grew mad like a rutting elephant when knowing little he thought he knew everything; but after consorting with the wise and gaining some knowledge, he knew himself a fool, and the madness left like a fever. (1217) Another proclaimed good one who offers aid to those in distress, not one who is skillful at keeping ill-gotten gains. (1226) A poet noted that countless get angry with or without a cause, but perhaps only five or six in the world do not get angry when there is a cause. (1236) The great guard their honor, not their lives; fear evil, not enemies; and seek not wealth but those who ask for it. (1239) Small-minded people ask if someone is one of them or an outsider, but the noble mind takes the whole world for family. (1241) An anonymous poet asked these great questions:
Can that be judgment where compassion plays no part, or that be the way if we help not others on it? Can that be law where we injure still our fellows, or that be sacred knowledge which leads us not to peace?17

A poet advised that the wise, considering that youth is fleeting, the body soon forfeited and wealth soon gone, lays up no deeds, though they be pleasurable here, that will ripen into bitter fruit in future lives. (1686) Although collected from ancient myths and folklore, the eighteen "great" Puranas were written between the 4th and 10th centuries. Originally intended to describe the creation of the universe, its destruction and renewal, genealogies, and chronicles of the lawgivers and the solar and lunar dynasties, they retold myths and legends according to different Vaishnavite and Shaivite sects with assorted religious lore. The Agni Puranam, for example, describes the avatars Rama and Krishna, religious ceremonies, Tantric rituals, initiation, Shiva, holy places, duties of kings, the art of war, judicature, medicine, worship of Shiva and the Goddess, and concludes with a treatise on prosody, rhetoric, grammar, and yoga. Much of this was apparently taken from other books. The early Vishnu Purana explains that although all creatures are destroyed at each cosmic dissolution, they are reborn according to their good or bad karma; this justice pleased the creator Brahma. In this Purana Vishnu becomes the Buddha in order to delude the demons so that they can

be destroyed. The gods complain that they cannot kill the demons because they are following the Vedas and developing ascetic powers. So Vishnu says he will bewitch them to seek heaven or nirvana and stop evil rites such as killing animals. Then reviling the Vedas, the gods, the sacrificial rituals, and the Brahmins, they went on the wrong path and were destroyed by the gods. The Vishnu Purana describes the incarnations of Vishnu, including his future life as Kalkin at the end of the dark age (Kali yuga) when evil people will be destroyed, and justice (dharma) will be re-established in the Krita age. The gradual ethical degeneration is reflected in the change in Hindu literature from the heroic Vedas to the strategic epics and then to deception and demonic methods in the Puranas. The Padma Purana explains the incarnations of Vishnu as fulfilling a curse from lord Bhrigu, because Vishnu killed his wife. Thus Vishnu is born again and again for the good of the world when virtue has declined. By appearing as a naked Jain and the Buddha, Vishnu has turned the demons away from the Vedas to the virtue (dharma) of the sages. The most popular of all the Puranas, the Srimad Bhagavatam was attributed to the author of the Mahabharata, Vyasa, given out through his son Suta. However, scholars consider this work emphasizing the way of devotion (bhakti) one of the later great Puranas and ascribe it to the grammarian Vopadeva. Bhagavatam retells the stories of the incarnations of the god Vishnu with special emphasis on Krishna. Even as a baby and a child the divine Krishna performs many miracles and defeats demons. The young Krishna is not afraid to provoke the wrath of the chief god Indra by explaining that happiness and misery, fear and security, result from the karma of one's actions. Even a supreme Lord must dispense the fruits of others' karma and thus is dependent on those who act. Thus individuals are controlled by their dispositions they have created by their former actions. Karma, or we might say experience, is the guru and the supreme Lord. Brahmins should maintain themselves by knowledge of the Veda, Kshatriyas by protecting the country, Vaishyas by business, and Sudras by service. Krishna also notes that karma based on desire is the product of ignorance, of not understanding one's true nature. The king who is listening to the stories of Krishna asks how this Lord could sport with other men's wives; but the author excuses these escapades by explaining that although the superhuman may teach the truth, their acts do not always conform to their teachings. The intelligent understand this and follow only the teachings. The worshiping author places the Lord above good and evil and claims that the men of Vajra did not become angry at Krishna because they imagined their wives were by their sides all the time. Krishna also fought and killed many enemies, "as the lord of the jungle kills the beasts."18 He killed Kamsa for unjustly appropriating cows. Krishna fought the army of Magadha king Jarasandha seventeen times and presented the spoils of war to the Yadu king. He killed Satadhanva over a gem. Krishna carried off by force and thus wed Rukmini by the demon mode. Several other weddings followed, and Krishna's eight principal queens were said to have bore him ten sons each. The author claimed he had 16,000 wives and lived with them all at the same time in their own apartments or houses. In the 18th battle Jarasandha's army finally defeated Krishna's, and it was said that he captured 20,800 kings; but Krishna got Bhima to kill Jarasandha, and all the confined Kshatriyas were released. Krishna cut off the head of his foe Sishupala with his razor-sharp discus; he also destroyed the Soubha and killed Salva, Dantavakra and his brother. Although the methods of action (karma) and knowledge (jnani) are discussed in relation to Samkhya philosophy and yoga, in the Bhagavatam the practice of devotion (bhakti) to God in the form of Krishna is favored as the supreme means of salvation. The great war between the Kurus and the Pandavas is explained as Krishna's way of removing the burden of the Earth. Krishna tells his own people, the Yadus, to cross the sea to Prabhasa and worship the gods, Brahmins, and cows. There rendered senseless by Krishna's illusion (maya), they indulge in drink and slaughter each other. Krishna's brother

Balarama and he both depart from their mortal bodies, Krishna ascending to heaven with his chariot and celestial weapons. Before the 11th century seventy stories of "The Enchanted Parrot" were employed to keep a wife entertained while her husband was away so that she would not find a lover. A charming parrot satirizes women, comparing them to kings and serpents in taking what is near them. The proverb is quoted that when the gods want to ruin someone they first take away one's sense of right and wrong, and the listener is warned not to set one's heart on riches gained by wickedness nor on an enemy one has humiliated. When the husband returns, the parrot is freed from the curse and flies to heaven amid a rain of flowers. In the late 11th century Somadeva added to the Great Story (Brihat-katha) of Gunadhya to make the Ocean of the Streams of Story (Katha-sarit-sagara) collection of more than 350 stories in Sanskrit verse. The author noting that jealousy interferes with discernment, a king orders a Brahmin executed for talking with his queen; but on the way to his punishment, a dead fish laughs because while so many men are dressed as women in the king's harem an innocent Brahmin is to be killed. The narrator tells the king this and gains respect for his wisdom and release for the Brahmin. The author also notes that for the wise, character is wealth. Somadeva recounts the legendary stories of Vatsa king Udayana and his marriages to Vasavadatta and the Magadhan princess Padmavati. The former is commended for cooperating in the separation in Yaugandharayana's scheme; he says she is a real queen because she does not merely comply with her husband's wishes but cares for his true interests. An eminent merchant sends his son to a courtesan to learn to beware of immorality incarnate in harlots, who rob rich young men blinded by their virility. Like all professionals, the prostitute has her price but must guard against being in love when no price is paid. She must be a good actress in seducing and milking the man of his money, deserting him when it is gone, and taking him back when he comes up with more money. Like the hermit, she must learn to treat them all equally whether handsome or ugly. Nonetheless the son is taken in by a courtesan and loses all his money, but he contrives to get it back by using a monkey trained to swallow money and give it back on cue. From Somadeva also comes the Vampire's Tales of "The King and the Corpse." In an unusual frame for 25 stories a king is instructed to carry a hanged corpse inhabited by a vampire, who poses a dilemma at the conclusion of each tale. For example, when heads are cut off and are put back on each other's bodies, which person is which? After becoming orphans the oldest of four Brahmin brothers tries to hang himself; but he is cut down and saved by a man who asks him why a learned person should despair when good fortune comes from good karma and bad luck from bad karma. The answer to unhappiness, then, is doing good; but to kill oneself would bring the suffering of hell. So the brothers combine their talents to create a lion from a bone; but the lion kills them, as their creation was not intelligent but evil. The last brother, who brought the lion's completed body to life, is judged most responsible by the king because he should have been more aware of what would result.

Notes
1. Prince Ilango Adigal, Shilappadikaram, tr. Alain Danilou, p. 202. 2. Tiruvalluvar, The Kural tr. P. S. Sundarum, 99. 3. Ibid., 311-320. 4. Ibid., 981-990. 5. Shankara, Crest-Jewel of Wisdom tr. Mohini M. Chatterji, 58. 6. Bhasa, Avimaraka tr. J. L. Masson and D. D. Kosambi, p. 73.

7. Ibid., p. 130-131. 8. Kalidasa, Shakuntala tr. Michael Coulson, 1:11. 9. Tibet's Great Yogi Milarepa tr. Kazi Dawa-Samdup, p. 176. 10. Ibid., p. 253. 11. Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines tr. Kazi Dawa-Samdup, p. 75. 12. Majumdar, R. C., An Advanced History of India, p. 292. 13. Speaking of Shiva tr. A. K. Ramanujan, p. 54. 14. Elliot, H. M., The History of India as Told by Its Own Historians, Vol. 3, p. 546. 15. Poems from the Sanskrit tr. John Brough, p. 58. 16. Ibid., p. 71. 17. An Anthology of Sanskrit Court Poetry tr. Daniel H. H. Ingalls, 1629. 18. Srimad Bhagavatam tr. N. Raghunathan, 10:44:40, Vol. 2 p. 321.

Delhi Sultans and Rajas 1300-1526

Delhi Sultanate 1300-1526 Barani on Politics of the Delhi Sultanate Independent North India 1401-1526 Independent South India 1329-1526 Kabir and Chaitanya Nanak and Sikhism This chapter has been published in the book INDIA & Southeast Asia to 1800. For ordering information, please click here.

Delhi Sultanate 1300-1526

'Ala-ud-din Khalji (r. 1296-1316) took power by raiding wealthy Devagiri in the Deccan region, and he expanded and centralized the Delhi Sultanate. According to the historian Barani, after his authority was established, 'Ala-ud-din arrested the former officers of Jalal-ud-din who had joined him; some were imprisoned, some were blinded, and others were killed. His imperial army subjugated Rajasthan and Ranthambhor, gaining tribute to finance his administration. In 1303 at Chitor 30,000 surrendered and were slain by swords. 'Ala-ud-din's conquest of Chitor was later romanticized by his desire to possess the queen there. After a horde of 120,000 Mongol cavalry led by Targhi raided Delhi, 'Ala-ud-din organized a standing army for defense that included 475,000 cavalry. To pay for this, he increased taxes to fifty percent of the produce and imposed price controls and rationing in Delhi to control inflation. After a small army was sent to conquer Mandu, invading Mongols were badly defeated as the prisoners were beheaded. Rich Devagiri was defeated and plundered again for withholding tribute and with Ramachandra's cooperation became a base of operations in the Deccan for southern invasions. After besieging and taking Siwana, Jalor, and Warangal, the Khalji army, led by the Sultan's Indian slave commander Malik Kafur, invaded Ma'bar from Devagiri in 1311. They returned with immense amounts of gold and other booty even though the Pandya princes did not submit. After the Mongol commander Abachi tried to kill Kafur, Khalji had him executed. Believing that thousands of Mongols in Delhi were conspiring to kill him, the Sultan ordered all Mongols arrested, and about 20,000 were reported to have been executed. When Ramachandra died and his successor Singhana II asserted independence, Kafur's army defeated and killed the Devagiri king, though not all the Yadava kingdom was subjugated. 'Ala-ud-din used a labor force of 70,000 Hindus for construction projects. As the Sultan's health declined, Kafur arranged to have ambitious family members killed. The historian Barani wrote that the conflict between Malik Kafur and the heir Khidr Khan's uncle Alp

Khan destroyed 'Ala-ud-din's regime. The Sultan connived at Alp Khan's murder in the palace, and Khidr Khan was imprisoned. When 'Ala-ud-din died in 1316, Kafur became regent for a child of six; but his plot to blind 'Ala-uddin's third son Mubarak led to his own death instead. Mubarak began his reign by proclaiming an amnesty, rewarding his loyal soldiers, and making a Gujarat slave Hasan Khusrau Khan prime minister (wazir). After a plot to assassinate him failed, Mubarak began executing prominent relatives, including the able governor of Gujarat, Zafar Khan. The Delhi sultanate became independent of the Baghdad caliphate as Mubarak declared himself head of the Muslim faith. After campaigning in the south, Khusrau returned to Delhi to have Sultan Mubarak assassinated. Khusrau Khan executed hostile nobles and married a wife of Mubarak. However, a revolt led by Dipalpur governor Ghazi Tughluq raised an army that defeated Khusrau's forces; Khusrau was beheaded; and in 1320 the new Sultan was called Ghiyas-ud-din Tughluq Shah. Tughluq restored some administration to the Delhi sultanate by appointing honest governors and reducing taxation to one-tenth of the gross produce, while his son and successor conquered the Pandyas in the south and took Madura. Tughluq invaded and annexed Bengal and Tirhut but died when a pavilion collapsed on him. Muhammad bin Tughluq ruled from his father's death in 1325 until 1351. Muhammad had to fight rebellions by his nephew Gurshasp and the king of Kampili. Multiplying taxes in the Doab led to thousands dying in famine; those who tried to leave their homes were punished. Muhammad bin Tughluq was also criticized for forcing people to move from Delhi to a new capital at Devagiri renamed Daulatabad. He was unable to suppress a rebellion that broke out in Madura of Ma'bar in 1334. A confederacy of 75 Hindu chiefs led by Kapaya Nayaka, Hoysala king Ballala III, and Chalukya Somadeva rose up south of the Krishna River and in Andhra and Telingana, defeating Muslim forces that had to abandon Warangal. Vijayanagar became independent in 1336 and would in forty years take over the independent sultanate of Madura that was established at this time. Bengal became independent in 1338. In Kampili people withheld taxes and surrounded the Muslim governor in his headquarters. The Sultan's imperial army conquered Nagarkot the next year. When they invaded Qarachal in the Himalayan region, the Hindus found refuge in the mountains and attacked the army that had been devastated by disease until only three officers remained, according to Ibn Battuta, a judge in Delhi at the time. Rebellions in the Jat and Rajput regions were put down though, and the leaders were taken to Delhi to become Muslims. The generous but vindictive Muhammad Tughluq told the historian Barani that the more people opposed him, the greater would be the punishments. Attempting to crush rebellion, Muhammad bin Tughluq approved when his Malwa governor 'Aziz beheaded eighty centurions for being "foreigners"; but this caused more insurrection in Daulatabad and Gujarat. Foreign emirs about to suffer the same fate revolted and took over most of Maharashtra. While the Sultan spent the rest of his life suppressing the Gujarat rebellion led by Taghi, an independent Bahmani kingdom was established in the Deccan in 1347. Muhammad bin Tughluq was praised by Muslim historians for his learning and for providing hospitals and housing for widows and orphans. Though he was kind and just to Muslims, he often had Hindus refusing to convert tortured and killed. The Sultan had at least 20,000 Turkish slaves and kept 1200 musicians in his service in addition to a thousand slave musicians. He threatened to kill any who played music for anyone else. One day he killed nine people, including one musician, for failing to say prayers in congregation. The Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta, hearing that Delhi sultan Muhammad Tughluq gave his guests greater gifts than he received, borrowed money so that he could present more than thirty horses and white slaves. On his way to Delhi in 1334 Battuta's caravan was attacked by 82 Hindu bandits; they

fought them off, killing 13. At Delhi Muhammad's army was crushing a peasant tax rebellion. Battuta was given a stipend of 5,000 silver dinars from the revenue of two and half villages. While the average Hindu family lived on 5 dinars a month and soldiers were paid about 20, Battuta was given 12,000 a year with a 12,000 advance to be a judge even though he had no experience in law and could hardly speak Persian; two Hanafi scholars were appointed to assist him. Battuta noticed that every day hundreds of people came chained and fettered to be executed, tortured, or beaten. He reported that when 300 men stayed behind the army going to fight Hindus in the mountains, they were all taken and killed. In spite of his salary, Battuta ran his debts up to 55,000, which he got the Sultan to pay for him. When a servant was accused of stealing and drinking wine and said he had not drunk wine for eight years, Battuta ordered eighty lashes, the shari'a punishment for imbibing wine. A Chisti Sufi named Shihab al-Din was tortured and beheaded by the Sultan for refusing to appear in court and then for calling him a tyrant. Because Battuta had visited this shaikh, four slaves were ordered to guard him. Battuta fasted for several days, praying and reading the Qur'an. After a penitent five months in a Sufi retreat, he requested leave to go on pilgrimage, but a few weeks later the Sultan appointed him an ambassador to the Mongol court of China. The gifts he was to take included 200 Hindu slaves. On the Doab plain they were attacked by Hindu insurgents; the imperial cavalry killed all 4,000 of them while losing 78 men, according to Battuta, who was separated, captured, and barely escaped being killed by brigands. Battuta also luckily escaped the drowning fate of most of the embassy when a Chinese junk sank off Calicut harbor in 1342. Battuta eventually made his way to the southern Maldive islands, where he was appointed chief judge and plotted for political supremacy by marrying four prominent women. He horrified the natives by ordering the right hand of a thief cut off according to Islamic law, and he could get the women to wear clothes above the waist only in his courtroom. Finally he made it to Ma'bar, where he observed Muslim rulers impaling Hindus in violation of the Qur'an. Muhammad Tughluq's cousin Firuz Shah was sultan from 1351 to 1388. He began by remitting oppressive taxes and canceling the bloody punishments of the previous regime. Firuz tried twice between 1353 and 1359 with large military campaigns to regain the independent sultanate of Bengal but failed. Bengal prospered under the reign (1359-89) of Sikander. In 1360-61 the army of Firuz massacred men in Orissa, enslaved women, and destroyed the famous Jagannatha temple at Puri. With 90,000 cavalry he set out to avenge the insurrections by the chiefs of Sind. He replaced Gujarat governor Nizam-ul-Mulk for failing to send supplies and guides with Zafar Khan but then chose Damaghani because he promised to send more money. Rebellion of zamindars (landowners) in Etawa was put down in 1377; three years later many Hindus were killed, and 23,000 were captured and enslaved after Katehr king Kharku murdered the Sayyid Badaun governor and his two brothers. Firuz wrote a book about royal duties and educated and trained slaves; it was said he had 180,000 slaves for his maintenance and comfort. To improve irrigation Firuz had four major canals constructed and 150 wells dug. Historian Firishta credited him with building 50 dams, 30 reservoirs, 40 mosques, 30 colleges, 20 palaces, 200 towns, 100 hospitals, and 150 bridges. He simplified the legal system and decreased the use of spies. To atone for the sins of Muhammad Tughluq, he sent gifts to the heirs of those who had been killed or mutilated. He provided clerical work for the unemployed and established a free hospital near Delhi. However, Firuz also severely discriminated against Hindus, making even Brahmins pay a poll tax from which Muslims were exempt, and no position of influence was held by a Hindu. He also punished heretic Shi'is and burned their books. At age eighty Firuz associated prince Muhammad Khan in his rule and had his competent chief minister Khan Jahan killed in 1370; but Muhammad allowed a civil war, and the dying Firuz

selected his grandson Ghiyas-ud-din as his successor. He neglected state affairs for debauchery and imprisoned his brother, causing his cousin Abu Bakr to have him killed and take the throne. Meanwhile Muhammad Khan oppressed the people of the Doab. During the prolonged civil war as several fought for power in Delhi, Gujarat governor Farhat-ul-Mulk became independent in 1390. Eventually Mallu Iqbal Khan Lodi killed Muqarrab Khan in his house and marched into Delhi in the name of Sultan Mahmud in 1398. Aware of the civil wars in India, Tatar conqueror Timur the Lame reached Kabul by March 1398. The Tatars then crossed the Indus River to war with infidels for a heavenly reward and to plunder their wealth for worldly gain, besieging Multan for six months. By December, Timur had reached Delhi. With ten thousand men he ravaged the countryside, slaughtering the refugees from Dipalpur, because they had killed the garrison of Pir-Muhammad. The wives and children were captured to become Muslims or slaves, and their property became spoils for the victors. Concerned that his 100,000 prisoners might join his enemies during the battle, this is what it was recorded Timur did:
I directly gave my command for the Tawachis to proclaim throughout the camp that every man who had infidel prisoners was to put them to death, and whoever neglected to do so should himself be executed and his property given to the informer. When this order became known to the ghazis of Islam, they drew their swords and put their prisoners to death. 100,000 infidels, impious idolaters, were on that day slain. Maulana Nasir-ud din 'Umar, a counselor and man of learning, who, in all his life, had never killed a sparrow, now, in execution of my order, slew with his sword fifteen idolatrous Hindus, who were his captives.1

A few days later Mahmud and Mallu with 50,000 men opposed the invaders, but they were defeated; Mallu fled to Baran and Mahmud to Gujarat. The next day the Tatar army entered Delhi, and the city was pillaged of immense wealth. Then the Tatar army marched north, slaughtering, raping, and plundering Hindus. In Siwalik, Timur bragged that he won twenty consecutive victories in a month in spite of often being greatly outnumbered. He appointed Khizr Khan governor of Multan, Lahore, and Dipalpur, and in March 1399 crossed back across the Indus. As Gujarat, Malwa, Jaunpur, and many others were independent, Mallu administered little more than a devastated Delhi. Mahmud returned to Delhi after Mallu died in 1405 and ruled a small kingdom until his death in 1412. Khizr Khan marched on Delhi, defeated Daulat Khan Lodi, and founded the Sayyid dynasty in 1414. The capital recovered as he helped the poor resettle. Shortly before his death in 1421 Khizr Khan raided Mewat. He was succeeded by his son Mubarak Shah (r. 1421-34), who turned back early Mughal incursions. The Delhi kingdom declined during the reigns of Muhammad Shah (1434-45) and 'Ala-ud-din 'Alam Shah (1445-51). During the decline of the Delhi sultanate, the kingdom of Jaunpur rose to equal power under Ibrahim Sharqi (r. 1402-40) and his son Mahmud Shah, who invaded Bengal and Orissa. 'Ala-ud-din 'Alam Shah retired in 1452 so that Afghan Buhlul Khan could take over the Delhi sultanate. Buhlul was a Lodi chief who had become more powerful than Muhammad Shah while helping him in the invasion of Malwa. He put the minister Hamid Khan in prison and fought off Mahmud Shah Sharqi of Jaunpur in 1452. Five years later Mahmud was defeated and killed by his brother Husain. Jaunpur then waged war continuously against Buhlul, who had less men and resources but won by military skill and annexed part of Jaunpur by 1479. Buhlul thus revived the Delhi sultanate with an Afghan confederacy. He appointed his son Barbak Shah viceroy of Jaunpur in 1486 and died three years later. Barbak was so far away from Delhi that his brother Nizam

became Sultan Sikander Shah (r. 1489-1517). Barbak rejected his rule but was defeated. Sikander restored his brother as governor; but after Barbak failed to quell rebellions, he was arrested and replaced. Sikander used diplomacy to control most of the region and made a treaty with Bengal's 'Ala-ud-din Husain Shah. Muslim historians praised him for being kind to the poor, patronizing learning, dispensing justice impartially, founding the city of Agra in 1504, and maintaining economic prosperity with low prices; but religious intolerance did cause him to raze Hindu temples and erect mosques. Sikander's son Ibrahim (r. 1517-26) came into conflict with Afghan immigrants who expected equality with their Afghan ruler. When his younger brother Jalal Khan tried to divide the kingdom in the east, Ibrahim defeated him and had him executed. Ibrahim also imprisoned his own ally A'zam Hamayun Sarwani, causing his son Islam Khan Sarwani to lead a revolt with 40,000 men; but Ibrahim would not compromise, and in the battle Islam Khan and 10,000 Afghans were killed. While Ibrahim was fighting rebels in the east, Punjab governor Daulat Khan Lodi appealed to Babur, the Mughal ruler in Kabul. Ibrahim's army was defeated in 1524, and he was killed two years later when Babur took over with the help of Mewar, which under Sanga (r. 1509-28) had become the most powerful kingdom in northern India. Sanga hoped to become Sultan, but Babur decided to stay. The caste system infected the Muslims, as they essentially formed a top caste of Arabs, Turks, Afghans, and Persians over an upper caste of Hindu converts and two occupational castes, one of which was considered "unclean." Women of upper caste Hindus were secluded in purdah as well as the Muslim women, though the poor who worked were not much affected by this. Some radical Muslim mystics called Sufis were not afraid to challenge orthodox doctrine and customs for liberal ideals. The poll tax imposed on Hindus for "permission" to live in their homeland by Muslim rulers and the many restrictions on their behavior severely separated these two religious groups in a way that the tolerant spiritual tradition of India never knew before. Many Muslims considered it lawful to take the lives and possessions of Hindus for even minor infractions. Ibn Battuta observed that half the crops of the "protected" Hindus were taken by the state. He described horrible cruelties perpetrated against Hindus by the sultan of Ma'bar, whose death he believed God hastened, and he noted that communal violence between Muslims and Malabar residents was frequent. For all their forced conversions of others to Islam, the Muslims believed that anyone renouncing Islam or persuading anyone to do so deserved death. Many Hindus treated Muslims as polluted untouchables, as the hatred became mutual. Though the Muslims did not have the social prejudices of the caste system, their religious intolerance persecuted Hindus. The Hindus generally followed the bigotry of the traditional caste customs, but they were usually much more tolerant of religious differences. The mystical Sufis had much influence on the Hindu mystics. The sultan and his provincial governors exercised autocratic power by using the military to enforce their will. They also made the laws and judged them, appointing Muslim qazis, who judged according to the Qur'an. Sultans and governors often relied on their vizier or prime minister. He oversaw the departments of the military, appeals, correspondence, slaves, and justice. 'Ala-ud-din Khalji founded a department of tax collection, and Sultan Tughluq created a department of agriculture. Firuz Shah is credited with starting departments for charity and pensions. The laws were severe, and the penalties of death and mutilation were common; torture was used to get confessions. Governmental administration was enhanced by the increasing use of paper for documentation. Muslim merchants controlled most of the overseas trade. India had a favorable balance of trade, acquiring precious metals, horses for military use, black slaves and ivory from Africa, and other consumption items. Their main exports were cotton cloth, spices, narcotics, and agricultural commodities. Hindu communities had a long tradition of guilds and crafts based on

caste that developed commerce. Sultans at Delhi employed as many as 4,000 weavers of silk for royal income.

Barani on Politics of the Delhi Sultanate

The major book on the political philosophy of the Delhi Sultanate is the Principles of Government (Fatawa-i Jahandari) by the historian Khwaja Zia-ud-din Barani. He was an aristocratic Muslim but was unable to get a post in the government of 'Ala-ud-din Khalji. Barani did serve in the court of Muhammad bin Tughluq from the tenth year of his reign; but when Firuz Shah became Sultan, the seventy-year-old Barani was imprisoned five months for supporting the rebellion of Khwaja-i Jahan and had his property confiscated. Barani spent his last eight or nine years in poverty writing his famous history Tarikh-i Firuz Shahi, which covers the first century of the Delhi Sultanate up to 1357, and his political treatise. Because of his extreme poverty he had to write both of these works mostly from memory. Hoping to improve his situation, his history of Firuz Shah's early reign is filled with praise and flattery even for policies he criticized elsewhere. In his history Barani recalled specific conversations he had with Sultan Tughluq. In one he was asked about capital punishment, and to the three crimes for which the Prophet prescribed capital punishment-apostasy, murder, and adultery-Barani added the four crimes kings must punish with the death penalty as conspiracy to rebel, rebellion, aiding the king's enemies, and disobedience that endangers the state. Tughluq replied that he was executing people for every slight disobedience and planned to continue doing so until they perished or their rebellion ended. After the Sultan had crushed a rebellion in the Deccan, Barani wrote that he did not have the courage to say that he believed the Sultan's excessive capital punishments had caused hatred and the rebellion. Barani complained that Tughluq appointed Hindus and men of low birth to high offices. He definitely looked at Muslim government from the perspective of his aristocratic class, and he very much resented the Muslim slaves (sultani) in the government and hated Hindus even more. His bias was so strong that he even considered religious piety the privilege of good birth. He argued that state offices should be hereditary. Barani also hated philosophers, scientists, heretics, and low-born Muslims as well as Hindus, against whom he advocated war. Yet the economic system of India was primarily managed by the upper caste Hindus. Although his own history was based on his personal observations and is respected, his erroneous ideas of other history seem to have been based on many histories that were fabricated to make money and which naturally have been lost as worthless. In his work on government, Fatawa-i Jahandari, Barani used the sultan Mahmud of Ghazni as his spokesman and thus was not able to give examples later than the 11th century. Barani emphasized the importance of good counsel and listed the conditions of good consultation as frank expression by counselors, who should be permanent, aware of state secrets, and have perfect security. The king should begin by keeping his opinions secret. Discussion should be held before eating in order to have clear heads, and unanimous decisions by the counselors are recommended. To avoid tyranny the king should make correct determinations for the general welfare and avoid weakness in carrying them out. Although rulers are not perfect, Barani believed they need force and authority to enforce justice among the people. A king is allowed some injustice in regard to expenditure in order to maintain himself. Barani emphasized the importance of grading the ranks of the officials in order to elevate the worthy nobles, and he argued that elevating the base-born is a disgraceful mistake. Kings are obligated to appoint intelligence officers. Because of the demonic in the world, Barani believed that early days of the four pious Caliphs were past.

Barani believed that prices should be controlled according to the costs of production; this would especially aid the efficiency of the army as well as others. Barani wanted to establish Islamic truth at the center, but he knew that falsehood could not be completely destroyed. Yet to honor theism he advocated slaughtering the Brahmins in India. He also urged prohibiting the education of the lower orders lest they become more capable. These offensive polices are contrasted to the qualities he listed that the wise have recommended for judges which begins with kinship with the oppressed, desire to protect the weak, hatred of the unjust, and enmity to oppressors. A good judge has no feeling of revenge, does not tolerate wrongs, trembles lest the innocent be punished, is not influenced by anyone, does not seek approval, does not consider harm to himself, is incapable of self-deception, is stern for the claims of others but forgiving for one's personal concerns, does not obligate himself to others, and he instinctively rejects deceptions, lies, false excuses, and tricks. A king must recognize the rights of the people. The king should not interfere with the punishments of Islamic law (shari'at), but the death penalty in political trials should only be inflicted in extreme cases. The king must also establish and enforce permanent state laws. First, these must protect the religion of Islam. Second, sins and shameful deeds must be suppressed. Third, rules of the shari'at must be enforced. Fourth, justice must be enforced. Barani added to this the right of those of noble birth to govern, and he held that non-Muslims are to be considered enemies and could be plundered by force. The permanent state laws should be made with the benefit of counsel from men of learning and intelligence. The king should be characterized by high resolve, which to Barani meant generosity not miserliness. He warned that if the king afflicts his subjects with exactions that are too harsh, they will be unable to comply and will rebel. All religions consider severe exactions wrong, and they are injurious to the state. The king must have contradictory qualities in order to be able to handle the virtuous and the wicked. To justify the privileges of the high-born, Barani argued that merits are apportioned to souls and that aptitude is hereditary. He believed that only those in the nobler professions are capable of virtues such as kindness, generosity, valor, truthfulness, keeping promises, protecting other classes, loyalty, justice, gratitude, and fear of God. He held that protecting the old families was to the advantage of the king. The king should avoid the five mean qualities of falsehood, changeability, deception, wrath, and promotion of the unjust. Barani noted that Mu'awiya established Muslim monarchy by organizing a governing class from noble Arab clans, by giving the ruler the right to nominate his successor, and by organizing a group of religious scholars. Although Barani favored hereditary rights, he was unable to define a noble family. The discrimination that the Muslims practiced against the Hindus and other non-Muslims in India is clearly defined in the following passage about the treatment of what they called "protected people" (zimmis) from the work of the Sufi Shaikh Hamadani, who took Islam to Kashmir:
There is another mandate relating to those subjects who are unbelievers and protected people (zimmis). For their governance, the observance of those conditions which the Caliph 'Umar laid in his agreement for establishing the status of the fire-worshippers and the People of the Book (Jews and Christians) and which gave them safety is obligatory on rulers and governors. Rulers should impose these conditions on the zimmis of their dominions and make their lives and their property dependent on their fulfillment. The twenty conditions are as follows: 1. In a country under the authority of a Muslim ruler, they are to build no new homes for images or idol temples. 2. They are not to rebuild any old buildings which have been destroyed. 3. Muslim travelers are not to be prevented from staying in idol temples. 4. No Muslim who stays in their houses will commit a sin if he is a guest for three days, if he should have occasion for the delay. 5. Infidels may not act as spies or give aid and comfort to them. 6. If any of their people show any inclinations toward Islam, they are not to be prevented from doing so. 7. Muslims are to be respected.

8. If zimmis are gathered together in a meeting and Muslims appear, they are to be allowed at the meeting. 9. They are not to dress like Muslims. 10. They are not to give each other Muslim names. 11. They are not to ride on horses with saddle and bridle. 12. They are not to possess swords and arrows. 13. They are not to wear signet rings and seals on their fingers. 14. They are not to sell and drink intoxicating liquor openly. 15. They must not abandon the clothing which they have had as a sign of their state of ignorance so that they may not be distinguished from Muslims. 16. They are not to propagate the customs and usages of polytheists among Muslims. 17. They are not to build their homes in the neighborhood of those of Muslims. 18. They are not to bring their dead near the graveyards of Muslims. 19. They are not to mourn their dead with loud voices. 20. They are not to buy Muslim slaves. At the end of the treaty it is written that if zimmis infringe any of these conditions, they shall not enjoy security and it shall be lawful for Muslims to take their lives and possessions as though they were the lives and possessions of unbelievers in a state of war with the faithful.2

Independent North India 1401-1526

In the Rajput states the heroic Hammir led a revolt about 1340 to recover Mewar. Marwar became independent under Chunda (r. 1390-1422), who made an alliance with Mewar. After his father Mokal was murdered while going to fight invading Gujarat in 1433, the renowned Kumbha became Rana and ruled Mewar for nearly forty years. Ranamalla gained the throne of Mandor and brought reforms to Marwar for a decade before he was assassinated in 1438. His son Jodha (r. 1438-88) had seventeen sons, and they fought over the throne when he died; Suja won the struggle in 1491, and Ganga emerged triumphant in 1515 and ruled Marwar until 1532. Mewar fought off attacks by Muslim-ruled Gujarat in the late 1450s. Khumba was a poet but was assassinated by his son Udaya Karan. The horrified nobles placed Udaya's brother Rayamalla on the throne of Mewar, and he was succeeded by his warrior son Sanga (r. 1509-28). He made Mewar the most powerful Rajput state with a series of victorious wars. Sanga called in the help of Babur against the Delhi sultan; but the invading Mughals refused to leave and founded their empire in India in 1526. In independent Malwa, Hushang Shah (r. 1406-35) poisoned his weak father, invaded Gujarat twice without success, stole 75 elephants from Orissa king Bhanudeva IV, and captured Kherla's king. His son murdered and blinded his relatives and was soon deposed by his minister Mahmud Khalji (r. 1436-69), who fought unsuccessful wars with Gujarat, Delhi, Chitor, the Bahmani, and Mewar. In 1466 Mahmud did manage to ravage Ellichpur. His son Ghiyas-ud-din (r. 1469-1500) was more peaceful, being preoccupied with his harem of 1600 women. His sons quarreled over the throne, and Nasir-ud-din ruled badly for eleven years. Nasir's chosen son Mahmud II (r. 1511-31) faced external threats and internal strife between Hindus and Muslims after he appointed the Rajput chief Medini Rai. In 1517 after Medini Rai refused to be dismissed, Mahmud escaped to Gujarat, whose king Muzaffar with his army helped restore Mahmud as king of Malwa. Medini Rai was helped by an army led by Chitor's Maharana Sanga which captured wounded Mahmud, who was released but lost Malwa territory. In Bengal the Brahmin Ganesh took power but soon abdicated to his son Jadu, who converted to Islam and ruled as Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Shah from about 1415 to his death in 1431. Nasir-uddin Mahmud Shah (r. 1437-59) ruled peacefully but may have lost territory to Orissa. Rukn-ud-din Barbak Shah (r. 1459-74) maintained many Abyssinian (Ethiopian) slaves, and some of them held high offices. When Jalal-ud-din Fath Shah (r. 1481-87) punished the excesses of the Abyssinians, the commander of the palace guards assassinated him and took the throne. Six months later he was replaced by the Abyssinian commander of the army, setting a Bengal precedent that the one killing

the king's murderer had the right to rule. Abyssinian rule ended when the tyrannical Sultan Muzaffar was overthrown by his minister 'Ala-ud-din Husain Shah (r. 1493-1519). He disbanded the royal guards and expelled Abyssinians from the kingdom of Bengal. Husain reigned over a more peaceful era, though he fought a protracted war to regain lost provinces from Orissa and invaded Assam in 1498. His son Nusrat Shah (r. 1519-32) conquered Tirhut and patronized Bengali literature. Gujarat governor Muzaffar declared independence from Delhi in 1401. Two years later he was imprisoned by his son Tatar Khan, who wanted to march on Delhi; but Tatar was poisoned by his uncle Shams Khan. He restored Muzaffar, who was recognized as shah before being succeeded by his grandson Ahmad Shah (1411-43). In 1414 he began destroying Hindu temples throughout Gujarat, provoking rebellions by Hindu kings to form a league and appeal to Sultan Hushang of Malwa. Ahmad's army dispersed the Hindu kings and invaded Malwa three times by 1422 to punish Hushang. In 1426 Ahmad suppressed the resistance of Idar, whose ruler Rao Punja was killed fighting in the hills two years later. In 1429 Jhalawar king Kanha got Bahmani shah Ahmad to invade Gujarat; but after plundering Nandurbar, the Deccan army was defeated and fled to Daulatabad. The war lasted two years, and Gujarat annexed territory. During this strife Ahmad did manage to build the city of Ahmadabad. He was succeeded by his son Muhammad Shah II, who continued the battles against Hindu rebels and died in 1451. Qutb-ud-din Ahmad Shah (r. 1451-58) also fought Hindu rebellions by Maharana Kumbha and encroachment by Malwa sultan Mahmud Khalji. Sultan Qutb-ud-din invaded Mewar in 1456 and again two years later. Ahmad's grandson Mahmud Begarha (r. 1458-1511) protected the infant Bahmani king Nizam Shah by driving off the invading Malwa forces of Mahmud Khalji in 1461. Six years later Gujarat's Mahmud Begarha invaded the territory of Girnar king Mandalika. In a second attack in 1469 Mahmud forced Mandalika to accept Islam, and his kingdom was annexed to Gujarat. Mahmud fought Hindus so often that in 1480 his advisors conspired to replace him with his son; but Mahmud promised to go on pilgrimage to Mecca and in 1482 attacked Champaner to gain the needed funds. He stayed to plunder the country and after a long siege captured Pavagarh two years later. The proud Raja Jayasimha refused to convert to Islam and was finally executed as his son accepted Islam. Mahmud renamed Champaner Muhammadabad and was called Begarha for having conquered the two forts of Girnar and Champaner. The Bahmani kingdom returned a favor by helping Begarha to suppress the piracy of Bahadur Gilani in 1494. Begarha invaded Khandesh in 1498 to force them to pay their tribute to Gujarat. Mahmud Begarha tried to limit Portuguese power by allying with Egyptian sultan Qansauh-al-Ghauri. After an initial victory at sea in 1508, the Muslim fleet was defeated the next year near the island of Diu. Begarha ended his alliance with Egypt and released Portuguese prisoners. Begarha was an intolerant Sunni and refused to receive a Persian ambassador. Begarha's son Muzaffar II (r. 1511-26) fought the Rajputs but was criticized for not punishing criminals. Kashmir was under the Delhi sultanate until Mubarak Shah was assassinated in 1320. Then a Buddhist prince from Ladakh named Rinchan killed his Hindu rival Ram Chand and claimed the throne. Rinchan converted to Islam but died in 1323. Shahmir led the farming landlords and made the Hindu Udayanadeva the ruler of Kashmir and married him to the princess Kota Rani. When Mongols invaded, Udayanadeva fled; but Kota Rani and Shahmir rallied the country to defeat the enemy. Udayanadeva returned but had lost popular support. Shahmir backed Rinchan's son Haidar; but Kota Rani was governing and planned to continue after her husband died in 1339 with support from Bhatta Bhikshana. Shahmir had Bhatta murdered and besieged the Queen until Kota agreed to marry him. Either she was imprisoned, or according to Persian historians she committed suicide on her wedding night. Shahmir proclaimed himself Sultan Shamsuddin, and Kashmir became a Muslim state. He exterminated the rebellious Lavanyas, replacing them with soldiers from the Magre and

Chak tribes. Shamsuddin tried to rule justly by only taxing produce at one-sixth. After establishing order he turned the government over to his two sons before dying in 1342. Shamsuddin's sons fought a civil war in Kashmir until Jamshed was defeated and killed in 1344 when Ali Sher took the throne as Ala-ud-din. He was succeeded by his son Shahab-ud-din (r. 135674), who invaded his neighbors and crushed any internal resistance. During the reign of Qutb-uddin (r. 1374-89) about 600 politically oriented Sufis led by Saiyid Ali Hamadani fled from Timur and entered Kashmir in 1379. Hamadani propagated the Kubrawiya order of Sufis, trying to influence the Sultan and transform Kashmir. The Hindu mystic Lal Ded preached against idolatry and the Tantra of Shaivas. She emphasized self-abnegation in the Supreme by means of yoga and discarded formal Sanskrit rituals, promoting instead education in the vernacular for the masses. She was one of the pioneers of Hindu-Muslim unity by human brotherhood in the unity of God, and this harmonized with the Islam taught by the Sufi Hamadani, who left Kashmir and died in 1384. Lal Ded died about 1390, but she was said to have nurtured Nund Ryosh, who spread the teaching of brotherhood between Muslims and Hindus in his poetry, which was appreciated by Muslims under the name Noorud Din. The death of Sultan Qutb-ud-din in 1389 was followed by a regency and struggle for power. By 1393 Saiyid Muhammad Hamadani and his fanatical followers had won over young Sultan Sikander. In 1399 Timur's envoys demanded 30,000 horses and an immense amount of silver from Kashmir. Saiyids led by Suha Bhatta persuaded Sikander to demolish and plunder Hindu temples. During a reign of terror Hindus had to choose between exile, death, or converting to Islam, though eventually they were allowed to pay the jizya tax. Large mosques were built from the materials taken from demolished Hindu temples. Suha Batta continued to act as prime minister for Sikander's son Ali Shah (r. 1413-20), and more Hindus were driven out of Kashmir; but after Suha Bhatta died in 1420, a revolt of the Khukhar tribe, led by Jasrath, defeated and killed Ali Shah. Kashmir was then ruled by Ali Shah's brother Zain-ul-'Abidin (r. 1420-70). Jasrath and his Khukhars helped Kashmir expand into the Punjab and western Tibet. After Raja Bhimdev died in 1423, Jammu became Kashmir's ally. Jasrath made a treaty with Bahlul Lodi in 1441. Zainul-'Abidin worked to undo the previous wrongs against Hindus by recalling Brahmins, allowing those forced into Islam to return to their Hindu faith, and proclaiming religious tolerance. Temples were repaired and new ones built; the jizya and cremation taxes were repealed; stipends were even restored to learned Brahmins; and the poisoning of cows was stopped. Local administrators were not allowed to exact money illegally, and the peasants gained needed tax relief as only one-sixth of the land's produce was taken. During the famine of 1460 farmers were given aid, and debts to bankers were voided. For irrigation many canals were built. Excessive prices were prevented by government control. The Sultan ended the death penalty for theft or minor crimes. Theft was reduced by fining the village headman whenever a robbery occurred. Zain-ul-'Abidin founded schools using Persian language. Residential schools were non-sectarian and were endowed with support for teachers, books, clothing, and food. Zain-ul-'Abidin patronized artisans, saints, scholars, poets, and musicians. The Sultan's court became a center of Hindu and Muslim culture as his fame spread. Zain-ul-'Abidin's son Haidar Shah was an alcoholic and allowed Luli to persecute the Brahmins and take back the land Haidar's father had given them. After Haidar Shah slipped while carousing and died, the minister Malik Ahmad set up Haidar's son Hasan (r. 1472-84) as sultan. He revived the liberal policies of his grandfather, but the nobles feuded during his reign. Bahram Khan was defeated in a civil war at Dulipura. Kashmir with Jammu, Rajauri, and Punch defeated the forces of Tatar Khan Lodi in 1480 and sacked Sialkot. To pay for the war Hasan Shah debased the currency. Saiyid Mirak Hasan Baihaqi disregarded Hasan Shah's dying wish to have his son Fath Khan

succeed him and became regent for Hasan's seven-year-old son Muhammad Shah. Struggles for power caused these two to alternate as Muhammad was replaced by Fath Khan in 1487, was restored in 1499, was replaced by Fath Khan once more in 1505, and was restored yet again in 1516. Muhammad was deposed again in 1528 and was restored for a fourth reign in 1530. This era in Kashmir has been called a time of political gangsters. In central Tibet the power of Sakya waned during the reign (1305-22) of Danyi Zangpo Pal, who had seven wives. Four of his sons established separate palaces. Changchub Gyaltsen was born in 1302 and was educated at Sakya for ten years before he returned to govern Nedong in 1322. He attacked Yazang to try to regain the territories his uncle had taken over. The dispute dragged on until Changchub emerged victorious in 1351. Sakya was asked to mediate, and Changchub allowed himself to be arrested, telling his people at Nedong not to give in no matter what happened to him. Changchub was released, and his rights were restored. By 1354 Changchub controlled all of Tibet except Sakya. His rival Wangtson murdered the Sakya lama in 1358; but Changchub imprisoned Wangtson, deposed the new lama, and replaced four hundred officials. Changchub reorganized Tibet into districts, dividing the land among the farmers equally and fixing the tax at one-sixth of the crops. Roads and bridges were built, and travelers were so well protected that it was said an old woman could carry gold safely anywhere in Tibet. The Mongol custom of execution without a hearing was replaced by investigations before sentencing. A book was published with instructions for villages to defend themselves from attacks and diseases. Changchub died in 1364, and his successors were monks from his Phamo Drupa family of southern Tibet and governed well. They replaced the Sakyapa administration, while the Karmapas, still allied with China, ruled in Kham and southeast Tibet. The Phamo Drupa ruler Drakpa Gyaltsen (r. 1385-1432) was called the Gongma and patronized Buddhism in Lhasa. Insisting on monastic discipline and an ethical, gradual path, Tsongkhapa (1357-1419) founded the Ganden monastery and the Gelugpa order in 1409, attempting to unify the Mahayana and Tantra schools of Tibetan Buddhism. He had many teachers, and most of them taught each other in a reciprocal teacher-disciple relationship. In his "Abbreviated Points of the Graded Path" Tsongkhapa recommended generosity as a hope to sentient beings and the best way to cut the knot of miserliness. He believed moral discipline is the water to wash away the stains of faulty actions. Patience is the best adornment for the powerful and the perfect ascetic practice for those tormented by delusions; the wise accustom themselves to be patient. He considered meditative concentration the royal power over the mind. Tsongkhapa said that as a yogi he practiced each of these virtues, and he encouraged those seeking liberation to cultivate themselves in the same way. Two of Tsongkhapa's disciples founded monasteries in Lhasa at Drepung in 1416 and Sera in 1419. While Gongma Drakpa Jungne (r. 1433-44) was devoting himself to religious activities, the Rinpung family gained influence in Tsang when Dondup Dorje conquered Shigatse in 1435. Gelugpa monks blocked efforts to build a Karmapa monastery in Lhasa. Tsongkhapa's nephew Gedun Truppa was a leading disciple; he founded the Trashilhunpo monastery in 1447 and was its abbot when he died in 1474. Tibetans believed that his soul reincarnated as the monk Gedun Gyatso (1475-1542). In 1481 Rinpung leader Donyo Dorje led an attack on Lhasa that failed. Ministers deposed Gongma Kunga Legpa and enthroned Chen-nga Tsenyepa, allowing him to marry. In 1492 Donyo Dorje invaded U and seized three districts. Upset by three executions in 1498, Donyo Dorje captured Lhasa and dismissed the administrator. The Tsang princes through the red-hat Karmapas controlled Lhasa until 1517, but after that there were many battles. Gedun Gyatso founded the Chokhorgyal monastery in 1509.

Independent South India 1329-1526

Ala-ud-din Bahman Shah founded an independent Muslim kingdom in the Deccan in 1347 that attacked Warangal in 1350. He was succeeded in 1358 by his son Muhammad Shah, who fought a defensive war against the allied Hindu states of Vijayanagara and Telingana, forcing them both to make treaties and pay tribute. His son 'Ala-ud-din Mujahid invaded the Vijayanagara kingdom, failed, and ruled the Bahmani kingdom only three years before he was murdered by his cousin Daud in 1378. Daud was soon murdered in revenge and was replaced by his brother Muhammad II (r. 1378-97), who loved peace and learning and managed to avoid foreign wars. When his succeeding son Ghiyas-ud-din appointed immigrant Persians to high offices, he was assassinated within two months. However, Muhammad II's cousin Taj-ud-din Firuz (r. 1397-1422) was able to encourage wider participation and oversee cultural development. He married several Hindu women and appointed Brahmins to high offices. After a major defeat by the forces of Vijayanagara in 1420, the dying Firuz abdicated to his brother Ahmad (r. 1422-36). He annexed most of Telingana in 1425 by defeating and killing the Velema ruler of Warangal; but the Bahmani kingdom was defeated by independent Gujarat in 1430, and learned men devised a peace. His son Ahmad II (r. 1436-58) fought two wars with Vijayanagara but defeated Khandesh in 1438. This gave immigrants (pardesis) more influence; but resentful Deccanis massacred many of them in 1446, though Ahmad II did punish responsible Deccanis. Humayun (r. 1458-61) was such a cruel tyrant that he was apparently murdered by his servants while intoxicated. During the reign (1463-82) of young Muhammad III, prime minister Mahmud Gawan took control and expanded the Bahmani empire, especially in the west, where the port of Goa was gained. He increased the Sultan's control by breaking up the four provinces into eight with direct military command, but he tried to divide offices between the rival Deccanis and pardesis. After a devastating famine, Muhammad invaded Orissa in 1478. Three years later they plundered lucrative temples in Vijayanagara. Resentful nobles accused the upstart Mahmud Gawan of treason, and the alcoholic Muhammad had him executed and died in remorse the next year. The leading conspirator Malik Na'ib was regent for young Shihab-ud-Din Mahmud (r.1482-1518); but conflicts between Deccanis and the pardesis caused the Abyssinian governor of Bidar to put to death Malik in 1486. The next year Deccanis made an attempt on Mahmud's life, and he reacted by letting the pardesis slaughter Deccanis. Governors began ignoring Mahmud's request to put down rebellions. The divided country suffered local wars. In 1501 Sultan Mahmud declared annual holy war (jihad) against Vijayanagara, but in 1509 their new king Krishna Deva Raya defeated the Muslim Bahmanis. The last Bahmani ruler Kalimullah Shah failed to get help from Babur and died in 1527. The Delhi sultanate did not hold south India very long. After the fall of Kampili in 1327, the captured brothers Harihara and Bukka were taken to Delhi and converted to Islam before returning as governors of Kampili. The liberation of southern India from Muslim rule began as soon as Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq left the region in 1329. The Sultan returned to suppress rebellion at Warangal in 1334; but a cholera epidemic caused him to retreat to Daulatabad, allowing the governor of Ma'bar to declare the independent Madura sultanate the next year. The strong Hindu chief Ballala III forced the Muslim governor of Warangal to flee to Delhi. Advised by Vidyaranya to follow Hindu dharma, Harihara and Bukka renounced Islam and in 1336 founded what came to be called the Vijayanagara kingdom after the City of Victory they built. Harihara I became king, and Bukka's army conquered Hoysala in 1343 after its king Ballala III had been treacherously killed by the forces of Madura's sultan. Ten years later the Hindu allies defeated the Madura sultan and put Sambuvaraya back on that throne, though eventually Bukka I (r. 135677) took over the Tamil country. Vijayanagara's long series of border wars with the Bahmanis began in 1358. When a dispute arose between Vaisnavas and Jains, Bukka took the opportunity to proclaim in Vijayanagara the equal protection of all religions including Judaism, Christianity, and

Islam. He replaced regionally governing nephews with his sons and generals to maintain central authority. Bukka was succeeded as Vijayanagara king by his son Harihara II (r. 1377-1404), who suppressed his relatives and conquered the western ports of Goa, Chaul, and Dabhol on the commercially important Malabar coast; then he fought to extend his empire to the east coast as well. A major war with the Muslim Bahmani kingdom forced the Vijayanagara army to retreat from the Krishna River to the capital as many Hindus were slaughtered; they made an uneasy peace in 1399 as widespread famine devastated the Deccan. Vijayanagara king Devaraya I won a succession struggle against his two brothers and spent most of his reign (1406-22) fighting Bahmani sultans, the Velamas of Rachakonda, and the Reddis of Kondavidu; he imported horses from Arabia and Persia and was the first Hindu to employ Turkish archers. Devaraya II (r. 1422-46) reconquered lost Reddi territory by winning over the Velamas and defeating the Gajapatis; he also fought a series of wars with the Bahmani kingdom and gained tribute from Sri Lanka. The demands his soldiers made on farmers, merchants, and artisans caused these traditional rivals of the Tamil plain to unite and revolt in 1429. To strengthen his army against Bahmani attacks, Devaraya II made Muslims eligible for the army and tolerated the practice of Islam. He centralized the power of the Vijayanagara state by controlling the traditional chiefs. However, Vijayanagara royal rule decreased under his son Mallikarjuna (r. 1446-65) and his cousin Virupaksha (r. 1465-85) as they lost territory to the Bahmanis while governors asserted more independence. Orissa's Kapilendra and Purushottama (r. 1467-97) fought a series of wars with Vijayanagara even though both kingdoms were ruled by Hindus. Purushottama took advantage of turmoil in the Bahmani realm to reconquer Udayagiri for Orissa in 1481. Narasimha Saluva of Chandragiri seized the throne of Vijayanagara, fought to consolidate his power, and pushed back encroachments by Orissa. When he died in 1490, Narasimha appointed his prime minister Narasa Nayaka regent for his two young sons, and he invaded the declining Bahmani sultanate. Narasa also defeated rebellions and captured Madura. He was succeeded by his son Vira Narasimha (r. 1503-09) as the two Saluva princes were killed. Vira relieved people by abolishing the marriage tax. Vira's brother Krishna Deva Raya (r. 1509-29) increased the power of the Vijayanagara kingdom by subordinating chieftains. In 1512 he captured Raichur in Bijapur. The Vaisnava mystic Chaitanya had persuaded Orissa's Prataparudra (r. 1497-1540) not to invade the Muslim kingdom of Bengal for having destroyed Hindu temples in Orissa; but Prataparudra came into conflict with Vijayanagara by attacking Kanchi. In a five-year war Krishna Deva won back territory from Orissa, but he gave everything north of the Krishna River back when he made peace in 1518 and married an Orissa princess. During this war Bijapur regained Raichur; but Krishna Deva recaptured it in 1520. He was known to make sure the wounded were cared for after a battle, and he is also credited with reducing taxes. Forests were cut down so that more land could be cultivated. Krishna Deva allowed the Portuguese to trade in Vijayanagara so he could gain horses. He patronized learning and respected all Hindu sects; he especially sponsored the flourishing of literature in Telegu. He wrote that he tried to rule justly by appointing capable ministers, extracting metals from mines, taxing moderately, crushing his enemies by force, protecting all his subjects, ending the mixing of castes, elevating the Brahmins, strengthening his fortress, and purifying his cities. Agriculture flourished in the Vijayanagara empire. They exported cloth, rice, iron, saltpeter, sugar and spices for horses, elephants, pearls, copper, coral, mercury, china, silks, and velvet. High duties were charged on imported cloth and oil to protect local products. The upper classes lived very well, but the poor were heavily taxed. The wealthy often had several wives, who often burned themselves to death on their husband's funeral pyre in ritual sati. Temples used their wealth to give loans to individuals and villages, increasing it by charging 12-30% interest. The guilds of artisans were not

as powerful as those of the merchants, but landowners and officials at court had even more power than the merchants. Sri Lanka was being ruled by the Pandyan king Kulasekera (r. 1268-1308); but civil war and invasion by Muslims ended the Pandya kingdom by 1323. Bhuvanekabahu II (r. 1293-1302) seized power at Kurunegala and was succeeded by his son Parakramabahu IV (r. 1302-26); but by the end of his reign rebellion became turmoil. In the 1340s and 1350s two brothers tried to rule the south at the same time until a nephew Vikramabahu III (r. 1357-74) gained the throne and came to terms with Marttanda in north Sri Lanka. The trading Alaghkkonaras migrated from southern India. The chief minister Nissanka Alaghkkonara and his two brothers consorted with Vikramabahu's sister; their son was Bhuvanekabahu V (r. 1372-1408), though Nissanka was the real ruler until he died in 1386. His son Vira Alakasvera took power, lost it, and regained it in 1399; but struggle for control weakened the Alakasvera family. The Chinese explorer Zhenghe (Cheng Ho) arrived to get the Buddha's tooth relic but left without it in 1406. Zhenghe came back five years later, abducted Vira Alakasvera, and took him to China. By the time the captives were brought back, Parakramabahu VI (r. 1411-65) had taken power; he sent envoys to China with tribute five times. He established a capital at Kotte in 1415 and on his second attempt drove the Jaffna king off Sri Lanka. Parakramabahu was the last king to govern the entire island. About 1432 King Devaraya II of Vijayanagara invaded northern Sri Lanka but was stopped by Parakramabahu's forces in the south. Late in his reign Parakramabahu crushed an insurrection led by Jotiya Sitana in the Gampola mountains but let a Gampola prince govern there. A succession struggle and a protracted Sinhalese rebellion disturbed Sri Lanka, which was eventually divided by three regional rulers. Senasammata Vikramabahu (r. 1469-1511) held the highlands. Northern Jaffna was ruled by Pararajasekeran (r. 1478-1519). After Bhuvanekabahu VI died in 1477, his son Vira Parakramabahu (r. 1477-89) faced revolts; these were quelled by Dharma Parakramabahu IX (r. 1489-1513) as they tried to govern the southwest. A major succession struggled occurred when Vijayabahu VI (r. 1513-21) tried to leave his throne to his youngest son by his second wife; but the three older princes by his first wife got the Udarata ruler Jayavira (r. 151152) to help them assassinate their father and divided his kingdom. Bhuvanekabahu VII (r. 1521-51) let his younger brother Mayadunne (r. 1521-81) govern Sitavaka. Portuguese ships led by Vasco da Gama landed near Calicut on May 17, 1498, and Hindus of the Zamorin kingdom welcomed them. A larger fleet of thirteen vessels led by Cabral returned two years later; but irritated Muslims destroyed their factory, killing 53 men. Cabral retaliated by bombarding Calicut and burning its wooden houses. Vasco da Gama brought twenty ships in 1502, plundering and sinking a Muslim pilgrim vessel with all on board. He seized other ships and attacked Calicut, where he ordered the Zamorin to banish Muslims; he also built a factory at Cochin. When the Portuguese ships blocked the Red Sea trade so that their king could monopolize spices, the Egyptian Mamluk sultan complained to the Pope and threatened to harass Christians in Palestine. Imports of spices by Venice had already dropped drastically. Afonso d'Albuquerque arrived the next year with three squadrons and fortified Colchin. Francisco de Almeida was appointed the first Portuguese viceroy in 1505. The next year in a sea battle the Portuguese massacred Muslim crews. The Portuguese maintained a military advantage at sea, because Indian ships were not strong enough to use cannons. The Egyptian sultan sent a fleet to join a Muslim alliance, and they defeated a Portuguese fleet in 1508; but the next year Viceroy Almeida devastated the Muslim fleet near Diu off the Gujarat coast. The Gujarat sultan released prisoners and allowed the Portuguese to build a fort on Diu. Albuquerque replaced Almeida as governor in November 1509. He followed the Portuguese king's instruction to destroy Calicut and forced all

ships to put in at Goa, which he conquered in 1510, killing 6,000 Muslims. He called a council to approve building a fort and encouraged the Portuguese to marry Indian wives by giving them lands, houses, and cattle. Albuquerque conquered Melaka in 1511; he failed to take the key gateway to the Red Sea at Aden in 1513 but took the trading center for the Persian Gulf at Hurmuz before he died in 1515. The Portuguese first landed at Sri Lanka's capital Kotte in 1506. Vijayabahu VI (r. 1513-21) let the Portuguese build a fort at Colombo in 1518 and agreed to pay tribute, but increasing demands led to war that by 1521 forced the Portuguese to keep their agreement. The Portuguese had a maritime empire in India, and 60% of their revenues came from customs duties. They tried to enforce their commercial monopoly by killing Muslim offenders. Ironically the military costs of trying to control the market caused such high prices that the Portuguese made less profit than if they had used their sea route for lower prices in a free market. Portugal made enemies and bankrupted its government with the military and administrative costs. The Portuguese fought frequently with the zamorins of Calicut and the sultan of Gujarat.

Kabir and Chaitanya

The traditional dates of Kabir are 1398-1518. Some scholars have speculated that 1398 was chosen as the birth date of Kabir to account for his having known Ramananda; so they accept 1440 as a more reasonable date for his birth. Charlotte Vaudeville doubted the incident with Sikander Lodi and argued that people claimed he died in 1518 to explain that; so she suggested he died in the mid15th century. Kabir was the son of a Muslim weaver and lived in the suburbs of Benares. As a poor Muslim, Hindus considered him of the lowest caste. His name means "Most High" and was said to have been picked at random from the Qur'an. When he was a child, his tears once prevented his father from sacrificing an animal at a religious festival. As a young man, Kabir wanted to study with the great Vaisnava saint Ramananda, who refused to look at Muslims or low-caste Hindus. So Kabir laid down on the steps by the Ganges River, where Ramananda bathed and accidentally stepped on him. Ramananda exclaimed his mantra "Ram Ram," and Kabir took this for his initiation as his disciple. Eventually Ramananda allowed his gifted disciple to come out from behind a curtain and changed his policy about admitting those of low caste or from other religions. Kabir took up his father's craft of weaving and worked at the loom for the rest of his life. He married and raised a son and a daughter. Kabir accepted disciples from all castes from the lowest to kings. He traveled extensively, and his poems contain words from various languages and dialects. One stanza on Kabir in Nabhaji's Bhakta-mala is considered particularly authentic. It has been translated as follows:
Never did Kabir accept the distinctions of caste or the four stages of life, nor did he revere the six philosophies. "Religion devoid of love is heresy," he declared. "Yoga and penance, fasting and alms-giving are, without meditation, empty," he affirmed. Ramaini, sabdi and sakhi he employed to impart his messageto Hindus and Turks alike. Without preference, without prejudice, he said only what was beneficial to all. Subduing the world, he uttered not words to please or flatter others. Such was Kabir, who refused to accept the bias of the caste system or the supremacy of the six philosophies.3

Kabir taught the unity of God and religion. In his own practice he used both Hindu and Islamic methods. By the Hindu term "Rama" he meant "the One in whom we get joy," not the incarnation of Vishnu. He also used the Islamic term "Rahim," which means "the supremely merciful One." Kabir told Dharam Das that the idols he was worshipping must be used for weighing, because they could not answer prayer. On another occasion he warned Dharam Das that the wood he was putting in a sacrificial fire had insects and worms that were being burned. Dharam Das wanted to see Kabir again and so spent most of his money providing meals for sadhus (wandering ascetics) in yajnas (sacrifices) at Benares; but Kabir did not come, because he did not want him to think that devotees could be bought with wealth. After spending his money, Dharam Das was going to commit suicide; but he met Kabir, who initiated him and his wife. Dharam Das eventually became Kabir's successor in his hometown of Bandhogarh. Kabir taught many Muslims and Hindus of all castes for seventy years. He encouraged them to search their own hearts to find God within themselves. He considered religious rituals of little value, because they are like making God into a plaything. He said that all souls are sprung from the seed of God. The king of Benares was a student of Kabir, and so for a long time he was protected. Sultan Sikander Lodi (r. 1489-1517) was also impressed by Kabir's holiness; but resentful qadis (judges) and pandits (teachers) accused Kabir of blasphemy for ridiculing their rituals and scriptures. Sikander ordered Kabir chained and drowned; but the waves broke the chains. Neither would an elephant trample on Kabir. It was even said that he escaped from a fire. When Sikander realized his error, Kabir immediately forgave him, saying that forgiveness is the game the saints play. Many people came to Benares in order to die in the holy city; but Kabir went to Magahar, which was believed to be so cursed that those dying there reincarnated as donkeys. Magahar suffered from lack of water; but when Kabir was there, the river began to flow. After his death the Muslims wanted to bury Kabir's body, and the Hindus wanted to cremate it; but according to an often repeated legend they found nothing but flowers, which they divided for burial and burning. Kabir was apparently a vegetarian. In a poem on true asceticism he criticized the hypocrisy of those who preach to others but do no work. He wrote that boiled pulse and rice with a little salt is a good meal and asked who would cut his own throat to eat meat with his bread. The Brahmin is not the guru of a devotee, because he got entangled in the four Vedas and died. Those killing living beings violently call it lawful according to the Qur'an; but they will have to answer God and account for their violent crimes. To use violence is tyranny, and God will take you to task. Kabir said that he had dissolved into bodiless bliss; he lived free from fear and caused fear to none. Kabir's poetry emphasizes the love of God, whom he referred to as his husband. He advised being truthful and so natural. Truth is found in one's heart, not in outward religious rituals nor in sects nor vows nor religious garb nor pilgrimages. He wrote that truth is revealed in love, strength, and compassion. He encouraged people to conquer hatred and extend their love to all humanity, for God lives in all. In five poems Kabir warned about the following five passions: the poison of lust, the fire of anger, the witch of avarice, the bonds of attachment, and the malady of ego (selfishness). In a poem from the Bijak he suggested that Brahmins give up their caste pride and seek nirvana. When Kabir died, his disciples asked his son to start another sect; but Kamal said that his father had struggled during his life against sectarianism, and he would not destroy that ideal. Yet many of his disciples founded sects based on the teachings of Kabir. Chaitanya was born as Vishvambhara during an eclipse of the moon in February 1486 at Navadvipa in west Bengal. He was boisterous with a strong temper and was especially dear to his mother after his elder brother Vishvarup left home to become a sannyasin (ascetic). Vishvambhara studied in a Sanskrit school and became a teacher of grammar but would dispute on any subject. His first wife

died of a snake bite, and he married again. In 1508 he went to Gaya and was initiated and given the Krishna mantra by the reclusive saint Ishvarapuri. He suddenly became a God-intoxicated devotee, incessantly repeating the name of Krishna with deep emotion, occasionally even falling into trances. His pupils found that he would usually only talk of Krishna. In Navadvipa, Vishvambhara persuaded the Vaisnavas to sing of Krishna. Advaita recognized him as his master and began chanting the Vishnu-purana. Nityananda became his closest follower, and in June 1509 Vishvambhara accepted leadership of the group and was called Chaitanya. When he gave Advaita a boon, he asked that he share his bhakti (devotion) without regard to sex, caste or education; Chaitanya agreed. Before he had met other Vaisnavas by calling them master and falling at their feet; now Chaitanya called them his slaves and put his foot on their chests. He said he was lord of the universe, and his devotees, believing him an incarnation of Vishnu (Krishna), sang his coronation song. Chaitanya began preaching in public and was acclaimed for reforming two drunken Brahmins. In the evening they staged dramas about Krishna. His emotional worship recited the names of Hari and Krishna. Some people were disgusted by these demonstrations in the streets and got the Muslim governor to ban the kirtana singing. At Nadiya in Bengal the Muslim qazi (judge) ordered their musical instruments broken and threatened all who joined them. Chaitanya defied the order by continuing, and so many people joined the singing that the qazi was intimidated and rescinded the order; the irate Chaitanya let a mob wreck the official's house, but they were stopped from burning it. After becoming calm, Chaitanya sent for the qazi and had a friendly conversation with him. After angrily chasing a student with a stick, Chaitanya decided to become a monk. He promised his mother that he would be her son in two more incarnations. He used a mantra he had heard in a dream and was initiated as a sannyasin by Keshav Bharati, who named him Sri-Krishna-Chaitanya. After roaming in ecstasy for a few days, Chaitanya said it was not proper for a monk to live with his family in his birthplace, and so he decided to live in nearby Puri. Sarvabhauma taught Chaitanya the philosophy of non-dualist (Advaita) Vedanta. However, after a few discussions, Chaitanya convinced his teacher to practice devotion (bhakti). In 1510 Chaitanya left to travel alone and search in south India for his brother Vishvarup. In the capital of Vijayanagara he conversed with its governor Ramananda-raya, and they spent a night in fervent ecstasy. After reaching Rameshvaram, Chaitanya went north to Gujarat. When Chaitanya returned, Orissa king Prataparudra had heard of Sarvabhauma's conversion and invited Chaitanya to live in a house near the home of the chief priest of the Jagannatha temple in Puri, and he lived there the rest of his life. At the chariot festival Chaitanya would dance in ecstasy to personify devotion. King Prataparudra asked to be his servant and saw a vision of six-armed Vishnu. After traveling to Bengal and Vrindavana, Chaitanya returned to Puri, where many pilgrims came to see him. The great Vaisnava teacher Vallabha also came to visit Chaitanya and asked him why he chanted the name of Krishna since he considered himself his wife, and Chaitanya replied that a chaste wife always obeys her husband. Chaitanya did not use luxuries, and eventually the lack of sleep and nourishment affected his health. The last dozen years of his life before his death in 1533 were spent in mystical ecstasy devoted to his beloved Krishna with frequent trances. These experiences became his demonstration of his faith and love. Somehow these had a powerful influence on many people, and Bengali literature became much more devotional. Muslims were converted; Chaitanya accepted devotees from all castes and allowed marriage and secular occupations. Chaitanya believed that the devotional love of bhakti worship could chasten even the most impure. Chaitanya did not initiate anyone and had no formal disciples; but his mission was carried on by his organization under the leadership of Nityananda in Bengal.

Nanak and Sikhism

Nanak was born on April 15, 1469 near Lahore. His father Kalu was in the Kshatriya caste; but under the Muslims they were not allowed to be in the military. Kalu was a shopkeeper and recordkeeper for a landlord, who had converted to Islam. Nanak learned arithmetic and accounting from his father, reading and writing in Devnagri from a Brahmin, and Persian and Arabic from a Maulvi. Nanak had a tendency to give away his father's goods to the poor and quarreled with him. When Nanak was 16, his older sister's husband got him a job in the store of Daulat Khan Lodi, the governor of Jalandhar Doab. Two years later Nanak married the daughter of a Punjab merchant, and they had two sons, Sri Chand in 1494 and Lakhmi Das in 1496; they would be raised by his sister and her husband. On the November full moon of 1496 Nanak had an enlightening experience. Thus his birthday is often celebrated at that time. His message "There is no Hindu; there is no Muslim" has several layers of meaning, implying human and religious unity and also that those who call themselves one or the other are not truly so. When the Qazi of Sultanpur Lodi complained about his message, Nanak sang that his devotees are ever joyous; for they learn how to end sorrow and sin. In 1499 Nanak's father sent the Muslim minstrel Mardana to persuade his son to stay at his post. Instead he became Nanak's closest disciple, and they began traveling. Nanak often joined the Muslims in their prayers. He suggested that the first prayer should be to speak the truth, the second to ask for lawfully earned daily bread, the third to practice charity, the fourth to purify the mind, and the fifth to adore and worship God. Nanak preached to the Hindus against idol worship and caste distinctions. He personally dined with those of low caste, and he raised the status of women. To the Muslims he emphasized Gan-singing praises of God, Dan-charity for all, Ashnanpurification by bathing, Seva-serving humanity, and Simran-constantly praying to God. Nanak abstained from eating animal food. After spending two years in the southwest Punjab, from 1501 to 1514 Nanak traveled to the southeast in India. In Delhi he and Mardana were arrested for violating Sikander Lodi's order against preaching in public; but their singing in jail caused such a disturbance that they were soon released. In Benares, Nanak may have met Kabir, for their teachings are very similar. From 1515 to 1517 he was in the Himalayas and went as far as Tibet. About 1520 Nanak traveled to Mecca, probably by sea, and many believe he visited Baghdad on his way home that took him through Iran and Afghanistan. The hymns of Nanak indicate that he witnessed Babur's third invasion of the Punjab in the winter of 1521, for he complained about the raping of women and how Yama (Death) came disguised as the great Mughal Babur. In the fourth invasion of 1524 Nanak saw the city of Lahore given over to death and violence for four hours. After the fifth invasion of 1526 Nanak lamented the dark age of the sword in which kings are butchers, and goodness has fled. He also referred to kings as tigers and their officials as dogs that eat carrion. The subjects blindly pay homage out of ignorance as if they were dead. The jewel of the Lodi kingdom had been wasted by dogs. A wealthy devotee donated land on the bank of the Ravi, and the village of Kartarpur was built for Nanak and his disciples. Nanak lived there from 1522 until his death on September 22, 1539. Nanak did not consider himself an avatar or a prophet but a guru who could help people find God. Before he died, Nanak named Angad to be his successor as Guru. Nanak's songs were later collected together in the Adi Granth that became the scripture for the Sikh religion. His basic teaching about God is summarized in the Mul Mantra, which indicates that God is one, the truth, the creator, fearless, without ill will, immortal, unborn, self-existent, and is realized by grace through the Guru. The Mul Mantra is followed by the longer Jap Ji, which Nanak wrote about 1520. Jap Ji means "meditation for a new life." It begins by noting that God can not be comprehended by reason nor by

outward silence, and one cannot buy contentment with all the riches in the world. The way to know the truth is to make God's will one's own. All things are manifestations of God's will, which is beyond description. By communing with the divine Word and meditating on God's glory one may find salvation by divine grace. The Word washes away all sin and sorrow and bestows virtue. By practicing the Word one rises into universal consciousness, develops understanding of the whole creation, transcends death, and also guides others. Yet no one can describe the condition of the one who has made God's will one's own. People carry their deeds with them wherever they go, because one reaps what one has sown. The highest religion is universal brotherhood that considers all equals. Nanak sang that you should conquer your mind, for overcoming self is victory over the world. Wealth and supernatural powers distract one from God. The world operates by the two opposite principles of union and separation. Everyone is judged according to one's actions. Jap Ji concludes,
Make chastity your furnace, patience your smithy, The Master's word your anvil, and true knowledge your hammer. Make awe of God your bellows and with it kindle the fire of austerity, And in the crucible of love, melt the nectar Divine, Only in such a mint, can man be cast into the Word. But they alone who are favored by Him, can take unto this Path, O Nanak, on whom He looks with Grace, He fills with Everlasting Peace. Air is the Master, Water the father, and the Earth the mother, Day and night are the two nurses in whose lap the whole world is at play. Our actions: good and evil, will be brought before His court, And by our own deeds, shall we move higher or be cast into the depths. Those who have communed with the Word, their toils shall end. And their faces shall flame with glory, Not only shall they have salvation, O Nanak, but many more shall find freedom with them.4

In the musical Asa di Var Nanak emphasized the oneness of God, the importance of repeating the divine Name and completely surrendering to God's will. He believed that only God and the Guru are without error. A record is kept of everyone's actions. The virtuous are treated well and remain in heaven, but the sinners transmigrate for the punishment that may educate them. Nanak advised his followers to give charity secretly and be humble. God frees people through the true Guru. Faithful disciples worship God patiently, shun evil, eat and drink moderately, and are detached from the world. Love and humility are the most essential qualities of worship. God's justice is impartial to all, rich or poor, high or low. Nanak also used Kabir's metaphor of God as his beloved husband in his Bara Maha that poetically describes the months of the year and the communion of disciples with God. Nanak showed the way by which all people could escape from the misery of a selfish life and reincarnation. The divine order (Hukam) can be perceived when the Guru awakens in the person the voice of God within. The sound of this Word (Shabd) or Name (Nam) of God can be heard in loving meditation so that the essence of God and the creation is communicated through human experience. By practicing this discipline (Simran) the devotee ascends to higher levels until the ineffable oneness of God is attained. Like Kabir, Nanak rejected all external forms of rituals, ceremonies, caste distinctions, scriptures, and all the dualities of the human mind. Because all are equal, one should not fear any human being but only God. Nanak fostered community kitchens in Sikh temples so that all devotees regardless of caste could eat free meals together. His religion was also equally available to women. Nanak believed that God is personal and that one can have a personal relationship with God, but he did not worship incarnations of God such as avatars or anthropomorphic conceptions. Asceticism,

celibacy, penance, and fasting do not necessarily bring one closer to God. The inward way is open to all, including those with a family life. For Nanak the one God is both nirguna and saguna, meaning both absolute and conditioned, both manifest and unmanifest. The selfishness (haumai) of lust, anger, avarice, attachment, and pride must be overcome. The Guru is the ladder or the vehicle by which one reaches God. Nanak recognized the law of karma by which individuals reap what they sow, and the goal is to attain liberation from the cycle of reincarnation. The grace of God enables one to transcend the law of karma and become free. Loving meditation on God is the way to do this. Like Jesus, Nanak compared the name of God to a seed that must be planted in the field of the body, plowed by the mind through actions, irrigated with effort, leveled with contentment, and fenced with humility. Nanak described an ascent through five stages. The first is realizing one's connection with God and beginning discipline; the second is acquiring knowledge and understanding; the third is effort; the fourth is God's grace that comes to the fully devoted disciple; and the fifth is truth and the merging of the disciple into the one God. The discipline of Simran means being devoted to the good and also implies good actions. Nanak wrote that among the low his caste was the lowest, and he proclaimed that God lives in all souls. For Nanak the good person is free of hatred and malice, never thinks one is wronged, resists evil, injustice, and tyranny, and looks on all others as superiors. One should earn one's living by labor and share those earnings with those in need. He noted that all humans are conceived and born from women. Nanak criticized the custom of sati. A sati is one who dies from the shock of her husband's death, not by climbing on her husband's funeral pyre.

Notes
1. Elliot, H. M., The History of India as Told by Its Own Historians, Vol. 3, p. 436. 2. Shaikh Hamadani, Zakhirat ul-Mulik, folios 94a-95a quoted in Sources of Indian Tradition, Vol. 1, p. 481-482 and in The Delhi Sultanate, p. 619-620. 3. Nabhadas, Bhaktamal, Chhappaya 60 quoted in Sethi, V. K., Kabir: The Weaver of God's Name, p. 4. 4. Nanak, Guru, Jap Ji tr. Kirpal Singh. Delhi, 1972, p. 164-165. 5. Quoted in The Mughul Empire ed. R. C. Majumdar, p. 115. 6. Ain-I-Akbari III, p. 383, 384 quoted in Krishnamurti, R., Akbar: The Religious Aspect, p. 97-98.

Mughal Empire 1526-1707

Mughal Conquest of India 1526-56 Akbar's Tolerant Empire 1556-1605 Jahangir and Shah Jahan 1605-58 Aurangzeb's Intolerant Empire 1658-1707 Kashmir and Tibet 1526-1707 Southern India 1526-1707 European Trade with Mughal India Tulsidas and Maharashtra Mystics Sikhs 1539-1708 This chapter has been published in the book INDIA & Southeast Asia to 1800. For ordering information, please click here.

Mughal Conquest of India 1526-56

Delhi Sultanate 1300-1526 Independent North India 1401-1526 Zahir ud-Din Muhammad Babur was the founder of the Mughal empire in India. His father was a direct descendant of the powerful Timur, and his mother was from the family of Genghis Khan. Babur was born February 14, 1483 and was only eleven when he inherited his father's kingdom of Farghana (in modern Uzbekistan). It took him three years to win control of Samarqand from his cousin. A rebellion at Farghana caused him to lose both, but Babar regained Farghana in 1498 and Samarqand two years later from the Uzbek chief Shaibani Khan. His struggle with the Uzbeks kept Babur busy for a dozen years. With help from Mongols, Babur crossed the Hindu Kush and conquered Kabul in 1504. The next year he went through the Khyber Pass, crossed the Indus and raided the Afghans near Tarbila. In 1507 Shaibani Khan attacked Khurasan and captured Herat. Babur left Qandahar and went east on a second raid. When Shaibani withdrew from Qandahar, Babur proclaimed himself Padishah (Emperor). Iran's Safavid ruler Shah Isma'il defeated the army of Shaibani, who was killed in 1510. Babur made an alliance with the Persians, who helped him take Bukhara. His cousin had driven away the Uzbeks, and Babur marched into Samarqand. Uzbeks led by Shaibani's nephew did defeat Babur twice at Bukhara in 1512. Babur retired to Kabul, and little is known of him until he began his conquest of India in 1519. In his Memoirs Babur wrote that he invaded India five times. A prince once quoted Sa'di that ten dervishes can sleep on one rug, but two princes cannot rest in one climate. Babur replied that a dervish given a loaf of bread would share half of it; but a prince gaining a country would covet another. He returned from Peshawar in order to secure Kabul and besiege Qandahar, which finally surrendered in 1522. Two years later Babur crossed the Indus and defeated the Lodi's Afghan army near Lahore. Daulat Khan was not satisfied with what Babur gave him, but Dilawar Khan accepted rule over Sultanpur; 'Alam Khan claimed the Delhi crown and was given Dipalpur. When Daulat Khan took Dipalpur, 'Alam Khan fled to Kabul and ceded Lahore to Babur; but while Babur was fighting the Uzbeks, 'Alam Khan joined Daulat Khan and attacked Ibrahim Lodi's camp at Delhi. However, their army was routed and dispersed as 'Alam Khan escaped. When Babur marched on Delhi, he wrote that he had an army of 12,000; but some say he had twice that with the Indians that had joined. Babur may have exaggerated the army of Ibrahim Lodi which he estimated at 100,000 with a thousand elephants. Babur used at least two cannons and match-lock guns when he won the important battle at Panipat in 1526. Ibrahim Lodi and 15,000 of his men were killed. Babur was proclaimed emperor of Hindustan and went from Delhi to Agra, which his son Humayun had captured. Babur sent Humayun to fight the Rajputs, and he took Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Kalpi, and Gwalior. In another major battle Babur's army defeated 80,000 Rajputs led by Rana Sanga of Mewar at Khanua in 1527. In Malwa the leader Medini Rai fought desperately as Chanderi was taken by force in January 1528. Biban defeated a Mughal force and escaped to Bengal, and in the east Ibrahim's brother Mahmud Lodi in Bihar gathered an army of 100,000. In his third major victory Babur defeated them at Gogra after crossing the Ganges in 1529. Babur wrote his Memoirs and some poetry in Turki, poems in Persian, and a treatise on Islamic law. Babur's son Humayun became ill; but the ailing Babur offered his life for his son's and died on December 30, 1530. Humayun recovered and became the second Mughal emperor. Babur's dying advice to Humayun was to be generous to his brothers. Kamran governed Kabul and Qandahar; Askari and Hindal were allowed to administer portions of India. Within a year Askari had helped Kamran take over the Punjab from Humayun's governor. In Gujarat after Muzaffar II's son Sikander was murdered, his brother Bahadur Shah came out of exile, executed the murderer, and gained the throne of Gujarat by sending a force to defeat and kill his brother Latif Khan. In 1528 Sultan Bahadur Shah invaded the Deccan, returning to Ahmadabad two years later. The

Portuguese attacked the coast of Gujarat in 1530 but could not capture the island of Diu. Gujarat's Bahadur Shah annexed Malwa and besieged the Rajput fortress of Chitor. When Humayun defeated rebelling Afghans in 1532, Sher Khan came over to his side. The aggressive Bahadur Shah took over Malwa and forced the Rana of Mewat to submit in 1533. His Gujarat army captured Chitor in 1535; the women and children burned themselves in jauhar, and the last men fought to their deaths. Bahadur tried to maintain friendly relations with both the Sur house and the Mughal Humayun; but his Gujarat and Malwa armies were destroyed trying to keep Humayun out of Malwa in 1535. Humayun then invaded Gujarat and took the Champaner fort with immense treasure, chasing Bahadur Shah all the way to the island of Diu. Bahadur Shah resumed ruling Gujarat after the Mughals left in May 1536, but the next year he was lured into a meeting with the Portuguese and was killed trying to escape. Bahadur Shah had no heir, and the Portuguese took Diu during the struggle for power in Gujarat. With help from a Turkish armada of 66 ships the Gujarat army attacked Diu in 1538, but conflicts between their generals resulted in defeat and departure of the Turks. Mewar's Maharana Vikramaditya had fled Chitor but upon returning was murdered by Vanavir in 1536. Vanavir also tried to murder the prince Uday Singh, but his loyal nurse helped him escape and let Vanavir kill her own son in his place. Uday Singh gathered forces and ended Vanavir's usurpation by defeating him near Maholi in 1540. Uday Singh fought futile wars with Marwar's Maldev. Farid was named Sher Khan for having killed a tiger. He rose to become the governor of Bihar and defeated an attack from Bengal. While Humayun was in Gujarat, Sher Khan gained part of Bengal and much gold when Mahmud Shah sued for peace. In 1537 Sher Shah invaded Bengal and besieged Gaur, reducing it while Humayun was besieging Chunar. While Humayun entered Gaur in 1538, Sher Shah took over Mughal territories in north Bihar, Jaunpur, and Kanauj, blocking Humayun from Delhi as Hindal retreated and claimed the throne, heading toward Delhi; but his brother Kamran made Hindal submit at Agra. When Humayun tried to go to Agra, he was defeated by Sher Khan and his Afghan fighters in 1539. Humayun barely survived, and his demoralized Mughal army was defeated again by Sher Khan the next year at Kanauj. Humayun escaped and went to Lahore while Sher Khan went back to Gaur to destroy the remnant of the Mughal army and imprison a rebelling governor. Sher Khan became Sher Shah and organized his empire while Humayun, unable to get help from his brothers, fled all the way to the Safavid court in Iran. After subjugating Malwa in 1542, Sher Shah invaded central India. He promised to let those capitulating at Fort Raisin go unmolested, but the Afghans treacherously attacked the Rajputs, who killed their own women and children to protect them from disgrace. Sher Shah also used forged letters before defeating Marwar ruler Maldev in a bloody battle in 1544. While capturing a fort in Kalinjar, Sher Shah was killed by a gunpowder explosion in 1545. Sher Shah has been admired by many for setting up a brilliant administrative system. He held centralized power but divided the empire into 47 sarkars for administration. Each sarkar was made up of villages that each had two officers, a treasurer, a writer of Hindi, and a writer of Persian to keep accounts. Sher Shah was experienced at surveying land. Considering agriculture most important, he made sure farmers had what they needed, though he taxed them at one-fourth of their produce, preferably in cash. The coins he minted became the standard for centuries. He reformed tariffs by having customs collected only at frontiers and places of sale. Several long roads were built and were lined with shade trees and provided with rest stations that also served as post-houses for communication. Local leaders were expected to police their communities or face the consequences. Sher Shah administered justice equally to high and low, judging many cases himself. He disciplined soldiers and reduced corruption by paying fair salaries. Sher Shah's energetic

leadership is strongly contrasted to the indolent Humayun, who was criticized for letting opium delay his actions. Sher Shah was succeeded by his son Jalal Khan, who took the name Islam Shah Sur and continued his father's administrative system. However, he suspected that his older brother 'Adil Khan wanted the throne. Islam Shah had already put to death Kalinjar's Kirat Singh and seventy of his officers. When Islam Shah tried to arrest 'Adil Khan, he fled. So many were imprisoned and had their property confiscated that nobles became suspicious, and tribal jealousies revived, especially among the Niyazis, who retreated to Kashmir but were annihilated by the Chak tribe. In 1545 Humayun promised to promote the Shi'a faith and was given 14,000 Persian soldiers. They besieged Qandahar, and Bairam Khan was sent to Kabul, where Askari surrendered. The Persians took over Qandahar and would not help Humayun; so he broke his agreement and drove them out. Hindal joined Humayun as he headed back to Kabul, and his other brother Kamran fled after many of his men deserted to Humayun. He and Kamran fought over Kabul for several years until Humayun had Kamran blinded and sent to Mecca in 1553. When ailing Islam Shah learned that Humayun had crossed the Indus, he went to meet him but died in Gwalior in 1554. His 12-year-old son Firuz Shah was murdered by Sher Shah's brother Nizam, who seized the throne as Muhammad 'Adil Shah. He vainly tried to win loyalty from the Afghan nobles by bestowing treasure and titles, but he aroused their fears by executing two of his supporters. This caused the empire to break into regions ruled by his relatives. Ibrahim Khan Sur attacked 'Adil Shah and captured Delhi. Though outnumbered, Sikander Shah came from the Punjab and defeated Ibrahim Shah to take Delhi and Agra in 1555. At the same time Humayun invaded India and captured Lahore. Like his father Babur, Humayun had cut down on his use of opium, renounced alcohol, and even became a vegetarian for a year in order to purify himself for his conquest. Sikandar sent 30,000 cavalry; but they were defeated by the Mughal archers led by Bairam Khan. Sikandar Shah himself led 80,000 cavalry, but he was defeated by the smaller Mughal army led by Humayun at Sirhind. 'Adil Shah's general Himu defeated Ibrahim's Afghans and then Bengal's Shams-ud-din Muhammad Shah, whose army was also on the march. Humayun occupied Delhi and Agra in July; but on January 24, 1556, he fell down the stairs of his Delhi library and died. After Muzaffar II's son Sikander was murdered, another son Bahadur Shah came out of exile, executed the murderer, and gained the throne of Gujarat by sending a force to defeat and kill his brother Latif Khan. In 1528 Sultan Bahadur Shah invaded the Deccan, returning to Ahmadabad two years later. The Portuguese attacked the coast of Gujarat in 1530 but could not capture the island of Diu. The aggressive Bahadur Shah also took over Malwa and forced the Rana of Mewat to submit in 1533. He tried to maintain friendly relations with both the Sur house and the Mughal Humayun; but his Gujarat and Malwa armies were destroyed trying to keep Humayun out of Malwa in 1535. Humayun then invaded Gujarat and took the Champaner fort with immense treasure. Bahadur Shah resumed ruling Gujarat after the Mughals left in May 1536, but the next year he was lured into a meeting with the Portuguese and was killed trying to escape. Bahadur Shah had no heir, and the Portuguese took Diu during the struggle for power in Gujarat. With help from a Turkish armada of 66 ships the Gujarat army attacked Diu in 1538, but conflicts between their generals resulted in defeat and departure of the Turks.

Akbar's Tolerant Empire 1556-1605

Humayun's 13-year-old son Akbar was in the Punjab when his father died but was proclaimed emperor. The Hindu general Himu occupied Agra and took Delhi from its governor Tardi Beg, proclaiming himself Raja Vikramaditya. Bairam Khan executed Tardi Beg while Akbar was hunting. In November 1556 Himu's army outnumbered the Mughal forces at Panipat; but after an arrow penetrated his eye, Akbar's army was victorious, capturing Himu's 1500 elephants. Bairam Khan and Akbar beheaded Himu. Young Akbar entered Delhi, and Bairam Khan sent Pir Muhammad to gain Himu's treasure and to drive Haji Khan out of Alwar. Akbar and Bairam Khan forced Sikandur Sur to leave the Mankot fort and flee to Bengal, and then they occupied Lahore and gained Multan in the Punjab. A Mughal siege of Gwalior for a year forced it to surrender in early 1558. After gaining Ajmer, the gateway to Rajasthan, Akbar returned to Delhi. The remaining Sur prince Ibrahim was defeated, and Jaunpur was annexed. Bairam Khan aroused resentment by dismissing his rival Pir Muhammad and appointing a Shi'a theologian as religious minister. Using his female relatives, in 1560 Akbar was able to remove Bairam Khan, who agreed to go on pilgrimage to Mecca. He resented being packed off by Pir Muhammad and had to be defeated by Atga Khan. On his way through Gujarat, Bairam Khan was murdered by an Afghan avenging his father's death. Adham Khan and Pir Muhammad led the invasion of Malwa. When Adham Khan did not send the spoils to Akbar, the young Emperor went to make sure he did. Akbar did the same thing to Khan Zaman after he defeated some Afghans. In 1562 Akbar made a pilgrimage to Ajmer and married a Hindu princess. Akbar abolished the enslavement and forced conversion to Islam of war prisoners and their families. After the murder of prime minister Atga Khan, Akbar hit Adham Khan with his fist and had him thrown from a terrace twice so that he was dead. The Emperor re-appointed Mun'im Khan; but to make sure no one person controlled him, Akbar made the decisions and had them carried out by four ministers for financial, military, judicial and religious affairs, and household, which included buildings, roads, and canals. He ended pilgrimage taxes on Hindus and the hated jiziya poll tax on non-Muslims. Akbar fell in love with the beautiful wife of Shaikh 'Abdul-Wasi at Delhi and reminded him that according to the law of Genghis Khan, a husband must divorce any woman the Emperor desired. The Shaikh did so, and at her urging Akbar began searching for other noble beauties. This angered his subjects so much that the Emperor was wounded by an arrow in an assassination attempt. After that, Akbar no longer molested the wives and daughters of his subjects. Akbar was intent on creating an empire. Among his "Happy Sayings" he wrote, "A monarch should be ever intent on conquest; otherwise his enemies rise in arms against him."5 He sent Kara governor Asaf Khan to subdue the kingdom of Gondwana in 1564, but he too failed to send all the captured elephants to Akbar. That year while Akbar married a Khandesh princess, another Uzbek, Malwa governor Abdullah Khan, revolted. Khan Zaman was descended from Babur's Uzbek nemesis Shaibani, and he resented the Persians at Akbar's court. After defeating Afghans in Bihar, Khan Zaman dismissed Akbar's messengers. Iskandar Khan and Ibrahim Khan joined the Uzbek revolt and defeated a Mughal army at Kanauj. Akbar marched out of Agra with a large army to chastise the Uzbeks but forgave them in 1566 when Khan Zaman negotiated. When Akbar's half-brother Muhammad Hakim was driven out of Kabul by a Badakshani army, Timurid nobles proclaimed him emperor and attacked Delhi while Hakim was besieging Lahore. Loyal Mughals forced the Timurid princes (Mirzas) to retreat to Mewar and Rajasthan while Akbar forced his brother Hakim to fall back to Kabul. Akbar then attacked the Uzbeks by the Ganges; Khan Zaman was killed, and Bahadur Khan was captured and executed. Akbar marched to Allahabad and sacked Benares for closing its gates to him. Nobles struggled for power in Gujarat as the boy Sultan Mahmud III was on the throne. A second siege of Diu had failed in 1547. Mahmud was kind to Muslims but oppressed the Hindus. In 1554

the young noble Burhan and his attendants murdered Mahmud, his prime minister Asafkhan, and twelve nobles; but Burhan was quickly cut down while sitting on the throne. I'timad Khan acted as regent for the young Sultan Ahmad Shah III. When Khandesh sultan Mubarak Shah invaded and tried to claim the throne of Gujarat, Nasir-ul-mulk took the opportunity to capture Ahmadabad; but I'timad Khan with help from Saiyad Mubarak managed to regain control. I'timad Khan did not like Ahmad Shah mixing with foreigners and had him killed in 1561, replacing him with a twelve-yearold named Muzaffar Shah III. I'timad Khan tried to deflect the powerful Changiz Khan by suggesting he invade Nandurbar, and he did so; but after failing to take Thalner, Changiz Khan turned his army on Ahmadabad and defeated I'timad Khan in 1567. Changiz Khan was murdered by Jhujhar Khan while playing polo, and I'timad Khan returned to power the next year. The death of Saiyad Miran in 1572 caused dissension in Gujarat, enabling Akbar's Mughal army to invade and take over the country. I'timad Khan and other nobles were named governors, and Akbar departed; but he had to come back the next year and defeated a larger force, ending Gujarat independence in 1573. Akbar had his army encircle an area sixty miles in diameter near Lahore and herd the wild animals together. In five days about 15,000 animals were killed by arrows, muskets, spears, and swords. At Thanesar the Emperor observed a spectacle in which 300 feuding Sanyasis defeated 500 rival Jogis in a performance battle in which many were killed. When Akbar besieged Mewar's capital of Chitor in 1567, Maharana Udai Singh fled to the hills. After Akbar killed Jaimall with a musket shot, Rajput women sacrificed themselves in the fire of jauhar. As the fortress of Chitor fell, 30,000 were slaughtered, according to Abul Fazl's estimate. Kaviraj Shyamaldas reported that 39,000 died fighting, and Akbar executed the remaining one thousand. A thousand Kalpi musketeers managed to escape by pretending they were Mughals removing prisoners. Using such force as well as diplomacy, Akbar was able to bring the Rajputs into his empire. In 1569 Ranthambhor and Kalinjar submitted, and the next year Akbar married Bikaner and Jaisalmer princesses. Mewar's Udai Singh died in 1572, but his son Pratap raised a large army that was defeated by the Mughals in 1576 at Haldighat. Pratap escaped and survived until 1597, but Mewar suffered as he ordered killed any farmer who cultivated food for the occupying Mughal army. The fortresses of Chitor and Ranthambhor were added to the imperial bulwarks at Lahore, Agra, Allahabad, and Ajmer. Two sons were born to Akbar in Sikri near Agra. The Emperor came there often to visit the Sufi saint Salim Chisti, who died in 1571. That year Akbar decided to make Sikri his capital. The next year he invaded Gujarat and occupied its capital Ahmadabad. Akbar had to go back in 1573 and with a force of only 3,000 overcame 15,000. Controlling Gujarat had great economic benefits and opened the way to sea voyages for Mecca pilgrimages. The Emperor instituted several reforms. Horses were branded according to the Khalji fashion revised by Sher Shah. Land assignments were changed into reserves, but this experiment lasted only five years. Officers were ranked in 33 grades according to how many horsemen they commanded from ten to 10,000, making local officers responsible for recruiting, pay, and command. Akbar urged his judges to be lenient with people, because sometimes they are hardened by punishment. When Afghan Sulaiman Karrani's son Daud Karrani became ruler of Bengal in 1572, he no longer recognized the authority of Akbar, who invaded in 1574. Daud fled to Orissa, where Akbar's general Mun'im Khan defeated him at Tukaroi. Daud tried to recover Bengal the next year but was defeated and killed in 1576. Yet Bengal nobles and Afghans continued to resist Mughal domination for the next thirty years of Akbar's reign, and Orissa was not annexed until 1592. At Sikri in 1575 Akbar began sponsoring Thursday night debates on religion and theology in a House of Worship he had built; at first they concentrated on Islam. Akbar inquired into the behavior of religious authorities. Abdulla of Sultanpur shifted his wealth into his wife's hands temporarily in order to avoid giving the annual fortieth to charity. In another "monstrous slaughter" of wild

animals that had been encircled in 1578 Akbar suddenly canceled the hunt and ordered all the animals set free; in a spiritual frenzy he distributed charity and gave gold to faqirs. Now Akbar included philosophers, Hindus, materialists, Jains, Christians, Jews, and Parsis in the discussions. Reason was used to examine various practices of the religions. Akbar had difficulty accepting Christianity's doctrines of the trinity and the incarnation. He eclectically accepted what was common to most religions while rejecting what was not essential. Here are a few of his sayings:
1. The source of misery is self-aggrandizement and unlawful desires. 2. The sorrows of men arise from their seeking their fortune before its destined time, or above what is decreed for them. 3. The concerns of men are personal to themselves, but through the predominance of greed and passion they intrude upon others. 4. Clemency and benevolence are the source of happiness and length of days. 5. The difficulty is to live in the world and refrain from evil, for the life of a recluse is one of bodily ease. 6. Men through blindness do not observe what is around them intent only on their own advantage.6

In 1579 Akbar removed the leading preacher and had himself proclaimed the supreme arbiter of all religious issues, making the reluctant Islamic legal scholars ('ulamas) sign the document. He came to believe in reincarnation, and under Zoroastrian influence he established sacred fire in the palace. Yet he disliked the dualism of light and dark, doubting the existence of Satan. He was influenced by Sufi Suhrawardi's theology of illumination and even began worshipping the sun by facing east in prayer. Akbar investigated and reformed previous pious land grants. The prohibition against repairing or building new temples was revoked as was the death penalty for apostatizing Muslims, who had been forcibly converted. Akbar's religious policy was known as universal toleration. As Hindus were appointed to high positions, Muslims became more resentful. The revolt broke out in Bengal and Bihar, where Governor Muzaffar Khan Turbati reduced the pay of troops, enforced the branding of horses to prevent fraud, and revoked the unauthorized alienation of land. Early in 1580 Bengal officers proclaimed Akbar's half brother Mirza Hakim of Kabul emperor, and the chief judge in Jaunpur called upon Muslims to rise against Akbar. Loyal Mughal troops quickly regained Bihar, and Akbar led an army of 50,000 horsemen that drove Hakim out of Kabul. Akbar forgave his brother, but Kabul remained a problem until Hakim died in 1585. Resistance in Bihar and Bengal continued until the Afghans finally made peace in 1586, and the remaining rebels were crushed the next year. In 1582 finance minister Todar Mall revised the revenue system for surveying lands and fixing rates to make them more consistent. Akbar had divided his empire into twelve provinces, but this was increased to fifteen by the end of his reign as Berar, Khandesh, and Ahmadnagar were added. Two Jesuit priests were invited from Goa in 1580, and Antonio Monserrate tutored Akbar's son Murad. The unorthodox Akbar stopped sponsoring caravans to Mecca. Two years later a Jain delegation persuaded him to renounce hunting, abstain from eating meat most of the year, and greatly limit the days on which animals could be slaughtered. After summoning a general council, Akbar wrote and promulgated his Divine Faith (Din-I-Ilahi) that suggested a rational and ethical mysticism without priests and books. Akbar apparently did not read but had things read to him. Since the empire had only one head, he believed it also should have one set of religious laws for all. The goal was union of the soul with God, and the ethics called for giving charity, sparing animals, permitting widows to remarry, and prohibiting child marriage, incest and forced sati. He encouraged monogamy, chastity, and restrictions on gambling and drinking. Akbar's new faith only gained about two dozen prominent converts. Like the initiation of Sufis to their masters, disciples had to place their head on the Emperor's feet and swear they would sacrifice their life, property, religion, and honor to serve their master. Disciples were to follow Akbar's rule of universal toleration for all religions.

The Dabistan lists ten virtues Akbar recommended that can be summarized as liberality, patience, abstinence from worldly desires, freedom from violence and acquisitiveness, meditating on the consequence of actions, prudence, gentle speaking, giving precedence to others, valuing the Supreme Being more than creatures, purifying the soul and yearning for God by limiting eating, drinking, dress, and marriage. Akbar also advised refraining from lust, sensuality, slaughter, deceit, oppression, intimidation, foolishness, and hunting. It is clear that he emphasized ethics more than rituals, worship, and belief. One did not have to give up one's own religion in order to adopt Akbar's Divine Faith. The purpose of gaining disciples was to instruct them in the service of God, not to gain personal attendants. Akbar called his religious system Divine Monotheism. He conceived of the one God as a power and essence that is omnipresent as well as a personal being. Reason was the main faculty Akbar advised people to employ. Knowledge from books he considered worse than useless if it is not applied in an active life of good works. The extremes of asceticism and indulgence in worldly pleasures should be avoided. He rejected pre-ordained rewards in heaven or punishments in hell. Rather he believed in the transmigration of souls and their gradual evolution that provide complex rewards and punishments beyond human comprehension. Akbar agreed with Abul Fazl's Sufi conception of the soul as a divine essence. The goal of life is to find spiritual perfection, and Akbar did recommend prayer and meditation. Yet in response to a drought in 1574 he had suggested that the omniscient Creator already knows our every thought, and his mercy does not depend on our appeals. Akbar transferred his capital to Lahore in 1585. The next year a Mughal army of 5,000 invaded and annexed Kashmir; but some rebels led by Yaqub did not surrender until Akbar went to Srinigar in 1589. In 1586 Yusufzais and Mandars gave the Mughal army its worst defeat when they killed 8,000 retreating soldiers in the Karakar Pass. Akbar promised not to intervene as the Uzbeks invaded Safavid Khurasan, and the Uzbek king Abdullah Khan said he would not support the Afghan tribes. Akbar maintained friendly relations with the Uzbeks and also Persian Shah 'Abbas (r. 1587-1629) by being neutral in their conflicts. The trade route from Kabul through the Khyber Pass provided Lahore markets with horses, fruit, silk, porcelain, and precious metals in exchange for Indian spices, textiles, and other goods. In 1590 Akbar appointed Khan Khanan to govern Multan and conquer Sind. In 1595 the Persian commandant of Qandahar defected to the Mughals, and 'Abdullah Khan surrendered it to Akbar. The northern portion of the empire was also secured that year as Baluchistan was annexed. The Uzbeks ceased to be a threat when 'Abdullah Khan died in 1598. Akbar began his Deccan campaign by sending envoys to Khandesh, Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, and Golconda in 1591. The Ahmadnagar Sultanate was invaded by Prince Murad in 1595. The war was prolonged, and commander Murad died of alcoholism in 1599. In his last campaign Akbar led the army that stormed the fortress of Ahmadnagar in 1600. The Emperor then invaded Khandesh, which surrendered the next year. Akbar appointed his son Daniyal viceroy of the Deccan. While Akbar was in the south, his oldest son Salim tried to seize the fortress at Agra but failed to take it. After Akbar returned to Agra, Salim marched 30,000 cavalry against the capital. His father wrote him a letter offering him Bengal and Orissa, but Salim returned to Allahabad. In 1602 the Emperor sent his biographer Abul Fazl, but Salim had him attacked and killed. Empress Salima Sultan Begam and other women made peace between father and son, and Salim returned to court in 1604. He was temporarily denied opium and wine but succeeded after Akbar's death in October 1605. In Mughal society the Emperor was all powerful as the supreme state authority making the laws, commanding the military, and overseeing the judicial system. Akbar also became the supreme religious authority and no longer deferred to the Caliph. Muslims still maintained an aristocratic and wealthy class over the Hindu castes, but their lands and titles were not hereditary. This often

resulted in less care for their estates. Many slaves served them, and nobles could retreat into their private harems of women. The chief cities of India were considered as wealthy as any in Europe.

Jahangir and Shah Jahan 1605-58

A week after his father's death, Salim took the throne as Emperor Jahangir (r. 1605-27). To win popular support he immediately issued twelve edicts to do the following:
1. Certain local taxes are to be prohibited. 2. Wells are to be dug and cultivation promoted in poor areas where theft has been common. 3. Packages of merchants and inheritances are to be protected. 4. Making or selling liquor is prohibited although he admitted he has been drinking since he was eighteen. 5. Confiscating houses and mutilation punishments are banned. 6. Officers shall not seize lands by force. 7. The royal treasury will fund the building of hospitals and hiring of doctors. 8. In honor of his father animals are not to be slaughtered on Thursdays or Sundays. 9. Sunday is to be respected as the first day of creation. 10. Officers of his father's servants are confirmed. 11. Lands devoted to prayer are confirmed. 12. All prisoners are given amnesty and are to be released.

Some scholars doubt these edicts had much effect. The murderer of Abul Fazl was promoted. Shaykh Farid, known as Nawab Murtaza Khan, persuaded the new emperor to promise to uphold Islamic law. When he learned that Muslim girls were marrying Hindus and converting, he prohibited it. Yet he also made the forced conversion of Hundus illegal. Even though he drank and used opium himself, Jahangir prohibited the public sale of wine and bhang (cannabis), castration of children in Bengal and Assam, gambling, and sati (widow suicide). The Portuguese had introduced tobacco to India, and Jahangir banned smoking in 1618; but five years later Surat began exporting tobacco. Jahangir's oldest son Khusrau had been favored by some to succeed Akbar, and he rebelled in 1606 by hiring an army of 12,000 with money he took from an imperial treasure caravan. They besieged Lahore, but Jahangir's imperial army soon forced them to scatter. Khusrau was caught and had to witness the impaling of his followers. The fifth Sikh guru Arjun refused to pay a fine and was tortured to death for having helped the fleeing Khusrau, who was imprisoned. Other Sikhs were apparently not persecuted because of this. However, Jains were accused of disturbances after their leader Man Singh supported Khusrau's rebellion. When Jahangir went to Kabul to direct the campaign against the Safavids at Qandahar, Khusrau plotted to assassinate his father. Several conspirators were executed, and the Emperor had his son blinded. However, Khusrau lived on in captivity and regained some sight. Jahangir sent his son Parwiz to subdue Mewar, but the Sisodia ruler evaded the imperial army year after year. When Persia's Shah 'Abbas I had Qandahar besieged in 1606, Jahangir sent a Mughal army that chased them away. In 1611 Emperor Jahangir married a Persian widow of one of his officers who was given the name Nur Jahan, meaning "Light of the World," and as his favorite wife she became a very influential political leader. Her father Itimad-ud-daula became prime minister. In 1612 Jahangir's second son Khurram married the daughter of her brother Asaf Khan. Nur Jahan restrained Jahangir's drinking, and she supported his patronage of learning, art, and charity. As empress she handled more administrative work than he did, especially in his later years. She helped more than 500 destitute orphan girls get married. Jahingir had disciples who wore his picture, and he promoted the best commanders with noble titles and gifts.

In 1608 Islam Khan became governor of Bengal and moved to crush Musa Khan, leader of the twelve bhuiyas (landowners). The Mughal army captured Musa Khan's capital at Sonargaon in 1611, and three months later Musa Khan, his brothers, and allies submitted to the imperialists. Other rebelling Afghans in Bengal were finally defeated by imperial troops the next year, and Bengal was annexed to the Mughal empire as a province in 1613. That year Jahangir moved his capital from Agra to Ajmer, and he sent Khurram on a campaign into Rajasthan. Mewar women and children were captured and sold as slaves until Rana Amar Singh (r. 1597-1620) negotiated a peace with Khurram in 1614, promising not to repair the Chitor fortress. The Portuguese seized four Mughal ships in 1613, causing Jahangir to cancel their privileges and close the churches in Agra and Lahore; but within two years the Jesuits gained reconciliation. In the Deccan the states of Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, and Golconda fought each other during the first century of the Mughal empire. Guerrilla warfare by the Marathas that was ably led by the Abyssinian Malik 'Ambar kept the Mughals from securing Ahmadnagar. The southern boundary of the Mughal empire left by Akbar was not advanced until forces led by Khurram defeated Malik 'Ambar in 1616. However, guerrilla resistance continued after the main Mughal forces withdrew. In 1615 Mughals used force to take over Khokhar diamond mines of Bihar, and in 1617 they annexed part of Orissa and Kishtwar, south of Kashmir. In the northeast Shan people had been moving down from Burma for two centuries. These Ahoms along the Brahmaputra River had become Hindus but without its caste and ritual restrictions. Ahom leaders mobilized their men into the military or used them as forced labor to build roads and irrigation systems. They fought annual battles against the Mughal armies in the northeastern jungles. Prince Khurram led the attacks on the petty kingdoms in the Himalayas and captured the Kangra fort in 1618. Khurram refused to lead another Deccan campaign until Jahangir agreed to transfer Khusrau to the custody of Nur Jahan's brother Asaf Khan. While the Emperor toured Mandu and Gujarat for several years, his son Khurram got Malik 'Ambar to surrender control of Berar and Ahmadnagar. Nur Jahan countered the growing power of Khurram by marrying her daughter by a previous marriage to Jahangir's youngest son Shahryar in 1620. Malik 'Ambar renounced the treaty and encouraged Bijapur and Golconda to revolt against the Mughals. Khurram insisted that Khusrau accompany him, and within six months his army forced Bijapur and Golconda to pay indemnities. When he learned that Jahangir was ill in 1621, he had Khusrau secretly killed and reported that he had died of illness. Nur Jahan lost an ally when her father died in January 1622. Two months later Persian shah Abbas besieged and captured Qandahar. Khurram refused to leave the Deccan unless he was given full command. So Jahangir sent his son Shahryar to Qandahar and gave him some of Khurram's jagir tax lands. Jahangir's imperial court was in Kashmir, and Khurram rebelled by leading his Deccan army north and was supported by Malwa and Gujarat; but Mahabat Khan's loyal army defeated the Deccan forces near Fathpur Sikri in 1623. Khurram retreated to Malwa and got one million rupees from the Gujarat treasury to re-supply his army. Jahangir and Nur Jahan moved the imperial army back to Ajmer, regained control of Gujarat and drove Khurram out of Malwa. Khurram retreated to Asir and Golconda. He won a battle to control Bengal briefly, but he was defeated near Allahabad. Khurram took refuge with his previous enemy Malik 'Ambar, who was fighting Bijapur and the Mughals. The depressed Khurram became ill; he agreed to become governor of the Deccan, surrendered two forts, and sent his sons Dara Shukoh and Aurangzeb as hostages to the Mughal court. After Malik 'Ambar died in 1626, Maharashtra fell into turmoil with numerous assassinations. During this rebellion alcoholic Prince Parwiz was supported by Mahabat Khan and challenged Nur Jahan's hopes for Shahryar. She complained that Jahangir had not approved the marriage of

Mahabat's daughter; the son-in-law was arrested and beaten, and the dowry was confiscated. Angry Mahabat led an army of 4,000 Rajput troops to the court and captured Emperor Jahangir and Nur Jahan. They proceeded to Kabul, where Nur Jahan and Asaf Khan mobilized troops and local nobles against the Rajputs. Jahangir pretended to comply; but when the Emperor was reviewing his troops, Mahabat Khan decided to flee to Khurram in the Deccan. Alcoholism caused the death of Prince Parwiz in 1626; he died in the Deccan, and some suspected Khurram. Jahangir went again to Kashmir to improve his health; but he died on his way back near Lahore in October 1627. Vizier Asaf Khan supported Khurram and took control of his mother Nur Jahan and her three young sons. He got nobles to proclaim Khusrau's young son Dawar Bakhsh as emperor. Shahryar used seven million rupees in the Lahore treasury to mobilize an army to fight his cousin; but he was defeated. Shahryar was captured and blinded. Khurram sent a message to Asaf Khan to blind or kill Shahryar, Dawar Bakhsh, and other male Timurid cousins. In January 1628 Asaf Khan imprisoned Dawar Bakhsh and proclaimed Khurram as Emperor Shah Jahan. Then he had his brother executed along with Shahryar and two nephews of Jahangir. Shah Jahan made Asaf Khan vizier and Mahabat Khan governor of Ajmer. He ruled from the Agra fortress built by Akbar until his new imperial capital at Delhi called Shahjahanabad was completed in 1648. Afghan noble Khan Jahan Lodi had been close to Jahangir; but just before Jahangir's death it was reported that he had received 300 gold hun for persuading Mughal officials to give their positions over to Ahmadnagar officers and to retire to Burhanpur. In 1629 Khan Jahan Lodi and his family secretly fled to the Nizam Shah Murtaza II of Ahmadnagar. Shah Jahan sent three armies after him and moved his court to Burhanpur. Battles devastated the countryside, and famine followed. In 1630 Khan Jahan Lodi was defeated and fled toward the Punjab, but he was trapped and killed along with his two sons. An investigation also caused Bundela emir Jujhar Singh to flee the court, and the Mughal army killed 3,000 Bundela troops in battle. Shah Jahan pardoned Jujhar Singh, who paid an indemnity of 15 lakhs (1.5 million) rupees and forty war elephants. After Jujhar Singh raided his Gond neighbor in 1634, the Emperor sent another army led by his 16-year-old son Aurangzeb to invade Bundela. Two of Jujhar's sons and a grandson became Muslims; an older son who refused to convert was killed; and the fleeing Jujhar was killed by Gonds. The Gond raja was forced to pay an indemnity and an annual tribute of twenty elephants, and at Urchha the Mughals found the Bundela treasure worth ten million rupees. Shah Jahan ordered the massive Hindu temple of Bir Singh Dev demolished, and a mosque was built on the site. Shah Jahan accepted orthodox Islam, and in 1633 he blocked the repair and construction of churches and Hindu temples. Conversion to Hinduism or Christianity was prohibited. The Mughal state sponsored two pilgrim ships from Gujarat to the Hijaz each year, and he sent two scholars with charity for the poor in Mecca and Medina. Shah Jahan abolished the extreme prostration that had been demanded at court by Akbar and Jahangir. Instead of discipleship he expected a family kind of loyalty from his officers and thus called them khanazads, meaning "born to the house." The Emperor commissioned the Peacock Throne that contained gems worth ten million rupees. After his favorite wife Mumtaz Mahal died during childbirth in 1631, Shah Jahan ordered architects and builders to construct the famous Taj Mahal marble tomb that took seventeen years to complete. Intended as an allegory of the day of judgment, the gateways and gardens symbolize the celestial paradise. An even more ambitious building project, the palace fortress at Shahjahanabad, was begun in 1639 and cost six million silver rupees. Opposite the fortress the Jama Masjid mosque could contain thousands of worshipers. A free hospital and a religious school (madrasa) were built next to the mosque. During his reign the Mughal treasury funded building projects costing about 29 million rupees. Yet the expenditures for war were much greater than this. Shah Jahan made Kasim 'Ali Khan governor of Bengal and ordered him to punish the Portuguese. His army besieged Hughli for three months in 1632 and captured the fort. Thousands of Portuguese

were killed; prisoners had to accept Islam, and young women were put in harems. Prince Muhammad Shuja governed Bengal 1639-59. After Mahabat Khan, the Mughal governor of the Deccan, besieged and captured the Daulatabad fort to complete the conquest of Ahmadabad in 1633, the Shi'a state of Golconda recognized Mughal hegemony in 1635; but Shi'a Bijapur had to be invaded before they submitted. In 1637 Shah Jahan sent his son Aurangzeb to govern the Deccan, and the next year with an army he annexed the Rajput kingdom of Baglana. In Sind on the northwestern border, punitive campaigns killed and sold into slavery thousands from the Baluch and other tribes so that the Mughals could collect taxes in cash. Sufis controlling tombs and holy places were given tax-free land grants for mediating disputes on behalf of the Mughal empire. The murder of an Assamese Muslim trader in 1636 provoked an Ahom-Mughal war that after losses on both sides ended in a treaty two years later. Aurangzeb had financial difficulties in the Deccan and was dismissed in 1644, but he was appointed governor of Gujarat the next year. When Uzbek ruler Nazar Muhammad Khan asked for Mughal aid in a civil war against his son Abdul Aziz, Shah Jahan sent his son Murad with an army of 60,000 men. In 1646 Murad and his co-commander Ali Mardan Khan occupied Balkh with little resistance and grabbed 12 million rupees in treasure. Prince Murad left after a month, and the Emperor sent his vizier Sa'dullah Khan, followed by Aurangzeb from Gujarat. Shah Jahan moved his court to Kabul for support. The Mughal army found they could not live off such barren land, because the grain fields and fruit orchards had been devastated by the civil war. In October 1647 Aurangzeb handed over Balkh to Nazar Muhammad Khan and retreated, as the Mughals suffered thousands of casualties from harassing Uzbeks and Turkmen tribes. Two years of war had only moved the northern Mughal border about fifty kilometers north of Kabul. Mughal records indicated that Shah Jahan spent forty million rupees trying to conquer kingdoms with revenues far less than that. The Persian commander of Qandahar, Ali Mardan Khan, owed Persian shah Safi money and had switched sides to the Mughals in 1638. Shah Jahan gratefully accepted the valued caravan-route city and appointed him governor of Kashmir. After the Mughal disaster in Balkh, Persian shah Abbas II besieged Qandahar and reconquered it in 1649. In the next four years Shah Jahan launched three major campaigns against Qandahar; but their artillery was inadequate, and the cost of these failures was about thirty to forty thousand men killed and 35 million rupees. In 1647 historian Abdul Hamid Lahori summarized the first twenty years of Shah Jahan's reign. The treasury accumulated by Akbar had been depleted by Jahangir. Shah Jahan put thirty million rupees or one-seventh of all revenues into the imperial treasury. His reserves in coin and jewelry grew to 95 million rupees. He had already spent about 25 million on building projects, and cash salaries for 200,000 cavalry and 40,000 musketeers cost 16 million rupees per year. Since the time of Akbar fifty years before, the Mughal empire had grown in size, population, and prosperity, doubling the total revenues. The Emperor, his sons, and other nobles had dominating power and wealth such that the top 73 persons controlled 37.6 percent of the total revenues in the empire. Of the top mansabdars, 353 were Muslims, and only ninety were Hindus. In 1653 Aurangzeb went back to the Deccan as viceroy and found it in poor condition. With the help of Persian revenue officer Murshid Quli Khan they recruited leaders and settlers for deserted villages, and they gave loans for seed, cattle, digging wells, and constructing irrigation while assuring security. Within five years most of the land was being cultivated, and prosperity had been restored. The 1636 treaty allowed the states of Golconda and Bijapur to expand to the south, and both did so in the 1640s. The Persian merchant Muhammad Sa'id by trading diamonds and other gems rose to become the chief minister of Golconda and was given the title Mir Jumla. By letter Aurangzeb suggested to Mir Jumla that they could take over Golconda for the Mughal empire. When the Golconda sultan 'Abdullah Qutb Shah arrested his son for insolent behavior in 1655, Mir

Jumla appealed to Aurangzeb, who got a letter from his father Shah Jahan demanding the son's release. Without waiting for a reply, Aurangzeb sent his son Muhammad Sultan to invade Golconda, and he entered Hyderabad in January 1656. 'Abdullah Qutb Shah appealed to Shah Jahan, and Prince Dara Shukoh persuaded the Emperor to make Aurangzeb withdraw his forces. Aurangzeb's son married 'Abdullah Qutb Shah's daughter, and Mir Jumla became Mughal vizier. When the Bijapur ruler 'Adil Shah died in November, Aurangzeb used the opportunity to take over this kingdom too even though it had not been a vassal state. Again Dara Shukoh and the Emperor persuaded Aurangzeb to restrain himself, and he merely extorted a war indemnity. In September 1657 Shah Jahan fell ill with strangury and made his last will. All four of his sons by Mumtaz Mahal struggled for the Mughal throne. The oldest Dara Shukoh resided at court and was his father's favorite. He studied Vedanta, Talmud, the New Testament, and Sufi writings. He made Persian translations of the Atharva Veda and 52 Upanishads. He became a disciple of the Qadiri Sufis Mulla Mir (d. 1635) and Mullah Shah Badakshi (d. 1661). Dara's Persian book The Mingling of Two Oceans discussed the essential unity of Hinduism and Islam, and he had it translated into Sanskrit for Hindus. Dara also liked to hold discussions with three Jesuit priests and the Hindu saint Babalal Vairagi. Because of these activities the traditional 'ulama (Muslim scholars) considered him an apostate. The second son Muhammad Shuja governed Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, but he preferred an easy life. Aurangzeb studied the Qur'an, Islamic law, writings of al-Ghazali, and with Naqshbandi shaikhs but was an ambitious conqueror. The fourth son Murad Bakhsh governed Gujarat and Malwa, but he indulged in drinking. Dara Shukoh tried to keep the Emperor's illness secret, but his censorship aroused suspicion. Shuja crowned himself at Rajmahal and moved toward Agra, but an army led by Dara's son Sulaiman Shukoh from Delhi forced him to flee. Murad also crowned himself and prepared for war in Gujarat. Aurangzeb was negotiating a peace treaty with Bijapur and wrote letters in cipher to Murad and Shuja, promising Murad the Punjab, Afghanistan, Kashmir, and Sind. In February 1658 Aurangzeb began marching north with his Deccan army, which defeated Shah Jahan's army that retreated to Delhi. In 1654 Mewar's Raj Singh (r. 1652-80) had submitted to the Mughals and let Sa'dullah Khan destroy his fort at Chitor; but when he visited the court, Shah Jahan took four districts from him. So now when Aurangzeb promised to restore the four districts, Raj Singh supported him. Dara's reorganized army of 50,000 was defeated near Agra in April by Aurangzeb's superior artillery and tactics. Dara fled, and Aurangzeb besieged his father in the Agra fort, depriving him of water until he surrendered on June 8. Dara went to Lahore, and Aurangzeb pursued him. He invited Murad to his camp for dinner and took him prisoner on June 25.

Aurangzeb's Intolerant Empire 1658-1707

Aurangzeb crowned himself at Delhi on July 21, 1658, calling himself 'Alamgir, meaning "Conqueror of the World." Prince Dara Shukoh fled south to Gujarat while Aurangzeb defeated Shuja's Bengal army in December. Dara acquired funds and 20,000 men in Gujarat, but they were defeated by Aurangzeb's army in March 1659. Aurangzeb ascended his father's throne at Shahjahanabad in June. Dara was caught and condemned by the 'ulama for apostasy and idolatry before he and his youngest son were executed on August 30. Shuja fled to Arakan, where he was killed for plotting against its king in 1660. After an attempted rescue of Murad in 1661, he was beheaded for a murder he had previously committed. Suleiman Shukoh was captured and drugged with opium until he died in 1662. The civil war depressed the revenues of the empire, and limited rainfall resulted in famine. Aurangzeb ordered free kitchens in the cities to dispense cooked food. Shah Jahan remained a prisoner until he died in 1666. A revolt in Palamau by Daud Khan in 1661 was put down, and it became a district of the Bihar province.

During the civil war, in the northeast Kuch Bihar ruler Prem Narayan rebelled, and Ahom king Jayadhwaj Sinha invaded Kamrup and occupied Gauhati. In 1660 Aurangzeb sent Mir Jumla to govern Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. He reorganized the administration to increase revenue and imposed Mughal authority, moving the provincial capital east from Rajmahal to Dacca. In November 1661 Mir Jumla declared holy war on Assam with 42,000 men and several hundred ships. The Kuch Bihar ruler fled from Kathalbari, which Mir Jumla renamed Alamgirnagar as the capital of the annexed kingdom. The raja's son converted to Islam to serve the Mughals. The Mughal army marched on to Kamrup and seized the Ahom capital at Garghaon in March 1662, as the Ahom ruler fled, leaving behind granaries of rice, guns, munitions, and armed river boats. Yet the Mughals suffered from lack of supplies, guerrilla attacks, and an epidemic. The Ahom Swargadeo agreed to be a Mughal vassal. However, Mir Jumla died of illness in March 1663; conflicts over the peace treaty arose, and Ahom regained autonomy in Kamrup by the 1680s. In 1664 the Mughals' Bengal governor Shaista Khan (r. 1664-88), son of Asaf Khan, used a navy to free thousands of Bengali slaves at Chatgaon. Two years later he captured that fort and changed the name of the town to Islamabad. In the northwest the Yusufzai chief Bhagu proclaimed himself ruler in 1667, but his resistance was quelled by an imperial army of 9,000 led by Muhammad Amin Khan. In 1672 Akmal Khan crowned himself king of the Afridis and closed the Khyber pass. They massacred a Mughal army between Peshawar and Kabul. Khatak leader Kush-hal wrote poetry to inspire their revolution against the Mughals, and another imperial army was ambushed the next winter. In June 1674 Aurangzeb himself led the campaign, and he negotiated by offering rebel leaders honors and rewards to protect the trade routes. Amin Khan was appointed governor at Kabul in 1677, and his payments to the chiefs for serving the Mughals kept a diplomatic peace for the next twenty years. His wife Sahibji, daughter of 'Ali Mardan Khan, wisely advised him to pursue a conciliatory policy. Aurangzeb followed the Hanafi school of Islamic law and even spent seven years memorizing the Qur'an. Having deposed and imprisoned his father, he tried to absolve himself by sending gifts to the rulers of Mecca and Medina in 1659. That year he appointed a muhtasib as a censor to enforce Islamic laws such as those against blasphemy, liquid intoxicants, and gambling. Cultivation of cannabis was prohibited, but opium and ganja were not banned. Dancing girls and public women were ordered to get married or leave the realm. He dismissed court musicians and abolished celebration of the Iranian new year festival. When musicians protested by holding a funeral for Music he had killed, Aurangzeb remarked that he hoped she was well buried. In the tenth year of his reign he ended the official chronicles, and the next year he stopped appearing on a balcony every morning for the darshan (personal) worship that Akbar had begun. All the legal opinions (fatwa) during his reign were collected into a book. His main advisors became the chief judge (qazi) and the supervisor of pious charity. He contributed generously to repair mosques and support religious charities. In 1672 he took back all the grants that had been given to Hindus, though this was not always enforced. He made land grants hereditary in 1690. The 'ulama was often corrupt; Wahhab Bohra was qazi for sixteen years and retired with 3.3 million rupees he had obtained from bribes. Aurangzeb's policies discriminated against non-Muslims. In 1665 custom duties for Muslims were set at 2.5 percent, but the rates for Hindus were doubled to five percent. Two years later the duty on Muslim traders was abolished. Provincial governors and revenue officials were ordered to dismiss Hindu officers and replace them with Muslims; this also was not enforced in many areas. His 1669 edict ordered demolished all temples recently built or repaired contrary to Islamic law. Bir Singh Bundela had paid over three million rupees to build the Kesev Rai temple at Mathura, but it was torn down. A Surat qazi extorted money from Hindu merchants by threatening them with forcible conversion or defacement of Hindu shrines. After a converted Bania was forcibly circumcised by the qazi and committed suicide, 8,000 men protested by leaving Surat. They were welcomed in

Ahmadabad; but eventually the Emperor promised them freedom of religion, and they returned to their homes. In 1669 Jat peasants led by Gokla of Tilpat took up arms against the empire and killed the abusive faujdar (officer) of Mathura and ravaged Sadabad. Gokla's rebellion grew to 20,000 before they were defeated by an imperial army reinforced by Aurangzeb himself. Gokla was put to death, and his relatives converted to Islam. In 1671 Aurangzeb dismissed all the Hindu officers from his revenue department. The next year Satnamis rebelled in Narnaul and Mewat; 2,000 were killed when they were crushed by the Mughal army. Aurangzeb often offered gifts and honors to induce people to convert to Islam. Sikh resistance to an order to demolish their temples led to the arrest of Guru Tegh Bahadur; he refused to convert, was convicted of blasphemy, and was beheaded in 1675. In 1679 Aurangzeb revived the jiziya income tax on non-Muslims, and thousands in Delhi protested in front of the Emperor's balcony. A few days after many were trampled by elephants, they began paying the tax. Although Rajputs in imperial service were exempt from paying the jiziya, their subjects were not. As Rajput nobles lost their privileges, discontent increased. After the death of Maharaja Jaswant Singh Rathor in December 1678, Aurangzeb caused turmoil in Marwar by trying to annex it and raise the prince Ajit Singh in his harem as a Muslim, but Durgadas Rathor escaped with Ajit Singh to Mewar. The Emperor sent an army led by Prince Muhammad Akbar, and they occupied the capital Udaipur, destroying temples. The Rana and cavalry fled to the hills and began a guerrilla campaign. Aurangzeb went back to Ajmer in 1680, leaving Prince Akbar in charge at Chitor; but he rebelled against his father, crowning himself emperor. Akbar with Rajput support from the Rathors and Sisodias marched on Ajmer; but Aurangzeb sent a letter to his son to be intercepted that implied betrayal of the Rajputs, causing them to depart. Akbar had to flee but was given refuge by Durgadas and the Rajputs who learned they were tricked. The Rana of Mewar negotiated a peace that recognized Ran Jai Singh as ruler, and they agreed to pay the jiziya for Mewar. In Marwar resistance against the Mughals continued for a generation. Durgadas stayed in the Deccan for six years and then fought with Ajit against the Mughals for a decade. Aurangzeb reacted to the threat of Shivaji in Maratha by making peace with Mewar so that he could move his imperial army south to the Deccan. Aurangzeb sent armies into the Maratha kingdom every year; they were able to plunder and burn villages but could not assault the fortresses. In 1684 he sent a Mughal army of 80,000 led by princes Azam and Shah Alam to besiege Bijapur, which was defended by Sikander Adil Shah and a garrison of 30,000 for fifteen months before they surrendered. Meanwhile Shah Alam led the invasion of Golconda; mobs in Hyderabad looted their own city while others fled to the Golconda fort. Sultan Abul Hasan Qutb Shah agreed to dismiss his two Brahmin ministers, pay a war indemnity, and cede territory. The two ministers were murdered by Muslims. When their heads were sent to Aurangzeb, he withdrew the Mughal army to Bijapur. In October 1686 the English sacked Hughli in Bengal but evacuated it the next year. In 1688 Aurangzeb's navy was fighting English traders on the west coast, but by the end of the next year he had pardoned them and made peace. In 1690 Bengal viceroy Ibrahim Khan invited English agent Job Charnock to found Calcutta. Farther down the east coast the Dutch operated from Pulicat, the English in Madras, and the French at Pondicherry. Refugees from the Mughal-Maratha wars fled into these fortresses. In 1695 English pirates led by Henry Bridgeman plundered 5.2 million rupees and raped the women on the ship Ganj-i Sawai near Surat. Angry Aurangzeb authorized an attack on Bombay which failed. In 1702 the Emperor tried to ban all Mughal trade with the English, Dutch, and French companies. In 1685 about 4,000 rebels proclaimed Prince Akbar emperor, but his attempt to take Ahmadnagar the next year failed. While Akbar and a few followers chartered a ship and fled to the Persian court

in February 1687, the Mughals besieged Golconda. A traitor opened the gate for the assault, and the famous treasure of the Qutb Shahs was found to have more than sixty million rupees in gold and silver. Some Muslim clerics complained that the Emperor made war on fellow Muslims. Aurangzeb appointed a muhtasib to enforce Islamic law and ordered Hindu temples demolished and mosques built. Because his son Shah Alam had tried to negotiate secretly with Sikander Adil Shah and with Abul Hasan Qutb Shah, Aurangzeb had him imprisoned for the next seven years. Aurangzeb sent the Golconda noble Muqarrab Khan to hunt down and kill Shambhaji. Bijapur, Golconda, and Maratha were annexed as Mughal provinces. In the north Sahibji succeeded her husband Amin Khan in 1698 for two years until Prince Shah Alam arrived in Kabul. In the northeast Gadadhar Singh became king of Ahom in 1681, and the next year in the battle at Itakhuli his forces drove the Mughal imperialists back a hundred kilometers. By the end of Aurangzeb's reign, Ahom king Rudra Singh (r. 1696-1714) was preparing to invade Bengal, where a revolt had broken out in 1696, when Rahim Khan called himself Rahim Shah and led a large army. Aurangzeb sent his grandson Azim-ud-din with cavalry that defeated and killed Rahim Shah near Burdwan in 1698. Preparing for a succession struggle, Azim-ud-din refused to send surplus funds to the Deccan. So in 1701 the Emperor sent Kartalab Khan as diwan (financial administrator) for Bengal, and by stopping the prevalent embezzling he accumulated ten million rupees, which he sent to Aurangzeb in 1702. Prince Azim-ud-din tried to kill Kartalab Khan, and the Emperor had his grandson transferred while honoring Kartalab with the title Murshid Quli Khan and making him governor of Orissa. Zulfiqar Khan began the siege of Jinji in 1690. While Maratha leader Rajaram was besieged on and off there for eight years, Santaji Ghorpade and others led Maratha raids. Aurangzeb moved his camp in the Deccan between Puna and Bijapur until he established his court at Brahmapuri (renamed Islamapuri) in 1695. That year he sent his son Shah Alam to govern the northwest, and all Hindus except for Rajputs were forbidden to ride on elephants or horses or to carry arms. In 1698 Durgadas restored Akbar's son Buland Akhtar to Aurangzeb, who granted him and Ajit Singh rank (mansab) and tax income (jagir). After five years of truce, the Marwar struggle began again in 1701 when Aurangzeb ordered Durgadas killed for not obeying his summons. After Ajit quarreled with Durgadas, Aurangzeb gave Durgadas his old Gujarat position back in 1705; but the following year a Maratha invasion of Gujarat persuaded Durgadas to rejoin Ajit's quest for independence. Still living in tents, the Emperor ordered a wall built around Islamapuri in 1699. That year Aurangzeb began besieging forts and took a major one each year until he became ill after taking Wagingera in 1705; meanwhile the Marathas were taking back at least as many forts as the Mughals had gained. Lack of rain 1702-04 and the devastating wars caused famine and pestilence that killed two million people. A year before he died in 1707, Aurangzeb regretted his wars and tried to make peace with the Marathas by offering to release Shahuji, but it was too late. After Aurangzeb died, Ajit Singh led his Rathor army to Jodhpur, where he defeated the imperial troops and took over Marwar. The religious persecution in Aurangzeb's policies and the resulting Maratha war destroyed the Mughal empire. Many officers refused to engage the enemy, and others paid cash or offered services to the Hindus. Peasants were driven off the land as villages were burned, and merchants and caravans suffered from banditry. The Mughals had an imperial army of 170,000 men, but they still could not make the empire of mostly Hindus submit. The imperial treasure was exhausted, and salaries for soldiers and officials were three years in arrears. The religious zeal of Aurangzeb had been intolerant of other cultural activities, and historians regretfully recalled the better eras of Akbar and Shah Jahan. Hindus were disadvantaged economically and had little personal freedom. The elite Mughals were often arrogant and morally degenerate. The prime minister's grandson Mirza Tafakhkhur with ruffians would plunder shops and kidnap Hindu women with impunity. They lived in luxury, but their education in harems was meager. Although Aurangzeb did not drink

alcohol, most Muslims secretly did so. Slaves and peasants did the hard work while the surplus produce went to the Muslim aristocrats. Administration of the empire depended on the Mughal military; offices were sold, and corruption was rampant. Aurangzeb worked hard at administration, but his meddling in every aspect of government discouraged initiative. Queens were jealous of each other's sons, as they prepared for the next succession struggle. Islamic government by conquering Muslims was failing badly in the proud and wealthy land of India.

Kashmir and Tibet 1526-1707

Babur's Mughal brother Kamran invaded Kashmir in 1531; but Kashmiri leaders put aside their differences to drive out the Mughals. After conquering Ladakh and Baltistan, Kashghar sultan Said Khan sent Mirza Haidar Dughlat to invade Kashmir in 1533. Dughlat's troops compelled him to leave Kashmir after he specified certain conditions that included paying tribute to Kashghar. After Muhammad Shah died in 1537, conflicts over the throne enabled Dughlat to return in 1540 and act as regent even though he had just been defeated with Humayun at Kanauj. The Chak tribe appealed to the victorious Sher Shah Sur's Afghans, but the Mughal-Kashmiri army defeated them at Watanar in 1541. Mirza Haidar Dughlat ruled Kashmir for a decade; but his campaigns against Ladakh, Baltistan, Pakhli, and Rajauri wore down Kashmiri support, resulting in a general uprising that killed him in 1550. The Chaks had overthrown foreign domination, and Daulat Chak seized power by deposing Nazuk Shah the next year. He conquered Ladakh and Baltistan but was devastated by an earthquake in 1554. Ghazi Khan (r. 1555-62) is considered the first Chak sultan of Kashmir, and he defeated attempted invasions by Shah Abul Maali in 1557 and by the Mughal Qara Bahadur in 1561. After suffering frostbite in a campaign to Ladakh, Ghazi Khan abdicated to his brother Husain Shah Chak (r. 156269). He passed the throne to another brother Ali Khan, who ruled Kashmir in peace for a decade. His son Yusuf Shah Chak fought his uncle Abdul Chak for the throne but was overthrown by the rebel Saiyid Mubarak Khan, who soon had to abdicate to Lohar Shah Chak. Yusuf Shah then appealed to Akbar, who sent an army to restore him in 1580. Yet Kashmiri nobles threatened to depose Yusuf Shah if he paid homage to Akbar. The Emperor sent an army; but when Yusuf Shah joined them in 1586, he was made a political prisoner for two years. Kashmir was annexed to the Mughal empire by Qasim Khan in 1586. Akbar visited Kashmir three times, and Emperor Jahangir liked to reside there for his health. His governor Mirza Ali Akbar Khan tried to conciliate the Chak rebels with diplomacy and tricks; he promised them sovereignty but ordered his troops to kill Chaks before he died in 1616. A plague came to Kashmir the next year and lasted until 1619. Kishtwar was a refuge for assassins and rebels, but in 1618 Jahangir sent Governor Dilawar Khan Kakar with an army of 10,000 men to subdue them. The garrison he left under Nazr Ullah Arab was small, and he was killed. Another army led by Jalal failed until the Emperor sent Iradat Khan as governor to restore law and order. Jahangir appointed Itiqad Khan governor of Kashmir in 1622, and he punished even more Chak rebels. When Emperor Shah Jahan learned how oppressive the government of Itiqad Khan was, he replaced him in 1632 with Zafar Khan. Shah Jahan proclaimed a farman (imperial decree) specifying which taxes and policies were to be repealed in Kashmir. In 1634 Shah Jahan ordered Kashmir governor Zafar Khan to conquer Ladakh and Baltistan in western Tibet in order to punish Abdal for giving refuge to Chak rebels, and he made him proclaim Shah Jahan's name in Friday prayers. The next year Zafar Khan's favoring of Shi'a against Sunnis provoked a riot that burned Shi'a homes. In 1637 Abdal relapsed in his obedience, and Zafar Khan invaded with a Mughal army of 12,000, making Abdal pay an indemnity of one million rupees. During the half century of Aurangzeb's reign, Kashmir had twelve Mughal governors. Ibrahim Khan (r. 1678-85) was dismissed after his protection of Shi'a relatives caused a brief civil war with the Sunnis.

In Tibet after Gedun Gyatso died at the Drepung monastery in 1542, Sonam Gyatso (1543-88) was accepted as his reincarnation. The Gelugpa sect was the main rival of the Karmapas. After nine years of suppression by the Tsang governor, Drepung monks attacked Karmapa military camps in 1546. Sonam Gyatso was invited to Nedong by the Gongma in 1559 and became the ruler's personal teacher. The next year Sonam Gyatso mediated a dispute between the Gelugpa and the Kagyupa in Lhasa that local lamas had failed to solve. Sonam Gyatso traveled to Mongolia and converted the leading prince Altan Khan of the Tumed Mongols in 1578. Altan Khan gave him the title Tal (Dalai) meaning "Ocean" to imply the depth of his learning. Alta Khan proclaimed that he had changed an ocean of blood into an ocean of milk, and he banned the Mongols' human and animal sacrifices for the deceased. Sonam Gyatso was the third Dalai Lama, and in 1580 he founded the Lithang monastery in Kham. He visited Dhuring Khan in 1585 and died on his way back to Tibet three years later. Altan Khan's great-grandson was accepted as the fourth Dalai Lama, Yonten Gyatso, in 1601. He studied under the Tashilhunpo lama Lozang Chosgyan, who was given the title Panchen Lama, which means "great scholar." In 1605 the Tsang chief Karma Tensung Wangpo attacked Lhasa and expelled the Mongols who had escorted the Dalai Lama into Tibet. The Dalai Lama visited the Choskhorgyal monastery and was also welcomed by others, but attendants blocked a meeting with the Karmapa red-hats. Karma Tensung died in 1611 and was succeeded by his son Karma Phuntsok Namgyal, who was also denied an audience with the Dalai Lama. The fourth Dalai Lama died at Drepung in 1617, and the next year Karma Phuntsok Namgyal attacked Lhasa. Several Gelugpa monasteries in U were forced to convert to the Karmapa sect. The late Dalai Lama's attendant Sonam Chospel found a child he believed was the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, and he was named Ngawang Lozang Gyatso. Some Mongol troops returned to Tibet disguised as pilgrims in 1619 and the next year killed Tsang troops in a surprise attack on their camp. They agreed to leave Tibet when two conditions were met: the Tsang military camps were abolished, and the monasteries that had been forced to convert were restored as Gelugpa. After Phuntsok Namgyal died in 1622, two officials governed well for his sixteen-year-old son Karma Tenkyong, allowing the fifth Dalai Lama to reveal himself. Two Portuguese Jesuits arrived at Shigatse in 1627; but their mission had little success, and they left in 1632. In 1635 Karma Tenkyong persuaded the Chogthu Mongols led by prince Arsalang to invade Tibet with 10,000 men to eliminate the Gelugpa sect. Qoshot Mongol chief Gushri Khan learned of this and intervened. Arsalang then went with his personal attendants and prostrated himself before the fifth Dalai Lama. When Arsalang's father learned of this, he sent agents who assassinated his son. Gushri Khan gathered a Mongol army and attacked Chogthu camps in 1637, and the next year he came with pilgrims to the Dalai Lama for religious instruction. Gushri Khan intercepted a letter from Karma Tenkyong saying he approved of religious freedom for all except the Gelugpa. In 1639 the Dalai Lama advised Gushri Khan not to attack, but his chief attendant Sonam Chospel disagreed and sent a message approving of Gushri's planned invasion. Sonam Chospel continued to support the war efforts of Gushri Khan until Shigatse was captured in 1642. Karma Tenkyong was imprisoned; Sonam Chospel was appointed Desi (prime minister), and the Dalai Lama proclaimed Lhasa the capital of Tibet. Gushri Khan and Sonam Chospel suppressed an uprising, killing 7,000 Kongpo troops; but after Karma Tenkyong was executed, the revolt ended. The fifth Dalai Lama founded the building of the Potala palace in 1645. The Tibetans suffered a minor defeat by the Bhutanese in 1647. The next year several Kagyupa monasteries were forced to convert to the Gelugpa sect, and a portion of taxes were designated to support monasteries. The Dalai Lama visited the Chinese emperor in 1653 and was well received. Gushri proclaimed himself king; but after he died in 1655, his successors exerted little power. The fifth Dalai Lama thus became an independent ruler, and he tried to protect the Qoshot and Khalka tribes from the Dzungar

Mongols. After Lozang Chosgyan died in 1662, the Dalai Lama recognized a boy as his reincarnation and the second Panchen Lama. A revolt broke out in eastern Kham, and twenty rebels were going to be executed; but the Dalai Lama changed the sentences to life imprisonment. He wrote to the Chinese emperor that Tibetan troops could not fight well in China because of the difference in climate. In 1676 Tibetan troops were sent to force invading Bhutanese out of Sikkim. The Dalai Lama sent Tibetan and Mongol troops to make the Ladakhis stop harassing the Gelugpa monasteries. He did much to unify Tibet and establish consistent and just taxation. The fifth Dalai Lama also instilled religious discipline and promoted literary works until he died in 1682. The scholar Sangy Gyatso, possibly the son of the fifth Dalai Lama, had become Desi in 1679. He concealed the Dalai Lama's death for fourteen years while he fulfilled his administrative functions. After the Potala palace was completed in 1695, Sangy announced the Dalai Lama had died in 1682. The sixth Dalai Lama was enthroned as Tsangyang Gyatso in 1697; but he refused to take the vows of a monk and spent time drinking and with girls. He suspected the Desi of instigating an assassination attempt that failed and forced Sangy to resign in 1703. However, the new Desi was his son Ngawang Rinchen, and Sangy still had much influence. Gushri Khan's grandson Lhazang Khan became Qoshot chief in 1697 and did not like the sixth Dalai Lama's behavior. Lhazang Khan was marching a Mongol army toward Lhasa in 1705 when representatives of the three large monasteries mediated the conflict. The ex-Desi was to leave Lhasa, and Lhazang Khan would return to Kokonor; but after Sangy was captured and executed, Lhazang Khan entered Lhasa and took control of the government. The sixth Dalai Lama was deposed and escorted into exile. Angry Tibetans objected; but Tsangyang himself calmed them down until they learned that he had died by Kokonor Lake. Lhazang declared that he was not the true sixth Dalai Lama and appointed 25-yearold Ngawang Yeshe Gyatso, probably his son, as the authentic sixth Dalai Lama; but Tibetans did not recognize him and found a child in a place indicated by Tsangyang's poetry. Tibet and Nepal 1707-1818

Southern India 1526-1707

Independent South India 1329-1526 Krishna Deva Raya chose his half-brother Achyuta Deva Raya as his successor in Vijayanagara; but he was challenged by Krishna Deva's son-in-law Rama Raya and took him as a partner in his administration. A rebellion in the south was suppressed, and then Achyuta invaded Bijapur and recovered Raichur. Rama Raya appointed his friends and relatives, took 3,000 Muslim soldiers into his service, and in 1535 put Achyuta in prison, proclaiming himself king. Southern nobles rebelled against Rama Raya. While he was fighting them, the officer holding Achyuta restored him to the throne and became his prime minister; but he was murdered by Salakaraju Tirumala, who governed for his brother-in-law Achyuta. Ibrahim 'Adil Shah of Bijapur invaded Vijayanagara and got Achyuta and Rama Raya to agree before returning to his now independent kingdom. After Achyuta Raya died in 1542, his son Venkata I succeeded; but he was strangled by his brother Tirumala I, who massacred the royal family to seize the throne. This stimulated Rama Raya to take control in the name of Sadashiva. Rama Raya tried to revive Vijayanagara power but intervened in the quarrels of the Deccan sultanate. In 1552 Rama Raya was crowned king and employed Muslim mercenaries to fight and gain intelligence. He was a Vaisnava but tolerated all religions. Rama Raya made a commercial treaty with the Portuguese in 1547; but he attacked them in 1558 at San Thom and Goa. The same year Vijayanagara joined Deccan allies Bijapur, Bidar, and Golconda in invading Ahmadnagar. This alienated many in the Deccan, and they inflicted a devastating defeat on the Vijayanagara army in 1565. Rama Raya was killed; the

city of Vijayanagara was sacked of its wealth as Muslims destroyed its great Hindu temple. Armed competition between the Telegu houses prevented the restoring of the royal authority. However, Rama Raya's brother Tirumala divided Vijayanagara into three parts - the Telegu, the Karnataka, and Tamil, governed by his three sons. Tirumala was crowned in 1570 but soon abdicated to his son Sri Ranga (r. 1572-85) and retired to a religious life. Invasions by Bijapur and Golconda reduced his territory. However, Venkata II (r. 1586-1614) reconquered these areas and subdued the nobles trying to be independent. In 1614 a war of succession began that lasted until Ramadevaraya (r. 1618-30) gained the Vijayanagara throne. He faced numerous rebellions, and the reign of Venkata III (r. 1630-41) was also marred by a civil war for five years. He was opposed by his nephew Sriranga III (r. 1642-49), who formed an alliance with the Bijapur sultan and recovered the Udayagiri fort that Golconda had seized. He defeated the Golconda until they got Bijapur to take their side. In the south the Nayaks united and rebelled. Mughal emperor Shah Jahan urged the sultans to partition the empire of Karnataka and annex Vijayanagara. Mustafa Khan led the Bijapur army from the north, and the Nayaks advanced from the south, while Golconda besieged the Udayagiri fort in the east. Sriranga was trapped and defeated, retreating into the Vellore fort. The Bijapur army went on to conquer the Nayak kingdoms of Jinji and Tanjore. In 1649 Sriranga fled to Mysore, marking the end of the Vijayanagara empire. The Maratha country in the western Deccan was protected by mountain ranges, but its poor agricultural resources stimulated self-reliance, courage, simplicity, and social equality. Its Hindu religious reformers included Ekanatha, Tukaram, Ramdas, and Vaman Pandit. Shivaji's guru Ramdas Samarth taught social reform and spiritual regeneration through his schools and book Dasabodha. While Shivaji Bhonsla (1627-80) was a child and was raised by his mother, his father Shahji struggled to govern part of Nizam Shah; but he was defeated by the Mughals in 1636. He was given a position and summoned to the Bijapur court in 1643, when his son Shivaji refused to bow. After Bijapur sultan Muhammad Adil Shah became ill in 1646, Shivaji began taking over forts and became independent in the western Deccan. The death of Shivaji's influential mother in 1647 freed him to use force, bribery, and treachery to take over more forts. Shahji helped Bijapur's Muhammad 'Adil Shah (r. 1627-56) conquer the Vijayanagara empire; but he was arrested by the Bijapuri commander Mustafa in 1648, and the conditions of his release the next year persuaded his son Shivaji to be cooperative through 1655. Then Shivaji sent an agent to assassinate the ruler of Javli and took it over. After Muhammad 'Adil Shah died in November 1656, Prince Aurangzeb invaded. In 1657 Shivaji raided Mughal districts in Ahmadnagar and looted the city of Junnar. In 1659 Bijapur's 'Ali Adil Shah II (r. 1656-72) sent Afzal Khan, who tried to strangle Shivaji in his tent but was killed by Shivaji in the struggle; Shivaji's Maratha troops then slaughtered the Bijapur soldiers. By the 1660s Shivaji was paying 10,000 cavalry and 50,000 infantry, and he procured guns, naval supplies, and technical advice from the Portuguese and British. In 1660 Deccan governor Shaista Khan had difficulty occupying only one of Shivaji's forts at Puna. Shivaji led a night raid on Puna in 1663, wounding Shaista Khan and killing his son and several of his wives. Shaista Khan was replaced by Muazzam. In January 1664 Shivaji raided the important port of Surat, and his troops carried off valuables worth ten million rupees. Then Shivaji's navy captured ships going to Mecca and extorted ransoms from the pilgrims. His cavalry even raided the suburbs of the Deccan capital at Aurangabad. Aurangzeb sent his best general Jai Singh to assemble a large army at Puna in 1665. They attacked the hill fortress of Purandhar and besieged the Marathas for two months. Guided by a dream not to fight a Hindu prince, Shivaji negotiated a treaty, surrendering 23 fortresses while retaining a dozen; he agreed to be a Mughal vassal and pay tribute, and his son Shambhaji was given a high rank at court. Shivaji visited Aurangzeb's court at Agra in 1666; when he reacted to

being snubbed, he was detained in May but three months later escaped with his son in baskets. Shivaji got along with Governor Muazzam and made peace with Bijapur and Golconda. After spending twenty million rupees from the imperial treasury during two years of war in Bijapur, Aurangzeb made peace with Shivaji and even proclaimed him a raja in 1668; but the Emperor's orders to destroy Hindu temples and schools the next year provoked renewed rebellion. In 1670 Shivaji began recovering his forts and with 15,000 men plundered Surat of another 6.5 million rupees in goods, depressing the trade of the port. In 1672 the rulers of Bijapur and Golconda died, and the next year Shivaji recaptured Panhala from Bijapur and Satara. In 1674 Shivaji crowned himself a Hindu monarch in a ceremony that cost five million rupees. Shivaji ruled autocratically but chose his ministers by merit. He had eight ministers, who were all military commanders except the religious minister and chief judge. He divided his kingdom into provinces and appointed viceroys with eight ministers each. Taxes were set at 30% of the produce in cash or kind, but this was later raised to 40%. Each fort was under three officers of equal status. Shivaji commanded that no female was to accompany the army, and any soldier violating this could be beheaded. Even in battle he insisted that women, non-combatants, and mosques be respected, and he treated prisoners honorably. He practiced religious toleration and gave captured Qur'ans to his Muslim friends. He made a truce with the Mughal governor of the Deccan while forming a defensive alliance with Golconda against the Mughals. It took him more than a year to take over the Bijapur Karnatak bastions at Jinji and Vellore. In 1678 Shivaji decided to divide his kingdom between his two sons Shambhaji and Rajaram at his death. His oldest son Shambhaji was disappointed, and after being disgraced for raping a prominent Brahmin woman, he escaped to form an alliance with Deccan governor Dilir Khan. Aurangzeb made Shambhaji a raja with a very high rank and large income. However, after fighting for the Mughals for a year, Shambhaji returned to the Bhonsla court. Meanwhile Shivaji wrote letters to Aurangzeb complaining about jiziya taxes imposed on Hindus in 1679 and asking for equality. He wrote to Aurangzeb, "Islam and Hinduism are only different pigments used by the Divine Painter to picture the human species."1 Shivaji died of fever in March 1680, and his oldest wife Sorya Bai proclaimed her son Rajaram king. Shambhaji deposed him without harming him but executed Rajaram's mother and some two hundred of her followers. Shambhaji continued the raiding; but, unlike his father, he allowed raping with the plundering. Extorted zamindars (landlords) had to pay 25% of their revenue. After Prince Akbar proclaimed himself emperor in January 1681, Shambhaji with 20,000 horsemen invaded Khandesh and plundered prosperous Burhanpur. Akbar fled, and Shambhaji avoided fighting the Mughal army. He bombarded the Siddis at Janjira in 1682 and went to war against the Portuguese the next year, forcing the Goa viceroy to retreat from a siege at Phonda in October; but Akbar mediated a peace between Shambhaji and the Portuguese in January 1684. Four months later Shambhaji made a treaty with the English at Bombay. While the Mughals were besieging Bijapur in 1685, a Jat zamindar also named Rajaram led an uprising and plundered traffic on the royal road to Agra. In 1687 Rajaram killed the Mughal commander Uighur Khan, and Aurangzeb sent his grandson Bidar Bakht; but the Jats avoided him and looted Akbar's tomb at Sikandra. Finally the imperial troops captured the Jat strongholds at Sinsini and Soghor, suppressing the revolt by 1691. Shambhaji and his Brahmin chief minister Kavi-Kulash were captured in 1688, tried by the 'ulama, tortured, and brutally killed. Rajaram claimed the throne but was forced to escape disguised as a hermit. He adopted the strategy of dispersing the royal family and continuous guerrilla warfare. The Marathas began persecuting those who accepted Aurangzeb's rewards. Prince Shahu and three

hundred of Shivaji's other relatives were captured and imprisoned the next year, as Maratha was annexed by the Mughal empire. Maratha raids plundered Hyderabad until 1692 when they turned their attention to the siege at Jinji, which did not fall to the Mughals until 1698. The best Maratha guerrilla warrior Santaji Ghorpade had quarreled with Rajaram and was killed in 1696. Rajaram escaped to Satara in 1698 and then led a Maratha army into Khandesh and Berar. Aurangzeb sent prince Bidar Bakht with a large army that defeated the Marathas near Ahmadnagar. Rajaram fled again to the Singuharh fort, where he died of illness in 1700. News of this caused the commander Subhanji at Satara to surrender and serve the Mughals. Shambhaji's widowed queen Yesu Bai ruled as regent for her four-year-old son Shambhaji II and offered to submit if her son were given a high rank. In the next five years eleven Maratha strongholds fell to the imperial armies, but in 1702 a Maratha army of 50,000 attacked and looted Hyderabad. Amid war, drought, famine, and an epidemic, the long-distance caravans ceased for two years. In 1706 the Marathas raided Gujarat and sacked Baroda, and their large army even threatened the Emperor's camp at Ahmadnagar. On the northern tip of Sri Lanka, Jaffna king Cankili (r. 1519-61) feared the spread of Christianity from the Mannar coast, and he forced his subjects to renounce the new religion, executing 600 who refused. Madura's Visvanatha Nayaka (r. 1529-64) attacked the Christian settlements in 1560. Cankili's successor Puviraja Pandaram (r. 1561-70) was overthrown by Periyapulle (r. 1570-82) with help from the Portuguese; but Puviraja Pandaram came back to rule (1582-91) and attacked the Portuguese at Mannar. He was killed when the Portuguese led by Andre Furtado de Mendoa invaded Jaffna and installed Ethirimanna Cinkam (r. 1591-1615), who promised to favor Christianity. When he died, his nephew Cankili Kumara killed all the princes except the three-yearold heir and acted as regent, telling the Portuguese he would not aid the rebels. However, in 1618 a rebellion against him led by Christians caused him to get troops from Madura's Raghunatha Nayaka (r. 1600-34). The next year a Portuguese expedition led by Filipe de Oliveira came from Colombo and annexed Jaffna, capturing Cankili. By 1621 Ranunatha Nayaka's resistance was quelled. De Oliveira raised taxes to pay for his army and promoted Christian missionary efforts. Hindus, resenting the destruction of their temples, joined a force from Kandy in 1628; but the Portuguese, after retreating into their fort, defeated them. The Portuguese used Sinhalese troops to guard this Tamil kingdom. The Portuguese built their first fort in Sri Lanka at Colombo in 1519 and were resented by the Muslim traders. Bhuvanekabahu (r. 1521-51) came to terms with the Portuguese; their fort was dismantled in 1524, and two years later they persuaded the king to expel the Muslim merchants. In 1533 Bhuvanekabahu agreed to increase the cinnamon given to the Portuguese as tribute to 415,000 pounds; but the Portuguese had to buy all the cinnamon in the royal storehouses. Mayadunne (r. 1521-81) favored the Muslim traders, and his Sitavaka kingdom fought two wars with Kotte, which was aided by the Portuguese. In 1540 the Portuguese made Bhuvanekabahu designate his grandson Dharmapala as his heir, instead of his brother Mayadunne. Franciscans tried to convert Bhuvanekabahu, but he refused to change his religion. In 1545 Kotte and Sitavaka combined to defeat Udarata before Kandy's Jayavira Bandara (r. 1521-51) could get help from the Portuguese. Then Sitavaka forced Kandy to expel the Portuguese, who helped Kotte defeat Sitavaka in 1550. Bhuvanekabahu was shot dead by a Portuguese soldier, but the Portuguese claimed it was an accident. Mayadunne proclaimed himself king of Kotte; but the Portuguese favored Dharmapala, who was educated by Franciscans. Using a large army, they defeated Sitavaka, seized the treasury at Kotte, put Dharmapala (r. 1551-97) on the throne, and rebuilt the fort at Colombo. The Portuguese also supported Karaliyadde Bandara (r. 1552-81) as he overthrew his Kandyan father Jayavira, who fled to Sitavaka. Dharmapala's father Vidiye Bandara escaped from prison in 1553 and raised antiPortuguese forces; he was aided by Karaliyadde, but in 1555 Mayadunne helped the Portuguese

defeat them, Sitivaka gaining most of the spoils. In 1557 Dharmapala converted to Catholicism, and he confiscated temple lands, giving them to Franciscans. Monks in Kotte rioted, and thirty were executed. The Kotte army declined; but Karaliyadde became a Christian and kept Sitavaka forces from capturing the capital in 1563. Two years later the Portuguese abandoned Kotte by retreating to Colombo, letting Sitavaka control the cinnamon. Sitavaka attacked Kandy in 1574, provoking the Portuguese to ravage the southwest coast with their navy. Mayadunne was succeeded by his son, the effective general Rajasimha (r. 1581-93), who ended his two-year siege of Colombo. He raised taxes, defeated Kandy in 1581, and controlled most of Sri Lanka. Like the Portuguese, Rajasimha kept cinnamon prices high by burning excess stocks. Colombo was besieged again for three years until Kandy revolted in 1590. Seven Korales also rebelled, and Rajasimha withdrew his forces from Udarata. When two of his commanders gave up stockades to the Portuguese, Rajasimha had them beheaded. After failing to quell the revolt in Udarata, Rajasimha died of an infected wound in 1593. The Portuguese, assisted by a former Sitavaka general, took over Sitavaka. In 1595 Colombo was given a private monopoly on the export of cinnamon. Dharmapala died in 1597, leaving his throne to the king of Portugal. Konappu Bandara ruled Kandy as Vimala Dharma Suriya (r. 1592-1604); but he was resented by Catholics because he had reverted to Buddhism. Sinhalese rebellions were put down in 1594 and again in 1603 after the Portuguese invaded Kandy. Nikapitiye Bandara claimed to be the grandson of Rajasimha and led a revolt in 1616; he had followers in the Seven Korales. An uprising in the southern area of Kotte gained strength when Kandy king Senerath (r. 1604-35) sent Kuruwita Rala; but Senerath changed his mind and made a treaty with the Portuguese in 1617. Kuruwita Rala asked the Sitavaka prince Mayadunne of Denwaka to be the leader, and it took three years for the combined forces of Kandy and the Portuguese to subdue them. The Portuguese feared the Dutch trade and violated the treaty by building forts at Trincomalee in 1623 and Batticaloa in 1628, the latter causing a war with Kandy, which the Portuguese invaded twice. The Kandyan attempt to besiege Colombo in 1630 failed the next year, and the 1633 treaty let the Portuguese keep the forts. Senerath was succeeded by his son Rajasimha II (r. 1635-87); but Portuguese support for his political enemies caused him to appeal to the Dutch in 1636. The Portuguese set Kandy on fire but were surrounded and annihilated at Gannoruwa two years later; only 33 out of 700 Portuguese survived as prisoners, and nearly half their auxiliaries were killed while the rest fled. The Dutch made a treaty to defend Rajasimha in exchange for expenses and a monopoly on the cinnamon trade. The Dutch returned to Kandy the Trincomalee and Batticoloa forts they seized from the Portuguese in 1638, but they kept the Galle and Negombo forts they took in 1640 to protect the cinnamon peeling areas. The Dutch kept them, because Rajasimha could not pay the expenses the Dutch had exaggerated. A seven-year truce between the Dutch and Portuguese ended in 1652, and Rajasimha helped the Dutch push the Portuguese out as they conquered Colombo in 1656 and Jaffna in 1658. Using Sri Lanka as a base, the Dutch were able to drive the Portuguese off the Malabar coast of India by 1663. The wars of the 16th century and early 17th century caused prosperity and population in Sri Lanka to decline, though cinnamon production greatly increased in the 17th century. The Portuguese Christians were hated as invaders and destroyers of temples; but social acceptance of polygamy and polyandry decreased. Rycloff Van Goens was the Dutch governor of Sri Lanka and aimed to project Dutch power from there. In 1659 the Dutch seized Kalpitiya; in 1665 they moved into Sabaragamuwa; and by 1667 they had occupied the Four Korales. They reoccupied the Trincomalee and Batticaloa forts, and in 1670 they announced their monopoly on the export of elephants, areca nuts, and pearls, and on the importation of cotton goods, pepper, and minerals. Rising prices caused shortages in food and clothing for many, and smuggling increased. The Kandyans tried to form an alliance with the

French; but they refused to fight the Dutch and were driven off in 1672. Sporadic uprisings became worse by 1675, and the Dutch tried to reduce military expenses by promising peace and flattering the elderly Rajasimha. Laurens Pyl became Dutch governor in 1681 and used more restraint. The main Dutch concern was protecting their monopoly on cinnamon. Kandyans under Vimala Dharma Suriya II (r. 1687-1707) tried to participate in trade with India after 1694, but the Dutch reimposed tight control in 1703.

European Trade with Mughal India

Viceroy Nuno da Cunha (r. 1529-38) established Portuguese settlements on the east coast of India near Madras and at Hughli in Bengal. Goa on the west coast became the capital of Portuguese India in 1530. Diu in Kathiawar was captured in 1535 and was defended against a Turkish navy and the Gujarat sultan three years later and against Gujarat again in 1546. Joao de Castro (r. 1545-48) defeated Bijapur forces attacking Goa, but in 1546 the Turks took the Persian Gulf port of Basra. So many private ships were violating the King's monopoly that the Portuguese began licensing them so that they could collect customs duties from them. Trading ships were required to have a pass called a cartaz. Ships without it could have their goods confiscated and their crews killed. Modern historian R. S. Whiteway considered the Portuguese governors after Castro superstitious, corrupt, and lazy. Portuguese envoys to Constantinople turned down a proposal to allow Turks in the Indian Ocean, though they offered to pay Portuguese duties and give them access to all Red Sea ports with factories in Basra, Cairo, and Alexandria. The Portuguese lost a fort near Calicut in a land battle in 1570. Eventually the Portuguese provided protective ships called cafilas for large fleets of small boats. The Portuguese also tried to control the horse trade from Arabia and Persia. In 1574 the Church forced buyers to come to Goa for horses, because a Papal Bull had forbidden selling them to infidels. Although Muslims were killed, captured Portuguese were often ransomed. After El-Ksar el-Kehir in 1578 several Portuguese families were nearly bankrupted buying back their relatives. After 1540 the Portuguese settlements were dominated by the Catholic priests. That year all temples in Goa were ordered destroyed, and the next year their lands were turned over to the priests. Goa had been given a bishop in 1538 and was declared an archbishopric in 1557. Jesuits led by Francis Xavier arrived in 1542 and converted thousands of fishermen. The Jesuits brought a printing press in 1556. By 1560 the Inquisition was established and began burning unbelievers and apostates. Nestorian Christians were so persecuted that they preferred to trade their pepper with Muslims. In 1561 Catholics in Sri Lanka captured the tooth believed to be the Buddha's. Although the king of Pegu offered more than 300,000 cruzados and a perpetual supply of rice for Melaka, the viceroy D. Constantino de Bragana had the tooth burned, ground up, and scattered at sea. A synod at Diamper in 1599 tried to suppress the Syrian Christianity of Malabar. The Catholics were so hated by the Hindus that many considered converts as losing caste but did not treat Muslim converts that way. By 1600 there were about 175,000 Christians in India, but most of these were low-caste fishers and pearl divers. In 1595 a Dutch fleet defied the Portuguese maritime empire by rounding the Cape of Good Hope. They formed the Dutch United East India Company in 1602, and the next year they blockaded Goa. The king of Arakan (in Burma) killed 6,000 of the hated Portuguese in 1607. The Dutch established a fortified settlement on the east coast north of Madras in 1610. On the west coast of India an English squadron led by David Middleton defeated the Portuguese fleet off Bombay in 1611 and put a factory at Surat the next year. The British navy decisively defeated the Portuguese off Swally in 1615. The English also established factories at Ahmadabad, Burhanpur, and Agra. English ambassador Thomas Roe in 1618 got Emperor Jahangir to grant trade with exemption from inland

tolls. The Mughals destroyed the settlement at Hughli in 1632, imprisoning more than a thousand Portuguese; but the same year the Golconda sultan granted free trade from its ports. In 1639 Francis Day got the lease from the declining Vijayanagara empire to build Fort St. George at Madras. In 1651 the English got permission to build a factory at Hughli. When Shivaji's Marathas sacked Surat in 1664, English president Oxenden held out in the governor's castle and was honored by Aurangzeb. The French fortified Pondicherry, and in 1672 they occupied San Thom near Madras. In 1661 the Portuguese, as part of a dowry in the marriage of England's Charles II, gave him Bombay. Gerald Aungier, as president of Surat and governor of Bombay (1669-77), established laws, a police force, a militia, and fortified the port for the use of merchants of all classes and castes. Aungier granted concessions to end the first mutiny at Bombay in 1674. The men complained they had not been paid in a month and wanted to be paid in rupees. The leader of the mutiny was court martialed and executed. When the Mughals and Marathas clashed in Bombay harbor in 1679, the English remained neutral. In 1682 John Child became president of Surat and governor of Bombay. The next year London ordered him to cut costs, and these provoked Kegwig's rebellion that took over a ship with 50,000 pounds in gold. Kegwig governed Bombay for a year and was pardoned when the gold was returned. The export of cotton cloth by India increased sixfold from 1664 to 1684 by trade with the English and Dutch east India companies, but after 1689 the saturated market began declining. In exchange India imported mostly precious metals from the new world; between 1681 and 1685 the British East India Company exported 240,000 kg of silver and 7,000 kg of gold to Mughal India. An English colony on the island of St. Helena provided vegetables and fresh fruit for English sailors, but punishments of rebellion were harsh. When protestors demanded the release of an innocent prisoner in 1684, seventeen of them were killed or wounded; then nineteen were condemned to death. Conflict escalated in October 1686 when Hughli governor Job Charnock reacted to the abuse of three English soldiers with reprisals that spiked guns, captured a ship, and burned houses, killing sixty while only one Englishman died. In negotiations Charnock demanded an indemnity of 6.6 million rupees. When 700 cavalry attacked the island, Charnock moved back to the fortification at Sutanati, which Company director and captain William Heath later named Calcutta. Others went to Madras, where Governor Elihu Yale (1687-92) helped the settlement get a corporation, a mayor, and aldermen. Shaista Khan proposed that the English help them fight Arakan pirates. In 1689 Company directors approved the settlement of Sutanati, and Charnock established a factory there the next year. During the Mughal-English war 1688-90, the English at Surat captured at least 14 ships; yet all but the castle was lost at Bombay, and they had to agree to restore all plundered goods and ships and pay Aurangzeb an indemnity. War and plague reduced more than 700 English at Bombay to sixty. In 1691 Bengal governor Ibrahim Khan exempted the English from customs duties for 3,000 rupees a year. After the English revolution of 1688, the Whig party supported free trade and what the monopolists of the Company called "interlopers." In 1693 Josiah Child used 80,000 pounds in bribes to get the Company a new charter from the Privy Council, and the next year the House of Commons passed a law allowing equal access to trade. In 1697 the Mughal empire allowed the English to defend themselves against the Afghan rulers of Bengal, and the next year they granted them land at Calcutta for collecting taxes. That year the Whig party in the House of Commons started a new company. Two million pounds were raised in two days, but they went into the Exchequer for the charter. In 1701 Emperor Aurangzeb decreed the cessation of all European trade and the seizure of their goods because they were not protecting Indian shipping. The next year the two companies decided to merge, and this was accomplished in 1708.

Tulsidas and Maharashtra Mystics

The Bhakti movement of religious devotion spread as one of its greatest proponents Shankaradeva was born in the mid-15th century in Assam. He was a scholar, poet, painter, composer, musician, playwright, actor, dancer, and choreographer; he interpreted the Bhagavata Purana and preached recitation of the name of Krishna. Shankaradeva's chief disciple Madhavadeva promoted Vaishnavism in his Namaghosha and wrote five devotional plays. Tulsidas was born about 1532, probably at Rajapur in Uttar Pradesh, and he died in 1623. His parents abandoned him, and the child had to beg from door to door until he was adopted by the Ramanandi sadhu Narahari, sixth in the line of spiritual descent from Ramananda. Tulsidas moved to Benares, where he spent most of his life. Shesasanatana-ji taught him the Vedas, Vedangas, Darshanas, Itihasas, and Puranas. After fifteen years of study Tulsidas returned to Rajapur but could find no one from his family. He married Ratnavali, but their son died in infancy. He was devoted to his wife and followed her when she went to visit her parents, crossing a river. She reprimanded him for following her, saying that if he had devoted the love he had for her to the Lord Rama, he would not have to worry about rebirth. So he went back to Benares and became an ascetic votary of Rama. Tulsidas began his poetic masterpiece Ramacaritamanasa in March 1574. He dreamed that Shiva commanded him to write it in the vernacular Awadhi Hindi. He also wrote many other devotional poems about Rama and Krishna. Valmiki's epic Ramayana was the basis for many poems, but Tulsidas was also influenced by devotional poems such as the Adhyatma Ramayana of the 14th century. After quarreling with the Vairagis of Ayodhya, he left that city to return to Benares, where he completed Ramacaritamanasa in less than three years. Tulsidas completed the transformation of Rama from an epic hero to the divine incarnation of Vishnu by omitting incidents of questionable moral character. Legends are told to account for the birth of Ravan in a demonic family. Rama's wife Sita is also presented as being pure of stain by having her enter the fire before she is seized by Ravan. Rama explains that the only purpose of his accusation was to prove her innocence publicly. She is considered the incarnation of Lakshmi. This poem presents the good news of salvation to the Vaisnavas, going beyond the chivalrous hero to offer complete liberation from an evil era to those from any caste who have faith, love, and adoration for the Lord Rama. Tulsidas is believed to have begun the tradition of presenting annual performances of Ram Lila in the towns of north India played in mime as the poem is chanted, the performance taking three weeks. Tulsidas upheld the caste system, suggesting in his poetry that a Brahmin should be revered even if he is not good, and Sudras should not be respected no matter how virtuous and learned they may be. He has also been criticized for his opinions about women as inherently impure and as only being valuable for serving their husbands and raising their children faithfully. Ekanatha (1533-99) was a very literate mystic who edited the Jnanesvari of Jnanadeva (1271-95). He wrote voluminous spiritual literature and composed didactic Abhangas extolling the spiritual life while warning against others' women and wealth. In his ethics he elucidated the ideas of Jnanadeva from the Bhagavad-Gita, and he especially recommended mental purity, internal penance, retirement, and tolerating the defects and slanders of others. Ekanatha advised those in the world to fulfill their duties. He went beyond devotion (bhakti) and taught that discriminating between the real and unreal is important knowledge. The mind can be purified by discharging duties and constant prayer to God while not being attached to worldly objects. Tukaram (1608-49) was born into a Sudra family, but his father inherited a revenue-collecting office and was a trader with a fine farm in Dehu. His parents died while he was a youth, and during the famine of 1629 he lost his first wife and children; he also became bankrupt and lost his position

as well as his farm. Though criticized by his second wife for not earning a living, Tukaram became a reclusive mystic. In a dream the saintly poet Namadeva (1270-1350) told him to write poetry to the deity Vitthal (Vishnu). Tuka repaired the ancestral shrine to Vitthal and wrote several thousand poems, mostly in the Abhanga metric. He chanted the "Rama Krishna Hari" mantram he received in an initiatory dream with Babaji, finding comfort from his calamities in the name of God. Some of his poems were advice to his angry wife. She said that for the sake of God, her husband had entered into relationship with the whole world. Tukaram was most influenced by the mystics Jnanadeva, Kabir, Ramananda, and Ekanatha. He described the miserable conditions of Hindus suffering under Mughal domination and believed that misery would not disappear without heroism. Some brahmins objected to this Sudra writing poetry in Marathi, and they threw his poems into a river. Tukaram went on a fast to death, but after thirteen days the poems were found undamaged. Ramesvarbhatta hated Tukaram but eventually became his disciple. Like Ekanatha, Tuka advised spiritual aspirants to avoid the wives and wealth of others. He also warned against flattery, egoism of the body, and forgetting God. He recommended meditating on God and telling the truth. He believed a spiritual teacher should regard his disciples as gods and expect only that they will serve God. Tukaram disappeared in 1649, and his body was never found. Ramdas Samarth (1608-81) ran away from home rather than be married at the age of twelve. He practiced religious austerity at Takali for twelve years, and in a vision he was initiated by Rama. After 1632 he spent twelve years traveling. He may have met Tukaram, and it was reported that he initiated Shivaji in 1649. After Shivaji was crowned in 1674, he spent six weeks living with Ramdas at Sajjanagada, using much money to feed the poor. Ramdas advised the Hindu revolutionary to adorn his body, not with clothes and ornaments, but with shrewdness and wisdom. He lamented the lack of intellect in many Brahmins under the Mughal domination, and he urged them to become true Brahmins with supremacy in worldly and spiritual matters. He believed that those who help to re-establish the sovereignty of God are incarnations of God. Ramdas wrote his major poem Dasabodha in 1659. He argued that self-knowledge is more powerful than religious vows or charities or yoga or pilgrimages. The eternal form of God is the knower. Ramdas described four levels of worship from images to incarnations to the self and finally to the absolute God, who is the inner self and the real doer. A saint is always looking at this self and does not care about the worldly life but teaches knowledge of the self. A friend of God is bound in God's love and behaves only in ways that would be approved by God so that the friendship between them grows. He suggested that the ideal sage alternates meditation on God with active work. Ultimately God does all things.

Sikhs 1539-1708
Nanak and Sikhism Instead of choosing one of his two sons, Nanak, before he died in 1539, selected Angad to be the second Guru. Angad died in 1552, and Amar Das succeeded him. Nanak's son Sri Chand had renounced the world, and his disciples practiced celibacy and austerity. Amar Das declared that the reclusive followers of Sri Chand called Udasis were separate from the active and domestic followers of Nanak's teachings who were called Sikhs, meaning "disciples." Amar Das encouraged the disciples to be physically fit and denounced the use of intoxicants. In his congregations women did not observe purdah, and he appointed three women to be preachers. He urged monogamy and encouraged widow remarriage; he discouraged women from beating their breasts in mourning a relative. Amar Das warned devotees against avarice, selfishness, falsehood, greed, hypocrisy, and worldly desires. When Muslims broke the earthen pitchers of Sikhs drawing water from a common

well, the Guru advised against taking revenge. Instead they spent three years digging a well, which was completed in 1559. Amar Das died in 1574 and chose his son-in-law Ram Das to succeed him. He had a reservoir dug at a place that became Amritsar. The Sikh religion did not grow rapidly. When Ram Das died in 1581, the number of Sikhs had only doubled in the 42 years since Nanak's death. The guru after Ram Das was his eighteen-year-old son Arjun. He converted the religious organization into a government by sending out agents to collect taxes (10% of income) instead of merely accepting contributions. These agents were called masands, meaning "nobles," and they were allowed to keep a portion of what they received. Guru Arjun gave the masands turbans and robes of honor. The money was used for building, and Arjun began living in aristocratic style at Amritsar. He encouraged Sikhs to take up commerce as well as agriculture, and some became rich trading horses, timber, or iron; others became carpenters and masons. The famous Emperor Akbar visited Guru Arjun in 1598. Guru Arjun collected the writings of his predecessors with his own into the Adi Granth, meaning "Original Book." Most of the hymns were by the gurus, but a few were by other saints, such as Nam Dev, Kabir, and Farid. Use of these devotional hymns helped develop greater understanding of the Sikh teachings. The Adi Granth was completed in 1604. Arjun's longest and most popular hymn is Sukhamani, which means "peace of mind" and is often repeated in the morning by Sikhs after the Jap Ji. Sukhamani praises the infinite attributes of God, warns against the five senses, and describes the spiritual path of God's name. God is truth, which is the highest virtue. Humans experience God by true and pure living. Arjun recommended surrendering oneself to the true Guru. God is reality and the only source of well-being. If you sing God's praises, God will take care of you. Muslims complained to Emperor Akbar that the Adi Granth was blasphemous to Islam; but he did not find it so and even contributed 51 gold coins. The growing wealth and power of Arjun made enemies. He antagonized the Lahore financial administrator when he refused to marry his son to Chandu Shah's daughter. Arjun made prayers for fleeing Prince Khusrau, the rebelling son of Jahangir, and gave him money. After the new Emperor Jahangir arrested and partially blinded Khusrau, he summoned Guru Arjun to Lahore. The Guru refused to pay a fine or make any changes to the Adi Granth. So he was tortured in the sun and finally drowned while bathing on May 30, 1606. The property of his family had been confiscated. His brother Pirthi Chand wanted to be guru; but Arjun's son Hargobind became recognized as guru even though he was only eleven years old. Guru Hargobind immediately began wearing two swords and enjoyed hunting and eating meat. He inherited a guard of 52 soldiers, 300 horsemen, and 60 gunners, and he recruited 500 infantry. Hargobind held court and administered justice like a king. Emperor Jahangir ordered Hargobind to pay the outstanding fine of his father Arjun. When he also refused to pay, Hargobind was summoned to Delhi and in 1609 was put under house arrest where Nanak had once lived. Hargobind said he was loyal to Jahangir and was allowed to go hunting with him. The Emperor had Hargobind confined on meager rations in the fort at Gwalior. He was apparently joined by his three wives, who bore him five children before he was released in 1620. Hargobind was given some authority in the Punjab and command over 400 cavalry and a thousand infantry. Pathan mercenaries led by Painda Khan soon joined under his banner. He went with Emperor Jahangir on his last visit to Kashmir. After Shah Jahan became emperor in 1628, Hargobind returned to Amritsar. That year a quarrel over a bird between the hunting parties of Shah Jahan and Hargobind resulted in violence. The Emperor dismissed Hargobind from his office and recalled his Mughal contingent; but the Punjab

viceroy Hakim Alim-ud-din did not punish the Guru. Before the Udasi sect leader Baba Srichand died in 1629, he appointed Hargobind's oldest son Baba Gurditta as his successor, ending the Sikh schism. In 1634 a Mughal force attacked the wedding of Hargobind's daughter Viro. The Sikhs quickly retreated and left the sweets for the imperialists. When they were stuffed, the Sikhs attacked and killed the Mughal commander. After such victories over thousands of imperial troops, some believed that only Hargobind could challenge the Emperor. The Guru sent a disciple to Central Asia for horses, and on the way back the Lahore governor confiscated two of them. After a disciple took the two horses to Hargobind, a Mughal force was sent against him. The Sikhs ambushed and defeated them but lost 1200 men. In a 1635 battle 5,000 Sikhs fought. When the Mughal commander came at Hargobind with his sword, Hargobind killed him. Then he led his followers into the Punjab hills, and the war went on until 1640. Hargobind lived in peace at Kiratpur and died in 1644. Many criticized him for neglecting spiritual ideals and because he did not add one verse to the Adi Granth. Gurditta had died in 1638; of Hargobind's other sons, Suraj Mal was considered too worldly, and Tegh Bahadur was a recluse. So Hargobind was succeeded by Gurditta's 14-year-old son Har Rai. He avoided a confrontation with his older brother Dhir Mal, whom some suspected of having poisoned Hargobind and who claimed to be the seventh guru. Har Rai was one of the spiritual teachers Prince Dara Shukoh visited. When Aurangzeb became emperor, Har Rai responded to his summons by sending his 14-year-old son Ram Rai; but after he capitulated before Aurangzeb and became his courtier, Har Rai excluded Ram from the succession. When Har Rai died in 1661, he was succeeded by his five-year-old son Har Kishan, who died of smallpox in 1664. That year Hargobind's youngest son Tegh Bahadur became the Sikh guru. He composed the following song:
He who grieves not in grief, From avarice, pleasures, and fear is free, And considers gold as good as dust; Who indulges not in slander or flattery, And is immune to greed, attachment, and vanity; Who in happiness and sorrow, self-poised remains, And is indifferent to all praise or blame; Who discards all hopes and desires; Who lives detached from the world, And is not affected by lust or wrath; In such a one shines the Light of God. The man who receives the Guru's grace, Discovers this secret of spiritual life; Saith Nanak: The soul of such a man blends With God, as water mingles with water.2

Several people claimed to be the ninth guru; but the merchant Makhan Shah went to each one and dismissed them until he found Tegh Bahadur. Dhir Mal was especially resentful and sent Shihan and ruffians to assassinate his uncle. Shihan shot a bullet that grazed Tegh Bahadur on the shoulder. Kirpal and others then protected the Guru, and Dhir Mal ordered his men to flee with plundered loot. Makhan Shah arrived with armed men and stormed Dhir Mal's house. Dhir Mal and his supporters begged Tegh Bahadur to forgive them, and Makhan Shah made them leave Bakala. In November 1664 Guru Tegh Bahadur went to Amritsar. Although he was not allowed to enter a Sikh temple, he told Makhan Shah that he would never use force. The women of Amritsar persuaded the priests to change their minds. Tegh Bahadur taught that the world is transient. He began five years of traveling and visited Sikh centers in Mughal India and Assam.

After Aurangzeb's 1669 order to demolish non-Muslim temples and schools, a Sikh temple at Buriya was replaced by a mosque, which the Sikhs then demolished. Tegh Bahadur in the Punjab encouraged the Sikhs to withstand these persecutions. The Emperor visited the Punjab in 1674, and his officials forced many people to convert to Islam. Kashmiri leaders appealed to Tegh Bahadur, who courageously moved into Mughal territory and advised them to announce they would convert to Islam only after he did. Aurangzeb had Tegh Bahadur arrested and taken to Delhi with five disciples. The Guru refused to perform a miracle or convert to Islam. Two disciples escaped, and the other three were tortured to death; one was sawed in two, another was boiled in oil, and the third was cut in pieces. Tegh Bahadur remained firm and offered the miracle of his sacrifice, saying that paper around his neck would not be cut by a sword; so without torture he was beheaded on November 11, 1675. Tegh Bahadur's son, Guru Gobind Singh, made major changes in Sikh traditions during their struggles with the Mughal government. He received both a literary and military education, and he was fond of hunting wild boar. When Sikhs visited him annually, Makhowal became an armed camp. The Kahlur chief complained, and Guru Gobind Singh moved to Sirmur near the border of Garhwal. In 1688 the Garhwal invaded Sirmur, and the Sikhs helped win the bloody battle at Bhangani. The next year Guru Gobind Singh returned to Makhowal and founded Anandpur with better defenses; only those who had fought at Bhangani were allowed to live there. He also fought for Kahlur chief Bhim Chand when he refused to pay tribute to the Mughals; but after the victory when Chand agreed to pay the tribute, the Sikhs plundered one of his villages. The Sikhs at Anandpur deterred Mughal attacks, which were diverted into a campaign against the rebel chiefs in the hills during the mid-1690s. Meanwhile Guru Gobind Singh was in contact with Sikh sangats (groups), who were encouraged to send him money, supplies, and weapons. In 1698 the Sikhs spent six months celebrating the Durga Ashtami festival and Durga's destruction of evil-doers. On the first day of a new year (March 30, 1699) to an assembly of thousands Guru Gobind Singh proclaimed the creation of a new nation. He exhorted the people to destroy their enemies and praised the sword as divine. He called for sacrifice, and one by one five volunteers went into a tent with him. He returned each time with a bloody sword, but goat's blood had been used. The five "beloved ones" were called the Khalsa. The five letters stood for oneself, God, devotion, master, and freedom. The five Ks that Sikhs were to keep at all times are kesh (long hair), kangha (comb), kirpan (sword), kara (steel bracelet), and kachcha (pants). The five Khalsa vows are to refrain from the following: cutting hair or beard, smoking tobacco, eating meat, wearing a cap, and worshiping tombs or relics. The five deliverances promised to disciples are from previous religious practices, past bad deeds, caste requirements, hereditary professions, and caste rituals. The five Sikh rules of conduct he laid down are prayer, helping one another, practicing riding and use of arms, not coveting another's property, and making love only to one's wife. Guru Gobind Singh urged every Sikh to fight against cruelty and tyranny and to help the poor and protect the weak. The Sikh offices of masands (priests in districts) were abolished, and those resisting this were punished or fined. Gobind Singh urged Hindu princes to become Sikhs and challenge the Mughals who abused their daughters. Thus the Sikhs took up the sword. The Delhi viceroy sent 10,000 men under generals Paindah Khan and Din Beg to Anandpur. Paindah Khan was killed, and the hill rajas fled. In 1700 the Sikhs were defeated at Anandpur and retreated to Bhadsali. By 1704 Anandpur had been besieged five times. Lack of provisions and desertions led to a negotiated evacuation on December 21, but amid a rainstorm the imperial army captured the departing Sikhs and forced them to convert. Guru Gobind Singh and his two older sons escaped with forty followers, but they were besieged at Chamkaur. After the attack killed most of the Sikhs and Gobind's two older sons, the five remaining Sikhs ordered the Guru to flee. Disguised in Mughal uniforms, he and three disciples escaped. In a village

Gobind Singh changed into the blue clothes of a Sufi. The Guru's two younger sons refused to convert and were beheaded on December 27, 1704. The Guru fled 1500 miles and replied to a summons from Aurangzeb that because of his persecutions it was lawful to take up the sword. At Talwandi he completed the Adi Granth by adding 116 hymns composed by his father Tegh Bahadur. There he received another letter from the Emperor and decided to return; but Aurangzeb died on March 3, 1707. The Guru asked his successor Bahadur Shah to punish Vazir Khan for having executed his young sons; the new Emperor postponed this but invited him to reside at Agra with an allowance. Guru Gobind Singh stayed a year with Banda Bahadur, who went to the Punjab to chastise Vazir Khan of Sirhind. Vazir Khan sent two boys who stabbed the Guru, and he died of his wounds on October 7, 1708. Having no surviving children and wanting to avoid feuds, before he died, he declared that the Khalsa was to care for God and that the Adi Granth was to be their guide.

Notes
1. Quoted in The Mughul Empire, p. 274 from History of Aurangzeb by J. N. Sarkar, Volume 3, chapter 34, appendix 6. 2. Adi Granth: Sorath, p. 633 quoted in Guru Tegh Bahadur by Trilochan Singh, p. 137.

Marathas and the English Company 1707-1800

Mughal Decline and Maratha Rise 1707-48 Afghan Invasions, Sikhs, and Marathas 1748-67 French, English, and Clive 1744-67 Marathas and Hastings 1767-84 Marathas and Cornwallis Reforms 1784-1800 Sikhs and North India 1767-1800 Tibet and Nepal 1707-1800 Sri Lanka 1707-1800 This chapter has been published in the book INDIA & Southeast Asia to 1800. For ordering information, please click here.

Mughal Decline and Maratha Rise 1707-48

Aurangzeb's Intolerant Empire 1658-1707 Before he died on March 3, 1707, Aurangzeb wrote a will hoping that his Mughal empire would be divided between his three sons with Mu'azzam governing in Kabul, A'zam in Gujarat, and Muhammad Kam Baksh in Bijapur; but instead they followed his own example and fought. A'zam was supported by imperial vizier Asad Khan and immediately proclaimed himself and marched toward Agra. Mu'azzam was 1400 miles away; but he declared himself Bahadur Shah and in June arrived with his army at Agra, meeting his son Muhammad Azim, who had come from Bengal and secured the imperial treasure of 240,000,000 rupees. At Jajau, where Aurangzeb had defeated Dara Shukoh 49 years before, each side lost 10,000 men. Bahadur Shah won because A'zam Shah's army scattered; he and his two sons were killed. In May 1707 A'zam let the detained Maratha prince Shahu leave. He was Shambhuji's son and challenged the leadership of the widow Tara Bai and Rajaram's son Shivaji II. Diwan Balaji

Vishwanath supported Shahu in the battle at Khed. Tara Bai and her son fled to Karnatak and settled in Kolhapur. Shahu would remain chhatrapati (king) of the Marathas until he died in 1749, encouraging agriculture, low taxes, and religious toleration but letting his peshwa govern. In 1710 Chandrasen Jadhav led the Tara Bai faction in the Maratha civil war that ravaged the southern provinces, but they were defeated by Balaji Vishwanath, whom Shahu appointed peshwa in 1713. Because of Maratha rebellions, Bahadur Shah had difficulty collecting taxes in the Deccan, and revenues from the northern provinces were also interrupted. Ajit Singh of Marwar, Jai Singh Kachhwaha of Amber, and Rana Amar Singh Sisodia of Mewar formed a confederacy in the Deccan to oppose Mughal rule. Bahadur Shah with his army occupied Amber in January 1708 and replaced Jai Singh with his more loyal brother Vijai Singh. Then his imperial troops seized the Marwar capital at Jodhpur, as Ajit Singh surrendered and was restored to his previous rank. A qazi and mufti were appointed to enforce Islamic law, and imperial officers were ordered to destroy temples, rebuild mosques, and collect the jiziya tax on non-Muslims. Kam Baksh had also crowned himself but remained in the Deccan. So in May 1708 Bahadur Shah marched south with an army of 300,000, though Ajit Singh and Jai Singh escaped to Rajasthan. Kam Bakhsh alienated supporters by his cruel suspicions and confiscation of properties. Negotiations failed, and near Hyderabad the greatly outnumbered Kam Bakhsh and his two sons were also defeated and killed by Bahadur Shah's forces. Rana of Mewar helped Ajit Singh and Jai Singh regain their capitals, and together they besieged Ajmer. Sikh Guru Gobind Singh supported Bahadur Shah and wanted him to punish Vazir Khan of Sirhind for having executed his two younger sons. After Gobind Singh was murdered by two agents sent by Vazir Khan in 1708, the Guru's loyal Banda Bahadur assembled angry Sikhs into an army and massacred Muslims in Punjab towns on their way to Sirhind, which they also plundered in 1710 after thousands of peasants overcame Vazir Khan's cavalry. Banda proclaimed himself the true padishah (sovereign) and issued Sikh coins. His army took over most of the Punjab, but thousands were killed on both sides in their failed attempt to take Lahore. A Mughal army besieged the Sikhs at Lohgarh, but Banda escaped to the Sarmar hills. He and the Sikhs came back to take Pathankot and Gurdaspur in November 1711, and by March 1712 they had recovered Sirhind and Lohgarh. Emperor Bahadur Shah came to Lahore to suppress the Sikhs. He also stirred up protests of a hundred thousand Sunnis there, because he added the name 'Ali to the Friday prayers. While he was dying in early 1712, Bahadur Shah kept his four sons near him. His second son Azim-ush-Shan had acquired the largest fortune from Bengal and Bihar and thus had the largest army. However, Zulfiqar Khan had joined Bahadur's side and become viceroy of the Deccan. He formed a coalition of the other three princes with the plan that Rafi-ush Khan would rule at Kabul and Jahan Shah in the Deccan under the oldest Jahandar Shah in Sind with Zulfiqar as vizier at Delhi. Thus the most powerful prince Azim-ush-Shan was defeated and fled, dying in quicksand. Then Zulfiqar Khan joined with Jahandar Shan to defeat and kill his other two brothers, enthroning him near Lahore on March 29, 1712. Zulfiqar Khan had the power and made Daud Khan Panni viceroy of the Deccan as Jahandar's foster brother Kokaltash Khan was ignored. Zulfiqar Khan imprisoned and confiscated the property of dozens of nobles who had supported the dead brothers, and two emirs were publicly executed. He made concessions to the Rajputs and abolished the jiziya. Ajit Singh and Jai Singh were promoted, and Shivaji II was given a noble rank. Emperor Jahandar Shah was criticized for drinking and favoring his low-born wife Lal Kunwar and her relatives with lavish expenses. He began intriguing with Kokaltash Khan. Collecting revenue was difficult and became more corrupt. Zulfiqar Khan and his officials ignored laws and were susceptible to bribes. Jahandar's troops remained unpaid, and inflation was rampant. Most of the revenue came from Bengal, where Azim-ush-shan's son

Farrukh Siyar was supported by the Sayyid brothers Husain Ali and Abdullah Khan of the Baraha clan. They marched an army west and scattered a large army led by Jahandar's inexperienced son Azz-ud-din. Having no money to pay soldiers, Zulfiqar Khan passed out golden and silver vessels and jewels from the palace, raising 40,000 cavalry. In January 1713 the Turani contingents refused to fight, and Zulfiqar Khan fled toward Delhi. Farrukh Siyar claimed the throne and named Abdullah Khan vizier and his brother Husain Ali chief military paymaster (bakhshi). When Farrukh Siyar arrived, he had Zulfiqar Khan, Jahandar, Lal Kunwar, and several nobles executed. Three Timurid princes, including his own brother, were blinded and imprisoned. For the next six years the Mughal empire was torn by factions. Jai Singh agreed to govern Malwa, but Ajit Singh rejected Thatta (Sind). Farrukh Siyar sent Husain Ali to bring Ajit Singh to court but secretly sent a message that Ajit Singh would be rewarded for killing Husain Ali. Instead, Ajit Singh made a treaty with Husain Ali, agreeing to govern Thatta. The Emperor entitled Nizam-ul Mulk and made him viceroy of the six Deccan provinces, which he reformed by using troops to keep away Maratha tax collectors and raiders. At court Farrukh Siyar diverted funds for troops to attack the Sayyid brothers. In 1714 Abdullah and Husain Ali joined their Baraha army in Delhi. After negotiations, Farrukh Siyar agreed to send Mir Jumla to govern Bihar; Husain Ali became governor of the Deccan; and Abdullah Khan stayed in Delhi as vizier. Nizam-ul Mulk would not help Farrukh Siyar against the Sayyids and lost his estates. Mughal precedent fell as Husain Ali gained the authority to appoint and dismiss all officials. The Emperor ordered Daud Khan Panni to kill Husain Ali; but his cavalry were outnumbered, and he was killed in the battle. Suspicion was so great that Abdullah was accompanied in the streets by at least 3,000 cavalry. Revenues were leased to the highest bidders, and Farrukh Siyar tried to revive the jiziya, which provoked more Hindu opposition. In 1714 Sirhind faujdar Zain ud-din Ahmad Khan attacked 7,000 Sikhs near Rupar and sent a hundred of their heads to Delhi. Yet Banda Bahadur led 14,000 Sikhs toward Sirhind. Farrukh Siyar sent Qamar-ud-din Khan with 20,000 troops from Delhi and ordered Kashmir governor Abdus Samad Khan to besiege the Sikh fortress at Gurudaspur in 1715. Banda retreated into a fortress that could only hold 1,250 men, while the other Sikhs fled or were killed. After eight months many had died of hunger; others near death were beheaded by the Mughals, who took some 200 prisoners. On the way to Delhi the imperial forces carried on their spears 2,000 Sikh heads with long hair, and Zakariya Khan captured more to make the number of prisoners 740. At Delhi in March 1716 a hundred Sikhs were beheaded each day for one week. Banda and his 26 officials were tortured for three months. Then Banda was brutally killed, and the others were beheaded. Before he died, Banda said that he was a scourge in the hands of God to punish the wicked; but he was now paying for his own crimes against the Almighty. Banda had practiced socialism by distributing all wealth among his followers and by abolishing the zamindari rent system. He tolerated all religions and had many followers who were poor Hindus and Muslims, though he was greatly hated by many Muslims for his raiding. He also opposed the use of all drugs including wine, tobacco, and bhang (marijuana). Farrukh Siyar ordered that every Sikh found must convert to Islam or be put to the sword, and this order was obeyed for a while in Sirhind, Lahore, and Jammu. During this persecution some Sikhs robbed, others shaved off their beards, and some by hiding or being peaceful escaped punishment. Mir Jumla could not raise enough money in Bihar to pay his troops, who revolted and followed him back to Delhi. The angry Emperor took away his titles, but Abdullah Khan resolved the situation by getting Mir Jumla appointed as qazi (judge) of Lahore. Abdullah also granted the English trading rights. The Jats, who had raided both armies during the civil war, continued to rebel. The Emperor sent Jai Singh to besiege them at Thun in 1716; but vizier Abdullah Khan accepted a bribe and made a treaty with Jat leader Churaman. Husain Ali Khan was trying to control the Marathas in the Deccan but found that the Emperor's letters were encouraging their leaders to attack him. So in

1718 the Sayyid brothers made a treaty recognizing the Maharashtra territory of Shahu and the Marathas in exchange for ten million rupees tribute and 15,000 Maratha troops loyal to Husain Ali. Farrukh Siyar refused to ratify the agreement, but Husain Ali ignored this and other imperial orders. Farrukh Siyar called on Ajit Singh from Gujarat, Nizam-ul Mulk from Moradabad, and Sarbuland Khan from Bihar, and they brought 70,000 troops to Delhi; but after delays they left or joined the vizier. Mir Jumla returned from Lahore but also sided with Abdullah. The Emperor had only Jai Singh and his 20,000 Rajputs. Husain Ali Khan marched north with 25,000 of his own forces and 10,000 Maratha horsemen under his pay, since Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath had agreed to a treaty with the Sayyids. In a complicated negotiation Farrukh Siyar and the Sayyids agreed to release each other's political prisoners and dismiss their forces in February 1719; but after an angry meeting in the palace, Farrukh Siyar retreated into his harem while Abdullah Khan took over the fort. After a bloody street battle in which 1500 Marathas were killed, the Sayyid brothers chose Bahadur Shah's grandson Rafi-ud-darjat as the new emperor. Farrukh Siyar was blinded immediately and strangled in prison two months later. Rafi-ud-darjat died in June of tuberculosis and was replaced by his older brother Rafi'-ud-daula as Shah Jahan II; but he was addicted to opium and also died of illness in September 1719. The powerful Sayyid brothers made Shah Jahan's 18-year-old son Emperor Muhammad Shah (r. 1719-48). They tried to conciliate the factions; but they were Indian Muslims and were resented by the Irani nobles from Persia and the Turani aristocrats from central Asia. Ajit Singh's widowed daughter, who had converted to Islam to marry Farrukh Siyar, was allowed to leave the harem and return to her home and religion. When the Sayyids tried to transfer Turani emir Nizam-ul Mulk from his appointment as governor of Malwa, he marched on Delhi, appealing to other nobles. Their army defeated the Sayyid-Maratha coalition in August 1720 at Shakarkhedla. After Husain Ali Khan was assassinated, Muhammad Shah joined the opposition that defeated and later executed Abdullah Khan. For deserting this Sayyid, Muhammad Khan Bangash was made the governor of Allahabad. Jai Singh of Amber and Girdhar Bahadur persuaded the new emperor to abolish the jiziya tax. Nizam-ul Mulk went back to govern the Deccan and defeated resistance. Various conflicts greatly weakened the Mughal empire, and many regions became independent. Awadh (Oudh) had fifteen governors in thirteen years before Muhammad Shah appointed Sa'adat Khan governor in 1722; after defeating and killing Mohan Singh in 1723, he acted independently. Muhammad Shah dismissed Ajit Singh from governing Gujarat and Ajmer; but after Ajit's murder by his son Bakht Singh in 1724, he recognized his son Abhay Singh, who governed Marwar until his death in 1748. Nizam-ul Mulk returned to Delhi as vizier in January 1722. He tried to remove the corruption from the court and reform the tax system; but his attempt to reimpose the jiziya tax was opposed by the Hindu nobles. Disgusted with court squabbles, Nizam-ul Mulk left Delhi again in December 1723 to return to the Deccan. His enemies persuaded the Emperor to write secretly to urge Hyderabad governor Mubariz Khan to attack him; but Nizam-ul Mulk made an alliance with the Marathas, and in 1724 they defeated and killed Mubariz Khan at Sakharkhanda in Berar. The next year Nizam-ul Mulk took over Hyderabad. Thus he became essentially independent and was later recognized by the Mughal emperor. After Nizam-ul Mulk supported the claim of Shahu's Maratha rival Shambhuji, Peshwa Baji Rao I (r. 1720-40) avoided pitched battles and ravaged the country, starving the Nizam into accepting a 1728 treaty that recognized the six territories of Raja Shahu in the Deccan. When Abdus Samad Khan was transferred to Multan in 1726, his son Zakariya Khan replaced him as Punjab governor and hunted down Sikhs until he suggested the Emperor give their leader a title in 1733. Kapur Singh was chosen nawab and was given a jagir (tax income) of 1,000,000 rupees. The army of the elder Sikhs was called Budha Dal, and the army of younger ones Taruna Dal. The

Sikhs continued to rebel against the Mughal government, and the jagir was confiscated in 1735. After an imperial army of 7,000 attacked Amritsar, the Taruna Dal joined forces and defeated the Mughal army. In 1729 Bundelkhand's Chhatrasal asked Peshwa Baji Rao for aid, and the Marathas defeated Muhammad Khan Bangash, taking more control after Chhatrasal died two years later. Shambhuji was defeated in 1730 and agreed to recognize Shahu's sovereignty for part of Konkan and Karnatak, and together in 1731 they defeated and killed Khande Rao's son Trimbak Rao in Gujarat. Abhay Singh tried to fight the Marathas but had to leave Gujarat in 1733. Despite his efforts and earlier ones by Nizam-ul Mulk and Sarbuland Khan, Gujarat was overrun by the Marathas and was lost to the Mughals by 1737. Baji Rao invaded Malwa in 1732. The Marathas captured Hindaun and Sambhar, and in 1735 the Emperor recognized Baji Rao as the governor of Malwa. After a revolution on the island of Janjira in 1733, the Maratha navy made the Sidi accept a treaty in 1736 with dual government. Under Baji Rao each Maratha jagir district was jointly held by two Maratha chiefs. Murshid Quli Jafar Khan had been administering and collecting taxes in Bengal and Orissa since 1701. He was promoted in 1713 and governed until his death in 1727. In 1714 he crushed the last Hindu kingdom in Bengal. In his last fifteen years he sent an average of 10.5 million rupees annually to Delhi, accumulating six million rupees for himself. The new Bengal capital Murshidabad was named after him. In 1727 his son-in-law Shuja-ud-din Muhammad Khan, the deputy governor of Orissa, succeeded in Bengal and Orissa for the Mughal emperor. After his death in 1739 his son Sarfaraz Khan was defeated by Bihar deputy governor 'Alivardi Khan, and in 1740 Emperor Muhammad Shah had to recognize the virtually independent 'Alivardi Khan as governor of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. Probably the most outstanding leader who remained loyal to the Mughal emperor was Jai Singh, who was appointed governor of Surat in 1721 and Agra the next year. Sent to suppress the Jats for having supported the Sayyid brothers, he captured their stronghold at Thun. Churaman committed suicide, and the Jats returned to their farms. Hoping to prevent their raiding, he gave the Jat chief Badan Singh the job of collecting duties on highways. Jai Singh served as an intermediary between Muhammad Shah and the Rajput rulers. He built up the new city of Jaipur and sponsored learning with research centers there and at Mathura, Banaras, and Ujjain, patronizing influential scholars and literature. He supported inter-caste dining and tried to stop female infanticide by trying to limit how much fathers spent on their daughters' marriages. Jai Singh of Amber governed Malwa 1729-37 except for 1730-32 when Muhammad Khan Bangash fought the Marathas. Jai Singh made peace with the Marathas by sharing with them the money Delhi sent for defending the province. Sa'adat Khan complained that Jai Singh was ruining the empire. After negotiations in which Maratha peshwa Baji Rao asked for too many concessions the Mughal emperor would not grant, Baji Rao marched his army toward Delhi but refrained from attacking the capital. Muhammad Shah called on Nizam-ul Mulk, whose army of 35,000 was doubled when he was joined by Sa'adat Khan's troops and Rajput and Bundela forces. However, the Peshwa's army of 80,000 invaded Malwa and surrounded them at Bhopal. In January 1738 Nizam-ul Mulk signed another treaty in which more tribute and the rest of Malwa were granted to the Marathas. In 1737 the Marathas attacked the Portuguese on the west coast. Bassein capitulated in 1739 after each side suffered about 5,000 casualties. In the 1740 treaty the Portuguese ceded the northern province except for the port of Daman. In 1739 Sa'adat Khan was succeeded in Awadh by his son-in-law Safdar Jang, who declared complete independence. In December 1739 Baji Rao invaded the Deccan with 50,000 men; but Nasir Jang's army of 10,000 defeated them in a pitched battle, and the Marathas gave up their claims in the Deccan. Peshwa Baji Rao I died in 1740 and was succeeded by his son Balaji

Rao. Because of the factions at court, Jai Singh remained neutral during the invasion by Nadir Shah's Persians; but after Delhi was plundered, the Mughal empire had little authority beyond Agra and Delhi. In 1722 Afghan rebels led by Mir Mahmud defeated the Safavid dynasty of Persia and ruled there until they were defeated in 1729 by Nadir Quli Beg, who became the Persian shah in 1732. His army of 80,000 besieged Qandahar in 1737. Meeting little Mughal resistance, Nadir Shah moved on in 1738 to capture Ghazni and Kabul. After his envoy was killed at Jalalabad, he sacked the town. Nasir Khan tried to stop the Persians in the Khyber Pass with 20,000 Afghans; but Nadir Shah's veteran army forced them back. After occupying Peshawar, the Persians began plundering the country and crossed the Indus River. Lahore governor Zakariya Khan had no support from the Mughal emperor and surrendered in January 1739; after paying Nadir Shah two million rupees, he was reinstated. Nadir Shah sent out 7,000 Kurdish cavalry as scouts from Sirhind. The Mughals assembled an army of about 75,000, but Mughal arrows were no match for Persian bullets. After Sa'adat Khan returned from fighting the pillaging Kurds, his baggage was plundered. He went to fight the Persians; but he was only supported by some 9,000 cavalry, and after being wounded he was captured. He advised Nadir Shah to negotiate with Nizam-ul Mulk, and they agreed on an indemnity of five million rupees with no territorial acquisitions. When Muhammad Shah promoted Nizam-ul Mulk to mir bakhshi (military pay-master), Sa'adat Khan resented it and advised Nadir Shah he could get twenty million rupees and jewelry in Delhi. Nadir Shah took Nizam-ul Mulk and Muhammad Shah into custody and made them agree to escort the Persians into Delhi. When threatened with corporal punishment if they did not reveal the treasures, the two agreed to commit suicide; Sa'adat Khan took poison, but Nizam-ul Mulk did not and escorted Nadir Shah into Delhi. Disturbances led to Persian casualties, and Nadir Shah sent troops to quell the riots; after a shot missed him but killed an officer, he ordered a massacre in Delhi. About 20,000 people were slaughtered, and several hundred women committed suicide to avoid being enslaved. Treasure estimated from thirty to seventy million rupees was taken from the capital, including the famous Peacock throne, Koh-i-nor diamond, and an illustrated Persian manuscript on Hindu music. The Mughals ceded all territory west of the Indus River, and Nadir's army also took away 300 elephants, 10,000 horses, and 10,000 camels. Before leaving, Nadir Shah advised Muhammad Shah on government and warned him that Nizam-ul Mulk was too ambitious. On their long march through the Punjab the Persians' loot was often plundered by Jat peasants and Sikhs. After Nadir Shah's invasion, Jai Singh tried to govern Malwa; but he ceded it to the Marathas in 1741. That year Maratha peshwa Balaji helped Nizam-ul Mulk to suppress a rebellion by his second son Nasir Jang in the Karnatak. Nizam-ul Mulk took his son prisoner but reinstated him two years later. After the rebellion, Nizam-ul Mulk used his army of 280,000 to pacify Karnatak. He maintained good relations with the Europeans trading on the Coromandel coast. Like his father Baji Rao I, Balaji Rao (r. 1740-61) was only about twenty years old when he became the peshwa for Maratha chhatrapati Shahu. Disputes over the thrones in the Rajput states at Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, and Bundi called upon the Marathas to intervene in 1740 and help destroy Mughal authority in Rajputana. Yet in the confusion conflicts festered between Marathas. In 1741 Balaji led the Maratha campaigns in Bihar and Bengal. When he drove Raghuji Bhonsl's Maratha forces out of Bihar in 1743, Shahu ordered them to stay in separate regions. Balaji was given Malwa, Agra, Ajmer, Allahabad, and most of Bihar, while Raghuji was assigned Bengal, Orissa, Awadh, and part of Bihar. Karnatak nawab Dost Ali tried to expand his realm. His son Safdar Ali and son-in-law Chanda Sahib took over Trichinopoly and Madura; but the Marathas defeated them at Tanjore. In

1741 Marathas from the north killed Dost Ali, took over Trichinopoly, and captured Chanda Sahib, imprisoning him for seven years. Safdar Ali succeeded his father but in late 1742 was murdered by his cousin Martaza Ali, who was replaced by Anwar-ud-din Khan the next year. After Persian Nadir Shah took over Afghanistan and invaded India in 1739, 'Ali Muhammad Rohilla (r. 1721-48) gathered a cavalry of about 40,000 Afghans and expanded his territory to include Muradabad, Kumaun, and Bijnor. In 1745 he dismantled fortifications at Bangarh to accept a Mughal position; but he declared his independence before he died in 1748. Two of his sons were still hostages and had been moved to Abdali's Qandahar, and so he was succeeded by his third son, the dissolute Sadullah. Vizier Safdar Jang got Bangash chief Qaim Khan to attack the Afghans, but he was shot dead in the losing battle. Dal Khalsa Sikhs were organized into eleven major communities, each called a misl, which means equal or alike. The largest group was the Bhangi who liked that drug (cannabis). In 1745 Zakariya Khan was succeeded by his son Yahiya Khan, who continued the persecution. Lahore diwan Lakhpat Rai was sympathetic with the Sikhs until his brother was killed; then he vowed to exterminate them. In his 1746 campaign his forces killed about 7,000 Sikhs and took 3,000 prisoners, executing them in Lahore. The next year Shah Nawaz Khan defeated his brother Yahiya in a civil war and put Lakhpat in prison. Shah Nawaz chose the Sikh Kaura Mal as his diwan; but when the Mughals considered him a usurper, he appealed to Afghanistan's Ahmad Shah Abdali.

Afghan Invasions, Sikhs, and Marathas 1748-67

After Nadir Shah was assassinated in 1747, Ahmad Shah Durrani of the Abdali clan proclaimed himself king in Afghanistan, taking control of Qandahar, Kabul, and Peshawar. Ahmad Shah Abdali invaded India with 12,000 veterans, but after seizing Lahore in January 1748 he was defeated in March near Sirhind by Mughal prince Ahmad Shah and Muin-ul-mulk (Mir Mannu), who was named governor. That year the Sikhs ousted the Mughals from Amritsar and built the fort Ram Rauni. The aging Kapur Singh resigned, and Jassa Singh Ahluwalia became the Sikh commander. Muin-ul-mulk besieged the Sikhs for three months until Ahmad Shah Abdali invaded again in December 1748. When Abdali was recognized as ruling territory west of the Indus, he agreed to depart. Shah Nawaz Khan was appointed governor of Multan and challenged Muin-ul-mulk with an army of 15,000. Kaura Mal mediated an alliance, and the Sikhs were granted a jagir (tax district) of twelve villages. Ahmad Shah Abdali returned to Lahore in 1751 and demanded tribute from Muinul-mulk. Sikhs were on his side, but the Afghans defeated them and conquered the Punjab and Kashmir, forcing Mughal emperor Ahmad Shah to cede territory up to Sirhind. After Madho Singh invaded Jaipur to collect money for the Marathas, the Rajputs rebelled and massacred his troops in January 1751. That year other Marathas drove the Rohillas into the hills and sacked their entire country, taking over half the Bangash territory in the Doab. In 1752 Ahmad Shah Abdali sent Abdullah Khan Ishaq Aqasi with 15,000 Afghans into Kashmir, where Abul Qasim Khan had recently replaced the war hero Abu Barakat Khan; but Abul Qasim had ruled so tyrannically that appeals were made to Abdali. The Afghans defeated the Kashmiris in fifteen days as their commander defected. Ishaq Aqasi ruthlessly extorted money and appointed his deputy Khwaja Abdullah Khan; but he was assassinated after four months. The secretary Sukhjewanmal (r. 1753-62) became raja (king) and was the first Hindu to rule Kashmir for four hundred years and the only one under the Pathan domination of Abdali and his successors that lasted until 1819. Ishaq Aqasi came back with 30,000 men, but Kashmiris defending themselves defeated them. Sukhjewanmal alienated Muslims by banning cow-slaughter, and he provoked Abdali by recognizing Mughal emperor Alamgir II; but he governed for nine years. In 1766 Abdali sent Khurram Khan to replace a tyrannical governor of Kashmir.

Nizam-ul Mulk and Emperor Muhammad Shah both died in 1748. Ahmad Shah (r. 1748-54) was 22 years old when he succeeded his father as the last Mughal emperor with any real power; but having been brought up in a harem, he lacked education and experience. He appointed the Irani Safdar Jang vizier but listened mostly to the illiterate eunuch Javid Khan, who took control. Nobles were revolted by his corruption and usually kept their revenues; pay for imperial employees fell behind by 14 months and more. Zamindars usurped lands, and the Marathas took over more territory. Safdar Jang as a Shi'a had much opposition at court; after an assassination attempt, he moved his tents outside of Delhi. From late 1749 to 1752 he spent much time away trying to subdue Rohilkhand. The chief bakshi Salabat Khan came back from his Rajput expedition in 1750 with 18,000 troops demanding pay. Dismissed and imprisoned by Javid, Salabat sold all his property to pay what he could and lived in poverty like a dervish. Javid made the Turanis Ghazi-ud-din chief bakshi and Intizam-ud-daula in charge of Ajmer. After making an alliance with the Jat leader Suraj Mal, Safdar Jang was wounded in the neck while fighting against Ahmad Khan's Bangash, who then besieged Allahabad and invaded Safdar's province of Awadh in 1751. Safdar Jang dismissed his Maratha allies and went back to Awadh; its governor Naval Rai had been killed fighting the Bangash Afghans. After recovering, Safdar paid Marathas and Jats to join him invading Rohilkand. When Emperor Ahmad Shah asked his vizier to bring Marathas to fight off the next Afghan invasion, he made a treaty in which Ahmad Khan Bangas promised to pay the debt Safdar Jang owed to the Marathas. Safdar Jang made a defensive treaty with Peshwa Balaji, offering the Marathas one-fourth of imperial revenues in the Punjab, Sindh, Aurangabad, and Gujarat. Safdar Jang arrived with 50,000 Marathas in April 1752; the Marathas foraged around Delhi until Javid Khan paid them to leave. When Javid would not let Safdar Jang punish Balaram (Balu) Jat for having plundered Sikandrabad, Safdar had Turkish soldiers murder Javid. Safdar antagonized nobles by taking over their tax revenues, and he made the mistake of appointing young Imad-ul-mulk as chief bakshi. Imad won over the Emperor, plotted with the queen mother, and got Safdar Jang dismissed. Salabat Khan urged Safdar to fight a civil war that lasted six months. Rohillas led by Najib Khan made the difference; Suraj Mal mediated a peace, and Safdar Jang went back to Awadh in November 1753. Pay for the imperial army of 80,000 was seven months in arrears, and salaries of Mughal officials and servants were 32 months behind. The Emperor paid paymaster Imad-ul-mulk 1,500,000 rupees, but he kept the money for himself. Imad then sent Aqibat Mahmud to arrest the Emperor and vizier while the palace and crown lands were plundered. Imad's allied Marathas attacked the imperial camp with 20,000 troops. As soon as Ahmad Shah made Imad vizier in June 1754, he was replaced and imprisoned; Alamgir II was proclaimed emperor. Raghunath demanded money for the Marathas from the Delhi government, but they could not pay; starving soldiers rioted in the streets and plundered the wealthy. Jats and Gujars usurped imperial lands south of Delhi. Shahu died in 1749 and was succeeded by Tara Bai's grandson Ram Raja on the Maratha throne, but Peshwa Balaji defeated Tara Bai and Damaji Gaikwar, arresting the young monarch and keeping him a prisoner in the palace. In 1753 the Marathas tried to collect tribute from the Rajputana states but were defeated by the Jats the next year. They marched toward Delhi and helped Imad-ul-Mulk (Ghazi-ud-din the younger) in a six-month civil war to depose the Mughal emperor Ahmad Shah Bahadur, install 'Alamgir II, and become his vizier. Imad-ul-Mulk was also aided by Najib Khan and the Rohillas, and he got the Sunnis to turn against Shi'a Safdar Jang by calling him a heretic. The Marathas under Balaji Baji Rao hired mercenaries, adopted western warfare methods, and allowed chiefs to use predatory warfare that ravaged Hindus as well as Muslims. The Marathas made a strategic error when they joined with the British to destroy the navy of Tulaji Angria in 1756, and the next year they exacted tribute south of the Krishna River, invading Bednore and Mysore. Malhar Rao Holkar and Raghunath Rao (Ragoba) led campaigns in the north and won over

the Jats and the Doab. Since 1753 Peshwa Balaji had been campaigning in Karnatak to collect tribute and establish Maratha authority. In 1760 Marathas led by Sadashiv Rao Bhau invaded Udgir and defeated the Nizam forces by taking Burhanpur, Daulatabad, Ahmadnagar, and Bijapur. In the Punjab Muin-ul-mulk went back to trying to suppress the Sikhs in 1753, but he died in November. After his infant sons were appointed and one died, his widow Mughlam Begum took power in May 1754. The new emperor Alamgir II appointed Momin Khan governor of Lahore. Nobles, resenting Mughlam's eunuchs and paramours, revolted. She seized their leader and had him beat to death, but Khwajah Mirza Jan took over Lahore and put her in prison. She appealed to the Afghan Abdali, who sent a force led by Khwajah Ubadullah Khan; he restored her for three months before confining her and ruling himself. He plundered his subjects and was replaced a few months later by Momin Khan and Adina Beg in 1756. Mughlam Begum called on Abdali again, and Ubadullah Khan took control. During this confusion Abdali was also invited back by Emperor Alamgir and Rohilla chief Najib Khan. So Abdali entered India again, harassed by marauding Sikhs; but this time the Afghans plundered Delhi in January 1757. Punjab, Kashmir, Sind, and Sirhind were ceded to him; but after raiding the Jat country south of Delhi, Abdali departed, leaving Najib Khan in Delhi and his son Timur Shah as viceroy at Lahore with his general Jahan Khan as vizier. Sikhs rebelled, but Jahan Khan defeated them at Amritsar and desecrated their shrine. The Marathas ousted Najib and made a treaty with Imad-ul-Mulk in June 1757 that doubled their share to half of all the revenues they collected in Mughal dominions. Marathas led by Raghunath Rao invaded Rajputana and plundered old Delhi in August, making peace with the Rohillas the next month. Then 50,000 Maratha troops entered the Punjab in 1758, driving the Afghans out of Sirhind and Lahore. They appointed Adina Beg Khan their viceroy; but after they left, his death brought chaos to the Punjab. The Sikhs offered zamindars protection (rakhi) for one-fifth of the rent. The Afghan army attacked them at Kartarpur and Amritsar, but the Sikhs joined with Adina Beg in an army of 25,000 to defeat the Afghans near Mahilpur in December 1757. Sikhs allied with the Marathas and plundered Sirhind and Lahore. Raghunath's army left Lahore in May 1758; Adina Beg tried to suppress the Sikhs, but he died in September. The Marathas appointed Dattaji Sindia, and in August 1759 he sent Sabaji Sindia to push back the Afghan invasion of Jahan Khan, who came back two months later, forcing Sabaji to retreat from Lahore so that Dattaji could aid the peshwa in getting money from Bengal. Dattaji's attempt to build a bridge across the Ganges was sabotaged by Najib-ud-daula, who invited Abdali's invasion and secretly organized Mughal nobles. In 1758 Imad had expelled crown prince Ali Gauhar from Delhi, and he took refuge in Awadh with Shuja ud-daula. In November 1759, Imad-ul-Mulk sent men who murdered Emperor Alamgir II and former vizier Intizam. Shah Jahan II was proclaimed emperor. The next month Ali Gauhar crowned himself Emperor Shah Alam II and appointed Shuja ud-daula his vizier; but his invasion of Bihar failed. The assassination of Alamgir II motivated Abdali to advance toward Delhi. Dattaji tried to stop him but was killed in January 1760. The Afghans plundered old Delhi, and Abdali campaigned against Jats and Marathas. Two months later near Sikandarbad the Afghan general Jahan Khan routed the Marathas led by Malhar Rao. The Marathas fled from the invading Afghans, who would not agree on a peace treaty because of Peshwa Balaji's exorbitant demands. The ailing Peshwa gave command to the Udgir victor Sadashiv Rao instead of Raghunath Rao. In contrast to Shivaji's forces a century before, this Maratha army was accompanied by retinues, wives, and luxurious tents. The Marathas captured Delhi in August 1760; but they lost the support of Suraj Mal and his Jats when they plundered palaces, tombs, and shrines that the Persians and Afghans had respected. In October, Sadashiv Rao imprisoned the puppet Shah Jahan III. While the Marathas were taking and

plundering the fort at Kunjpura from 10,000 Rohillas, Abdali's Afghan army crossed the Jumna River to cut off Maratha supply lines. In December, 20,000 foraging camp followers were slaughtered. The climactic battle between the Marathas and the Afghans took place at Panipat in January 1761. Half of the 60,000 on the Afghan side were Rohillas, Bangash, and Mughals. The Maratha army had 45,000 men, but hundreds were dying every day of hunger and disease. The starving Maratha army left their defenses to fight a desperate battle. The victorious Afghans enslaved women and children, taking 50,000 horses, 200,000 cattle, 500 elephants, plus money and jewelry. Only onefourth of the Maratha army returned to the Deccan. Peshwa Balaji retreated to Puna, where he died in June 1761. The Maratha confederation was shattered as local chiefs regained control-Mahadji Sindia in Gwalior, Raghuji Bhonsle in Nagpur and Berar, Malhar Rao Holkar in Malwa, and Damaji Gaikwar in Gujarat. Abdali named 'Alamgir II's son 'Ali Gauhar emperor in Delhi as Shah 'Alam with Imad as vizier and Najib-ud-daula as Mir Bakshi (military commander). The Afghan troops were two years behind in their pay and insisted that Abdali leave India before the hot summer, and they refused to go to Mathura, where hundreds had died of cholera four years before. His retreating army was followed and plundered by the Sikhs, who were reported to have freed about 2200 Hindu women. After the Marathas' disaster at Panipat, Nizam 'Ali invaded Maharashtra with about 60,000 troops, but he lost allies by destroying Hindu temples at Toka and was defeated near Puna in January 1762. In a treaty the new Peshwa gave back half of what his father had gained in the Deccan. Nizam 'Ali took over the government at Bihar, put Salabat Jang in prison, and ruled the Mughal Deccan for the next forty-one years. In the south Haidar 'Ali rose to power in Mysore by defeating his rival Khande Rao in 1761. Balaji Rao died in June 1761, and his 17-year-old son Madhav Rao became peshwa, his uncle Raghunath Rao (Ragoba) acting as regent. Conflict led to a civil war, and in November 1762 the Peshwa yielded to Raghunath, who had to surrender the Daulatabad fort to Nizam 'Ali. After plundering each other's territories in 1763, the Peshwa defeated Nizam 'Ali's army and gained land. That year Haidar 'Ali conquered Bidnur and Sunda. The Marathas led by the Peshwa defeated Haidar the next year, occupying Haveri and Dharwar and making peace in 1765. The Marathas formed an alliance with Nizam 'Ali so they could fight Haidar and take more territory in another treaty in 1767. That year Nizam 'Ali and British troops led by Joseph Smith invaded Mysore, but Nizam went over to Haidar's side. Sikhs took over the Punjab, and about a third of the 30,000 Sikhs who fought to stop Abdali's sixth invasion of India were killed in February 1762. Four months later Abdali's Afghans attacked them at Amritsar, and in October many of the 60,000 gathered were massacred. Abdali also annexed Kashmir before returning to Afghanistan at the end of 1762. In January 1764 Jassa Singh Ahluwalia led 40,000 Sikhs of the Dal Khalsa in an attack on Sirhind that killed Zain Khan, and the next month they took over Lahore and plundered the upper Doab. They gathered at Amritsar and minted coins of pure silver, but they lost Lahore when Abdali invaded again in October 1764. Suraj Mal and the Jats retained strong forces by not participating in the Panipat debacle, and in June 1761 they captured the Agra fort by bribery. Najib-ud-daula had to collect the tribute from India for the Afghan king, and he suppressed rebellion in Hansi-Hussar. After Suraj Mal attacked Baluch zamindars, Najib moved against the Jats; Suraj Mal was shot dead in December 1763 and was succeeded by his rebellious son, Jawahir Singh. He won the loyalty of the Jat army of 30,000 by paying their salaries that were two years behind, and he hired 20,000 Marathas under Malhar Rao Holkar. Najib did not invade the Jat kingdom, because he had to respond to the Sikh invasion of the upper Doab, enabling Jawahir Singh to recover the middle Doab. In January 1765 the Jats bombarded Delhi as Jawahir paid 15,000 Sikh allies to attack the city; but the Rohillas defended

Delhi. Najib negotiated a peace as Sikhs, learning that Abdali was approaching Lahore, left. Frustrated Jawahir turned against his own officers and extorted money from rich Jats to pay for his losses; Balaram and another Jat grandee felt so disgraced that they cut their own throats in prison. Najib showed his power to tax by massacring his villages of Buana and Bhiwani in 1765. The growing power of the Sikhs was manifested when an army of 120,000 gathered at Amritsar in the spring of 1767. The next year Najib retired with riches only surpassed in India by the Jat king. He passed his office to his deputy Zabita Khan. Sikhs abandoned Lahore again in 1767 to the Afghans on Abdali's eighth invasion. In 1769 Ahmad Shah Abdali got as far as Peshawar but retreated, because his unpaid soldiers mutinied; he died three years later. Shah Waliullah (1703-62) was born in Delhi and became an influential Islamic theologian. He memorized the Qur'an as a child and in 1732 went on a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he studied with eminent theologians. He believed in independent thinking and tried to harmonize Islamic law with mysticism and the four traditional schools of jurisprudence. He translated the Qur'an into Persian and wrote a commentary, and two of his sons translated it into Hindivi. In social morality he argued that justice is the highest principle and that it manifests in personal behavior as courtesy, in finances as economy, in community as civil liberty, in politics as order, and as the social good of fellowship. He believed that society is corrupted when the pursuit of wealth and the satisfaction of desires for luxury and dissipation became the primary goals in life. Then the rich find ways to oppress the peasants, traders, and artisans; the economy becomes perverted by luxury goods while the lower classes are impoverished. His remedy was to abolish the entire system and establish justice and harmony. However, his method of bringing about these reforms was to turn to powerful Muslim leaders such as Najib-ud-daula, Nizam-ul Mulk, and Ahmad Shah Abdali. Waliullah's son Shah Abdul Aziz (d. 1823) educated thousands of Muslims over sixty years at his Madrasa-i-Rahimiya in Delhi.

French, English, and Clive 1744-67

In 1744 Raghuji's vizier Bhaskar Ram invaded Bengal through Orissa. Bengal nawab Alivardi lured Bhaskar and Maratha generals to the plain of Mankara, where they were treacherously massacred by the Afghan generals. When Alivardi broke his promise to make his general Ghulam Mustafa Khan governor of Bihar for having murdered Bhaskar, Mustafa Khan rebelled and assaulted Patna, inviting Raghuji to invade. In 1745 Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah promised to pay Shahu tribute for Bengal and Bihar. Raghuji invaded Bengal six times until he made a treaty with 'Alivardi Khan in 1751. The Marathas were to be given revenues from Orissa by Alivardi's deputy Mir Habib, and they promised not to invade Bengal anymore. Habib did not allow extortion and peculation, and he and his assistants were murdered by Maratha soldiers in 1752. Orissa became a Maratha province. The annual Maratha raids in the 1740s had plundered Bengal, devastated its inland economy, and caused many people to flee to the east, where some took refuge in the English settlement at Calcutta. Joseph Dupleix had increased French trade in Bengal in the 1730s, surpassing the Dutch, and in 1742 he was appointed governor at Pondicherry. When a European war began in 1744 that opposed England against France, Dupleix proposed local neutrality agreements; but the English East India Company believed they could wipe out their French rivals. In 1745 Commodore Barnett captured French ships with Chinese goods in which Dupleix had an interest, and the latter called upon a French squadron that Governor La Bourdonnais was fitting out at Mauritius. After an indecisive battle, Captain Edward Peyton took the English ships back to Bengal. Dupleix goaded the French fleet into capturing Madras with a thousand men in 1746. Over Dupleix's objection, La Bourdonnais promised to give Madras back to the English for a ransom. When La Bourdonnais departed, Dupleix renounced the treaty and defended Madras from an attack led by Mahfuz Khan, son of

Karnatak nawab Anwar-ud-din. Improved artillery and infantry armed with muskets and bayonets demonstrated European superiority over slow-firing Indian guns. The next year Dupleix tried to take Fort St. David, but the English (including young Clive) were able to defend it with the help of Nawab Anwar-ud-din's son Muhammad 'Ali and his 2,500 men. Capable Major Stringer Lawrence took command at Fort St. David in January 1748 and repelled Dupleix's third attempt. Admiral Boscawen's attempt to besiege the French at Pondicherry failed and lost more than a thousand men. In the 1748 treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle prisoners were exchanged, and England got Madras back in exchange for Cape Breton Island in North America. Mughal vizier Safdar Jang did not like Nizam-ul Mulk's son Nasir Jang and urged his nephew Muzaffar Jang and Chanda Sahib to claim the Deccan; they invaded Karnatak with 14,000 cavalry and 15,000 infantry and were supported by 420 French soldiers from Pondicherry. In 1749 they defeated and killed Anwar-ud-din at Ambur, and his son Muhammad 'Ali fled to Trichinopoly. Nasir had 70,000 men on horses and 100,000 on foot with artillery and also hired Marathas; he was joined by Muhammad 'Ali and 300 English. They won the battle and captured Muzaffar because unpaid French officers refused to fight. However, Bussy's French troops captured the strong fortress at Jinji (Gingee). Nasir was shot dead during an attack on his camp ordered by France's Dupleix in December 1750. Dupleix recognized the freed Muzaffar as viceroy of the Deccan and Chanda Sahib as Karnatak nawab; but Muzaffar was killed the next month and was replaced by Salabat Jang, who had persuaded France's Bussy to support him. Bussy got Salabat Jang to give the French a lease in the Deccan. While Dupleix negotiated, the new Madras governor Thomas Saunders sent a British force to defend Muhammad 'Ali. Dupleix countered by sending a French army under Jean Law. The English led by Robert Clive captured Arcot in 1751 and defended it against a force brought by Chanda Sahib. The French siege of Trichinopoly failed, and their ally Chanda Sahib surrendered to a Maratha commander. He turned him over to the confederate chiefs, who had Sahib beheaded to please Muhammad 'Ali. Law fled to the island of Srirangam but in June 1752 had to surrender 800 French soldiers, 2,000 sepoys, and 31 guns to Lawrence and Clive. The latter captured more forts, and by the end of 1752 Muhammad 'Ali possessed most of the Karnatak except Jinji. Nizam-ul Mulk's oldest son Ghazi-ud-din was assigned the Deccan by the Mughal emperor in 1752 and had a Maratha escort. Bussy promised Maratha peshwa Balaji the Deccan province of Khandesh if he would support Salabat Jang, who was forced by the Marathas in November 1752 to give them much of Khandesh and Berar. In 1753 French Directors decided to recall Dupleix for having pursued territorial expansion. His replacement Robert Godeheu made a truce with the English, agreeing their companies would not interfere in Indian disputes. Soon after he arrived at Aurangabad, Ghazi-ud-din was poisoned by Nizam-ul Mulk's widow, the mother of Nizam 'Ali. Salabat Jang relied on Shah Nawaz Khan for financial administration of the Deccan, and in 1754 Nawaz made Raghuji Nagpur pay 500,000 rupees. Nawaz sent the Nizam army into Mysore and raised ten times that the next year; but the French were demanding 2,900,000 rupees a year for their troops. After Salabat Jang dismissed the French, Bussy seized Hyderabad. Nawaz was dismissed during an uprising, and Nizam 'Ali gained power. Marathas led by the Peshwa's son Vishvas Ras invaded and gained 2,500,000 rupees worth of Deccan territory in the treaty of January 1758. Bussy's manager Haidar Jang had Nawaz Shah and Salabat Jang arrested; but Nizam 'Ali avoided that fate by murdering Haidar Jang. During a riot Nawaz was murdered in prison by a French officer. Bussy was recalled to Madras, and Nizam 'Ali returned to Hyderabad. Without French assistance, the Nizam army was easily defeated by the Marathas. In 1756 war broke out again in Europe between France and England. Comte de Lally led the French attack that destroyed Fort St. David, but his invasion of Tanjore to get money failed. Lally besieged

Madras in December 1758 but was defeated the next month trying to regain Arcot, as Bussy was captured. Eyre Coote arrived with a British fleet and defeated Lally in January 1760. Pondicherry was blockaded, and Lally surrendered a year later, ending French power in India. The 1763 treaty of Paris let them keep Pondicherry but without fortifications. During the siege of Pondicherry, Muhammad 'Ali met all the expenses in order to receive the captured stores; but the Company took them and merely promised him credit. Muhammad 'Ali lived extravagantly in a palace outside of Madras and continually borrowed money at about 40% interest, enabling the English to acquire fortunes giving him loans. George Pigot demanded that Muhammad 'Ali pay five million rupees annually to the Company on his debt. He tried to get tribute from the fertile Tanjore, but Pigot arranged for this to go to the Company also. Nizam 'Ali offered the Company the Circars for military assistance against the Marathas. Together they planned an attack on Haidar 'Ali's fort at Bangalore; but the clever Mysore leader paid off the Marathas with 3,500,000 rupees and secretly plotted with Nizam 'Ali to attack the English. Muhammad 'Ali learned of it, and Col. Joseph Smith retreated in 1767. Near Trinomalee his army was attacked by the combined forces of Haidar and Nizam 'Ali but inflicted heavy casualties upon them. Haidar's son Tipu led a raid on the outskirts of Madras, frightening Council members. When Nizam 'Ali learned another English force was coming from Bengal, he made a treaty with the English in 1768 and became known as their faithful ally. After failing to supply him before, now the Madras Council sent two deputies to make money supplying Smith's troops. Smith was recalled and replaced by the corrupt Col. Wood. Haidar 'Ali respected and avoided Col. Smith but was glad to attack Wood at every opportunity. By the end of 1768 the Madras Council recalled Wood and put him under arrest. His charges were later dismissed because he was a relative of the powerful Company director Laurence Sulivan. Haidar asked to negotiate with Dupr, the most honest member of the Madras Council, and he agreed to a treaty in 1769 with the Company restoring all conquered territories under a mutual defense agreement. Bengal nawab Alivardi died in 1756 and was succeeded by his grandson Siraj-ud-daula. Army commander Mir Jafar and the English conspired against him. When the Nawab ordered the English and French to dismantle their forts, the English refused. Siraj attacked Calcutta with a reported 50,000 men and captured Fort William in June 1756. English prisoners were confined in a small room called the "Black Hole" overnight. According to magistrate John Z. Holwell, of the 146 imprisoned he was one of only 23 who survived the suffocation; but many have questioned the accuracy of his account, and recent Indian studies found the number imprisoned was 64. Siraj was not blamed for the guards' incompetence. Clive arrived with an army that took over Calcutta and Hughli in January 1757; a treaty restored the East India Company's trading rights and factories. At war with France, the English attacked Chandernagar. Siraj complained but could do little except ask the French to leave Bengal. Clive accused the Nawab of violating the treaty and wrote he was asking for arbitration, but he occupied the fort at Katwa. When the Punjabi merchant Aminchand tried to blackmail Clive, threatening to warn Siraj, Clive fooled him with a forged agreement and never paid him. During the battle of Plassey in June 1757 Mir Jafar betrayed Siraj by going over to the winning English side. Clive joined Mir Jafar and his troops in Murshidabad. Siraj fled, was captured, and executed at the behest of Mir Jafar. Clive presided over the installation of Mir Jafar as nawab, and for the first time the English were given land with zamindari rights. Mir Jafar promised to pay some twenty million rupees in compensation and gave Clive a present of 160,000 pounds. Later when he was criticized for accepting this, Clive replied that he was astonished at his own moderation, noting that Murshidabad was as populous and rich as London. Clive managed to get Mir Jafar recognized by the Mughal emperor, and Maratha peshwa Balaji kept getting the tribute agreed upon with Alivardi. The

dastaks (passes) that Mir Jafar granted to Company servants exempted them from duties on private trade and gave them a competitive advantage over Indians. Some agents used the British name to extort even more money in the countryside. The Calcutta Council elected Clive governor of Bengal in 1758. Clive sent Coote after the French led by Law, and the strict Coote had reluctant soldiers flogged. Facing a revolt in Bihar backed by the Awadh nawab, Mir Jafar asked Clive for help, because his mutinous army refused to march. Mughal prince 'Ali Gauhar, who later became Shah Alam II, invaded Bihar with 40,000 men. Clive pushed forward a battalion against him but then sent him 500 gold coins and persuaded him to withdraw. Clive stationed a garrison at Patna, and in gratitude Mir Jafar gave Clive a local tax district. Clive sent Francis Forde to help a raja who had taken over Vizagapatam. Forde's forces defeated the French, and Salabat Jang ceded territory to the English in May 1759. In July seven Dutch ships carrying soldiers tried to go up the Hughli to Chinsura. Mir Jafar ordered them to turn back but did nothing. Though England was not yet at war with Holland, Clive decided to enforce the Nawab's order after Hastings warned him the Nawab was conniving with the Dutch. Clive sent Forde with 300 Europeans, 800 sepoys, and four field guns that made the difference, killing and capturing 450 European soldiers near Badarah on the road to Chinsura. Six Dutch vessels surrendered to three larger English ships, and the other one fled. The Dutch had to admit they provoked the violence and pay a million rupees damages. The Dutch would not challenge the English in Bengal again. Holwell replaced Clive as governor at Fort William for five months in 1760 and persuaded his successor Vansittart that Nawab Mir Jafar should be deposed. Vansittart secretly made a treaty with Mir Jafar's son-in-law Mir Qasim, making him diwani and giving him more authority than the Nawab. When Mir Jafar objected, the Governor and Mir Qasim besieged his palace in October 1760. After Mir Jafar abdicated, he was allowed to live in Calcutta. The new Nawab soon came into conflict with the English chief Ellis at Patna over duties on inland trade. Mir Qasim demanded that the Company's private trade be abolished, but Vansittart proposed paying nine percent duties on inland trade. Although Indian merchants paid forty percent, the Calcutta Council reduced the duty for company merchants to 2.5%, and it was only on salt. The Nawab's ordering that regulations be enforced provoked violence. He was also disliked for raising taxes more than they had been in the previous two centuries. Then in March 1763 he ordered a remission on all duties on inland trade for two years, hoping that letting Indians compete fairly would ruin English trade. Mir Qasim sent troops to Patna in June, but Ellis took over the factory city. Mir Qasim's forces captured Patna and killed the English envoy Amyatt, shocking the English who lost nearly 3,000 men. The Calcutta Council declared war on Mir Qasim. The English army of Bengal marched into Murshidabad and reinstated Mir Jafar. After Mir Qasim's army was defeated in June 1763, he killed his commander, some associates, and nearly two hundred English prisoners. Then he fled to Awadh. In 1762 Shah Alam II and Shuja-ud-daula of Awadh had invaded Bundelkhand. The next year they marched toward Delhi hoping to unite Muslims; but the Sunni Afghans came into conflict with Shuja's Shi'a troops and departed. Shah Alam and Shuja gave refuge to Mir Qasim in Awadh. The Calcutta Council sent forces led by Major Carnac into Awadh. Negotiation with Shuja-ud-daula failed, because both he and Mir Jafar wanted Bihar. When Carnac refused to fight in the rainy season, he was replaced by Major Munro, who court martialed a few mutinous officers and executed them with cannons. When Mir Qasim ran out of money for Awadh's war, he was imprisoned. In October 1764 the English army of about 7,200 defeated Shuja's army of 30,000 at the battle of Buxar. Shah Alam surrendered and was allowed to govern only Allahabad and Korah for the next six years. In addition to these annual revenues of 2,800,000 rupees, he would receive tribute of 2,600,000 rupees from Bengal. As Subah of Bengal he bestowed on the Company the powerful office of Diwan. Shuja was defeated again the next year, but he promised to pay the

Company five million rupees and was reinstated. These arrangements were made by Clive when he returned for a second term as governor in 1765. The new Nawab was still head of revenue collection and the judiciary, but the army was controlled by the Company. Clive called this "dual government." Mir Jafar died and was succeeded by his grandson Najm-ud-daula. When Clive allowed the new Nawab an annual salary of 5,300,000 rupees, his character was revealed by his reply, "Thank God! I shall now have as many dancing girls as I please."1 Directors had ordered Clive to reform the system by limiting presents and checking the abuses of private trade. Presents over 4,000 rupees were forbidden, and those over 1,000 required official approval. Yet the Council had accepted presents totaling nearly 140,000 pounds from the new Nawab. Clive tried to increase salaries to reduce corruption, but the Directors balked at the cost and instituted commissions on revenues. He converted a gift from Mir Jafar into a fund for wounded and sick veterans. Clive reduced the corrupt allowances military officers had been receiving for years. Angry officers in the Monghyr brigade resigned their commissions, and the troops were near mutiny; but Clive used the sepoys (Indian troops) to force them to cooperate. Clive made the officers at Patna sign a three-year agreement with capital punishment for disobedience. He court martialed the "ringleaders" and deported them. Opposition to his reforms subsided, and Clive left India in February 1767. He predicted that the Company would make an annual profit of two million pounds and that the people of Bengal would be benefited, but the results of his efforts were quite different.

Marathas and Hastings 1767-84

Peshwa Madhav Rao and his uncle Raghunath met in 1767, but the latter lost a second civil war the next year and was imprisoned at Puna. Bombay sent Thomas Mostyn to Puna to keep the Marathas from joining Mysore's Haidar 'Ali and the Deccan's Nizam 'Ali, and the next year the English attacked Haidar's fleet on the west coast. Nizam made a treaty with Madras in 1768, but Haidar's victories the next year made Madras promise to defend him from Maratha attack, which they failed to do. Madhav Rao wanted to subjugate the Karnatak and in 1770 occupied several posts and two strong forts; he put Trimbak Rao in charge with a large army. In March 1771 Trimbak defeated Mysore's army, as Haidar fled to his capital in a disguise. Ill and out of money, the Peshwa told Trimbak Rao to make peace in 1772; Haidar 'Ali agreed to pay 3,100,000 rupees and surrendered some territory south of the Tungabhadra. When the Marathas invaded Mysore, Haidar 'Ali asked for English assistance in accordance with their 1769 treaty; but Muhammad 'Ali was hostile to Haidar, and the Marathas asked for English help also. The Madras Council procrastinated, and Haidar resented this breach of the treaty. Madras governor Dupr wisely refrained from supporting Muhammad 'Ali's scheme to invade Tanjore, because it would provoke the Marathas. In late 1771 he approved a siege by General Joseph Smith, but Muhammad 'Ali changed his mind on being offered five million rupees by the Tanjore raja. Two years later the Madras Council, dominated by Paul Benfield, sent Smith to seize Tanjore for Muhammad 'Ali; but in 1775 the Company directors removed the Madras governor and ordered the Council to restore the raja. The Court of Proprietors appointed George Pigot governor, and he came into conflict with the Madras Council and Nawab Muhammad 'Ali. Pigot ordered Robert Fletcher arrested, but instead the Council put Pigot in prison, where he died in May 1777. Peshwa Madhav Rao died of disease in November 1772 and was succeeded by his brother Narayan Rao. Raghunath Rao (Ragoba) organized a conspiracy and had his nephew murdered in August 1773, becoming peshwa. He made a treaty with Haidar 'Ali, trading territory for money. The late Peshwa's widow Ganga Bai gave birth to a son, and Nana Fadnavis led an effort to govern as regents for him. Raghunath appealed to Bombay and gained an English alliance in a 1775 treaty,

ceding Salsette and Bassein. The Calcutta Council condemned the Bombay treaty and sent Col. Upton to Puna to annul it and make a new one with the regency that renounced Raghunath, who was promised a pension. The Bombay government rejected this and gave refuge to Raghunath. In 1777 Nana Fadnavis violated his treaty by granting the French a port on the west coast. Bombay reacted by sending a force toward Puna, but in January 1779 the British troops were defeated by a large Maratha army. In the convention at Wadgaon, Bombay had to relinquish all territory acquired since 1775. Bengal disavowed this, and an army led by Col. Goddard marched across India to take over Ahmadabad in February 1780 and Bassein in December. Haidar 'Ali formed a triple alliance with the Deccan's Nizam 'Ali and the Marathas against the English, and they defeated the British advance on Puna. Haidar and his son Tipu trapped a British force of 3,800 led by Baillie, capturing all that had not been killed; about 200 Europeans were imprisoned for several years. Some of the prisoners were put to death, and others were converted to Islam. The Maratha-Mysore alliance took Arcot after a long siege, but Hastings and the Bengal council won Nizam back over by assuring him that his tribute would be paid and that Guntur would be restored to Basalat Jang. Another Bengal detachment led by Captain Popham helped the Rana of Gohad capture Gwalior in August 1780. Hastings sent more forces, and in 1781 Eyre Coote defeated Haidar at Porto Novo. General Camac also defeated Mahadji Sindia at Sipri. After these English victories, Sindia proposed a new treaty between Puna and the English, recognizing young Madhava Rao Narayan and giving Raghunath a pension. This treaty of Salbai was signed in May 1782 and ratified eight months later by Nana Fadnavis; it called for the Peshwa to make Haidar 'Ali relinquish his conquests and prisoners within six months of ratification. Haidar 'Ali was elderly and had died of cancer in December 1782; but his son Tipu continued the war. Bombay brigadier Mathews and his men captured Bednore and Mangalore in 1783 but surrendered to Tipu after he withdrew troops from the Karnatak. Lord Macartney at Madras recalled Col. Fullarton, and the 1784 treaty of Mangalore restored conquests and liberated prisoners. The English East India Company's dividend was raised in 1766 from six to ten percent and to 12.5% the following year. The House of Commons appointed a committee to inquire into the Company's extraordinary money-making and reduced the dividend back to ten percent. Three Supervisors were sent out to reform the Company in September 1769, but the ship was lost at sea. Commodore John Lindsay had been made the King's Minister Plenipotentiary secretly after the Company's directors had opposed this. The English used the dual Mughal revenue system in Bengal, but Clive's strict reforms provided little improvement. The English enriched themselves with bribes and by fixing prices. Crop failures led to a disastrous famine and pestilence in 1770 during which about ten million people died, a third of the Bengal and Bihar population. The English Company spent only 9,000 pounds on famine relief that helped about 400,000 people. Officials monopolized all grain and even forced ryots (peasants) to sell their seeds for the next harvest, compounding the misery. Revenues were still demanded and even increased, further decreasing cultivation. The justice system was corrupt, as judges were appointed by official favor, and not having salaries they depended on fines and perquisites. The Company's servants participated in inland trade without duties and drove most of the Indian merchants out of business. Verelst had failed even though he seemed to realize that acting as mere merchants, making immense revenues the only goal without protecting the people, was inhumane. He was replaced by Cartier in 1770. The Directors continued to pay the dividends even though the Company had to borrow from the Bank of England to do so. In 1771 the Directors appointed the experienced Warren Hastings as governor of Bengal. Hastings wanted to cultivate peace and establish justice, reduce Company expenses, and limit remote wars. He had served in India since 1750 and spoke Bengali, Hindustani (Urdu), and some Persian, the

official language of the Mughals. He believed that most Indians are gentle, kind, faithful in service, submissive to laws, and abhorred bloodshed. Hastings was secretly ordered to arrest the Nawab's chief minister Muhammad Reza Khan for fraud and embezzlement. However, the charges could not be proved, because the one accusing him was his ambitious assistant, the notorious Nandakumar, who had asked the English for a bribe to betray Siraj-ud-daula and the French when the English were planning to attack Chandernagore in 1757. Hastings took over the Nawab's authority but still used mostly Indian officials, believing their traditional corruption was not as bad as the greedy Englishmen. He paid thirty Company servants salaries in six Provincial Councils to oversee the Indian officials. He established criminal and civil courts of appeal in Calcutta and appointed Muslim and other law officers approved by the Nawab. Use of the dastak passes was abolished, and a uniform tariff of 2.5% was set on all internal trade. The British Government loaned the Company 1.5 million pounds and ended their obligation to pay the Government 400,000 pounds annually. The Regulating Act of 1773 gave authority in Bengal to four councilors headed by the governor-general, who could break a tie. The other councilors, Philip Francis, General Clavering, and Colonel Monson, began investigating Hastings, who became governor-general in 1774. That year Clive committed suicide in England. When Awadh nawab Shuja-ud-daula died and was succeeded by his son Asaf-ud-daula, the Council insisted on a new treaty and gained concessions, causing his troops to mutiny for lack of pay and his zamindars to hold back revenue. Francis with a letter from Nandakumar accused Hastings of accepting 350,000 rupees in presents from the young Nawab's guardian Mani Begum. Nandakumar was charged with forgery, which the British had made a capital crime, and after a trial Nandakumar was hanged. He was a Brahmin, and Indians were shocked by this extreme punishment. Monson died and was replaced by Richard Barwell. An attempt to remove Hastings and Barwell was blocked by the Court of Proprietors, who could not be bribed and did not want the King's friend Clavering to end the Company's power in India. Clavering died in August 1777, and the Directors extended Hastings' term past 1779. News that France had declared war on England arrived in August 1778, and within a few months the English seized Chandernagore and Pondicherry. Hastings set up the Amini Commission to determine the real value of land by examining past revenues. Eyre Coote joined the Council in 1779. When Hastings believed that Francis had violated their agreement by blocking a military decision, their quarrel escalated to a duel in which Francis was wounded. Francis objected to Bengal being governed by foreign traders and wanted the British monarch to have authority. During the Mysore war Hastings asked Benares raja Chait Singh to contribute an extra 500,000 rupees and two thousand cavalry. After he provided only 200,000 rupees, Hastings had him arrested. Chait Singh's armed retainers freed him, killing most of the sepoys, who for some unknown reason had no ammunition. Severed heads of English officers were paraded in villages. The Company sent more troops and deposed Chait Singh, who fled with his treasure. They installed his young nephew and nearly doubled the annual revenue payment to 4,000,000 rupees. The treasure was eventually captured but was divided among the troops to Hastings' consternation. His treatment of Chait Singh later became the most serious charge in the famous Hastings impeachment trial. Hastings replaced the provincial councils with a revenue administration and local Indian diwans, but this made it difficult to find positions for young Englishmen in India. Francis promoted investigation of Hastings in the House of Commons, and in 1782 Hastings was censored; but the Court of Proprietors rescinded the Directors' recall order. Lack of rain caused famine in northern India. Hastings visited Lucknow (Lakhnau), where the Awadh nawab lived in luxury in a palace tended by 4,000 gardeners. He managed to collect half the debt the opium-eating Asaf-ud-daula owed by sending troops to take it by force from the rich Begams. Hastings lamented the encroaching spirit of the English that allowed and even protected licentious individuals. Hicky's

Gazette began publishing sensational news, sarcasm, gossip, and scandals in 1780; but after it exposed Hastings' private life, he had Hicky arrested and deported. He welcomed orientalist William Jones and wrote an introduction to Wilkins' translation of the Bhagavad-gita. They founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal. After his council supporter Wheler died, Hastings handed his office over to Macpherson and left India in February 1785. His impeachment trial by Parliament began in 1788, but he was not acquitted on all charges until 1795. Even his detractor, the historian Macaulay, admitted that Hastings had been the most popular governor of India.

Marathas and Cornwallis Reforms 1784-1800

In England clause 34 of Pitt's India Act of 1784 enjoined the Company not to intervene in Indian politics, and Macpherson refused to join the Maratha alliance against Mysore unless the French were attacking them. To fight Tipu, Nana Fadnavis made an alliance with Nizam 'Ali and granted Garha-Mandla to Mudhoji Bhosle in exchange for 15,000 cavalry and 3,200,000 rupees; but he had to give Holkar a million rupees to pay his army. The Maratha army led by Hari Pant Fadke invaded Mysore in 1786. Tipu was in a strong position but feared British involvement and negotiated a treaty in March 1787, agreeing to pay six million rupees. Lord Cornwallis was the Company's governor-general 1786-93 and was obligated to follow Pitt's India Act. Muhammad 'Ali was living in luxury in Madras, and the Company was paying his extravagant debts. Cornwallis made a treaty with him, promising to defend the whole Karnatak for a fee. Nizam 'Ali was supposed to give Guntur to the English when Basalat Jang died in 1782. Cornwallis finally got Guntur from Nizam 'Ali in 1788, and the next year he promised him two battalions of sepoys provided they were not used against the Company's allies, which did not include Mysore. Five months later Tipu attacked a line of defenses in Travancore that had been originally built by the Portuguese, captured by the Dutch in 1662, and sold to the Travancore raja. Cornwallis considered this a violation and arranged a triple alliance against Mysore. The Company's Charles Malet formalized it with Nana's Marathas at Puna, and John Kennaway did so with the Nizam at Hyderabad; each promised 10,000 cavalry. Tipu had a disciplined army of about 100,000, and they were much more mobile than the English, whose officers traveled with furniture. Bombay governor Major-General Medows replaced the unprepared Madras governor Hollond and led 15,000 men, taking Coimbatore in July 1790. Tipu's large army forced Col. Floyd to retreat and ravaged the Karnatak; but outnumbered Col. Hartley defeated a Mysore army near Calicut on the west coast, and Bombay governor General Abercromby with a larger force landed and took over the Malabar province. Cornwallis joined Medows, and their combined army of 19,000 captured Bangalore in March 1791. Tipu retreated to his capital at Seringapatam while Cornwallis found his army bogged down by rain and starving bullocks; military stores and heavy guns had to be destroyed. Two Maratha armies brought supplies they sold, and eventually 28,000 bullocks were sent from the Karnatak. A Maratha army went off to plunder Bednor. Tipur still had 50,000 men but negotiated a surrender in March 1792. He ceded half his territory and promised to pay 33 million rupees; Cornwallis took two of his sons as hostages for two years until the indemnity was paid. The Nizam and the Peshwa split northern Mysore, and the English got Malabar with its spices for the Bombay presidency. The British restored the Karnatak to Muhammad 'Ali. Upon hearing news that England was at war with revolutionary France, Cornwallis took artillery to help Madras capture Pondicherry and then left for England in October 1793. William Pitt's India Act of 1784 established a Board of Control that nullified the Company's Court of Proprietors but worked with the Directors to set policy. Pitt hoped this would guide politics in India with as little corrupt influence as possible. Both Macartney and Cornwallis refused to be governor-general unless they could control the council. Macpherson held the position for twenty

months until Cornwallis was made commander-in-chief as well. Macpherson was criticized for making money for himself and his friends, but he managed to clear off military pay arrears. He offered the Nizam and the Marathas three battalions from Bombay to fight Tipu, but Cornwallis retracted that. Pitt and Control Board chairman Henry Dundas wanted Cornwallis to institute reforms, and in his first three years peace allowed him to do so. Cornwallis suspended the Board of Trade and dismissed most of its members for irregularities. He stopped the selling of offices and enforced the ban on private trade by public servants by sending offenders home. He abolished sinecures and dismissed high officials, and he got the Company to reduce commissions and increase salaries so that honesty became practical. He did not trust Indians and confined them to inferior positions only. He cut back corruption in Awadh by reducing the seven million rupees paid for the troops to five million and stopped exempting Company servants from duties by making a commercial treaty with Awadh. The British had been using the zamindari system in Bengal since 1765. Zamindars collected taxes in their districts, traditionally a third of the gross produce, keeping one-tenth of what they collected. Failure to pay the assessment was usually punished by fines, imprisonment, or flogging, not by confiscating. John Shore had been in charge of revenue for the last four years under Hastings, and his research was used for the ten-year settlement Cornwallis made in 1789. He persuaded Dundas to make the settlement permanent in 1793. Zamindars were considered landowners and still had to pay 90% of what they collected, and the cultivators were protected by the British collectors over them. Many of the new assessments were too high, and some zamindars had to sell to men with money in Calcutta. Personal connections between the zamindars and the peasants were often broken, and many landlords were absent. As improvements were made, the fixed settlement resulted in the zamindars becoming wealthy; but the peasants' status remained low, and they could be evicted for not paying their rent. The Board of Revenue was reorganized, reducing the districts from 35 to 23. Each collector had two European assistants, and his salary was increased from 1,200 rupees per month to 1,500 with a commission of one percent on revenue collected. This Permanent Settlement fixed land revenues; as time went on, some believed that the Bengal and Bihar governments suffered from inadequate revenues. Cornwallis reformed civil law by instituting the English legal system for all but minor suits. By abolishing legal fees everyone could have access to the courts; but this resulted in a backlog, and it took many years to bring a case. Muslim law was modified to replace mutilation with fines and to abolish distinctions made between believers and infidels. In 1790 Cornwallis removed Muhammad Reza Khan so that the governor-general and his council had supreme authority with the advice of a qazi (chief judge) and two muftis on Islamic law. Initial appeals were made to provincial courts at Calcutta, Murshidabad, Dacca, and Patna. Zamindars had to give up their private police forces. Being a district police chief (darogha) was one powerful position an Indian could fill. The complete revision of the legal system became known as the Cornwallis Code in May 1793. Perhaps most important was that he applied the rule of law to the governors as well as the governed. Cornwallis wrote,
The collectors of revenue and their officers, and indeed all the officers of Government, shall be amenable to the courts for acts done in their official capacities, and Government itself, in cases in which it may be a party with its subjects in matters of property shall submit its rights to be tried in these courts under the existing laws and regulations.2

In regard to the debts of nawabs such as Muhammad 'Ali, the Board of Control overruled the Directors and declared all debts were due; they were influenced by Benfield and others in Parliament who benefited from this. Thus Madras continued to drain wealth from the Company at Bengal. Slave trafficking in India was abolished by proclamation in 1789; but rural slavery of peasant serfs continued in much of India, and the households of landlords often had domestic slaves in areas where Islamic law still prevailed. In the early 19th century Buchanan reported that the price of adult slaves varied between fifteen and twenty rupees while children cost an average of one rupee for each year of their age. Many men sold their children into slavery for bread during famines. John Shore succeeded Cornwallis in 1793. He was a devoted Christian but also promoted the study of Indian culture as the third president of the Asiatic Society. Resident Jonathan Duncan established a Sanskrit College at Benares in 1792 and began a campaign to end infanticide. Baptist missionary William Carey came to Calcutta in 1793, set up schools, and translated the Bible into Bengali. William Duane began publishing Indian World in 1794, but he was arrested and deported the next year. During this European war Madras forces attacked Dutch settlements in Sri Lanka and the Spice Islands. Shore declined to defend Nizam 'Ali in a conflict with the Maratha confederacy that formed after Mahadji Sindia was succeeded by his nephew Daulat Rao Sindia. After a battle at Kharda with less than 200 casualties in March 1795, the Nizam's army dispersed; he ceded territory and agreed to pay the Marathas thirty million rupees. Nizam dismissed two battalions of the Company's sepoys but found he needed their aid when his son 'Ali Jah rebelled against him. Muhammad 'Ali died in 1795; but his son Umdut-ul-Umara would not modify the treaty, and the corruption continued. However, Alexander Read and Thomas Munro established a revenue administration in Madras that became the model for British India. After Peshwa Madhu Rao fell off a terrace and died in October 1795, the Marathas were divided over the succession of Raghunath's son Baji Rao II. The conflict enabled Nizam 'Ali to regain territory he lost at Kharda, but by December 1796 Baji Rao was recognized as the peshwa with Nana Fadnavis as chief minister. For a while Daulat Rao Sindia's father-in-law Sarza Rao Ghatge gained control at the Puna court and extorted wealth, arresting prominent persons. Mahadji's three widows protested but were defeated in 1798. Company officers were upset about their poor pay and limited promotion opportunities compared to the King's officers; but Abercromby suggested modifying Shore's new regulations, and mutiny was averted. In 1797 Awadh nawab Asaf-ud-daula invited Shore to visit Lucknow. Shore hinted at a collective guilt when he commented on the succession struggle in Rohilkhand in which Ghulam Muhammad had killed the heir and then was defeated by his son.
No one can calculate the consequences of the violation of a moral principle; and there is some justice in your suspicion that the inveteracy of the Rohillas may be traced to the injustice of 1774.3

The Afghan Zaman Shah had recently invaded as far as Lahore, and Shore wanted concessions from the frightened Awadh nawab. Asaf-ud-daula agreed to pay more and replace a corrupt minister; when the threat faded, he declined to turn over the fortress of Allahabad. Asaf-ud-daula died six months later, and Shore replaced Vazir 'Ali, who was claiming to be the Nawab's son, with his brother Sa'adat 'Ali. The new Nawab then ceded Allahabad to the Company and raised the annual payment for its troops to 76 million rupees. Zaman Shah occupied Lahore again in 1798; but he returned to Afghanistan when he learned that his brother Shah Mahmud had invited the Persian shah to invade. Shore objected to the aggressive methods of Madras governor Hobart and annulled a

treaty he made with the intimidated Tanjore raja. Hobart wrote to Dundas threatening to resign if Shore was not replaced; but the Directors recalled Hobart for having coerced the Karnatak nawab. Richard Wellesley was not quite 38 years old when he became governor-general at Calcutta in May 1798. He believed in British imperialism and thought that Shore had been a weak governor. Because of the European war he exaggerated the threat of the French in India. In June he learned that the French governor Malartic of Mauritius was raising volunteers to fight for Tipu Sultan against the English. Only a hundred recruits joined him, but Wellesley used it as an excuse to bully Tipu. His brother Arthur Wellesley advised him to be patient and let Tipu explain. Richard Wellesley goaded Madras into preparing for war and got Nizam 'Ali to dismiss his French officers and support the English Company. In February 1799 the combined army of the Company had 40,000 men with more than 100,000 camp followers. Tipu had only about 37,000 men and used his mobility and a scorched-earth strategy. After being defeated on March 27 by Company commander George Harris, Tipu retreated to Seringapatam. General Baird, who had suffered 44 months imprisonment in a Seringapatam dungeon, wanted revenge and led the attack that stormed and plundered the Mysore capital. Tipu was killed, and Arthur Wellesley had to use flogging and hanging to restore order. More than half of the two million pounds of booty was claimed by the officers as prize money, Harris getting 143,000. Richard Wellesley was offered 100,000, which he declined. Governor-General Wellesley had 14,000 European troops but declared 31,000 were needed. The Company reluctantly agreed to 21,000, but the number only reached about 18,000. Wellesley installed a five-year-old Hindu prince in the small traditional kingdom of Mysore. By a treaty in 1800 Nizam 'Ali gave up the Mysore territories he had gained in both wars to the Company for protection and an end to his paying an annual subsidy. His many troops were disbanded and caused local disorders for several years. The Company gained control of Tanjore when the raja Serfogi they had installed accepted a 40,000-pound annual pension in October 1799. Five months later Wellesley ordered the Company to take over the port of Surat as its nawab was given a pension. Wellesley believed that the English could govern better. After Muhammad 'Ali's son Umdat-ul-Umara died, the regents for his son rejected a pension agreement. So Wellesley offered one to Umdat-ul-Umara's nephew, and the Company took over the Karnatak in July 1801. The Directors approved the new treaty, because they believed the family of Muhammad 'Ali had forfeited its previous treaty rights by treasonable correspondence with Tipu. More complicated machinations were used in regard to Awadh (Oudh). Vazir 'Ali resented having to live in Calcutta, escaped, and with several thousand armed men killed the Benares resident Cherry and other Englishmen in 1799. After Zaman Shah invaded from Afghanistan to Lahore again in the fall of 1798, Bombay governor Duncan and Wellesley sent envoys with gifts to urge the Persian shah to destabilize Afghanistan and oppose the French. In 1800 Zaman Shah was imprisoned and blinded by his half-brother Shah Mahmud. In 1799 Awadh's Sa'adat 'Ali had written to Wellesley that he would abdicate; but when he learned he could not choose his successor, he changed his mind. Wellesley ordered more troops into Awadh and told the Nawab he would have to pay for them. Sa'adat 'Ali objected that this violated the treaty; but in February 1800 he agreed to pay the Company and disband his own forces. The next year Wellesley demanded that the Awadh nawab cede at least half his territory to the Company, and the threat of force made him agree in November 1801. The ceded land of Rohilkhand and the Lower Doab bordering Bihar was most fertile. Sa'adat 'Ali was required to "act in conformity to the counsel of the officers of the Honourable Company." Wellesley named his brother Henry as president of the board of commissioners and lieutenant-governor of Awadh. This military and administrative control by the Company in exchange for subsidies in the name of a defensive alliance was called the "subsidiary alliance system."

In 1799 Richard Wellesley decreed that no newspaper could be published unless it had been previously inspected by the Government's Secretary, and the penalty for failure was deportation. He founded the College of Fort William in Calcutta to educate civil servants. The uninformed Directors objected, but they were overruled by Castlereagh on the Board of Control. In 1806 the Directors established Haileyburg College in England and reduced Fort William College to teaching Indian languages to Bengali civilians. Wellesley believed in free trade and arranged for 3,000 tons of shipping for private British traders so that they could compete with foreign merchants. Believing that the British could provide superior government, Wellesley made plans to improve drainage and roads in Calcutta and proposed experimental agriculture at Barrackpur. He encouraged missionaries, and the Bible was translated into Indian languages. He prohibited the sacrifice of children at Saugor Point by the Hughli River and tried to reduce the number of Hindu widows burned in sati. Tukoji Holkar died in August 1797, and his sons fought over Malwa. Jaswant Rao Holkar emerged as regent and defended the Holkar House against the Maratha empire of Daulat Rao Sindia, who had 40,000 disciplined men under the French general Perron in his northern armies. The latter had Nana Fadnavis arrested on the last day of 1797, and Daulat's father-in-law Sarza Rao Ghatge terrorized Puna for three months to raise money. Nana was released in July 1798. That month the Company made a treaty with the Peshwa, who agreed to exclude the French from his army and pay the force from Bombay. This secret treaty was renewed annually three times. Meanwhile Lakhwa Dada led the war of Mahadji's widows against the tyranny of Daulat Rao Sindia that lasted four years. Young Peshwa Baji Rao II defeated the Kolhapur raja in 1799. Nana Fadnavis died in March 1800, and Daulat Rao became the Peshwa's chief minister. The civil war in Daulat's family ended when Lakhwa Dada and the widows were driven out of Seondha in May 1801. British Conquest of Marathas 1800-18

Sikhs and North India 1767-1800

In the north Marathas led by Malhar Rao Holkar and Mahadji Sindia gradually fought back from the devastation of the Panipat disaster. After Ahmad Shah Abdali went back to Afghanistan, in December 1767 the Bhangi Sikhs crossed the Jamuna and invaded the Doab. They defeated Najibud-daula in March 1768 and again in December. Jawahir Singh was assassinated in June, and his brother Ratan Singh hired the Europeans Rene Madec and Walter Reinhard. When Ratan Singh was murdered by his Brahmin priest in 1769, Jat commander Dan Shah became regent for Ratan's son Kesari Singh; civil war weakened the Jats. The Peshwa sent more troops, and 30,000 Marathas ravaged Jat territory in 1770. The Sikhs plundered Panipat and reached Delhi in January 1770, followed by Najib's son Zabita Khan. Negotiations failed, and Zabita Khan retired to his Rohilla estate, enabling the Sikhs to enter the Doab. A Jat army pursued the Sikhs and defeated them in February. Hari Singh Bhangi died and was succeeded by Jhanda Singh, who made the Jammu and the Pathans of Kasur pay tribute. Jhanda also captured the citadel at Multan. Learning that Zabita Khan had succeeded his father Najib, the Sikhs plundered Panipat again. Zabita Khan was defeated by the Marathas as Mahadji Sindia and Visaji Krishna occupied Delhi. They invited Shah 'Alam II to come from Allahabad. The Marathas defeated the Rohillas and captured Zabita Khan, causing other Rohilla chiefs to make a treaty with Awadh's Shuja-ud-daula in 1772. The Marathas controlled Emperor Shah 'Alam II and made him grant them Kora and Allahabad; Zabita Khan joined their side, and they wanted him appointed Mir Bakhshi. Emperor Shah Alam objected, but the Marathas defeated his imperial forces. Sirhind governor Mughal Ali Khan crossed the Jamuna but was attacked and defeated by Sikhs, who invaded the Doab again a year later. In 1773 the English and Awadh defended Rohilkhand from a Maratha attack, and in a

treaty Awadh nawab Shuja received Kora and Allahabad in exchange for paying five million rupees for a British garrison. In 1774 Shuja-ud-daula and the English invaded Rohilkhand, driving out 20,000 Rohillas and annexing most of that province to Awadh. In Delhi the Persian adventurer Mirza Najaf Khan commanded the Mughal army for the Emperor from 1772 until he died in 1782, repelling the Sikhs, suppressing the Jats, recovering Agra, and holding off the Marathas. In the Punjab the Sikhs could usually govern themselves and had much less violence, though in 1774 Jai Singh Kanhaya got Jhanda Singh assassinated and joined with Jassa Singh Ahluwalia to expel the carpenter Jassa Singh. When Afghanistan's Ahmad Shah Abdali died in 1772, his son Timur Shah was governing Herat. He rushed to Qandahar and was elected by the Durrani chiefs. Shah Vali Khan had tried to raise an army and was executed for treason. For two years Timur Shah was busy suppressing disorders in his kingdom, but his army crossed the Indus in January 1775 and defeated some Sikhs. Realizing he needed more men, he withdrew to Peshawar, where Faizullah Khan organized an assassination plot; but Timur hid in the tower until his guards were aroused and caused Faizullah to flee. In fury Timur ordered a massacre of about a third of the 6,000 men in Peshawar. He promised to forgive Faizullah; but when he surrendered, he was beheaded. Timur Shah invaded India again in 1779 and tried to get Multan back with diplomacy, but the Sikhs shot his envoy dead. Timur sent 18,000 men under Zangi Khan Durrani, and they killed several thousand Sikhs in the battle of Rohtas. After losing 2,000 more casualties at Shujabad, 7,000 Sikhs retreated into the fort at Multan; but they surrendered and were allowed to depart in February 1780. Timur Shah had forts built but returned to Afghanistan before the hot weather. In October 1780 Timur Shah invaded Bahawalpur; but when 20,000 Sikh horsemen attacked Multan, he asked for peace. In 1774 the Sikhs ravaged the Doab, approached Delhi, and were bought off by the Emperor, who offered them the district of Shahbazpur for the service of 10,000 horsemen. In 1775 Zabita Khan incited the Sikhs to plunder imperial lands; but in July he was defeated by Najaf Khan, and the Sikhs went home. In March 1776 Zabita Khan and his Rohillas attacked and killed Mughal commander Abul Qasim, and in May the Sikhs led by Gajpat Singh defeated and killed Mulla Rahimdad Khan, gaining seven villages. Zabita Khan and the Sikhs went to Delhi the next month and were pardoned by the Emperor; but in the fall about 60,000 Sikhs plundered Delhi's neighbors. Zabita Khan and the Sikhs fought Najaf Khan's imperial army in 1777. When Zabita Khan was defeated, he fled to the Sikhs and converted to their religion. In 1778 they raided the Doab and stayed in Delhi for a month. The next year Abdul Ahad led the imperial army but had to retreat in October. The Sikhs did not attempt to win political power in the region but were intent on gaining plunder. The Emperor's grand-nephew Mirza Shafi led several campaigns against the Sikhs and even recruited dissident Sikhs into his army. He imprisoned Gajpat Singh and three other Sikh chiefs and in 1781 took Sadhaura from the Sikhs. Despite the conflicts among the Sikhs, the Mughals were not able to defeat them because Najaf Khan could not provide Shafi's army with enough supplies. Najaf Khan tried to get Zabita Khan to help Shafi but could not pay his troops. The Sikhs used guerrilla warfare and ravaged the Doab. In June 1781 Zabita Khan mediated an agreement giving the Sikhs the right to collect taxes (rakhi) in the upper Doab, and the Sikhs promised to stop raiding imperial territory. Yet the Sikhs continued to ravage imperial lands. A week before he died in April 1782, Najaf Khan sent Shafi with 10,000 troops against the Sikhs. Najaf's slaves Afrasiyab Khan and Najaf Quli Khan struggled for power with Shafi Khan and Mughal officer Muhammad Beg Hamdani, but the Maratha chief Mahadji Sindia took power in Delhi. Lack of rain caused a devastating famine that destroyed about a third of the population in 1783. Many Sikhs moved from the Setluj territory to the upper Ganga Doab.

After raiding as far as the Ganges, Baghel Singh and Jassa Singh Ahluwalia led the Sikh army of 60,000 that plundered Delhi in March 1783. Reinhard's widow Begam Samru was invited to negotiate, and it was agreed that Baghel Singh would remain in the capital with 4,000 troops to keep order. Shafi was Mughal regent and with Afrasiyab tried to suppress the revolt of Hamdani, who assassinated Shafi in September. Afrasiyab became regent until he was murdered by Shafi's brother Zain-ul-Abidin Khan in November 1784. During this period of weakness Mahadji Sindia met with Emperor Shah Alam and represented the Marathas' Peshwa. In December 1784 the Sikhs plundered the suburbs of Delhi, alarming the English. Early in 1785 about 30,000 Sikhs, led by Baghel Singh, Gurdit Singh, and Jassa Singh Ramgarhia, crossed the Jamuna and ravaged the upper Doab. A subsidiary British force led by Awadh diwan Raja Jagan Nath skirmished with the Sikhs. Najaf Quli invited the Sikhs to approach Delhi, and they did so collecting tribute. Mahadji Sindia sent Ambaji Ingle to win over the Sikhs, and in March they agreed on a provisional treaty. The Sikh chiefs tried to form an alliance with the English by making a false accusation against Sindia but then concluded a treaty with him in May in which they would receive a million rupees income for 5,000 cavalry. The Sikhs quickly broke the treaty by collecting extra revenue in the Doab, and Dhar Rao Sindia led 10,000 troops to expel them. He was joined by Gajpat Singh and demanded money from Ghulam Qadir, who had succeeded his father Zabita Khan in January. Jai Singh Kanhaya was paramount in the Punjab until about 1785 when Mahan Singh and Jassa Singh Ramgarhia defeated the Kanhayas. Mahan Singh was the most powerful Sikh in the Punjab until he died in 1792. In 1783 Murtaza Khan and Zaman Khan complained to Timur Shah that their brother Azad Khan had expelled them from Kashmir. The Afghan king gave them 30,000 troops, and at the Kishanganga River they killed 2,000 Kashmiris; but Azad Khan's cousin Pahalwan Khan rallied their troops and defeated the imperial army. At Srinagar the Afghan army was defeated again. Angered Timur Shah sent a larger force from Peshawar. Azad Khan fled, was imprisoned, and killed himself. On learning that Shah Murad of Balkh was preparing to invade Afghanistan, Timur Shah returned to Kabul in May 1786. On Timur Shah's fifth campaign into India he led an army of 120,000 and massacred the inhabitants of Bahawalpur in January 1789. He demanded four million rupees and 3,000 camel loads of water bags from the raja of Jodhpur; but Rae Dhanje promised Mahadji Sindia he would starve the Afghans in Kachh Bhuj. So Timur Shah went into Sind and collected six million rupees in tribute. News of disturbances by Shah Murad of Turan persuaded Timur to retreat again. For the next three years rumors abounded that Timur Shah was planning to capture Delhi, but he died at Kabul in 1793 and was succeeded by his son Shah Zaman. The Sikhs continued their raiding, and in 1787 they plundered the territory of Ghulam Qadir and others. Ghulam Qadir joined forces with Ambaji for a while. Meanwhile Mahadji Sindia was defeating the Rajputs of Jaipur; Hamdani was killed, and the raja promised to pay 6,300,000 rupees. When Ambaji joined Sindia in Jaipur, Ghulam Qadir got Sikhs to join him in challenging the Marathas. In September 1785 Ghulam Qadir took power in Delhi while his ally Isma'il Beg occupied Agra. Begam Samru's battalions reached Delhi three days later. The Emperor named Ghulam regent, and he secured the fortress of Aligarh and took control of the Doab. Emperor Shah Alam II demanded tribute from Najaf Quli Khan; but the imperial forces were slaughtered by the Sikhs, and Begam Samru mediated a reconciliation. The Sikhs plundered the territory of Ghulam Qadir while he was fighting the Marathas and Jats near Bharatpur. Ghulam returned to Delhi in July 1788. His Rohillas stripped and raped princesses and ladies, letting many die of starvation while they searched for treasures, which his wife later estimated at 250 million rupees. When Shah Alam could not disclose more secrets, Ghulam Qadir blinded him. The Marathas attacked Delhi; Ghulam fled and was captured in December. Sindia had his body mutilated before putting him to death. Mahadji Sindia put 'Ali Bahadur in charge, tried to conciliate Tukoji Holkar by giving him a million rupees worth of land, and went to Mathura in 1788. He granted the Sikhs feudal tenures in 1789,

allowing a thousand Sikhs to collect taxes with Maratha officers; but the Sikhs plundered the Doab again in 1790. They captured the British commander Robert Stuart and held him at Thanesar for nearly ten months in 1791 before the English agreed to pay Bhanga Singh a ransom of six million rupees that was transferred by Begam Samru. Mahadji Sindia got Comte de Boigne to train his troops with European discipline, and by 1792 Sindia established Maratha supremacy over the Rajputs and Jats; but he had conflicts with 'Ali Bahadur and Holkar. In 1793 De Boigne's infantry attacked Holkar's troops near Ajmer. Mahadji Sindia died of illness in 1794; he was succeeded by his nephew's son Daulat Rao Sindia, who was only 14 and inept. He appointed the Shenvi Brahmin Lakhba Dada to govern northern India, which was ravaged so badly that land was hardly cultivated. The artillery of Begam's regiment forced the Sikhs to retreat to their own territory in 1794. An attempt to collect revenue in Karnal provoked a war with the Sikhs in 1795, and they invaded the upper Doab. The Sikhs were also torn apart by civil war, though Rae Singh Bhangi persuaded Gurdit Singh to leave the Maratha camp. Maratha chief Nana Rao entered Thanesar and was enticed to march toward Patiala to secure money; but fierce fighting by the Sikhs persuaded him to return to Delhi. In 1796 the Sikhs massacred and plundered pilgrims at Hardwar. Afghanistan's Shah Zaman invaded India in 1794, plundering and burning Jhelum. He demanded revenue payments from chiefs of Bhakar, Multan, Sind, and Kashmir before returning to Peshawar, where he blinded his rebellious brother Humayun. Shah Zaman invaded again and captured Rohtas in November 1795; but an insurrection by Mahmud at Herat and an invasion by Persian shah Agha Muhammad Khan Qajar forced his quick return. He left Ahmad Khan Shahanchibashi in Rohtas and Bahadur Khan with 12,000 cavalry to conquer Gujrat, but the latter was defeated and killed by Sikhs led by Sahib Singh. Ranjit Singh got to Rohtas before Sahib and claimed it as Shahanchibashi fled to Peshawar. In 1796 Shah Zaman tried to negotiate a safe passage through the Punjab. Some Sikhs agreed, but Ranjit Singh promised a battle. Shah Zaman divided his army under seven commanders with 12,000 men each. Ranjit Singh forced Pind Dadan Khan's men back at the Jhelum River. Shah Zaman ordered his men at Rohtas not to seize property or wrong people and to pay for grass and fuel. Sher Muhammad Khan Vazir entered Lahore on the last day of 1796, and Shahanchibashi proclaimed security of life and property in Kotwal. Shah Zaman even ordered the noses cut off of any Durranis who oppressed the people. When houses and shops were not illuminated, Shah Zaman ordered Hindus to pay a poll tax; but Muslims were exempted. Sikhs gathered 50,000 men at Amritsar and defeated the Afghan army on January 12, 1797, and 35,000 were reported killed in this battle. Shah Zaman retreated to Lahore, repaired the fort, and manufactured arms. The Taruna Dal Sikhs were defending their homeland, but the Budha Dal and Phulkian Sikhs across the Setluj River did not participate. Once again Shah Zaman returned to quell disturbances by his brother Mahmud at Herat. Before they left, troops collected 2,200,000 rupees from Lahore. Sind governor Shahanchibashi was killed by Sikhs fighting to recover their territory, and the Durranis fled. Shah Zaman still had his own governors in Kashmir, Peshawar, Derajat, Multan, and Sind. On his fourth invasion he left Peshawar in October 1798 and defeated Sikhs at Attock. The Afghan shah appointed Wafadar Khan chief commander, but this was resented by vizier Sher Muhammad Khan, whose letters warning Sikh chiefs were found. The Sikhs were not united either and withdrew as the Afghan army advanced. Ranjit Singh gathered some men at Amritsar, and Shah Zaman sent 10,000 troops that battled 2,500 Sikhs, killing 500 on each side. As Shah Zaman entered Lahore, various bands of Sikhs cut off supplies from the Durrani army. Some Sikhs even surrendered to Shah Zaman by coming at night. When 4,000 Sikhs gathered by the Beas River, the Shah sent 24,000 troops, causing the Sikhs to disperse. Shah Zaman tried to negotiate, and early in 1799 some settlements were made. Meanwhile Bombay governor Duncan had sent Mehdi Ali Khan to urge the Persian Shah to invade Khurasan, while Mahmud was incited to revolt again. Zaman Shah decided

to return to Kabul, and Ranjit Singh persuaded the Sikhs not to molest the retreating army. This was the last Afghan invasion of India. The Irish George Thomas fell in love with Begam Samru and then married the slave girl Marie. In 1789 he had prevented the Emperor from being taken prisoner by helping to defeat Najaf Quli's attack on the imperial army. After Le Vaisseau married Begam, his intrigues caused Thomas to revolt in 1792. Thomas surrendered and was released. He served the Maratha chief Apa Khande Rao, and in 1795 he expelled Sikh raiders. When Begam Samru was imprisoned by Zafaryab Khan at Sardhana, Thomas defeated and imprisoned Zafaryab, restoring Begam to her position. When Comte de Boigne left India in 1796, he was succeeded by French general Perron. In 1798 Thomas led a Maratha attack on rebellious Sikhs in a bloody battle that killed 1500, but a peace treaty allowed the Sikhs to evacuate the place. Almas Beg let Thomas use Hansi as his headquarters, and for a while he governed and collected taxes from 253 villages. When Sikhs raided his territory, he pursued them to Patiala. The Sikhs fought in alliance with Shambu Nath against Ashraf Beg, who was aided by Perron. Using local Muslims, Perron invaded Karnal and signed a peace treaty with the Sikhs at Thanesar in March 1799 before being joined by Begam's four battalions. Perron led the Marathas, and he ordered Louis Bourquien with his 2,000 men to join 6,000 Sikhs against 5,000 men led by Thomas at Georgegarh in 1801. Each side lost 2,000 in battle, and then Thomas was besieged. Reduced to 700 men and lacking supplies, Thomas surrendered and was allowed to go to British territory. Ranjit Singh was born November 13, 1780. His father died in 1792, and five years later he became chief of the Sikh misl Sukarchakia. At that time between the Indus and Setluj rivers were 27 Hindu states, 25 Muslim states, and 16 Sikh states. Ranjit Singh made political alliances by marrying a Kanahya princess in 1796 and a Nakai princess in 1798. The next year the citizens of Lahore invited Ranjit Singh to occupy their city, and Shah Zaman authorized him to govern it for the Afghans, enabling Ranjit Singh to take over Lahore with little resistance. In 1800 Governor-general Wellesley sent Yusaf Ali to persuade Ranjit Singh not to form an alliance with Shah Zaman. However, Shah Zaman was deposed and blinded by his brother Mahmud, who was overthrown by Shah Shuja in 1803. Sikhs and North India 1800-18

Tibet and Nepal 1707-1800

Kashmir and Tibet 1526-1707 Jesuit missionaries had visited Tibet in the 17th century, and Capuchin fathers came in 1707 for four years. The Jesuit scholar Ippolito Desideri was at Lhasa 1716-21, learned Tibetan, and tried to refute their Buddhist teachings. The Capuchin mission left Lhasa in 1733, returning again in 1741; their proselytizing efforts failed, and their mission was abandoned in 1745. Chinese emperor Kangxi (r. 1662-1722) collected tribute from Tibet. Lhazang Khan (r. 1705-17) used the military to try to conquer Bhutan in 1714, but the Tibetans were defeated. Dzungar Mongols invaded Tibet in 1717; they stormed the capital at Lhasa, killed Lhazang, deposed the Dali Lama he had appointed, and gained popularity by making a Tibetan prime minister (Desi). However, Kangxi got control of the child the Tibetans respected as the Dalai Lama, and the Dzungars were resented for persecuting the Nyingmapa lamas and attacking their monasteries, the Tibetans resisting this looting of their holy places. The Dzungars destroyed most of the first force sent by the Manchus before they reached Lhasa in 1718, and so the Emperor sent a larger force in 1720 that drove the Dzungars out of Tibet and installed the new Dalai Lama. The Manchu dynasty

of China would dominate Tibet for nearly two centuries until their fall in 1911. Khangchennas was appointed chairman of the council and governed western Tibet. However, a Manchu military governor with a garrison of 2,000 troops was established. When Yong Zheng (r. 1722-36) became emperor of China, he withdrew the unpopular Manchu troops in 1723 but left the military governor as an advisor. Pholhanas became a council minister in 1723 and was opposed by Khangchennas, Ngabo, and Lumpa for advocating an alliance with the Manchus. In 1726 Emperor Yong Zheng ordered the Nyingmapa sect persecuted, and Khangchennas began implementing that policy. Pholhanas offered his resignation, which was refused, and went home to Tsang. Ngabo, Lumpa, and Jaranas assassinated Khangchennas with knives. His two wives, secretary, and steward were also murdered along with two governors of northern Tibet who were friends of Khangchennas and Pholhanas. Pholhanas gathered troops in Tsang and there battled the invading force of Ngabo, Lumpa, and Jaranas, gaining the name Miwang Pholha. The Panchen Lama and a representative of the Dalai Lama mediated a truce in April 1728; but after some Tsang people were killed, Pholhanas marched 12,000 troops to Lhasa. The three ministers and fourteen supporters were tried and executed. The young Dalai Lama Kesang Gyatso and his father, who had provoked the civil war, were sent to Kham for seven years. Pholhanas gained the support of the Manchus, who re-installed a garrison with two Manchu officials called Ambans to represent the Emperor and report on events in Lhasa. Also in 1728 the Chinese promoted the leadership of the second Panchen Lama of the Gelugpa sect and gave him sovereignty in northern and western Tibet, though the Panchen Lama is supposed to remain in meditation and be above worldly concerns. Pholhanas restored peace and governed in Lhasa so well that in 1740 he was proclaimed king of Tibet. That year the Bhutanese attacked Sikkim, and Pholhanas sent an administrator to help the minor ruler in Sikkim. Pholhanas died in 1747 and was succeeded by his younger son Gyumey Namgyal. He came into conflict with his older brother Gyumey Tseten, who had been governing western Tibet since 1729. Gyumey Tseten died mysteriously in 1750, the year Gyumey Namgyal persuaded the Emperor to reduce the Manchu garrison at Lhasa to one hundred men. Gyumey Namgyal secretly prepared to form an army and contacted the Dzungar Mongols. The two Ambans complained and killed Gyumey Namgyal and his attendants. Tibetans besieged the residence of the Ambans and killed them along with more than a hundred Chinese soldiers and civilians, burning the building. About two hundred Chinese took refuge in the Potala and were protected from the mob by the Dalai Lama. Despite posters calling for an end to violence, some continued to riot before fleeing toward Dzungaria. They were pursued, caught, and put on trial; thirteen were executed, and the rest were imprisoned. In 1751 the seventh Dalai Lama Kesang Gyatso was put in charge of the government with a council (Kashag) of four which operated by consensus. The Kashag took over the army and required each landowning family to provide one soldier. The province of U had 1,000 troops, and Tsang had 2,000. Meanwhile Chien Long had sent another military force, and the Dalai Lama negotiated the withdrawal of all but a garrison of 1,500. The Dalai Lama also mediated a dispute between local lords on the border with Nepal. Upon his death in 1757 the Drepung monk Jampel Delek was appointed regent during the minority of the new Dalai Lama, and this tradition continued for more than a century. In 1762 Palden Yeshe (1738-80), the third Panchen Lama, gave the name Jampal Gyatso to the four-year-old eighth Dalai Lama. Narbhupal Shah (r. 1716-42) was the tenth ruler of the Gurkhas west of the Nepal valley. He gathered a large force and attacked Nayakot in 1736, but he was defeated and retreated. His son Prithvi Narayan Shah succeeded him at the age of twelve. He attacked Nayakot in 1748, but the Kathmandu army of Jai Prakash Malla killed many of the Gurkhas. Prithvi Narayan escaped, and

the Gurkha army withdrew from the valley again. However, in 1767 Prithvi Narayan led the siege of Kirtipur that exterminated the garrison; but the Gurkhas had to go defend Tarai in the south from the British expedition led by Captain Kinloch. In September 1768 the Gurkhas conquered Kathmandu, and Malla's army fled to Bhatgaon. There Prithvi Narayan knew the old king Ranjit Malla, who agreed to let the Gurkha king take over his kingdom as he retired to Benares. Thus in 1769 the Gurkhas replaced the Newari rulers and united the kingdom of Nepal. Three years later the Gurkhas had thousands killed fighting Tanbu, which was brought under their power. In 1772 the Bhutanese led by Desi Shidariva invaded Cooch Bihar and took their raja prisoner. Bengal governor Warren Hastings sent an Indian force to drive them back into the foothills, and the third Panchen Lama mediated a friendship and commerce treaty between Bhutan and the British East India Company. In 1774 Hastings sent George Bogle, who reached Tashilhunpo the next year and married the Panchen Lama's sister. Lhasa would not let Bogle visit, but he secured the trade agreement with Bhutan and helped the Panchen Lama found a Buddhist temple at Calcutta. The regent Jampel Delek died in 1777; but the Dalai Lama declined to assume responsibility because he had not yet completed his training. Ngawang Tsultrim was appointed the second regent. The Panchen Lama traveled to visit the Manchu emperor, but he died of smallpox at Beijing in 1780. That year the Regent sent troops that took two years to suppress leaders in Kham trying to expand their territory. In 1781 the eighth Dalai Lama began governing, and he gave the name Tenpai Nyima to the fourth Panchen Lama. Captain Samuel Turner went to Tashilhunpo in 1783 but could not get to Lhasa either, and little could be accomplished with the infant Panchen Lama. Tibetans informed Prithvi Narayan that the Nepalese silver coins had been debased with copper since 1751. Prithvi Narayan died in 1774 and was succeeded by his oldest son Singh Pratap Shah. His brother Bahadur Shah was imprisoned and then sent into exile. The Bhutanese incited the Gurkhas to invade Sikkim in 1775, and Singh Pratap waged war against the raja of Morung. Tibetans offered the Sikkimese aid, but they accepted only food; a treaty was made, but the Gurkhas resented the Tibetan intervention. When Singh Pratap died in 1778, Bahadur Shah returned and became regent for his infant nephew Ran Bahadur Shah; but after coming into conflict with his widowed sister-in-law, Bahadur Shah was forced into exile again. The young prince's mother, Rajendar Lakshmi, ruled until she died in 1786. Bahadur Shah returned again and called himself Fateh Bahadur. He appointed Swarup Singh commander of the army that invaded the Chaubisi principalities. Two of the third Panchen Lama's brothers, Drungpa Trulku and Shamar Trulku, were claiming disputed property, and they urged the Gurkhas to invade Tibet on their behalf. The king of Nepal informed a Tibetan that their new silver coins meant that the old debased ones were devalued and that traded salt should not have any impurities. If these conditions were not accepted, Nepal would annex Nyanang, Rongshar, and Kyirong. Shamar Trulku was held hostage, and he asked the Dalai Lama to ransom him. The Tibetan Kashag would only agree to a slight reduction in the old coins' value, and they were not concerned about Shamar Trulku. A large Gurkha army invaded the three districts, defeating local Tibetan resistance. Then in 1788 they marched on Dzongka and Shekar. A Tibetan army occupied the fort at Shekar and drove out the Gurkhas. While Manchu forces were on their way from China, the Gurkhas attacked the winter palace in western Sikkim. Tibetans brought gunpowder, and the pillaging Gurkhas left Sikkim. Shamar Trulku proposed negotiation, and the Chinese generals persuaded the reluctant Tibetans to accept and pay the Nepalese an annual tribute of 50,000 rupees. Nepal agreed to withdraw from the four districts. The Garhwal ruler Pradhyuman Shah also agreed to pay Nepal an annual tribute of 25,000 rupees. After one payment, the Dalai Lama had the districts investigated and requested a reduction in the tribute. He and the Kashag recalled the regent Ngawang Tsultrim from Beijing. The Regent

criticized the Kashag for accepting the treaty, demoted the general who surrendered Dzongka, and sent some officials into exile. The Regent became angry at the delays in the negotiations but died of a heart attack in 1791. That year the Gurkhas abducted some Tibetan officials and killed others in fighting at the Nyanang fort. The Panchen Lama fled to Lhasa, and the Gurkhas captured and pillaged Shigatse until an epidemic forced them to retreat to Shekar and Dzongka. In 1792 while the Tibetans were driving the Gurkhas back, 13,000 imperial troops arrived under a Manchu general. He and the Tibetan generals told the Sikkimese ruler they could keep territory they captured. The Tibetan and Manchu armies defeated the Gurkhas and invaded Nepal. The Gurkhas appealed to the British, but Cornwallis did not want to fight their Chinese trading partner. Shamar Trulku poisoned himself. The Gurkhas were forced to return their loot and promised to send an envoy to China every five years. Emperor Qianlong promoted the Ambans to provincial governors, and the tax system and administrative organization of Tibet were reformed. In 1792 Col. Kirkpatrick negotiated a trade treaty for the East India Company with Nepal, but it was not implemented. Raja Ran Bahadur Shah ruled so badly that he was denounced by the people and fled to Benares in 1800. He asked the Governor-General to loan him ten battalions, but instead the English signed a friendship treaty with Nepal in 1801. Tibet and Nepal 1800-58

Sri Lanka 1707-1800

Southern India 1526-1707 Narendrasimha (r. 1707-39) was the last Sinhalese king of Sri Lanka. The economic policies of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) compelled the Kandyans to sell their products at fixed prices well below their market value, and the VOC had a monopoly on imported cloth. Narendrasimha tried to retaliate by ordering roads from Kandy closed in 1716, but the Dutch would not open their ports. The Dutch governor administered the Colombo Commandery and relied on two other commandants at Jaffna and Galle. The Dutch were more efficient than the Portuguese; but many accepted bribes to allow illegal trading. Charges were brought against Governor Becker (1707-16) after he left Sri Lanka. Corruption spread into the judiciary, and under Petrus Vuyst (1726-29) even Dutch settlers and officials were accused falsely and executed. The Dutch were Calvinists and forbade Catholicism as well as Buddhist and Hindu worship; but such regulations could not be enforced. Missionary schools were set up, and those not attending could be fined. The frontier gates of the kingdom were closed again in 1732 for two years. Discontent with the economic exploitation turned into unrest. While Domburg was governor 1734-36 the salagama caste that did the cinnamon peeling revolted. Van Imhoff (1736-40) instituted reforms that increased efficiency and regained some respect. Sri Lanka got its first printing press in 1737 and soon began publishing Christian books in Sinhalese and Tamil. The Dutch helped bring the bridal party from India for the new Nayakkar ruler Sri Vijaya Rajasimha in 1739, and he opened the roads. Yet the salagamas continued to resist, and in 1743 Kandyans raided Siyana Korale. Two efforts to provide Dutch ships for Buddhist missions to Burma and Siam failed before success was achieved on a journey from 1750 to 1753. Standards for monks had become lower in Sri Lanka, and few were celibate or full-time monks. The Siamese monks restored the upasampada ordination and revived Buddhist education. Valivita Saranankara (1698-1778) was not ordained, but he founded the Pious Brotherhood (Silvat Samagama) to improve the knowledge, discipline, and practice of the Buddhist order (sangha).

A doubling of the price of cinnamon stimulated the Dutch to make their land policy even more restrictive in the 1750s, and peelers revolted in 1757. Governor Schreuder (1757-62) especially tried to extract as much production as possible from the peasants, and he ordered peasant gardens destroyed if they had no legal title. Kandyans supported the rebellion in 1760, and two years later the Dutch were alarmed that English envoy John Pybus from Madras had come to the Kandyan royal court; but the British offered no military aid. The Dutch invaded Kandy and failed, but they came back in 1765 with a larger force that ravaged the capital. Kirti Sri Rajasimha (r. 1747-82) had to accept a harsh treaty in 1766 that gave the Dutch all the coastlines and the right to peel cinnamon in Kandyan territory. The Kandyans refused to cooperate on demarcating the boundary lines and resented the Dutch unilateral efforts to do so in 1773. Kirti Sri Rajasimha reinforced the caste system by only allowing goyigamas (about half the population) to be ordained Buddhist monks. While at war with the French and Dutch, the English seized the port of Trincomalee in January 1782 but were forced out seven months later by the French. The new Kandyan ruler Rajadhi Rajasimha (r. 1782-98) decided not to accept English intervention. Dutch governor Falck (1765-85) had been experimenting with growing cinnamon on plantations, and this successful cultivation took the pressure off the peeling in the Kandyan jungles and allowed the land policy to be more liberal. Falck gave the salagamas concessions not granted to other castes. The VOC only allowed one-fifth of the cinnamon sold in the lucrative European markets to be sold in Asia to keep the price high so that others would not buy in Asia to sell in Europe. Most of their profits went to those in the Netherlands. In Sri Lanka the death penalty was imposed for unauthorized peeling or the private trading of cinnamon. Governor de Graaf (1785-93) also pushed to boost production and provoked a rebellion in 1789. De Graaf extended control by the Dutch company over small chiefdoms in the Vanni. When the Batavian government told him he could not invade Kandy, he resigned. In 1795 the Dutch Stadholder fled from the French invasion of Holland to England, where from the Kew palace he issued a letter that governors in the Dutch colonies should turn over their installations to the British temporarily. The English took seven months to occupy the Dutch possessions in Sri Lanka by February 1796. At first Hobart offered Kandyans one trade outlet on the coast, but they demanded more. When the English learned of the 1766 Dutch treaty, they also refused to grant any trade outlets. The English East India Company and the Crown had dual control over Sri Lanka from 1798 until it became the British crown colony of Ceylon in 1802. The Company relaxed the Dutch restrictions on Muslims, because they were good traders; but Buddhists and Hindus were not given licenses to erect temples or establish schools. The increased land taxes and a new tax on coconut palms along with the replacement of headmen by south Indian revenue collectors caused a rebellion that broke out in December 1796 and was not quelled until early 1798 when the traditional system was restored. A committee investigated the territories taken over from the VOC and decided to restore the headmen of the goyigama and vellala castes. When Rajadhi Rajasimha died of illness in 1798 with no heir, the leading minister Pilima Talauve enthroned 18-year-old Konnasami as Sri Vikrama Rajasimha. The late king's brother-in-law Muttusami also claimed the throne of Kandy, but Pilima Talauve arrested him and his sisters. Pilima Talauve was close to the British but could not control Vikrama Rajasimha. Ceylon 1800-58

Notes
1. Quoted in The British Conquest and Dominion of India by Penderel Moon, p. 123. 2. Cornwallis Correspondence, Volume 2, p. 558, quoted in The Oxford History of India, p. 537. 3. Quoted in The British Conquest and Dominion of India by Penderel Moon, p. 271.

British India 1800-1848

by Sanderson Beck
British Conquest of Marathas 1800-18 Sikhs and North India 1800-18 British Expansion 1818-28 Bentinck's Reforms 1828-35 Rammohun Roy and Social Reform British Invasion of Afghanistan and Sind Sikhs and the Punjab 1839-48 This chapter has been published in the book SOUTH ASIA 1800-1950. For ordering information, please click here.

British Conquest of Marathas 1800-18

Marathas and Cornwallis Reforms 1784-1800 Governor-General Richard Wellesley believed that the English could govern India better than the Indians. He favored free trade and arranged for 3,000 tons of shipping for private British traders so that they could compete with foreign merchants. Wellesley made plans to improve drainage and roads in Calcutta and proposed experimental agriculture at Barrackpur. He encouraged missionaries, and the Bible was translated into Indian languages. He prohibited the sacrifice of children at Saugor Point by the Hughli River and tried to reduce the number of Hindu widows burned in sati. After Muhammad Alis son Umdat-ul-Umara died, the regents for his son rejected a pension agreement. So Wellesley offered one to Umdut-ul-Umaras nephew, and the British East India Company took over the Karnatak in July 1801. The Directors approved the new treaty because they believed the family of Muhammad Ali had forfeited its previous treaty rights by treasonable correspondence with Tipu. In 1801 Wellesley demanded that the Awadh nawab cede at least half his territory to the British East India Company, and the threat of force made him agree in November 1801. The ceded land of Rohilkhand and the Lower Doab bordering Bihar was most fertile. Saadat Ali was required to act in conformity to the counsel of the officers of the Honourable Company. Wellesley named his brother Henry as president of the board of commissioners and lieutenant-governor of Awadh. This military and administrative control by the Company in exchange for subsidies in the name of a defensive alliance was called the subsidiary alliance system. In 1806 the Directors established Haileyburg College in England and reduced Fort William College to teaching Indian languages to Bengali civilians. Jaswant Rao Holkar captured Ujjain in July 1801; he was defeated by Sarza Rao Ghatge in October but continued to fight by invading the Deccan. In 1802 opium addict Anand Rao Gaikwar asked the British for military aid against his brother Malhar Rao Gaikwar and his Arab mercenaries. Bombay governor Jonathan Duncan sent 2,000 men with Major Walker, who arranged a subsidiary treaty that ceded territory to the Company, defeating Malhar Rao and disbanding the Arab soldiers. After Jaswant Rao forced Peshwa Baji Rao to flee Puna, the Peshwa turned to the English and on the last

day of 1802 signed the treaty of Bassein granting him 6,000 troops in exchange for 2,600,000 rupees annual revenue. Castlereagh criticized this treaty for allying with weak Puna instead of letting the divided Marathas settle their own conflicts. He objected to a clause that forced the Peshwa to accept British arbitration in his disputes with others. Some historians have considered the Bassein treaty the end of Maratha independence and the beginning of the Company's empire of India. In February 1803 Jaswant Rao left Puna with a small garrison and plundered his way toward Hyderabad and Ahmadnagar. The civil war and drought caused a famine in central India. In May the British entered Puna and restored the Peshwa. Daulat Rao Sindia refused to agree to the Bassein treaty and organized a Maratha coalition with Raghuji Bhonsle II, Gosain Himmat Bahadur, and Gani Beg of Bundelkhand. However, Jaswant Rao Holkar made demands and declined to join. In this war Richard Wellesley limited officers' baggage to what could be packed on animals. His brother Arthur Wellesley gathered an army in the Deccan and captured Ahmadnagar in August 1803, and the next month he defeated the combined forces of Sindia and Raghuji at Assaye, killing 1,200 but suffering 1,600 casualties. In the north Commander-in-Chief Gerard Lake took the fortress of Asirgarh, and Sindia asked for a truce. Arthur Wellesley's army was doubled by the forces of Stevenson, and Berar without Sindia's cavalry was defeated with heavy casualties. French officers surrendered and evacuated the fort at Delhi. At Laswari the Marathas fought so courageously that Wellesley took their survivors into the Company's service. Sindia accepted a subsidiary force and defensive alliance, losing Agra, Delhi, and Gujarat, while Raghuji gave up Orissa and other territory on the east coast. In April 1804 Governor-General Richard Wellesley declared war on Jaswant Rao Holkar. General Lake wanted help from Sindia; but the Governor-General refused to recognize Sindia's claim to the fortress at Gwalior even though his brother Arthur Wellesley told him he was wrong. Lake sent Col. William Monson to block Holkar's return to Hindustan; but the zealous Monson went too far and lost half his men and all his guns during his retreat from Holkar's cavalry in the August rain. The Bharatpur raja had been given some of Sindia's territory for providing Lake with 5,000 cavalry, but now he went over to Holkar's side. Holkar invaded Hindustan, occupied Muttra, and besieged Delhi in October. Lake surprised his forces at Farrukhabad in November, inflicting 3,000 casualties on the Marathas while the British only had two killed and 26 wounded. They took Fort Dig the next month, and after a siege the Jats of Bharatpur agreed to a treaty in April 1805. The raja was allowed to keep Bharatpur; but he had to pay an indemnity of two million rupees, and he could not employ Europeans without the Company's permission. The raja had paid Amir Khan to attack Lake's supplies and raid Rohilkhand; Lake defeated and dispersed the bandits with his cavalry, though Amir Khan joined Holkar. Richard Wellesley was recalled in July 1805 and replaced by Charles Cornwallis, who reported that William Pitt had commented that Wellesley "had acted most imprudently and illegally." The war increased the Company's debt from 17 million in 1797 to 31.5 million in 1805. Wellesley was also criticized for issuing orders autocratically without consulting his Council. Before Cornwallis could reverse the subsidiary treaties, he died at Ghazipur in October 1805. Senior councilor George Barlow became acting governor-general and concluded a treaty with Daulat Rao Sindia the next month. Lake chased Jaswant Rao as far as Amritsar, where the Sikh Ranjit Singh declined to join his cause against the English. Jaswant Rao Holkar accepted a treaty in December 1805 that let him keep his territory in the Deccan. Barlow also left the Rajput and small states west of the Jumna River to the depredations of Sindia, Holkar, and Amir Khan; Lake was so upset that he resigned in protest. To save money Barlow greatly reduced the number of forces and disbanded the recruited Marathas, cutting the annual deficit in half to one million pounds.

Madras commander John Cradock required sepoys to shave their beards, banned caste marks on the face, and made them wear hats usually worn by Christian converts. Hindus and Muslims were greatly offended, and Cradock was willing to rescind his order; but Governor William Bentinck and the Council insisted on the new turban they had approved. On July 10, 1806 at 3 a.m. sepoys attacked the Europeans, shooting dead about a hundred and wounding many more. Col. Robert Gillespie brought dragoons and killed more than three hundred mutineers, imprisoning the others. A few were tried and executed, and most of the others were discharged; three regiments were disbanded. Cradock and Bentinck were recalled. Gilbert Elliot, Earl of Minto, arrived as governor-general in July 1807. After the French invaded Portugal, the British occupied Goa. Learning that Napoleon had made a treaty with the Russians, Minto sent John Malcolm to Persia, Mountstuart Elphinstone to Kabul, and Charles Metcalfe to Lahore to try to negotiate alliances. Malcolm never reached Teheran, where the French already had influence. In Afghanistan, Shah Shuja, brother of the deposed and blinded Shah Zaman, had overthrown Shah Mahmud about five years before; he agreed to an alliance against the French, but he himself was soon overthrown and fled to Ranjit Singh and then to Ludhiana, where the British gave him refuge. Metcalfe tried to persuade Ranjit Singh to give up his recent conquests in the Sutlej and Jamuna regions. An army led by David Ochterlony persuaded Ranjit Singh to agree to a treaty in 1809 that allowed him to retain them but limited the number of his troops. Minto feared an alliance of Muslim aristocrats and sent Col. Barry Close against Amir Khan, who withdrew from Berar. In 1810 Minto sent a force that captured the islands of Mauritius and Bourbon from the French. With little warfare in India during his six years Lord Minto improved the finances of the Company. In 1813 the Earl of Moira (known as Lord Hastings after 1817) became governor-general and commander-in-chief. The Company's charter was renewed for another twenty years in 1813, and for the first time the Parliament declared Crown sovereignty over its possessions and ended its monopoly on Indian trade. Europeans still could not reside in the Company's territories without a license and could be deported. Parliament also encouraged missionaries to provide moral education and authorized a bishop. The Charter Act of 1813 provided 10,000 to advance the study of Sanskrit, Persian, and Arabic, but the money was not spent until ten years later. The Company now had a surplus, and Lord Hastings invested in road construction and irrigation. Awadh nawab Sa'adat 'Ali died in 1814 and left a huge surplus. When Major Baillie recognized the oldest son Ghazi-uddin instead of the favored second son, the latter retired on a pension in Benares. Lord Hastings visited Lakhnau (Lucknow) and accepted a loan of ten million rupees (1,250,000) from Ghazi-uddin that helped finance the Gurkha war. Later Baillie demanded a similar loan, which was paid for by Terai territory taken from the Gurkhas. The defeat of Napoleon by Arthur Wellesley (Wellington) in 1815 allowed the British to end their policy of neutrality in India. Jaswant Rao Holkar secretly assassinated his brother Kasi Rao and nephew Khande Rao, as the stress of his defeats caused him to go insane in 1807. For four mad years until he died in 1811 his state was in anarchy. Then his favorite mistress Tulsi Bai gained power while his minister Amir Khan led the plundering Pathans of central India. Raghuji Bhonsle II did not accept a subsidiary alliance, and his Berar was also in disorder because of the lawless Pindaris and the Pathans. In 1809 he forced Amir Khan to retreat to Nagpur; but his attempt with Daulat Rao Sindia to capture Bhopal in 1813 was defeated by Nawab Vazir Muhammad the next year. Raghuji died in 1816. Because his son Parsoji Bhonsle was blind, paralytic, and ill, his cousin Appa Sahib acted as regent. When Raghuji's widow Baka Bai challenged him, Appa Sahib made a subsidiary alliance treaty in May 1816. When Parsoji died the next year, Appa Sahib became gadi and met with the ministers of the Peshwa and Sindia.

The marauding Pindaris were a loose collection of brigands with no religious or national unity, and they had been ravaging Malwa, Marwar, Mewar, and other Rajput states. Company territory had been attacked in Mirzapur and South Bihar in 1812 and the northern Sarkars in 1816. These incursions into Company territory weakened the Council's resolve against armed intervention; but Board of Control president George Canning was still vetoing the extermination of the Pindaris because of the risk of a general war. In Rohilkhand in 1816 Muslims rioted after a respected Mufti was wounded by guards quelling a mob complaining about a tax. Early in 1817 Daya Ram of Hathras in the Ganges-Jumna Doab seized police officers and had a force of 8,000 men. Lord Hastings sent enough artillery to capture his fortress. In Bengal a mob led by Jagbandhu revolted against government extortion and plundered Puri in 1817; martial law was proclaimed, and order was restored by reducing the assessment. In Benares a communal riot resulted in the death of about twenty people, and a general strike and petitioning was successful in getting a tax withdrawn. The Gaikwar of Baroda had made a subsidiary alliance treaty with the Company in April 1805; but Major Walker kept Anand Rao Gaikwar and Fateh Singh Gaikwar under British guards. His successor, Captain Rivett Carnac, provoked resistance by Gaikwar Ranis. Peshwa Baji Rao II plotted to form a Maratha confederacy against the English. In 1814 the Peshwa conducted Gaikwar chief minister Gangadhar Shastri, who was a friend of the English, to Nasik, where he was murdered. Trimbakji Danglia was suspected, and Baji Rao reluctantly surrendered him to the British resident Elphinstone at Puna. Trimbakji escaped the following year, probably by the connivance of the Peshwa. Lord Hastings ordered Elphinstone to curtail the Peshwa, and Baji Rao II was compelled to sign the Treaty of Puna in June 1817. The article in the Bassein treaty obligating him to send a contingent force was annulled. The Peshwa renounced leadership of the Maratha confederacy, surrendered three forts, and ceded to the Company territory yielding 3,400,000 rupees for a maintenance force of 5,000 cavalry and 3,000 infantry. Lord Hastings himself commanded an army of 113,000 men with 300 guns. He expected Maratha chiefs to cooperate and warned any aid to the Pindaris would be treated as predatory aggression. On November 5, 1817 Daulat Rao Sindia signed the Treaty of Gwalior, promising to provide 5,000 cavalry and help the English suppress the Pindaris. On that day the Peshwa burned the British Residency at Puna and attacked with 27,000 men Col. Burr's British army of 2,800, but he was defeated. The British occupied Puna, and Baji Rao fled. Amir Khan submitted by agreeing to be nawab of Tonk. Appa Sahib of Nagpur had about 20,000 men and 36 guns, but his forces were defeated at Sitabaldi. Appa Sahib gave up and apologized to Richard Jenkins, whose army forced the surrender of Nagpur. The Holkar regency wanted a treaty, but the Pathan war party murdered Tulsi Bai. In December, Jaswant's son Malhar Rao Holkar II attacked the British in the largest battle of the war at Mahidpur, but his army was routed by the combined forces of Commander-in-Chief Thomas Hislop. Holkar was forced to sign a subsidiary treaty in January 1818, giving up claims to the Rajput states and ceding territory south of the Narmada River. Captain Staunton with 900 men ran into the Peshwa's army of 28,000 but survived with only 265 casualties while killing many Marathas. In February 1818 the British defeated and killed Maratha commander Gokhale, capturing the Satara raja who was descended from Shivaji. He was installed as the ruler of a very small Maratha kingdom at Satara. The Company army defeated Pindari leaders Karim Khan and Vasil Muhammad, and about 25,000 Pindari horsemen were eventually rounded up or dispersed. The greatest Pindari leader Chitu fled into a forest and was killed by a tiger. The Peshwa was pursued and finally surrendered in June 1818 to John Malcolm, who offered him an annual pension of 800,000 rupees, which was paid until he died in 1851. One by one the Rajput states accepted "defensive alliance" treaties with the British. The last Maratha fortress at Asirgarh did not surrender until April 1819. The blind Mughal emperor Shah 'Alam II on a pension died in 1806, and Lord Hastings told his successor Akbar II to give up all ceremonial pretensions. The

British now had political supremacy over all of India except Assam, Sind, and the Punjab. Indian historians have suggested various causes for the decline of Maratha power in India from Sarkar's opinion that Indian society had become rotten to Qanungo's view that aggressive British imperialism inevitably overcame the medieval feudalism of the Maratha chiefs. Major factors include diverse causes. The Marathas overextended themselves by trying to conquer the north in the mid-17th century. Conflicts, such as the Sindia-Holkar rivalry, with each other and the Peshwa divided them. Maratha states had administrative anarchy with court corruption and excessive violence. Armies were the main government and mostly plundered, even their own people. Chiefs were won over by British money, and many sepoys served in the Company armies. Maratha military forces were badly organized and poorly trained; they lacked the modern equipment and discipline of the Europeans. Marathas had declining national feeling as the proportion of mercenaries increased and included Arabs, Sikhs, Rajputs, Sindis, Rohillas, Abyssinians, Pathans, Topiwalas, and Europeans; even Napoleon called Perron a traitor to his profession for betraying Sindia's army. The Maratha state had a precarious agriculture dependent on rain, commerce that was frequently harassed, and little industry. Unpaid soldiers led to coercive protests. The feudal system only promoted local and temporary loyalties as peasants supported whoever protected them. Caste prejudices also weakened the social fabric. Education was very limited, and even Persian influences dried up with the decline of the Safavids. The Marathas had no great leader after Shivaji, and after the death of Nana Fadnavis in 1800 the leaders were especially bad. Sikander Jah had succeeded his father Nizam 'Ali in 1803 at Hyderabad, and his pro-British prime minister Mir Alam had such strong opposition that he took refuge with the British resident. When Mir Alam died in 1809, his Hindu deputy Chandu Lal gained the power and was also supported by the British. Company loans at high interest rates were used to spread corruption. By 1810 the outgoing resident Captain Sydenham advised taking over the administration; but the Directors still favored non-intervention. Resident Henry Russell added to the prodigal spending with a new brigade of over-paid officers. General Palmer's Eurasian son William and Director William Rumbold set up William Palmer & Co. to make money from loans as Bentinck had done at Madras. Lord Hastings gave permission for loans at 25% interest. The firm made advances totaling 240,000 mostly to the Russell brigade, and in 1819 Chandu Lal asked to borrow 600,000. When Metcalfe became resident, he investigated the fraud and arranged for the British government to guarantee a loan at 6%. This scandal resulted in the resignation of Lord Hastings at the end of 1822.

Sikhs and North India 1800-18

Sikhs and North India 1767-1800 Ranjit Singh was born November 13, 1780. His father died in 1792, and five years later he became chief of the Sikh misl Sukarchakia. At that time between the Indus and Setluj rivers were 27 Hindu states, 25 Muslim states, and 16 Sikh states. Ranjit Singh made political alliances by marrying a Kanahya princess in 1796 and a Nakai princess in 1798. The next year the citizens of Lahore invited Ranjit Singh to occupy their city, and Shah Zaman authorized him to govern it for the Afghans, enabling Ranjit Singh to take over Lahore with little resistance. In 1800 Governor-General Wellesley sent Yusaf Ali to persuade Ranjit Singh not to form an alliance with Shah Zaman. However, Shah Zaman was deposed and blinded by his brother Mahmud, who was overthrown by Shah Shuja in 1803. The Muslim Nizam-uddin Khan and the Bhangi Sikhs submitted to Ranjit Singh in 1801, and Nizam paid him a war indemnity. Maharaja Ranjit Singh led an army that attacked Amritsar in 1802 and conquered the Sikh religious center in a few days. Also that year the Maharaja invaded Multar and set the tribute at 120,000 rupees.

Though the Marathas and Sikhs were not united, the British feared the disciplined army of Perron and sent General Lake to capture Aligarh in August 1803. Bourquien was defeated the next month. Lake put the blind Emperor Shah Alam II under British protection, and Daulat Rao Sindia was defeated at Laswari in November. Wellesley instructed Lake to win over the Sikhs from the Marathas. Ranjit Singh replied that he would cooperate with the British if they would accept his sovereignty over all the Sikh chiefs west of the Sutlej River. After the British conquered Delhi, they treated the Sikh sirdars and rajas as independent chiefs. In 1804 Bhag Singh of Jind and Bhanga Singh of Thanesar were the first Sikh sirdars to go over to the British. Bhag Singh was rewarded with tax districts. When Ochterlony warned Wellesley that Ranjit Singh was threatening the CisSutlej chiefs, the Governor-General advised him to establish friendly relations with all the CisSutlej chiefs. In February 1805 Ranjit Singh sent messages to all Sikh sirdars to join a united Sikh state under his leadership as Maharaja. In April, Ochterlony sent Burne to attack Gurdit Singh of Ladwa, the leader of the anti-British Sikhs who had been plundering the upper Ganga Doab, and Burne captured Karnal. By June most Sikh sirdars had agreed to be friendly with the British. Jaswant Rao Holkar got support from Sahib Singh and asked for other Sikhs to join his anti-British efforts; but Ranjit Singh visited Lake's camp in disguise and promised him and Malcolm that he would not support Holkar. Ranjit Singh sent Fateh Singh Ahluwalia with Bhag Singh to help mediate a treaty between the British and Holkar in December 1805. These two emissaries also made a treaty for the Sikhs with the British the next month. Gian Singh was impressed by the discipline of the British army and compared them to the Mughals, Afghans, Marathas, and Sikhs, who laid waste to all the cultivation within thirty kilometers of the road; the British purchased what the others stole. After Baghel Singh died in 1805, Ranjit Singh took over the territory of his widow Ram Kaur along with 2,400,000 rupees in cash. Ranjit Singh campaigned in the Cis-Sutlej region and took over 311 villages from Rani Nurulnisa in November 1806. Ranjit Singh continued his plundering the next year, expelling the Pathan chief of Kasur; but he alienated Lal Singh and Sahib Singh by not sharing his loot with them. He also antagonized his mother-in-law Sada Kaur by sending his general Mohkam Chand to take Dinanagar from her. Ten Cis-Sutlej chiefs met in March 1808 and felt they were caught between the British and Ranjit Singh, but they sent their representatives to the British resident Seton at Delhi to ask for protection against Ranjit Singh. The exclusion of Holkar and the British from the Punjab had enabled Ranjit Singh to unite his kingdom. Metcalfe was sent to Ranjit Singh and met him at Kasur to negotiate a confederation; Metcalfe complained when the Maharaja sent Karam Singh Chahal with 2,000 troops to seize Faridkot in October 1808. Metcalfe refused to accompany Ranjit Singh's army as he captured Ambala and Mulana from Rani Daya Kaur, seizing 50,000 rupees. Metcalfe went to Amritsar, and the Maharaja spent time there with his favorite dancing-girl Moran. A mob of Hindus burned down the houses of dancing-girls, and Ranjit Singh fled with Moran to Lahore, where Brahmins went on a hunger strike. Hindu-Muslim riots broke out in Amritsar and Lahore, but the Maharaja suppressed them by the end of 1808. Metcalfe accused Ranjit Singh of duplicity and noted that he had repudiated his first wife Mahtab Kaur and their two sons, angering her mother Sada Kaur, who offered Metcalfe free passage for British troops. Seton and Metcalfe advised Governor-General Minto not to allow a Sikh kingdom on the British border. Minto sent a force under Col. Ochterlony, and the Maharaja's men evacuated Ambala. Ranjit Singh chose to negotiate with Ochterlony, who was censured, resigned, and reinstated. In April 1809 Ranjit Singh accepted the Treaty of Amritsar that gave the British the territory between the Yamuna and Sutlej rivers while recognizing Ranjit Singh's domain northwest of the Sutlej. Ranjit Singh withdrew his forces across the river, giving back Faridkot, and Bhag Singh surrendered Ludhiana to Ochterlony for his camp. The British declined to support the Gurkha

general Amar Singh Thapa's invasion proposal and even offered to help defend Ranjit Singh. In Afghanistan the Barakzai brothers of the Sadozai family and Durrani tribe deposed Zaman Shah and enthroned Mahmud Mirza in 1800, but he was overthrown by his younger brother Shuja-ulMulk three years later. Shah Shuja ruled Afghanistan from 1803 until 1809 when he was replaced by his stepbrother Shah Mahmud because of the revolt led by the oldest Barakzai brother Fateh Khan and his brother Dost Muhammad. Shah Shuja escaped to the Punjab, where he was supported by Ranjit Singh. Shuja with help from Kabul vizier Fateh Khan conquered Peshawar, but in 1812 he was captured by Attock governor Jahan Dad Khan and imprisoned in Kashmir for a year. Meanwhile Ranjit Singh and diwan Mohkam Chand were subjugating Hindu and Muslim chiefs, and the road to Kashmir was prepared by seizing Bhimbar in 1811 and Rajauri in 1812. Shuja's senior wife Wafa Begam offered Ranjit Singh the famous Kohinur diamond if he would protect her husband from Vizier Fateh Khan, who had proposed a campaign to overthrow his brother Ata Muhammad Khan in Kashmir. The Maharaja sent his top general Mohkam Chand to accomplish both tasks in 1813. Fateh Khan got to Kashmir before the Sikhs and refused to share the spoils with Ranjit Singh. Fateh Khan released Shah Shuja but lost the battle for the fort of Attock to Mohkam Chand and the Sikhs. Shah Shuja chose to live in Lahore, and Ranjit Singh got the diamond. In 1815 Shuja escaped from Lahore and made his way through Kulu to Ludhiana, where the British raised his allowance to 50,000 rupees. Ranjit Singh fined the Kulu raja 80,000 rupees for not capturing Shuja. Maharaja Ranjit Singh's system of justice was to make the rich pay fines for the offenses of the poor in their village. Another Kashmir expedition in 1814 led by Ranjit Singh failed because of defense by its governor Muhammad Azim Khan, the mountain terrain, and the rain. The Maharaja lamented the heavy costs of this expedition. After Jodh Singh died, Ranjit Singh seized the estates and destroyed about 150 forts of the Ramgarhia Misl. The Maharaja continued to take over more territory and forced the chiefs to pay him tribute. He declined to help the Gurkha chief Amar Singh against the British. Ranjit Singh engaged in six campaigns into Multan over fifteen years before he could collect 130,000 rupees tribute in 1816; finally his Sikh army of 25,000 conquered Multan in 1818.

British Expansion 1818-28

After 1800 Thomas Munro spent seven years in Mysore developing his method of tax collection he had initiated at Madras. He returned to England and in 1812 persuaded the Directors to prevent the use of the permanent settlement in Madras and the Upper Provinces. Munro went back to Madras in 1814 to implement annual settlements and reform of the judicial system. In 1820 he was made governor of Madras and applied his more traditional ryotwari settlements throughout the province for the next seven years. He believed that the natives were much more qualified than the Europeans for making judicial decisions, and Charles Metcalfe described the British-dominated courts as " scenes of great corruption" and "very unpopular." Even Governor-General Lord Hastings bemoaned the inconvenience, expense, and delay of the civil proceedings. He let Munro experiment using village headmen (patels) for suits up to 250 rupees and village councils (panchayats) for larger ones; but they were all expected to work without remuneration and were not utilized. Munro believed in working with a prejudice in favor of native systems, instead of against them, so that they could learn to govern themselves. Although this judicial method failed, his revenue system was adopted throughout India. Metcalfe also warned that if the British empire kept its inhabitants in ignorance, their dominance would be a curse; but if they promoted enlightenment with arts and sciences to improve conditions, then the gratitude of India and the admiration of the world would accompany their name in the future.

Bombay governor Mountstuart Elphinstone adopted the ryotwari system. In 1819 he described two techniques used if the panchayat refused to hear a dispute. In takaza a man may restrain an equal or inferior from leaving his house or eating or compel him to sit in the sun until he makes some accommodation. If the debtor is a superior, the creditor may supplicate and lay on his doorstep, appealing to his honor and shame. A person may also sit in dharna by fasting on the other party's doorstep. Maratha troops often used the dharna method to extract back pay from their chiefs. Elphinstone revised the Bombay judicial system in 1827, using Zila (district) courts with one judge, whose decision could be appealed to the Sadar Diwani Adalat. Petty cases were tried in lower courts by Indians. In Afghanistan after Dost Muhammad treacherously took Herat from Mahmud's brother Firuz-uddin and insulted his harem, Mahmud's son Kamran murdered Fateh Khan in 1818. The next oldest brother Azim Khan asserted his claim as Dost Muhammad seized Kabul and fought Shah Mahmud and Kamran, who now had Herat. Azim Khan turned to exiled Shah Shuja, and they marched on Kabul; but in a quarrel between them Shah Shuja was defeated and fled back to Ludhiana in 1821. Azim Khan and his Barakzai brothers ruled over all of Afghanistan. Maharaja Ranjit Singh extended his Sikh confederation by conquering Multan in 1818, Kashmir in 1819, Dera Ghazi Khan in 1820, Mankera and Dera Ismail Khan in 1821, and Bannu and Tank in 1822. Some of these territories were taken from the Afghan empire while the Indus River marked the boundary between his Sikh kingdom and Sind. Ranjit Singh imprisoned his mother-in-law Sada Kaur in 1820, but two years later the British restored her to the fort of Whadni. Because of his friendship with the British, Ranjit Singh refused to form defensive alliances with Nepal or Bharatpur. When Peshawar governor Yar Muhammad Khan gave Ranjit Singh valuable horses, Muhammad Azim Khan disapproved and went to Peshawar, declaring holy war on Ranjit. The Sikhs won the battle in March 1823. Azim Khan died the same year, resulting in a struggle for power between the Barakzai brothers that lasted three years until Dost Muhammad captured Kabul, Ghazni, and Jalalabad; other brothers held Qandahar. Concerned about a possible invasion into India by Russia, the British had concluded a treaty with Persia in 1814 in which they promised to provide military aid to Persia if they were invaded by any European power; but when Russia and Persia went to war in 1826, the English annulled the provision by paying Persia money. In the treaty Persia agreed to send forces if the British were at war with Afghanistan; but the British were not to interfere in an Afghanistan-Persian conflict unless both sides sought mediation. Governor-General Wellesley had imposed press censorship; but the liberal Lord Hastings granted wide latitude to the Calcutta Journal, which James Buckingham began publishing in 1818. Three years later it was countered by the pro-government John Bull. The Government sued Buckingham for libel but lost. A financial scandal caused the Marquess of Hastings to leave India in early 1823. By then the Calcutta Journal had a circulation of a thousand. Senior councilor John Adam governed in Bengal for seven months until William Amherst arrived. However, when the Calcutta Journal satirized the appointment of a Scottish minister to a post in the Stationery department, Adam had Buckingham deported. England and the Netherlands signed a treaty in 1824 that ceded the Dutch territories in Bengal to the British. Bishop's College was established at Calcutta in 1820 but did not admit non-Christians. In 1823 the General Committee of Public Instruction was formed in Calcutta, and Sanskrit College was founded. Rammohun Roy wrote a letter suggesting that more modern education was needed. The next year James Mill and the Court of Directors issued a dispatch urging education with utilitarian principles. A Calcutta madrasa (Islamic school) was established in 1826, but only two students

passed the junior scholarship examination in the next 25 years. Cotton manufacturing in England reversed this trade as a nominal 2.5% duty allowed British goods into India. With the ending of the Company monopoly in 1813 unsold native cotton goods accumulated in Company warehouses. The cotton imports increased from 2,000 pounds in 1813 to 100,000 pounds ten years later. The British government protected its industry at home with tariffs while allowing free trade in India. In his ten years Lord Hastings increased the Company's annual revenue by nearly six million pounds. East of Bengal, Burma was expanding its little empire. They seized Manipur in 1813. Rebels led by Chin Byan attacked Arakan from 1811 until he died in 1815. Burmans installed in Assam a ruler who accepted their sovereignty in 1818. Burma demanded that the British deliver the rebels who took refuge in Bengal, or they threatened to annex Ramu, Chittagong, Murshidabad, and Dacca as part of Arakan. Hostilities escalated gradually because of border incidents involving British subjects. In September 1823 Burmans killed three British sepoys on the tiny island of Shahpuri, a place so unhealthy no one even wanted to leave a garrison there. Nonetheless, the British reoccupied it and put up stockades in November. Govinda Chandra had been driven away from his kingdom of Cachar by three brothers and appealed to the British, who declined to help; but the Burmans sent an army that reinstated him. Amherst wrote to the Directors that this pass was essential and recognized Govinda Chandra as a ruler protected by the British, sending a force from Dacca to Sylhet. Govinda Chandra accepted and promised to pay the British tribute. The Burmese government sent a force of 4,000 from Assam, but a British force led by Major Thomas Newton defeated them in January 1824. After the Burmans captured the pilot of a British schooner and burned the hut on Shahpuri, the British declared war on Burma. The Burmese general Maha Bandula led a large army that caused the sepoys to flee from Ramu. The British withdrew to protect Chittagong, and the Burmans entered Cachar; but they left before Newton's force arrived. The youngest brother Gambhir Singh had joined the British but managed to conquer Manipur on his own. General Archibald Campbell with his army of 11,000 occupied Rangoon in May after the Burmans had fled with badly needed provisions. Maha Bandula attacked them in December with about 60,000 men; but the British force managed to defend themselves as part of Rangoon was burned. Meanwhile an expeditionary force occupied Tenasserim. Sepoys at Barrackpur near Calcutta, upset that they did not have enough pay to buy bullocks to carry their cooking pots, refused to obey orders to march into Arakan. Commander-in-Chief Edward Paget ordered guns to fire on them; a few were killed, and some drowned in the Ganges. A court martial sentenced the 41 captured to death; twelve were hanged, and the rest had their sentences commuted to fourteen years hard labor. In January 1825 the British army forced the Burmans at Rangpur to ask for a truce. When the British force occupied the capital at Arakan, the Burmans withdrew from that province. Because of fever and dysentery, the British withdrew from most of Arakan. Campbell's forces and a naval column attacked Donabew in April, and Maha Bandula was killed by a rocket. The Burman king's brother, Prince of Tharrawaddy, opposed the war with the British and evacuated the strongly fortified Prome to return to the capital at Awa and try to persuade his brother to make peace. Campbell cantoned his troops at Prome and under an armistice began negotiating, but King Bagyidaw refused to accept the terms. The Burmans made another proposal, and a treaty was signed in January 1826; but the King refused to ratify it. Finally as the British army came near the capital, at Yandabo the King agreed in February to give up his claims to Assam, Cachar, and Manipur, ceding Arakan and Tenasserim to the English and promising to pay an indemnity of ten million rupees. They agreed to exchange envoys, and a commercial treaty was signed.

Even the Company Directors had to admit that this war was caused by "trifling acts of insult and aggression" and that the invasion of lower Burma was not justified by military necessity. The number of those killed in battle was less than two hundred; but of 3,738 European troops in the Rangoon expedition 3,160 died of scurvy and dysentery, and of 1,004 in Arakan 595 died from malaria. All together on the British side about 15,000 died, and the war cost five million pounds. In central India rumors that the British were withdrawing troops for the Burman war stimulated Pindari brigands, rebels, and ambitious chiefs to take up arms. Two days before Bharatpur ruler Baldeo Singh died in February 1825, Resident David Ochterlony invested the young prince as the heir. However, Durjan Sal as regent claimed the throne and took over the fort of Bharatpur. Ochterlony announced that his troops would rescue the boy before the fort could be defended; but when the Governor-General in council suspended his preparations, Ochterlony resigned. Charles Metcalfe was appointed resident of Delhi and formulated the imperialist policy that it would be hazardous for the British to relax their paramount influence in Malwa and Rajputana, arguing that the non-interference policy had failed in 1806. He denounced Durjan Sal and sent a large force that assaulted and captured Bharatpur in December 1825, killing at least 8,000 while suffering only 600 casualties; a treasury worth 480,000 was divided by the army as prize money. Durjan Sal was imprisoned at Allahabad, and Metcalfe installed the boy Bulwant Singh as raja. In 1827 Governor-General Amherst visited Awadh nawab Ghazi-ud-din, who loaned the Bengal government fifteen million rupees before he died that October. Daulat Rao Sindhia died earlier in 1827 but had arranged for his favorite wife Baiza Bai to choose an adopted son to succeed. Major Stewart supported this, and as regent she loaned the British Company five million rupees.

Bentinck's Reforms 1828-35

William Bentinck returned to India as governor-general in July 1828 intent on applying utilitarian principles to reform India. Metcalfe left Delhi and as senior member of the Council became Bentinck's chief advisor. He warned that the only thing that was universal in India was the disaffection toward the dominion by strangers. Bentinck himself wrote that he wanted to reform the "monstrous rapacity" of four hundred strangers governing sixty million people. At the end of his term in 1835 he concluded that compared to the Muslims who intermixed and married the natives, the British rule was "cold, selfish and unfeeling" using the "iron hand of power" along with "monopoly and exclusion." Because of the expenses of the Burma war, Amherst left India with a one-million-pound deficit his last year. Bentinck saved nearly a million by reducing military expenditures, and an interlude of peace along with special measures to protect the Government's lucrative opium monopoly created a two-million-pound surplus by the time he left. Although it only saved 20,000 a year, the officers resented his cutting in half their batta (extra pay). Bentinck allowed newspapers to criticize him and his government, but after a while he forbade them to mention the batta issue anymore. He adopted in Bengal the revenue administration pioneered by Munro in Madras, saved money by appointing Indian judges for 400 rupees per month, and let them handle more cases. Company servant David Scott in Assam recommended annexing western Assam and recognizing someone from the Ahom dynasty. The Company did the former but procrastinated on the latter. Prince Gadadhar Singh rebelled in 1828, but he and his supporters were arrested and put in prison. The next year Khasi raja Tirat Singh regretted his agreement to help the British build a road, and his men killed two British lieutenants. During the rebellion the British burned Khasi villages. In 1830 Assamese nobles proclaimed Kumar Rupchand raja. The British suppressed these insurrections by the Khasi hill tribes and the Singpho. Two rebels were hanged, and Rupchand was imprisoned for

fourteen years. Tirat Singh eventually surrendered and spent the rest of his life in prison. Scott died in 1831, and two years later Purandar Singh was installed in Upper Assam; but his tribute was set at the exorbitant 50,000 rupees. After five years he was in arrears and was deposed as Upper Assam was annexed by the Company. The British asked Cachar raja Govinda Chandra to cede his territory to the Company, but he refused. Cachar was invaded by Tularam on one side and by Manipur raja Gambhir Singh on the other. The British declined to help him and made him assign territory to both of them. After Govinda Chandra was assassinated in 1830 by a servant of Gambhir Singh, the British rejected all the possible rulers and annexed Cachar. Tularam was forced to pay tribute for his territory, which was later annexed three years after he died in 1851. The raja of Jaintia died in 1835, and his successor declined to pay the high tribute demanded; the best part of his territory was taken, and he gave up the rest. The Company also annexed other small territories in the late 1830s. In Tenasserim some fanatical Muslims objected to Hindu idolatry and in 1830 plundered and burned their houses. They killed cows and forced Brahmins to eat beef. After a magistrate was forced to flee, soldiers came and killed nearly a hundred of the zealous Muslims, imprisoning and dispersing the rest. In Orissa and southwest Bihar native tribes objected to British taxes and settlers taking the best land; but their uprising with primitive weapons was suppressed by the military. Sayyid Ahmad of Bareilly taught the doctrines of Waliullah and traveled from Delhi to Peshawar, where the governor was accused of trying to poison him. He aroused his followers to fight, and they defeated and killed Yar Muhammad in 1829; but Sikhs led by Prince Sher Singh and General Ventura helped Sultan Muhammad win back Peshawar. The Sikh troops withdrew, but Sayyid Ahmad led his forces across the Indus in 1830 to attack Sikhs led by Hari Singh Nalwa and General Allard. The Sayyid's holy warriors (Ghazis) withdrew, but a few months later they attacked Sultan Muhammad Khan and occupied Peshawar. Ahmad proclaimed himself caliph and minted a coin. His taxes on the peasants and decree that all young men must marry caused discontent, and he was killed at Balakot by a surprise attack in May 1831. The Usufzai tribe expelled his deputies, and the Ghazis dispersed. In 1831 Bentinck visited Lakhnau and tried to persuade the profligate Nasir-ud-din that if he did not reduce the corruption, he would be removed from power. The Nawab hired Hakim Mehdi to collect revenue, but the Indians and Europeans who disliked his reforms drove him from his office. In 1835 the Directors ordered Bentinck to take over the government of Awadh (Oudh); but since he was leaving office, he just warned the Nawab. Bentinck did take over the government of Mysore from its unpopular ruler Purneah because he mistakenly thought the tribute was in arrears. Later in 1834 he visited the Raja and proposed his power be restored, but the British kept control over Mysore until 1881. Coorg was annexed by force because its raja had killed all his heirs. Bentinck tried to get the emirs to open up the Indus River, but Ranjit Singh believed it was too shallow. Governor-General Bentinck and Maharaja Ranjit Singh exchanged state visits in 1831 with mutual respect, and the next year Captain Wade got Ranjit Singh to agree to let British traders use the Sutlej River. Sikhs led by Hari Singh defeated Afghan tribes above Attock in 1832. Shah Shuja tried to recapture his throne but could only get a four-month advance on his allowance from the British. After making a treaty with Ranjit Singh, Shah Shuja set out from Ludhiana in 1833 with 3,000 troops and 200,000 rupees. As he traveled through Shikarpur, he forced the Sind emirs to pay him 500,000 rupees. Shuja's forces besieged Qandahar in 1834, but they were defeated by Dost Muhammad Khan and his brothers. Shah Shuja returned to Ludhiana the next year with 250,000 rupees.

Bentinck made special efforts to end thuggery and sati (widow suicide). Thugs (robbers) had been active in India since the decline of the Mughal empire. They were also called Phansigars because they used nooses to strangle their victims. Mostly they were Hindus worshipping Kali, the goddess of destruction, but Muslims sometimes joined their gangs. They preyed upon travelers by pretending to befriend them before murdering them and taking their possessions. They gave some of their loot for Kali ceremonies and to those who protected them. Bentinck sent special agents and established special courts to hear these cases, and in 1835 the Department of Thuggee and Dacoity was established. A law was enacted making membership in a thuggee band a crime. In six years more than four hundred thugs were hanged, and the roads became much safer. After Wellesley decreed that sati was legal if voluntary, the attendance by police officers to assure this seemed to give it more credibility. The number of sati deaths more than doubled in six years, reaching a high of 839 for the year 1818. Bentinck enacted a regulation in 1829 making burning or burying widows alive homicide. This reduced sati in Bengal, Bombay, and Madras, but it still was allowed in the native states. The Company's charter to administer territories in India was renewed in 1833 for another twenty years because many believed that the Parliament would increase the corruption of patronage. The new Charter Act stated that the interests of the native subjects were to be preferred to those of the Europeans when they were in conflict. The Governor-General was responsible for Bengal, Assam, and the Burman possessions, and Metcalfe was appointed governor at Agra. The English were now allowed to acquire land in India. Slavery was abolished in the West Indies in 1833, and many planters moved their plantation system of exploiting labor to India. The Governor-General and the Council could now make laws for all the Company's territories. A law member was added to the Council, and a Law Commission was appointed with Thomas B. Macaulay as its head. The Charter Act of 1833 also required the Company to divest itself of administering religious endowments, and participation in religious festivals was discouraged and in 1840 prohibited. Bentinck dismissed for corruption the residents at Delhi and Lakhnau, and he transferred others he suspected. Before he left India in March 1835, Bentinck announced that the British government should promote European literature and science by making English the language of higher education. Macaulay wrote his "Minute on Education" in which he argued that English should be taught instead of Sanskrit and Arabic. Thousands of Indians enrolled in English schools, and in two years the Calcutta School Book Society sold more than 30,000 books in English. According to an 1845 report to the House of Commons the number of students being educated at government expense included 13,699 Hindus, 1,636 Muslims, and 236 Christians. The Bengal government attempted to establish in each district an English school or a school using both English and the local language. Higher education was available in Calcutta at the Hindu College, which was only open to Hindus. In 1854 the government took it over and renamed it Presidency College, emphasizing the writings of Bacon, Johnson, Milton, and Shakespeare along with history, science, moral philosophy, and political economy. Charles Metcalfe served as acting governor-general for one year. He believed in freedom of the press and removed the restrictions. F. J. Shore published his Notes on Indian Affairs in 1837, criticizing the government by the English Company for being "extortionate and tyrannical in practice" while professing to be benevolent and philanthropic. The last Maratha raja, Pratap Singh, in 1835 tried to claim the six jagirs (tax districts) recognized by the treaty of 1819, but Bombay governor Robert Grant deliberately withheld a letter and honorary sword sent by the Court of Directors. Brahmins resented Pratap Singh for supporting the right of Prabhu Kayasthas to perform religious rites. They intrigued to bring charges of conspiracy and treason against the Raja and two men for trying to seduce Indian officers from their allegiance

to the British. James Carnac replaced Grant and asked the Raja to sign a memorandum agreeing to certain conditions for clemency on the charges; but Pratap Singh lost his throne at Satara in 1839, only because he had the integrity not to sign the document that would be admitting what was false.

Rammohun Roy and Social Reform

Rammohun Roy was born into a Brahmin family near Calcutta on May 22, 1772. At Patna he learned Arabic and Persian, studying the Qur'an, Islamic law, and Persian poetry. By the age of ten he had two wives. Rammohun learned Sanskrit at Benares and studied Hindu philosophy for three years. He traveled, and some believe he studied Buddhism in Tibet. His father was a zamindar and collected taxes. Absorbed in Sufi and Vedanta philosophy, Rammohun criticized Hindu idolatry and soon became alienated from his traditional parents. Yet in 1796 his father gave him a house in Calcutta, and Rammohun began studying English. He loaned money to English employees of the East India Company. His father died in 1803, and years later his mother tried to disinherit Rammohun for heresy. His friend John Digby introduced him to western literature, and in 1805 he began working for Digby and the Company. Rammohun's first publication was in Persian and affirmed the unity of God; he warned against idolatry and religious doctrines that deceive. Rammohun may have witnessed a widow burned to death in sati at the funeral of his brother in 1812. In 1814 Rammohun and a few friends began a friendship society called Atmiya Sabha. The next year he began translating some of the Upanishads and an abridgment of the Vedanta Sutra into Bengali and English. In 1817 he helped Edward Hyde East and David Hare found the Hindu College; but Rammohun's name was not associated with it because some Hindus considered him a heretic. In debate Rammohun defended Hindu theism and argued that people are harmed by myths about gods and goddesses that do not stand up to reason. In 1820 he began helping missionaries translate the Bible into Bengali to improve on Carey's version, and he published his book on the ethics of Jesus called The Precepts of Jesus, Guide to Peace and Happiness. In response to criticism, he wrote three appeals to Christians in which he argued that the humanistic ethics of Jesus is much more important than the miracles and theological doctrines on atonement and the trinity. Rammohun emphasized the oneness of God. Max Mller, the scholar who helped to found the modern study of comparative religion, said that Rammohun was the first person to synthesize eastern and western religion. In 1818 Rammohun began an educational campaign to end the burning of Hindu widows (sati) by publishing and freely circulating a dialog between an advocate and an opponent. He wrote,
In times of want the wife works like a slave. In times of affluence the husband takes another wife and enjoys worldly pleasures. Very often the wife is beaten up, discarded, accused of disloyalty, all because the husband feels that he has the right to do so.1

Rammohun argued that nowhere in the Hindu scriptures is it demanded that a widow must commit suicide or be murdered. He charged that one of the main reasons for sati was the avarice of relatives who wanted to avoid the cost of supporting a bereaved widow. He advocated the custom should be abolished for humanitarian reasons. Most of the widows dying by sati were in Calcutta, and the number in Rammohun's own district of Burdwan was barely second to Hughli. The number of such widow suicides in the six divisions of Bengal had gone from 378 in 1815 to 812 in 1818. These increases discouraged the efforts that were being made by the British government. Rammohun managed to prevent some burnings by personal persuasion. His writing must have had an effect

because in 1819 the number of widow burnings in Bengal was 650. In a second tract that year he defended the rights of women by showing that they are not inferior to men but in some ways even superior. Orthodox Hindus organized groups to defend the atrocious tradition of sati against his campaign, and the number only gradually decreased in the next decade to 464 in 1828. However, the new Governor-General Bentinck made any support for sati a crime in 1829, and in gratitude Rammohun sent him an anti-sati address on behalf of more than three hundred supporters. During its first year in 1821 Rammohun took over the editing of the Bengali weekly Sambad Kaumudi (Moon of Intelligence), the first newspaper published by Indians. Rammohun also founded and began editing a Persian weekly in 1822 called The Mirror of News (Mirat-ul-Akhbar). He wrote a brochure demanding that Hindu women should have the same property rights as their fathers and husbands. In 1823 Chief Secretary John Adam got a regulation enacted that was called Adam's Gag because it required every periodical to obtain a license signed by the Council's Chief Secretary before it could publish each issue. Rammohun closed down The Mirror in protest of this precensorship and sent a memorial to the Government. He explained why a powerful government should avoid censoring.
Another evil of equal importance in the eyes of a just Ruler, is, that it will also preclude the natives from making the Government readily acquainted with the errors and injustice that may be committed by its executive officers in the various part of this extensive country. Every good ruler who is convinced of the imperfection of human nature, and reverences the Eternal Governor of the World, must be conscious of the great liability to error in managing the affairs of a vast empire and therefore he will be anxious to afford to every individual the readiest means of bringing to his notice whatever may require his interference. To secure this most important object, the unrestrained liberty of publication is the only effective means that can be employed.2

When the British decided to spend its large grant for education on a Sanskrit College in 1823, Rammohun argued that Indians had a much greater need to learn science from Europeans. Just as the Baconian philosophy had replaced the medieval scholastics, India needed its own renaissance beyond its religious philosophy. Rammohun helped William Adam found the Unitarian Association, and with David Hare they started an Anglo-Hindu school with free tuition for Indians. The Vedanta College was founded to study Hindu scriptures. In 1825 the Parliament passed an East India Jury Bill that only allowed Christians to serve on grand juries. Rammohun criticized this discrimination by writing articles for Sambad Kaumudi, and the next year he demanded equal treatment in the Native Petition to Parliament. In 1827 he published the Sanskrit work Vajrasuchi that criticized the caste system. He believed that the most important moral principle is the golden rule: "Do to others as you would be done by." Rammohun and his friends began the Brahmo Sabha on August 20, 1828 based on the idea of one God, one world, one humanity. Devotional songs, mostly by Rammohun, were interspersed between the invocation, prayer, meditation, and sermons. When they moved into their own building on January 23, 1830, their purpose was defined in the Trust Deed as to worship "the Eternal, Unsearchable, and Immutable Being who is the Author and Preserver of the Universe." All kinds of people were welcome as long as they behaved in an "orderly, sober, religious and devout manner." No objects were to be worshipped. No person was to be reviled. They aimed to promote "charity,

morality, piety, benevolence, virtue, and strengthening the bonds of union between men of all religions, persuasions and creeds."3 The Brahmo Sabha did not recognize any priestly class as privileged mediators between God and humans. Their members worked on such reforms as abolishing child-marriage, polygamy, and caste persecution. They planned how to bring education to women and give them their proper status in society. Conservative Hindus led by Radhakanto Dev, compiler of a comprehensive Sanskrit dictionary, tried to counter their progressive ideas by forming the Dharma Sabha. Young Bengalis responded to Rammohun's practical synthesis of eastern and western education, freedom of thought, freedom of the press, and intellectual idealism. Rammohun protested against the Government's salt monopoly, the high taxes on the cultivators, and worked for many progressive reforms. He criticized the East India Company for taking two million pounds out of India to London each year. He encouraged Dwarkanath Tagore to set up small industries in the Bengal countryside. In 1831 Rammohun went against caste rules and became the first prominent Hindu to visit England. As the envoy of Mughal king Akbar II, he gained him an additional 300,000 rupees for his budget. His memorial to the House of Commons to counter the petition to repeal the abolition of sati was successful, and he presented in writing his reform ideas before the next renewal of the Company charter. He proposed reductions in the rents of the ryots (peasants), and he suggested that the decrease in revenue could be balanced by hiring native collectors at lower salaries. In his Questions and Answers on the Judicial System of India, Rammohun recommended replacing Persian with English as the official language in the law-courts, appointing native assessors, using trial by jury and the traditional panchayat system, separating the offices of revenue collectors from judges, codifying the criminal and civil law of India, and consulting with local leaders before enacting laws. His efforts helped persuade the House of Commons to repeal the clause disqualifying all but Christians from serving on grand juries, and the Indian Jury Act of 1832 allowed the governments of Bengal, Bombay, and Madras to appoint qualified Indians as judges. He urged the Tories to support the Reform Bill currently being debated. He did not think that a commercial organization should be ruling another country and suggested that a proper government would be easier for the natives, even though it would still be a foreign one. Rammohun Roy also visited France before he died at Bristol on September 27, 1833. He lived according to the great humanistic saying of Sa'di that he wanted as his epitaph, that the best way of serving God is to do good to humans. He was one of the first pioneers for the ecumenical unity of all religions, and his outstanding efforts for modern education and social reform led some to call him the father of modern India. The Young Bengal movement had been inspired by the poet Henry Derozio (1809-31), who had taught at the Hindu College and founded the Academic Association in 1828. After Rammohun Roy died in 1833, his disciple Vidyavagish led the Brahmo Sabha; but it languished until Dwarkanath Tagore's oldest son Devendranath Tagore joined in 1843 with twenty of his associates. Dwarakanath Tagore helped found the Landholders' Society in 1838, and the next year Rammohun's friend William Adam started the British India Society in England. They eventually merged into the British Indian Association, which paid agents to pressure in England and worked for reforms in local government. In 1846 Govinda-chandra Dutt denounced the unequal treatment of British and Indians before the law and urged the separation of the executive and judicial functions. Devendranath had founded the Tattvabodhini Sabha in 1839, and the monthly Tattvabodhini Patrika promoted Indian culture with western improvements. They changed the name of Brahmo Sabha to Brahmo Samaj (God Society) and in 1850 began agitating for social reforms such as widow remarriage, monogamy, and temperance. Vidyasagar discovered a verse in the Parashara Samhita that approved of widow remarriage, and his book Vidhava Vivaha led to the passage of the

Widow Remarriage Bill in 1856. That year Devendranath withdrew for two years to travel and be more reclusive in the Simla hills.

British Invasion of Afghanistan and Sind

Tory minister Robert Peel persuaded the Directors to appoint the diplomatic Heytesbury as governor-general; but the Whigs replaced the Tories in 1835, and the new foreign secretary Palmerston did not want the former ambassador who was friendly with the Russians. Instead, George Eden, known as Baron Auckland, was chosen. He set out for the Upper Provinces with a retinue of 12,000 people and was not deterred from passing through the famished region between Kanpur (Cawnpore) and Agra in 1837. They did some relief work, but about 800,000 died of hunger and disease. Col. John Colvin began investigation for an irrigation project that led to the Ganges Canal nearly twenty years later. At Lakhnau, Resident Col. John Low had used force to defeat the Begum's nominee as successor to Nasir-ud-din Haidar and put his uncle Muhammad 'Ali on the Awadh throne; but he had to agree to pay 1,600,000 rupees annually for an additional subsidiary force. The Directors later rejected the new treaty as unfair; but Auckland only told the new ruler he was released from the additional burden. Ranjit Singh intrigued with the Barakzai brothers against Dost Muhammad, and Hari Singh led the Sikhs that seized Peshawar in May 1834. Dost Muhammad declared a holy war on the Sikhs and marched on Peshawar; he asked for English aid, but they declined. Sultan Muhammad refused to take the Sikh envoys hostage for his brother Dost Muhammad and went over to Ranjit Singh, who gave him some tax districts after Dost Muhammad withdrew. The British could not get the Khairpur emir to restrain the Mazaris from attacking the Sikh posts, and so in 1836 the Multan governor defeated the Mazaris and took over Rojhan and the Ken fort. The English sent Captain Alexander Burnes to negotiate commercial agreements with the countries bordering on the Indus River, and Captain Wade traveled to Lahore to reassure Ranjit Singh. Hari Singh occupied the Jamrud post at the Khyber Pass, but he was defeated and killed by Dost Muhammad's army from Kabul in 1837. Russian envoy Simonitch encouraged Persia's Muhammad Shah to attack Herat, and the Persian army began a siege in November 1837. English envoy Burnes was in Kabul trying to persuade the Barakzai brothers to resist a possible Russian advance when Russian emissary Vitkevitch arrived to tell Dost Muhammad that Russia would fund his effort to expel Ranjit Singh from Peshawar. In a treaty guaranteed by Simonitch the Persian shah transferred Herat to the rulers of Qandahar. Burnes negotiated with Qandahar and offered British help against the Persians, but the Government of India made him withdraw that. They offered to restrain Ranjit Singh from attacking Dost Muhammad if he would not make an alliance with another state. However, Auckland was afraid of losing the Anglo-Sikh alliance if he pressured Ranjit Singh. Since the British offered little, Dost Muhammad welcomed Vitkevitch to Kabul. The British minister McNeill complained to the Shah in his camp that the siege of Herat violated their treaty, and meeting with the Herat ruler he arranged a treaty, which the Persian shah refused to ratify. So McNeill suggested that Auckland send a naval force to the Persian Gulf, and they occupied the island of Kharak. In August 1838 the British told the Shah he must withdraw from Herat to suspend British actions, and the next month the Persians retreated. The Russians said they were not aggressive and recalled Simonitch and Vitkevitch, who felt disgraced and committed suicide. William Macnaghten in Lahore asked Ranjit Singh to help Shah Shuja regain his throne at Kabul, but the Maharaja declined to do so without British forces participating. Shuja promised to turn over two million rupees paid by the Sind emirs to Ranjit Singh, and all three signed the treaty by July 1838. Armies in Bengal and Bombay began preparing. In October the Governor-General issued a manifesto from Simla that even the press at the time exposed as a "collection of absolute

falsehoods." Even though the siege of Herat had been ended, Auckland did not call off the campaign; his proclamation in November indicated his intention to replace a hostile power in eastern Afghanistan. The Duke of Wellington warned that the advance would be "a perennial march into that country." A Blue Book of dispatches was published in 1839, but they were carefully selected and edited to convey false impressions. The British army gathered at Firozpur with 9,500 men in the Bengal division and 5,600 from Bombay while Shah Shuja had 6,000 men. Across the Sutlej River were 15,000 Sikh troops, but Ranjit Singh would not allow the army to march through his country. So they had to go through Sind even though a military crossing of the Indus River was a violation of their 1832 treaty with the English. The Sind emirs were forced to pay Shah Shuja 2,500,000 rupees (25 lakhs), and he had to pass on 15 lakhs to Ranjit Singh. The Khairpur state made a treaty to cooperate with the British, who promised to protect them and occupied their fortress at Bukkur. Auckland also demanded that the Sinds pay three lakhs per year for the subsidiary force in their territories. Facing an attack by this army on Hyderabad if they did not comply, the Sind emirs signed two more treaties, paid the tribute, and provided supplies. Troops took over Karachi, and a British force was stationed to make sure that tolls were no longer collected on the Indus River. As the army marched, Baluchi brigands harassed the rear, carrying off baggage, camels and bullocks, which were dying by the hundreds. In late March 1839 they reached Quetta, where commander John Keane established his headquarters. By then they were on half rations, and 20,000 baggage animals had been lost. Macnaghten began using money to give people compensation and bribe the authorities. Most Afghan tribes were won over by gold, and Qandahar surrendered on April 25. Shah Shuja was enthroned on a platform. Macnaghten and Burnes persuaded General Keane that the Ghazni fortress would also surrender, and so he left behind the large guns. Only because a nephew of Dost Muhammad deserted and told them of a weak gate were they able to blast through and take the fortress, killing many Afghans while suffering less than 200 casualties. Dost Muhammad and a few followers fled north into the Hindu Kush mountains. There he took refuge with Uzbek chief Wali of Kulun, who kept him prisoner. Keane's army marched into Kabul on August 7, 1839, but Shah Shuja was not warmly received. The Barakzai sirdars had been expelled from Afghanistan, and British soldiers occupied Qandahar, Ghazni, Jalalabad, and Kabul. The Bombay army departed Afghanistan as did some of General Nott's Bengal troops. Macnaghten advised Auckland to order the Bombay division to punish Mehrab Khan for not restraining the Baluchi brigands, and three Khelat provinces were turned over to Shah Shuja. Ranjit Singh had died in June 1839, and his successors objected to Keane's army passing through the Punjab. Macnaghten paid them off, and he also found that the Ghilzai chiefs and Afridis had to be bribed to keep the mountain passes open. Baluchi tribes still attacked convoys and even Quetta itself in June and July 1840. Mehrab Khan's son Nasir Khan took over Khelat and forced the British puppet Shah Nawaz Khan to abdicate until General William Nott arrived with troops and forced Nasir Khan to flee to the hills. Yet a year later to avoid more trouble the British recognized Nasir Khan as the ruler of Khelat and the three provinces taken from his father. The Afghans did not like Shah Shuja's government and blamed the British because of their military occupation. Auckland's council complained of the huge cost for this Afghan adventure. Macnaghten contemplated taking Herat but was restrained by Auckland. Dost Muhammad persuaded Wali of Kulun to support his attack on Bamiyan, but the British defeated them in September 1840 and won over the Wali with gold. Joined by some of Shah Shuja's troops, Dost Muhammad marched toward Kabul, but the British cavalry defeated him at Parwandurrah on November 2. Two days later Dost Muhammad rode up to Macnaghten and surrendered. Macnaghten kept him as an honored prisoner before sending him under guard to Calcutta, persuading Auckland to give him a pension of 200,000

rupees. To save money Macnaghten reduced the stipends and subsidies he paid to Afghan chiefs. This caused resentment, and the eastern Ghilzais left Kabul to take up positions on the road to Jalalabad. Macgregor arranged truces, but they were to no avail. Col. Robert Sale was wounded in Khurd Kabul Pass, and many of his men and much equipment were lost in October 1841. On November 2, Afghans in Kabul attacked the house of Burnes, killing him and many others and taking the Shah's treasury. The gout-suffering General W. G. K. Elphinstone failed to reinforce the commissariat fort, and the British lost most of their provisions. Their troops often did not obey orders or fight. The Hindu sepoys resented their loss of caste, and the Muslim sepoys were reluctant to kill fellow Muslims. The freedom-loving Afghans also resented the way their women in Kabul had been seduced by the occupying army. The insurrection spread, and the garrison at the Laghman fort mutinied, left the fort, and marched to Kabul. Two British officers at the fort in Kohistan were murdered by their men. Ghazni was attacked, and the British garrison stayed in the citadel until March 1842, when they surrendered and were treacherously killed. Auckland ordered a withdrawal, but Macnaghten was still optimistic and sent Mohanlal to spread around 50,000 rupees among the tribes. The army was demoralized and faced starvation, and Elphinstone urged Macnaghten to make peace. Macnaghten proposed the British evacuate Afghanistan unmolested; Shah Shuja would abdicate, and four British officers would remain as hostages. They evacuated Bala Hissar on December 13. The Afghan chiefs brought provisions but asked the British to hand over their forts. They did so, but carriages were not arriving. Dost Muhammad's son Akbar Khan sent Macnaghten a proposal for Shuja to rule with Akbar as his well paid vizier. On December 23 Macnaghten went to meet Akbar with three officers; but Macnaghten and another were killed, and the other two were made prisoners. Now the Afghan chiefs required the British to leave behind all their guns except six along with all spare muskets and the coins in the public treasury. They also wanted the married men to remain with their families as hostages; but none volunteered, and this was changed to a few men. The sick and wounded were left at Bala Hissar. In January 1842 the British left with 4,500 troops and 12,000 camp followers. In the Khurd Kabul Pass they were ambushed by Ghilzais, and about 3,000 were killed. The attacks continued, and more were massacred. A few officers forged ahead, but all were cut down or dispersed except Dr. Bryden, who reached the fort at Jalabad after a week of slaughter. Brigadier Wild led four regiments from Firozpur to Peshawar but could not get Sikh support. In the January weather the sepoys refused to march to Kabul without gloves and coats, but Henry Lawrence prevented their execution and persuaded them. At the Khyber Pass they did not fight, and the Afghans took the Ali Masjid fort that commanded the Pass. Gen. Nott disobeyed an order to evacuate Qandahar and defeated some Afghans. In March 1842 Brigadier Richard England led a relief detachment from Sind but was defeated and fell back to Quetta. Col. Sale refused to evacuate Jalalabad and defeated Akbar Khan's Afghans in April. On February 28, 1842 Baron Ellenborough (Edward Law Jr.) arrived at Calcutta and replaced Auckland. Ellenborough ordered an immediate evacuation but contemplated whether military operations should be undertaken to restore British honor. Generals George Pollock and Nott were given discretion to vindicate the military. Pollock defeated some Afghans in August and the next month occupied Kabul. In revenge the British demolished the marketplace. Shah Shuja had been murdered in April, and his son Fath Jung, who had been a tool of Akbar Khan, fled, surrendered, and abdicated. Shapur, another son of Shuja, was proclaimed king. General Nott entered abandoned Ghazni and destroyed the town, claiming he captured the gates from the tomb of the 11th-century conqueror Mahmud. Saleh Muhammad Khan released the British prisoners from Bamiyan for 20,000 rupees and a small pension. Dost Muhammad and other Afghans returned from India.

Shapur fled to Peshawar in 1843, and the British recognized Dost Muhammad, the one they had overthrown, as the rightful ruler before they departed from Afghanistan. To gain control over Sind, Governor-General Ellenborough sent letters to the emirs Nasir Khan at Hyderabad, Rustum Khan at Khairpur, and Sher Muhammad Khan at Mirpur, warning that if they were not faithful, their sovereignty would be taken away. Ellenborough replaced Major James Outram with Charles Napier as commander and ordered him to investigate the Sind emirs. They were accused of seeking secret alliances against the British and levying tolls. In November 1842 a treaty took away their right to coin money, and Karachi and Tatta were ceded to the British. Napier ordered British troops to occupy the left bank of the Indus from Rohri to Bahawalpur, and he marched on Khairpur to replace Rustum Khan with his brother, the compliant Ali Murad. Outram as commissioner was negotiating with the emirs in Hyderabad and advised Napier not to march on the unarmed city with troops. After Napier captured the Imamgarh fortress, thousands of armed Baluchis came and attacked Outram's residence, forcing him to flee to a steamer. In February 1843 Napier's force defeated them in a fierce battle; 62 British and about 5,000 Baluchis were killed. Most of the emirs surrendered, and their property was confiscated and auctioned. Napier received about 50,000, but Outram declined to accept 3,000 and left the country. In March a similar battle was fought against Sher Muhammad of Mirpur, killing about 2,000 Baluchis. The British annexed Sind and appointed Napier governor, but Ali Murad ruled Khairpur as their vassal. Ali Murad tried to extend his domain with a forged treaty; but he was eventually caught, and his authority was diminished in 1851. In England Punch summed up Napier's conquest of Sind with the Latin word peccavi, which means "I have sinned." The Directors passed a resolution condemning his Sind takeover but decided that giving it back would cause more mischief. Outram testified that the emirs had been bullied and provoked into armed resistance because Napier did not halt his march even after they signed a treaty. Napier had confessed in his journal, "We have no right to seize Scinde; yet we shall do so, and a very advantageous, useful, humane piece of rascality it would be."4 Sind remained a deficit province for many years, and Napier governed it until 1847. Although Bentinck had abolished flogging in the Indian army, Napier continued to flog. He imposed martial law and tried cases by military commissions, deciding himself the capital cases. Captain Keith Young complained that he retried persons who had been acquitted. Using the Irish constabulary as a model, Napier established the Sind police under a European captain with native officers. This was the first modern police force in India that was independent of the military and revenue collections, and the Bombay Presidency adopted the system in 1852. Ellenborough assigned Col. W. H. Sleeman to investigate the uprisings in the Saugor district of central India that occurred in April 1842. He found that the Revenue Board orders had been misconstrued, damaging the landowners. When their protests were ignored, they revolted. Ellenborough dismissed the officials. He also abolished many inland customs duties in Madras and the North-Western Provinces, raising the salt tax to make up the revenue. When Jankoji Rao Sindhia died in February 1843, leaving behind no son and an 11-year-old widow, Ellenborough used the opportunity to take over the large Gwalior province. The Gwalior Durbar wanted Khasjiwalla as regent, but the British chose Mama Sahib, who was opposed by all the chiefs. The British government demanded that the influential Khasjiwalla be fined and banished. The Governor-General appointed Col. Sleeman as resident at Agra and went there himself. Warned that the British army was coming, Khasjiwalla surrendered. In December 1843 Ellenborough demanded a treaty be signed within three days. The Maratha troops fought for their independence and inflicted 790 casualties but suffered more than 3,000. In January 1844 the Governor-General

dictated a treaty at Gwalior that provided for a larger British force and civil administration, 2,600,000 rupees from the Gwalior Durbar, a limit of 9,000 men in the Maharaja's force, and a British regent until the Maharaja came of age in 1853.

Sikhs and the Punjab 1839-48

Ranjit Singh died on June 27, 1839. His oldest son Kharak Singh became maharaja and let the British troops pass through the Punjab on their way back from Afghanistan. Sikh troops helped General Pollock get through the Khyber Pass on their way for vengeance against Kabul. Kharak Singh was considered a fool and an opium-eater; but his son Nao Nihal Singh took control after Dhian Singh murdered the Maharaja's favorite Chet Singh Bajwa in October 1839. The three wealthy Hindu brothers of the Dogra tribe named Gulab Singh, Dhian Singh, and Suchet Singh had been made rajas in the province of Jammu. Kharak Singh died in November 1840; coming back from the funeral, Nao Nihal Singh was killed when an archway fell on him. Many suspected Dhian Singh even though he was also injured and his nephew was killed. Ranjit Singh's reputed son Sher Singh succeeded. He was a voluptuary and was challenged by Kharak Singh's widow Chand Kaur, who claimed to be regent for Nao Nihal Singh's son who was born later. Both sides offered the British and the Sikh army advantages. In January 1841 Sher Singh besieged the Rani (Queen) at the Lahore fort; Dhian Singh became his chief minister, as Chand Kaur retired with a tax income. Her Sandhanwalia supporters withdrew to British territory. The Sikh army now felt its power and plundered houses of the wealthy in Lahore, killing several people. The disorders spread, and General Avitabile fled from Peshawar to Jalalabad. Kashmir troops murdered Col. Mian Singh, but Jammu raja Gulab Singh restored order and gained control over the valley in April 1841. However, his nomination to Peshawar was vetoed by a British agent later that year. Other commanders in Mandi, Kulu, Hazara, and Amritsar were also assassinated. Sher Singh appealed to the British, and they prepared to send a force of 10,000, but Sher Singh changed his mind. The Lahore Durbar invited representatives of the army units and increased their pay; these committees of five were called military panchayats. The army had control and chastised those they considered traitors. In June 1842 female attendants beat to death Chand Kaur. The British agent Clarke persuaded Sher Singh to recall the exiled Sandhanwalia sirdars, Attar Singh and Ajit Singh. Nearly a year later in September 1843 Ajit Singh shot Sher Singh dead while his uncle Lahna Singh killed his son Partap Singh. Then together they shot and killed Dhian Singh along with his bodyguards. Dhian's son Hira Singh and brother Suchet Singh aroused the army and stormed the fort, killing Ajit Singh, Lahna Singh, and several hundred of their troops. Attar Singh fled with his son to the British. Hira Singh declared maharaja young Dalip Singh, the son of Ranjit Singh and Rani Jindan, who became regent with Hira Singh as prime minister. Suchet Singh supported two other reputed sons of Ranjit Singh, Kashmira Singh and Peshawara Singh; but his revolt was crushed, and Suchet was killed in March 1844. Another rebellion was quelled the next month as Kashmira Singh was killed. Robert Peel appointed his secretary of war Henry Hardinge to be governor-general, and he arrived in July 1844. Multan governor Sawan Mal was assassinated in September and was succeeded by his son Mulraj. He quelled a mutiny in November by killing four hundred soldiers. Hira Singh's counselor Jalla Pandit offended Rani Jindan, and she caused the army to turn against them. Hira Singh and Jalla Pandit fled from Lahore and were killed in December 1844. The Rani's debauched brother Jawahir Singh became the prime minister in May 1845, and her lover Lal Singh was influential. The panchayats did not like them and wanted Peshawara Singh as maharaja with Jammu raja Gulab Singh as vizier; but Chatar Singh Atariwala, whose daughter was betrothed to the young maharaja Dalip Singh, had Peshawara Singh murdered. Jawahir Singh was suspected of having

killed the prince and fled with Dalip Singh; but he was caught and executed by the angry panchayats in September 1845; his four wives died on his funeral pyre. Lal Singh became prime minister with Tej Singh as commander-in-chief. Meanwhile Gulab Singh had extended his domains to include not only Kashmir but also Chach and Rawalpindi, while his military forces increased to 50,000 men with 200 guns. Gulab Singh and others secretly negotiated with the British, who promised they could keep their kingdoms. The British had been preparing by increasing their troops from 23,000 to more than forty thousand and by sending supplies to Firozpur, where they built a fort. Hardinge appointed the bellicose Major George Broadfoot, who did not like the Sikhs. He declared the Cis-Sutlej territories belonging to Lahore under British protection. By the fall of 1845 two British armies were about to converge on Firozpur, and in December the Sikh army crossed the Sutlej to a piece of Sikh territory on the other side. The Sikh leader Lal Singh was secretly in communication with British captain Peter Nicholson and asked what he should do. He was told to delay the attack on Firozpur several days, and the Sikhs lost their advantage. After the British commander-in-chief Hugh Gough arrived with his army, the battle of Mudki began. Lal Singh deserted his army, and the Sikhs fell back. The sepoys were reluctant to fight against the Sikhs, and most of Gough's casualties were British. The Sikhs had a larger force, and about 2,000 were killed. That night Sikhs killed the British left alive on the field. In the morning a fresh force led by Tej Singh missed an opportunity; he also fled to save the British army. While Gough needed fresh troops, Lal Singh and Tej Singh waited a month. However, Ranjodh Singh Majithia led a Sikh attack on Ludhiana. Harry Smith, who also fought in South Africa, led a relief force; but they were surprised at Baddowal in January 1846, were rescued by a British detachment, and won a battle at Aliwal. Henry Lawrence replaced the killed Broadfoot as political agent and continued to get secret information from Lal Singh. Gulab Singh stopped sending supplies to the Sikhs. In February the British had the guns for an offensive. In the battle at Sobraon the traitorous Lal Singh and Tej Singh fled across the Sutlej and broke the bridge of boats so that their army would be destroyed. The British got revenge for their wounded having been killed at Firozpur by killing all they could; about half of the 20,000 Sikhs were killed or drowned. The British sent a reserve unit into Lahore, and Governor-General Hardinge imposed a treaty on March 9, 1846. The British annexed the Jullundur Doab and sold the hill country between the Beas and the Indus rivers to Gulab Singh for five million rupees. The Sikh army was reduced to 20,000 infantry and 12,000 cavalry. All guns were taken over by the British, and they were given permission to pass through the Punjab. The British promised not to interfere in the internal administration at Lahore, but this was not kept. Gulab Singh now had sovereignty over Jammu and Kashmir, and his nephew Hira Singh paid the indemnity from the Lahore treasury. Lal Singh was still prime minister, and he urged Kashmir governor Shaikh Imamuddin not to turn over the valley to Gulab Singh. Henry Lawrence marched there with troops, learned why, and returned to prosecute Lal Singh at Lahore. He was found guilty and exiled in December 1846, replaced as vizier by Tej Singh. That month Frederick Currie proclaimed the conditions Governor-General Hardinge was imposing on the Lahore government, and the Treaty of Bhyrowal was signed. The British officer in Lahore was to have "full authority to direct and control all matters in every department of the State." Henry Lawrence was appointed the first resident, and Rani Jindan was excluded from the administrative regency council. When the young maharaja Dalip Singh refused to invest prime minister Tej Singh, Lawrence had the Rani imprisoned in the fort. Before he left office, Governor-General Hardinge reduced the native regiments by twenty percent, resulting in 50,000 less soldiers and saving more than a million pounds. James Ramsay (Marquess

of Dalhousie) arrived in January 1848. Henry Lawrence went home on sick leave, and John Lawrence replaced his brother Henry as commissioner of the Jullundur Doab. He reduced taxes and eliminated unnecessary duties. He proclaimed slogans against burning widows, killing infant daughters, and burying lepers alive. The Khalsa army was reduced from 27,764 to 22,005, and roads were built. Some of those unemployed turned to raiding. The outbreak in Multan stimulated other dispossessed rajas of Kangra, Jaswan, and Datarpur to rise up against the British also; but John Lawrence raised two divisions and crushed the insurgents by offering each village a choice between a pen or a sword, saying,
What is your injury I consider mine; what is gain to you I consider my gain.... If your lands are heavily assessed, tell me and I will relieve you; if you have any grievance, let me know it, and I will try to remove it.... If you will excite rebellion, as I live I will punish you. I have ruled this district three years by the sole agency of the pen and if necessary I will rule it by the sword.5

Mulraj was charged three million rupees for having succeeded his father as governor of Multan, but the British troops sent to collect it had been defeated in 1846. Mulraj wanted to resign, but John Lawrence persuaded him to wait a year. When Currie became resident, he sent Khan Singh Man to replace Mulraj with the British officers Vans Agnew and Lt. Anderson. Mulraj handed over his office; but someone threw a spear at Agnew, and fleeing Anderson was badly wounded. Mulraj's mother taunted him into leading the insurgents. The next day a Mazhabi boy was killed in shooting with Khan Singh's troops, and rebels murdered Agnew and Anderson. The revolt spread to Bannu, Peshawar, and the northwestern Punjab. The miserable condition of the imprisoned Maharani also provoked discontent. Hazara governor Chatar Singh was a popular Sikh leader, and his daughter was engaged to Maharaja Dalip Singh; but the British kept postponing the wedding. Captain James Abbott accused Chatar Singh of conspiracy against the English and instigated Muslims against him, promising them three years without taxes if they expelled him. Sikh soldiers under Chatar Singh's son Sher Singh were deserting to Mulraj in large numbers. Chatar Singh resigned, and his son Sher also joined Mulraj in September 1848. British India's Wars 1848-1881

Notes
1. Quoted in Raja Rammohun Roy by Jamuna Nag, p. 55. 2. Quoted in Rammohun Roy: A Bi-Centenary Tribute, p. 125. "Memorial to the Supreme Court" in The Essential Writings of Raja Rammohan Ray, p. 237. 3. Trust Deed of the Brahma Samaj in The Essential Writings of Raja Rammohan Ray, p. 105-106. 4. Administration of Scinde by W. Napier, II, 203, quoted in British Paramountcy and Indian Renaissance, Part 1, p. 219. 5. Quoted in The Men Who Ruled India, Volume 1: The Founders by Philip Woodruff, p. 335.

British Indias Wars 1848-1881

by Sanderson Beck

Dalhousie's Annexations 1848-56 Mutiny and Revolt 1857-58 Reconstruction of British India 1858-76 Famine and a Second Afghan War 1876-81 Bankim Chandra Chatterji's Novels This chapter has been published in the book SOUTH ASIA 1800-1950. For ordering information, please click here.

Dalhousie's Annexations 1848-56

British India 1800-1848 Upon Currie's advice not to declare war, Governor-General Dalhousie announced that the British government was occupying the Punjab province. Chatar Singh seized Peshawar at the end of October, and Commander-in-Chief Gough crossed the Sutlej and moved into Lahore. The armies met on the banks of the Chenab in November, but Gough waited for his troops from Multan. After news arrived that Chatar Singh's troops had captured Attock on January 3, 1849, the battle was fought at Chilianwala. The British forces lost 2,446 men, and both sides claimed victory. Meanwhile Multan was being assaulted, and Mulraj surrendered on January 22. Chatar Singh got 1,500 cavalry from Afghanistan's Dost Muhammad and joined his son; they fought the British again at Gujarat. General Whish had arrived from Multan, and the British had superior artillery. The Sikh army was routed and chased by the British cavalry for fifteen miles while Walter Gilbert's forces pursued the Afghans through the Khyber Pass. On March 12, 1849 the Sikhs surrendered and laid down their arms. An old Sikh soldier cried, "Today Ranjit Singh is dead." The prophecy of the great Sikh maharaja that the map of the Punjab would one day become all red (British) had come to pass. Henry Lawrence returned as resident and opposed annexation; but Governor-General Dalhousie was determined, and in April 1849 he ratified the treaty in which Dalip Singh gave up sovereignty to the British for a pension. He and others later complained that those who had promised to protect him had taken away his sovereignty. Only one of the eight on the regency council had joined the rebellion, and the majority of the army had not revolted. Dalhousie had annexed the Punjab without consulting the home authorities. Maharani Jindan escaped to Nepal; she lost her property and lived there on a pension. Dalip Singh became a Christian in 1853 and went to England, but he returned to India in 1860. After he left India in 1886, he reverted to the Sikh religion. Charles Napier was appointed commander-in-chief, and his inflammatory rhetoric had to be restrained by the Punjab board. A mutiny in Rawalpindi was solved by dismissing about a dozen men who refused to accept their pay in 1849. The next year Napier had to disband a mutinous regiment at Amritsar. He ordered that soldiers at Wazirabad be given dearness pay, making Dalhousie furious; Napier resigned and went back to England. Governor-General Dalhousie established a board with Henry Lawrence as president but with John Lawrence to supervise finances and Charles G. Mansel (replaced by Robert Montgomery in 1851) over the judiciary. The liberal Henry and the rational John Lawrence worked together to improve the Punjab. They began with disarmament, and using the influence of the headmen 120,000 weapons were surrendered. Forts were leveled except in Peshawar, where defense against tribal raiders was needed. The Khalsa army of the Sikhs was completely disbanded and was replaced by a military of Sikhs and Muslims, a police force of mostly Muslims, and the Punjab Frontier Force. Dalhousie over-ruled Henry Lawrence and insisted that military grants be abolished. By 1852 Punjab soldiers were volunteering to fight for the British in Burma. Former soldiers took up plows,

and large amounts of grain were produced. The market was flooded, and for a while transportation was difficult. Henry Lawrence talked to the peasants and got his brother John to suspend money payments. Despite reductions, more efficient taxation along with the sale of Durbar property produced annual surpluses. Eventually the Punjab became the bread-basket of India. Henry Lawrence urged that roads, canals, and bridges be constructed. In four years 1,349 miles of roads were built; 2,487 miles were traced; and 5,272 miles were surveyed, not counting minor roads. Henry argued that the Sikh chiefs should have continued authority, but John disagreed and was supported by Dalhousie. After many arguments, in December 1852 both brothers resigned. John Lawrence was appointed commissioner, and Henry was sent as an agent to Rajputana. The people missed the kind Henry, but John continued the successful work. Edwin Arnold praised the results, writing, "Few could boast of having substituted in the space of four years, order for anarchy, obedience for irregular impulse, gardens for jungles, plenty for barrenness, peace for war."1 Between 1849 and 1856 twelve punitive expeditions suppressed raiding. The Pathans used guerrilla tactics, and so John Lawrence began giving cash allowances to influential chiefs and encouraged friendly contacts with officials. Herbert Edwardes negotiated a friendship treaty with Dost Muhammad's son in Kabul. In these seven years the Punjab spent thirty million rupees on public works. Many Sikhs already went to school, and Lahore had sixteen elementary schools for girls. In 1856 they planned to build 130 new schools, and most classes were conducted in Urdu. They established 104 Small Causes Courts that did not charge fees for legal advice. The annexation of the Punjab was only the beginning of Governor-General Dalhousie's annexations in India. He often used the doctrine of lapse as a reason for taking over states after a ruler died without a male heir. When deposed raja Pratap Singh died in exile at Benares in 1847, his brother Apa Sahib was allowed to inherit the Maratha state at Satara. He adopted a son the day he died in April 1848, but this time Dalhousie annexed that state. When Sambalpur's ruler Narayan Singh died in 1849, Dalhousie disregarded his widow and annexed the already surrounded state. The Company took over a large part of Sikkim in 1850 to punish its ruler for mistreating British subjects. In 1852 the Mir of Khairpur was deposed. John Low persuaded the Directors not to let Dalhousie annex the Rajput state of Karauli because of Rajput feelings. Raja Raghuji Bhonsle III died without a male heir in 1853, but the reason for annexing the large Maratha state of Nagpur was to consolidate British military power and commercial resources. Low raised the only objection on the Council; he believed that these native states provided an outlet for the energies and ambitions of Indians who could not rise in British territories. Also in 1853 Dalhousie annexed Jhansi in Bundelkhand after its Maratha chief died; he too had adopted a son the day before he died. Under the subsidiary treaty the Nizam of Hyderabad came to owe the British Company some half a million pounds and was persuaded to sign over the management of his territory to the Company. In 1837 a palace revolution removed Burman king Bagyidow, and he was replaced by his brother Tharrawaddy, who was an alcoholic. He refused to acknowledge the Treaty of Yandabo. The British were not welcome, and the Resident withdrew in 1840. Tharrawaddy was considered so insane that in 1845 he was put under restraint until he died the next year. In 1851 the British government decided to intervene on behalf of Europeans' complaints, and Dalhousie sent Commodore Lambert in a frigate to Rangoon. Burman king Pagan Min sent conciliatory letters and replaced the offending governor of Rangoon. In January 1852 Lambert sent interpreter Edwards to arrange a meeting with the new governor; but his deputation was put off when they were told the governor was asleep. Lambert gave asylum to British subjects on his ships and blockaded the rivers. Despite a warning that a yellow ship belonged to the king of Burma, Lambert seized it and refused to give it back even when the

Governor offered to pay compensation for the grievances. Lambert provoked the Burman batteries to fire and then destroyed them. Dalhousie admitted that Lambert started the war by seizing the king's ship. Even though Dalhousie repudiated Lambert's action, he accepted responsibility and gave the king an ultimatum to pay one million rupees by April first. He sent the 38th Native Infantry by the Dacca road, because they were not required to fight overseas by their enlistment contract. John Lawrence later criticized Dalhousie for sending a commodore if he wanted peace, and Richard Cobden wrote a pamphlet on the origin of the Burman war, condemning the whole affair. General Godwin arrived in Rangoon on April 2, 1852, and the war began. Rangoon was captured on April 14, and the British took Bassein in May. They captured the city of Pegu and installed a prince from an old ruling family. In July the British captured the fortress of Prome; but after the interlude of the rainy season these two places had to be recaptured in the fall. Dalhousie rejected a march on the capital at Ava and ordered annexation to somewhere beyond Prome. The Burman king declined to negotiate a treaty, and in December the annexation was proclaimed. In February 1853 King Pagan Min was replaced by his half-brother Mindon, who wanted peace; he ordered his officers to stop attacking British forces and released their prisoners. Major Arthur Phayre was appointed commissioner of the new province that extended fifty miles beyond Prome. In 1847 Hardinge had warned Wajid Ali Shah of Awadh (Oudh) that he had two years to put his house in order or face annexation. Wajid Ali was an accomplished poet and liked to spend his time with musicians and artists. Dalhousie asked Resident William Sleeman to investigate, and he described the corruption and anarchy in the country. The property-owning Talukdars regularly terrorized the poor cultivators. Robbery and murder were common. The Awadh shah complained later that Sleeman had interfered with his administration by urging people to submit complaints and even gathered names on a list of those who wanted the East India Company to govern Awadh. Bishop Heber had described Awadh as a prosperous country in 1825, and the two British residents between 1839 and 1847 testified that Nasir-ud-daullah had improved agriculture, reformed the police, revenue, and the judiciary, encouraged commerce, and sponsored public works such as schools, colleges, tanks, and wells. Wajid Ali Shah was open to improvements by British administration, and Sleeman advised the British government to help without taking over the revenues of Awadh. Henry Lawrence recommended letting Awadh be governed by its own people. Sleeman wrote about Dalhousie's intentions regarding annexation, "There is no pretext, however weak, that is not sufficient, in their estimation, for the purpose; and no war, however cruel, that is not justifiable, if it has only this object in view."2 Sleeman saw the danger and warned that the native states were the breakwaters. If the annexations swept them away, they would be left at the mercy of the native army, which they may not always be able to control. Dalhousie wanted to warn the king again; but the Council felt the risk of recalling British troops should not be taken. Finally in January 1856 the Court of Directors extended Dalhousie's term and approved his annexation of Awadh. He sent Outram with a treaty; but Wajid Ali told him that treaties were for equals, and being treated as an inferior he would not sign nor accept the pension. Annexation was proclaimed four days later. Many Talukdars lost their land, and cultivators suffered from high assessments. About 50,000 sepoys were dismissed. The tax on opium was increased, and prices generally went up. In October 1855 the last Karnatak nawab Muhammad Ghaus Khan died without a son, and Dalhousie would not recognize his uncle Azim Jah as nawab. That same month Raja Shivaji of Tanjore also died without a male heir. The Court of Directors declared that no daughter of a Hindu sovereign could succeed, and Dalhousie avoided deciding about the claim of the senior widow. The next Governor-General Canning decided to restore the property but not the regalia of the family.

Dalhousie also implemented internal reforms and promoted western education, planning three universities. In Bengal the Santals rebelled against harassment by police and revenue officials. Bengal had been under the busy Governor-General. The Company Charter was renewed again in 1853, and the new Charter Act created a lieutenant-governor to oversee Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, and Assam. Since 1833 complaints had been made that the Indians were not appointed to higher positions, but the 1853 Act did little to remedy that. Competitive examination for the Company's covenanted service took away patronage from the Directors; their number was reduced from 24 to 18, and six were to be appointed by the Crown. The Act abolished the Military Board and transferred public works to a new department that was staffed with engineers as well as military men. A system of railroads was planned, and the first 150 miles were constructed. A telegraph system was created and extended wires for nearly 4,000 miles. Reformed postal facilities fixed a uniform rate for letters. Charles Wood took responsibility for improving education. Forest conservancy and tea plantations were established, and jails were reformed. Military force was used to suppress human sacrifices in the hills of Orissa. Schools were taught in the vernacular languages at the lower levels with English used more in the colleges. The Educational Dispatch of 1854 proposed an administrative department of education, universities in the three Presidency cities, institutions for training teachers, increasing government schools and colleges, establishing middle schools, increasing vernacular elementary schools, and providing grants. During 1857 universities were incorporated in Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras. Their faculties were in the arts, law, medicine, engineering, and science. Lahore University was established in 1869.

Mutiny and Revolt 1857-58

The English Company had been ruling more and more of India for a century since Clive's conquest of Calcutta in 1757. The British may have had economic success, but the people of India were suffering from ruined industries, oppressive land tax, and lack of education for most of the people. The law courts were not impartial; police were more feared than respected; and prisons were wretched. The large Indian population had become passive and had little influence on administration. English officials were not very accessible to people, who could not present their grievances as they had before. British administration was less personal, slower, delayed, and frequently changing. Most Indians did not understand English law, and Muslims particularly disliked the use of English instead of Persian in the courts. Worst of all, Indians were systematically excluded from higher offices in government and the military. Even well educated Indians could not sit on legislative councils or be given covenanted service. Economically British commerce exploited the Indians. High tariffs were erected in Britain against Indian goods, while importation of English products into India was encouraged. The importation of British cotton goods ruined millions of Indians involved in manufacturing and trade. India was used as a cheap source of materials. Raw cotton exports went from 9 million pounds in 1813 to 32 million in 1833 and 88 million in 1844. Wool increased from 3,700 pounds in 1833 to 2,700,000 pounds in 1844. Linseed increased more than a hundredfold in the same period. The importation of British muslins into India went from 6 million yards in 1824 to 64 million in 1837. Millions of Indian artisans, spinners, weavers, potters, tanners, smelters, smiths had to find work in agriculture because of the industrial revolution and manufacturing capitalism in England. In 1852 the Inam Commission was set up to require titles from land-owners, and in the next five years more than 20,000 estates were confiscated in the Deccan, just as many Talukdars lost their property after Awadh was annexed.

The Charter Act of 1813 had unleashed proselytizing Christian missionaries, and gradually Indians came to fear that the British wanted to convert all of India to Christianity. Sayyid Ahmad Khan complained that the famine of 1837 had been used to make orphans Christians, and some believed the Government was reducing people to poverty so that they would adopt Christianity. In 1839 Christian missionaries petitioned the Company's government to stop supporting Hindu temples and caste regulations. The Religious Disabilities Act of 1850 made conversion easier by protecting converts from forfeiting their property or civil rights. Conservative Hindus also resented the Widows Remarriage Act of 1856 that removed legal obstacles to marrying again. Many rebellions had broken out in various places since the end of the Maratha wars in 1818. Bhils revolted in 1819, 1825, 1831, and 1846. Rumors about the Burma War 1824-26 stimulated rebellions in various places. In 1830 and 1831 revolts broke out in Vizagapatam and among the Singphos, Titu Mir, and the Kols. Gumsur rebelled in 1835. Hindu College students began demanding more offices for Indians in 1843, and ten years later Ram-gopal Ghosh called for opening the civil service to Indians. Kolhapur revolted in 1844 as did the Khonds two years later. Moplah insurrections occurred four times between 1849 and 1855. That year the Santals began a revolt that went on for two years. The British had been fighting in the Crimean War, China, and against Persia over their taking of Herat in Afghanistan again, though by April 1857 the British envoys made peace with the Persians in Paris. The Company's army had English officers with natives called sepoys (from sipahi for soldier) as most of the rank and file. The Indians in the army outnumbered the British by more than five to one; but all the top officers were British, and most of the expenditures were for them. Sepoys complained of low salaries and little chance for promotion. Hindus objected that going outside of India violated their caste rules, and Muslims did not want to fight those of their religion in Afghanistan and other places. The Madras governor promised the Bengal army a special allowance for going to Sind; but this was not fulfilled because it was against Bengal regulations. In 1856 the new Governor-General C. J. Canning implemented the General Service Enlistment Act requiring all new recruits to serve abroad; he did not think it would cause bad feelings. In Awadh more than 60,000 troops had been recently dismissed with small gratuities, and ill Commissioner James Outram was replaced by the insensitive Coverley Jackson, who ignored complaints, delayed paying grants and pensions, treated Talukdars harshly, approved heavy assessments on cultivators, and lived in the ex-king's palace. Henry Lawrence replaced Jackson in January 1857. That month Brahmin sepoys at Dumdum became concerned that the new Enfield rifles required them to bite open cartridges that were smeared with grease from the fat of hogs and cattle. Muslims are forbidden to eat pork, and Hindus do not eat beef. The rumor spread to Barrackpur, where they complained to General Hearsey. He let them use their own grease, and the Government approved. However, the Adjutant-General wired back that such concessions would increase the suspicion; he said that the sepoys had been using cartridges greased with mutton fat for years. The sepoys suspected that cow and pig fat were being used in order to convert them to Christianity, and they began to set fire to officers' bungalows at Barrackpur. On February 26 the 19th Native Infantry refused to accept percussion caps. The Governor-General ordered the 19th NI disbanded. On March 29 Mangal Pandey of the 34th NI shot at two officers, tried to shoot himself, and was put in the hospital. Other sepoys said that he had taken too much bhang (cannabis). He and another were tried and executed, and later many called the mutineers Pandeys. The 34th was disbanded, but discontent and acts of arson spread. On May 2 the 7th Awadh regiment refused to bite the greased cartridges. Commissioner Henry Lawrence learned of threats to kill officers, and he persuaded the mutineers to lay down their arms. Rumors also spread that bone dust from cows was being put in flour and wells. At Mirat forty miles

north of Delhi, 85 troopers from the Third Cavalry had refused to touch the cartridges on April 24. They were tried by a court martial and sentenced to ten years. On parade before other unarmed sepoys they were stripped of their uniforms and shackled as armed British soldiers watched. On the Sunday night of May 10 while the British were in church, sepoys from the Third Cavalry released their comrades from jail. The 20th and 11th infantry regiments seized their muskets and killed Col. Finnis. After that, the sepoys and freed convicts killed Europeans, plundering and burning their houses. The sepoys decided to go to Delhi, but the British commander did not pursue them. The Sepoys from Mirat reached Delhi at dawn, entered the Red Fort, and proclaimed elderly Bahadur Shah II emperor. Delhi had only three regiments of sepoys; they joined the mutiny, killed officers, and plundered Europeans, who fled. A few British officers led by Lt. George Willoughby managed to explode much of the ammunition magazine. The uprisings spread down the Ganges to Bihar and south to Gwalior, Jhansi, and Bundelkhand. The Madras and Bombay presidencies were fairly free of revolt, which was concentrated in Delhi, Awadh, and Rohilkhand. Bahadur Shah II at Delhi played both sides by protecting British fugitives and communicating secretly with the British at Agra; he offered to help the British troops enter the fort if they would recognize his position. Bahadur became a virtual prisoner of the plundering sepoys who made him help them. The revolt was chaotic as the cavalry and others demanded more pay. When the sepoys found that the Emperor's advisor Ahsan Ulla had 52 European prisoners, they killed them with swords. Bahadur Shah was deposed after a week on May 17, when prince Abu Bakr was elected. Bahadur still claimed to be king, but sepoys refused to serve under his commander-in-chief, Bakht Khan. A main motivation for the revolt was religious, and proclamations were made to kill all the infidels. Hindus and Muslims tried to stay united but sometimes turned against each other. Gradually the anti-English fervor faded, and magistrate Sayyid Ahmad was able to hold Bijnor for the British without any military forces. Lakhnau (Lucknow) learned of Mirat and Delhi on May 14. Henry Lawrence was able to suppress an uprising on May 31, but the mutiny spread throughout Awadh. The Talukdars quickly acted to regain their lands and secure their forts. The last nawab was in British custody at Calcutta, but his queen Begam Hazrat Mahal and her son Birjis Quadr were chosen as the new rulers. They gave offices to Hindus and Muslims while many local chiefs established independent kingdoms in Awadh and in Rohilkhand. Henry Lawrence fortified his Residency at Lakhnau as a refuge for Europeans. While Lawrence was ill, Financial Commissioner Martin Gubbins disarmed the sepoys and sent them home. Lawrence learned of it and managed to get some 600 sepoys to return. Lawrence tried to command the army, but on June 11 the military police joined the mutiny. Lawrence advised a defensive strategy, but Gubbins urged an attack on the rebel army. Desertions caused Lawrence to order a retreat, which became a rout. The Residency was besieged on June 30. Three days later Lawrence was mortally wounded by a shell, but 1,700 British soldiers, civilians, and the loyal sepoys held out against a rebel army that grew to 100,000. The Residency was relieved in September, but Lakhnau was not re-occupied by the British until March 1858. Rohilkhand had no British regiments and was taken over by mutineers in Bareilly on May 31. Khan Bahadur Khan was the grandson of Rohilkhand's deposed nawab, and he had tried to warn the British commissioner of the coming mutiny. He quickly joined the mutiny as Bahadur Shah's viceroy and ordered all the English executed. He began organizing revenue collection and appointed Hindus as well as Muslims. However, communal conflict erupted, and Hindu officers were despoiled. Sepoys plundered the rich and looted the shops. Khan Bahadur Khan governed Rohilkhand for nearly a year. He hired the poor, raising an army of 40,000 troops. In Bengal only troops at Dacca and Chittagong mutinied. Several mutinies broke out briefly in Bihar led by Kunwar Singh, but the Deccan was quiet except at Kolhapur. Mutiny attempts at

Ahmadabad in Gujarat and Hyderabad in Sind failed, and the one at Karachi was quickly put down. The mutinies were generally spontaneous and local without coordination. After killing and plundering, many sepoys went home with their loot; some mutineers set out for Delhi as the center of the revolt. Maulavi Ahmadulla of Faizabad had actually called for a holy war against the English infidels in January 1857, but the Muslims in Madras did not really act on this. So Ahmadulla went north. Sambalpur was ripe for rebellion because British annexation had raised their taxes from 8,800 rupees to 74,000. Imprisoned Surendra Sal was freed and led the revolt there that lasted until 1862. In the Punjab most of the sepoys were disarmed. At Lahore 600 Europeans disarmed 2,500 sepoys on May 13. Some resisted at Firozpur. At Peshawar the 55th regiment fled; of the 120 caught 40 were executed by cannons. John Lawrence was in Rawalpindi and worked to raise loyal troops to retake Delhi. The English officers took control of the forts at Phillaur, Govindgarh, Kangra, Attock, and Multan. Gurkha regiments disobeyed and seized the treasury at Kasauli; but they returned to their barracks when their demands were met. News of the mutiny stimulated raiding by the Ranghar and Gujar tribes. Lt. Col. John Nicholson and Frederick Cooper led forces that tracked down mutineers and executed hundreds of prisoners to deter revolt in the Punjab. Brigadier Hodson recruited 200 Punjabis for each of 74 regiments; half of them were Sikhs. However, only Jat Sikhs were recruited, as the lower castes were excluded; Mazhabis were hired to build roads and dig canals. By the end of August 1757 a total of 34,000 Punjabi troops had been raised. Ahmad Khan led an uprising in Multan in September that lasted two months. George Lawrence managed to keep the Rajputana region under control. Before the telegraph wires were cut, Governor-General Canning got word of the mutiny on May 14. He summoned European troops from Madras and Bombay, and an expedition about to leave for China was called back. Col. James Neill brought the First Madras Fusiliers to Calcutta and was sent to disarm Benares and Allahabad. Hasty planning at Benares on June 5 resulted in some sepoys picking up their arms and firing on approaching Europeans. Cavalry arrived during the confusion, but by evening all the mutineers not killed had dispersed. News of this slaughter provoked a mutiny at Allahabad two days later. They waited until evening and then murdered six officers and eight teenage cadets. The British still held the fort at Allahabad, and on June 11 Neill arrived to put down the insurgency with indiscriminate killing, plundering of houses, and burning of villages. Brigadier Archdale Wilson led troops from Mirat that managed to take the Ridge overlooking Delhi but did not have enough men to attack the city. Believing the prophecy that the British would only rule India for a century, on the centenary of the battle of Plassey (June 23) the sepoys attacked the British on the Ridge but could not overcome them. More troops arrived from the Punjab, and more than twenty battles were fought. Nicholson arrived in August, and the siege train enabled them to storm and take the Red Fort on September 20. Bahadur Shah surrendered on the condition that his life would be spared; but Hodson shot three princes himself because he feared the mob would rescue them. A few days later 21 more princes were hanged. The plundering of Delhi by the British, Sikhs, Pathans, and Gurkhas was compared to the sacking by Persian conqueror Nadir Shah in 1739. Bahadur Shah was convicted of murdering Europeans and was sentenced to life imprisonment; he was transported to Rangoon and died in 1862 at the age of 87. The mutiny of the sepoys was gradually transformed into a rebellion led by chiefs. Nana Sahib claimed to be the Peshwa's heir at Kanpur (Cawnpore) on June 26. Mutineers surrounded the garrison of about four hundred British soldiers, who surrendered when they were offered safe conduct to Allahabad. However, their boats were fired on, and only four men escaped. Also 211 women and children were eventually put to death by the sepoys under Nana Sahib and Tantia Topi, a Maratha Brahmin who led 20,000 mutineers from Gwalior. Henry Havelock led a force that

defeated Nana's troops on July 16. After Neill occupied Kanpur, Havelock went on to relieve Lakhnau but swung back to attack and defeat Tantia Topi on August 16. Tantia survived and gathered more sepoys at Gwalior to seize Kalpi. In Bihar mutinous sepoys from Dinapur followed Kunwar Singh, the Talukdar of Jagdishpur. Nepal's Jang Bahadur sent a Gurkha army that defeated rebels in Azamgarh and Jaunpur in July. That month the Nizam's chief minister Salar Jang used artillery to defeat a fanatical Muslim mob that was attacking the Residency at Hyderabad. Nana's nephew Rao Sahib persuaded Tantia to take Kanpur back from the British troops left there under Windham. He did so in November while British commander-in-chief Colin Campbell was evacuating civilians from Lakhnau. Campbell then won Kanpur back on December 6. Campbell spent the next month hunting down rebels in the Ganges-Jumna Doab and recapturing Fatehgarh. He appointed a commissioner, who was known as "Hanging" Power because of his death sentences for dozens of prisoners. General Campbell assembled a large army of 30,000, including Sikhs, Punjabis, and 9,000 Gurkhas led by Jang Bahadur himself, for the retaking of Lakhnau. This was accomplished on March 21, 1858; but while they looted and destroyed Lakhnau, about 60,000 armed rebels scattered throughout Awadh. Governor-General Canning proclaimed that all proprietary rights in Awadh would be confiscated except for six he named and others who could prove their loyalty. As James Outram predicted, this had the effect of causing the Talukdars to fight a guerrilla campaign instead of helping to restore order. Outram mitigated its effect somewhat by circulating a letter that cases of land confiscated after annexation would be reheard. Ellenborough, President of the Board of Control, was so outraged by the proclamation that he wrote a scathing letter to Governor-General Canning in which he reminded him that influential landowners had been deprived of their property and that the hostilities in Awadh had "rather the character of legitimate war than that of rebellion."3 The widowed Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi had had her kingdom annexed by Dalhousie. When the sepoys mutinied in Jhansi, they slaughtered dozens of Europeans; they threatened the Rani, took her money, and departed for Delhi, leaving her in charge of the administration. She wrote two letters to the commissioner of Saugor, who asked her to govern Jhansi on behalf of the British. She fought against an invasion by the chiefs of Orchha and Datia by forming an alliance with the rebel raja of Banpur. She sent more letters to the British that were not answered. Jhansi was attacked by Hugh Rose's army of about 6,000 on March 30 when Tantia Topi arrived with 20,000 men. Rose managed to attack them, causing Tantia to flee. Then his British forces stormed the fort at Jhansi on April 4 and slaughtered about 5,000 people. The Rani escaped dressed as a man. She and Rao Sahib were joined by Tantia Topi near Gwalior and won over Sindhia's army to take that fort, proclaiming Nana Sahib peshwa. However, Rose defeated these rebels at Gwalior. Rani Lakshmi Bai was one of the few rebel chiefs to be killed in battle, and Rose called her the bravest of the rebels. Tantia was eventually captured, tried, and hanged in April 1859. Rao Sahib was not arrested and hanged until 1862. Campbell's army defeated Khan Bahadur Khan's army of 40,000 near Bareilly on May 5, 1858, ending the rebellion in Rohilkhand. Maulavi Ahmadulla, Begam Hazrat Mahal, and other rebel leaders continued to fight. After Ahmadulla proclaimed himself king and threatened Shahjahanpur, the Governor-General offered a reward of 50,000 rupees for his arrest. The Maulavi was shot dead at Powain on June 5, and the raja cut off his head and took it to the Shahjahanpur magistrate, who paid him the reward. That month Canning passed an Act to control the Calcutta press that equally applied to English as well as Indian publications. The Arms Act of September required licenses for firearms, swords, and other weapons. His Clemency Resolution was designed to stop the indiscriminate hanging of sepoys for merely being part of a mutinous regiment, but the vindictive derisively called him "Clemency Canning."

Ben Madho was defeated, but he left a fort with 15,000 men and continually managed to escape. Colin Campbell had to destroy 1,572 forts in order win back the province of Awadh. He organized 5,000 police to help civil authorities after his army departed. On November first a full pardon was promised to all rebels who had not murdered British subjects and would return to their homes by the end of December. Most of the remaining rebels were driven toward the border region of Nepal by the end of 1858. Jang Bahadur announced that Nepal would not give refuge to rebels, and more than 2,000 were turned over to the British. Nana Sahib took refuge in the jungles of Nepal and probably died there. Many in England and India wanted more vengeance, but the Governor-General wisely limited the prosecutions. Later Viceroy Curzon commended Canning's clemency because the government that punishes revengefully loses the respect of its subjects. The India Bill of August 1858 ended the century of rule by the East India Company, replacing the Court of Directors and Board of Control by putting the British government in charge using a secretary of state and a council of fifteen with a majority having ten years experience in India. On November 1, 1858 Queen Victoria proclaimed that Canning would be the first viceroy and that they would respect the rights of native princes and ancestral land-owners; they would not discriminate on the bases of religious faith or observances; all were to have equal and impartial protection of the law; those in authority must abstain from interfering with religious belief or worship; all Indian subjects regardless of race or creed, should be admitted to offices according to the qualifications of education, ability, and integrity. The Queen's proclamation was called the Magna Carta of the Indian people. The causes of why the mutiny and revolt erupted have been discussed; but why did the revolt fail when the Europeans in India were so greatly outnumbered? The British had already established their control by government over most of India and thus had their power structures in place. Their technology was superior, and especially the new breech-loading Enfield rifles that the sepoys were rejecting gave the British using them a tremendous advantage over the old muzzle-loaded muskets. The new telegraph lines helped the British react quickly to the emergency, and many mutinies were headed off by disarming the sepoys. Although there were serious grievances and legitimate reasons for Indian independence, a revolutionary movement with intellectual education had not yet developed. The first mutiny and most of those that followed freed convicted criminals and were lawless riots involving mass murders, robbery, looting, and chaotic destruction. Although some ancestral kings were selected as rulers, the rebellion suffered from pervading disorder with little or no coordination between rebel groups in different localities. In addition to the lack of political leadership, the military strategies were also inept. Most of the rebels gathered at Delhi and Lakhnau, where little of strategic importance was accomplished. Because of the lawless behavior and lack of principles, the civil population was not inclined to support the rebels. Thus many Indians remained loyal to the British government, especially in areas where it remained in force. Essentially, unrestrained violence and the lack of ethics doomed the revolt. In the next century the inspired campaigns led by Mahatma Gandhi would show that the cleanest revolutions can be best accomplished without violence.

Reconstruction of British India 1858-76

Under the British Crown many policies were reformed in response to the horrendous mutiny and revolt. Military expenditures to suppress the revolt had cost the Government about 40,000,000. Viceroy Canning imposed an income tax in 1860 for five years to alleviate the 2,000,000 annual deficit. Madras governor Charles Trevelyan objected so strenuously to the income tax that Board of Control President Charles Wood had him removed. Land revenue provided half the income; the second largest revenue came from the Government's monopoly on the opium trade to China, and

third was its monopoly on salt. A commission recommended that the ratio of Indian to British troops be two to one for the large Bengal army and three to one for Madras and Bombay. Except in mountain batteries, the artillery was handled only by Europeans. The Police Act of 1861 enabled the civil power to take over duties previously handled by the military, and many of the 100,000 dismissed from the army became police. By 1863 India had 62,000 British troops and 135,000 Indians in the army. The Bengal army especially was restructured with mixed regiments consisting of separate companies of Sikhs, Punjabi Muslims, and Hindu Dogras. Indian officers could command companies. A "white mutiny" occurred at Mirat because they were being transferred without being discharged, which prevented them from getting a bounty for enlisting again. Authorities ended up shipping 10,000 men home at more cost than the small bounties. Canning held durbars to reward the princes who had remained loyal during the revolt. More than 500 principalities were recognized under British dominion. The annexations stopped, but the British could still regulate succession, dictate the minister to be chosen, and depose a bad ruler. In Awadh most of the Talukdars regained their land rights. In Madras possession for fifty years was considered valid ownership, and in Bombay inamdars could retain their estates by paying onefourth of the land revenue. When a famine afflicted the northwest in 1860, new roads and relief efforts helped the thirteen million people affected. Because of this plight the permanent settlement of the land revenue originally implemented by Cornwallis in Bengal was proposed. By 1862 this policy was accepted in principle for all of India; but in 1868 Revenue Board member William Muir noted that rising agricultural prices made the land more valuable, and the policy was changed. The end of the East India Company opened up India to capitalist enterprises, and Englishmen came to seek their fortunes. After the mutiny the British were more suspicious, and many of the new settlers were much more racist in their attitudes and behavior toward Indians. Because most of the revolt had been carried on by Muslims, they were especially hated by the British for some time. The Indians had learned the futility of armed resistance against imperial Britain, but the fanatical Wahhabis in the northwest mountains continued their religious struggle. Cultivators of indigo in Bengal rebelled. After the extreme religious reactions in the mutiny, most of the British realized that Indians were unlikely to adopt Christianity on a large scale. Yet evangelicals like Herbert Edwardes in the Punjab still continued their efforts. Charles Wood rejected his proposal to include Bible study in schools, and grants to missionary schools were cut back. Queen Victoria's promise of equal treatment for Indians was rarely practiced. The English often remained aloof from the natives as if a caste barrier had been erected. Under the judicial system the English were lightly punished even for murder while the Indians were often severely punished for minor offenses or even for discourtesy. The Indian Councils Act of 1861 allowed non-officials and Indians into the Legislative Council. They could also serve as judges on the High Courts. Although some believed that the traditional justice by a benevolent despot was more effective, the educated Indians came to prefer the British judicial system. The Governor-General's Council was reformed by putting the members in charge of the departments of home, revenue, military, finance, and law. The Governor-General could no longer enact legislation without the approval of the Executive Council except for an emergency ordinance that lasted only six months. Macaulay's Penal Code was revised and became law in 1860. The next year the old Supreme Court and the Sadar Diwani Adalat were replaced by High Courts in Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras. In 1866 Allahabad got a High Court and Lahore a Chief Court. The Earl of Elgin (James Bruce) became viceroy in March 1862, but he died in November 1863. During that interval Dost Muhammad seized Herat, and Elgin protested this by recalling his native agent from Kabul. Elgin sent British forces requested by the Punjab government to stop the Wahhabi raids, and they destroyed the mountain fortress at Malka north of Peshawar.

John Lawrence was rewarded for his success in helping to quell the revolt and became viceroy in January 1864, serving in that capacity for five years. He continued to discourage female infanticide while promoting female education. His government also financed public works in transportation, sanitation, and irrigation; by the end of his term new irrigation works had been surveyed in every major province. In the first quarter century after the mutiny 9,000 miles of railroads were added, and irrigation was extended to eight million acres. Loans were used for this public investment, and in the last three years of Lawrence's term nearly 6,000,000 were added to the debt. A drought in 1865 caused a famine in Orissa; lack of planning and poor roads prevented rice from getting there in time, and nearly a million people starved to death. In 1868 Lawrence threatened to punish authorities in the northwest provinces, the Punjab, and Rajputana for every person who died, and this famine was averted. Lawrence usually favored the peasant cultivators; but Awadh commissioner Charles Wingfield supported the Talukdar landowners. R. H. Davies was appointed to make an inquiry, and eventually a compromise was reached that safeguarded the rights of the cultivators. In 1866 Wingfield went home, and Lawrence replaced him with John Strachey. The Punjab and Awadh Tenancy Acts of 1868 assured the rights of tenant peasants, restored stability, and increased agricultural production. Lawrence usually followed a foreign policy of non-interference, but he deposed the nawab of Tonk for murder and replaced the maharaja of Todhpur with a regency council. In 1867 the new secretary of state, Lord Cranborne, announced that when the Mysore maharaja died, the adopted child would be accepted when he came of age. After some Bhutanese raids into British territory, Ashley Eden was sent as an envoy in 1863; but he was insulted and forced to sign a treaty giving Bhutan disputed territory. After Eden escaped, Lawrence disavowed the treaty. Because the Bhutanese refused to release English captives, a British force invaded in 1865. In the November treaty Bhutan ceded the Duars of Bengal and Assam and other territory, returning the British prisoners; Lawrence promised to pay them 25,000 rupees each year if they kept the peace. The government of India made commercial treaties with Burma in 1862 and 1867. After Dost Muhammad died in 1863, Afghanistan suffered a war of succession. Lawrence refused to aid Sher Ali or others in 1866, following his policy that was called "masterly inactivity." Sher Ali recovered Kabul and Qandahar in 1868. Russians had moved into Tashkent in 1865 and Samarkand in 1868. Just before he left office in January 1869, Viceroy Lawrence recommended giving arms and support without a defensive alliance to the ruler of Kabul. Viceroy Mayo (Richard Bourke) met with Sher Ali at Ambala in March 1869. That year the Russians occupied Bukhara. Mayo tackled the debt problem by cutting spending on the military, public works, and education grants. He created surpluses by increasing the income tax from one to two percent and then to three percent; the salt tax was also raised. The poor were especially oppressed, and in his third year he reduced the income tax back to one percent and exempted the half of tax-payers with lower incomes. Transportation between England and India was made faster by the opening of the Suez Canal, and more European wives and families began to live in India. By 1870 telegraph lines connected London with India, and home authorities could now issue orders based on current information. Mayo also decentralized India by allowing the provincial governments to decide on their own expenditures and taxes. He founded a college at Rajkot in Kathiawar and the Mayo College at Ajmere in Rajputana to educate Indians. Hardly any Indians had qualified for the civil service because the qualifying examinations were only given in London to horse-riding males no older than 22. Mayo appointed George Campbell as lieutenant-governor of Bengal, and his improvements doubled the number of children in village schools. In September 1871 several Wahhabi jihadists were convicted of treason by the High Court at Calcutta and were sentenced to life imprisonment in the Andaman islands. On September 20 Chief Justice J. P. Norman was stabbed to death by a Wahhabi on the steps of the courthouse. On

February 8, 1872 Mayo was visiting the Andamans and was assassinated by a Pathan convict, who knifed him in the back. A Sikh sect, called Kukas for the sounds they made in worship, had been founded by Balak Singh in 1847. When he died in 1863, his disciple Ram Singh became the Kuka leader. Some Kukas were punished for destroying hukas and tombs they considered idolatrous. In July 1871 Kukas at Amritsar murdered Muslim butchers for slaughtering cattle, and in January 1872 two hundred Kukas attacked the towns of Malodh and Malerkotla. They fled from the Nawab's police, and British troops hunted them down. Ludhiana's deputy commissioner L. Cowan rounded them up and executed fifty of them without a trial. Ambala commissioner Douglas Forsyth accepted this illegality, tried a few more, and legally had them executed. Although he disavowed these attacks and kept the police informed, Ram Singh was held responsible and spent the rest of his life in prison at Rangoon. The first India census taken in 1872 recorded 206,160,000 people. Viceroy Northbrook (Thomas George Baring) arrived in May 1872. He was a liberal and began reducing taxes and stopping unnecessary legislation. He cut back military spending and rejected expensive irrigation projects. He intervened in Barodha because Gaikwar Malhar Rao was accused of poisoning his brother and attempting to poison Resident Phayre. Rao was found guilty and replaced by a young prince. In 1873 many evictions for debt in the Deccan caused agrarian riots and dacoity (robbery). Some moneylenders were killed, and their houses with the records were set on fire. The disorders were suppressed, and Northbrook ordered an inquiry. In 1874, wanting to avoid another famine like the one in Orissa, he ordered more than 450,000 tons of rice shipped to Bihar and northern Bengal. This prevented the famine, but over 100,000 pounds of extra rice had to be sold at a loss. The Act of 1874 added a sixth member for Public Works to the Viceroy's council. In 1873 the Russian foreign office announced that their sphere would not extend into Afghanistan, but that year they moved up to the boundary at the Oxus River. Viceroy Northbrook in a conference at Simla promised Afghanistan support in order to deter an invasion. However, the government of India's arbitration of a dispute over Seistan between Persia and Afghanistan angered Amir Sher Ali. Northbrook offered him 500,000 rupees and 20,000 rifles; Sher Ali accepted the rifles but not the money. Northbrook complained when Sher Ali arrested his son Yakub Khan after luring him to Kabul by promising him safe conduct. In the election of 1874 Gladstone's Liberal Party was defeated by Disraeli's Tories. Palmerston and Secretary of State Salisbury (Cranborne) advocated a forward policy, but Northbrook and his council opposed imposing an unwanted British agent in Herat. In September 1875 Northbrook indicated he would resign, and he left India the following April. Keshab Chandra Sen was not from the Brahmin caste, and he joined Brahmo Samaj in 1857. Young men enthusiastically joined him in discussing spiritual and social issues, and in 1859 they formed the Sangat Sabha. During the rebellion of indigo workers the Brahmos and the Christians supported the workers' demands for legal protections from the planters. The drama Nila-darpana by Dinabandhu Mitra portrayed the oppression of the indigo planters, and the play created such a sensation that the missionary James Long was imprisoned for publishing its English translation. In 1861 Keshab founded and began editing the bi-weekly Indian Mirror, and it eventually became the first Indian daily newspaper in English. The next year they started a high school called the Calcutta College and tried to revive women's education. The Calcutta Female Juvenile Society had been founded in 1819 to work for female education, and in 1849 J. E. D. Bethune had patronized higher education for women in Calcutta.

The Brahmos raised money to relieve famine in the northwest and a Bengali epidemic. Keshab Chandra Sen traveled to Madras and Bombay, spreading the Brahmo Samaj throughout India. They performed intercaste marriages and a widow remarriage, and the emancipation of women became their motto. Such radical reforms annoyed Devendranath Tagore, who believed in gradualism on social issues. He founded the National Paper in 1865. That year Keshab and thirty liberal Brahmos petitioned for the election of all officers. A split occurred in 1866 when Devendranath would not agree to exclude those who would not give up their caste privileges. Devendranath said that his Adi Brahmo Samaj was Hindu, while Keshab and his followers described their Brahmo Samaj of India as universal and catholic. K. C. Sen aimed to harmonize all religions and used various scriptures. In 1867 Sasipada Bannerji invited Mary Carpenter to visit the Brahmo Samaj in Baranagar, and she urged workers to give up drinking and save money; within four years Bannerji had established the Workingman's Savings Bank. Like Bannerji, Dwarkanath Ganguli was a Kulin Brahmin, and he founded a journal to help women. In 1869 Sen's Brahmo mandir (temple) was opened to all classes of men and women who wanted salvation. In 1870 six young men renounced their high caste by placing their sacred threads on the pulpit in the Brahmo mandir. Sen met Max Mller in England. Sen's Indian Reform Association focused on charity, female education, technical and general education, temperance, and inexpensive literature. They published the Sulabh Samachar journal in Bengali to educate the masses. In 1871 they opened a normal school for girls and the Victoria Institution for Women, teaching in Bengali and English. One of their proudest achievements was getting the Native Marriage Act passed in 1872 that restricted marriage to monogamy and set the minimum age for a bride at 14 and a bridegroom at 18. India now had 101 Brahmo Samajes; most were in Bengal, and most favored Keshab. By 1874 the Brahmo progressives believed that Sen had become too conservative, especially on women's rights. Keshab Chandra Sen met the mystical Ramakrishna in 1875. Sayyid (Syed) Ahmad Khan was born at Delhi on October 17, 1817 and learned Arabic, Persian, Urdu, mathematics, and logic. After his father died in 1838, Sayyid began working for the British. He wrote a summary of the rules in the civil courts and became known for his archaeological history of Delhi. In 1850 he published a defense of the martyr Sayyid Ahmad of Bareilly and his followers. During the 1857 mutiny he persuaded Bijnor nawab Mahmud Khan to protect British interests. The English officers pitted the Hindus against the Muslims, and the conflict caused the fall of the Nawab, who fled. Then Sayyid helped the landlords administer the district for the British. Later he wrote an account of the revolt at Bijnor. Sayyid believed that the original cause of the rebellion was that Indians were not admitted to the Legislative Council and thus could not correct its errors. He then explained five causes of the revolt. First, the Indians misapprehended the intentions of the British. Second, laws and regulations were not appropriate for India and caused objections. Third, the British were ignorant of the grievances and needs of their subjects. Fourth, the rulers had contempt for Indians and a policy of racial discrimination. Fifth, the army was mismanaged. In 1862 Sayyid Ahmad Khan became the first Muslim to write a commentary on the Old and New Testaments. Sayyid was concerned that Indian Muslims were too conservative and thus were ignorant of modern philosophy, sciences, and arts. He urged the study of English and worked to get English books translated into Urdu. For this purpose he founded the Scientific Society and an English school at Ghazipur in 1864. Two years later he started the weekly Aligarh Institute Gazette to explain English administration. Sayyid noted that the High Court had admitted 239 Hindu pleaders but only one Muslim. The High Court had 27 Hindu attorneys but not one Muslim. Only one Muslim was a licentiate in medicine from Calcutta University compared to 98 Hindus.

In 1869 Sayyid went to England with his two sons, and he was given an audience with Queen Victoria. He wrote a friend that he valued the egalitarian distribution of national resources, social radicalism, and republican government. He visited the universities at Cambridge and Oxford as well as preparatory schools such as Eaton and Harrow. He published a series of essays in response to William Muir's Life of Mohammed. Upon returning to India, Sayyid started Tahzeeb-ul-Akhlaq to educate for social reform. He said that illiteracy is the mother of poverty, and he was confident that Islam was not endangered by the study of western literature and science. In 1870 at Benares he formed a committee to advance learning and raise funds for a Muslim college, which was founded in June 1875 and soon had sixty students. His educational campaign became known as the Aligarh movement. Dadabhai Naoroji was born in Bombay in 1825 as the son of a Zoroastrian priest. At the age of thirty he went to London on business, and for the next fifty years he submitted papers and agitated on behalf of India. He used the study of economics and statistics to show how the British had been draining the wealth out of India. Every year the foreign rulers collected about 50,000,000 in revenue and carried away some 12,000,000 to England. Under the colonial mercantile system between 1835 and 1872 India exported about 500,000,000 worth of goods more than it imported from England. Nationalist sentiment grew gradually. In 1867 National Paper editor Naba-gopal Mitra started the Hindu Mela, and they founded the National Society. W. C. Bonnerjee spoke in England in 1867, calling for a "representative and responsible government of India." Ananda-mohan Bose spoke at Brighton in 1873 for establishing such a government by gradual stages, and the next year the Hindu Patriot favored home rule for India with a constitutional government. In Bengal the Indian League was formed in 1875.

Famine and a Second Afghan War 1876-81

Disraeli, a novelist himself, selected as the next viceroy Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton, son of the famous novelist and a poet using the name Owen Meredith, but he lacked administrative experience. A monsoon failure began a terrible famine in 1876 that was especially devastating in Madras and Mysore but also affected Hyderabad, Bombay, and the United Provinces. The rains failed again in 1877. About 36 million people were affected, and an estimated five and a half million died of disease and starvation. Mysore tried local relief efforts, and its Government bought up large quantities of grain. Viceroy Lytton complained that they needed high prices to stimulate imports and limit consumption, but high prices caused the poor to starve. They reacted by fixing wages for relief work so high that many who did not need the jobs as badly went there. Richard Temple and the finance minister John Strachey believed that mitigating the suffering had to be tempered by economic considerations, and Temple was appointed Famine Commissioner in January 1877. He found that in Madras many were getting relief who did not need it. The imperial Government sent General Kennedy to Madras to organize relief works on a much larger scale, and he reduced the number of those receiving gratuitous relief. Between January and September 1877 Temple increased those employed in relief work from under a half million to over two million. Rains came in the fall, and relief operations were phased out in 1878. The Government of India lost 2.5 million of land revenue and spent 11 million on famine relief compared to the 6.5 million spent in Bihar where very few had died. However, proportionately this was less, and the economizing caused the loss of many lives. General Strachey headed the Famine Commission, which recommended in 1880 that they add 5,000 miles of railways and more irrigation works, especially in precarious areas. They described six basic principles for famine relief.

1. Employment must be provided for those in need without putting others out of work. 2. The state should distribute raw grain or money in villages rather than feed people in poorhouses and temporary camps except in extreme cases. 3. Government should allow private commerce to supply and distribute food whenever possible. 4. Loans should be made for purchasing seed grain and bullocks and to landlords while suspending rents. 5. Local administrators should have responsibility for expenditures unless extra assistance is needed, especially for water storage. 6. Migration of cattle from drought areas to grassy forests may be facilitated. These recommendations were generally accepted. Strachey proposed setting aside 1.5 million annually for famine relief, and this insurance fund reduced the borrowing for public works. A new Famine Code was promulgated in 1883. During the worst part of the famine in 1877 the Parliament obliviously removed the five-percent import duty on manufactured cotton goods which Northbrook and the Council had opposed doing. The Government of India was thus short of money while it was also spending much on the war in Afghanistan. The Indian Whipping Act had been passed in 1864, and the number of judicial floggings reached a high of 75,223 in 1878. Wasudeo Balwant Phadke blamed the misery in India on the foreign rulers, and after the famine he tried to organize an armed rebellion in Bombay. He and about 45 men robbed the village shops of Dhamari in February 1879. He used the money from this and other robberies to hire five hundred Rohillas, giving him nine hundred armed men. However, Phadke was captured in July and was transported for life for waging war against the Queen. Also in 1879 Lytton forced through the removal of duties on coarser cotton goods. Varied salt duties had required a customs line of almost 2,000 miles of thorny hedges and walls guarded by an army of 8,000 men. Lytton made salt a Government monopoly with uniform duties. The tax on salt was less than three farthings per pound, but it gave the Government an annual revenue of more than 7 million. The Viceroy made it even harder for Indians to pass civil service exams in England by reducing the maximum age to 19 in 1877. Two years later he opened one-sixth of the covenanted service positions to Indians, but they had to be approved by the Governor-General-in-Council. The conservative Lytton also enacted the Vernacular Press Act against sedition in native-language newspapers with the argument that they were more susceptible than English readers, but his liberal successor got this repealed. Major Robert Sandeman, who had skillfully settled disputes on the border of Dera Ghazi Khan's district in the Punjab with the Bugti and Mufti tribes, was sent to calm the quarrels between Khudadad Khan of Kalat and his local chiefs. In July 1876 they were reconciled. Viceroy Lytton sent Col. George Pomeroy Colley with a force to make a secret treaty with Khudadad at Jacobabad in December. The Khan received an increased subsidy and agreed to let the British build a railroad and telegraph lines through his territory so that they could occupy Quetta, where Sandeman became the British agent for Baluchistan. The Act of 1876 made Queen Victoria sovereign over the Indian states as of the beginning of 1877. Lytton wanted to send Lewis Pelly to Kabul to announce his becoming viceroy and Victoria's inauguration as Empress of India, but Afghanistan's Amir Sher Ali refused to receive a British envoy. Instead he suggested that the native agent Atta Muhammad go from Kabul to Simla, and the British promised him money and arms against unprovoked aggression and recognition of Sher Ali's son Abdulla Jan as his heir. Lytton also implied threats that Afghanistan could be smashed between Russia and England or be wiped out by both of them. Amir Sher Ali sent his minister Nur Muhammad Shah to meet with the British envoy Lewis Pelly at Peshawar in January 1877. Negotiations broke down upon the Amir's refusal to accept a British agent in Afghanistan, and a few days later Nur Muhammad died of illness. After the British put a

garrison in Quetta, Sher Ali sent troops to Qandahar. While the Russo-Turkish War raged, Lytton recognized the Maharaja of Kashmir's authority over the chiefs of Chitral and Yasin, whom Sher Ali wanted to control. In June 1878 Konstantin Petrovich Kaufmann, the Russian governor-general of Turkestan, sent General Stolietoff from Tashkent to Kabul with troops and a draft treaty offering Russian support to Amir Sher Ali against external aggression and recognition of his son Abdulla Jan as his heir. Because the Russians might turn to his nephew Abdur Rahman, Sher Ali reluctantly received the Russian in July. However, news of Russian and English agreement on the Berlin Treaty caused Stolietoff to withdraw quickly. Abdulla Jan died on August 17, the day Sher Ali received a message from Indian emissary Gholam Hussain that a British mission was coming. A month later he sent back a message threatening resistance unless "conciliatory letters" were sent. Neville Bowles Chamberlain led the British contingent and left Peshawar on September 21, but they were turned back at the Khyber Pass. British public opinion was outraged, but John Lawrence wrote a letter to the London Times asking, "Have not the Afghans a right to resist our forcing a mission on them, bearing in mind to what such missions often lead, and what Burma's mission in 1837 did actually bring upon them?"4 Despite Gladstone's warnings, both houses of Parliament approved the war and put the cost on India. Lytton sent Sher Ali an ultimatum, demanding an apology and acceptance of a British mission in Afghanistan by November 20. Sher Ali fled to Russian Turkestan in December and died in February. General Frederick Roberts led a British army through the Kurram Pass to Kabul, and General Donald Stewart occupied Qandahar. Already the Punjabis complained they had lost 80,000 animals to starvation. Before he left Kabul, Sher Ali had released his oldest son Yakub Khan from prison. Yakub negotiated with Major Louis Cavagnari and signed the Treaty of Gandamak on May 26, 1879. Yakub Khan was recognized as Amir, accepted a permanent British representative in Kabul, and ceded to the British the Khyber Pass, Kurram Valley, and Pishin and Sibi by Baluchistan. The British agreed to pay him 6 lakhs of rupees annually, remove their troops from Afghanistan, and defend him from foreign aggression. Cavagnari was knighted for his diplomatic success and became the first British Resident at Kabul in July. However, as Lawrence and others had predicted, he and his staff of two hundred were murdered on September 3 by mutinous troops from Herat. General Stewart was still in Qandahar, and he sent General Roberts with 6,000 men to avenge the massacre. They defeated a small Afghan force at Charasiab and entered Kabul in October. Yakub Khan abdicated and was sent to India, where Lytton refused to consider restoring him because he blamed him for Cavagnari's death. Roberts had 87 people hanged for suspected complicity in the massacre or for resisting the British; those not cooperating with British foragers had their villages burned. Muhammad Jan gathered more than 20,000 Afghan warriors north of Kabul by December; but the British beat back their attacks, and by Christmas they had dispersed. In March 1880 the war, which had been estimated to cost 6 million so far, had already spent 11 million. Because the British would not withdraw from an Afghanistan in chaos, the operations were expected to cost another 7 million by the end of the year. A British force from Bombay was sent to Qandahar, and General Stewart led his 7,000 men through a fight at Ghazni to Kabul by May 3, 1880. Partly because of his Afghan policy, Disraeli's party lost the election, and he resigned on April 28. Lytton was trying to break up Afghanistan but also resigned. Prime Minister William Gladstone appointed the liberal George Ripon as viceroy, and he arrived in June. Although Abdur Rahman, Sher Ali's nephew, had found refuge in Russian territory, he agreed to the British terms and was proclaimed the Amir of Kabul on July 22. Ayub Khan, the brother of Yakub Khan, was governing Herat, and he marched on Qandahar, where Sher Ali Khan

had been proclaimed an independent governor; he appealed to the British. General James Primrose had less than 6,000 men, and he sent General George Burrows with about 2,500 men. Ayub Khan had 16,000 men, and at Maiwand they gave the British their worst defeat by Asians, killing 969 British soldiers and most of their baggage animals. Hearing of this, General Roberts with help from Abdur Rahman led 10,000 men from Kabul, and after marching 318 miles they defeated Ayub Khan's army outside of Qandahar on August 9. Ayub Khan lost nearly 3,000 men and fled back to Herat. Sher Ali Khan was persuaded to retire in India on a pension, and Abdur Rahman took over Qandahar province in April 1881. Later that year Ayub Khan marched on Qandahar again and defeated them; but Abdur Rahman led his forces to victory over Ayub Khan, who fled to Persia. Abdur Rahman had become the ruler of all Afghanistan with an annual subsidy of 12 lakhs of rupees. The British had spent 17.5 million on an unnecessary war because of an irrational fear of Russian power. Frederick Roberts agreed with Lawrence that the forward policy had failed. He believed that if the Russians went into Afghanistan, they would have the same problems or worse. Viceroy Ripon was able to reduce military expenditures.

Bankim Chandra Chatterji's Novels

Bankim Chandra Chatterji was born into a Brahmin family on June 26, 1838. His father was in the Bengali civil service, and Bankim Chandra was well educated, learning Sanskrit and English. He was one of the first two students to graduate from Calcutta University in 1858. He went right into the Bengal civil service as a deputy magistrate and held the same rank (except for one year) until he retired in 1891. In his spare time he promoted nationalism with religious fervor by writing fourteen novels in Bengali about Hindu heroes. Bankim Chandra also wrote essays and four treatises on Hinduism. In 1872 he founded the monthly magazine Bangadarshan. He was influenced by European literature and has been compared to Walter Scott. Bankim Chandras first novel Durgeshnandini was published in 1865 and is set in the time of Emperor Akbar when the Pathans ruled Bengal and were invaded by the Mughals. Tilottama is the daughter of a Bengali chief and falls in love with the son of Akbars general. Kapalkundala (1866) is about a maiden who gets married and is in danger of being sacrificed by a Tantric worshipper of Kali; this novel criticizes Tantric practices. Mrinalini (1869) is also set when the Muslims were conquering Bengal. Magadha prince Hemchandra secretly marries Mrinalini, who is sent away by his preceptor. Some Brahmins earn their living by serving the Muslims. The Poison Tree was serialized in Bangadarshan and was published in 1873. Kundanandinis first husband dies, and she becomes the second wife of the zamindar Nagendranath. Problems arise because of his having two wives. Indira (1873) is narrated by a Bengali girl who gets lost before being reunited with her husband. Yugalanguriya (1874) and Radharani (1875) are romances. Chandrashekhar (1875) is about a couple who love each other from childhood but are too closely related to marry. Rajani (1877) is about a blind girl, and each character tells ones own story, revealing the problems of polygamy and drinking. Krishnakanta's Will (1878) is a domestic novel involving disagreements over inheritance; Bankim Chandra considered it his best novel. Rajsimha (1882) is about a Mughal-Hindu conflict when Emperor Aurangzeb imposed the jiziya tax on Hindus. Rajsimha is an Indian prince who defends a princess and eventually marries her. Debi Chaudhurani (1884) is set in Bengal when it was being governed by Warren Hastings and is about a woman who becomes a queen of robbers. Bankimchandras last novel Sitaram (1887) is about a zamindar with three wives who has his kingdom destroyed by the Muslims. Bankim Chandras most famous novel, Anandamath, began serialization in Bangadarshan in March 1881 and was published as a book the next year. During the terrible famine of 1770 the zamindar

Mahendra Simha and his wife Kalyani with their baby girl Sukumari leave their home to look for food. Starving robbers capture Kalyani and the baby, but they escape and are taken by Satyananda to the Anandamath monastery of the Sannyasis (Santans). He gives them food; but Kalyani refuses to eat until she finds her husband. Sepoys arrest Mahendra as a robber, but Bhabananda is also captured and helps him escape during a robbery by the Santans. Bhabananda sings, I revere the Mother! This Bande Mataram became the national anthem of India. Here is a portion of the song in Sri Aurobindos translation:
Mother, I bow to thee! Rich with my hurrying streams, Bright with thy orchard gleams, Cool with thy winds of delight, Dark fields waving, Mother of might, Mother free. Thou art wisdom, thou art law, Thou our heart, our soul, our breath, Thou the love divine, the awe In our hearts that conquers death. Thine the strength that nerves the arm, Thine the beauty, thine the charm. Every image made divine In our temples is but thine. In thy soul, with jeweled hair And thy glorious smile divine, Loveliest of all earthly lands, Showering wealth from well-stored hands!5

Bhabananda takes Mahendra to Anandamath, where he finds Kalyani. After having a dream, she takes some poison, and their child accidentally swallows the pill. Mahendra believes both are dead and is imprisoned with Satyananda as rebels. Jibananda finds the child and takes her to be revived by his sister Nimai. His wife Shanti comes in, and it is against his vow to see her. An attack by Santans liberates Satyananda and Mahendra, and Muslim homes are burned. Shanti disguises herself as a man to join her husband Jibananda in the celibate order as Nabinananda. She is strong enough to string a bow, and Satyananda puts her on probation. The famine has ended, but a third of the people have died. Bold Captain Thomas enters the dangerous jungle alone and meets the ascetic Shanti. She snatches his musket and refuses to be his concubine. Shanti tells Jibananda that she is sharing his asceticism, and their marriage will be fruitful in the next life. Bhabananda has fallen in love with Kalyani and wants to marry her. She says that the penance for giving up his vow will be death. Dhirananda knows Bhabanandas secret, and he wants to spend his life with his wife and children. Bhabananda threatens to kill Dhirananda, who runs away. Satyananda finds Bhabananda, and they return to the monastery. Satyananda tells ten thousand Santans that they are going to attack the army of Thomas which has cannons. Bhabananda persuades Jibananda to let him make the sacrifice, and he attacks the English artillery with two thousand Santans. Bhabananda captures Thomas and takes the cannons to the bridge held by Jibananda and Dhirananda. Captain Thomas is put on a horse, and Bhabananda attacks from behind him. Thomas tells his men to shoot him first and then kill the rebels. Bhabananda loses both limbs and is killed too. Satyananda tells Jibananda, Mahendra, Nabinananda, and Dhirananda that they have triumphed, and everyone else is out looting. Kalyani goes looking for her husband Mahendra, and Shanti goes with her. Kalyani finds her daughter with Nimai, who does not want to give her up. Mahendra has been in charge of making weapons. He learns that Nabinananda is the woman Shanti, the celibate wife of Jibananda. Governor-General Warren Hastings sends a force under Major Edwards. Shanti dresses as a woman and is taken to Major Edwards. The English officer Lindlay takes her on his horse, but she throws

him off and escapes. The English army and the Santans are climbing the opposite sides of a hill. Satyananda has brought another army. Jibananda leads a bold charge that crushes the English army between the two Santan armies. At night Shanti finds Jibanandas dead body; but a Healer revives his vital signs, and medicine cures him. Satyananda returns to the monastery with the Healer, who explains to him there is no need for the pointless killing of human beings. The English will rule because the Hindus are not yet ready to do so. Satyananda had won a victory and wealth by the mistaken means of banditry. Such wrongdoing does not produce holy fruit nor free the land. The English will rule so that the eternal law may eventually be reinstated. The Hindus have the inner knowledge, but they have lost the outward knowledge, which the English have and will be able to teach them. The English are traders and are trying to accumulate wealth; but the rebellion is forcing them to rule. The Healer advises Satyananda to give up warfare and cultivate the land. He warns that no one can fight the English and win. They will rule as friends. The Healer takes Satyananda to see the form of the Mother. The Great One was Kalyani and had come as sacrifice to take honor in the persons of Satyananda and Shanti. Thus the novel concludes as a spiritual allegory. In 1888 Bankim Chandra wrote Dharmatattva as a dialog between a master and a disciple on spiritual discipline. In writing of physical disciplines, the author complained about the 1878 act which prohibited Indians from carrying weapons in public. They discuss suffering, happiness, dharma (duty), humanism, culture, and various forms of devotion (bhakti). These include knowledge, action, renunciation, meditation, and love. Love can be for God, oneself, family, the motherland, and all living creatures; but for Bankim Chandra the highest dharma and greatest love is for ones country. His patriotism reflects an era of growing nationalism.

Notes
1. Dalhousie's Administration of British India by Edwin Arnold, i, p. 325 quoted in British Power in the Punjab 1839-1858 by N. M. Khilnani, p. 195. 2. Rise and Fulfillment of British Rule in India by Edward Thompson and G. T. Garratt, p. 382 quoted in British Paramountcy and Indian Renaissance, Part 1, p. 15 and 76. 3. Lord Ellenborough by A. H. Imlah, p. 255. Parliamentary Papers, 1857-58, XLIII (265), p. 4-5 quoted in British Paramountcy and Indian Renaissance, Part 1, p. 637. 4. Political History of England, Volume 12, p. 306-307 quoted in British Paramountcy and Indian Renaissance, Part I, p. 691. 5. Anandamath, or The Sacred Brotherhood by Bankimcandra Chatterji tr. Julius J. Lipner, p. 298299.

India's Renaissance 1881-1905

Reforms in India 1881-99 Curzon's Viceroyalty 1899-1905 Ramakrishna and Vivekananda Theosophy and Blavatsky 1875-88 Besant and Theosophy 1889-1905 Indian National Congress 1885-1905

This chapter has been published in the book SOUTH ASIA 1800-1950. For ordering information, please click here.

Reforms in India 1881-99

British India's Wars 1848-1881 By 1881 India had 253,890,000 people. Viceroy Ripon's finance minister, Major Evelyn Baring, lowered the duty on salt and removed all import duties except on alcohol, salt, opium, arms and ammunition, thus allowing free trade. Because very few Indians had been able to pass civil service exams in England by the age of 19, Ripon raised the age limit back to 21. He added Oriental language as a subject, but the Secretary of State rejected these and other reforms. Ripon tried to ban employment of children under eight years, but Bengal's lieutenant governor Ashley Eden persuaded him to make it under seven; working hours were limited for children under twelve instead of fourteen. In 1882 Prime Minister Gladstone told India to bear the 1.75 million cost of sending troops to Egypt, but Ripon got the Home Government to contribute 500,000. He appointed the Hunter Commission to look into educational reforms, but science was still preferred over literary and moral education. After consulting the provincial governments, in 1882 the Governor-General and his Council passed a resolution allowing much more self-government in local communities. Within three years all the provinces were allowing local elections. In 1882 the Sirhind Canal was completed with a length of 3,700 miles. During Ripon's four years railways were extended by 2,000 miles to more than 11,500 miles in India. In 1883 Law Minister Courtenay Ilbert introduced a controversial bill that allowed Indian judges to hear cases of Europeans. Planters were so upset that Ripon was insulted in the streets of Calcutta. Finally they agreed to let Europeans request a jury of which half were to be Europeans. Ripon retired at the end of 1884 so that the liberal Gladstone could choose his successor, the Earl of Dufferin (Frederick Temple Blackwood), who had served in Egypt. In 1876 the British Resident had refused to remove his shoes and kneel before King Mindon in Upper Burma, and his visits ceased. Thibaw became king of Burma in 1878, and British merchants and residents sent complaints to India. After Resident R. B. Shaw died in Upper Burma in June 1879, his successor Col. H. A. Browne and his staff left Mandalay. Two British steamers complained they were mistreated by Burmese officials. In 1881 the British set boundary pillars between Burma and Manipur, which the Burmese Government did not accept. King Thibaw tried to mollify the British by abolishing his monopolies in February 1882, but the next year he sent a trade mission to Paris. France made a treaty with Burma in January 1885, and later the British learned of secret arms importing from Tonkin. Thibaw demanded a loan of 220,000 from the Bombay-Burma Trading Company for a royal concession in teakwood. When the Company refused, the Government of Burma fined the Trading Company ten lakhs of rupees (230,000) in August for having bribed the governor of Ningyan to harvest the timber. Burma prepared to grant the concessions to France. In October the British sent Burma an ultimatum demanding a permanent Resident at Mandalay, control over Burma's foreign policy, arbitration of the timber case, and Burma's help trading with Yunnan. King Thibaw rejected this on November 9, and General Prendergast with 10,000 men took over Mandalay on November 28. The Burmese army dispersed in the jungles and became robber bands. Thibaw had killed so many possible successors that on the first day of 1886 Viceroy Dufferin proclaimed the British annexation of Upper Burma into the Indian empire. As many as

30,000 troops and five years were needed to pacify the brigands. Six more years were spent trying to control the Shans and Chins on the borders. The Russians occupied Merv in 1884, and General Komaroff drove the Afghans from Panjdeh with heavy losses in March 1885. The British mobilized for war, but Abdur Rahman was visiting Viceroy Dufferin and agreed to concede Panjdeh rather than precipitate an Anglo-Russian war in his country. Gladstone thus arranged to let the Russians keep Panjdeh in exchange for the Afghan Amir retaining the Zulfiqar Pass. In 1886 a commission agreed on an Afghan border running from the Oxus River to the Zulfiqar Pass. That year Dufferin replaced the license tax on trade with an income tax, and the age of admission to the Indian Civil Service was raised to 23. Chandrakirtti ruled Manipur from 1850 until his death in 1886. He had ten sons by six queens. Sura-chandra became maharaja; Kula-chandra was named heir apparent; and after Jhala-kirtti died a few months later, Tikendrajit became Senapati (commander-in-chief). Tikendrajit was the only brother who knew Hindustani well and could converse with the British agent, F. S. C. Grimwood. At midnight on September 21, 1890 two other brothers, Angao Sena and Zilla Gumba, led several hundred men and took over the palace. The Maharaja gave no order for fighting, and the British political agent Grimwood had British sepoys disarm the Manipuri troops. The two brothers favored the popular Tikendrajit, but he waited for Kula-chandra to return and be crowned. Maharaja Surachandra went into exile but did not abdicate. In February 1891 Viceroy Lansdowne and Chief Commissioner J. W. Quinton declared they would recognize Kula-chandra as maharaja of Manipur if he was advised by the British agent, deported Tikendrajit, and allowed 300 British soldiers in the Residency. Quinton went to Manipur with four hundred Gurkha soldiers under Col. Skene in March and planned to arrest Tikendrajit by inviting him to a durbar. Tikendrajit was kept waiting at the gate, learned of the extra soldiers, and returned home. A British attack on his house failed, but the British killed some people and burned down a dozen nearby houses. The Manipuris had four guns and began bombarding the Residency. During a truce Tikendrajit and his brother Angao Mingto met with Quinton, Grimwood, Col. Skene, and two others; but as the five were leaving, they were attacked by a mob, who killed Grimwood. While Tikendrajit was sleeping, Tongol General had the four Englishmen and their bugler beheaded. When he awoke, Tikendrajit was angry at Tongol General and freed the other British soldiers and subjects. In a trial before a special court Tikendrajit was convicted of abetting Tongol General. The Governor-General commuted the death sentences of Kula-chandra and his brother Angao Sena to transportation for life and confiscation of property, but both Tongol General and Tikendrajit were hanged on August 13. Accounts of Tikendrajit's trial indicate it was unfair, and his death had been called a judicial murder. The British recognized a five-year-old as maharaja and administered Manipur. After being governor-general of Canada for five years, the Marquess of Lansdowne became viceroy of India in December 1888. He extended British control into the Zhob Valley in northern Baluchistan in 1889 and into the Kurram Valley in 1892. Irrigation increased cultivated area, but the population of India was growing even faster, thirty million in a decade. The value of silver decreased almost in half as Germany demonetized silver, and Lansdowne closed down the free coinage of silver in Indian mints. Gold was made legal tender in India. Lansdowne enacted a law to prevent cruelty to animals. He encouraged the election of local councils, and an act in 1892 allowed legislative councils to discuss the budget and public issues. However, by authorizing separate representation for Hindus and Muslims they practiced the imperial method of divide and rule. Communal conflicts between Hindus and Muslims increased between 1885 and 1893, breaking out in 1885 in Lahore and Karnal, in 1886 in Delhi, in 1889 in Hosiarpur, Ludhiana, Ambala, and Dera

Ghazi Khan, and in 1891 in Madras. During six days of riots in 1893 in Bombay 65 people were killed, and more than five hundred were injured. In the spring of 1893 riots erupted in Bihar over the killing of cattle. When the Chief Commissioners of Assam raised land assessments by more than seventy percent in 1893, people spontaneously revolted. They were suppressed by force, and leaders were arrested. On January 10, 1894 several thousand people gathered at Rangiya and refused to disperse until in the evening they were fired on by the military and police. A similar incident occurred in Darrang on January 28, but the police charged with fixed bayonets instead. The Deputy Commissioner was transferred, and the land revenue was reduced. The Russians claimed the Pamirs in 1892, and the next year Mortimer Durand negotiated the Afghanistan boundary. Amir Abdur Rahman was allowed to import arms, and his annual subsidy was increased from 12 to 18 lakhs. The British tried to assert their authority over the Afridis, Mahsuds, Waziris, Swats, and the chiefs of Chitral and Gilgit. The tribal chiefs had not been consulted, and the boundary divided the Mohmand tribal area in two parts. Dr. Robertson was sent to help the new Mehtar of Chitral and decided to stay because of the hostility of Umra Khan of Jandol. In January 1895 the Mehtar was murdered, and Umra Khan proclaimed a jihad in Dir, Swat, and Bajaur. The Chitralis and Pathans besieged Dr. Robertson at Fort Chitral in March. Col. Kelly marched 350 miles in 35 days from Gilgit in Kashmir, and Robert Low went by way of Malakand. Chitral was garrisoned, but Salisbury's government vetoed it in August. The boundary dispute was settled the next month. In June 1897 Dawaris in the Tochi Valley requested British aid, but the political officer's escort was attacked at Maizar. Sadullah Khan led an uprising in Swat and attacked Malakand and Chakdarra. Then the Mohmands led by Najm-ud-din revolted. The Orakzais and Afridis captured the Khyber forts, but a force of 35,000 men under Bruce Lockhart was used to subdue them. The British forward policy once again had provoked violence. Victor Alexander Bruce (1894-99) was the ninth earl of Elgin and the son of a viceroy. He was inexperienced and depended on advice by telegraph from Whitehall. A five percent import duty was put on cotton in 1894, and the Lancashire interests quickly got a countervailing excise of five percent imposed on cotton manufactured in India. These were both reduced to 3.5 percent two years later. A drought began to spread in 1896, and sixty million people were affected in western and central India. By 1897 about 4,500,000 people had died. A meteorologist called it the worst drought in two centuries. Bubonic plague spread from Bombay in August 1896 and took another 193,000 lives by 1898. This was followed by a second famine in 1899; despite extensive Government relief efforts spending more than 6,000,000, estimates of the number of people who died ranged from the Government's 1,250,000 to William Digby's 3,250,000. Shri Birsa revived the Munda faith in Chotanagpur and urged his followers to worship the one God he called Sing Bonga. They tried to purify their lives by being chaste and abstaining from intoxicants and animal food. Some of his followers were Christian converts, and they considered Birsa a prophet and an incarnation of God. Thousands of Mundas made the pilgrimage to his village Chalkad. The British government believed their goal of self-government was dangerous, and they arrested Birsa and many followers at night on August 24, 1895. Birsa and fifteen followers were sentenced to a fine and two years imprisonment while others only had to pay a small fine. After Birsa was released in January 1898, he began training his followers to use swords and bows and arrows. They were urged to fight against their oppressors and planned an uprising for Christmas 1898. They attacked mission houses and fought police. On January 7, 1899 about three hundred Mundas attacked the Khunti Police Station, killed a constable, and set houses on fire. Troops were called in and killed about two hundred Mundas, including women and children. Complaints were later made that some wounded also had been buried in deep trenches. Birsa's general Gaya Munda was shot dead, but Birsa was not captured until February 2, 1900. He died of cholera in jail four

months later. About 450 followers of Birsa were arrested, and 87 were tried; two received capital sentences, and the rest were transported or imprisoned. From 1881 the number of students increased over the next twenty years by 49% in primary schools and 180% in secondary schools. By 1902 about four million students were being instructed in 105,000 schools, plus 600,000 pupils in 43,000 private schools. The 145 arts colleges had 17,500 undergraduates. Yet with India's huge population this still meant that only one boy in six was in a primary school and only one out of forty girls. Twelve female colleges had only 177 students. Secondary schools had 9,800 girls, and primary schools had 380,000 girls. Dayananda Saraswati (1824-83) objected to idol worship at the age of fourteen. Five years later he ran away from home to avoid being married and became a sannyasi in the Saraswati Order. After fifteen years of ascetic wandering, he studied the ancient Vedas under a blind old teacher who beat them into him. He learned that the Vedas did not sanction idol worship nor child marriage nor the subjection of women. He founded Arya Samaj in Bombay in 1875 to spread Hinduism in northern India, and he went to the Punjab in 1877. He took a more fundamentalist attitude toward the Vedas than the liberal Brahmo Samaj. His strict view of karma made forgiveness impossible. His Satyartha Prakash argued that Hinduism is better than other religions, and he founded the Cow Protection Association in 1882 to try to stop Muslims from slaughtering cattle. Dayananda stated that the primary purpose of Arya Samaj is to improve the physical, spiritual, and social conditions of humanity by treating everyone with love, justice, and a due regard for their merits. He was attacked by the orthodox and was eventually poisoned by a woman after he had criticized the loose living of a prince. Mahadev Govind Ranade (1842-1901) enrolled in the first class at Bombay University in 1859. Two years later he was the English editor of the Indu Prakash, and he began teaching history at Elphinstone College in 1866. Ranade was a judge for thirty years and served on the High Court of Bombay. He urged Hindus to embrace all humanity, and he criticized asceticism and contempt for the world. In his Theist's Confession of Faith he emphasized the unity of God, the reality of God's creation, and the spiritual nature of the human soul. Although he considered congregational worship and ceremonies helpful, he found asceticism, adoration of gurus, and belief in saviors and miracles unnecessary. Ranade led the Prarthana Samaj (Prayer Society), which began missionary work in 1882. He advised obeying conscience instead of expediency and urged social reforms because he believed that all humans are essentially equal. He justified reform as the work of liberation based on reason, and he emphasized the divine principle in everyone as more important than great and wise men. Ranade founded the Indian National Social Conference in 1887. He advocated abolishing caste, recognizing inter-caste marriages, prohibiting child marriage, and legalizing widow's remarrying. He repudiated the seclusion of women, promoted female education, and opposed all irrational and cruel customs that degrade human beings. He argued that the law of karma could be controlled by making one's will serve the higher will and the law of duty (dharma). Ranade urged Hindus and Muslims to work together as they did in Akbar's time; he warned against the mistakes of Aurangzeb. In 1890 he inaugurated the Industrial Association of Western India. Two years later his essay on "Indian Political Economy" suggested that many economic functions such as education, postal service, telegraphs, railways, canals, and insurance could be discharged by the state. He noted that in India the state was the sole landlord and the largest capitalist in the country, being involved in iron and coal fields and experiments with cotton, tobacco, tea, coffee, and cinchona plantations. In 1900 his Rise of the Maratha Power was published.

Curzon's Viceroyalty 1899-1905 Viceroy George Nathaniel Curzon arrived at Calcutta on January 3, 1899, eight days before his 40th birthday. He was interested in every aspect of government and energetically worked for improvements. Sugar from imported European beets had increased tenfold in the previous decade, and so he imposed a duty on subsidized sugar-beet imports in order to protect Indian growers of sugar cane. The bill was passed in March, and Curzon, who believed in free trade, explained that the new duties made up for the sugar-beet bounties. He visited areas suffering from famine and pestilence. Three and a half million people were on Government relief, and he was severely criticized in the press for warning provincial governments against spending too much for famine relief. Curzon favored self-reliance and generally had a low opinion of Indians. Yet he felt he was the only official willing to punish soldiers for killing Indians. He asserted his authority by punishing officers and the regiment that obstructed justice after a Burmese woman was raped by British soldiers in Rangoon. The Indian press praised this justice. However, he antagonized the Indian nationalists when he curtailed the elected officials in the 1899 Calcutta Municipal bill in order to make administration more efficient. Curzon traveled the country and encouraged the rajas to do their duty. The silver rupee had stabilized at 1s 4d, and with less military spending the economy prospered during his years. Curzon opposed forward defenses on the borders and saved six lakhs of rupees on fortifications. He reduced the 10,200 troops in the northwest to 5,000 by 1904. He limited the importation of arms and encouraged the tribes to maintain peace and stop crime by granting them allowances. His policy was to let tribal forces defend their own country, and he concentrated British troops in the rear as a safeguard and support. During the previous five years military operations on the northwest frontier had cost 4,584,000, but in his nearly seven years they would spend only 248,000. He organized this region and five districts from the Punjab into the new North-West Frontier Province under a chief commissioner. The old North-Western Provinces were renamed the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. In 1900 India sent over 8,000 British troops for the Boer War in South Africa along with 3,000 Indians for non-combatant service. In 1901 Abdur Rahman died. His oldest son Habibulla insisted that his agreements with the British be continued, though he did not draw the subsidy for a few years. After the Boer War ended in 1902, Curzon refused to permit Indians to be recruited as indentured laborers for the Transvaal gold mines. He confirmed the principle that when India loaned troops for a colonial war, the imperial Government must pay the expenses. Curzon sent Col. Francis Younghusband to Tibet in July 1903, and they killed at least 600 Tibetans who tried to stop them before they reached Gyantse in April 1904. While Curzon was in England, Younghusband pushed on to Lhasa. The Dalai Lama fled, but Younghusband got Tibetan officials to agree to a British official residing at Gyantse with the right to visit Lhasa, and he imposed an indemnity of three lakhs of rupees per year for the next 25 years. This violated his own instructions, and the British Government changed it to 25 lakhs of rupees to be paid in three years. Then the British troops would be withdrawn. The British Government reprimanded Curzon for his aggressive policy that turned a trade mission into an armed invasion. The Punjab Land Alienation Act of 1900 limited the sale of land to agriculturalists so that moneylenders could not take over farms. In 1904 Curzon enacted Cooperative Credit Societies to address the problem of farmer's debts, and the next year he persuaded Henry Phipps to contribute 30,000 to establish the Agricultural Research Institute at Pusa in Bengal. In 1905 a report recommended that they spend 30,000,000 in the next twenty years to irrigate 6,500,000 acres. In the previous twelve years the area of food crops increased by only three percent while the area of non-food crops grew by 29 percent. As the population increased by fifteen million, the increased food was only half enough. The Suspension and Remissions Resolution of 1905 allowed for

flexibility in collecting land revenue in hard times, and Curzon established the principle that land taxes should not exceed ten percent of all revenues. In 1904 Viceroy Curzon appointed a commission that improved police training and increased their pay. The number of police expanded from 150,000 to 175,000. He also enacted a law to preserve and protect ancient monuments. However, his Universities Bill of 1904 aroused protests because they believed fixed fees would block new universities from starting. Curzon wanted to improve the teaching at institutions that had become primarily examining boards. In 1905 he created a Department of Commerce and Industry. He encouraged mining by removing obstructive regulations. During his viceroyalty more than 6,000 miles of railway lines were added to the 27,000 miles already in India. Bengal contained 190,000 square miles, and the population had increased to 78 million. So in 1905 Curzon divided it into two parts, leaving Muslims the majority in the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam. Hindu political leaders in Calcutta protested this because the Biharis and Oriyas now outnumbered those speaking Bengali in the province Western Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. They began boycotting British textiles and promoted the Swadeshi cloth made in India. The partition took effect on October 16, 1905, and 50,000 people gathered at the Kali temple near Calcutta. They sang "Bande Mataram" and bathed in the Ganges. Sisters tied woolen threads around their brothers' wrists as they vowed to undo the partition of Bengal. This rakhi-bandhan ceremony became an annual ritual. Gurkha troops were stationed in East Bengal. Surendranath Banerji said that the agitation would not stop until the partition was cancelled. Two British titans clashed when H. H. Kitchener became commander-in-chief. He wanted to eliminate the military member on the Council who administered the military department and also offered the Viceroy a second opinion. Viceroy Curzon objected to the change because he thought the current system worked well by relieving the commander-in-chief of much administrative work. When the British Government chose a compromise that favored Kitchener, Curzon resigned in August 1905, staying on for three more months. Ananda Mohan Bose had first suggested at the 1898 Indian National Congress that India should be represented in the British Parliament, and in 1905 the Congress passed a resolution that each province should have at least two members in the House of Commons. That year Gokhale founded the Servants of India Society to promote the national interests of the Indian people. He noted that the death rate in India had risen from 24 per thousand in 1883 to the current 34 per thousand. The 1905 partition of Bengal provoked Tilak into advocating a boycott of British goods that grew into a movement that swept the nation.

Ramakrishna and Vivekananda

Gadadhar Chattopadhyaya (Chatterji) was born into a poor Brahmin family in a small village in western Bengal just before dawn on February 18, 1836. From the age of seven he had mystical experiences, often falling into trances. He attended school but preferred to spend his time with wandering sadhus. He went to Calcutta when he was seventeen, and three years later he began assisting his older brother Ramkumar at a temple devoted to the goddess Kali at Dakshineswar. There he had more mystical experiences and eventually took the name Ramakrishna Paramahansa. His life was devoted to God and searching continually for greater God realization. He spent long hours in prayer and meditation or singing and wailing to Kali. Because he had so many peculiar trances and visions, he was relieved of the usual priestly duties.

When Ramakrishna was 24, he was married to a girl who was only five years old. A Bhairavi yogi observed that Ramakrishna's odd behavior was similar to that of the famous Vaishnava Chaitanya, and she initiated him into Tantric sadhana (spiritual practice). He practiced this for two years, going through the stages. Then in 1863 he became a Vaishnava and had a vision of Krishna. For a while he dressed and acted like a woman, longing for Krishna. The nondualist guru Tota-puri taught him how to practice Vedanta. Bhairavi warned him that if he became a nondualist, he would lose his devotion; but Ramakrishna went ahead. He could easily experience Kali, and by destroying her image in his consciousness he could empty his mind and attained nirvikalpa samadhi in one day. Tota-puri was surprised because it took the guru forty years of ascetic practice. Ramakrishna believed that every religion is a path to God and proved it to himself by practicing the spiritual disciplines of various Hindu sects and other religions until he experienced God by their methods. When Ramakrishna was initiated as a Sufi, he ate and dressed like a Muslim and prayed to Allah. After three days he had a vision of God. Another three days of Christian practice resulted in his vision of Jesus Christ. When Ramakrishna's wife Sarada Devi came to Dakshineswar, he worshipped her as his mother. They were celibate. She accepted this, served him, and asked him to teach her how to realize God. In 1867 Ramakrishna went on a pilgrimage for four months. He served as a sweeper and scavenger to clean up after outcastes and Muslims, and he became known as a saint. Keshab Chandra Sen, the influential leader of the Brahmo Samaj, visited him. In 1875 Ramakrishna went to see him and his disciples, speaking in parables. Keshab was won over and published an influential sketch of Ramakrishna's life and teachings. Keshab agreed that his daughter could marry the wealthy Maharaja of Cooch-Behar before she was fourteen years old. A split emerged in the Brahmo Samaj because Vijay Krishna Goswami and others accused Keshab of hypocrisy. They adamantly opposed child marriage and formed General Samaj. Ramakrishna said he opposed hard and fast rules but remained friendly with both sides. Keshab liked Ramakrishna's universality and was impressed by his vision of Jesus. Keshab worked on integrating the teachings of Hinduism and Christianity as a way forward, and in 1879 he declared a "New Dispensation, the Religion of Harmony." He hoped that Europe would enter the heart of Asia, and Asia the mind of Europe in a universal synthesis. He suggested they include and absorb all humanity without hating or excluding anyone. He wanted to unite East and West in one undivided and universal church of God in order to reconcile faith and modern science, philosophy and inspiration, and asceticism and civilization. On October 27, 1883 Keshab invited Ramakrishna on a chartered steamer, and he brought Vijay with him. In this way the two leaders were reconciled, though, as Ramakrishna predicted, their followers still continued the feud. Many spiritual seekers came to see Ramakrishna, and he conversed with them. He accepted neither money nor expensive gifts. He could not even bear the touch of silver or gold coins. When he was asked how to eliminate passion, Ramakrishna asked why it should be eliminated. He recommended directing one's passion toward God. He taught that God is both with form and formless. He warned against setting limits to God's nature, and he found by experience that various ways of worshipping God can be successful. He said that to gain a vision of God one must practice spiritual discipline because one "cannot see him just by wishing." Kristodas Pal, editor of the Hindu Patriot newspaper, said that Ramakrishna's renunciation was an escape, and he believed in working to improve social conditions. Ramakrishna detected a note of egotism in "helping the world" and suggested that "serving the world" with less sense of self came from doing what the Divine Mother gave one to do. Ramakrishna practiced exceptional devotion; but he also emphasized that one must always speak the truth to find God because God is truth. He taught the golden rule of doing what you wish others to do to you. He warned that people are quick to blame or praise, and so you should not be

concerned about what others say of you. He noticed that people tend to develop the propensities of those around them, and they seek the company of those with similar propensities. Ramakrishna often taught in parables. He compared religion to the rain from heaven that becomes dirty depending on the medium through which it manifests. He said that as long as one lives, one may learn every day of the mysteries of love and devotion. He advised that the best course is to renounce desire and work unattached. Ramakrishna recognized Narendranath Datta as the one who would spread his teachings, but Ramakrishna himself never started a new religion or sect. He got cancer and finally departed from his body on August 16, 1886. Narendranath Datta was born into a wealthy Kshatriya family in Calcutta on January 12, 1863. His family tried to get him to marry, but Narendra resolved to remain celibate and refused. He attended English schools and graduated from Calcutta University in 1883. He studied the writings of John Stuart Mill, David Hume, and Herbert Spencer. Narendranath liked Spencer's ideas on evolution, corresponded with him, and translated his book Education into Bengali. He attended the Brahmo Samaj and made contact with Keshab Chandra Sen. When Narendranath first visited Ramakrishna in 1881, the saintly mystic told him that he was an incarnation of Narayana (Vishnu). Ramakrishna said that one can communicate with God. He asked Narendra to promise to come back soon. At the second visit Ramakrishna put his foot on him, and Narendra had an unusual experience. His consciousness changed so much that he thought he was dying and asked the master to stop it. Ramakrishna put his hand on Narendra's chest, and he returned to his normal awareness. On another occasion the master touched him, and Narendra realized that everything is part of God, that there is nothing in the universe but God. He was impressed how Ramakrishna combined the devotion of bhakti with the knowledge of Vedanta. He once said that Ramakrishna was a bhakt outwardly and a jnani (knower) inwardly while he was a jnani outwardly and a bhakt inwardly. While Ramakrishna emphasized the devotion of bhakti, Narendra would practice the karma yoga of working. They both taught that human misery would continue until human character changed. Thus lasting social reform depends on spiritual and ethical culture. Narendra's father liked to spend money, and at his death in early 1884 he left behind more debts than assets. Narendra had to give up his clerkship and was suddenly poor. He was studying law and asked Ramakrishna to pray so that he would get a job. Ramakrishna said he did not make such requests, but he urged the educated Hindu to pray to Kali. Despite his reluctance to worship an idol, Narendra did so and came to accept the Divine Mother. As he experienced her, he too only prayed for detachment, devotion, and knowledge. A few days before he died, Ramakrishna passed his energy to Narendra. Though other disciples went back to school or work, Narendra and a few others started a fraternity of monks in a dilapidated house in Baranagar near Kasipur. They barely survived on rice and salt, but eventually others joined. In July 1890 Narendra began a pilgrimage and traveled around India for three years. The rajas of Ramnad and Khetri urged him to represent Hinduism at the Parliament of Religions meeting at the World Exposition at Chicago in 1893 in commemoration of Columbus, and they offered to pay his expenses. While meditating on the rock at Cape Comorin, the southern tip of India, Narendra realized that India needed food and the West needed spirituality. The Raja of Khetri suggested he call himself Swami Vivekananda, and he sailed from Bombay on May 31, 1893, stopping at Colombo, Hong Kong, and Japan before reaching Vancouver. Vivekananda arrived at Chicago in mid-July but learned the Parliament was delayed until September. So he went to Boston, where he gave talks and became a local celebrity. The Swami spoke five times to the Chicago conference and was very well received. His comments before reading his paper on Hinduism were widely reported in the American press. He criticized the English Christians for putting their foot on the neck of 250

million Asians, and he reminded them of the Spanish conquest of America. He warned that the Muslim sword could destroy India, and he said, "Blood and sword are not for the Hindu, whose religion is based on the laws of love."1 Swami Vivekananda suddenly became a world figure, and his intelligent interpretation of Hinduism lifted its philosophy to a new level of recognition in India and the world. A lecture tour was quickly organized for him, and in the next two years he spoke often in Chicago, Detroit, Boston, New York, and other cities. He preached self-reliance and individual effort. Scriptures can be a guide until one is strong enough to do without them. He believed that only the spiritually aware could be great teachers of humanity. In the summer and fall of 1895 he visited London and Paris, and he inspired Max Mller to publish Ramakrishna - His Life and Teachings. He went back to New York and then returned to England in April 1896 on his way home. He had gained some western disciples who worked for Indian education and freedom in various ways. Vivekananda believed that education is the key to the development of equality and democracy. When people develop their own inner powers, they will become free. Vivekananda observed that the western world especially had become very materialistic and so needed the spiritual understanding that India could offer. He combined the need for spiritual awakening with patriotic Indian nationalism. Yet he went beyond nationalism, which he considered an incomplete stage of development, to international solidarity with international laws as a more lasting solution to human conflicts. He believed that India is immortal because she persists in searching for God; but he warned that if they went in for politics and caused social conflicts, she would die. Just as hatred cannot be conquered by hatred but by love, materialism cannot conquer materialism. When armies try to conquer others, armies multiply and make brutes of humanity. He suggested that spirituality will conquer the West. Western civilization since the Greeks has sought happiness, but the Hindus seek spiritual liberation. Vivekananda observed how human societies had first been dominated by priests (Brahmins) and then by the nobility (Kshatriyas). In modern times the merchants (Vaishyas) had taken control. In 1896 he prophesied that the fourth epoch would bring domination by the workers (Sudras), and he predicted that the first proletarian state in the world would be Russia or China. He criticized the social Darwinism of competition, saying,
The attempts to remove evil from the world by killing a thousand evil-doers, only adds to the evil in the world. But if the people can be made to desist from evil-doing by means of spiritual instruction, there is no more evil in the world. Now, see how horrible the Western struggle theory becomes!2

In Vivekananda's idea of spiritual evolution the highest level is attained through sacrifice. He found that fighting put back human progress fifty years rather than moving it forward. He urged the other monks to become Christs themselves in order to aid in redeeming the world. They could deny themselves to realize God as Jesus had done. Vivekananda landed on Ceylon in January 1897 and then returned to Calcutta. They had founded the Ramakrishna Order, and Brahmananda (Rakhal Chandra Ghosh) welcomed him home to the Alambazar monastery. Vivekananda handed him all the money he had raised and had to borrow pennies to take the ferry back across the Ganges. On May 1 Vivekananda spoke to the monks and announced his plans for the Ramakrishna Mission to teach the masses what they need for material and spiritual welfare. Their goals would be spiritual and humanitarian rather than political. The Ramakrishna Mission was instituted four days later, and monasteries were established throughout

India. They immediately began working on famine relief and plague relief, founding hospitals and schools. Vivekananda urged that the nation, like an individual, must learn to help itself. He said, "Modern India admits spiritual equality of all souls-but strictly keeps the social difference."3 He denounced untouchability and worked on raising the status of women and the masses. He recommended beginning slowly and working from the ground up. He believed that India needed to go beyond recalling her past by improving upon it. Vivekananda lectured tirelessly and published a book on Ramakrishna as well as Jnanayoga, Rajayoga, Karmayoga, and Bhaktiyoga. He believed that removing poverty was more important than preaching. He found God in the poor, the miserable, and the weak. He suggested that everyone should be treated equally because God is in everyone. Every individual and nation must work out their own salvation. Having power in the world does not necessarily make one happy, but by conquering oneself one may find happiness. Vivekananda taught that God unifies the variety of the universe. In God all humans are one, though every person is different. In the summer of 1899 Vivekananda visited California. There his health improved, and he began Vedanta centers in Los Angeles and San Francisco. After touring Europe he returned to India in December 1900. His health declined, but he taught a class and walked two miles on the day (July 4, 1902) he died with an expression of ecstasy on his face. Brahmananda had succeeded Vivekananda as president of the Mission in February 1901, and he continued to serve in that position for the next 21 years. He emphasized that more time should be spent on learning how to know God than on serving humanity.

Theosophy and Blavatsky 1875-88

Helena Petrovna von Hahn was born on August 12, 1831 in the Ukraine. Her mother was an excellent novelist, but she died at the age of 28. When her governess told Helena that because of her fiery temperament she could not even marry an old man she considered ugly, the 17-year-old got him to propose to her. Helena tried to get out of marrying the elderly Nikifor Blavatsky but could not and after two months of resisting his "conjugal rights" she escaped to her grandmother. Helena traveled to Turkey, Greece, Egypt, and France, and in London she met her Hindu master. In 1852 Madam Blavatsky went to America and India but could not get into Tibet. She got the idea of combining science and religion and continued to travel around the world, sometimes dressing as a man. She participated in spiritualist experiments and astounded people by willing or evoking tapping sounds across a room that answered questions. In 1860 she began answering questions verbally or by writing. She volunteered to help Garibaldi, and at the battle of Mentana on November 3, 1867 she suffered five wounds. Blavatsky claimed that she spent three years in Tibet studying with her masters, but this has been questioned. She lived in Cairo in 1871 and went to New York in 1873. On September 7, 1875 the Theosophical Society (TS) was founded in New York with Col. Henry Steel Olcott as chairman and William Quan Judge as secretary. At the first meeting the next day HPB (Blavatsky) agreed to be corresponding secretary. The main purposes are 1) to promote universal brotherhood without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or color; 2) to study ancient and modern religion, philosophy, and science; and 3) to investigate unexplained laws of nature and the divine powers latent in humanity. Blavatsky published Isis Unveiled in September 1877 in two long volumes entitled Science and Theology. The first volume explores the occult sciences as an important part of psychology, and the second volume takes on traditional Christian theology as an obstacle to free thought in a society of "increasing materialism, worldliness and hypocrisy." In the last chapter HPB outlined the fundamental propositions of Oriental philosophy in ten points that are summarized as follows:

1. A miracle occurs because of eternal and immutable laws. 2. Nature has visible objectivity and an inner vital principle and above them eternal and indestructible spirit. 3. Humans have a physical body and an astral body but are sovereign and immortal spirits. 4. Magic is a science and an art for applying knowledge to control natures forces. 5. Arcane knowledge may be misapplied as sorcery or be used beneficently as wisdom. 6. Mediums are passive, but adepts actively control inferior powers. 7. All things are recorded and can be known by an adept. 8. People differ in spiritual gifts. 9. Adepts can withdraw the inner person from the physical body consciously, but mediums do so unconsciously. 10. Magic is based on knowing how magnetism and electricity affect humans and animals. Blavatsky concluded,
Magic is spiritual wisdom; nature, the material ally, pupil and servant of the magician. One common vital principle pervades all things, and this is controllable by the perfected human will.4

Madam Blavatsky became a citizen of the United States in July 1878. She and Olcott went to Bombay in January 1879 and announced that they were being guided spiritually by the mahatmas who live in the Himalayas. They recommended abstinence from alcohol and pure living in order to develop psychic and spiritual abilities. They taught occult science and considered clairvoyant intuition more important than rational analysis. The British secret service put HPB under surveillance because they thought she might be a Russian spy. She was the first editor of the monthly Theosophist, which began in October. Alfred Percy Sinnett was the editor of The Pioneer, the most influential newspaper in India that was a mouthpiece for the Government. The Theosophists visited him and his wife Patience in Allahabad, and Allan Hume became interested in Theosophy. Blavatsky and Olcott first visited Ceylon in May 1880. The Sinnetts visited England and published The Occult World in June. Correspondence from Master KH helped Sinnett write Esoteric Buddhism. HPB said she met Master M in Lahore, and he told her to tour northern India. After that tour the Theosophists moved their headquarters from Bombay to Adyar in Madras in December 1882. Theosophy has a special appeal in India because of its primary doctrines of karma and reincarnation that are universally accepted by Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains. Thousands of educated Indians joined the Theosophical Society. Olcott helped Ceylon increase the number of Buddhist schools there from two in 1880 to two hundred by 1900. He did so much to revive Buddhism in Burma that a national committee of Japanese priests sent a representative to escort him to Japan. HPB and Olcott traveled in Europe for seven months in 1884. Alexis Coulomb and his wife Emma had been expelled from the Theosophical Society in May for extortion, slander, and misuse of TS funds. In October 1884 HPB replied to a scandalous article in the London Times based on their accusations of fraud saying that she never tried to gain money for herself or the Society by means of her psychic gifts. In December 1885 Richard Hodgson issued a report for the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) based on the Coulombs' charges and incriminating letters. This scandal was widely believed at the time. Olcott persuaded Blavatsky to accept the recommendation of the Theosophists committee not to sue her defamers because a trial might ridicule the sacred names of the Masters. Blavatsky nearly died from an illness, and in March 1885 she resigned as corresponding secretary of the TS. Ironically this scandal gave Theosophy so much publicity that many more people joined. In 1884 the Theosophical Society had 104 chartered branches in the world, but by 1890 this had

increased to two hundred. A century later handwriting expert Dr. Vernon Harrison made a thorough investigation for the SPR of the letters and concluded that the Coulombs had forged letters, that Hodgson was biased, and that the SPR had not checked his report critically. He also found that the letters attributed to the mahatmas were not written by HPB. From 1885 to 1888 Blavatsky worked on writing The Secret Doctrine while she was living in Germany and then in London. Letters were given to Dr. William Hbbe-Schleiden, president of the TS in Germany, from the masters M and KH saying that they wrote The Secret Doctrine with HPB. The two long volumes on Cosmogenesis and Anthropogenesis contain many long quotations from other books that HPB copied and cited by psychic perception. Dr. Bertram Keightley had a typed copy of the manuscript made, looked them up in the British Museum, and found that most were accurate word for word. The first volume was published in October 1888, and the second volume came out three months later. HPB based her work on three premises: 1) that an "omnipresent, eternal, boundless, and immutable principle" is the basis "of all that was, is, or ever will be;" 2) that the eternal universe is a boundless plane in which the universal Spirit as souls (monads) experience a cycle of incarnations; and 3) that the souls are one with the universal over-soul. The Secret Doctrine elucidates the mysteries and essential teachings of various religions in order to show their unity. Blavatsky also intended to reveal the occult side of Nature that modern science was not approaching. For HPB evolution is spiritual and mental as well as physical. She wrote of the one Universal Life, and she perceived that matter and force are two sides of the same substance. She explained karma as action and the universal law of cause and effect or ethical causation that governs the world of being. This law of retribution is unerring; but it does not predestine because humans plan and create the causes. Destiny is self-made. The doctrine of karma explains the origin of evil, but all actions are resolved into universal harmony by the law of justice. Science by being too materialistic has left out the inner, spiritual, psychic, and moral aspects of human nature. The aggregate of individual karma becomes national karma, and the world is the total of national karma. Because of the principle of Harmony we reward and punish ourselves for our own actions. HPB wrote,
With right knowledge, or at any rate with a confident conviction that our neighbors will no more work to hurt us than we would think of harming them, two-thirds of the Worlds evil would vanish into thin air. Were no man to hurt his brother, Karma-Nemesis would have neither cause to work for, nor weapons to act through.5

When one breaks the laws of harmony and life, one falls into the chaos that is produced. Avenging angels only represent the reaction. The doctrines of karma and reincarnation explain the apparent injustices in life. When humans learn to act from their inner spiritual intuitions with real altruism instead of by the impulses of the selfish body, then brotherhood will become actual. Humans are their own destroyers but their own saviors as well. HPB warned that Europe was on the eve of a cataclysm because of its racial karma. In other writings she warned of future wars and an instantly devastating new weapon. Mohandas Gandhi discovered Theosophy and met HPB in 1889 while he was studying law in London. He first read the Bhagavad-Gita in Edwin Arnolds English translation, and he joined the Blavatsky lodge in March 1891. In her last years HPB began a secret Esoteric Section for more than a thousand people. From The Book of Golden Precepts she wrote The Voice of the Silence and The Seven Portals with its seven keys of love (charity), harmony in word and action, patience,

detachment, courage to find truth, meditation, and wisdom. She published The Key to Theosophy to answer basic questions. The motto of the Theosophical Society is There is no religion higher than truth. The Wisdom-Religion has been known since ancient times and is passed on by initiates, profound seekers of truth, in all cultures. HPB divided human nature into seven levels: 1) physical body (rupa), 2) vital principle (prana), 3) astral body (linga sharira), 4) animal desires (kama rupa), 5) mind (manas), 6) soul (buddhi), and 7) Spirit (atman). However, in Indian traditions buddhi usually means intuition; atma is soul, and Brahman is God or Spirit. Blavatsky rejected the dangerous doctrine of atonement, that the sacrifice of Jesus can wipe out the enormous crimes against human and divine laws. Yet she described Gods mercy as boundless. She opposed retaliating against evil and advised leaving people to their karma. Because others do evil is no reason for doing evil oneself. Blavatsky died on May 8, 1891, and her body was cremated. The Theosophical Glossary she wrote was published after her death.

Besant and Theosophy 1889-1905

Annie Wood was born October 1, 1847 in London. She married the Anglican priest Frank Besant in 1867. They had two children, but he abused her. When he said that she must accept Church dogma to stay with him, she left him and Christianity in 1873. Annie Besant joined the National Secular Society the next year, wrote for the National Reformer, and worked for woman suffrage, penal reform, trade unions, birth control, and against vivisection. She lectured on the political status of women and called for "equality before the law for all in public and in private." She said,
The man shall bring his greater strength and more sustained determination, the woman her quicker judgment and purer heart, till man shall grow tenderer, and woman stronger, man more pure, and woman more brave and free.6

She was secretary of the Malthusian League and educated people about birth control. In 1877 she and her mentor Charles Bradlaugh were prosecuted for republishing The Fruits of Philosophy by Charles Knowlton, and their acquittal allowed information on contraception. Because of her work for birth control, she lost custody of her daughter. Besant wrote The Law of Population: Its Consequences and Its Bearing upon Human Conduct and Morals. She argued that celibacy is not natural to men or women, and bodily needs require legitimate satisfaction. She suggested that by limiting population they would deprive the capitalists of their crowded labor market. Workers would have more opportunities with limited families. She was threatened with prosecution but not indicted, and the book eventually sold 175,000 copies. In February 1878 she helped organize the International Labor Union. Annie worked to stop the imminent war in Afghanistan by writing the pamphlets Rushing into War and England, India, and Afghanistan. During the elections of 1879 she published "The Story of Afghanistan: or, Why the Tory Government Gags the Indian Press: A Plea for the Weak Against the Strong." This excellent summary of British interventions in Afghanistan boldly criticized the crimes of the Tory Government that murdered men and froze women and children by burning villages. She accused Disraeli of bullying, boasting, and imperialism. She noted that Amir Sher Ali's delayed response in the summer of 1877 was because of the forty-day mourning period for his son Abdulla Jan. Public opinion in England was misled, and the Indian press was gagged. She concluded that the defeat of the Tory party would mean peace, liberty, and hope for South Africa, India, and Afghanistan.

Becoming a friend of George Bernard Shaw and Sidney and Beatrice Webb, Annie Besant joined the socialist Fabian Society in January 1885. She and Shaw were also on the executive committee of the Social Democratic Federation. She agreed with the Fabians' gradual approach to reform as evolution instead of revolution. Besant wrote pamphlets on why she was a socialist and on the socialist movement. During her atheistic phase she also wrote several pamphlets criticizing the Christian religion and in 1887 Why I Do Not Believe in God. She formed the short-lived Law and Liberty League in November 1887 with Jacob Bright and William Morris. She was one of the leaders of the Social Democratic Federation that organized a march in Trafalgar Square with 10,000 people on November 13. Two thousand police and four hundred troops beat people, and one was killed on this Bloody Sunday. Two leaders and hundreds of others were arrested, but police refused to detain Besant.
In 1888 Besant and Willam T. Stead began editing The Link for humanitarian purposes. The Government issued an order against collecting money at public meetings; but Besant defied it in June 1888, and the rule was rescinded. She was in love with the socialist Herbert Burrows, and they helped organize a strike by women who worked at the Bryant and May match factory in East London and suffered terribly from starvation wages and phosphorus fumes that caused cancer. Shaw explained why Annie was different than himself and the Fabians when he wrote, "Injustice, waste, and the defeat of noble aspirations did not revolt her by way of irony and paradox; they stirred her to direct and powerful indignation and to active resistance."7 In 1889 Besant was elected to the London School Board, and her reforms included free meals and medical examinations for children in the elementary schools.

Annie Besant discovered Theosophy in 1889 when William Stead asked her to write a review of The Secret Doctrine. Like Shaw, she became a vegetarian. He asked her if she knew that Madam Blavatsky had been exposed by the Society for Psychical Research, and Blavatsky herself asked her to read the SPR report. Annie found that the allegations were not credible, and even if true they did not affect the teachings of Theosophy. She studied The Secret Doctrine and wrote a favorable review. In May 1889 she became a Fellow of the Theosophical Society and was blessed by Blavatsky and her master KH (Kuthumi). Besant became his disciple and soon was co-editing the magazine Lucifer (Light-bringer). She spoke on "Why I Became a Theosophist" and published it as a pamphlet, explaining that materialism had failed and that she was trying to follow the truth. In 1890 she published "The Trades Union Movement" pamphlet in which she wrote,
Now Trades Unionism is spreading among women, and large and powerful unions are springing up among unskilled workers; so that there is hope that at last all workers will be enrolled in disciplined hosts, and there will be no stragglers from the army of labor. When each Trade Union comprises the majority of the workers in its Trade, and when these unions are united in a National Trade Federation, then will come the time for the International Federation, which will mean the triumph of labor and the freedom of the workers everywhere.8

Besant gave her farewell speech to the secularists on August 30, 1891. She defended Blavatsky and said she had letters from the mahatmas in the same handwriting after her death. Besant, G. R. S. Mead, and Herbert Burrows emphasized that the principles of Theosophy were more important than

occultism, but people still wanted to hear more about the mahatmas than brotherhood. Besant succeeded Blavatsky as head of the Esoteric Society in Europe, and she went on a speaking tour in the United States in 1892. She and her guru Gyanendra N. Chakravarti spoke at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago the next year. After spending a week in Ceylon and visiting a Theosophical college there, Besant arrived with Olcott in India on November 16, 1893. Many Indians joined the Theosophical Society because they did not have to give up their religion. Some Hindu women came out of purdah to attend a convention, but Muslim women were more reluctant. Besant spoke to three thousand people in Madras on "India and Its Mission." Olcott gave her the Hindu name Annabai, and she followed most Hindu customs. Olcott had been reviving Buddhism and Zoroastrianism, and she hoped to do the same for Hinduism. She gave several lectures in Calcutta and stayed with Dr. Bhagavan Das. The London Times quoted her as telling Bengalis, "If the youths of India would act up to the traditions of their past, instead of fawning on a foreign power, they would not long remain under a foreign yoke."9 However, she explained in a letter that she came to India as a spiritual and educational worker rather than for political work. In four months she gave 121 lectures to audiences ranging from 600 to 6,000. Besant would spend the rest of her life as a resident of India, but she would travel to England annually for conferences and occasionally to America. Besant learned from her own master that the mahatma letters she had found had been written by W. Q. Judge, who engaged in a struggle for power in the TS with Olcott and her. Judge was suspended and then reinstated as the head of the American TS. Besant widened her base of support by traveling to Australia and New Zealand in 1894. On October 29 the Westminster Gazette began a series of articles on "Isis Very Much Unveiled: The Truth about the Great Mahatma Hoax." The Theosophical Society in America declared itself the original and genuine TS. President Olcott in India expelled Judge and cancelled the American charters. Many branches in America formed independent associations. Besant learned Sanskrit and translated the Bhagavad-Gita in 1895. In The Ancient Wisdom she explained that on the higher planes whether a motive is good or bad can be even more important than whether the action is beneficial or not because one can learn from the results. She worked with the clairvoyant Charles W. Leadbeater and published books on thought forms and other spiritual studies. Judge died on March 21, 1896, and the spiritualist Katherine A. Tingley became Besant's rival by traveling to Europe and India. Leadbeater got into trouble by advising boys to use sexual self-gratification and for having close relations with them. Besant repudiated these, and they continued to work together. In 1898 Besant founded the Central Hindu College, which became Benares Hindu University. She believed that the spiritual wisdom in India's philosophies could help the entire world. Theosophists started 250 schools that included women and the poor. They opposed caste restrictions and child marriage while helping outcasts and widows. To discourage child marriage she refused to admit married boys to the elementary departments and doubled the fees for boys who married in college. In 1903 Besant said that India must be governed by Indians and Indian ideas. However, in 1905 she refused to allow students to attend the college without shoes as part of the Swadeshi protest. In her book A Study in Consciousness, which was first published in 1904, Besant observed that our knowledge of right and wrong comes from many experiences; but it can be guided by ideals. She suggested that studying divine teachers such as Krishna, Buddha, and Christ could be helpful. Evil desires will fall away if good desires are fostered. One way to avoid bad desires is to imagine the likely consequences that bring misery. The emotion of love directed to a living being is virtue, and vices springing from hate can be eradicated. What is right is in harmony with the great law and brings bliss, but what is wrong brings unhappiness. Love draws people together, whether it be a family, tribe, or nation. Right reason works actions of love into permanent obligations or duties.

The will expressing as desire is not free but bound by those impulses. When the will is directed as love, the self-determined person is free. She served as the president of the Theosophical Society from 1907 until her death in 1933.

Indian National Congress 1885-1905

Surendranath Banerjea (1848-1926) was one of only a handful of Indians who qualified for the Indian Civil Service, but he was dismissed for failing to correct the false report of a subordinate. He went to London to appeal and was not even allowed to take the bar examinations. He decided to dedicate his life to redressing wrongs and protecting rights, both personal and collective. When he was arrested for criticizing a judge, he began the Indian tradition of welcoming imprisonment in order to expose the injustice of the Government's policies. In 1876 he founded the Indian Association of Calcutta to work for a united India. The next year he launched a national campaign against the reduction of the age limit for the Civil Service Examination, holding large meetings in Calcutta, Agra, Lahore, Amritsar, Mirat, Allahabad, Delhi, Kanpur, Lakhnau, Aligarh, and Benares. They petitioned for a higher age and exams in India as well as England, and they sent the Bengali barrister Lalmohan Ghosh to England as their representative. In 1878 Banerjea urged college graduates to dedicate their lives to helping their country. He argued that violence was not necessary to redress grievances. He believed that under the British they could secure their rights by constitutional agitation. He noted that Nanak, who founded the Sikh empire, did much to unite Hindus and Muslims, and he preached good will between all religions. By living worthy, honorable, and patriotic lives they could live and die happily while making India great. Their next protest was against the oppressive Vernacular Press Act. During the debate over the controversial Ilbert Bill in 1883 they formed an All-India National Fund and the Indian National Conference. Allan Octavian Hume had been secretary to the Government of India, but in 1879 Viceroy Lytton removed him for asserting his independent views. After he retired from the Indian Civil Service in 1882, Hume worked on forming a political organization that would unite the efforts of Indians. His idea was to have leading Indian politicians meet annually to discuss issues and plan strategies. He founded the Indian National Union in March 1885, and they planned a conference for the last week of December. Because of a cholera epidemic in Poona, the conference was moved to Bombay, and 72 volunteer delegates to the first Indian National Congress met on December 28. Bengali barrister W. C. Bonnerjea presided, and they passed nine resolutions that called for a royal commission to investigate the Indian administration, abolishing the Secretary of State's Indian Council, creating more legislative councils and allowing more elected members and discussion of budgets, reducing military spending, and simultaneous public service examinations in England and India with older candidates. They also protested the annexation of Upper Burma as part of India and sent the resolutions to political associations. Coincidentally in 1885 the second session of the Indian National Conference was meeting in Calcutta. This group merged with the Indian National Congress, which met annually the last week in December in various cities, followed by second and third sessions in Calcutta and Madras. Hume served as general secretary of the Congress for 21 years, and he often went to England to promote their causes. The second annual Congress at Calcutta was attended by 434 delegates, 230 of them from Bengal. Dadabhai Naoroji presided and called for unity on the political program even though communities have social differences. They wanted India to have the same representative institutions as the British colonies of Canada and Australia. Madan Mohan Malaviya made his first speech and said there should be "no taxation without representation." Viceroy Dufferin invited members of Congress to a garden party as did the Governor of Madras the next year. In 1886 Dufferin appointed

six Indians among the fifteen members of the Public Service Commission. The Civil Service was reorganized, and more Indians were recruited into the provincial and subordinate services. However, before leaving office in December 1888, Viceroy Dufferin objected to the methods of the Indian Congress and called them a "microscopic minority" of educated Indians. In 1888 the Congress demanded that the minimum taxable income be raised to 1,000 rupees. The fifth annual Congress in 1889 was attended by 1,502 delegates, including 254 Muslims. Congress used constitutional agitation, and they published the journal India. Its editor William Digby established the Congress Agency in London, and William Wedderburn was elected chairman of the British Committee of the Indian National Congress and served in that position until his death in 1918. In 1890 Charles Bradlaugh introduced a bill in the House of Commons to expand the legislative councils. When an eleven-year-old bride died after intercourse in Calcutta, agitation increased to raise the age of marriage for girls from ten to twelve or fourteen. Behramji Merwanji Malabari was a Parsi and had published Notes on Infant Marriage and Enforced Widowhood in 1884. This reform campaign led in 1891 to the Age of Consent Act that prohibited marriage before the age of twelve. In 1892 Naoroji was elected as a Liberal to the British House of Commons, and he argued that Europeans were not natural leaders of India because they did not belong to the people. Malaviya noted at the eighth Congress that it was unjust to compel Indians to travel 10,000 miles to take an examination for service in their own country. In 1893 the House of Commons favored simultaneous exams in India and England for the Civil Service, but all the governments of India except Mysore opposed this, believing it would exclude Muslims and Sikhs. In the Congress that year Malaviya spoke about the miserable poverty of fifty million Indians because of British exploitation. In 1894 a delegate from Natal persuaded the Congress to pass a resolution asking the British Government to veto a law disenfranchising the Indians in South Africa. In 1895 "Surrendernot" Banerjea suggested that they could transplant the spirit of free institutions that made England a great nation. Never before had an ancient civilization been so influenced by modern ideas. Civilization had moved, like the sun, from east to west, and the west owes a great debt to the east. He hoped that the debt would be repaid by the enfranchisement of their people. In 1896 the Congress sponsored an Industrial Exhibition and a Social Conference. Although they encouraged Muslims to attend and chose Badruddin Tyabji as president for their third annual meeting, only a few Muslims joined the Congress. Tyabji urged all educated and public-spirited citizens to work together for reforms to benefit all. He tried to persuade Muslims that Congress would not interfere with their religion. Sayyid (Syed) Ahmad Khan emphasized education and had founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh in 1877. He advocated working with Hindus to support each other; but he generally opposed the Indian National Congress because he believed the Hindus and Muslims had conflicting interests. He trusted the British more than the Hindus. He formed the Annual Muslim Educational Congress in 1886, and they held their sessions at the same time of year as the Indian Congress. Theodore Beck was the first principal of the Aligarh College, and he devoted his career to serving the Muslims in India. He was instrumental in forming the United Indian Patriotic Association in 1888 and the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental Defence Association of Upper India in 1893. These organizations were parallel to the Indian National Congress and were intended to protect the political rights of Muslims by strengthening British rule in India. Sayyid Ahmad was concerned that Muslims as only one-fourth of the population of India would be outvoted by Hindus in a democratic government. His writings in Urdu in a clear style were influential. Beck died in 1899, and Theodore Morison was the principal of Aligarh College until 1905. He continued the hostility toward the Indian Congress, emphasizing educational and economical development rather than political

agitation. Sayyid Ahmad died in 1898, and his policies were also followed by his successor, Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk. Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866-1915) was strongly influenced by his teacher Ranade and carried on his work. When he graduated from Elphinstone College in 1885 he joined the Deccan Education Society in Poona, taking a vow of poverty for twenty years and dedicating his life to public service. That year Fergusson College was founded, and he began teaching English and mathematics. Gokhale first spoke at the Indian National Congress in 1889 and his annual speeches at Calcutta on the budget began in 1902. They called for self-government in the central and provincial governments, abolishing the India Council, spreading education, reducing military expenditures and military training for Indians, separating the judicial and executive functions in criminal justice, employing more Indians in higher public offices, reducing taxes, and using surpluses to promote medical relief, scientific agriculture, and industrial education. He argued that the large annual surpluses of the Government did not indicate success but that taxes on the people were much too high. In 1903 Gokhale spoke about how they must improve the conditions of the low-caste Hindus by helping them get education and employment to improve their social standing and self-respect. He said it was monstrous that a class of people should be condemned to utter wretchedness, servitude, and degradation by permanent barriers that were impossible for an individual to overcome. He recalled how Gandhi had reported on the discrimination Indians were suffering in South Africa and how Ranade became an advisor to Gandhi. Ranade pointed out that Indians should correct the disgraceful oppression and injustice in their own country. Modern civilization is making greater equality a priority over the privilege and exclusiveness of the old world. Gokhale asked how they could realize their national aspirations if so many of their countrymen remained in ignorance and degradation. He served on the Bombay Legislative Council from 1902 until his death, and Gandhi considered him his political guru. Gokhale declined a position on the Secretary of State's Council and a knighthood. He urged the Parliament to pass mandatory education for boys and educational provisions for girls. In 1905 Gokhale founded the Servants of India Society for those willing to take vows of poverty to serve the poor and help India to achieve self-government. Their five goals were to create love of the motherland, organize political education and agitation, promote goodwill and cooperation among different communities, assist in educating women and the poor, and lift up the depressed classes. Each member joining the Society took a vow to think of one's country first, serve it without seeking personal advantage, regard all Indians as brothers, be content with provisions provided by the Society, lead a pure life, quarrel with no one, and always work for the aims of the Society. Bal Gangadhar Tilak was born on July 23, 1856 as a Maratha Brahmin. He earned a university degree and taught mathematics in Poona. He founded the Deccan Education Society and Fergusson College in 1884; but he resigned in 1890 after his associates gave up the ideal of selfless service by keeping their outside earnings. Tilak advocated action for political reforms and published two weekly newspapers - Kesari (which means "The Lion") in Marathi and The Mahratta in English. He argued that no alien government has the right to interfere in social customs no matter how worthy the cause. As a Hindu nationalist he opposed all British laws that restricted their religion, including banning the marriage of young girls. Yet he led by example and did not allow his own daughters to marry until they were at least sixteen. Tilak suggested self-help and national revival. He considered untouchability a cancer in the body of Hindu society and said it must be eradicated at all costs. He was so opposed to the Indian National Congress letting the Indian National Social Conference use their tent that he threatened to burn it down.

Tilak began organizing Ganapati festivals in 1893 to worship the popular Hindu god Ganesha. Tilak admired the Maratha warrior Shivaji and began the annual Shivaji festival in 1895. Rabindranath Tagore wrote a famous poem about the 17th-century hero of Maharashtra. Tilak urged civil disobedience for political change years before Gandhi began his experiments in South Africa; but he was a freedom fighter and considered nonviolence only a strategy, not a moral principle. Gandhi would later call Tilak the "maker of modern India." Tilak favored revolutionary action in politics but moderate evolution in social reforms. When the famine occurred in 1896, he demanded that victims receive the benefits mandated by the Famine Relief Code. In May 1897 Tilak wrote in Kesari that Shivaji was justified in murdering the Mughal general Afzal Khan, and he suggested that it was not wrong to kill "for the good of others." He objected to the destruction of Hindu property as a means to prevent the bubonic plague from spreading. The Plague Commissioner W. C. Rand ordered stringent inspections and measures in Poona, and the next week on June 22 he and his assistant were shot after celebrating Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee. Both died, and two Natu brothers were detained. Tilak was tried in September, and six Europeans on the jury found him guilty of sedition while the three Indian jurors voted not guilty; the judge sentenced him to eighteen months. The Indian newspapers censured the Government and praised Tilak. Eventually Balkrishna Chapekar and his brother Damodar Chapekar confessed and were hanged. Because of public pressure, Tilak was released early on September 6, 1898. The two Dravid brothers who informed on the Chapekar brothers were murdered on February 8, 1899 by a third brother, Vasudev Chapekar, and his friend, and they were also hanged. Going to prison made Tilak a hero, and he was given the name Lokamanya, which means "leader of the people." He demanded self-government (swaraj) and coined the slogan, "Swaraj is my birthright, and I will have it." Using Government records, William Digby calculated that the capital drained out of India in the 19th century was 6,080,172,021. This figure represents how much the Europeans were exploiting the natural and human resources of India. India's public debt increased from 94 crores of rupees in 1860 to 312 crores by 1901. Arabinda Ghose (later called Sri Aurobindo) was born on August 15, 1872 in Calcutta. His father was a barrister, and in 1879 he sent him to Manchester, where he was taught English, Latin, and French by Mr. and Mrs. Drewett. In 1884 Aurobindo went to St. Paul's in London and then to King's College at Cambridge in 1890 on a classics scholarship. He learned more languages and liked writing poetry. He passed his examination in only two years but did not apply for the degree he had earned. Not wanting to be in the Indian Civil Service nor disobey his father, he failed the examination by not showing up for the horse-back riding test. Aurobindo returned to India at the beginning of 1893. When his father heard that the ship his son was sailing on had sunk, he died of heart failure; but Aurobindo had taken another ship. He taught college in Baroda and was described as speaking little, being desireless, self-controlled, and always given to study. In his series of articles "New Lamps for Old" in Induprakash he ridiculed those who talked about "the blessings of British rule." He criticized the Congress for being too middle-class and selfish without being a popular organization. Ranade warned the editor that he might be prosecuted for sedition, and young Aurobindo had to tone down his rhetoric. He and others began to form secret societies dedicated to Indian freedom such as the Lotus and Dagger Society. His poetry was published as Songs to Myrtilla in 1895. No press would publish his pamphlet "No Compromise" in 1903, but the Maratha revolutionary Kulkarni printed a few thousand copies at night and freely distributed them. Aurobindo became vice principal of the college in 1904 and began yoga. By practicing breath control (pranayama) five hours a day he found his mind worked much better, enabling him to write two hundred lines of poetry in a half hour.

Aurobindo tried to remain hidden behind the scenes. During the time of the Bengal partition, he wrote the revolutionary booklet Bhawani Mandir arguing that India needed to be reborn by developing the Shakti power of the Divine Mother. He wrote that we are all gods and creators with the energy of God within us. He noted that Ramakrishna came, and Vivekananda preached. Now it was up to them to work for progress. Influenced by Bankim Chandra's novel Anandamath and the "Bande Mataram" anthem, he devised rules for a new Order of Sannyasis that would practice strict discipline and work to instruct and help the poor, educate the middle class, and persuade the rich to benefit the public for the general welfare of the country.

Notes
1. Quoted in British Paramountcy and Indian Renaissance, Part II, p. 127. 2. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume VII, p. 153 quoted in Indian Idea of Freedom by Dennis Gilmore Dalton, p. 52. 3. Historical Evolution of India in Speeches and Writings of Swami Vivekananda, p. 100. 4. Isis Unveiled: Volume 2 Theology by H. P. Blavatsky, p. 590. 5. The Secret Doctrine: Volume 1 Cosmogenesis by H. P. Blavatsky, p. 643. 6. The Political Status of Women by Annie Besant, p. 14 in Selection of Social and Political Pamphlets of Annie Besant. 7. Quoted in The First Five Lives of Annie Besant by Arthur H. Nethercot, p. 275. 8. The Trades Union Movement by Annie Besant, p. 28 in Selection of Social and Political Pamphlets of Annie Besant. 9. Quoted in The Last Four Lives of Annie Besant by Arthur H. Nethercot, p. 22.

India's Freedom Struggle 1905-1918

India's Boycott 1905-07 British Repression 1907-10 India in an Imperial War 1911-18 Besant, Krishnamurti, and Bhagavan Das Aurobindo's Spiritual Evolution Tagore's Spiritual Expressions

India's Boycott 1905-07

Viceroy Curzons division of the large province of Bengal was announced in July 1905. Eastern Bengal and Assam would have 18 million Muslims and 12 million Hindus. Western Bengal would have 42 million Hindus to 9 million Muslims, but those speaking Bengali were outnumbered by the Biharis and Oriyas. The secret motivation of Lord Curzon seems to have been to divide the Bengali movement that he considered seditious. This technique of divide and rule increased the conflicts between Hindus and Muslims in Bengal. The plan was approved by the Secretary of State without consulting the Parliament. The Bengal Legislative Council strongly denounced the plan on July 8, and the Indian press in Bengal and other provinces condemned the proposal. Curzon won over Dacca nawab Salimullah with a low-interest loan and with the prospect of Dacca becoming the new capital. The weekly Sanjivani in Calcutta suggested a boycott of British goods on July 13, and a public meeting at Bagerhat adopted it three days later. The boycott idea spread as two thousand public meetings were organized in the cities and in hundreds of villages. In the town of Barisal students and even teachers went to school barefoot and were threatened with expulsion.

During the Durga Puja national festival in Bengal on September 28 about 50,000 people gathered in the Kali temple at Kalighat despite a heavy rain. They vowed not to purchase or use foreign articles or to employ foreigners. The two Chief Secretaries of Bengal and Eastern Bengal and Assam issued circulars ordering teachers to discipline protesting students. The partition of Bengal went into effect on October 16. On that day after bathing in the sacred Ganga River more than 50,000 people attended a meeting to lay a foundation for Federation Hall in Calcutta. At a meeting in the house of ailing Ananda-mohan Bose 70,000 rupees were collected for the Swadeshi movement. An AntiCircular Society was formed on November 4. The movement began with verbal protests in meetings, the newspapers, petitions, and conferences before most turned to the more coercive tactic of the boycott. Bengal was the richest market in India for Manchester cotton goods, and they also wanted to revive their indigenous (swadeshi) textile industry. Mill owners in Bombay and Ahmadabad quickly increased their production and their profits. Societies (Samitis) formed in Bengal to promote the boycott campaign. Brahmins and priests honored the boycott, and washer-men vowed not to wash foreign cloth. Shops selling foreign goods were picketed, and altercations led to police beating protesters with lathis (bamboo sticks). Those advocating the boycott were expelled from schools and colleges, imprisoned, fined, and flogged. The Government used its influence on local landlords (zamindars). Processions and meetings were banned, and newspapers were censored. Finally leaders were detained without trials. The boycott developed a four-fold program that included not using English cloth and other products, not using English speech, resigning Government offices, and socially boycotting persons who purchase foreign articles. When Lord Curzon refused to receive a deputation from Congress in 1905, they sent Gokhale and Lajpat Rai to England. The Congress met at Benares in December 1905, and 758 delegates elected Gokhale president. The Moderates complained that the boycott methods of passive resistance were impractical or even injurious by denying themselves educational opportunities. Yet for the first time Gokhale mentioned self-government within the empire as their goal, and he denounced the partition of Bengal. He spoke of swadeshi as a profound and passionate movement that calls people to serve the Motherland. The Moderate Congress condemned the Government repression and justified the boycott as a last protest. They repeated their demands for reform of the legislative councils. The Extremists held a conference and formed a new National Party. As soon as he heard of the Bengal National College, Aurobindo Ghose left his teaching position at Baroda and went to Calcutta to be its principal. The National Council of Education was founded in March 1906 with thirteen distinguished members, and only Aurobindo had been involved in the anti-partition agitation. The Bengali weekly Jugantar (New Age) began publishing that month, and within a few months its circulation was over 7,000. The English daily Bande Mataram started in August. They advocated fighting violence with violence because they believed that injustice must be opposed to win independence. Viceroy Curzon had appointed Bamfylde Fuller to govern the province of East Bengal and Assam. He alienated Hindus by favoring the Muslim majority. He sent Gurkhas to Barisal, and they took supplies from shops without paying for them. During the provincial conference at Barisal on April 14-15, 1906 the cry of Bande Mataram was forbidden in the streets. Aurobindo and Surendranath Banerji led protesting marchers that were beaten with lathis. Magistrate Emerson fined Surendranath 400 rupees. A deputation of 36 Muslims led by Aga Khan met with Viceroy Minto on October 1 to ask for concessions. Minto decided to allow the Muslims special representation on government bodies according to their status and influence rather than by their numbers. His new policy accepted Hindus and Muslims as separate nations and gave Muslims special favor on

legislative councils. The issue was settled at Simla by the Viceroys secretary Dunlop Smith and Archbold, the principal of the Aligarh College. Future prime minister Ramsey MacDonald noted that this agreement sowed discord between the Hindu and Muslim communities by favoring the latter, and historians have seen this as the beginning of a policy that would lead to the separate nation of Pakistan. In 1906 the nationalist Extremists were encouraged by Japans victory over Russia, and Congress Moderates pointed to the Liberal Partys win in the English election. Gokhale met with John Morley five times in 1906. During the Congress at Calcutta in December 1906 the 81-year-old Parsi Dadabhai Naoroji was accepted as a compromise president while 1,663 delegates and some 20,000 visitors attended. The most noted part of his speech was stating that swaraj (self-government) is the goal of India. The Extremists were able to get a series of resolutions passed in favor of the boycott, swadeshi, and national education. After Nawab Salimullah of Dacca convened a meeting of the Central Muhammadan Association, the All-India Muslim League was founded on December 30, 1906. Their main purposes were to promote Muslim loyalty to the British Government and to protect and advance the rights of Muslims in India. They were concerned that a representative government would be unfair to them as a minority, and they believed that competitive examinations deprived Muslims of Government jobs. The way they saw of avoiding Hindu rule was by supporting the British. Muslims in East Bengal supported the partition, and Hindu-Muslim riots broke out. The Red Pamphlet (Lal Ishtahar) accused Hindus of taking money from Muslims and urged Muslims to boycott Hindus. When Salimullah of Dacca came to Comilla on March 4, 1907, Muslims began attacking Hindus and looted their shops for four days as the riots spread to Jamalpur and other places. An investigation by C. J. ODonnell, a member of Parliament, later showed that public proclamations assured Muslims they would not be punished for oppressing Hindus. The Muslim League met at Karachi in December 1907, and a British branch of the Muslim League opened in London in 1908. That year the Muslim League announced its opposition to the Hindu movement to unsettle the partition of Bengal. At their annual meeting at Amritsar the Muslim League overwhelmingly supported the separate electorate for Muslims. In April 1907 Aurobindo wrote seven articles on Passive Resistance in Bande Mataram. He argued that organized political strength was needed for national self-development. Aurobindo wrote that political freedom is the life-breath of a nation and was needed to bring about moral, social, and educational reforms as well as industrial expansion. He argued their popular authority would rival the despotic foreign bureaucracy. The National Congress had recognized the boycott and the national programs for swadeshi and education, and arbitration could be passed at the next session. The New Party and Bengal had accepted passive resistance or what Aurobindo also called defensive resistance. This must be organized, and the only effective way to remove foreign tyranny is to establish a democracy under a free constitution to control the executive and judiciary as well as the legislative branch of government. Only when the people become responsible can a government be a protector, instead of an oppressor. Aurobindo advised that, as long as the oppressive government was still legal and respected life, liberty, and property, there was still time for using peaceful resistance. He believed that using defensive resistance for self-development was the last chance to avoid extremist methods. He noted that aggressive resistance tries to harm the Government while defensive or passive resistance exerts the same pressure by abstaining from helping the Government. The British could not rule and exploit India without the assistance of the Indians. Aurobindo suggested they extend self-development to every aspect of national life, not only to Swadeshi and national education but also to national defense, arbitration courts, sanitation,

insurance against famine, etc. To avoid indoctrination they refused to send their boys to Government schools. By extending their self-development they would universalize their defensive resistance, boycotting the courts and the bureaucracy. All these methods are legal. If the administration persistently refuses, then he recommended refusing to pay taxes as the strongest and final form of passive resistance. He noted that British justice has shown its contempt for life by giving European murderers leniency. He anticipated the British reaction of enacting coercive laws, and he said the passive resisters must be willing to suffer by disobeying unjust laws and orders. Aurobindo also recommended the social boycott against Indians who refused to honor the boycotts of salt, sugar, and cloth. He believed that passive resistance was a method by which they could meet disturbers of the peace with self-contained divine power. He concluded that the sooner they put this into practice, the sooner they would gain national liberation.

British Repression 1907-10

The Extremist militant nationalists led by Tilak, Lajpat Ral, B. G. Khaparde, B. C. Pal, and Aurobindo challenged the Moderates in the Indian National Congress who relied on petitions and verbal persuasion to seek colonial self-government. In April 1907 a provincial Congress at Surat excluded the propositions of boycott and national education from the program. Conflicts between the Moderates and Extremists during the Reception Committee meeting at Nagpur led to shifting the December Congress also to Surat, where the Moderate Pherozeshah Mehta was influential. Tilak tried to meet with the leaders to arrange a compromise that would affirm the status quo of the 1906 resolutions; but when he was ignored, the Extremists disrupted the proceedings. The Moderates held a separate convention, and in April 1908 at Allahabad their Convention Committee drafted a new Constitution for the Indian National Congress. The first article declared that their goal was to become self-governing within the British empire by using constitutional means, and the second article required every delegate to accept these goals in writing. Thus they excluded the Extremists. Attendance at the annual Congress meetings declined with only 243 delegates attending in 1909, only 202 in 1912, and 349 in 1913. The 4th Earl of Minto, whose great-grandfather had been governor-general of India (1807-13), was a sportsman (jockey) who had been governor-general of Canada for six years. He was appointed viceroy by the Conservative Party, but the newly elected Liberals chose John Morley as secretary of state for India. When Lt. Governor Fuller advocated disaffiliating two high schools from the University of Calcutta and refused to back down, Viceroy Minto accepted his resignation. While Indian editors were being censored and arrested, Anglo-Indian newspapers such as the Civil and Military Gazette of Lahore were publishing virulent propaganda and false reports about revolutionary activities. During a public meeting at Rawalpindi on April 24, 1907 the former schoolteacher Ajit Singh strongly criticized the increased land assessment and proposed that peasants stop cultivating until it was reduced. When a public inquiry was postponed, a crowd began attacking the houses of Europeans. Sixty people were arrested, and five were convicted of riot and arson and were sentenced to imprisonment for three to seven years. Three others, who were not at the riot, were kept in jail through the hot summer. The Civil and Military Gazette warned of trouble in May during the 50th anniversary of the Mutiny. People were urged to withhold payments to the Government. Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh were feared as the most eloquent speakers, and Viceroy Mintos Executive Council had them deported to Mandalay, Burma on May 9. Many people were arrested for seditious speeches, articles, or books. In July 1907 Jugantar editor Bhupendra Nath Dutta was tried by Chief Presidency Magistrate Kingsford for publishing the articles Free from Fear and Big Stick Medicine. He did not deny the charges and said he

considered it his duty. He was sentenced to a year of hard time in prison, and in September the printer of Jugantar was sentenced to two years. Yet Jugantar continued publishing. Aurobindo and Satish Mukherjee of the Dawn Society believed that the surest way to arouse the people was to get the Government to repress the Indian nationalists. Aurobindo was also charged with sedition. Bipin Chandra Pal refused to testify that Aurobindo was the editor of Bande Mataram, and Aurobindo was acquitted for lack of evidence; but Pal was sentenced to six months in prison. Magistrate Kingsford ordered the boy Sushil Sen who shouted Bande Mataram silenced. When the boy hit Sergeant Huey, Kingsford had him flogged. After each of the 15 strokes Sushil Sen cried Bande Mataram. Kavyavisharad composed the famous song Make me forget my mother by flogging! Am I such an unworthy son of the Mother? Bande Mataram continued to be published but as a weekly. Aurobindos Bhawani Mandir (Temple of the Holy Mother) was also banned along with Vartaman Rananiti (The Technique of Modern Fighting) and Mukti Kon Pathe (Which Way Freedom?) which he and his brother Barindra Ghose published. The latter contained articles from Jugantar calling for an armed uprising. Also during the summer of 1907 the editor, printer, and publisher of Sandhya were prosecuted. Editor Brahmabandhab said he was carrying out his God-appointed mission for swaraj, and he accurately prophesied his own death during the trial. In February 1908 the printer of Sandhya was sentenced to two years. A Hindu holy man advised Aurobindo to empty his mind in order to receive inspiration. Speaking at Bombay in January 1908, Aurobindo suggested that Indians go beyond the nationalism that would replace one political oppression with another by realizing their great heritage of spiritual nationalism. The first repressive law issued on May 11, 1907 severely restricted public meetings by requiring advance written notice so that police could attend. Rashbehari Ghosh predicted that the Seditious Meetings Act would lead to secret sedition and secret societies planning violent responses. The Newspapers Act of 1908 authorized the District Magistrate to stop publication and confiscate presses that printed any incitement to violence. Bande Mataram, Sandhya, and Jugantar were immediately shut down. Secret leaflets and booklets then advocated violent actions against the foreign tyrants. The Jugantar group prepared bombs in the Manicktola garden house of the Ghose family, and in a secret trial they condemned Magistrate Kingsford. On April 30, 1908 the teenagers Khudiram Basu and Profulla Chaki threw a bomb at a coach they thought was his, but it killed instead the wife and daughter of a Kennedy. When Profulla was about to be arrested, he shot himself. Khudiram went to the gallows in the Muzaffarpur jail saying Bande Mataram. Lt. Governor Andrew Fraser survived more than one attempt on his life. These events led to passing the Explosive Substances Act on June 8, 1908. The latter mandated the penalty of transportation for fourteen years for just possessing bomb materials. The British called the revolutionaries terrorists. On May 2, 1908 police raided the Manicktola garden and found rifles, revolvers, dynamite, and objectionable literature that included a bomb formula. Aurobindo had moved on April 28, but they arrested eighteen people. Barindra Ghose took responsibility and disclosed many names. Aurobindo was arrested on May 5. Some of the arrested were discharged, but eventually 34 were indicted in what was called the Aligarh Conspiracy. During the trial a revolver was smuggled into jail that enabled Kanailal Dutt and Satyen Bose to kill Naren Gosain for being an informer. Kanai and Satyen refused to appeal and were hanged. On January 24, 1909 Biren Datta Gupta killed Samsul Alam, the Deputy Superintendent of Police, in the Calcutta High Court, and on February 10 Charu Basin murdered the prosecutor Ashutosh Biswas outside the Aligarh courthouse. Neither assassin defended himself, and both were hanged. Four men were sentenced to transportation for life, and ten received sentences from five to seven years. Again Aurobindo was acquitted. The

defense lawyer Chitta Ranjan Das called him the poet of patriotism, the prophet of nationalism, and the lover of humanity. The Jugantar published an editorial calling for people to take up the revolutionary program, and it was banned again. Also in 1908 Tilak was prosecuted for seditious writings in Kesari, and he spoke for 21 hours in his defense. The jury found him guilty by a 7-2 vote, and he was sentenced on July 22 to transportation for six years and a fine of 1,000 rupees. He handled the injustice philosophically, saying, It may be the will of the Providence that the cause I represent may prosper more by my sufferings than by my remaining free.1 Students and mill-workers in Bombay had already gone on strike after Tilaks arrest. On July 23 workers at nine mills went on strike for six days to protest his six-year sentence. The next day seventy mills stopped work, and on July 25 another 76 mills went on strike. After some police were injured, the military fired on the demonstrators, killing and wounding many. In December 1908 the Criminal Law Amendment Act allowed a special court of three judges without a jury to accept evidence not valid under ordinary law, and their decision was final. In what was called the Samitis Act the Government could declare unlawful any association it considered inimical to peace and order, and attending their meetings could be punished with imprisonment. The popular Anushilan Samiti, which had 116 branches and more than 8,400 members, was declared unlawful in January 1909. Aswini Kumar Dutt was influenced by Vivekananda and emphasized the virtues of truth, love, and purity. He and eight others were deported in December 1908 without even knowing the charges against them under an 1818 regulation aimed at plundering warlords. In May 1909 Morley reported to Minto that 150 members of Parliament had written to Prime Minister Asquith protesting the deportations; but they were not released until February 1910. Madan Lal Dhingra assassinated Secretary of State William Curzon Wyllie at the Imperial Institute in London on July 1, 1909 and was hanged. The Morley-Minto reforms added more Indians to the legislative councils; but the Indian Councils Act of 1909 was designed to put mostly Muslims and those loyal to the Government on the legislative councils, and they had little power. In December the Indian National Congress passed resolutions criticizing the reforms for unjustly giving one religion excessive representation, for arbitrarily restricting candidates for election, for distrusting the educated class, and for keeping the Councils ineffective. Mohandas Gandhi went to London on behalf of Indians in South Africa in 1909, but he felt that suffering in jail did more good than spending money in England seeing politicians and journalists. After meeting Extremists who insisted that India could never win its independence without violence, on his return voyage to South Africa he wrote the dialog Hind Swaraj (Indian Self-Rule). Based on the conversations he had in London, in this diatribe against the corruption of Western civilization Gandhi suggested that India could gain its independence by nonviolent means and selfreliance. He rejected brute force and its oppression and declared that soul force or love is what keeps people together in peace and harmony. History ignores the peaceful qualities but notices the interruptions and violations which disrupt civilization. He concluded the dialog by declaring that his life was henceforth dedicated to attaining Indian self-rule. Gandhis Hind Swaraj was published in Gujarati and English and was republished in 1921 and 1938. Aurobindo practiced yoga and was transformed by his spiritual experience while he was in jail for a year. He said that in meditation he felt the presence of Vivekananda and heard his voice. When he was released in May 1909, most of the revolutionary leaders were either in prison or exile. He began the Karmayogin in English and the Dharma in Bengali. In An Open Letter to my Countrymen on July 31 he explained the boycott as refusing to cooperate with the Government in the economic exploitation of their country. He argued that other foreign nations should not be

boycotted because India needed to export as well as import. Aurobindo combined patriotic nationalism with religious fervor by calling it a religion to realize God in the nation. He considered God the leader of the movement for the redemption of their Motherland. He advocated armed revolution, but some of the revolutionaries engaged in robberies to raise money for weapons. The robberies (dacoities) led to three big conspiracy cases of Howrah, Khulna, and Dacca in 1910, and many people received long prison sentences. Aurobindo went to Chandernagore, where the French helped them smuggle arms. He believed he was guided by God to go to the French colony at Pondicherry, where he became a spiritual recluse for the rest of his life. The Indian Press Act of 1910 required owners of printing presses and newspapers to deposit security of up to 5,000 rupees, which could be forfeited for publishing any objectionable material that included criticizing the Government. If the security was forfeited, the next security was heavier, and a third offense meant that the printing press could be forfeited. The Post Office and Customs could detain packages with objectionable material. The Moderate leader Gokhale supported these measures to control political violence. Over the next decade the Press Act of 1910 penalized more than 350 presses, 300 newspapers, required 40,000 in securities, and proscribed more than 500 publications. The security requirement prevented 130 newspapers from starting. Yet the AngloIndian press and its provocative writings were immune from these restrictions. Morley complained that the sentences were outrageous, monstrous, and indefensible. He warned Minto that excess of severity is not the path to order, but to the bomb.

India in an Imperial War 1911-18

In November 1910 Charles Hardinge replaced Minto as viceroy; his grandfather had also been governor-general of India. Lord Crewe became secretary of state for India. Hardinge wanted a conciliatory policy to prepare for the visit of King George V to India the next year. He ordered that no political prosecutions were to be initiated without his consent and that any pending prosecution that was not going to secure a conviction was to be withdrawn. On the first day of 1911 at Allahabad sixty Hindus met with forty Muslims, and Gokhale urged Hindus to understand Muslim fears. In June 1911 John Jenkins gave Hardinge the idea to restructure the partition of Bengal by 1) moving the capital from Calcutta to Delhi, 2) creating a United Bengal as a Presidency, 3) making Bihar and Orissa a Lieutenant-Governorship with a capital at Patna, and 4) restoring Assam as a Chief Commissionership. Crewe indicated his support in August, and the Cabinet and India Council approved the proposals in November. At his coronation on December 11, George V announced that ending the Bengal partition was his gift to India. The changes were put into effect by proclamations in March 1912, and the Act of Parliament was approved by the King in June. Assam got its legislative council in November, and the Central Provinces got one a year later. Most Indians were glad that the partition of Bengal had been undone, but many Muslims considered it a betrayal. However, in March 1913 the Muslim League adopted the Congress goal of selfgovernment under the British and sought to attain it by promoting national unity and cooperation. The Indian National Congress responded by electing the distinguished Muslim Syed Muhammad as president for their annual session at Karachi in December. Soon after King George V visited the new capital, a bomb was thrown on December 23, 1912 at the elephant carrying Viceroy Hardinge, who was seriously wounded; but only the servant holding the umbrella was killed. Four men were executed, and two others were sentenced to seven years. The Moderate Gokhale gave the assurance that he and his party would not oppose the Viceroy on anything. The 1913 Indian Criminal Law Amendment Act made conspiracy a criminal offense. The Defence of India Act empowered special tribunals to ignore the Code of Criminal Procedures to inflict sentences of death, transportation for life, and imprisonment for violating rules or orders in

the Act without any appeal. Any civil or military authority could order a person to remain in an area, abstain from acts, search and seize possessions, and arrest anyone suspected of planning something. This Act negated the previous rule of law and was used to bring nine conspiracy cases involving 175 people, of which 18 were executed, 58 were transported for life, and 58 others were imprisoned. Because of torture by police, many people were convicted based on confessions they later recanted. In Bengal about eight hundred people were interned without any trial at all. About 30,000 Indians, mostly peasants from the Punjab, had emigrated to America. Lala Hardayal fled India and went to France and then San Francisco. In November 1913 he founded the Yugantar Ashram and the weekly Ghadar (Rebellion), publishing it in Urdu, Marathi, Gurumukhi, Hindi, and English. They reported on the crimes perpetrated by the British in India and highlighted biographies of Indian patriots and fighters for freedom in other countries. Circulation increased quickly, and distribution became world-wide. After Hardayal criticized US immigration policy that excluded Orientals and spoke for the Syndicalist Party, he was arrested on March 24, 1914 to be deported; but probably because of the sympathetic Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan he was given bail. Hardayal fled to Geneva, Switzerland, where he edited a paper called Bande Mataram. In 1914 Gurdit Singh, a Sikh businessman in Singapore, chartered the Japanese steamer Kongamata Maru to take 376 Sikhs to Canada, but in July the Canadian immigration department sent them back to India. Britain declared war on Germany on August 4, 1914, and Japan joined their alliance with France and Russia. When Turkey joined the Central Powers of Germany and Austria in October, most of the troops the British sent to Mesopotamia, Palestine, and Egypt were Indian. The ruling chiefs of India declared their loyalty to Britain, and many Indians were sent to fight in France also. Recruiting for the Indian army jumped from 15,000 men a year to 300,000 by 1918. According to Edwin Montagus speech in November 1918, India sent 1,215,338 men overseas and suffered 101,439 casualties. The Government of India bore these enormous expenses and even contributed an extra 100 million for the British empires war, increasing Indias national debt by thirty percent. India supplied 1,874 miles of railway track, 6,000 vehicles, 237 locomotives, 883 steamers and barges, and ten million cubic feet of timber. In India, a country larger than Europe, the British garrison was reduced to 15,000 men. Some Muslims in Afghanistan took the side of Turkey, but Amir Habibulla of Afghanistan remained loyal. Indian troops were sent to the mouth of the Euphrates River to protect the oil tanks and pipelines of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, and they captured Basra in November 1914. They advanced toward Baghdad, but the Turks stopped General Townshends forces at Kut-el-Amara. After a five-month siege he and his 10,000 men surrendered. Another 12,000 Indian troops arrived at Basra, but they could not move up river because they lacked transportation. Bad leadership and disease caused 23,000 casualties. Later Lloyd George appointed the Mesopotamia Commission that reported negligent planning, especially by the Viceroy, the aged Commander-in-Chief Beaufort Duff in India, the Director of Medical Services, and General John Nixon, the commander in Mesopotamia. Secretary of State Austen Chamberlain resigned and was replaced by his critic Edwin Montagu. Some revolutionaries and politicians considered Englands necessity Indias opportunity. About sixty Indian revolutionaries from the Ghadar party sailed from San Francisco to fight in India, and a hundred joined on the way; they were detained at Hong Kong, and a hundred were interned. Several thousand people came back to India; 400 were kept in jail, and 2,500 were restricted to their villages in the Punjab. Sikhs were especially suspected, and on September 29, 1914 police massacred eighteen Sikhs from the Kongamata Maru who wanted to go to Calcutta and refused to get on a train to the Punjab.

In February 1915 fifteen Muslims from Lahore, Peshawar, and Kohat joined the Mujahidins in Kabul. That same month the Muslim battalion of Fifth Light Infantry, believing they were being sent to fight Turks, mutinied at Singapore, killing eight officers, nine soldiers, and seventeen civilians. About three hundred mutineers dispersed into the jungle, and forty mutineers were executed in public. A few revolutionaries tried to work with the Germans to foment a rebellion against the British in India; but efforts to smuggle arms from the United States failed, and many were arrested or killed. The day after the US declared war in April 1917, seventeen Indians were arrested in San Francisco. Ram Chandra had given names, and on the last day of the trial he was murdered by another defendant, who was shot dead by a marshal. Eventually more than a hundred defendants were either convicted, became Government witnesses, or fled the country. A few revolutionaries continued using violence, and the number of political murders since 1907 reached 64 by 1917. In that decade there were 112 robberies, twelve bombings, and three attempts to wreck trains. The secret Abhinava Bharata operated in Maharashtra, and many colleges had branches. Annie Besant went to England in 1914 and raised support for the cause of India. She bought a daily newspaper in Madras and renamed it New India on July 14; her coverage of the war helped increased the circulation to ten thousand by November. Besant published a series of articles on the history of the Indian National Congress in Commonweal and as the book How India Wrought for Freedom. She invited 237 members of the All-India Congress Committee and the All-India Muslim League to a closed conference December 25 on strategy for attaining home rule. Three days later the Congress postponed action on a Home Rule League until a report could be made. Tilak was released from prison after six years in June 1914, and at a provincial conference in Puna the following May he condemned violence and proposed supporting the British. Annie Besant consulted with him, and he said that prominent nationalists were serving in municipal and legislative councils. They agreed to work for self-government under the British. Gokhale and Pherozeshah Mehta still objected to admitting the Extremists, but they both died in 1915. Tilak and the Conference of Nationalists met twice in 1915 and established the Indian Home Rule League. Besant proposed amending the Congress constitution, and Tilak came back in December 1915, receiving a great ovation by the 2,259 delegates at Bombay. In July 1916 Tilak was ordered to furnish a personal bond of 20,000 rupees. The Bombay High Court set aside his order; but Besant lost her appeal on a second levy of 10,000 rupees for New India and the weekly Commonweal. So she sold her two presses and suspended publication, but three days later New India re-appeared under a new editor. After waiting for approval from the Congress, Besant decided to go ahead with another Home Rule League in September 1916. She decreed September 14 as Home Rule Day and at the first celebration said that she used the term Home Rule because she wanted self-government for India within the British empire. Branches were quickly formed in the major cities, and she made extensive speaking tours, as did Tilak. He covered Maharashtra and the Central Provinces while she went to the rest of India. In December 1916 at Lakhnau (Lucknow) the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League united to demand reforms for self-government within the empire. Congress adopted the following goals: 1. The Council of the Secretary of State shall be abolished. 2. Half of the Governor-General's Executive Council shall be Indians elected by the Imperial Legislative Council. 3. Four-fifths of the Imperial Legislative Council shall be elected, one-third of these by Muslims. 4. The Government of India shall not interfere in local affairs. 5. The Imperial Legislative Council shall control the Government of India except in military and

foreign affairs. 6. Four-fifths of the Provincial Legislative Councils shall be elected by the people with specified numbers of Muslims in each province. 7. Provincial Legislative Councils shall control their governments. 8. Three-fourths of any community may block a bill. 9. Executive officers in India shall have no judicial powers. This Congress was extraordinary for its religious quality and the participation of women. The Home Rule resolution was passed unanimously. Gandhi proposed that the Lakhnau Pact be translated into the Indian languages, and by the end of 1917 a million people had signed the petitions. Besant also worked for the woman suffrage resolution passed by Congress, and in May 1917 she was elected the first president of the Womens Indian Association. She protested Government Order 599 that prevented students and teachers from attending unapproved political lectures and conferences. The governments of Bombay, the Central Provinces, and Bihar banned Besant from entering while the governments of the Punjab and Delhi prohibited Tilak and B. C. Pal. On June 15 the Government of Madras ordered Besant interned with her secretary George Arundale and philanthropist B. P. Wadia, who joined her at Ootacamund. Newspapers publicized their informal detention that lasted 94 days. The retired judge Subrahmaniya Aiyar and two thousand people declared that they would stand by the Home Rule League if it was declared illegal. President Woodrow Wilson of the United States proclaimed that the war was to make the world safe for democracy and to give the right of self-determination to the people in choosing their own government. Aiyar wrote to Wilson that autonomy for India would result in ten million more volunteers for the war. American newspapers publicized this, and labor supported home rule for India as in Canada and Australia. On August 14 a Madras committee approved of using passive resistance, and six days later Secretary of State Montagu announced that responsible government was the new goal of British policy in India. The British removed the racial bar from giving Indians royal commissions in the army, and Besant and her associates were released from detention. In response the Congress and the Muslim League set aside passive resistance and sent an All-India deputation to Viceroy Chelmsford and visiting Montagu. Tilak nominated Besant as president for the 1917 Congress, and by the end of the year his League had 14,000 members. Besant spoke eloquently to the 4,967 delegates about how the war could not end until England realized that autocracy must perish in India. They demanded home rule because freedom is the birthright of every nation and because her resources were not being used for her greatest needs. Money was being spent on the army instead of education. India was no longer begging for boons but was standing up for rights. However, Montagu met with the Moderates who had seceded from the Congress, and they formed the National Liberal Federation. The report signed by Montagu and Viceroy Chelmsford in April 1918 was published in July and proved to be a disappointment even to the Moderates. The Montagu-Chelmsford Report recommended giving more popular control to local bodies, but the Government of India was to remain completely responsible to the Parliament. Congress held a special session at Bombay on August 29; but even though they were not very far apart, the Moderates declined to rejoin the Congress. In their annual meeting in December at Delhi the Congress resolved to send a deputation to England to ask the Parliament to let their representatives attend the Peace Conference, and they demanded responsible government in India. The Congress named Tilak, Gandhi, and Hasan Imam to attend the Peace Conference. The membership of Tilaks Home Rule League had grown to more than 33,000, but the British War Cabinet would not even let Tilak go to England.

After the Bolsheviks took over Russia and withdrew from the war, the Turks invaded Central Asia, Azerbaijan, and Persia. In April 1918 the Viceroy called a conference at Delhi and asked India to redouble its war efforts. Khaparde said Indians would mobilize enthusiastically if the British Parliament would promise them responsible self-government within a reasonable period, but he was not allowed to present his resolution. Tilak was not invited as he had been declared out of order at the Bombay War Conference. Mohandas Gandhi told the Viceroy that he and others would help the British empire in their time of need if self-government would come more quickly. Meanwhile the Government was inflicting much pressure on Indian men in order to meet their recruiting goals. Most of the Indians fought for the money as mercenaries. In the second half of 1918 India suffered severely from the world-wide influenza epidemic. Official figures estimated that six million people died, but others said it was closer to sixteen million. Mohandas Gandhi arrived in England during the first week of the Great War, and again he supported the British by raising and leading an ambulance corps; but he became ill and returned to India in January 1915. The great poet Rabindranath Tagore called Gandhi Mahatma, meaning Great Soul, and in May 1915 Gandhi founded the Satyagraha Ashram for his family and coworkers near the textile city of Ahmadabad in Gujarat. When a family of untouchables asked to live in the ashram, Gandhi admitted them. Orthodox Hindus believed this polluted them. Funds ran out, and Gandhi was ready to live in the untouchable slums if necessary; but an anonymous benefactor donated enough money to last a year. To help change peoples attitudes about these unfortunate pariahs, Gandhi renamed them Harijans or Children of God, and he later called his weekly magazine Harijan. In a speech at the opening of Benares Hindu University on February 6, 1916 Gandhi said he was ashamed to be speaking in English, and he commented on the jewelry worn by the dignitaries on the stage. The Theosophist Annie Besant was one of the most popular orators of her era, and she liked to speak last. However, Gandhi had been late and spoke after her. She interrupted his discussion of anarchism, and this dispute caused the princes to leave the stage. Yet Gandhi agreed that Indians must take power into their hands to gain self-government. Gandhi began wearing home-spun khadi in order to encourage self-sufficient village industries and thus help alleviate poverty in India. In April 1917 Gandhi went to Bihar to learn how suffering indigo workers in Champaran were being exploited by exorbitant fees of landlords. He was arrested and ordered to leave; but as he insisted on staying, he was put in jail. However, the officials soon realized that the Mahatma was the only one who could control the crowds. Assistants helped by carefully documenting the grievances of 20,000 tenants, and a government commission unanimously accepted the tenants complaints as valid. Rents were reduced, and the planters had to compensate the tenants. The Government abolished the growing of indigo, and most planters sold their factories and left the district. Gandhi had developed his methods of nonviolent action for social change in South Africa, where Indians suffered discrimination. He was especially aware of how the indenture system was used to recruit Indian laborers in British colonies. When the Government refused to introduce a bill to abolish this in the Central Legislative Council, he announced he would start a nonviolent campaign if the system were not abolished by July 31, 1917. The Government averted that by deciding to end the system. Gandhi also used satyagraha (truth power) in Kaira in 1918. Peasants were suffering from a famine but still had to pay taxes. Petitions and prayers had failed. After Sirdar Vallabhbhai Patel and others helped educate them, the peasants pledged to forfeit their lands rather than pay the assessments; Bombay merchants supported the campaign. Gandhi advised the farmers to remove their crops from the attached fields, and they were arrested for doing so. Eventually the authorities suspended the taxes for the poor peasants.

The textile workers of Ahmadabad were also economically oppressed. Gandhi suggested arbitration; but it fell apart when some workers went on strike. After examining the issues, Gandhi believed they deserved a 35% increase in pay. The mill-owners would not go beyond 20% and declared a lock-out on February 22, 1918. When the workers became hungry and were weakening in their pledges, Gandhi went on a fast to strengthen their resolve to continue the strike. He explained that he did not fast to coerce the opponent but to strengthen or reform those who loved him. He did not believe in fasting for higher wages, but he fasted so that the workers would accept the system of arbitration to resolve the conflict. After four days the mill-owners accepted the arbitrators award of a 35% increase. In the spring of 1918 Gandhi was persuaded by the British to help raise soldiers for a final victory effort in the war. Charlie Andrews criticized Gandhi for recruiting Indians to fight for the British. Gandhi spoke to large audiences but gained hardly any recruits. He was experimenting with a limited raw-food diet and became sick.

Besant, Krishnamurti, and Bhagavan Das

Theosophy and Blavatsky 1875-88 Besant and Theosophy 1889-1905 After Henry Olcott died in 1907, Annie Besant was elected president of the Theosophical Society (TS). She was re-elected every seven years until her death in 1933. She and the clairvoyant Charles Leadbeater had founded the Central Hindu College (CHC) in Benares where boys lived like monks and received a spiritual education that included modern science. Leadbeater had been accused of teaching boys to masturbate as a sexual release; this created a scandal, but he was never formally charged. In 1909 he discovered Jiddu Krishnamurti and his brother Nityananda at a private beach in Adyar. Leadbeater said that Krishnamurti had an extraordinary aura, and he and Besant began educating him to be the vehicle for the coming Messiah (Maitreya) or World Teacher. Their father Narayaniah allowed the Theosophists to adopt the two boys, but later he brought a suit trying to reclaim them. Leadbeater and Besant wrote a book about the past lives of Krishnamurti, whose soul they called by the star name Alcyone. In 1909 they published At the Feet of the Master, claiming that it was written down by 13-year-old Krishnamurti from the instructions of his master Kuthumi while preparing him for initiation. The master on the inner planes teaches the pupil using the Theosophical paradigm. The four qualifications for the spiritual path are discrimination, desirelessness, good conduct, and love. You should avoid the selfish aims of wealth and power by working for evolution to help others. Your religion or nationality do not matter because they are all one. Discrimination helps you choose right and avoid wrong. The soul is divine and master of the physical, astral, and mental bodies. Thus you must not let the bodys animal desires hinder you from doing good. The body is like your horse that you should care for and treat well. The astral body may lead you astray by emotions such as anger, jealousy, greed, envy, and depression. The mental body is susceptible to pride and ambition, but by meditating you may turn away from worldly things. You must always be gentle, kind, reasonable, and accommodating. Knowers are able to feed the souls of the poor. God is wisdom and love. You must distinguish truth from falsehood, think for yourself, be honest, and help others. Freedom comes from not being bound by selfish desires. Avoid gossip, cruelty to people or animals, and superstition. Six points of good conduct are self-control of thoughts and actions, tolerance, cheerfulness, concentration, and confidence in your inner master. Love is the most important qualification and means doing no harm and serving God by helping others.

Besant founded the Order of the Star and began publishing the monthly Herald of the Star in January 1912. The deification of Krishnamurti caused 25 people on the staff at CHC to resign in April 1913, including Bhagavan Das, George Arundale, and E. A. Wodehouse. That month Judge Bakewell decided the custody battle with the mixed verdict that the boys were to be turned over to their father, who was charged with the legal expenses for having brought unproved charges. However, the boys were in England, and by the time the appeals were decided they had passed the legal age of 18 in Indian law. They chose to remain with Besant. Arundale became Krishnamurtis tutor, and the Order of the Star grew to 12,000 members. Besant claimed that she was guided by Rishi Agastya, a legendary saint whom she called the Regent of India, to work for home rule in India. She began publishing the weekly Commonweal on January 2, 1914. The Irish Home Rule movement persuaded her that the world needed a federation of self-governing nations. She consulted with the Moderate Gokhale and soon became involved in Indian politics, as described above. Meanwhile Krishnamurti failed the entrance exams for Oxford and Cambridge despite preparation by several tutors. He and Nityananda attended a private school in Kent, where other students hazed them and called them black monkeys. During her internment in 1917 Besant was elected president of the Indian National Congress, but her long speech was not well received, especially her intention that she would break the tradition by continuing as the leader for a year until the next Congress. After the Conservatives returned to power in England, she visited the ailing Gandhi and tried to persuade him to limit his civil disobedience tactics. In March 1919 she issued a statement that she could no longer support Gandhis movement. She became even more unpopular in India when she justified the use of British force against rioting demonstrators. In 1920 she published the pamphlet Gandhian Non-Cooperation, or Shall India Commit Suicide? Nityananda died in 1925, and this deeply affected his brother, who gradually began to awaken and think for himself. Krishnamurti never really felt comfortable in being heralded as the vehicle for the World Teacher, and on December 28, 1929 he renounced the claim and disbanded the Order of the Star, saying that truth cannot be approach by any path, religion, or sect. Although Krishnamurti was born on May 12, 1895, he later claimed that he had no memory of his life before 1929. Bhagavan Das (1869-1959) was an expert in Sanskrit and a philosopher who became a Theosophist. He and Annie Besant founded the Central Hindu College that later became Benares Hindu University. He also founded a national university called Kashi Vidya Peeth and was headmaster. Das wrote about thirty books. He was expelled from Agrawal Samaj for letting his son violate caste rules by going to England to study law. Bhagavan Das completed his third edition of The Science of the Emotions in 1924. This comprehensive analysis of human emotions draws on Indian philosophy and classics as well as recent work by western psychology and psychoanalysis. The positive emotions of love and joy expand the self while the negative hatred and sadness diminish one. Das differentiated the feelings expressed toward perceived superiors, equals, and inferiors. He philosophically suggested that the altruism of love and helping produce more happiness than egotism and harming. He discussed the virtues of wisdom, courage, self-control, justice, love, faith, and hope while warning against the seven deadly sins of lust, anger, greed, pride, jealousy, hate, and fear as well as other vices and negative emotions. He observed that by self-restraint emotions that are felt but not acted upon may be sublimated into higher expressions. Das discussed Tolstoys theory of art, and he noted that Beethovens anger at his cook was expressed in his music. From the spiritual perspective of Indian philosophy he emphasized the importance of detachment (vairagya) for transcendence.

Bhagavan Das also published The Science of Peace in 1904 and his commentary on the ancient Laws of Manu in The Science of Social Organization in 1910. His ecumenical compilation of The Essential Unity of All Religions was first published in 1932 and was enlarged in 1939. This comparative study of all the major religions organizes their teachings into the three ways of knowledge, devotion, and works.

Aurobindo's Spiritual Evolution

After his spiritual transformation while he was in jail for a year during the Aligarh conspiracy case, Sri Aurobindo went to the French colony at Pondicherry in southern India on April 4, 1910. During his years as a young revolutionary he believed that India needed strong action to liberate itself from the emasculation, stagnation, poverty, economic dependence, and alien rule of the British Government. He had advocated independence for India since 1907 and was an early leader of the Extremists. Now he answered a spiritual calling and believed that an evolutionary process was in motion that would lead to Indias liberation from British domination. He devoted himself to the spiritual disciplines of yoga and meditation and wrote extensively. For a few years he wrote letters to the revolutionaries. He had come to believe that armed insurrection was no longer needed and could be dropped without harming the nationalist cause. On August 15, 1914 Aurobindo began publishing the monthly Arya with the financial help of Paul and Mira Richard. The Richards left in 1915, but Mira came back in 1920 and eventually became known as the Divine Mother. They founded the Aurobindo Ashram in 1926, and Aurobindo recognized her as having the same spiritual consciousness as himself. They kept the Ashram free of political connections or action. Aurobindo gave talks in the evenings until November 24, 1926 when he experienced the descent of a higher consciousness. He did not resume his talks until 1938. From 1914 for seven years Aurobindo wrote many articles in Arya that were later collected and published as books. The Ideal of Human Unity was published in 1919, War and Self-determination in 1920, The Life Divine in 1939 and 1940, and The Human Cycle in 1949. That the independence of India was achieved on his birthday on August 15, 1947 he took to be a confirmation of his spiritual influence. In The Ideal of Human Unity Aurobindo examined the political evolution toward the human unity he considered inevitable. He acknowledged that fundamental equality is necessary to make human differences inoffensive. The social aggregates of the family, clan, class, and nation developed, but the freedom of the human individual exceeds them and will not tolerate too much coercion. He noted that humanity seems to be moving toward the socialist ideal. The energy of individuals is what drives social progress, and he considered the state more mechanistic than organic because of its tendency to perpetuate the status quo. Although socialism may be beneficial, human freedom will not let it interfere unnecessarily with individual growth. The human spirit must subordinate the mechanical to its true development. The natural evolution of nations, especially in Europe, has made them indestructible; but empires are more artificial and perish because they lack psychological unity. As the Roman empire was falling, European nations gradually evolved into durable entities by means of unifying languages, feudalism, monarchy, and the Church. Powerful nations, such as England and France, have become imperialistic, but he noted they are losing their desire to replace Islamic culture in Africa or Hinduism in India. Aurobindo concluded that an empire was unlikely to be able to conquer the entire world because people will naturally resist that. He wrote, War can only be abolished if national armies are abolished.2 He recognized that this is very difficult and that humanity has not yet learned how to do this. He noted that most governments have become or are becoming

democratic; but they are not real democracies because they are dominated by the propertied class. An international council would also likely be governed by a few great empires. In the second part of The Ideal of Human Unity Aurobindo explained how human unity could be attained. The three main factors in social evolution are individuals, communities, and all humanity. The aim of Nature is to develop all three to fulfill their capacities. Freedom is as necessary as law, and unity is not complete without diversity. Life demands diversity, but human reason often prefers uniformity. By liberty we can obey the law of our being and grow into self-fulfillment in harmony with our environment. Humans should be allowed to form their groups by locality, race, culture, and economics without violent interference from powerful nations. The drive toward economic and social centralization is causing democracy to develop into socialism. A world state could be formed based on centralized uniformity, or a world union could be founded as a free and intelligent federation. The Great War caused many European monarchies to fall, and Aurobindo predicted that Europe would become as universally republican as the two Americas. Yet the modern parliamentary democracies are instruments of the aristocrats and the middle class, and modern people want minorities protected from majorities. Wars are caused by national egoism in the name of patriotism. Aurobindo warned that the new League of Nations would fail because the war had accentuated force, and the commercially driven nations would eventually come into conflict again over the control of markets and wealth. He noted that the bourgeois democracies were developing stupendous military organization. Even democracies would subordinate liberty to the efficient life of the community in socialism. The common consent of conflicting national egoisms is not likely to preserve peace. A great nation is likely to take risks to enhance its power. The world authority must have the psychological assent of all humanity that force can be used to restrain nations, and this can only be done by achieving total disarmament. The international authority must be in command of the remaining military force to police the nations; otherwise it will not be effective, and war will result. To do this the world state must have the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of government. To transcend the commercial interests a stronger spiritual motive must subordinate the economic and political motives. Modern war has become the bastard offspring of wealth-hunger and commercialism with political ambition as its putative father.3 As long as commercial rivalries are not prevented, covert wars will continue. Capital and labor will be in chronic conflict, and strong nations will crush the weak. Thus the world state will tend to centralize all control including economic, social, and cultural under one international authority, especially as socialism comes into existence. Conditions that interfere with the common good of humanity will not be tolerated, but otherwise nations will be allowed to pursue their own ideals. Eventually the world may even adopt a common language, perhaps Esperanto. Aurobindo believed that the world state would lead to uniformity and mechanical regulation in a socialist system, but he preferred healthy freedom with diversity in the oneness. Aurobindo suggested that a free union could be attained by confederation that could eliminate war and settle differences in peaceful ways. International relations and mutual aid could be regulated while protecting the internal freedom of each unit. He traced the idea of internationalism back to the 18th century. He noted that modern science is naturally international because scientific facts and truths are universal. A world federation of democratic people could be formed to give international courts and police the authority to resolve conflicts. For Aurobindo the essential motivating factor that could make this work is what he called the religion of humanity. When people realize that all humans are sacred regardless of all distinctions of race, creed, color, nationality, status, political or social advancement, then all can be protected

from violence. This faith in humanity is concerned about its earthly future and would abolish legalized torture, slavery, and oppression while encouraging philanthropy and charity. He believed that egoism of the individual, class, and nation is the enemy of real religion. The practice of oneness will result in the fulfillment of liberty, equality, and fraternity. The last has been lacking, but the religion of humanity may spiritualize by the inner law of human life which is love. Thus the psychological factor is the most important aspect of human unity. He warned that humans must choose to cooperate, or they face a lingering suicide. A world federation that protects liberty allows the healthy progress of the human race. A world federation is most likely to resolve conflicts while preserving the freedom of national life; but a centralized world state would eventually stagnate or suffer revolution or reform until it was transformed into a system that affirms freedom. The religion of humanity has no dogma or outward rite, but the oneness respects the freedom of all people. Aurobindo published War and Self-Determination in 1920. War and violent revolution can be eliminated by removing the inner causes of war. He exposed the illusions that people thought would end wars. Some had argued that increasing commerce would eliminate war, but the Great War showed that militarism has increased with commercialism. Others thought that increasing democracy would stop the wars of greedy kings and martial nobles, but the history of ancient Greece and modern democracies demolished that illusion too. In the 19th century Europeans hoped that the concert of Europe, the balance of powers, and arbitration courts would prevent wars; but they only reduced them for a while. Some thought that modern science and technology would make war too deadly to consider, and a book on the Great Illusion hoping that the realization that wars do not bring commercial advantages was quickly refuted by the Great War. War became industrialized and a titanic struggle leading to military and economic exhaustion with the aid of famine. The final illusion was that war could end war. Aurobindo argued that only when people realize their oneness will they stop killing each other. True self-determination comes from knowing the infinite God within. The democracy of ancient Greece was based on slavery, violence, and the subjection of women, and modern democracy is a plutocratic system in which the bourgeoisie dominate the workers. Aurobindo proclaimed that women must be regarded as free individuals. In oneness people will respect the self-expression of others. Aurobindo criticized the League of Nations as the tool of the five dominant powers to force their will on others. In a post-script chapter to The Ideal of Human Unity, written in 1950, Aurobindo noted that the United Nations Organization was formed as a consequence of the Second World War, but like the League of Nations, it was also an oligarchy dominated by the five winning powers, especially with the veto device in the Security Council. The so-called Communism of Bolshevist Russia had become autocratic and a police state. Its ideological conflict with the capitalist nations led by the United States has become a cold war because of the awesome new weapons both sides feared to use. He noted that America was so attached to individualism and capitalism that it was likely to resist the trend toward democratic socialism. He warned that a powerful nation with strong allies might try to dominate the world using their military superiority. The Human Cycle by Aurobindo was based on a series of articles on The Psychology of Social Development. He analyzed social evolution from the ancient times to the age of individualism and reason. His spiritual experience helped him to see beauty and goodness that he called suprarational. He prophesied that the suprarational Spirit is the ultimate law of life and that only a spiritual transformation can lift people beyond the limits of materialism. He described the needed transformation from the mental to the spiritual order of life that would be accomplished in individuals. A large number of individuals must be influenced by those leading the spiritual awakening for it to take effect in the community. Aurobindo believed that the three main aspects of

the spiritual age are God, freedom, and unity. Freedom comes from the Spirit within and enables one to consciously master the lower nature. The healthiest condition for humans is the largest possible freedom. The spiritual age will be manifest when the common people realize and are moved by the truths of the Spirit. Truth is what we create within us. This spiritual evolution is the goal of humanity, and Aurobindo based his ethics on what advances or hinders such evolution. By expressing their inner freedom human individuals grow in consciousness. The spiritual affects every aspect of life from the intellectual and ethical and aesthetic to the physical. The crude emotions, egoism, and desires of our vital nature need to be refined and transformed by the light of the soul in the heart. Aurobindo described his philosophy of spiritual evolution in The Life Divine. He agreed with the ancient Upanishads that Spirit is also in matter and that it has been evolving life into its highest forms, the humans. Now God through freedom is evolving the human consciousness from the mental to the spiritual. Humans experience God or the spiritual as satchitananda, which means truth (sat), consciousness (chit), and bliss (ananda). Every soul is divine, and those humans who transcend the mental to the spiritual become superhuman. By practicing integral yoga that includes love, wisdom, and action as well as psychological liberation an individual learns how to integrate ones life with the oneness of all. Aurobindo described ignorance as being unaware of this spiritual beingness and failing to integrate oneself internally and externally with life. As more individuals manifest this spiritual consciousness, society and culture will be transformed by their cooperation. Those who experience this superconsciousness he called gnostics or knowers, and by living divine love they will influence others to cooperate with the spiritual integration that does what is best for everyone.

Tagore's Spiritual Expressions

Rabindranath Tagore was born on May 7, 1861 into a wealthy family in Calcutta. His grandfather Dwarakanath became rich trading with the British East Indies Company, and he bought several estates. His son Debendranath Tagore managed those estates and was a scholar, a reformer, and cofounder of Brahmo Samaj. Rabindranath was the youngest of Debendranaths fourteen children, and his mother died when he was a child. He was taught at home and was exposed to Sanskrit and English literature. He began writing poetry when he was eight. When Rabi was fourteen, he perpetrated a hoax by publishing in the Bengali journal Bharati some love poems about Krishna and Radha he wrote, claiming they were by Bhanusimha from the 17th century. He acted in a Moliere play at age sixteen and wrote his first play in 1881 about the legendary Valmiki, who turned from being a robber to compose the epic Ramayana. Rabindranath visited England 1878-80, but he quit studying law at University College in London after only a year. Tagore was very close to his sister-in-law Kadambari, who committed suicide in 1884, the year after he married a ten-year-old girl. Rabindranath had five children, but his wife and most of his children died young. While the death rate was falling in England, it was climbing in Bengal. He began managing his fathers estates at Shelidah in 1890, and he allowed village headmen and a local court to settle disputes with himself as the final court of appeal. He disliked regimented schools and educated his own children at home. Even though he had criticized early marriages, he arranged for his two oldest daughters to marry men they had never met at the ages of 14 and 10. This made it easier for him to start a school at Shantiniketan in 1901 for his son Rathindranath and four other boys. Tagore wanted to combine the best aspects of East and West in education, and three of the five teachers were Christians. Tagore wrote most of his short stories in the early 1890s. In his eighty years he would write volumes of poetry, short stories, a few novels, plays, essays, letters, and autobiographies. He made

more than two thousand paintings and drawings and composed even more songs, including national anthems for India and Bengal. He once said that his art was for Europe, but his songs were for his own country. One of his songs began, You think you are strong enough to break the bonds that destiny has tied? Gandhis favorite included the line, If no one answers to your call, walk alone, walk alone. On Partition Day in Calcutta on October 16, 1905 Rabindranath Tagore began the Rakhibandhan tradition of tying a thread around the wrist of another Bengali as a symbol of friendship. Thousands of people did this on the banks of the Ganges and then marched through the streets singing. During this Swadeshi movement Tagore founded a Benevolent Society for the 65,000 people in his 125 villages. His father could borrow money at 8% interest, and so he could charge them 12%, which was much lower than what loan-sharks charged. When he received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, he donated the 110,000 rupees to the Shantiniketan School, which invested it in the Agricultural Bank, giving the tenants more capital. Tagore criticized the Hindu-Muslim riots and the bombing of British officials. He warned that if Indias unity was based on animosity toward the British, this would find new targets after the British left. In July 1908 he lectured on East and West and suggested India needed an inner harmony between the two. Tagores most famous play, The Post Office, was written in 1911. A doctor tells a very sick boy that he must not go outside. So he talks to people through a window and sees a new post office. His receiving a letter from the King just before he goes to sleep implies the mystical symbolism of death. After Tagore translated his Gitanjali (Song Offerings) into English and met the poet William Butler Yeats in 1912, he became the first Asian to win a Nobel Prize. In 1914 Tagore was depressed and wrote his most famous novel, The Home and the World (Ghare Baire). The autobiographical Nikhil is an idealistic zamindar who is disgusted by the terrorism and religious zealotry of the Swadeshi movement. The novel ends nihilistically with his being wounded in a communal riot between Hindus and Muslims. When Gandhi left South Africa, Charlie Andrews brought him and his followers to Tagore. Although Annie Besant may have been the first to call Gandhi a Mahatma, Tagore made the name popular. Tagore also hosted British officials at Shantiniketan, and in 1915 he was dubbed a knight, which he renounced four years later after the Amritsar massacre. In 1916 Tagore traveled to Japan and the United States, warning about militaristic nationalism, commercialism, and technology. His lectures were published in the books Nationalism and Personality. In the latter he affirmed his belief in a spiritual world that is not separate from this world in which we are living in God. Human love, the greatness of the good, and heroic martyrdom personally express the ineffable beauty of nature. He fought against the education which teaches that a country is greater than the ideals of humanity. He visited Europe in 1919 and signed La dclaration pour lindependence de lesprit with Romain Rolland, Albert Einstein, and others. At Shantiniketan he started three departments in fine arts, music, and Indology as the nucleus for an international university he called Visva-Bharati. On March 2, 1921 Tagore wrote to Charlie Andrews from Chicago commending Gandhis nonviolent campaign.
We, in India, have to show the world what is that truth which not only makes disarmament possible but turns it into strength. The truth that moral force is a higher power than brute force will be proved by the people who are unarmed.

Life, in its higher development, has thrown off its tremendous burden of armor and a prodigious quantity of flesh, till man has become the conqueror of the brute world. The day is sure to come when the frail man of spirit, completely unhampered by airfleets and dreadnoughts, will prove that the meek are to inherit the earth. It is in the fitness of things that Mahatma Gandhi, frail in body and devoid of all material resources, should call up the immense power of the meek that has been waiting in the heart of the destitute and insulted humanity of India. The destiny of India has chosen for its ally the power of soul, and not that of muscle. And she is to raise the history of man from the muddy level of physical conflict to the higher moral altitude.4

Tagore wrote to Andrews again in May from Stockholm that when people love their own countries, this causes hatred and suspicion of other nations. Only the country that loves God more than herself can claim to be loved by all people. With its deep spiritual traditions Tagore hoped that India could be that country.

In 1924 Tagore visited China and called for the great streams of idealism to show that moral power through heroic sacrifice can demonstrate their wealth and strength. He doubted that any nation could be great while being materialistic. Yet loving material things will not be harmful if they bring soul into them. To the teachers he said that he was building an institution based on the spiritual unity of all races. He prophesied that when the races become closer, new truths will be revealed. He referred to a preacher who seemed to be a failure during the height of the Roman empire; but despite his crucifixion he lives forever as a symbol. Tagore noted that in his own time martyrs were going to prison for a deathless future. On February 3, 1922 Tagore published a warning in the Bengali press that violence was latent in the non-cooperation movement. Two days later a mob killed the police at Chauri Chaura, causing Gandhi to cancel the campaign. Although Tagore often criticized the specific tactics of Gandhi, such as burning foreign cloth, he agreed with his philosophy and strategy of nonviolence. In 1924 he wrote that Gandhis new political warfare has a spiritual character, and only those with the courage to accept suffering can wage this spiritual war. If an entire nation could be trained not to fear death, armaments would lose their power. Only when people accept this idea will freedom become permanent. Jesus Christ had faith in this vision, but people may not be ready yet to act on such a message. Tagore objected to Gandhis mandate that all patriotic Indians should spend several hours every day spinning, and in September 1925 he published his essay, The Cult of the Charka. Tagores lectures at Oxford in May 1930 were published as The Religion of Man. His ideas on religion are very similar to those of Aurobindo. Humans may have a relationship with the divine principle of unity, and his religion was being true to that spiritual unity. Tagore emphasized the eternal divinity in humanity. Truth does not come from an individual mind but from the universal Spirit that comprehends the individuals. Humans are always struggling for freedom. Greed does not satisfy, and true joy comes from surrendering our individual self to the universal Self. Civilization progresses as individuals seek ideal perfection. Tagore said,
We must realize not only the reasoning mind, but also the creative imagination, the love and wisdom that belong to the Supreme Person,

whose Spirit is over us all, love for whom comprehends love for all creatures and exceeds in depth and strength all other loves, leading to difficult endeavors and martyrdoms that have no other gain than the fulfillment of this love itself.5

Evolution is progressing toward the revelation of its own truth as the eternal realizes itself in history by overcoming obstructions. As an animal the human depends on Nature, but as a sovereign one builds ones world and rules it. In detachment humans realize a deeper relationship with the universe. Being responsible to the community enhances the freedom of social relationship and collective power. In the freedom of consciousness one realizes unity with a greater being, and with active love one may dedicate ones life to the eternal progress of truth. Joy comes from the love that realizes ourselves in others. Love testifies to the greater whole. True freedom leads to a broader path of self-realization. Each age reveals its personality as a dreamer. The mind is involved in the economy of the human organism, but union with the Spirit transcends the mind. Tagore recognized Zarathushtra as the first prophet to liberate religion from a tribal God to a universal Spirit and human ethics. After Gandhi was arrested in May 1930, Tagore wrote that the English had lost their former moral prestige in Asia and were no longer the champions of fairness and high principles. Yet he still believed that the best minds of East and West could meet in honorable understanding. He and his friend Einstein understood Zionism, but in November 1930 Tagore wrote prophetically,
The success of Zionism depends entirely upon Arab-Jewish cooperation. This can be obtained in Palestine only by means of a direct understanding between the Arabs and the Jews. If the Zionist leadership will insist on separating Jewish political and economic interests in Palestine from those of the Arabs, ugly eruptions will occur in the Holy Land.6

Tagore supported the ideals of the League of Nations, but in 1931 he criticized its practice, saying that it was like organizing a band of robbers into a police department.7 When Gandhi went on a fast to end untouchability in May 1933, Tagore wrote him a letter warning that his example could lead to noble souls leaving the world to the morally feeble. In 1936 Gandhi persuaded the businessman G. D. Birla to contribute 60,000 rupees to pay the debt for Tagores college. That year Tagore sent a message to the World Peace Congress at Brussels, emphasizing that peace must be built on the strength of the just, not on the weariness of the weak. To deserve peace they must pay its full price. The strong must cease to be greedy, and the weak must learn to be bold.8 Here are four inspiring songs from Gitanjali:
4 Life of my life, I shall ever try to keep my body pure, knowing that thy living touch is upon all my limbs. I shall ever try to keep all untruths out from my thoughts, knowing that thou art that truth which has kindled the light of reason in my mind. I shall ever try to drive all evils away from my heart and keep my love in flower, knowing that thou hast thy seat

in the inmost shrine of my heart. And it shall be my endeavour to reveal thee in my actions, knowing it is thy power gives me strength to act. 19 If thou speakest not, I will fill my heart with thy silence and endure it. I will keep still and wait like the night with starry vigil and its head bent low with patience. The morning will surely come, the darkness will vanish, and thy voice pour down in golden streams breaking through the sky. Then thy words will take wings in songs from every one of my birds' nests, and thy melodies will break forth in flowers in all my forest groves. 35 Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where the knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; Where words come out from the depth of truth; Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and actionInto that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. 36 This is my prayer to thee, my lordstrike, strike at the root of penury in my heart. Give me the strength lightly to bear my joys and sorrows. Give me the strength to make my love fruitful in service. Give me the strength never to disown the poor or bend my knees before insolent might. Give me the strength to raise my mind high above daily trifles. And give me the strength to surrender my strength to thy will with love.9

In 1916 Tagore published 325 epigrams in Stray Birds. Here are a few:
That I exist is a perpetual surprise which is life. (22) Life finds its wealth by the claims of the world, and its worth by the claims of love. (33) He has made his weapons his gods. When his weapons win, he is defeated himself. (45) God finds himself by creating. (46) Wrong cannot afford defeat, but Right can. (68) Chastity is a wealth that comes from abundance of love. (73)

Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man. (77) The artist is the lover of Nature; therefore he is her slave and her master. (85) Power said to the world, "You are mine." The world kept it prisoner on her throne. Love said to the world, "I am thine." The world gave it the freedom of her house. (93) I carry in my world that flourishes the worlds that have failed. (121) If you shut your door to all errors, truth will be shut out. (130) They hated and killed, and men praised them. But God in shame hastens to hide its memory under the green grass. (186) Life has become richer by the love that has been lost. (223) Man is worse than an animal when he is an animal. (248) God kisses the finite in his love and man the infinite. (302) Man's history is waiting in patience for the triumph of the insulted man. (316)10

Fireflies had their origin in China and Japan, where Tagore wrote his thoughts on fans and pieces of silk. Here are three:
God seeks comrades and claims love, the Devil seeks slaves and claims obedience. Love remains a secret even when spoken, for only a lover truly knows that he is loved. I am able to love my God because He gives me freedom to deny Him.11

Gandhi and India 1919-1941

Notes
1. Quoted in Struggle for Freedom, p. 116. 2. The Ideal of Human Unity by Aurobindo, p. 514. 3. Ibid., p. 652. 4. Quoted in Sources of Indian Tradition, Volume 2, p. 239. 5. The Religion of Man by Rabindranath Tagore, p. 24. 6. Jewish Standard Nov. 28, 1930, quoted in Rabindranath Tagore by Krishna Dutta and Andrew Robinson, p. 300. 7. Manchester Guardian, Jan 9, 1931, quoted in Rabindranath Tagore by Krishna Dutta and Andrew Robinson, p. 301.

8. Modern Review, Oct. 1936, p. 442, quoted in Rabindranath Tagore by Krishna Dutta and Andrew Robinson, p. 345. 9. Collected Poems and Plays of Rabindranath Tagore, p. 4-14. 10. Ibid., p. 231-262. 11. Fireflies by Rabindranath Tagore, p. 31, 147, and 157.

Gandhi and India 1919-1933

by Sanderson Beck
Gandhi's Soul Force and Nonviolence Gandhi's Nonviolent Campaigns 1919-22 India's Struggle 1922-29 Premchand's Realistic Fiction Iqbal's Islamic Poetry India's Civil Disobedience 1930-33 This chapter has been published in the book SOUTH ASIA 1800-1950. For ordering information, please click here.

Gandhi's Soul Force and Nonviolence

Satyagraha means literally holding on to the truth. The Hindu understanding of Sat is more than conceptual truth but means also being, existence, reality; ultimately we realize that our spiritual beingness is the essence of truth as a reality greater than any concept of the mind. Thus the term soul-force or truth power conveys the idea of employing our spiritual energies. For Gandhi this truth or spiritual reality is the goal, and the means to the goal must be as pure and loving as possible. He noted that we may always control the means but never the ends. Thus the means must be as good as the goal. Ahimsa therefore is the way of acting without hurting anyone or inflicting oneself against another spiritual being. We may hate an injustice for the harm that it brings to people, but we must always love all the people involved out of respect for human dignity. Satyagraha attempts to awaken an awareness of the truth about the injustice in the perpetrators, and by ahimsa this is done without hurting them. Because humans are subject to error and cannot be sure of judging accurately, we must refrain from punishing. Thus ahimsa is an essential safeguard in the quest for truth and justice. Gandhi distinguished satyagraha from the passive resistance which does not exclude the use of force or violence. He believed that satyagraha is not a method of the weak, like passive resistance, but it is a tool for the strong that excludes the use of violence in any shape or form. Satyagraha is the law of love for all, and it renounces violence absolutely. The idea is not to destroy or hurt the adversary but to convert them by sympathy, patience, and self-suffering. The satyagrahi hates all evil and never compromises with it but approaches the evil-doer with love. Satyagraha is insisting on the truth and can be offered in relation to ones family, rulers, fellow citizens, or even the whole world. Gandhi elucidated three necessary conditions for its success:
1. The satyagrahi should not have any hatred in his heart against the opponent. 2. The issue must be true and substantial. 3. The satyagrahi must be prepared to suffer till the end for his cause.1

Gandhi emphasized self-suffering rather than inflicting suffering on others. By undergoing suffering to reveal the injustice the satyagrahi strives to reach the consciences of people. Satyagraha does not try to coerce anyone but rather to convert by persuasion, to reach the reason through the heart. Satyagraha appeals to intelligent public opinion for reform. In the political field the struggle on behalf of the people leads to the challenging of unjust governments or laws by means of noncooperation or civil disobedience. When petitions and other remedies fail, then a satyagrahi may break an unjust law and willingly suffer the penalty in order to call attention to the injustice. However, one does not hide or try to escape from the law like a criminal, rather one openly and civilly disobeys the law as a protest, fully expecting to be punished. In Hind Swaraj Gandhi wrote, It is contrary to our manhood if we obey laws repugnant to our conscience.2 By eliminating violence satyagraha gives the opponent the same rights and liberties. Satyagraha requires self-discipline, self-control, and self-purification, and satyagrahis must always make the distinction between the evil and the evil-doer. They must overcome evil with good, hatred with love, anger with patience, falsehood with truth, and violence with ahimsa. This takes a perfect person for complete success, and therefore training and education are essential to make it workable. Gandhi emphasized that every child should know about the soul, truth, love, and the powers latent in the soul. Both men and women and even children may participate, and it demands the courage that comes from spiritual strength and the power of love. Surely it takes more courage to face the weapons of death without fighting than it does to fight and kill. From his experience Gandhi believed that those who wished to serve their country through satyagraha should observe chastity, adopt poverty, follow truth, and cultivate fearlessness. It is through fearlessness that we can have the courage to renounce all harmful weapons, filling and surrounding ourselves with the spiritual protection of a loving and peaceful consciousness. Gandhi listed detailed rules to guide the satyagrahi. One should harbor no anger but suffer the anger of the opponent, putting up with assaults without retaliating but not submitting out of fear of punishment nor to any order given in anger. One should not resist arrest by a person in authority nor resist confiscation of property; but if one is the trustee for the property of another, one may refuse to surrender it. One should not swear or curse or insult the opponent nor join cries that are contrary to the spirit of nonviolence. Civil resisters may not salute the Union Jack (British flag), but they should not insult it nor officials. If officials are being assaulted, one should protect them by risking ones life. In prison one should behave with decorum and observe discipline that is not contrary to self-respect; one should not consider oneself superior to other prisoners nor observe any distinction. One should not fast to gain conveniences. Gandhi believed that civil resisters who have chosen to join the corps should obey all orders of the leader. One should trust the care of dependents to God. One should not cause communal quarrels, but in the event of a disagreement should support the party clearly in the right. Non-cooperation is a comprehensive policy used by people when they can no longer in good conscience participate in or support a government that has become oppressive, unjust, and violent. Although satyagrahis do not attack the wrong-doer, it is their responsibility not to promote or support the wrong actions. Thus non-cooperators withdraw from government positions, renounce government programs and services, and refuse to pay taxes to the offending government. While challenging the power of the state in this way non-cooperators have the opportunity to learn greater self-reliance. Gandhi held that non-cooperation with an unjust government was not only an inherent right but as much a duty as is cooperation with a just government. Most of the time Gandhi and his followers were involved in constructive programs, and he considered these the most important part of nonviolent action. For Gandhi they included HinduMuslim friendship or communal unity, removing untouchability or racial discrimination, abstaining

from alcohol and drugs, practicing spinning, weaving, and other village industries, sanitation, schooling and adult education, uplift of women, education in hygiene and health, cultivating ones language, working for economic equality, forming labor unions, helping the poor, rural people and lepers, and improving the education and lives of students. Ahimsa or nonviolence is absolutely essential to Gandhis civil disobedience. Satyagrahis are expected to give their lives in efforts to quell violence if it erupts. Gandhi interpreted ahimsa broadly as refraining from anything at all harmful. This principle can be hurt by every evil thought, by undue haste, by lying, by hatred, by wishing ill to anybody, or by our holding on to what the world needs. Thus even greed and avarice can violate ahimsa. Nonviolence has a great spiritual power, but the slightest use of violence can taint a just cause. The strength is not physical but comes from the spiritual will. Nonviolence implies self-purification, and the spiritual power the nonviolent person has is always greater than one would have by using violence. The end of violence is always defeat, but nonviolence is endless and is never defeated. The following is Gandhis summary of the implications of nonviolence:
1. Nonviolence is the law of the human race and is infinitely greater than and superior to brute force. 2. In the last resort it does not avail to those who do not possess a living faith in the God of Love. 3. Nonviolence affords the fullest protection to one's self-respect and sense of honor, but not always to possession of land or movable property, though its habitual practice does prove a better bulwark than the possession of armed men to defend them. Nonviolence, in the very nature of things, is of no assistance in the defense of ill-gotten gains and immoral acts. 4. Individuals or nations who would practice nonviolence must be prepared to sacrifice (nations to the last man) their all except honor. It is, therefore, inconsistent with the possession of other people's countries, i.e., modern imperialism, which is frankly based on force for its defense. 5. Nonviolence is a power which can be wielded equally by allchildren, young men and women or grown-up people, provided they have a living faith in the God of Love and have therefore equal love for all mankind. When nonviolence is accepted as the law of life it must pervade the whole being and not be applied to isolated acts. 6. It is a profound error to suppose that while the law is good enough for individuals it is not for masses of mankind.3

Gandhis struggle was so overwhelming and significant because he challenged the institutional violence of the modern state. He not only recommended refusing military service but also refusing to pay taxes to a militarized state. In addition to citizens not cooperating with an evil government, a neutral country also has the obligation to refuse to support or assist a military state or aggressor.

Gandhi's Nonviolent Campaigns 1919-22

Afghan Amir Habibulla was murdered in February 1919 and was succeeded by his son Amanullah, who was suspected of being behind the murder. Incited by revolutionaries from India, he tried to rally his forces by attacking the British. His Afghan troops crossed through the Khyber Pass into

India in early May, calling on the tribes to rise. Other Afghans were joined by Wazirs and Mahsuds, but they were repelled by General Dyers forces. The British defeated the Afghan forces in the Khyber and occupied the frontier town of Dakka. After planes dropped bombs on Kabul and Jalalabad, Amanullah agreed to a truce in August. He negotiated with the Bolsheviks but signed a treaty with the British in November 1921. During the interval Waziristan was out of control, and regular troops from India had to replace the tribal militias on which the British had relied since Curzon. The Sedition Committee named after Justice Rowlatt had submitted its report in April 1918, and it led to the repressive Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act in March 1919. A special court with three judges and no appeal was set up to meet in secret, and the Indian Evidence Act did not apply. Provincial governments could order any suspected person to furnish security, to reside in a particular area, or to abstain from any specified act. They could search and arrest without a warrant, and the confined person had no right to a lawyer. After the Government introduced the two bills to implement the recommendations of the Rowlatt Committee in February 1919, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Madan Mohan Malaviya resigned from the committee. Gandhi called a conference and was chosen president of the Satyagraha Sabha to organize a campaign. They planned a hartal (general strike) for March 30, and on that day police fired on a crowd in Delhi, killing eight people, but the main hartal was changed to April 6. Gandhi had called for self-purification by prayer and fasting. He was not allowed to enter the Punjab, and police escorted him from a railway station near Delhi to Bombay. A crowd, angry over his arrest, was thrilled to see him in Bombay. Mounted police charged the crowd and trampled some people. The report of Gandhis arrest caused disturbances in Ahmadabad. A mob led by mill-hands became incendiary and violent. Two officials and at least 28 rioters were killed as 123 were wounded. Gandhi described the violence in a speech at Ahmadabad on April 14 and said he did not want to be saved from prison by such acts. Four days later he admitted that he had made a Himalayan miscalculation. He suspended the campaign and went on a penitential fast for three days. In the Punjab Lt.-Governor Michael ODwyer had been ruthlessly suppressing the rights of the people and insulting the educated. He interned hundreds of people, censored the press, and blocked nationalist papers from coming into the province. He was especially hated for his forcible recruiting methods and tyrannical ways of raising funds for the war. The two hartals were fairly peaceful, but on April 9 he deported two prominent leaders. A large crowd marched in Amritsar. While approaching the Civil Lines where the British officials lived, they were fired upon, killing six. The crowd became unruly, murdered five Europeans, and destroyed several buildings. BrigadierGeneral Reginald Dyer arrived on April 12 with several hundred troops and began by arresting people and banning all meetings. When a public meeting was called for April 13 in the enclosed courtyard at Jallianwala Bagh, he did not warn people it was illegal and ordered troops to fire at the densest part of the crowd of 10,000 people for ten minutes. Only 1,650 bullets were fired, but they killed 379 and wounded 1,137 people. Dyer did not even have anyone take care of the wounded. Martial law was declared in Amritsar on April 15, and it was not lifted until June 11. Airplanes with machine guns killed at least nine and wounded sixteen people, but unofficial estimates were much higher. The Martial Law Commissions charged 298 people, convicted 218, of whom 51 were sentenced to death, 46 to transportation for life, and 104 to imprisonment for three years or more. The official Hunter Report quoted Dyers own report that he was less concerned with dispersing the crowd and more intent on producing a sufficient moral effect from a military point of view.4 General Drake-Brockman of Delhi also made the statement, Force is the only thing that an Asiatic has any respect for.5 The Hunter Report concluded that the moral effect was quite opposite from

the one intended; General Dyer was censured and later relieved of his command. The poet Rabindranath Tagore wrote a letter of protest to the Viceroy and renounced his knighthood. Gandhi emphasized the constructive program. In 1919 he took over the weekly Young India and began editing Navajivan in Hindi. Malaviya investigated the atrocities and presented them to the Central Legislative Council, but the Government passed a Bill of Indemnity to protect the civil and military officials in the Punjab from responsibility for their actions. A Congress Committee investigating got no cooperation from the Punjab government, and so they gave none to the Hunter Committee. About 1,200 lives were lost, and more than 3,600 were wounded. The Viceroy refused to postpone the death sentences until the Secretary of State made him do so. General Dyer was regarded as a savior of the British empire by many, and the English ladies in India raised 26,000 for him. Indian feelings were outraged by both the atrocities and the public support for them. The Government implemented their reforms in the Government of India Act in December 1919, and Montagu tried to improve relations by getting a general amnesty for political prisoners. The system in the eight Governors Provinces was called dyarchy because justice, peace, jails, and land revenue were reserved for the governor and his executive council while other subjects were transferred to the governor and the Indian ministers from the provincial legislative council. Elections for the new Legislative Councils were held in November 1920, and the new reforms went into effect on the first day of 1921. The Legislative Assembly had 145 members with 103 of them elected while only 33 of the 60 members of the Council of State were elected. The franchise based on money was extended to more than five million people in the provincial elections out of 250 million in all of India; but only 17,364 voted for the Council of State while 909,874 voted for the Central Legislative Assembly. The Indian Legislature still had no power to repeal or alter any Parliamentary law related to India. About 70% of the provincial legislatures were elected, but 30% were nominated by the governors. Customs and income tax supported the central government while the provinces depended on land revenues. The Moderates welcomed the reforms, but the Congress called them inadequate, unsatisfactory, and disappointing. They urged the Parliament to establish a responsible government in India with self-determination. Yet Gandhi and others suggested working to make the reforms a success. Tilak had already offered responsive cooperation. The British had promised the Muslims of India that Turkey would be given sympathetic treatment after the war; but their failure to do so led to the All-India Khilafat Conference at Delhi in November 1919. Muslim clerics in India considered the Sultan of Turkey the Khalif (Caliph) or spiritual head of Islam, and they were concerned that he would lose sovereignty over their holy places of Mecca and Medina. Gandhi believed that the test of friendship is giving assistance in adversity. He took this opportunity to support the Khilafat movement whole-heartedly without requiring Muslims to stop slaughtering cows, and he was elected its president. He proposed a nation-wide campaign of nonviolent non-cooperation with the British government. For the peasant this meant not paying taxes and not buying liquor because the government gained revenue from its sale. Gandhi was given editorial control over two weeklies without advertisementsYoung India in English and Navajivan in Gujarati and later Hindi. More than seven thousand delegates attended the Amritsar Congress the last week of 1919. Gandhi wrote to the Viceroy, returning his war medals. On March 10, 1920 he issued a Manifesto stating that the intention to wage a non-cooperation campaign. Muhammad Ali led a Khilafat deputation to England, but Prime Minister Lloyd George explained that the British would not let Turkey govern the non-Turkish lands they lost in the war. The peace terms for Turkey were announced on May 15, 1920, and two days later Gandhi urged the Muslims to adopt non-cooperation. The Central Khilafat Committee did so at a large public meeting

in Bombay on May 28. On the same day the Hunter Report was published to an indignant India. Two days later the All-India Congress Committee protested the report. The Khilafat Committee met at Allahabad in June and planned four stages of non-cooperation as resigning titles and honors, resigning from the civil service, resigning from the police and army, and refusing to pay taxes. Gandhi attended the Khilafat Conference in Sind in July, and they decided to call upon millions of Hindus and Muslims to begin the non-cooperation campaign on August 1. The great leader Tilak died that day. In addition to the Khilafat issue, Gandhi and Congress added reparations for the Punjab and the independence of India. That summer about 30,000 Muslims sold their property and emigrated to Afghanistan. They were not well received, and the Afghanistan government closed the border. Most of the impoverished migrants went back to India. Congress held a special session at Calcutta on September 4 and agreed to the non-cooperation campaign for independence with the following tactics: they would surrender titles and honors, refuse to attend Government functions, withdraw their children from Government schools, boycott British courts, refuse to serve in the military, withdraw candidates from elections to Councils, and boycott foreign goods. For Swadeshi they urged millions of people to spin and weave at home. Gandhis proposal at first was opposed by C. R. Das, B. C. Pal, Besant, Malaviya, and Jinnah, but after debate the motion was carried by a thousand votes. The Khilafat movement has been criticized as being contrary to swaraj principles because it aimed to continue the autocracy of the Caliph, but for Muslims it seemed an important issue at the time. Thus it brought the Muslims into the campaign, and the Hindus tolerated it because of their devotion to Gandhi. He promised that noncooperation would bring about self-government in one year. Gandhi persuaded the Congress not to participate in the November elections in which about a third of those eligible voted. The Congress meeting in December 1920 at Nagpur was attended by 14,582 delegates that included 1,050 Muslims and 169 women. Gandhi had been authorized to draft a new constitution for Congress. A permanent Working Committee of fifteen was made responsible to the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) of 350, who represented the provincial committees that were organized by languages. The words constitutional means were replaced by all peaceful and legitimate means that included civil disobedience. The constructive side of the campaign included hand-spinning and weaving, removing untouchability, promoting Hindu-Muslim unity, abstaining from alcohol, and collecting money for the Tilak memorial fund that had reached ten million rupees in two months. They hoped to gain ten million members, and the fund was used to support Congress workers. The Khilafatists also demanded the sovereignty of Muslim states, forbidding the imposing of British and French mandates over the Arab states in the Middle East, converting Palestine to a Jewish homeland, or dividing Arabia among tribal chiefs. The triple boycott of the legislatures, courts, and schools went into effect, and Gandhi supported the burning of foreign cloth by consumers despite criticism from Tagore, Charlie Andrews, and others. National Volunteers organized to carry out the non-cooperation by picketing schools, liquor stores, etc. At the beginning of 1921 Motilal Nehru, C. R. Das, Vallabhbhai Patel, and hundreds of others abandoned their law practices, but many resumed them after a few months. People were encouraged to use arbitration boards or village panchayats to settle legal disputes. Students, teachers, and professionals went into the villages to teach literacy and non-cooperation. Many students stayed out of school, but few teachers went on strike. Attempts by Gandhi to close Benares University and by Muhammad Ali to shut down the University College of Aligarh both failed. Some questioned the tactic of volunteers laying down to block entrances to schools. Although few people quit Government jobs, there were many more people now working for independence full time. After Muhammad Ali and his brother Shaukat Ali made speeches urging Muslims to support an Afghan invasion to overthrow the Government of India, they were arrested. Gandhi persuaded them

to give up advocating violence, and Viceroy Reading agreed to have their prosecution dropped. The Khilafat Conference met at Karachi in July 1921 and adopted non-cooperation, affirming their goals for Turkish sovereignty and declaring it religiously unlawful for a Muslim to remain in the British army. The Ali brothers and a few others were arrested on September 14, and they were sentenced to two years in prison. Gandhi also called on troops to resign, but Viceroy Reading was reluctant to arrest him because of the upcoming visit by the Prince of Wales. When the Prince of Wales came to Bombay on November 17, 1921, crowds numbering nearly 20,000 turned into rioting mobs. About 45 of the 53 killed were non-cooperators as were most of the 400 wounded. Gandhi denounced the rioting and went on a fast until the violence stopped. He cancelled the civil disobedience planned for Bardoli on November 23 even though the hartal on November 17 was peaceful everywhere except in Bombay. The Government reacted by applying the Seditious Meetings Act, and troops were employed freely throughout northern India. Various associations were declared unlawful, and newspapers and speakers were prosecuted for inciting violence. In Calcutta the Congress Committee put C. R. Das in charge. Dissatisfied with the number of volunteers, he sent his wife and only son. When they were arrested, many more volunteered. Thousands were arrested and filled the two big prisons with political prisoners. Camp prisons were opened and also filled. They refused to leave prison, and police had to force them out with sticks. Because the Prince of Wales was scheduled to visit Calcutta on December 24, Governor Ronaldshay negotiated with Das by offering to withdraw the repressive measures. Das said it was up to Congress and got himself arrested on December 10. Within a month 25,000 people were arrested. The Government offered to release Congress volunteers and summon a Roundtable Conference. A telegram was sent to Gandhi, but he insisted on the release of the Ali brothers and knowing the date and composition of the Conference. This delay caused the Government to withdraw the offer. The Congress at Ahmadabad in December 1921 was attended by only 4,726 delegates because nearly 40,000 Congress workers were in jail. Gandhi wrote to the Viceroy on February 1, 1922 that the 87,000 people in Bardoli were ready for civil disobedience by refusing to pay land taxes. He asked the Government to release the nonviolent prisoners, free the press, and stop interfering in nonviolent activities. He gave the Viceroy seven days. On February 5 at Chauri Chaura in Uttar Pradesh (United Provinces) police shot at a procession, exhausted their ammunition, and retreated into their station. A mob set it on fire, killing 22 policemen. At Bareilly another mob was suppressed. Although the incident at Chauri Chaura occurred 800 miles from Bardoli, Gandhi once again canceled the campaign, this time on the day it was to begin; instead, he fasted for five days in penance. He met with the Congress Working Committee at Delhi, and they decided to cancel the non-cooperation campaign in order to concentrate on the constructive programs. Jawaharlal Nehru and others in prison felt frustrated and even angry at Gandhi. The British took this opportunity to arrest Gandhi on March 10, and on March 18 was the only time they ever gave him a trial. He made no apology for his non-cooperation, which he admitted was legally seditious. To Justice Robert Broomfield he said,
I do not ask for mercy. I do not plead any extenuating act. I am here, therefore, to invite and cheerfully submit to the highest penalty that can be inflicted upon me for what in law is a deliberate crime and what appears to me to be the highest duty of a citizen.6

He explained, In my opinion, non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good.7 Broomfield sentenced him to six years and hoped the government would reduce the term. Gandhi was in fact released after 22 months when he had an appendectomy. Also in March 1922 Lloyd George demanded that Montagu resign because of the request he and Viceroy Reading made for the British to revise their treaty of Sevres in Turkeys favor. Meanwhile 55 members of the United Province Congress Committee were arrested in a meeting and were sentenced to 18 months in prison. C. R. Das after two months detention was sentenced to six months. Lala Lajpat Rai was arrested again as he stepped out of prison and was sentenced to two years. Young Jawaharlal Nehru was sentenced to 18 months for saying he would picket foreign shops and for presiding at a meeting to send letters to cloth merchants. The non-cooperation of the Khilafat movement also subsided. The Sultan of Turkey fled from Istanbul in November 1922, and his successor Mustapha Kemal abolished the Khilafat. In Malabar the Moplahs were fanatical Muslims and rebelled; in 1921 they attacked and pillaged Hindu landlords and tried to force people to convert to Islam. The Moplah rebels killed 43 Government troops, mostly Gurkhas, but in the fighting they lost 2,226 killed, 1,615 wounded, 5,688 captured, and 38,256 surrendered. Much violence had occurred on both sides during this campaign, and Gandhi realized that more education in nonviolence was needed. The non-cooperation campaign did not achieve its goals, but thousands of people had lost faith in the Government and had been moved to action. The Indian National Congress had become a powerful movement with mass support and was dedicated to nonviolent revolution.

India's Struggle 1922-29

In a speech to Parliament on August 2, 1922 Prime Minister Lloyd George praised the reforms in India and said they would not deprive the Civil Service in India of their privileges, asserting, Britain will in no circumstances relinquish her responsibility in India.8 The Indians found that the dyarchy reforms gave the governors more power than they had before. The All-India Congress Committee (AICC) met at Lakhnau in June 1922 and formed the Civil Disobedience Enquiry Committee. They reported that the country was not prepared for massive civil disobedience. During the Congress meeting at Gaya in December 1922 President C. R. Das made a plea for entering the Councils, but Rajagopalachari persuaded a large majority to continue the boycott. C. R. Das resigned and with Motilal Nehru and others formed the Swarajya party within the Congress. In the November 1923 elections the Swarajya party did much better than the Liberal party of the Moderates. They had 48 members in the Legislative Assembly and formed a majority coalition called the Nationalist party with the 24 Independents led by M. A. Jinnah. The Civil Marriage Act legalized marriage between different Hindu castes. However, the Government refused to modify the repressive laws. The Legislative Assembly rejected a doubling of the Salt Tax, but the Viceroy certified the measure. Viceroy Reading appointed the Lee Public Services Commission to encourage British civil servants while ostensibly planning to get more Indians into the Civil Service in 15 or 25 years. In January 1924 the Labor party took office with Ramsay MacDonald as prime minister. Motilal Nehru proposed an amendment calling for a revision of the Government in India Act in order to establish fully responsible government in India with a Round Table Conference to protect the rights of minorities in a constitution for India. The Central Legislature would be dissolved and replaced by a newly elected Indian Legislature. The issue was discussed for three days in February, and the Assembly passed the amendment 76-48. On February 26 Secretary of State Olivier rejected the

resolution to revise the constitution, but the Labor Government appointed a committee to look into the reforms. Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald said that dominion status for India was the ideal of his Labor Government; but they were replaced by the Conservative party before the committee submitted its report. Despite this setback, many believed that the Swarajya party had exposed the sham legislatures and the autocracy of the British and Indian bureaucracy. The Assembly reduced the duty on salt and abolished the excise duty on cotton and the import duty on sulfur. Resolutions were passed to improve labor conditions, protect Indian industries, remove racial distinctions in railways, impose a countervailing duty on South African coal, establish a military college for Indians (which did not open at Dehra Dun until 1934), protect trade unions, and relieve the poor by reducing railway fares and the price of postage stamps. Recruiting was taken away from the Secretary of State and given to the ministers for the Indian Educational Service, the Indian Agricultural Service, the Veterinary Service, and other Services. The Womens Indian Association was founded in 1923 and formed many branches, and they opened a Childrens Home in Madras. The next year a Birth Control League began in Bombay and was supported by the journal Navayuga (New Age). More than a thousand women attended the Indian National Congress in December 1924 at Belgaum, where Gandhi was president. The AllIndia Womens Conference began meeting in 1926. After recovering his health in 1924, Gandhi met with Motilal Nehru and C. R. Das in June, but they opposed his proposal to disqualify members of the Congress Executive Board for not fully subscribing to the non-cooperation program. Motilal doubted that spinning would bring them closer to swaraj. After C. R. Das died in June 1925, the General Council of the Swarajya party decided to cooperate with the Government. When the AICC met at Patna in September, Gandhi suggested that the Congress emphasize the political work of the Swarajya party even more than the constructive program. In December 1925 the Swarajist members walked out of the Councils in Uttar Pradesh, the Punjab, Assam, Bihar and Orissa, Madras, and Bombay. Swarajist members left the Bengal Council and the Central Provinces Council in March 1926. However, those following the responsive cooperation formulated by the late Tilak joined the Independent Congress party in September. In Bengal revolutionaries committed robberies in 1923 to gain money. The Bengal Government revived the repressive laws and arrested more than eighty suspects to deter the terrorists. In the Punjab the Akali Sikhs used violence to make sure that the Sikhs controlled the Sikh temples (gurdwaras). They had been enraged when ruffians massacred about 130 Akalis in the gurdwara precincts in 1921. They formed the Central Gurdwara Management Committee and used passive resistance when the Punjab Government appointed non-Sikhs to a board of commissioners. More than five thousand Akalis were arrested, and some were beaten and had to be treated in a hospital. The Babbar (Lion) Akalis recruited radicals from the Ghadar party. When they used terrorism, the Punjab police infiltrated them. By the end of 1923 most were arrested, and some were hanged or imprisoned. When the British indicted the Sikh Maharaja of Nabha and forced him to abdicate, Akalis entered the state to protest. Police fired on one crowd, and thousands were arrested, including Jawaharlal Nehru who went as an observer and refused to leave. The disturbances ceased when a new gurdwara bill that the Akalis accepted became law in 1925. The Akalis claimed that a total of 400 were killed with 2,000 wounded and 30,000 arrested in the struggle. Master Tara Singh became the Akali leader. Revolutionaries met at Kanpur in October 1924 and formed the Hindusthan Republican Association. They hoped to establish a federated Republic of the United States of India by an

organized and armed revolution. Revolutionaries in the United Province led by Ramprasad Bismil robbed a train going from Kakori toward Alamnagar on August 9, 1925. The Kakori conspirators were caught. Ramprasad and three others were hanged; four were transported for life; and fifteen were sentenced to between five and fourteen years in prison. Many Muslims did not agree with the Hindus on non-cooperation. The Hindu Mahasabha grew to counter the rivalry of the Muslims, and they were concerned that Muslim cooperation with the Government would disadvantage non-cooperating Hindus. Noting that proselytizing had increased the Muslims and Christians in India, in 1923 the Hindu Mahasabha reconverted 450,000 Malakana Rajputs from Islam to Hinduism. After the Khilafat movement fell apart, M. A. Jinnah revived the All-India Muslim League in 1924. They called for a federal constitution for India with minority representation. Communal riots between Hindus and Muslims broke out in Calcutta in May 1923 and lasted for several days. The riots sporadically erupted in various towns and villages. The scurrilous attack on Muhammad in the book Rangila Rasul (The Gay Prophet) provoked riots in 1924, and the author was murdered in 1929. Muslims attacked fifteen Hindu temples in Gulburga in Nizams territory in 1924. The worst riot was at Kohat in the North-West Frontier Province in September 1924 that killed 36 Hindus and burned 473 houses and shops. Investigators could not agree on who started the violence, and the British government had allowed the looting. Gandhi was so upset that he went on a fast for 21 days. Three hundred people met a Delhi but could not resolve the conflicts. In April 1926 a riot in Calcutta killed 44 and injured 584 people. The Hindu proselytizer Swami Shraddhananda was assassinated by a Muslim fanatic at Delhi in December 1926. Between 1922 and 1927 an estimated 450 lives were lost as 5,000 people were injured in 112 communal riots. During the late 1920s Gandhi wrote An Autobiography, which he subtitled The Story of My Experiments with Truth. This book is quite candid and humble in the way he examined his faults and his efforts to overcome them. In the preface he indicated that his goal was spiritual liberation (moksha). In his speeches he pointed out his five-point program on the fingers of his hand: equality for untouchables, spinning, no alcohol or opium, Hindu-Muslim friendship, and equality for women. They were all connected to the wrist, which stood for nonviolence. After he approved of killing stray dogs, Gandhi was accused of abandoning ahimsa. He was blamed for killing a maimed calf that was suffering from an incurable disease at his ashram; but he considered that action nonviolent because the unselfish purpose was to relieve the pain of the calf. On November 8, 1927 Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin announced the forming of a commission led by John Simon composed of seven members of the British Parliament. In his announcement Viceroy Irwin explained that for the commission to be unbiased and unprejudiced no Indian members could be included. This ironic statement shows the deep-seated and unconscious prejudice that pervaded the British Government of India. Indian political leaders unanimously decided to boycott the commission. In December 1927 the Indian princes persuaded Secretary of State Birkenhead to appoint a committee led by Harcourt Butler, but their report upheld British paramountcy. In 1928 Gandhi announced a satyagraha campaign led by Vallabhbhai Patel in Bardoli against a 22% increase in British-imposed taxes. Refusing to pay taxes, the people had their possessions confiscated, and some were driven off their land; but they remained nonviolent. The campaign lasted six months, and hundreds were arrested. Finally Vallabhbhais brother Vithalbhai Patel, President of the Central Legislative Assembly, brokered a compromise. The Government agreed to cancel the tax increase, release all prisoners, and return confiscated land and property, and the peasants promised to pay their taxes at the previous rate.

Amir Amanullah of Afghanistan toured Europe in the summer of 1928. When he tried to introduce social, legal, and educational reforms, conservatives led a rebellion that caused a civil war. Amanullah abdicated in May 1929. The Government of India did not intervene except to help British, Indian, and other foreigners to flee. After Bachai-i-Saqqao usurped power, eventually Muhammad Nadir Shah of the old ruling house restored order. He gradually implemented the reforms but was assassinated by a fanatic on November 8, 1933. His son Muhammad Zahir succeeded him and continued his fathers policy. On February 3, 1928 the Simon Commission arrived in India to find huge demonstrations and a complete hartal in the major towns. Representatives of 29 major organizations met at Delhi on February 12. Differences between the Muslim League, the Hindu Mahasabha, and the Sikhs led to a small committee being formed in May with Motilal Nehru as chairman. They submitted a report on a new constitution that was considered by the All Parties Conference at Lakhnau in late August 1928. The Nehru Constitution was accepted. Because it called for reforming some provinces to help Muslims but proposed phasing out reserving seats for Muslim minorities after ten years, in Calcutta in December at a convention Jinnah proposed an amendment that Muslims should have one-third of the Central Legislature. When his amendments were defeated, Jinnah and the Sikhs withdrew. An All-India Muslim Conference met and unanimously demanded separate electorates under a federal system. At the Indian National Congress, also held in Calcutta, younger members led by Jawaharlal Nehru and Bose objected to abandoning the goal of independence. So Gandhi suggested the compromise that dominion status be accepted if the British Parliament approved the entire Nehru Constitution by the end of 1929. Otherwise the Congress planned to organize a nonviolent noncooperation campaign for complete independence calling for tax refusal. Jawaharlal Nehru had visited Europe and attended the Brussels Congress of Oppressed Nationalities in February 1927. He was elected to the executive committee of the League Against Imperialism. He and Subhas-chandra Bose organized the Independence for India League in August 1928, and in 1929 many youth and student organizations sprang up all over India. His father Motilal Nehru led the Congress Party in the Legislative Assembly; the Bengal Congress party won elections in May, as did Nationalist Muslims. In July the Congress Working Committee called upon Congressmen to resign their seats, but the AICC rescinded the decision. Jawaharlal Nehru was elected president of the next Congress and was also a devoted follower of Gandhi. The young Nehru then differed with Subhas Bose, who continued to lead the youths and the left wing. A Communist party had been formed in 1921 by M. N. Roy, but it was very small until Philip Spratt came from England in December 1926. Narayan Malhar Joshi had founded the All-India Trade Union Congress in 1920, and the labor movement grew. A general strike stopped the Bombay textile mills in the summer of 1928, and by the next year more than a half million workers were on strike in other places. Conditions in the slums of Bombay, Calcutta, and Ahmadabad were so appalling that Viceroy Irwin appointed the Socialist Speaker of the House of Commons, J. H. Whitley, as chairman of a Royal Commission on Labor. In the annual 1929 meeting of the Trade Union Congress they passed a resolution to affiliate with Moscow, causing Joshi and his followers to leave the meeting. The strikes alarmed the Government of India, and they arrested 31 Communist leaders on March 20, 1929. To avoid a jury trial they were prosecuted in Meerut. The trial was protracted, and 27 people were finally sentenced to prison in January 1933. The Labor party won the 1929 British elections in October. Prime Minister MacDonald summoned Viceroy Irwin, who upon returning to India announced on October 31 the goal of dominion status. This declaration was criticized in the British press, and both the Conservative and Liberal parties opposed it in Parliament. As the Labor party did not have a majority without the Liberal party, Viceroy Irwin could not promise dominion status to Gandhi, Motilal Nehru, Vithalbhai Patel,

Jinnah, and Tej Bahadur Sapru on December 23, 1929. So Gandhi declared himself for independence, and the Congress at Lahore in the final days of 1929 agreed to launch civil disobedience for independence. At midnight as the new year began, they raised the tricolor flag of Indian independence.

Premchand's Realistic Fiction

Dhanpat Rai (Premchand) was born on July 31, 1880 in a village near Benares (Varanasi). His mother died when he was seven, and he studied Persian for eight years. When his father died in 1897, he had to support his step-mother and two brothers. He worked as a teacher for 18 rupees a month and earned his college degree. His first marriage was arranged when he was fifteen; but he refused to live with her. Later he challenged tradition by marrying a child widow; she was a writer too, and they were happy together. They had three children and struggled financially. Nawab Rais first novel, The Mystery of the Temples (Asrar-e-Muavid), began serialization in 1903 and satirized the corruption of temple priests. He became a school inspector and kept that job until 1921, when he resigned in answer to Gandhis call for non-cooperation. His second novel, Having the Best of Both Worlds (Hamkhurma-Hamsawab), was published in Urdu about 1905 and in 1907 as Prema in Hindi. The hero Amrit Rai is a lawyer who admires western culture, and to show his eagerness for social reform he marries a widow. This means that he cannot marry the beautiful Prema until after both their spouses die. This novel shows the authors acceptance of English culture before Indias freedom struggle became more radical. Nawab Rais first collection of short stories was published in Urdu in 1908 as Soz-e Vatan (Anguish of the Nation). In the first story a young woman asks suitors for the most precious thing in the world, and after rejecting two gifts she accepts the last drop of blood shed by a patriot who fought for freedom. Authorities condemned the book as seditious in 1910, and he had to surrender his unsold 700 copies to be burned. To avoid their censorship he changed his pen name to Premchand or Prem Chand. He wrote 265 short stories, a dozen novels, and two plays. After 1914 he wrote in Hindi to reach a larger public, but he also published his books in Urdu. Premchands first Hindi novel, The Abode of Service (Sewa Sadan) or Beauty for Sale (Bazar-eHusn), earned him 450 rupees. Sumans father is a policeman who accepts a bribe in order to provide her with a dowry; but he is caught and imprisoned for five years. Suman marries a poor man and envies the life-style of her neighbor, a courtesan. One night her suspicious husband shuts her out, and she stays with her friend, who is married to Padam Singh. This starts gossip, and the scandal leads her to become a courtesan herself. Well meaning people arrange for her to live in a widows home, but she is ostracized and becomes the warden of a home for the daughters of prostitutes. Thus she finds a house of service. Premchands novels were unusual then in that half his main characters are women. His stories describe the struggles of the poor and the middle-class to survive in a competitive world. Often they suffer injustice, but efforts to pay back offenders usually result in ironic consequences as they each learn from their karma. In Premchands most famous short story, The Chess Players, a soldier living in a rent-free house is so obsessed with his daily chess games that he postpones getting a doctor for his wife and avoids the call of duty as the British are moving in to take over Awadh (Oudh) in 1856. Finally he quarrels with his chess partner, and they duel with swords. In A Moral Victory a gluttonous Brahmin is persuaded to go on a fast to persuade shopkeepers not to close their shops during a general strike called by the Congress for the Viceroys visit. The pandit loves sweets so much that a Congress worker is able to tempt him into eating them.

Premchands novel The Abode of Love (Premashram) appeared in 1921. Gyan Shankar, who is educated and ambitious, instructs his bailiff to increase the rents of his tenants, but the peasants rebel and murder the bailiff. Shankars oldest son Prem Shankar returns from America as an agricultural expert and starts a model farm with an ashram. One person notes that most educated men become more crooked and exploit the poor but that God gave Prem a true education. Gyan Shankar represents the selfish education, and he fails to find happiness. Premchand edited periodicals and invested what little money he had in publishing. He reached success in 1925 when his novel The Field of Action (Rangabhumi) gained him an advance of 1,800 rupees and a prize of Rs. 500. The novel depicts peasants being oppressed by Indians working with the British. John Sevak is an Indian Christian who wants to establish a cigarette factory. The local raja has cooperated with the British and agrees to help him. However, the blind untouchable Surdas leads the resistance of the poor by refusing to sell his land. He rejects the legal attempts to take their land by calling on higher law with Gandhian methods, but his wretched situation and low social status symbolize the plight of poor India. A difficult period for Premchand in the mid-1920s during the Hindu-Muslim communal violence is reflected in his novel Metamorphosis (Kayakalp). Manorama observes that her tutor Chakradhar is corrupted by power. Yet he rejects running for a legislative council and believes in serving the people. The purification (shudhhi) movement of Arya Samaj in 1924, when Hindus reconverted Muslims, is criticized for increasing conflict. In 1928 Premchand published Nirmala about a young woman who is married to an elderly man because her family cannot afford a dowry. Her husband becomes jealous of her friendship with one of her three stepsons and separates them. Premchand published The Stolen Jewels (Ghaban) in 1931. The government clerk Ramanath marries beautiful Jalpa, who loves jewelry. He struggles financially and starts taking bribes. To buy bracelets he borrows money from the office. When he is unable to return the money, he runs away. Rama is suspected by police, who persuade him to testify falsely against fourteen men in a dacoity case that is political. However, Jalpa courageously believes in her husband; the money is returned; and he tells the judge the truth. Premchand tried to make some money writing for films; but he was frustrated because the director controlled the projects, and their aim was mere entertainment. Premchand suffered from poor health, and his last novel, The Gift of a Cow (Godaan), was published the year he died in 1936. A poor peasant Hori longs to own a cow, but his struggle to gain it causes him to lose his life. Then the priests demand the cow from his widow Dhania to pay for his funeral services. She condemns the greed of the headmen for their loan-sharking, extortion, bribery, and oppressing the poor. She notes that they want swaraj, but she says that independence will not be won by going to jail but by bringing about justice. Premchand gave the presidential speech at the first Progressive Writers Conference at Lakhnau on April 9, 1936. He said that the aim of literature is to explain and criticize life, contemplate nature, and sharpen our perceptions. He believed that fiction should go beyond romance and fantasy by exploring social problems. Premchand thought that literature should have the same aims as ethics; but instead of preaching it describes emotional and mental states. The writers sense of beauty should expose the ugly, the uncivilized, and what lacks humanity. The writer weaves together the human and divine with civility. Premchand believed that the writers duty is to support and defend the oppressed, the suffering, and the deprived, and his writings certainly do so. The writer pleads for justice and the awakening of beauty by broadening the readers mental horizons and ideas.

The ailing Premchand said that just as the sick seek a cure, so writing strives to get rid of weaknesses and make humans better. He said, Love is the real spiritual food, and all weaknesses stem from not getting this food or from getting it in a polluted form.9 The arts express spiritual harmony in visible form. Premchand particularly wanted to strengthen the feelings of loyalty, truthfulness, sympathy, love for justice, and equality by overcoming division, opposition, selfinterest, hatred, enmity and death. Literature can cure emotional and mental diseases and make lives natural, free, and refined. He argued that writers and artists are naturally progressive. The more acutely a writer can feel human suffering the greater truth the work will produce. The writer helps people realize their unhappy states and their causes so that they can remove them. Premchand quoted Iqbal several times. The water of life is found in struggle. Art is the key to mental and spiritual happiness and is most useful. Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad have tried to build equality on ethical foundations, but Premchand pointed out that the difference between the rich and poor is still more cruelly evident than ever. He predicted,
When we are no longer able to accept a system in which thousands of people are slaves for a few oppressors, then, not content with creating something on paper, we will create a system that will not be the enemy of beauty, taste, self-respect, and humanity.10

Premchand said that literature has gone beyond individual egotism to see each person's relation to society in the psychological and social context. Literature needs those "whose hearts bleed with pain and burn with love." Yet language can become simpler because "inner beauty can afford to be indifferent to artificial adornments." Premchand concluded his talk,
The only literature that will pass our test is that which contains high thinking, a sense of freedom, the essence of beauty, the soul of creativity and the light that emanates from the truths of life, a literature which instills in us dynamism and restlessness, not sleep; because to go on sleeping now would be a sign of death.11

Iqbal's Islamic Poetry

Muhammad Iqbal was born on November 9, 1877 at Sialkot in the Punjab. His grandfather had emigrated from Kashmir after the British transferred it to Hindu rulers. His father made him study the Quran, and he was educated at Government College in Lahore. Iqbal studied in Europe from 1905 to 1908, earning a degree in philosophy from Cambridge University and a doctorate from the University of Munich. He became a barrister, which helped him earn a living while he devoted himself to writing. He also lectured on philosophy and English at Government College. Iqbal supported the Swadeshi movement in 1906, and he argued that Muslims could gain as well as Hindus from their unity and economic self-development. He was concerned that Islam had declined since the European renaissance and reformation while the West was exploiting them. Faced with an aggressive western civilization, he advocated Pan-Islamism with an evolving philosophy of selfexpression. He criticized nationalism and materialism that sanctify selfishness, arrogance, greed, and ill will by calling them patriotism. Yet he was proud of the historic conquests of the Islamic empire. In 1912 he wrote poetry for the Balkan Relief Fund. Then to reach a wider audience he changed from writing his poetry in Urdu to Persian, but this cost him readers in India. Iqbal especially admired Rumi, and he wrote two masnavis in PersianThe Secrets of the Self (Asrar-i-Khudi) in 1915 and The Mysteries of Selflessness (Rumuz-i-Bekhudi) in 1918. Influenced

by Friedrich Nietzsche and Henri Bergson, Iqbal criticized self-negating quietism while advocating creativity, independence, and progressive self-expression. He believed that freedom makes humans creative while Nature is passive and deterministic. In his first edition Iqbal warned against the poison of the wine-cup promoted so passionately by the poetry of the famous Hafiz. In the second work the self is transcended by the ideals of brotherhood and justice in the Muslim community. In 1920 Gandhi wrote to Iqbal, asking him to take charge of the National Muslim University (Jamia Millia Islamia), but the poet replied that he did not believe he was qualified. He praised Gandhi as a truthful and virtuous leader. Iqbal was knighted by the Government of India in 1922. Iqbals Persian poetry also included The Message of the East (Payam-i-Mashriq) in 1923 that answered Goethes book on the West, love poetry in Persian Psalms (Zabur-i-Ajam) in 1927, and The Song of Eternity (Javid Namah) in 1932 in which Rumi guides the poet through Dantean realms. Iqbal translated this into English himself. Here is a selection:
Art thou in the stage of "life," "death" or "death-in-life" Invoke the aid of three witnesses to verify the "station;" The first witness is thine own consciousness, The second witness is the consciousness of another Ego, The third witness is God's consciousness; See thyself, then, with God's light. If thou standest unshaken in front of this light, Consider thyself as living and eternal as He. That man alone is real, who dares to see God face to face.12

Iqbal also wrote,

Death is only another name for the renewal of the zest of life. Life is forever driven forward by desire; It is ever intent on discovering a more perfect form for itself.13

Iqbal gave six lectures at Madras, Hyderabad, and Aligarh in 1928-29 that were later published in English as The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam. He advised studying history and nature so that Muslims using consensus could develop new social and political institutions while making use of modern science and technology. He agreed with liberals that the teaching of the Quran calls for a progressive process in which each generation solves new problems. In his presidential address to the Muslim League in 1930 he startled India with the proposal that Muslims in northwest India should demand a separate state, and he was a delegate to the Round Table Conferences in England. In Gabriels Wings (Bal-i-Jibril) in 1933 Iqbal included a poem about Lenin. He had ambivalent feelings because of his atheism, and in his poem Lenin repudiates his renouncing of Christianity and prays to God to help the poor. Iqbal used Urdu and Persian poetry to criticize western civilization fiercely in The Blow of Moses (Zarb-i-Kalim) in 1934. He wrote,
The democracy of the West is the same old organ, Which strikes the self-same note of Imperialism; That which thou regard'st as the fairy Queen of Freedom, In reality is the demon of autocracy clothed in the garb of democracy. Legislation, reforms, concessions, rights and privileges, In the materia medica of the West are but sweet narcotics. The heated discussions of assemblies and conferences Are the camouflage of capitalists.14

Iqbal wrote in "The Command of Allah" a call for revolution.

Go and awaken the poor and the dispossessed of my Universe, And shake to the very foundations the palaces of the rich. Make the blood of the slave boil with the fire of faith, Let the tiny sparrow hurl itself against the mighty hawk, Declare that the "Kingdom of People" is coming fast, And obliterate the traces of all the age-old system.15

In his last three years Iqbal published three more books of poetry in Urdu. In a letter to Jinnah in June 1937 Iqbal referred to North-West India and Bengal as self-governing provinces within an Indian federation in his hope that they would be like "other nations in India." After a period of declining health, Iqbal died on April 21, 1938. His birthday is celebrated annually in Pakistan as Iqbal Day.

India's Civil Disobedience 1930-33

Mohandas Gandhi excluded the left-wing Subhas Bose and Srinivasa Iyengar from the Congress Working Committee that met on January 2, 1930 to plan the non-cooperation campaign. Gandhi drafted a declaration of complete independence (purna swaraj) that was proclaimed by Jawaharlal Nehru and endorsed all over India on January 26. The declaration described how the British had ruined India economically, politically, culturally, and spiritually. Indians were preparing themselves to withdraw from the British Government and were refusing to pay taxes. Viceroy Irwin said that a Round Table Conference would discuss constitutional issues for Parliament to consider. Gandhi then announced the following eleven-point program:
1) Total prohibition (of alcohol). 2) Reduction of ratio to 1s. 4d. (rupee revaluation). 3) Reduction of land revenue to at least 50 percent and making it subject to Legislative control. 4) Abolition of the Salt Tax. 5) Reduction of Military expenditure at least by 50 percent to begin with. 6) Reduction of salaries of the highest grade services by half or less, so as to suit the reduced revenue. 7) Protective tariff on foreign cloth. 8) Passage of the Coastal Traffic Reservation Bill. 9) Discharge of all political prisoners, save those condemned for murder or attempt to murder ... 10) Abolition of the CID (Criminal Investigation Department), or its popular control. 11) To issue licenses to use fire-arms for self-defense, subject to popular control.16

They were committed to avoiding violence even under provocation to assure the end of the inhuman rule; but Gandhi promised other leaders he would not cancel the campaign because of sporadic violence. Some arrests were made; Subhas Bose and eleven others were sentenced to a year in prison. However, many Congress members declined to resign their seats in the legislatures. On March 2, 1930 Gandhi wrote a long letter to Viceroy Irwin explaining the issues and informing him that civil disobedience would begin on March 11. He noted how the ruinously expensive British military administration was exploiting them. Even the salt from the sea was taxed. He believed that nothing but organized nonviolence could stop the organized violence of the British

government. Civil disobedience would begin with a few people from his Satyagraha Ashram, but others might choose to join. Gandhi wrote,
My ambition is no less than to convert the British people through nonviolence, and thus make them see the wrong they have done to India. I do not seek to harm your people.17

Gandhi decided to disobey the Salt Laws, which forbade Indians from making their own salt, because this British monopoly especially struck at the poor. The Viceroy refused to meet with Gandhi. Beginning with 78 members of his ashram on March 12, Gandhi led a 240-mile march to the sea that took 24 days. Thousands had gathered at the start, and several thousand joined them on the march. On April 6 Gandhi and then others all along the seacoast gathered some salt water in pans to dry it. In Bombay the Congress had pans on the roof; 60,000 people assembled, and hundreds were arrested. At Karachi, where 50,000 watched the salt being made, the crowd was so thick that the police could make no arrests. The jails were filled with at least 60,000 offenders. Amazingly there was practically no violence; people did not want Gandhi to cancel the movement. In the Central Province and Bombay people defied forest laws by cutting down timber. In Gujarat, the United Provinces, and in the Midnapur district of Bengal they refused to pay taxes and land revenue. On April 10 Gandhi published an appeal in Young India for women to picket, and thousands responded. In the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) the Pathans were led by Abdul Ghaffar Khan, who was known as the Frontier Gandhi. After he was arrested in Peshawar on April 23, his Servants of God, who were called Red Shirts, took over Peshawar and were invaded with armored cars. Before he could invade the Dharasana Salt Works, Gandhi was arrested on May 4; but on May 21 the poet Sarojini Naidu led 2,500 volunteers and told them not to resist the blows of the police. According to an eye-witness account by the United Press reporter Webb Miller, they continued to march in hour after hour and were beaten down with steel-shod lathis by the 400 police; they did not try to fight back, and the injured were dragged away by women. Six days later an angry mob surrounded a police barrack at Bhendibazar in Bombay and broke windows with rocks. A few police rushed out and shot their revolvers at the crowd, killing eight. In the Wadala suburb of Bombay a hundred Congress volunteers led a mob of 40,000 that broke through police lines and invaded the salt works, taking away salt. In this breakdown of the nonviolent discipline, Webb reported that a thousand people were arrested, and several hundred were injured. The poet Tagore declared that Europe had lost her moral prestige in Asia. Soon more than 100,000 Indians were in prison, including almost all the leaders. President Motilal Nehru was the first in a succession of presidents who were detained. Gandhis English disciple, Madeleine Slade, went to Gujarat and published a report in Young India on June 12 describing the police brutality. Official figures reported that police fired on 24 crowds, killing a total of 111 people. On April 27, 1930 the Government of India had passed an Emergency Ordinance and revived the repealed 1910 Press Act. By July officials estimated that 131 newspapers had paid 240,000 rupees in securities, and nine newspapers refused to pay and were suspended. On June 7 the Simon Commission Report was published, calling for a federal constitution. Viceroy Irwin transferred the two Nehrus to the Yeravda jail so that they could consult with Gandhi during the negotiations with the British. However, they demanded a complete transfer of power with responsible government. The first Round Table Conference began on November 12, 1930 with Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald presiding. The British invited 16 from British parties, 16 from British Indian States, and

57 from British India, including many prominent people; but the Indian National Congress was not represented. Gandhi commented that it was like performing Hamlet without the prince of Denmark. MacDonalds concluding speech on January 19, 1931 included many advances beyond the Simon Commission recommendations. Sapru and Sashtri sent the Congress Committee a telegram urging them to postpone their response. The Governor-General removed the ban on the Working Committee so that they could consider the new proposals, and they were released on their independence day, January 26. Gandhi wrote to Viceroy Irwin on February 14, 1931 and began meeting with him three days later. Gandhi demanded an inquiry into the police brutality. Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, and others reluctantly agreed to what Gandhi negotiated, and the Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed on March 5. Civil disobedience was discontinued. The Government agreed to withdraw the Emergency Ordinances, release the 18,800 political prisoners, remit fines, restore confiscated property, and reinstate village officials who had resigned. People on the coast could collect salt for their own use. Peaceful picketing would be allowed, but the boycott of British goods was given up. Federation was accepted; several Congress concerns about the constitution were acknowledged; and Congress would participate in the discussions at the next Round Table Conference in London. Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Bose, and the Youth Organizations complained that the Delhi Pact that Gandhi signed gave up the Congress demand for independence or dominion status. Yet for the first time the British had treated the Congress as an equal by agreeing to a negotiation. On March 23 the revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru, and Sukh Dev were executed in the Lahore Conspiracy Case, and radicals blamed Gandhi for not gaining their reprieve. That night a Hindu-Muslim riot broke out in Kanpur (Cawnpore), and officials estimated that 166 people were killed with 480 injured. Congress met at Karachi on March 31, and once again they demanded a fully responsible government. The Working Committee selected Gandhi as the only representative of Congress to attend the second Round Table Conference. Lord Willingdon became viceroy in April, and the British ignored stipulations of the Gandhi-Irwin Agreement. In July the Working Committee drew up a revised communal settlement. The Government resumed its repression, and Gandhi wired the Viceroy on August 11 to say he would not go to England. The Government agreed to hold an inquiry on revenue collection in Surat, and Gandhi gave in. The Conservatives gained power in Britain, and Samuel Hoare became secretary of state for India. On September 12, 1931 Gandhi reached London, where he met Charlie Chaplin, George Bernard Shaw, and Maria Montessori among others. Not having seen a movie, Gandhi did not know who Chaplin was, but his criticisms of modern civilization may have influenced Chaplins 1936 film Modern Times. Gandhi spoke for a half hour on radio to the United States about a nonviolent way better than brute force to fight for freedom that is more consistent with human dignity. He appealed to the conscience of the world to rescue his people, who were dying in order to regain liberty. In discussing relations with the British he said he did not want isolated independence but voluntary interdependence based on love. However, the British Labor government had been replaced by a coalition led by Ramsay MacDonald, and they used the Indian minorities problems to divide the Indian Congress. Gandhi received a telegram that the Congress representatives had withdrawn from the restricted Surat inquiry. In his final speech at the Conference on November 30, 1931 Gandhi said he still wanted complete independence and warned, Today you have to fight the school of terrorists which is there with your disciplined and organized terrorism, because you will be blind to the facts or the writing on the wall.18 Back in India repressive ordinances were imposed on Bengal and the United Provinces (UP). Jawaharlal Nehru led a no-rent campaign in the United Provinces that began on December 6. The Red Shirt Volunteers led by Abdul Ghaffar Khan in NWFP were declared illegal, and thousands

were imprisoned. Nehru and several UP Congressmen were arrested on December 26. Gandhi returned to India on December 28, and the next day he sent a telegram of protest to the Viceroy. The Government justified its policies, and the Working Committee demanded an inquiry and complete independence. Otherwise civil disobedience would be resumed by refusing to pay taxes, boycotting foreign cloth, and picketing liquor shops and salt manufacturing. On January 2, 1932 Viceroy Willingdon refused an interview under this threat. Young India criticized the Government for its evasions, suppression, and falsehoods. The English scholar Verrier Elwin made an objective investigation of the brutality charges and concluded that the Government was trying to crush the Congress in the Frontier province. Yet the Government was supported by the Europeans in India. As during the salt campaign, the old Regulation 25 of 1827 was used to imprison Gandhi and Congress president Vallabhbhai Patel indefinitely without a trial. The British Government declared Congress and all its branches illegal organizations. While he was in the Yeravda jail, Gandhi announced in March that if the Harijans (untouchables) were given a separate electorate, he would fast to death, hoping to awaken the Hindu conscience. In August 1932 MacDonald announced his Communal Award that included separate electorates for Muslims, Europeans, Sikhs, and the Depressed Classes (untouchables). On September 20 Gandhi began his fast unto death, and the next day millions of Indians fasted with him for 24 hours. Three days later the Yeravda Pact was signed reserving twice as many seats for the Harijans, and it was ratified the next day. After an overwhelming vote in favor of it, Hindu temples were opened to untouchables for the first time. Gandhi replaced Young India with the weekly Harijan. Jawaharlal Nehru was upset that Gandhi had given up the goal of independence to help the untouchables. The India League in London sent a delegation in August 1932 that traveled throughout India until November, and their report described a reign of terror without the rule of law similar to the Communists and Fascists in Europe. Bertrand Russell compared the methods used in British India to those of Nazi Germany. The civil resisters led processions, held public meetings, picketed, boycotted, issued bulletins, saluted their national flag, withheld taxes, refused police parole, reoccupied offices taken over by police, and manufactured salt despite the many prohibitions against these activities. Police methods were cruel and vindictive; they beat people because it was cheaper than arresting them and more effective. The report said that Congress and other groups had their funds confiscated, their leaders arrested, and force was used to break up their meetings. Police inflicted massive and severe punishments for minor infractions, tortured and starved prisoners, confiscated land and personal property, abused women and children, censored the press, intercepted correspondence, interfered with travel, imprisoned without trials, searched without warrants, beat picketers, and destroyed property. Congress boycotted the third Round Table Conference that began on November 17, 1932 with only 46 delegates from India. The Conference increased the franchise for women, but generally the British Conservatives did not allow progress. Civil disobedience continued. On January 26, 1933 many people were arrested, and police shot at demonstrators in Bengal. Despite the ban more than a thousand Congress delegates met at Calcutta on March 31. Mrs. J. N. Sengupta presided, and resolutions confirmed the goal of independence, civil disobedience, and the boycott of British goods. Malaviya noted that 120,000 people had been arrested in the previous fifteen months. Still concerned about the Harijans, Gandhi fasted for three weeks in May 1933; British officials, afraid he might die, released him from prison. He asked Congress to suspend civil disobedience for a month or more, and he appealed to the Government to withdraw its ordinances and release prisoners. Acting Congress President Aney suspended mass civil disobedience for three months, and individual civil disobedience began on August 1. Gandhi was to lead a march, but the night before he and 34 other members of his ashram were arrested. Three days later Gandhi refused to

reside in Puna; he was arrested again and was sentenced to one year. Because he was not given facilities for conducting his anti-untouchability campaign, he began a fast on August 16. One week later he was released unconditionally in a very precarious condition. After he recovered, Gandhi said he would not commit civil disobedience until his sentence expired, and he went on a speaking tour and raised money for the Harijans, traveling more than 12,000 miles. Generally, except in NWFP, the Muslims did not join the civil disobedience campaigns of the early 1930s. Muhammad Ali, who had been active in non-cooperation a decade earlier during the Khilafat movement, said that Gandhis movement wanted to make the seventy million Muslims dependents of the Hindus. He considered himself a Pan-Islamist and a supernationalist. Muhammad Ali Jinnah had put forth his fourteen points in 1929, and he supported the first Round Table Conference along with the Ali brothers, Abdul Qadir, and Muhammad Shafi, who led an independent league in the Punjab. At the Muslim League session in December 1930 Muhammad Iqbal called for a Muslim state in northwest India that would defend India from foreign invasion. Rahmat Ali was educated at Cambridge, and at the Round Table in London he told Muslim delegates they could form Pakstan, a name he derived by using the first letters of the provinces Punjab, the Afghan province (NWFP), Kashmir, Sind, and the last syllable of Baluchistan. (Later the name was changed to Pakistan, which means the land of the pure.) He argued that the Muslims and Hindus were distinct nations because of differences in religion, culture, traditions, economics, laws, and marriage customs. Rahmat founded the Pakistan National movement in 1933. Muslims accepted the Communal Award as a victory and held a Unity Conference at Allahabad on November 3, 1932. Samuel Hoare announced that the British decided to allot one-third of the seats in the Central Legislature to Muslims, and Sind would be a separate province. Hindus complained that the British were using their divide-and-rule policy. A few revolutionaries used violent tactics. Bhagat Singh had avenged the 1928 death of Lala Lajpat Rai by murdering the police superintendent Saunders in Lahore. On April 8, 1929 he dropped a bomb in the Assembly along with copies of their Red Pamphlet. Their bomb factories were discovered, and the Lahore Conspiracy case began. Prisoners went on a long hunger strike but finally accepted the Governments promise of more favorable treatment. Only Jatin Das continued and died after 64 days. Bombs exploded under the Viceroys special train near Delhi in December 1929. Chandrasekhar used armed robbery to get 14,000 rupees in Delhi on July 6, 1930. Their large stock of chemicals for making bombs was found a few days later. Chandrasekhar was killed by police in a shootout on February 27, 1931. The Chittagong branch of the Indian Republican Army in Bengal issued a manifesto on April 18, 1930. That night fifty youths in khaki captured the Police Armory and the Auxiliary Force Armory in Chittagong, killing a few people and taking revolvers, rifles, and a Lewis gun. They took over the telegraph office and declared a provisional government of India with Surya Sen as president. They were attacked two days later and dispersed in the hills to continue guerrilla warfare. The armory trial ended in 1932, and fourteen were transported for life. Surya Sen was caught in February 1933 and was hanged. The man who betrayed him was murdered. In May 1930 the Yugantar party in Calcutta planned to murder Europeans with bombs and destroy the airfield, gas and electric works, petrol supply, telegraph, trams, bridges, and railways. During the next three years they attempted 47 outrages, 167 robberies, and 24 bombings. They killed 43 people, including 23 officials, while 33 of the terrorists were killed.

Notes

1. M. K. Gandhi in Harijan, 31 March 1946 quoted in Non-Violent Resistance (Satyagraha), p. 382. 2. Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule by Mahatma Gandhi, p. 80. 3. M. K. Gandhi in Harijan, 5 November 1936, vol. IV, p. 236 in Non-Violence in Peace & War, Volume 1, p. 127-128. 4. The Life of Mahatma Gandhi by Louis Fischer, p. 182. 5. Ibid., p. 183. 6. Ibid., p. 202. 7. Ibid., p. 203. 8. Quoted in Struggle for Freedom, p. 376. 9. The Oxford India Premchand, Appendix. 10. Ibid. 11. Ibid. 12. Quoted in Iqbal: The Poet and His Message by Sachchidananda Sinha, p. 113-114. 13. Quoted in A History of Urdu Literature by Muhammad Sadiq, p. 482-483. 14. Quoted in Iqbal: The Poet and His Message by Sachchidananda Sinha, p. 98. 15. Ibid., p. 103. 16. The History of the Indian National Congress, Volume 1 by B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya, p. 366. 17. Speeches and Writings of Mahatma Gandhi, p. 744. 18. Ibid., p. 891. 19. The History of the Indian National Congress, Volume 2 by Pattabhi Sitaramayya, p. 42. 20. The Life of Mahatma Gandhi by Louis Fischer, p. 344-345. 21. M. K. Gandhi in Harijan, December 24, 1938 quoted in The Gandhi Reader ed. Homer A. Jack, p. 339. 22. Toward Freedom by Jawaharlal Nehru, p. 387. 23. Quoted in Struggle for Freedom, p. 632.

Liberating India and Pakistan 1934-1950

by Sanderson Beck
Indian Politics 1934-39 India during World War II India Divided 1945-47 Indian Independence 1947-48 India and Pakistan 1948-50 This chapter has been published in the book SOUTH ASIA 1800-1950. For ordering information, please click here.

Indian Politics 1934-39

The individual civil disobedience campaign gradually faded, and in May 1934 the All-India Congress endorsed Gandhis proposal to call off the civil disobedience campaign except for specific grievances. Gandhi resigned from Congress in October in order to devote himself to his constructive program, which included communal unity, removal of untouchability, prohibition, khadi (spinning), other village industries, sanitation, Basic Education, adult education, health and hygiene education, equality for women, provincial languages, national language (Hindi), economic equality, kisans (peasants), labor unions, care of lepers, and guidelines for students. Gandhi said that he learned from bitter experience the supreme lesson to conserve his anger and transmute the energy into a power that can move the world.

The Congress conference at Delhi in March 1934 revived the All-India Swarajya party, and Congressmen were urged to campaign for legislative offices. After civil disobedience was cancelled in May, the Government lifted the ban on Congress in June except in Bengal and NWFP. Malaviya and Aney opposed the Communal Award, and they formed the Congress Nationalist party. By 1935 they had 11 votes in the Central Legislature, and Congress had 44 compared to 50 nominated by the Government and elected by Europeans; the 22 independents were mostly Muslims. Thus with the Muslims led by Jinnah the Congress had a majority. They threw out the budget twice and defeated the Criminal Law Amendment bill, but these were certified by the Governor-General anyway. After the three Round Table Conferences a Joint Committee held 159 meetings and produced a White Paper for reforming India that was opposed by Conservatives such as Winston Churchill, who had called Gandhi a half-naked fakir. The Government of India Act was passed by Parliament and approved by the Crown in August 1935. Burma was separated from India, and Orissa and Sind became provinces. Madras, Bombay, Bengal, the United Provinces (Uttar Pradesh), Bihar, and Assam were given bicameral legislatures, and they were popularly elected with some seats allocated to minority communities. The franchise was still limited by property, but in the lower houses the number of voters increased from 7 million to 35 million, including wives of voters. The provinces gained more autonomy. The federation of India would be inaugurated after princes ruling states with half the population acceded. However, the Governor-General retained the responsibility for defense and external affairs. Also Section 93 of the Act authorized provincial governors to take over all powers if they judged the constitutional machinery had broken down. The ruling princes met and refused to accept British paramountcy, especially the special responsibility of the Governor-General. Yet the Congress and the Muslim League considered the princes reactionary autocrats, and Congress urged them to introduce representative government. The princes were afraid that if they joined the federation, their subjects would demand reforms. The All-India Peasants Organization (Kisan Sabha) was led by Sahajananda Saraswati, and they marched hundreds of miles through villages under the Communist flag. The All-India Students Federation was also centralized, and the All-India Trade Union Congress was reunited after having been split by the Communists in 1929 and 1931. The younger members of Congress made the Socialist party influential. Because the Red Trades Union Congress had organized a major strike by textile workers in April 1934, the Government had banned the Communist party. So they joined the Congress Socialist party led by Jayaprakash Narayan, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Subhas Chandra Bose. In a public statement in December 1933 Nehru had announced that he preferred Communism over Fascism, which he considered the two choices. S. N. Roy had been expelled from the Communist Party in 1929, and he was imprisoned for the Kanpur conspiracy for nearly four years until November 1936. Conservative Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin appointed the Marquess of Linlithgow to be viceroy in 1936. The Indian National Congress met at Lakhnau in April and elected Nehru president. Gandhi still attended the meetings of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) and the Working Committee. Nehru called Gandhi the permanent super-President of Congress and usually followed his advice. President Nehru was re-elected in December and announced that Congress stands for full democracy in India, not socialism. Nehru and the Socialists opposed Congress members cooperating with the British government by entering legislatures. However, Congress did well in the national elections, gaining majorities in the legislative assemblies of Madras, the United Provinces (UP), the Central Provinces (CP), Bihar, and Orissa. In Bombay they were only two short of a majority, and they were also the largest party in Bengal, Assam, and the NWFP. In March 1937 the AICC agreed with Gandhi and voted to permit acceptance of offices in the provinces where Congress could control the legislature. The Working Committee appointed three GandhiansAbul Kalam Azad, Vallabhbhai Patel, and Rajendra Prasadto the Parliamentary Sub-Committee, and

they influenced the provincial Congress ministers. The Working Committee formulated the following goals:
1) Substantial reduction in rent and revenue. 2) Assessment of income-tax, on a progressive scale, on agricultural incomes, subject to a prescribed minimum. 3) Fixity of tenure. 4) Relief from the burden of rural debt and arrears of rent and revenue. 5) Repeal of all repressive laws. 6) Release of political prisoners, internees and detenus. 7) Restoration of lands and property confiscated or sold by Government during Civil Disobedience Movements. 8) Eight hours day for industrial workers, without reduction of pay. Living wage. 9) Prohibition of intoxicating liquor and drugs. 10) Unemployment relief. 11) Reduction of high salaries, allowances, and cost of administration of Government.1

At a meeting in Calcutta in October 1937 the AICC supported the peoples resistance in Mysore over the objections of Gandhi and Nehru. Congress also passed a resolution confirming the fundamental rights of free expression and association, freedom of religion, culture and language, and equality before the law regardless of religion, caste, creed, or sex. Congress met in Gujarat on February 18, 1938 and unanimously elected Subhas Bose president. The kisans in the Haripura Congress defied the Working Committee by independently voting to support free and compulsory education for seven years nationwide with instruction in the mother tongue and the manual training that became known as Basic Education. The Haripura Congress also announced its opposition to an imperialist war. President Bose organized the National Planning Committee for industrialization, which was opposed by Gandhi. When Congress met in March 1939 Gandhi chose Pattabhi Sitaramayya to be president, but the ill Bose defeated him by 95 votes. Congress once again resolved to work for democratic independence and expressed its disapproval of British foreign policy that led to the Munich Pact, the Anglo-Italian Agreement, and the recognition of rebel Spain. Congress opposed aiding Fascist powers that destroyed democracies. Gandhi was officially elected dictator of Congress. Bose resigned from the AICC on April 29, and Rajendra Prasad was elected president the next day. Subhas Bose formed a new party called the Forward Bloc to unite the left wing in Congress against Gandhi. In Bengal the nationalist Muslim Fazl-ul-Huq was elected chief minister by a coalition that did not include Congress, but more than two thousand people were released from prison by 1939. The population of the Punjab was 57% Muslim, but they suffered communal conflicts with the Sikhs

and Hindus. The Village Panchayat Act encouraged local government there. Sind was 71% Muslim, but a battle over a mosque at Sukkur in August 1939 resulted in the death of 151 Hindus and 14 Muslims. This was the only time the Governor-General used his special power during this period. In the provinces where Congress had a majority they selected ministers only from the Congress party, thus alienating Muslims. Political prisoners were released, and bans on Communists and other organizations were lifted. During this period the Government of India vetoed only four legislative bills. The oppressive land revenue system in Bihar caused riots in late 1938, and armed police were used to protect the spring harvesting in 1939. To help the peasants the Congress ministries passed a series of Money-lenders or Debtors Relief Acts. Although the left wing in Congress opposed using state power to control violent outbreaks, Gandhi argued that criminal liberty is different than civil liberty. Nehru disagreed with Gandhi but went along with him. The three main Congress reforms implemented in this era were for primary education, prohibition of alcohol, and protecting the rights of untouchables. Basic Education was called the Wardha Scheme and implemented manual training in elementary schools, enabling children to learn through activity and even sell products they made. Gandhi was president of the All-India National Education Conference held at Wardha in October 1937 that passed resolutions for seven years free and compulsory primary education nationwide, instruction in the mother tongue, and manual training in a craft. The literacy rate in India rose from eight percent in 1931 to twelve percent in 1941. Imposing prohibition in Congress ministries caused sharp reductions in the excise duties on alcohol and drugs in Bombay, Madras, UP, Bihar, and Orissa. The Bombay government imposed a tax on urban property, but this was resented as encroaching on the municipalities. M. A. Jinnah was president of the Muslim League, and his address at Lakhnau in October 1937 blamed Congress leaders for excluding Muslims where Congress had a majority. He urged Muslims to organize themselves, and he raised the stature of the Muslim League. That day Sikander Hyat Khan urged his Unionist Party in the Punjab to join the League, and soon Fazl-ul-Huq in Bengal and Muhammad Saadulla in Assam did the same. Within three months the Muslim League had 170 new branches, including 90 branches with 100,000 members in the United Provinces. In November 1938 a League committee led by the Raja of Pirpur criticized the words of Bande Mataram, the tricolor Indian flag, the Wardha Scheme of education, using Hindi instead of Urdu, and HinduMuslim riots. The Pirpur report also alleged numerous cases of persecution and injustices against Muslims in Bihar, the United Provinces, and the Central Provinces. By the end of 1938 Muslims had formed three quasi-military organizations, mostly in the United Provinces. Muslims complained about the Hindu Mahasabha that was led by the revolutionary V. D. Savarkar. During the Hindu Mahasabha session in 1938 at Nagpur they had recommended universal military training to counter-act the Muslims in the Indian army. In September 1939 the Working Committee of the Muslim League declared its opposition to any federal system that would result in majority rule, and in February 1940 Jinnah said that India was not one nation but two and that the Muslims of India must determine their own destiny. The League met at Lahore in March and resolved that the Muslims should have independent states in the northwestern and eastern zones of India. Gandhi had become confirmed in his pacifist principles in regard to war. He pointed out how Abyssinia could have used nonviolence against Mussolini, and he recommended it to the Czechs and China. He suggested, If it is brave, as it is, to die to a man fighting against odds, it is braver still to refuse to fight and yet to refuse to yield to the usurper.2 As early as 1938 he exhorted the Jews to stand up for their rights and die if necessary as martyrs so that a degrading manhunt could be turned into a calm and determined stand. Gandhi even recommended the British use nonviolent

methods to fight Hitler; no longer could he support any kind of war or killing. On December 24, 1938 he wrote,
How can nonviolence combat aerial warfare, seeing that there are no personal contacts? The reply to this is that behind the death-dealing bomb there is the human hand that releases it, and behind that still is the human heart that sets the hand in motion. And at the back of the policy of terrorism is the assumption that terrorism if applied in a sufficient measure will produce the desired result, namely, bend the adversary to the tyrants will. But supposing a people make up their mind that they will never do the tyrants will, nor retaliate with the tyrants own methods, the tyrant will not find it worth his while to go on with this terrorism.3

He even wrote an open letter to Hitler himself, asking him not to go to war. In April 1939 Gandhi prophesied that before the war ended, the democracies would have adopted the tactics of the Fascists and Nazis, including conscription and methods of force to compel and exact obedience. In 1939 Krishnalal Shridharani published War without Violence, an excellent study of Gandhis methods and campaigns. While the world was teetering on the brink of another catastrophic war, he suggested that conflicts can be resolved more effectively with much less violence. He described the stages of satyagraha campaigns as negotiations and arbitration, agitation, demonstrations and the ultimatum, self-purification, strikes, dhurna (sitting in), boycott, not paying taxes, hizrat (migration), non-cooperation, ostracism, civil disobedience, assertive satyagraha (establishing alternative institutions), and parallel government. He also discussed how to extend nonviolent action to resist a nation invading ones country, as Gandhi had recommended to the Czechs when the Germans took over their country in 1938. In the second part he gave examples from Gandhis life how an individual can practice satyagraha toward other individuals or groups. Gandhi had faced his teacher, his father, his caste, a bully, a mob, his followers, professionals, and had even gone so far as to threaten fasting to death. Then Shridharani analyzed Gandhis civil disobedience campaigns in South Africa, Champaran, for labor, peasants, social justice, at Bardoli, in the native states, and the larger non-cooperation campaign of 1920-22 and the civil disobedience campaign of 1930-34. Shridharani reviewed how nonviolence had developed from the Upanishads, Jainism, Buddhism, Jesus, Tolstoy, and Thoreau to Gandhi. Although nonviolent direct action is obviously different from war in regard to the use of violence, they are similar in various ways. They both actively

oppose the position of their adversaries and can be aggressive or offensive as well as defensive. Both use the power of suffering; while war attempts to persuade the enemy to change by inflicting suffering, the satyagrahis attempt to awaken the conscience of their adversaries by accepting suffering. Both are alluring as romantic campaigns. Both may become permanent institutions, and both attempt to coerce or compel someone else to change. Shridharani argued that nonviolent direct action can be more effective than war in bringing about lasting social change because people are really transformed by the process, and the healing and recovery from the damage of the process is much easier.

India during World War II

The Indian National Congress had expressed its opposition to an imperialist war as early as 1936, and the Working Committee directed provincial ministers not to assist with war preparations. When the British declared war against Germany on September 3, 1939, the other ministers in the Punjab, Bengal, and Sind pledged their support. The Indian States, the National Liberal Federation, and the Hindu Mahasabha also backed the Government, but Congress refused to cooperate. At first Gandhi and Nehru were reluctant to take advantage of Englands peril, but Subhas Bose adamantly declared that Congress should not cooperate with Britains war. On September 15 the Working Committee condemned Fascism and Nazism but took the gravest view of the Viceroys proclamation of war and the war ordinances being promulgated without Indias consent. They would not permit their resources to be exploited for imperialist ends. India could not support a war for democracy and freedom while they were being denied democratic freedom. They asked if the British war aims included treating India as a free nation. Three days later the Muslim League promised cooperation with Britain under two conditions. First, the Muslims must be assured of justice in Congress provinces, and second, the British must not adopt any new constitution without the approval of the Muslim League. All the Congress ministries had resigned by November 15. The governors took control of these provinces, and so Viceroy Linlithgow felt he could support the Muslim League. At the Congress session in March 1940 President Maulana Abul Kalam Azad made clear that Congress was not a pacifist organization and that it was opposing the British war effort to achieve its main goal of freedom for India. In July the Working Committee renewed their demand for full independence and promised to defend the country once this was gained. Gandhi complained that the Muslim League wanted to divide India into two parts, and he asserted that the only two parties were those who supported Congress and those who did not. Viceroy Linlithgow made an offer on August 8, 1940 that promised to form an advisory war council of thirteen with eight Indians, protect minorities, and after the war let a representative Indian body frame a new constitution. Within two weeks the Working Committee of Congress had rejected this offer as inadequate. The Muslim League replied that the only solution was the partition of India. In his autobiography Toward Freedom, which he wrote while he was in prison and completed in 1940, Nehru wrote,
That is the goal of Indiaa united free, democratic country, closely associated in a world federation with other free nations. We want independence, but not the old type of narrow, exclusive independence. We believe that the day of separate warring national states is over.4

In 1940 the Congress Socialist party had expelled the Communists. The Communist Party of India (CPI) favored the proletarian path and proposed a general strike and country-wide rent and tax refusal before the next phase of armed insurrection. When 150,000 textile workers went on strike in Bombay, the Government arrested 480 Communists. In December at a conference they challenged the Congress claim to speak for India and supported voluntary federation of regional states to try to win over Muslims. When Germany invaded Russia in June 1941, the Comintern ordered the CPI to back the peoples war, and most of the Communists in India started supporting the Government. Congress decided to launch a civil disobedience campaign under Gandhis leadership. He selected the ban on propaganda against the war as the main issue. The campaign began on October 17, 1940, and individuals speaking against the war were arrested one at a time. Defense of India Rules prohibited the press from reporting on the protests. Gandhi promised Congress he would stay out of jail; but his disciple Vinoba Bhave was arrested, and about 14,000 were in prison by May 1941. The Atlantic Charter issued by Britain and the United States stated that as part of their war policy
They respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of Government under which they will live; and they wish to see sovereign rights and self-Government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them.5

Indians agreed with this, but Churchill on September 9 in the House of Commons stated that it did not apply to India. Indians believed that British dishonesty had been exposed, and even the Liberal leader, Sikandar Hayat Khan, who supported the war effort, was shocked. Three Indians on the Council requested the release of Nehru and Azad and threatened to resign. Churchill objected; but the Cabinet went along with Viceroy Linlithgow, and all the satyagrahis were released on December 3, 1941. General Claude Auchinleck became commander-in-chief in January 1941, and his successful recruiting helped increase the Indian armed forces from 190,000 at the start of the war to two million by 1943. Indian troops made up a large part of the British army in the successful African campaign against the Italians in Kenya, Sudan, and Ethiopia. In Burma the British forces retreated from Rangoon as the Japanese invaded in March 1942. Thousands of Indian refugees died as they fled to India. The Japanese navy sank many Indian ships and controlled the Bay of Bengal. Japanese planes bombed India on April 6, and their navy seized the Andaman Islands. In March 1942 US President Franklin Roosevelt urged Churchill to settle the differences with India in order to gain their support in the war. So Churchill sent Stafford Cripps to India with a declaration that promised the earliest possible realization of self-government in India by a constitution-making body after the cessation of hostilities under similar conditions as offered before. This offer was rejected by all the major parties and minorities in India because Indians did not trust the British, because they believed that they were losing the war to Germany, and because India was likely to be partitioned. Gandhi especially objected to what he called the vivisection of India. Roosevelts envoy, Col. Louis Johnson, tried to bring the two sides together, but Churchill refused to alter the proposal. The British blamed the failure on Gandhis pacifism; but Gandhi called that a tissue of lies, and the British did not produce the evidence of his telephone conversation they claimed they recorded. In 1942 Gandhi wrote,

Supposing that the women and the children of Europe became fired with the love of humanity, they would take the men by storm and reduce militarism to nothingness in an incredibly short time.6

In April he suggested ways to resist the Japanese nonviolently. He also said that if India had a national government, it should ally itself with the United Nations against the Fascist powers. He criticized the Japanese for attacking China and predicted that their ambition would fail and might prevent the world federation and brotherhood without which there can be no hope for humanity.7 He wrote that India had no enmity toward Japan or any nation and that a free India could negotiate with the Japanese. Gandhi was concerned that the British presence would invite the Japanese to invade India. He wanted the British to entrust India to God or in modern parlance to anarchy. If the Japanese did invade India, the Congress would organize nonviolent non-cooperation. The Americans eventually persuaded Gandhi that Japans occupation of India would cause China to fall also. Gandhi argued that India in bondage could not fight effectively against the Nazis and that the Allies subjection of India as well as Africans and Negroes damaged their moral cause. After several days of discussion Gandhi persuaded the Congress Working Committee to adopt his famous Quit India resolution on July 14, 1942 not only in the interest of India but also for the safety of the world and for the ending of Nazism, Fascism, Militarism, and other forms of imperialism.8 Gandhi sent his disciple Mira Ben (Madeleine Slade) to the Viceroy, who said he would not tolerate any rebellion, whether violent or nonviolent. Gandhi called it an open revolt and said they should free India or die; but either he thought he had time to plan the campaign later, or he decided to leave it up to spontaneous action. The Government planned severe repression but waited until the AICC met and made a decision. The AICC passed the resolution on the night of August 8 with only a few Communists opposed, and before dawn the British arrested Gandhi, Azad, and the Working Committee. Within a week all the eminent leaders of the Congress were in prison. The British quickly declared Congress illegal, seized their headquarters at Allahabad, and confiscated their funds. The paper Harijan was put under a ban and was not allowed to publish again until 1946. Thus for three and a half years we have little or no writing from Gandhi. News of the arrests of Gandhi and the Congress leaders immediately touched off nonviolent protests in Bombay, Ahmadabad, and Poona. On August 10 Delhi and towns in the United Provinces were aroused, and on the following day the disruptions spread across most of India with strikes, demonstrations, and even mob violence. Systems of communication and transportation were attacked and sabotaged. The UP alone reported that more than a hundred railway stations were damaged, and railway tracks were sabotaged a hundred times. Mobs attacked trams, buses, motor vehicles, and government buildings. The report found more than 425 cases of sabotaging telephone and telegraph wires, and 119 post offices were destroyed or severely damaged. The Government quickly cracked down and arrested 16,089 people while 16 police officers were killed with 332 injured. The mass lawlessness spread in the Central Provinces and Bihar as well. Bombs were used, especially in Bombay. Altogether in India 330 post offices were burned or seriously damaged; over 250 railways stations were destroyed or damaged; and more than two hundred police stations were attacked. Officials later estimated that the police and military fired at crowds 538 times, killing 940 and injuring 1,630. Nehru believed that even higher figures were gross underestimates. Some said that as many as 25,000 were killed, but Nehru estimated 10,000. Officials calculated that 60,229 persons were arrested with about 26,000 convicted and 18,000 detained without trial by the end of 1942.

Most of those demonstrating were students, peasants, and persons from the lower middle class. The military occupied Benares University and regained control of most districts by the end of August, and open protests were quelled by September 21. The police and the military reacted aggressively because of the sabotage and mob violence, and there were many atrocities. The revolt was violent in the sense that force was used to destroy communication lines, railways, bridges, and post offices. Some took over courts, jails, and government buildings, burning records. Yet at first this was not an armed uprising, and efforts were made to be nonviolent and not harm people. Heroic demonstrators were shot for trying to raise the Indian flag. In October some freedom fighters led by Jayaprakash Narayan went underground, but their more violent revolutionary efforts faded away by February 1943. The Muslim League led by Jinnah remained aloof from the Quit India campaign and appealed to the United Nations to help them establish Pakistan. In 1942 Pir Pagaro led a violent revolt by gangs of Hurs in north-eastern Sind. The British imposed martial in June 1942 for a year, by which time the Pir had been executed. In Bengal the Muslim League party persuaded Fazl-ul-Huq to resign in March 1943, and K. Nazimuddin formed a ministry in April. The Muslim League also gained power in Assam, NWFP, and Sind, but the Unionist party maintained its hold on the Punjab. At Karachi in December 1943 the Muslim League adopted the slogan Divide and Quit. The British considered Subhas Bose a dangerous revolutionary and had arrested him on July 2, 1940. When his hunger strike showed dangerous symptoms, they released him on December 5. He was kept under surveillance at his home in Calcutta but escaped on January 17, 1941 and made his way to Kabul and Moscow. On March 28 he flew to Berlin. He met with Ribbentrop, and the Germans helped him to broadcast anti-British propaganda and to raise Free Indian troops from the Indian prisoners of war in Germany. Bose founded Free India Centers in Rome and Paris while recruiting 3,000 soldiers. Rash-behari Bose had fled to Japan in 1915, married a Japanese woman, and became a Japanese citizen. He organized a conference at Tokyo in March 1942, and they formed an Indian Independence League for Indians in Japanese Asia. A hundred delegates met at Bangkok in June and elected Rash-behari Bose chairman. They invited Subhas Bose to East Asia. Meanwhile Captain Mohan Singh had surrendered to the Japanese, and at Bangkok the holy man Giani Pritam Singh and Major Fuzihara persuaded him to fight for Indian independence. When the Japanese captured Singapore on February 15, 1942, Fuzihara gained 40,000 Indian prisoners of war. Mohan Singh used volunteers from them and formed the Indian National Army (INA). By August about 40,000 Indians were being trained physically and mentally with lectures on Indian history under British rule. A German U-boat took Subhas Bose to a Japanese submarine, and he reached Tokyo on June 13, 1943. Prime Minister Hideki Tojo encouraged Boses plans for a provisional government and promised India full independence. On July 4 Rash-behari Bose turned over the presidency to Subhas Bose, who was named the supreme leader (Netaji). The INA trained men and women intensively for six months. On October 23 the Netaji announced on radio the Provisional Government of Azad Hinds declaration of war against Britain and the USA. Within a few days Azad Hind (Free India) was recognized by Germany, Italy, Croatia, Burma, Thailand, Nationalist China, the Philippines, and Manchuria. On November 6 Tojo turned over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the Provisional Government. Field Marshal Terauchi allowed the Subhas Brigade to join the Japanese invasion of Burma to prove their worth. They went to Rangoon in February 1944 and marched along the Kaladan River. In May the INA entered Indian territory, and some Japanese troops were even put under Captain

Suraj Mal. They occupied Mowdok and fought British forces until September. As the Japanese retreated, the INA stayed at Rangoon until they were captured by the British in May 1945. The Netaji fled to Bangkok and Saigon. The Japanese claimed he was killed in an airplane crash; but others believe he was eventually captured by Russians in Manchuria and sent to Siberia. When the British tried the INA officers for treason, they were shocked that most Indians considered them patriotic heroes. Nationwide demonstrations for the release of the INA prisoners in the winter of 1945 resulted in the police killing forty people and wounding more than three hundred in Calcutta; in Bombay 28 were killed, and more than two hundred were wounded. While Gandhi was detained at the Aga Khan palace, he complained that the Government was spreading rumors that he was encouraging violent activities. He noted that the Governments violence was on a gigantic scale compared to the protests. He announced a three-week fast to seek justice from God because the Viceroy had denied him justice. Although Viceroy Linlithgow warned him that he would consider a fast by Gandhi political blackmail and would let him die, Gandhi disagreed and began fasting on February 10, 1943. If he had not taken some lime juice with his water, he probably would have died. The first Japanese air raid on Calcutta was on December 20, 1942. The loss of rice imports from Burma caused a food shortage in Bengal in 1943. Inefficient government caused a delay in food rationing, and more than a million people died from starvation and disease. The Famine Enquiry Commission estimated 1.5 million deaths, but the economist Chattopadhyaya of Calcutta University used surveys that showed it was about 3.5 million. Indias commander-in-chief Wavell became viceroy in October 1943. His proposal to appoint an Indian as finance minister was blocked by the Home Government, but he did manage to implement a Ministry for Planning and Development in 1944. The Japanese army invaded Manipur in March 1944, but they withdrew in August. Gandhi was released unconditionally from prison on May 5, 1944 because of a bad case of malaria. Wavell refused to meet with Gandhi or with the Working Committee. Rajagopalachari persuaded Gandhi to negotiate with Jinnah the partition he was determined to have. They held talks for eighteen days in September, but Jinnah refused to compromise on his demand for all of the Punjab, NWFP, Sind, Baluchistan, Bengal, and Assam. Bhulabhai Desai was the Congress leader in the Central Legislative Assembly, and he negotiated an agreement with Liaquat Ali Khan of the Muslim League. Viceroy Wavell was interested, but Jinnah and the Congress leaders rejected the plan. After the Congress members were released from prison, Khan Sahib was able to form a ministry in NWFP. New ministries favorable to Congress were also formed in Assam and Sind by March 1945. That month Nazimuddin was defeated in Bengal, and the Governor took over under Section 93. Indian troops entered Mandalay on March 8 and regained Rangoon on May 4. Viceroy Wavells efforts to find a constitutional solution were delayed or blocked by Churchill, and Wavell visited London in the spring of 1945. After returning to Delhi, the Viceroy announced on June 14 his proposals that called for an Executive Council made up of Indians except for the Viceroy and the Commander-in-Chief. The Councils goals were to prosecute the war against Japan and carry the government until a permanent constitution was implemented. Gandhi, Jinnah, and the Hindu Mahasabhas objected to how the Council would be selected. Members of the Congress Working Committee were released on June 15 and decided that the Congress should participate in the conference at Simla. The Viceroy invited 21 Indian leaders to the conference, and Gandhi remained in town as an advisor. Jinnah refused to cooperate unless all five Muslims on the Council were from the League; Wavell refused to go forward without Jinnahs consent.

India Divided 1945-47

World War II ended when Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945. Gandhi hoped for a real peace based on freedom and equality for all races and nations. He contrasted nonviolence to the horrible violence of the atomic bomb, and he called the use of this weapon on Japan cowardice. In his last years he became more of a socialist, believing that inequality breeds violence while equality produces nonviolence. He went on a pilgrimage to Noakhali to help the poor. Just before the war ended, Churchills government was replaced by Labor with Clement Attlee as prime minister. They worked to fulfill the pledge that India would be granted dominion status after the war. The concern that an independent India would repudiate its foreign debt no longer existed because the war expenses had resulted in Britain owing India one billion pounds. Also there were now 15,000 trained Indian officers in the military. India had not had provincial elections since 1937 nor a general election since 1934. After visiting London, Viceroy Wavell on September 19 announced elections in December. The Congress party gained popularity by providing a legal team to defend three Indian National Army (INA) officersa Hindu, a Muslim, and a Sikhon trial for treason, murder, and torture before a military tribunal. The sentences of transportation to life were remitted, and they were merely cashiered. In the elections Congress got 91% of the vote in the nonMuslim constituencies, and in the Muslim areas the Muslim League received 87%. Congress had a majority in Assam and in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) as well as in Bombay, Madras, the United Provinces (UP), Bihar, Orissa, and the Central Provinces (CP). The Muslim League declined to join a coalition in the Punjab, but they did so with independents in Bengal. Indians in the Royal Indian Navy, who were suffering hardships in Bombay, revolted with strikes that led to looting, and more than two hundred people were killed by police and the army in February 1946. During these disturbances Attlee and Secretary of State Pethick-Lawrence announced that a Cabinet mission would visit India. On March 15 Attlee said in the House of Commons that minorities would be protected, but a minority would not be allowed to veto the advance of the majority. Pethick-Lawrence, Stafford Cripps, and A. V. Alexander arrived in New Delhi on March 24 to set up a process to write a constitution for an independent India. Giani Kartar Singh wanted the state of Khalistan for Sikhs. Jinnah and the Muslim League held a conference on April 10 and demanded a sovereign Pakistan formed from the Punjab, NWFP, Sind, and Baluchistan in the west with Bengal and Assam in the east. Jinnah indicated that he could accept a Pakistan that might exclude districts where Muslims were not a majority, but he insisted on retaining Calcutta. In April the Factories Amendment Act was passed that reduced the work week from 54 to 48 hours and from 60 to 50 hours in seasonal factories. The Indian National Government also passed important acts in industrial relations, social insurance, and improvement in working conditions. Congress and the Muslim League could not agree, and on May 16, 1946 the Cabinet Mission announced their recommendation for a Union of India in regard to foreign affairs, defense, and communications with all other powers held by the provinces. Legislative seats were to be proportioned by population. However, the plan was complicated by a controversial grouping of provinces into three sections. The general public received the plan favorably, and Gandhi said it was worthy of acceptance. The Council of the Muslim League accepted the proposals on June 6, but their negotiator Jinnah and Congress leaders could not agree on who should be in the Interim Government. Gandhi left Delhi on June 28, and the Cabinet Mission left India the next day. The All-India Congress Committee (AICC) met on July 6, ratified the statement, and elected Nehru president of the Congress. Nehru said they could not accept British interference in the new government, and Jinnah considered this a repudiation of the agreement. The Council of the Muslim League withdrew its acceptance on July 29 and planned a day of direct action for August 16. In the provincial elections at the end of

July the Congress won all the general seats except nine, and the Muslim League won all but five of the seats reserved for Muslims. The Congress Working Committee accepted the scheme and tried to satisfy the Muslim League on August 8. Four days later Viceroy Wavell asked Congress to form a provisional government. Nehru accepted and offered Jinnah five seats out of fourteen in the Interim Government, but Jinnah rejected this. The British Government did little in Calcutta to stop the Muslim violence against Hindus that began on August 16. After a week of communal conflict some 5,000 people were dead with more than 15,000 injured, and about 100,000 were homeless. Chief Minister Suhrawardy and the Muslim League cabinet were blamed for declaring Direction Action Day a public holiday and not stopping the violence. Viceroy Wavell visited Calcutta and then met with Gandhi and Nehru. Wavell wanted to postpone the Constituent Assembly, but the Home Government insisted the Interim Government be inaugurated on September 2. The Muslim League urged people to protest by calling that day a Black Day, and hundreds died in the communal violence that broke out in Bombay and Ahmadabad. Gandhi learned in October that 5,000 people had been killed and 50,000 injured in Noakhali. The 77-year-old peacemaker went on a village-a-day pilgrimage, walking 116 miles in seven weeks. Jinnah suggested a compromise that was accepted, and on October 13 the Muslim League agreed to join the Interim Government. League members took office on October 26, but Jinnah still held back. Pethick-Lawrence invited the leaders to meet in London in December. Jinnah gained some assurances and stayed on to give speeches warning the English that if they did not grant Pakistan, there would be civil war in India. Muslims refused to attend the Constituent Assembly on December 9. Rajendra Prasad was elected president, and they adjourned until January 20, 1947. Then they met for six days, passed Nehrus objectives resolution, and appointed some committees. The Working Committee of the Muslim League met at Karachi on January 31 and declared the decisions of the Constituent Assembly invalid and illegal and said it should be dissolved. On February 20, 1947 Prime Minister Attlee announced that the British would transfer power to the most responsible Indians no later than June 1948 regardless. The Congress Working Committee welcomed this, but Jinnah still demanded Pakistan. Muslim attacks on Hindus in Noakhali in eastern Bengal provoked Hindus in Bihar to seek revenge against Muslims. At least 5,000 were killed in Bihar, and 120,000 were refugees. Direct action by the Muslim League in the Punjab spread violence from Lahore to Multan, Rawalpindi, and Amritsar. A coalition broke up in the Punjab when Khizar Hyat Khan resigned on March 2. Governor Evan Jenkins asked a Muslim to form a ministry, but the Sikh leader Tara Singh held up a sword and shouted Death to Pakistan. For the next two weeks communal clashes disturbed the Punjab, killing at least two thousand. Demonstrations in the NWFP protested the Congress ministry of the Muslim Dr. Khan Sahib. Nehru visited there and was met by hostile crowds during his tour. The Governor had to take over under Section 93. In a new election the Muslim League also won a majority in Sind. In the Interim Government the Muslim Liaquat Ali Khan had been made the finance minister, and he could block spending by any other department. On February 28 Liaquat Ali presented a budget to the Central Assembly for the fiscal year that would begin in April. He said that the current taxes would leave a deficit of Rs. 485 million on the military expenditure of Rs. 1,887 million and the Rs. 1,392 million spent on civil administration. He also proposed abolishing the salt tax and raising the minimum exemption on income tax from Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 2,500. To balance the budget he made the following proposals: a special income tax of 25% on business profits over Rs. 100,000 would yield an estimated Rs. 300 million; a graduated tax on capital gains over Rs. 5,000 would bring in Rs. 35 million; doubling the corporate tax would raise Rs. 40 million; lowering the point for the maximum supertax rate would yield Rs. 25 million; and doubling the export duty on tea would raise Rs. 40

million. Abul Kalam Azad said that Congress policy favored removing economic inequalities, and the cabinet unanimously approved the new budget. The Congress party had been financed by Hindu capitalists who had greatly benefited from the boycott on foreign goods, and Patel and Rajagopalachari vehemently objected to the new budget. Liaquat Ali agreed to some amendments, and the Assembly approved the budget on March 25. However, the conflicts between the League and the Congress convinced Patel and other Congress members that creating Pakistan was the only way to avoid chaos. Viscount Louis Mountbatten succeeded Wavell as viceroy on March 23, 1947. In a last-ditch effort to salvage Indian unity, on April 1 Gandhi proposed that Jinnah and his Muslim League control the new government; but this was rejected by Congress leaders as impractical. Two weeks later Mountbatten and Gandhi did get Jinnah to sign with them the following statement:
We denounce for all time the use of force to achieve political ends, and we call upon all the communities of India, to whatever persuasion they may belong, not only to refrain from all acts of violence and disorder, but also to avoid both in speech and writing, any word which might be construed as an incitement of such acts.9

Gandhi prayed for unity and tolerance, and he even read from the Quran at his prayer meetings in the most troubled areas. Hindus attacked him because they thought he was partial to Muslims; but Muslims demanded he let them have Pakistan. Viceroy Mountbatten developed a plan for partition, and after persuading the Congress leaders he presented it to the governors on April 15. Congress leaders insisted that non-Muslim areas in the Punjab and Bengal must be allowed to remain in India, but Jinnah naturally opposed that. How the problems of mixed areas would be solved was rarely even discussed, and only Jinnah suggested that population could be exchanged. The Muslim leaders demanded that the Congress ministry in the NWFP resign, and trains were attacked. Mountbatten did little to quell the communal violence, but on May 2 he sent a tentative plan to London. The Cabinet approved with modifications, and Mountbatten showed it to Nehru on May 10. He vehemently refused to accept it because it would allow provinces and the princely states to secede and thus would Balkanize India. V. P. Menon gave the Viceroy a plan in which the partition would be into only two states with dominion status. The non-Muslim areas in the Punjab and Bengal could vote to be excluded from Pakistan. The 1941 census would be used to determine the Muslim-majority districts. Mountbatten met with Congress leaders Nehru and Patel, League leaders Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan, and with Baldev Singh of the Sikhs, and they all approved. The Viceroy went to London on May 18, and the Cabinet approved the new plan. Mountbatten returned to India and met with leaders again on June 2, 1947. The next day Attlee announced what became known as the June 3rd Plan. That day All-India Radio also broadcast speeches by Mountbatten, Nehru, Jinnah, and Baldev Singh, and they all urged their followers to accept the plan peacefully. The next day at a press conference Mountbatten moved up the transfer of power to August 15. The Muslim League abandoned their mass movements and accepted the plan on June 10, and the All-India Congress Committee did so on June 15. Communal violence in

Gurgaon near Delhi lasted until late June and took about a thousand lives. Violence also continued in Lahore and Amritsar, and the politicians in Delhi called for martial law. Nehru publicly criticized the British officers. This outburst discouraged some officers from staying on in India, though many continued to serve in Pakistan. A Boundary Force of 50,000 was authorized for the new border in the Punjab, and the governments of both India and Pakistan announced that violence would not be tolerated in either territory. In divided provinces if either side voted to partition the province, that was to be determinative. On June 20 legislators in western Bengal voted 58-21 to partition the province and remain in India. In the Punjab the joint session voted 91-77 for Pakistan, but those in eastern Punjab voted 50-22 to stay in India. On June 26 the Sind Assembly decided 33-20 to be in Pakistan. In the mostly Muslim Sylhet 239,600 people voted to leave Assam and join East Bengal in Pakistan while 184,000 cast their ballots to stay in India. Baluchistan also decided to join Pakistan. On June 19 Gandhi had asked the Congress and the Muslim League to let the Pathans in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) establish their own constitution before deciding to join Pakistan or India. On June 24 Abdul Ghaffar Khan made a plea for a free Pathanistan, and the next day he announced that his Red Shirts would boycott the referendum. In the polling on July 6 out of three million people in the NWFP 289,200 voted for Pakistan while 2,800 voted the other way. Patel announced on July 5 that the new government of India would ask princely states to accede only on defense, foreign affairs, and communications while respecting their autonomy on all other issues. Jinnah announced the same policy for the few states in Pakistan. The House of Commons passed the Indian Independence Bill on July 15, and King George VI approved it three days later. On July 25 Mountbatten persuaded almost all the states to sign accession agreements, but Hyderabad and Kashmir remained significant exceptions. India asked Mountbatten to be their governor-general, and Jinnah was determined to be governor-general of Pakistan. The provisional government of Pakistan began moving from Delhi to its new capital at Karachi on August 1. Two Boundary Commissions for the Punjab and Bengal each included two judges appointed by the Congress and two by the League. They could not agree, and their chairman Cyril Radcliffe was authorized to draw the lines that partitioned the Punjab, Bengal, and Assam. West Bengal still had 16% Muslims while East Bengal had 42% non-Muslims. East Punjab had 38% of the area and 45% of the population but three out of five rivers. Sikhs resented losing Lahore and the canal colonies to West Punjab, and the Muslims complained that the Mandi hydro-electric plant went to East Punjab. The United Nations agreed with Congress that India should continue its international personality. Gandhi went to Calcutta on August 9 to help preserve harmony, and Mountbatten, who had 55,000 soldiers unable to stop the rioting in the Punjab, called him a one man boundary force. The Constituent Assembly of Pakistan met on August 11 and elected Jinnah president. On August 14 Mountbatten rode in an open car with Jinnah through the streets of Karachi. On August 15, 1947 Pakistan and India officially became dominions in the British commonwealth. Nehru, who led the cabinet of India and had spent nine years in prison during the nonviolent struggle for freedom, at midnight spoke the following words:
Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.

A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation long suppressed finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity. We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again. Freedom and power bring responsibility. That responsibility rests upon this Assembly, a sovereign body representing the sovereign people of India.10

Rajendra Prasad was elected president of the Assembly. Prasad noted their own sufferings and sacrifices but also recognized the historic tradition and democratic ideals of the British race. Lord and Lady Mountbatten were cheered by enormous crowds in Delhi, and a new era of good will between England and India began.

Indian Independence 1947-48

The new border that separated India from Pakistan in the Punjab divided the Sikh population of four million in half. Nehru refused to let the British soldiers participate in the Boundary Force, and by August 15, 1947 less than 10,000 troops were in place in the Punjab. In the largest movement of people in world history about ten million Punjabis migrated in 1947. Muslims left East Punjab to go to Pakistan, and the Hindus and Sikhs departed from West Punjab to move to India. Indian intelligence estimated that at least 198,000 people were killed and that 100,000 were forcibly converted to Islam. However, Governor Francis Mudie of West Punjab estimated that half a million Muslims were killed, and the British High Commissioner in Karachi said the total was 800,000. As a result of the disruptions over the partition of India and Pakistan a total of fourteen million people lost their homes. Mountbatten and Jinnah met with the Joint Defense Council on August 29, and they abolished the Punjab Boundary Force. The soldiers went to their regiments in India and Pakistan, and these two dominions were to be responsible for law and order in their own territories. Pakistan formed the Ministry of Refugees and Rehabilitation at the beginning of September. British troops began withdrawing from India on August 17, and the last regiment left on February 18, 1948. The Indian Army was divided by religion with 270,000 soldiers going to India and 140,000 to Pakistan. On August 15, 1947 Gandhi had fasted and prayed in a Muslim area of Calcutta instead of going to the ceremonies at Delhi. On the first of September he fasted again, and he only broke it three days later after municipal officials assured him that there had been no violence for 24 hours. While he was recovering from this fast, riots broke out in Delhi on September 7. In four days about two thousand people were killed. Gandhi went to Delhi to stop the pogroms against Muslims. When he was asked for a message, he wrote simply, My life is my message. Meanwhile a caravan of 800,000 people was moving from West Punjab to India.

The small state of Junagadh had announced its accession to Pakistan on August 15, 1947; but it is not contiguous with Pakistan, and the tiny states inside Junagadh had already acceded to India and asked for protection. India took over the administration of Junagadh on November 9, and in the plebiscite on February 20, 1948 out of 190,870 votes only 91 favored joining Pakistan rather than India. In 1947 the Indian National Trade Union Congress was founded on Gandhian principles, and they represented 577 unions. Women began to be appointed to important positions. Sarojini Naidu became governor of the United Provinces. Vijayalakshmi Pandit was ambassador to Moscow and Washington. Most of the people in Jammu and Kashmir were Muslims; but the Sikh conqueror Ranjit Singh had annexed it in 1819, and from 1846 it had been ruled by Hindu kings from the Dogra tribe. Their laws respected Hindu religion, and Muslims suffered discrimination. Maharaja Hari Singh began ruling in 1925, and he kept his capital at Jammu without going north to the summer center at Srinagar. In 1931 the school-teacher Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah began asking for more state services for Muslims. In April 1932 the Glancy Commission reported that real grievances needed redress. A new constitution enabled Hindus and Muslims to be elected to the legislature, but the Maharaja still held autocratic power. In his presidential address to the Muslim Conference on March 26, 1938 Sheikh Abdullah called for an end to communalism, hoping that all the communities would fight for freedom. They endorsed the political struggle in June 1939 and changed their name to the National Conference. Ghulam Abbas revived the Muslim Conference in 1941 with the support of the religious leader Yusuf Shah. Jinnah visited Kashmir for two months in the summer of 1944, and the Congress party held a conference a year later with Nehru, Azad, and Abdul Ghaffar Khan attending. The Maharaja refused to give up power and arrested the leaders of the National Conference. In 1946 Sheikh Abdullah demanded the abrogation of the 1846 Treaty of Amritsar that had established the Dogra dynasty, but the Congress party policy was not to displace Indian princes but to allow them to head constitutional democracies. The Muslim Conference did not support the Quit Kashmir campaign of the National Conference; but when they defied a ban on holding a conference in Srinagar, the Maharaja had their leaders arrested on October 25. The Government called an election for January 1947, and the National Conference with its leaders in jail boycotted the election. Only 182,000 voted out of the 707,400 who were eligible. The Muslim Conference participated and won 16 of the 21 Muslim seats. Congress party president Acharya Kripalani visited Kashmir in May. He pleaded for the release of Sheikh Abdullah and warned the Maharaja that he would have trouble if he did not join the Indian Union. Abdullah and most of the National leaders remained in jail until late September after Indias Independence. Pakistani leaders complained that Gurdaspur, which had the only road connecting India to Kashmir, had been awarded to East Punjab, and they believed that the Border Commission chairman Radcliffe was unfairly influenced by the Indians through Mountbatten. Sikhs were also upset that they lost some of their shrines to Pakistan. Sikhs and Hindus fled from West Punjab to the Kashmir Valley, and Muslims refugees went from East Punjab to Jammu. Maharaja Hari Singh signed standstill agreements with Pakistan and India, and a minister visited Delhi. The usual methods of repression by the Maharaja of Kashmir could not control the communal violence, and Muslim peasants in Poonch began a revolt. Then armed raiders from Pakistan crossed the border near Jammu, attacked villages, and stole cattle. Patel persuaded the Maharaja to release Sheikh Abdullah, and on October 3 Abdullah urged Kashmir to join India. He considered Nehru his best friend, and he revered Gandhi. Meanwhile the Muslims formed the Azad Kashmir government with the local barrister Muhammad Ibrahim as president.

Mehr Chand Mahajan replaced General Janak Singh as prime minister of Kashmir on October 15, and on that day he held a press conference and sent a telegram to Pakistan protesting the raids. One week later about five thousand tribesmen in British trucks and jeeps from the Pakistan army sacked Muzaffarabad and began pillaging and raping inside Kashmir. The Maharajas army of 8,000 was defeated and fled. British officers in Pakistan informed their British counterparts in India of the raids. The deputy prime minister of Kashmir went to Delhi, and on October 25 he asked the Indian Defense Committee for help. That day the Pakistan army notified New Delhi that tribal volunteers had entered Kashmir. Sheikh Abdullah went to Nehrus house and also asked for aid. V. P. Menon flew to Jammu and persuaded the Maharaja to sign a letter of conditional accession to India; a plebiscite was to be held when conditions returned to normal. Kashmir Prime Minister Mahajan returned with Menon to New Delhi and met with Nehru and Patel. Menon later wrote that Kashmir had signed the accession papers before India sent troops, but Mahajans report contradicted this. Nehru telegraphed Liaquat Ali Khan on October 26 that India was sending troops to Kashmir. Governor-General Mountbatten wrote a letter to accept Kashmirs accession. More than a hundred planes carried troops and supplies from India, and 329 soldiers arrived on October 27 just in time to save Srinagar. By the end of October they had been joined by three battalions, and the raiders retreated. Jinnah ordered General Gracey to move Pakistani troops into Kashmir, but he refused to do so without the approval of Field Marshal Claude Auchinleck, who flew to Lahore on October 28 and persuaded Jinnah to withdraw his invasion order. The next day Nehru and Patel refused to go to Lahore, and Mountbatten went only with his chief of staff Ismay and met with Liaquat and Jinnah. Meanwhile Gandhi was telling his prayer meetings that the kings and maharajas of the Indian states had been puppets of British imperialism, but now the people had become the real rulers. In a broadcast on November 2 Nehru asked how the tribesmen crossing the frontier had been armed so effectively, but Pakistani prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan condemned the illegal ownership of Kashmir by the infamous Amritsar Treaty. Sheikh Abdullah inspired the popular resistance to the raiders, and by November 8 they had taken Baramulla. Pakistan refused to withdraw its forces and suggested the United Nations. Patel decided to stop honoring Indias financial commitments to Pakistan until they stopped supporting the raiders. On December 22 the Indian cabinet demanded that Pakistan stop aiding the raiders and warned that they would appeal to the UN Security Council. By the end of 1947 the Indian army had cleared the invaders out of the Kashmir Valley. Indias appeal to the UN on the first day of 1948 mentioned that their forces were opposed by 34,000 raiders. At a press conference the next day Nehru asked Pakistan to withdraw their personnel from Kashmir. Pakistan replied on January 15, accusing India of genocide against Muslims in East Punjab. Two days later the UN Security Council adopted a resolution establishing the UN Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP). India wanted the Security Council to recognize Pakistani aggression in Kashmir; but Pakistan believed the accession was not legally valid, and they would not withdraw unless India did so too. Gandhi was criticized for approving Indias action in Kashmir; but he believed it was justified because not to stand ones ground to defend oneself against an aggressor would be cowardice. Although he may not help one retaliate, Gandhi believed that he must not let a coward find shelter behind the guise of nonviolence. However, he advised that India should transfer the money due to Pakistan. Gandhi began a fast on January 13, 1948 and said he would continue until people stopped killing each other or he died. On the third day Patel and the Indian cabinet gave in and agreed to pay the 40 million from Indias assets that they had withheld from Pakistan because of Kashmir. Hindu refugees outside the gate chanted Let Gandhi die, and the visiting Nehru angrily challenged them to kill him first, causing them to disperse. Azad learned from the physically weakened Gandhi his demands that Muslims be allowed to move freely, live where they want with no economic boycott,

and that 117 mosques should be returned to them. Gandhis kidneys were not functioning well. A Congress committee got 130 leaders that included Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, and others to sign a peace agreement, and 200,000 people took a written pledge to protect Muslims. So on January 18 he ended his fast. Although this religious hatred saddened Gandhi, India had gained independence, accomplishing the greatest nonviolent revolution in the history of the world. Gandhi held open prayer meetings in Delhi for all faiths, and anyone could attend. A small conspiracy of Hindus in the extremist Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSSS) plotted to assassinate him, but their first attempt with a bomb on January 20 failed. Nehru and Patel urged Gandhi to accept police protection, but he refused, saying that he trusted God and would not submit to anger or fear. Police learned the names of those who would carry out the assassination, but they were unable to stop them. On January 30 at a prayer meeting Nathuram Godse shot Gandhi three times at close range; with his last breath the Mahatma chanted the name of God. More than a million people attended his funeral. Because the assassin was a Maharashtrian Brahmin, assaults in Maharashtra were made against the Brahmin and Bania communities; but most of the communal violence stopped. After a trial the assassin Nathuram Godse and one accomplice were hanged, and five other conspirators were sentenced to life imprisonment. The RSSS and other organizations of communal violence were banned.

India and Pakistan 1948-50

The Eastern States merged into the provinces of Orissa and the Central Provinces. In March and April 1948 many of the smaller states were integrated into Mataya, Kathiawar, Rajasthan, and Vindhya Pradesh. In May, the Madhya States Union was formed from Gwalior, Indore, and Malwa. The Patiala and East Punjab States Union began in July. Junagadh and some adjoining states joined Kathiawar on the last day of 1948. The Greater Rajasthan Union was inaugurated as the largest union of states with 13 million people in March 1949. Baroda merged into Bombay in May, and Bhopal, Cooch Behar, Tripura, and Manipur joined the Central administration. By November all the states had become integrated except for Hyderabad and Kashmir. A total of 554 states were dissolved and integrated into the Union of India. Hyderabad had a population of 16 million, who were mostly Hindu, but since the Mughal reign of Aurangzeb they had been ruled by the Nizam and elite Muslims. The seventh Nizam, Mir Usman Ali Khan, wanted to remain independent. When India withheld Pakistans Rs. 550 million share of the treasury in September 1947, the Nizam approved a Rs. 200 million loan to Pakistan. Hyderabad made a standstill agreement with the Indian Union in November to maintain its status quo before independence. The Nizams private force of Razakars were led by Kasim Razvi, and they caused border incidents with Madras, the Central Provinces, and Bombay. The Government of India demanded that the Nizam disband them, but he refused and appealed to the United Nations. Two days after a final letter of warning on September 11, 1948, Indian troops entered Hyderabad. MajorGeneral El Edroos surrendered Hyderabad to Major-General J. N. Chaudhury of the Indian Army on September 18. Kasim Razvi was arrested, and the Nizam withdrew his case from the UN Security Council. Chaudhury became the military governor, and Hyderabad acceded to the Indian Union on January 26, 1950. The Kashmir Maharaja appointed Sheikh Abdullah prime minister in March 1948. He was a socialist and proposed radical land reform without compensating land-owners. Pakistans military leaders allowed soldiers to desert their army in order to raid in Kashmir, and in April their British commander-in-chief approved their sending in troops for self-defense. India also launched an offensive in the spring, and neither side was able to advance much. On April 21 the UN Security Council resolved to send five commissioners to oversee the withdrawal by Pakistani and Indian

troops. A Plebiscite Administration was to be set up to supervise the police. However, both Pakistan and India refused to accept the resolution. Mountbatten left India in June 1948, and Rajagopalachari became the first Indian governor-general. Mediation efforts in Kashmir failed, and the UNCIP commission did not arrive in Kashmir until July. UNCIP learned on the first day that Pakistan had sent in regular troops, but they did not inform the Security Council nor India until much later. The Commission told Pakistan that they had violated international law. Sheikh Abdullah agreed with Nehru that the best solution was to partition Kashmir, but Pakistan rejected this. On August 13 the UN Security Council proposed a cease fire. India agreed with minor modifications, but Pakistan demanded conditions that the Commission would not accept. On October 12 delegates of Kashmir passed a National Conference resolution recommending permanent accession to India. At the very end of 1948 a cease-fire agreement was signed, and US Admiral Chester W. Nimitz was appointed UN Administrator for the plebiscite. The Maharaja passed on restricted power to his son Karan Singh when he left Kashmir for health reasons in June 1949. UNCIP invited the two governments to meet at Karachi in July, and the cease-fire line was established. The Commission proposed an arbitrator, and Pakistan accepted; but India refused, fearing they would be at a military disadvantage if Pakistan invaded again with Azad Kashmir forces. On December 17 the UN Security Council appointed the Canadian General McNaughton to mediate, but Indias B. N. Rau argued that Pakistan made the plebiscite problematic by sending troops into Kashmir, occupying the northern areas, and building up the Azad forces. Pakistans representative Zafrulla Khan pointed out that Muslims made up 77% of Kashmir. The UN Security Council appointed the Australian Owen Dixon the next mediator on April 12, 1950, but he concluded that only bilateral talks between India and Pakistan could solve the problem of Kashmir. In January 1948 a food shortage caused the refugee camps in West Punjab to become more permanent, and in April the camps had 750,000 people. Jinnah made a broadcast to the United States in February and said that Pakistan would not be a theocratic state but would have a democratic constitution with equal rights for all religions. On February 28 Pakistans finance minister Ghulam Muhammad presented an annual budget to the Karachi assembly calling for 27.8 million in military spending out of total expenditures of 39.4 million. A deficit of 25.1 million was expected. India also allocated more than half its budget for defense and projected a deficit of 20 million. In March the governments of India and Pakistan declared each other foreign nations in regard to customs and excise duty. Governor-General Jinnah only visited East Pakistan once, and he made his last major public address at Dacca on March 21 in English. His audience spoke Bengali, but he announced that Pakistans official language would be Urdu and no other language. East Pakistan was much smaller in area than West Pakistan, but it had a larger population. It would become Bangladesh in 1971. On March 7, 1949 the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan adopted the Objectives Resolution that called for a constitution that would allow the state to exercise its power through the peoples chosen representatives with principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance, and social justice in accord with the teachings of Islam with provisions to protect minorities and depressed classes by guaranteeing equal rights with freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship, and association, with the independence of the judiciary secured, and the rights of the Federations territories safeguarded. The canals in the divided Punjab were a source of dispute. When Pakistan did not renew the agreement, on April 1 the East Punjab Government cut off the water supply from the canals going

into Pakistan from the Ravi and Sutlej rivers. Pakistan made another agreement on May 4; but later they complained that they had accepted it under duress. India believed that Pakistan had enough water from their rivers, and at the Inter-Dominion Conference in August 1949 they pressed for a joint survey of the water resources of the Indus rivers. India followed the British government in devaluing the pound sterling by 30% in September, but Pakistan declined to do so. So the Indian Government refused to recognize the Pakistani rupee, and trade between the two countries stopped for seven months. In the first three months of 1950 a half million refugees went from East Pakistan to India. The prime ministers Nehru and Liaquat Ali Khan met, and on April 8 they made a general agreement on minorities and trade-related issues. The problem of evacuee property had not been solved yet because Hindu refugees had left behind property worth 14 billion rupees, while Muslims had left property valued at only 2 billion rupees in India. The Pakistan Ministry of Refugees calculated that West Pakistan had 7,900,000 Muslim refugees. An agreement was made at the fifth Inter-Dominion Conference at Karachi in January 1949, but the next month Pakistan ordered rent slashed on urban evacuee property by up to 80%. The Indian Government considered this a subtle way of undermining the agreement, and Pakistan accused India of not implementing the agreement. By the end of 1950 they still could not agree. That year 600,000 more refugees entered Pakistan from India. India adopted a new constitution on November 26, 1949, and it came into force on January 26, 1950. The Constitution established a democratic republic to secure justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity and to guarantee all citizens equality before the law and freedom of speech, expression, assembly, conscience, and worship regardless of religion, race, caste, sex, and place of birth. English would continue to be the official language for fifteen years, but thereafter the official language would be Hindi. A president and vice president are elected for five-year terms. The Council of States is elected by the legislators in each state, but voters elect the House of the People directly. Governors of the states are appointed by the President for five-year terms, and the chief ministers in each state are appointed by the governors. The Supreme Court has jurisdiction over disputes between states and hears appeals from any High Court in a state. The first elections were conducted without major difficulties, and the Congress party was victorious. On January 24, 1950 Rajendra Prasad was elected the first President of India. Socialists had left the Congress party and formed their own party in March 1948. Their policy statement in October 1949 explained that they stood for democratic socialism and individual rights while they rejected totalitarian Communism. After the conservative Deputy Prime Minister Patel died in December 1950, Nehrus influence became even greater. In a speech on foreign policy on December 4, 1947 Nehru affirmed that India stands for peace as well as freedom from imperialistic control. He began the policy that led the non-aligned movement when he stated that they avoid foreign entanglements by not joining either power bloc of the US or the USSR. He wrote in his 1949 book Independence and After that Indias long history is significant. Although India had little military power he argued that India could have much influence because of the world situation in which force as a factor in international affairs will be reduced to the absolute minimum.11 On January 18, 1950 Prime Minister Nehru wrote a letter to the Prime Minister of Pakistan proposing a joint declaration by their governments for the avoidance of war, but the Government of Pakistan rejected his terms as too vague.

Notes
1. The History of the Indian National Congress, Volume 2 by Pattabhi Sitaramayya, p. 42.

2. The Life of Mahatma Gandhi by Louis Fischer, p. 344-345. 3. M. K. Gandhi in Harijan, December 24, 1938 quoted in The Gandhi Reader ed. Homer A. Jack, p. 339. 4. Toward Freedom by Jawaharlal Nehru, p. 387. 5. Quoted in Struggle for Freedom, p. 632. 6. Women and Social Justice, p. 100 quoted in Gandhis Technique of Mass Mobilization by M. M. Verma, p. 135. 7. The Life of Mahatma Gandhi by Louis Fischer, p. 383. 8. Quoted in Struggle for Freedom, p. 646. 9. Mahatma: Life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Volume 7 by D. G. Tendulkar, p. 377. 10. India 1947-50, Volume 1 Internal Affairs, p. 4. 11. Quoted in India 1947-50, Volume 2 External Affairs, p. xix.

Southeast Asia to 1800

by Sanderson Beck
Burma and Arakan to 1800 Siam (Thailand) to 1800 Cambodia to 1800 Laos to 1800 Vietnam to 1800 Malaya to 1800 This chapter has been published in the book INDIA & Southeast Asia to 1800. For ordering information, please click here. More than 25,000 years ago Negroid Pygmies migrated into southeast Asia, followed by Australoid and Melanesian Negritos and Papuans. Before southeast Asia was influenced by the great civilizations of China and India, they developed the cultivation of rice, domesticated the ox and buffalo, used iron and other metals, and sailed by navigation. An aristocracy, owning slaves and wearing gold and silver jewelry, prospered under royal favor. Women were more important in their culture, and descent was matrilineal. Indigenous beliefs recognized the spirit in all things, worshipped the ancestors and the god of the soil, and built shrines in high places.

Burma and Arakan to 1800

Although influenced by Hindu culture, the Pyu and Mon people of Burma seemed to reject hierarchical divine kingship in favor of more freedom and equality for men and women. Under the influence of Theravada Buddhism social status was gained not by accumulating wealth but by giving it to the Buddhist community, the king giving the most from taxes. In the 8th and 9th centuries much of Burma was dominated by Nanchao, whose ruler Kolofeng (r. 748-79) built a fortress by the upper Irrawaddy River. His grandson sent Pyu musicians to the Tang court in 800, followed by an embassy from the Pyu king. According to Chinese history, in 832 the Pyu capital was plundered and 3,000 captives were sent to Yunnan (Nanchao). One of Pyus eighteen vassal states that had been recognized by China was destroyed by Nanchao three years later. The Burmese capital of Pagan was founded in 849. Pyu soldiers helped Nanchao capture Hanoi in 863, and campaigns opened the old road across upper Burma to India. In lower Burma the Mons developed irrigation. Burma was united politically by King Anawrahta (r. 1044-77), who championed Theravada and conquered the Mons, the animistic Shans, and the Mahayana Nanchao. During his reign the Burmans helped the Sinhalese king of Sri Lanka defeat the Cholas, and later they received the complete Tripitaka (Theravada Buddhist scriptures) in Pali. Meanwhile his general Kyanzitha had gone into exile and came back to crush a rebellion and become enthroned with Brahmanic ritual in 1086; then he promoted Mon culture in Burma. Kyanzitha sent two diplomatic missions to China and was succeeded by his half-Mon grandson Alaungsithu (r. 1113-65), who nonetheless allowed Mon culture to decline at Pagan while he traveled around promoting Buddhism, claiming that he was tamed and would tame the willful, comfort the timid, wake the sleeping, cool the burning, free the bound, and calm hatred. However, much of his time was spent quelling revolts in Tenasserim and northern Arakan, and according to the Sinhalese Chulavamsa he interfered with trade between Sri Lanka and Cambodia. After 1174 Mon influence seems to have been absorbed into the Burmese culture. In 1190 the Mon monk Chapata returned from ten years of Buddhist study in Sri Lanka, bringing back Theravada reforms that developed into a great popular movement in Indochina, in contrast to the usual imposing of Hindu or Buddhist religion on the people by the court. Pagan ruler Narapatisithu (r. 1174-1211) tolerated Sinhalese ordination and purified the church of its excess wealth by making more of its land taxable. In 1215 the Thai state of Mogaung emerged in upper Burma; eight years later the powerful Shan state of Muong Nai was founded; and 1229 is the traditional date for the founding of the Thai Ahom kingdom of Assam. In 1238 two Thai chiefs defeated the Khmer commander at Sukhothai. Narapatisithus grandson Kyazwa (r. 1235-50) tried but failed to confiscate growing Buddhist wealth, and in 1249 he decreed strict punishments to reduce gang robberies. Kublai Khans conquest of Nanchao in 1253 stimulated more Thai campaigns. Thai leader Mangrai (1239-1317) conquered Mons and Khmers and built his capital at Chiang Mai, fighting off Mongols from the north. He is credited with a law code based on Buddhist principles. Narathihapate (r. 1256-87) disregarded religion, bragging he had an immense army and 3,000 concubines. His pagoda took six years to build, but the Burman people commented when it was finished that a great country had been ruined. Narathihapate had Kublai Khans embassy executed and attacked little Kaungai for submitting to China. His army was defeated by a Mongol force in a 1277 battle described by Marco Polo. A second Mongol invasion retreated from the excessive heat, stimulating the Burmans to renew their raids on the Yunnan frontier; but the Mongols came back in 1283 and defeated the Burmans at Kaungin, as Narathihapate fled. Northern Arakan proclaimed their independence, and the southern Mons rebelled. Narathihapate went north to submit to Yunnan but was murdered by his son in 1287. That year Kublai Khans grandson Yesu Timur invaded

Burma and made Pagan a provincial capital in the Mongol empire. Its remaining prince Kyawswa was eventually murdered by Shan forces in 1299 when they burned Pagan. Ram Khamheng (r. 1279-1317) organized the Thais from Sukhothai while the Thai language was reduced to writing in 1283; an inscription claimed that he governed all with equal justice in a prosperous state. Shan rulers of Pinya and Sagaing fought frequently. After the Mongol rule ended, a half-Shan half-Burman dynasty was founded at Ava in 1364, but Mingyi Swasawke (r. 1368-1401) followed the pattern of Pagan and attempted to subdue the southern Mons. Mongol resistance in Yunnan finally disappeared by 1383, enabling the Chinese Ming rulers to support Ava in restraining the Maw Shans. Strife pervaded the region, though Mon king Binnya U (r. 1353-85) and his son Razadarit (r. 1385-1423) managed to save their kingdom from raids by Ava, Chiang Mai, Kampengpet, and Ayudhya by ceding territory, enabling Binnyaran I (r. 1426-46) to rule from Pegu in relative peace. Reduction of the Burman wars allowed Pegus King Binnyakin (r. 1450-53) and Queen Shinsawbu (1453-72) to support Buddhist construction. Her chosen successor Dammazeidi (r. 1472-92) left a monastery to marry her daughter, and he published his wise rulings in the Dammazeidi Pyatton. Mon king Dammazeidi had Buddhist connections with Sri Lanka. His son Binnyaran II (r. 1492-1526) welcomed European traders; but during the reign (1526-39) of Takayupti the Pegu kingdom was invaded by the Burman imperialists under King Tabinshweihti in 1535, capturing Pegu and reducing the Mon kingdom to vassalage. Burma under Minhkaung (r. 1401-22) fought with the Mons and the Arakanese. Burman chief Mohnyhinthado ruled Ava from 1427 to 1440 and was succeeded on that throne by his sons Minrekyawswa (r. 1440-43) and Narapati (r. 1443-69). During the latters reign the Chinese were trying to gain a trade route to the west, and in 1441 war board president Wang Zhi sent an imperial army to push the Shans out of Luchuan. Another large Chinese force invaded five years later, and Narapati submitted to Chinese overlordship, gaining some Mohnyin territory. Ava under Thihathura (r. 1469-81) was peaceful and patronized relations with the Theravada Buddhists of Sri Lanka. Conflict with Mohnyin marred the reigns of Ava kings Minhkaung (r. 1481-1502) and Shwenankyawshin (r. 1502-27). The latter was killed, and Ava had Shan chiefs until it was absorbed back into the Burman kingdom in 1555. King Mingyinyo (r. 1486-1531) founded the Taungngu dynasty of Burma and expanded his territory; but he was unable to acquire Pegu riches and left that ambition to his son Tabinshweihti. Tabinshweihti (r. 1531-50) took over the Irrawaddy delta in 1535, but it took the next four years before Pegu fell. In 1541 Tabinshweihti used Mon support and Portuguese mercenaries to capture the port of Martaban. He fought the Shan states and was crowned at Pegu in 1546. His Burman army besieged Ayudhya in 1548, but they had to abandon it to Siams army. As Tabinshweihti indulged in debauchery, the Mons led by Prince Smim Htaw revolted. While Tabinshweihtis brother-in-law Bayinnaung was fighting a Mons rebellion, Smim Sawhtut had Tabinshweihti murdered in 1550 and was welcomed into Pegu. After Smim Htaw took over Pegu from Smim Sawhtut, Bayinnaung took Taungngu and was crowned king of Burma. Using an army that included Burmans, Mons, and Portuguese, Bayinnaung defeated Smim Htaw outside of Pegu and began building a magnificent palace. The aggressive Bayinnaung went to war to expand Burmas sovereignty. The city of Ava was conquered in 1555. He subdued the Shans and made Mekuthi his vassal in Chiang Mai; but Sethathirat took the throne at Luang Prabang (Laos) and drove out Mekuthi in 1558. Bayinnaung returned with his Burman army to depose Sethathirat and break up his confederation the next year. Sethathirat made an alliance with Siam and moved his capital to Vientiane in 1563. The next year Burmas army invaded Chiang Mai and accepted the surrender of Ayudhya, carrying off the royal family as hostages. Bayinnaung returned to find rebels had taken over Pegu, but Buddhists prevented him

from burning thousands he put in bamboo cages. Next Burma invaded Luang Prabang and captured refugee Mekuthi, but Sethathirat escaped. Princess Maha Tewi was made regent at Chiang Mai with a Burman garrison until her death in 1578. After two of his Siamese vassals, Prince Mahin and King Chakkraphat, allied with Sethathirat in attacking Phitsanulok, Bayinnaung invaded Siam again in 1568, relieving Phitsanulok and gaining Ayudhya after a siege the next year. Large numbers were relocated to Burma. Yet famine and disease stopped Bayinnaungs forces from taking Vientiane in 1570. Despite his causing so many human lives to be lost in imperial wars, Bayinnaung promoted Buddhism by distributing scriptures, financing pagodas, and feeding monks while prohibiting animal sacrifices and the killing of slaves. The defiant Sethathirat died in 1571. Bayinnaung held his brother Oupahat hostage and wanted to make him regent, but Laotians murdered his envoys. So Bayinnaung led the army that put Oupahat on the throne of Vientiane in 1575. Bayinnaung died in 1581 and was succeeded by his son Nandabayin. He was challenged by his uncle but defeated him in a personal duel on elephants in 1584. Pra Naret had built up Siamese forces and invaded Cambodia in 1583. Nandabayin invaded Siam to suppress rebellion; but while three Burmese armies were besieging Ayudhya in 1587, Cambodias King Satta invaded Siam. Nandabayin pursued the Cambodians to their capital at Lovek; but efforts to hang on to Siam were doomed as the Burmese men resisted military conscription by becoming monks or fleeing to Laos, Siam, and Arakan. In 1593 Nandabayin was defeated and killed on his fifth invasion of Siam, which gained its independence as did Manipur. His son Nyaungyan (r. 1597-1606) restored the Taungngu dynasty and gained control of the highlands. Pegu was besieged in 1599 and was pillaged by the armies of Taungngu and Arakan. The Mons revolted in 1605; but Bayinnaungs grandson Anaukhpetlun (r. 1606-28) defeated Siam, Manipur, and the Mons to complete the restoration of the Burman kingdom and centralize the government. Burman king Thalun (r. 1629-48) moved the capital from Pegu back to Ava in 1635, the year the Dutch put up a factory at Syriam. His minister Kaingsa published the first book of laws in the Burmese language, and a revenue inquest was recorded in 1638. Male relatives of the king were required to live in the capital. Hearing of Dutch success, in 1647 the English also planted a factory at Syriam, but they could not compete with them. After English ships were cleared out of the Bengal Bay in the Anglo-Dutch war, they withdrew in 1657. King Pindale (r. 1648-61) sent aid to Ming refugee Yong-li until he was driven out of Yunnan into Burma in 1658 and defeated the Burman army. In 1661 Mon soldiers, drafted to defend Ava, revolted and fled to Siam. Pindale was deposed, and his brother Pye (r. 1661-72) had to give up Yong-li to be killed by the Manchus in 1662. The next kings of Burma were ceremonial as the ministers governed. The Dutch closed their factories in 1679, but the French opened one at Ayudhya the next year. The English had a dockyard at Syriam, and Dupleix had one built for the French in 1729. Buddhist Maung Kala wrote the Great Royal Chronicle in 1730 and justified it with the argument that by showing the impermanence of all things, including political power, religious insight would be improved. Two ministerial factions struggled for control of Burma. While Gharib Newaz (r. 171454) was ruling Manipur, its horsemen raided upper Burma and defeated Burman forces. In 1740 Gwe Shans, upset by high taxes on areca palms, rebelled and joined with Mon deportees to drive the Burmans away. The Burman governor of Pegu decided to revolt and marched on Syriam, but his troops killed him. When an army came from Ava, the Mons defeated it and massacred Burmans, making Sming Htaw Buddhaketi king in Pegu. His forces occupied lower Burma and captured the capital Ava. The Prome governor took over Syriam, but his men got drunk and were driven out by the Mons, who then took over Prome. They burned all the European churches and factories; the sepoys defending the English factory were allowed to return to Madras. Bishop Gallizia and two

priests tried to help merchants led by de Schonamille; but when they took weapons with them to Pegu, the Mons massacred all but four who escaped to the ships. In 1747 Buddhaketi resigned and escaped to Chiang Mai. His chief minister Binnya Dala was made king and appointed Talaban commander. In 1752 his army invaded upper Burma and deposed the last Taungngu king. Talaban went back to Pegu but did not have enough forces to overcome the rebels. The most successful one called himself Victorious and was crowned Alaunghpaya (r. 1752-60). He organized the more numerous Burmans to defeat the Mons, surrounding Ava. Mon forces retreated south and invested Prome. Alaunghpaya with a large army took over Prome and defeated the Mons, naming a new city Rangoon, meaning the end of strife. However, the Mons still held Syriam with help from the French. Bruno came from Pondicherry and made a commercial treaty with the Mons. King Alaunghpaya sent a letter to Englands king in gold leaf and was so insulted that he did not get a response that he ordered the British settlement on the island of Negrais massacred. Alaunghpaya invaded Manipur and deported thousands to upper Burma. In 1760 Alaunghpaya invaded Ayudhya and died from the fever that more than half his army suffered. Before he died, he asked that the war against Ayudhya be continued and that his five sons succeed to the throne in age sequence. The oldest, Naungdawgyi, was challenged by the Myeidu prince and the general Mingaung Nawrahta, delaying his coronation a year. After the second rebellion, Naungdawgyi rebuilt the capital Sagaing. Naungdawgyi died suddenly, and the Myeidu prince took the name Hsinhpyushin (r. 1763-76). Within five years he conquered Chiang Mai, Vientiane, and Ayudhya despite Chinese invasions. After three attempts to conquer Ava, the Chinese agreed to a treaty in 1769. The King was upset that the Chinese were allowed to depart, and so he ignored the treaty and refused to return Chinese prisoners. Hsinhpyushin then attacked and deported more Manipuris. The Mons rebelled in the south again in 1774, burning Rangoon before fleeing to Siam. Hsinhpyushin died after the Burman army was disastrously defeated in Siam. His son Singu ended the war and withdrew the forces from Siam. He sent his three surviving uncles into exile in 1778. Singus erratic behavior led to several intrigues. In February 1782 young Maung Maung and forty men took over the palace and declared Singu an outlaw. Singu had little support and fled to China. The Madon prince and his two brothers occupied Sagaing and attacked Maung Maung at Ava, capturing and drowning the usurper. The families of Singu and Maung Maung were also put to death. The Madon prince was enthroned as Bodawhpaya. Later in 1782 Nga Myat Pon with 200 men tried to claim the throne, but they were killed by the palace guards. Their district of Paungga was completely destroyed, and its people were enslaved. Bodawhpaya had a pagoda constructed in atonement and built a new capital at Amarapura. Mons from Bassein attacked Rangoon in 1783 but were defeated by the Burmans. Bodawhpaya ordered a survey in 1784 and again in 1803 to determine taxes; the population of Burma was two million. Burman warships attacked Arakan, and in 1785 their last king and 20,000 people were deported to Burma. Burma 1800-85 Arakan had gained its independence during the legendary long reign (1279-1374) of Minhti, who defeated a Bengali attack. When Burma took control in 1404, Arakans king Narameikhla went into exile in Bengal and was given hospitality by Gaur king Ahmed Shah, whose successor Nazir Shah helped Narameikhla regain his Arakan throne in 1431. Narameikhlas brother Min Khari (r. 1434-59) declared Arakans independence from Gaur. He was succeeded by his son Basawpyu, who seized Chittagong. These Arakan rulers were Buddhists but used Muslim titles to show their sovereignty. Basawpyu was assassinated in 1482, a fate met by several of Arakans eight kings in the next half century. Minbin became king in 1531 and built up Arakans defenses to withstand the invasion of Burmas king Tabinshweihti in 1546. Minbin used Portuguese mercenaries and a navy

based at Chittagong to dominate the Ganges region until he died in 1553. Minbin let Portuguese free-booters (feringhi) use the port of Dianga for trade, but piracy and slave-raiding also occurred. Arakan king Min Razagri (r. 1593-1612) hired the Portuguese Philip de Brito to attack Nandabayin of Pegu, who took over Syriam, defeated an Arakanese fleet sent against him, and captured the crown prince. So in 1607 Min Razagri sent a force to attack Dianga that massacred its inhabitants, including a reported 600 Portuguese. Salt trader Tibao escaped, turned to piracy, and took over Sandwip Island by killing its Afghan pirates. Tibao married the sister of a disgruntled Arakanese prince, who died suddenly and had his treasure taken by Tibao. Bengals Mughal governor attacked Noakhali, and Tibao offered to help Min Razagri but instead murdered Arakanese navy leaders at a conference. After Razagri died, his successor Minhkamaung (r. 161222) attacked Tibao at Mrohaung in 1615 and destroyed the pirates at Sandwip two years later. Philip de Britos control over Syriam had ended in 1613 when the Burmans captured the city. In 1623 the Dutch began buying Bengali slaves from marauding Portuguese freebooters (feringhi) in Arakan, but negotiations and trade with King Thirithudamma (r. 1622-38) did not go well. Thirithudammas chief queen murdered him and enthroned her lover Narapatigyi (r. 1638-45). He established a monopoly on rice, and Dutch merchant van der Mandere objected to the price. Arent Jansen van den Helm brought wine to the king, whose health broke down. After a Dutch ship was captured and the crew imprisoned, trade stopped for several years as the Dutch attacked Arakanese ships. Sandathudamma (r. 1652-84) was a popular ruler; but after he died, Arakan was unstable with eleven rulers until Sandawizaya (r. 1710-31), who raided his neighbors until he was eventually murdered. Arakan then had fourteen kings before Burmas army invaded and ended the Arakanese monarchy in 1785. Burma had adopted Theravada Buddhism with some influences from Hinduism; their four classes were generally based on the ancient caste system. The king was supposed to follow the eight-fold path and avoid evil decisions such as taking property by force, killing, or mutilating. The Manu-kye warns that if the king does not obey the law, then the lords and the people will not obey laws. Burma had ten traditional laws: charity, morality, liberality, justice, compassion, self-restraint, not getting angry, not oppressing, patience, and compliance. Four more specific adjuncts to these were taxing one-tenth of the lands produce, giving grain to the troops twice a year, lending money without interest for three years to subjects, and speaking kindly to the people. The seven laws intended to increase prosperity were: consulting ministers three times a day, being united in all actions, adhering to tradition in taxes and criminal law, honoring the elderly, not oppressing the common people, propitiating the guardian spirits, and protecting the Buddhist clergy. Lay people could gain merit by fulfilling the worldly needs of monks. The Government is allowed to correct thieves and criminals, but the death penalty is not proper. Hindu literature such as the Hitopadesa, Mahabharata, Panchatantra, and the Arthashastra of Kautilya were especially influential in Burma. Thus wealth and self-protection were personal goals as well as learning and wisdom. Burmas Bodawhpaya (r. 1782-1819) had 53 wives and 120 children. He claimed to be the coming Buddha, fulfilling the ideals of being a bodhisattva and a universal monarch; but he was resented for making these claims and for favoring some sects over others. He persecuted heretics and decreed capital punishment even for using alcohol or opium and for killing an ox or buffalo. Soon after making Arakan a province of Burma in 1785, King Bodawhpaya personally led the invasion of Siam; but his incompetence caused a disaster, and he was almost captured. A separate Burman force occupied Chiengsen and Chiengrai, but attempts to take Chiang Mai failed in 1787 and 1797. By 1802 the Siamese had cleared the Burmans out of their Laos provinces. In the early 1790s Burma needed 40,000 men to fight off the Siamese invasion of Tavoy. Thousands of Arakanese worked for seven years to construct the enormous pagoda at Mingun. Many died of

starvation, fled to the jungle to escape, or became brigands. A rebellion in 1794 was supported by armed bands from Chittagong. As they were suppressed, some took refuge in British territory. The next year Captain Michael Symes gained permission for a British resident in Rangoon, but the King refused to close harbors to French ships. Also in 1795 the Burman government drafted men from the entire country to expand the Meikhtila tank and canal system. The draft continued during the war with Siam from 1797 to 1804. Agriculture deteriorated, and starvation led to disease and banditry.

Siam (Thailand) to 1800

In Siam (Thailand) during the Mongol invasion Ramkhamhaeng, renowned for establishing the written Thai language, rose from being the chief at Sukhothai in 1283 to rule over a larger kingdom until about 1317. Ramkhamhaeng was succeeded by his son Lu Thai. He wrote a Buddhist cosmology in 1345 and was said to rule according to the ten royal precepts because he aimed to become a Buddha and save every creature. Restraining his anger, he practiced forgiveness rather than punishment. Lu Thai recognized in the south the sovereignty of Ramadhipati, who in 1350 founded the city of Ayudhya and was crowned the first king of Siam, promulgating its first laws based on the ancient Hindu Laws of Manu. A long list of socially unacceptable kinds of people were not allowed to be witnesses unless both sides agreed. Slaves were common and were severely punished for trying to escape. Bribery could be punished eight ways from dismissal to death. A person found with stolen property must produce the thief to avoid punishment for theft. Polygamy was allowed, and divorce was easy. Ramadhipati went to war against Cambodia in 1352. Lu Thai gave up his crown and entered a monastery in 1361. Siam captured Angkor the year Ramadhipati died in 1369, but they were driven out after six years. His son Ramesuen was unpopular for his bad record in the Cambodian war and agreed to abdicate to his uncle Boromaraja I (r. 1370-88), who invaded Sukhothai in 1371, captured Phitsanulok in 1375, and attacked Kampengpet in 1376 and 1378, finally ending the independence of the Sukhothai kingdom. About 1387 Siam intervened in a succession struggle in Chiang Mai, but pregnant Chiang Mai princess Nang Muang on an elephant helped defeat their army. Boromaraja was succeeded by his 15-year-old son, but former king Ramesuen murdered him after only seven days to resume the throne in 1388. Two years later a Chiang Mai army supported Sukhothais effort to gain independence from Siam, but they were defeated and fled. After Cambodia invaded Jolburi and Chantabun to capture 6,000 people in 1393, Ramesuen led Siams army into Cambodia and returned with 90,000 captives. Ramesuen was succeeded by his son Ram Raja (r. 1395-1409); but after trying to arrest a principal minister, he was forced to abdicate to the prince who was named Intharaja (r. 1409-24). In 1411 Siam went to war with Chiang Mai but lost a single combat when their champions big toe was wounded; yet while retreating they attacked Chiengrai and took captives back to Ayudhya. King Intharaja had met Emperor Yongle and maintained friendly relations with China. In 1424 his two eldest sons engaged in personal combat for the throne; but both were thrown from their elephants and died, allowing the third son to become Boromaraja II (r. 1424-48). His raids brought about the downfall of the Khmer kingdom at Angkor in 1431. When a Chiang Mai civil war broke out, Siam invaded and took prisoners; but spies managed to cause havoc in Siams army by cutting off the tails of their elephants, sending them on a rampage. Siam was then defeated and had to withdraw. King Boromaraja II died while returning from another war with Chiang Mai, and the 17year-old governor of Phitsanulok assumed the title Boroma Trailokanat, known simply as Trailok (r. 1448-88).

King Trailok organized the government of Siam into the five departments of the Interior, Local Government of Ayudhya, Finance, Agriculture, and the Royal Household that administered justice. A separate prime minister called the Kalahom oversaw military affairs. His Palace Law of 1450 named the states paying tribute to Siam and threatened the death penalty for such palace infractions as immoral relations with a lady, writing love poems, shaking the royal boat, allowing animals to stray into the palace, or whispering during a royal audience. In 1454 Trailok established a system that valued everyone in the kingdom according to how much land they held. High officials held a few thousand acres, lower officials 160 acres or more, and common people ten acres. In 1451 a Lao army from Chiang Mai attacked Sukhothai and failed, but later they captured and annexed Kampengpet. Siam sent an army to attack Melaka in 1455. Another Lao army from Chiang Mai invaded Siam in 1461 and captured Sukhothai but had to retreat from Phitsanulok to defend themselves against an invasion from Chinas Yunnan province. Siam regained the city, but to stop these incursions Trailok moved his capital to Phitsanulok in 1463. Trailok became a Buddhist monk in 1465; but he sent a Burman monk and a Brahmin envoy to subvert the throne of Chiang Mai, and their oldest prince was executed on false charges. Chiang Mais king Tilok had ruled for 44 years and died one year before his rival Trailok. Before he died, Trailok made his son Jettha viceroy; but his oldest son Boromoraja III (r. 1488-91) succeeded and moved the capital back to Ayudhya. Jettha ruled in Phitsanulok as governor and succeeded his brother as Ramathibodi II (r. 14911529). He welcomed Portuguese envoys at Ayudhya in 1511 and began trading with them. Chiang Mai raided Sukhothai in 1508, 1510, and again in 1513; but King Ramathibodi led the Siamese army and defeated them in 1515. Ramathibodi reorganized the military and instituted universal male conscription. His successor Boromaraja IV (r. 1529-34) made a peace treaty with Chiang Mai. King Phrajai (r. 1534-46) replaced a child king, approved a law for trials by ordeal, repelled a Burman incursion, and invaded Laos. He was poisoned by a consort, who put her lover on the throne; but both were assassinated at a banquet. Phrajais younger brother was crowned as Chakkraphat in 1548, but Siam was invaded by Burmas Tabinshweihti later the same year. Cambodias Candaraja had used the opportunity to raid Prachim, and Siam punished him in 1551; but five years later Cambodia defeated Siams forces that were led by an adopted Cambodian prince. In 1561 Phrajais son Sri Sin refused to become a Buddhist monk, rebelled, and died fighting; King Chakkraphat fled as his sons defeated and executed the leading rebels. Siams capital at Ayudhya was attacked by Burmas army in 1564 and capitulated. Siam had to pay tribute, and three leaders of the war party were taken away as hostages. Rebellions caused Burma to invade again with a large army estimated by the lowest of three reports at 300,000. Chakkraphat died during the siege in 1569, and his son Mahin was captured. Maha Thammaraja ruled Siam as Burmas client until 1584. His son Naresuan, known also as Pra Naret (Black Prince), was released in 1571 and governed Phitsanulok. In 1586 he used strategy to help Chiang Mai defeat a Burman army. The next year three Burman armies besieged Ayudhya, but starvation and disease caused them to withdraw. Naresuan then drove the Cambodians out of Prachim. In 1590 Naresuan succeeded his father and ruled as king until 1605. After Burma was defeated in 1593, he invaded Cambodia and took Lovet the next year. Thousands of prisoners were taken away to repopulate Siams northern provinces, and those who had been taken away by Cambodian raids returned. In 1595 Siam made Chiang Mais king Tharrawaddy a vassal. Naresuans son Ekathotsarot (r. 1605-10) levied Siams first tax in cash and opened diplomatic relations with the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the Japanese. His son Songtham (r. 161028) battled Japanese warriors in 1612, defeated Luang Prabams army, and let English merchants open a factory at Ayudhya despite Dutch objections. The Burmans took over Chiang Mai in 1615,

and war with Siam went on for three years until Siam accepted Burmas gain in a treaty. Also in 1618 Cambodia declared its independence by expelling the Siamese garrison that Naresuan had installed in their capital in 1594. The Dutch had an agreement with Songtham for purchasing deer hides, and the unsuccessful English closed down their factories at Ayudhya and Patani in 1622. Songtham was succeeded by his son Jetta. However, Songthams cousin Pya Sri Worawong actually took control with help from Japanese Yamada, and in 1630 Pya was crowned as Prasat Tong. Yamada challenged him but was poisoned as those Japanese in Ayudhya not massacred by 1632 fled from Siam. Prasat Tong also ordered every Portuguese arrested. The Queen of Patani considered him a rascal, murderer and traitor, and she refused to send the usual tribute. The Siamese tried to punish Patani but failed, blaming the Dutch for not supporting the expedition; frustrated Prasat Tong had a general beheaded. Chroniclers reported that after his daughter died, Prasat Tong had 3,000 of his political enemies put to death. Though he was considered a tyrant, Prasat Tong ruled until he died naturally in 1656. After two kings were quickly murdered, his younger son Narai (r. 1657-88) gained the throne of Siam. An incursion from Burma in 1662 provoked Siamese raids into Pegu and their taking of Chiang Mai. The people of Chiang Mai revolted two years later and accepted a prince from Prome, remaining in the Burman empire until 1727. English factors fled from Cambodia in the 1650s and were given refuge by Narai. In 1661 the English East India Company reopened its factory in Ayudhya. The next year French missionary Bishop Lambert de la Motte arrived on his way to Annam. In 1664 Bishop Pallu and four French priests came and stayed in Ayudhya because they heard Catholics were being persecuted in Annam. Also that year the Dutch used a naval blockade to secure their monopoly on hides in a commercial treaty that specified the Dutch in Siam could be tried by their own courts. In 1676 the first medical missionary arrived, and the Catholic seminary in Ayudhya had a hundred students. A Greek called Phaulkon worked for English merchants White and Burnaby and rose to become Siams Superintendent of Foreign Trade. He antagonized the East India Company by encouraging those they called interlopers. In 1680 the French began a factory in Ayudhya, and Siam sent an embassy to France. English factor Samuel Potts accused Phaulkon of starting a fire to destroy records of his debts, but Phaulkon countered with the same charge against Potts. Louis XIV sent an embassy to Siam, and in 1685 the French gained commercial and religious concessions. However, King Narai declined to be converted by the Christians or the Muslims. During the fighting between Muslim Golconda and Siam, Samuel White at Mergui tried to make a fortune with reprisals against Indian shipping. The English Company demanded compensation for war damages from Siam in 1686. Englands king James II sent a letter proclaiming that British subjects were not to serve on foreign ships in the East. Two English frigates blockaded the port of Mergui in July 1687 and ordered the English to leave, taking the ships pending payment of the debt. The English led by Richard Burnaby prepared to obey, but the Siamese governor blasted and sank the James. About fifty Englishmen in Mergui were killed, including Burnaby. King Narai declared war on the English Company but not the English government. In September 1687 a French embassy arrived with seven ships and 636 soldiers. Many of these died of fever, and others were resented for their attentions to the native women. The troops occupied Bangkok, and Dubruant was sent to govern Mergui with a garrison of 120 men. When King Narai became ill in 1688, Phaulkon urged him to designate his adopted son Mom Pi as his heir; but the King appointed the general Pra Petraja regent, and Mom Pi was murdered. Phaulkon sent for French troops and was executed for treason. Pra Petrajas son Luang Sarasak had two of the Kings brothers arrested and executed. Two days later Narai died, and Pra Petraja was proclaimed king. The French negotiated an evacuation agreement, and the soldiers departed to Pondicherry; yet despite the agreement, French missionaries and residents were killed. In November

1688 Siam made a new commercial agreement with the Dutch, confirming their monopoly on hides and adding one on tin. A rebellion attempted to replace the King in 1690; but it was put down, and many from those districts moved to Burma. The next year governors from Korat in the north and Nakhon Si Thammarat on the Malay peninsula rebelled. Houses in Korat were set on fire by flying kites with torches, and the governor fled to Nakhon Si Thammarat. The rebellion was defeated in 1692, and both governors were killed. A magician and 28 followers revolted again at Korat in 1699, but their force of 3,000 abandoned them to the royal army. In 1703 King Pra Petraja was succeeded by his son, who for his cruelty was called Prachao Sua, which means King Tiger. His son Thai Sa (r. 1709-33) gave refuge to Cambodian king Prea Srey Thomea, but their efforts to restore him failed. The third and largest expedition in 1717 gained the allegiance of Keo Fa, but the Nguyen still held most of Cambodia. King Boromokot (r. 1733-58) won a struggle for the throne and took revenge on his defeated rivals before governing peacefully. An uprising by Chinese residents in 1733 was quelled, and forty were executed. During the Mon rising of 1740 the Burman governors of Martaban and Tavoy were given refuge at Ayudhya, and a few years later embassies were exchanged with Ava. When deposed Pegu king Sming Htaw Buddhaketi fled to Ayudhya in 1750, he was imprisoned and shipped to China. Boromokot promoted Buddhism, and eighteen Buddhists were sent to improve Buddhist education in Sri Lanka in 1753, founding what became their largest sect. When the King discovered that his oldest son was having affairs with two of his wives in 1756, all three of them were flogged to death. Boromokot wanted to be succeeded by his second son Utumpon; but after executing three halfbrothers and ruling only ten days, he abdicated and let the older Boromoraja rule from 1758 to 1767. When Burmas Alaungpaya invaded Siam in 1760 and besieged the capital, the priest Utumpon was recalled to take power. Alaungpaya was wounded when a cannon exploded and died during the retreat to Burma. Utumpon found his brother intriguing against him again and retired to his monastery. In 1763 Burma conquered Tavoy, and its rebel governor fled to Mergui. Siam would not surrender him, and so the Burman army occupied Mergui and Tenasserim. In 1765 Burman armies invaded Siam from three directions. Their policy was to kill or enslave all the inhabitants of any village that resisted. They besieged Ayudhya again, and no honorable surrender was granted. In 1767 Pya Taksin escaped with 500 men before Ayudhya was destroyed. King Boromoraja fled and was killed or died of hunger as so many did. A city of a million people was reduced to ruins. Utumpon and tens of thousands were taken away as slaves. Siam split into five regions with governors at Pitsanulok and Nakhon Si Thammarat, a prince in the northeast, and Buddhist monks near Uttaradit; Taksin was crowned at Thonburi in the center. Taksins forces defeated the Burmans and their Siamese collaborators, capturing their fleet in 1768. Taksins armies regained Siam but were defeated in Cambodia in 1769. However, the Siamese had control over most of Cambodia by 1773, when Burma was reacting to another Mon rebellion. Siam installed Chao Kavila to govern Chang Mai. Taksins personal leadership helped defeat the Burman invasion of 1775. Taksin became reclusive and had delusions he was a Buddha; those who did not honor him as such he had flogged. Officials became corrupt and extorted money from the rich with fines. In 1778 the army turned back a Vienchang incursion and forced the king of Luang Prabang to accept Siamese sovereignty. General Chao Pya Chakri was leading Siams army to victories, and in 1781 his force of 20,000 was sent to invade Cambodia. Rebels at Ayudhya decided to kill the insane king and put Chakri on the throne. The minister Pya Sankaburi joined them and imprisoned Taksin. General Chakri came to the capital, eliminated the rebel leaders, executed Taksin, and was crowned Rama I (r. 1782-1809). On the east side of the river he founded the new capital of Bangkok. Siam was greatly strengthened and was able to defend itself against Burman invasions that began in 1785 with five armies and 100,000 troops. Rama imposed four months of annual labor on all citizens, but by the end of his reign this was reduced to three months. The Tavoy governor rebelled against Burma

in 1791 and appealed to Siam; but their 1793 invasion failed, and Burma recaptured Tavoy. Rama crowned Ang Eng king at Bangkok in 1794 and sent him to govern Cambodia from Udong with a Siamese army, but Burma took over Chiengsen in 1802. Siam's Monarchy 1800-1910

Cambodia to 1800
Funan king Fan Chan sent a mission from the Malay peninsula to a court on the Ganges. His successor Fan Xun received diplomats from China, but he joined Champa in the ten-year war against Chinese imperialism that began about 270 CE. The Funan king in the mid-fourth century was described by Chinese records as a Hindu. A rock inscription in the Pallava alphabet, found on the Malay peninsula and attributed to this period, has been translated from Sanskrit as the following:
Karma accumulates through lack of knowledge. Karma is the cause of rebirth. Through knowledge it comes about that no karma is effected, and through absence of karma there is no rebirth.1

In 484 Funan king Jayavarman sent the monk Nagasena to China to ask for help against the Lin-yi which was denied. By then the national religion there was Shaivite, and Buddhism was also practiced. Cock-fighting and pig-fighting were said to be the national sports, and trial was by ordeal. When Jayavarman died in 514, his son Rudravarman murdered the heir and seized the Funan throne. He raided Dongking in 543 while Vietnamese leader Li Bon was asserting independence from China; but Li Bons general Phaum Tu defeated the Funan raiders. Four years later the Chinese suppressed Li Bons Cham revolt. After Rudravarmans death in mid-century the Funan power was somehow overthrown. Bhavavarman reigned in the second half of the 6th century and claimed sovereignty over both Champa and the kingdom the Chinese called Chenla. Chinas Sui dynasty imposed tribute on Champa king Sambhuvarman in 595, and ten years later the Chinese invaded and plundered the Chams. After the Tang dynasty came to power in 618, relations with Champa improved. In 627 Chenla king Ishanavarman completed the conquest of Funan by annexing its territory, and he cultivated relations with Champa by marrying a Cham princess. In the middle of the 7th century Jayavarman I invaded Laos up to the Nanchao border, and the Khmers used hydraulic techniques developed in the north to improve agriculture. The Chenla empire suffered civil wars and turmoil for about a century. In 722 Upper Chenla joined an attack on the Chinese governor of Dongking, but they were defeated. Lower Chenla was attacked, and Champa was raided in 774 and 787 by Malay pirates from Java. Cambodias Angkor era began with the long reign (802-50) of Jayavarman II, who established himself as the Khmer god-king. His son Jayavarman III (r. 850-77) was known for hunting elephants. He was succeeded by his cousin Indravarman I (r. 877-89), who oversaw the construction of an artificial lake and irrigation works. His son Yashovarman I made the Siemreap River change course into a vast reservoir and had the first city of Angkor laid out. He also sponsored the building of a hundred monasteries for Shaivites, Vaishnavites, and Buddhists. Jayavarman IV (r. 928-42) usurped the throne and abandoned Angkor, but Rajendravarman II (944-68) overthrew that usurpers son Harshavarman II and made Angkor the capital again. Cambodians invaded Champa in 945 and carried off a gold image of Bhagavati. Jayavarman Vs reign (968-1001) was considered an era of learning and of brilliant ministers, many of whom were women.

Suryavarman I (r. 1002-50) took power by the sword during a civil war that lasted a decade. His son Udayadityavarman II (r. 1050-66) was occupied with putting down revolts, and his peaceful brother Harshavarman III (r. 1066-80) was overthrown by the vassal prince Jayavarman VI (r. 1080-1107), who started a new dynasty amid civil strife. His older brother Dharanindravarman I (r. 1107-13) retreated to a monastery, though an inscription called his government prudent. Suryavarman II (r. 1113-50) made Champa a vassal and annexed it when the Cham king would not support his invasion of Annam (Vietnam). He re-opened diplomatic relations with China and oversaw construction of the largest religious building in the world, occupying nearly a square mile. The king was deified as Vishnu and controlled an immense religious establishment. The year he died an expedition against Dongking failed. Although Dharanindravarman II (r. 1150-60) ruled as a Buddhist, it did not seem to matter; but his younger brother Yashovarman II, ruling for only six years, had to put down a revolt of peasants tired of being exploited for royal extravagance. He was killed by the ambitious chief Tribhuvanadityavarman. In 1167 the usurping Champa king Jaya Indravarman IV began attacking Cambodia, and ten years later the Chams sacked Angkor, killing King Tribhuvanadityavarman. Cambodia experienced anarchy until 1181 when Jayavarman VII was enthroned at Angkor. His Khmer army then attacked Champa and sacked their capital of Vijaya, annexing that country from 1203 to 1220. Jayavarman was a Mahayana Buddhist, but at this time Theravada Buddhism was introduced into Burma by the Mon monk Chapata, and its simple ways of austerity, solitude, and meditation soon spread into Cambodia, where people were tired of big temples. Heavy taxation to support thousands of officials and hundreds of dancers, forced labor for construction, and military service for wars had impoverished the people. Cambodia had to abandon control of Champa and gradually declined. Jayavarman VIII (r. 1243-95) re-established Brahmin dominance and allowed Buddhist images to be vandalized. A soldier, who had married Jayavarman VIIIs daughter, seized power in Cambodia as Indravarman III (r. 1295-1308). Theravada Buddhism was so popular that it was adopted by the Cambodian court, and Sanskrit royal inscriptions ended with the accession of Jayavarman Paramesvara in 1327. Thai forces occupied Angkor twice about 1369 and 1389, and a third attack conquered it in 1431. The intricate irrigation system could not be maintained, and the Khmer court moved the capital to Phnom Penh in 1434. The next period of Cambodian history is very obscure. Nong records indicate that in 1512 Kan murdered his brother-in-law Srei Sukonthor and seized the throne. The royal family fled, but in 1516 Candaraja (Ang Chan) returned to defeat and kill Kan. Candaraja was popular and ruled Cambodia for forty years. His raid on the province of Prachim in 1531 may have provoked the Siamese attack led by Chau Pnhea Ang, the son of the late exiled king Preah Srei. Both sides claimed victory; but apparently Chau Pnhea Ang was killed in 1535 or perhaps as late as 1556. The abandoned city of Angkor was discovered about 1550. Candaraja began a series of raids into Siamese territory in 1559; but when they reached Ayudhya in 1564, the Burmans had already occupied it. Candaraja was succeeded by his son Paramaraja or Barom Reachea I (r. 1566-76); he continued the war and occupied the province of Korat in 1570. His son Sattha (Paramaraja II) ruled from about 1576 to 1594; an inscription recorded that Sattha began restoring Angkor Wat in 1577. Although Siam invaded Cambodia in 1583, King Sattha made a treaty with them two years later, and they defeated an invasion from Laos led by the Burman governor of Chiang Mai. Sattha must have fallen out with Siams Pra Naret, because when Ayudhya was besieged by the Burmans in 1587, Sattha seized Prachim in Siam. Three Siamese armies invaded Cambodia in 1593, and Sattha fled to Srei Santhor while his brother Soryopor defended the capital. Sattha was deposed by a relative and died in 1596.

Spaniards from Manila tried to make Cambodia dependent on them by promising to defend it against Siam. Joen Brai (Ram Mahapabitr) seized the throne but could not force the Spaniards to pay reparations for pillaging Chinese junks; Joen Brai and one of his sons were killed in the fighting. The Spaniard Gallinato refused the crown, restored some goods, and promised reparations before departing. He left Veloso and Ruiz in Vietnam to search for Sattha, who was dead; but they persuaded his second son Cau Bana Tan to be crowned as King Paramaraja III at Srei Santhor in May 1597. In an expedition from the Philippines only one ship of three made it to Phnom Penh. In chaotic Cambodia magnates and the deposed son of Joen Brai were trying to put Satthas exiled brother Soryopor on the throne. A violent feud over a Malay camp provoked by Laksamana of the Malays resulted in most of the Spaniards being massacred in 1599. After Laksamana had Paramaraja III assassinated, the magnates put the younger brother of Sattha and Soryopor on the throne as Paramaraja IV. He contacted Manila through a Spanish soldier but was murdered a few months later by a jealous husband. Satthas son Cau Bana Nom seized the throne; but Soryopor returned from exile supported by Siams force and replaced him in 1603, making Cambodia a vassal state of Siam. The story of Rama and Sita was also very popular in the Cambodian version Reamker. The Cambodian royal revenue came from a ten percent tax on all rice production. The King also had monopolies on other trade that included timber, dried fish, and hides. One-third of legal fees went to the King, one-third to the judge, and one third to the winning party. In addition to the talaha chief minister, Cambodia had ministers for justice, the army, foreign trade and the navy, and the palace. The chaovay sruk was the highest of the officials (okya). A 17th century Cambodian law indicated that the Cambodian army only needed a food supply for three days because enemy populations could be robbed. In 1618 the Khmers forced Soryopor to abdicate to his son, who was crowned Chey Chettha II. He restored Khmer customs and founded a new capital at Udong. When two armies from Siam invaded in 1623, the King led the defense of Tonle Sap Lake, and his brother Outey defeated them in Banteay Meas. A Siamese naval attack also failed the next year. Chey Chettha formed an alliance with Hu and married a beautiful Vietnamese princess. The Vietnamese moved into the Prey Kor province and founded Saigon. When Chey Chettha died in 1628, his oldest son Ponhea To was too inexperienced to rule; so Prince Outey governed as regent. Ponhea To tried and failed to regain Korat from Siam. After he fell in love and began living with one of his uncles wives, Outey instigated people to kill the lovers and their Chinese guards. Tos younger brother Nou became king in 1630, but Outey continued to govern. When Nou died in 1640, Outey made his own son Ang Non king; but Soryopors third son Chan seized the palace with mercenaries in 1642, killing Outey, the King, and the ministers. Chan was married to a Malay woman and converted to Islam to secure his Malayan alliance. Because the Muslims competed with the Dutch, in 1643 Chan destroyed the Dutch ships that had been operating at Phnom Penh for twenty years. Batavia sent five Dutch ships to blockade Phnom Penh; but the Khmers resisted, and peace was made in 1652. Two sons of Outey appealed to Chey Chetthas Nguyen widow at Hu, and Vietnamese forces helped them capture Chan in 1658. When Batom Reachea became king in 1660, the Chams and Malayans lost their privileges and revolted. This failed, and they fled to Siam. In 1672 Batom Reachea was assassinated by a nephew, who married the queen, but she had him killed. Batom Reacheas son Ang Chei became king in 1673 but died fighting his brother Ang Tan, who was backed by the Vietnamese. He soon died of disease, and Prince Ang Non was driven out by another brother, Ang Sor, who defeated the Vietnamese and was crowned Chey Chettha IV in 1674. Ang Non got help from discontented Chinese refugees in 1682, causing the Khmer army to flee. Siamese forces intervened on one side and then another to keep the civil war in Cambodia going. With help from the Chinese and

Vietnamese, Ang Non was able to seize Phnom Penh in 1688. Chey Chettha made peace with Hu and let Ang Non live at Srei Santor. When Ang Non died in 1691, his son Ang Em had to accept a Vietnamese governor. The Vietnamese began colonizing lower Cambodia in 1698. Chey Chettha discovered old legal writings and had the laws revised, abolishing the death penalty and making punishments less severe. Chey Chettha IV abdicated the throne four times in these unstable times as factions were supported by Siam or Vietnam. Ang Em became king for the second time in 1710 but fled to Hu when the Siamese invaded in 1714. Siam accepted tribute in 1722 from Ang Em, who abdicated for his son to become Satha II. Khmers massacred some Vietnamese in the Banam region in 1731. Chey Chetthas son Thommo Reachea became king for the third time in 1738, when the Siamese army expelled the Vietnamese. He died in 1747, and his oldest son was murdered by a younger brother. The ministers chose another brother, Ang Tong; but he fled to Siam as Satha returned with Vietnamese forces. Cambodians rose up and drove out the Vietnamese, making another prince Chey Chettha V. He died after ruling six years, and Ang Tong was reinstated. While the Vietnamese took over more Cambodian provinces, Prah Outey murdered his way to the throne in 1758 and ceded two more provinces to Hu. In 1767 Outey II refused to help Siams Taksin and called him half Chinese, provoking the insulted Taksin to invade Cambodia. Siamese troops burned down Phnom Penh. They supported Ang Non II, who became king when Outey abdicated in 1775. While he was in Siam, the minister Mu organized an army that defeated and executed the returning Ang Non. Mu then was made regent for Ang Nons seven-year-old son Ang Eng in 1779. The Siamese army invaded, and the people of Cambodia threw out the regent and turned to the mandarin Ben. Ang Eng fled to Siam with his family in 1790. He was crowned king at Bangkok in 1794 by Rama I and then returned to Cambodia. Rama also rewarded Ben by putting him over Battambang and Mahanokor. Ang Eng had a palace built at Udong but died while visiting Bangkok in 1797. His young son Ang Chan II was not old enough to be crowned king until 1806. Cambodia 1800-1904

Laos to 1800
According to tradition 24 kings ruled Laos before Fa Ngum (r. 1353-71); but he is considered the founder of Laos for uniting the kingdom at Lan Xang and in 1356 expanding it to include Vientiane, Viengkam, and Roi-Et by using an army of 48,000 men and 500 elephants. His Cambodian queen Kamyard in 1357 persuaded him to send to Angkor for Theravada Buddhist priests, scriptures, and a statue of Buddha called the Prabang. After his queen died, Fa Ngum neglected his government and allowed Kwan Meesa to alienate people with his tax collection and favoritism. Eventually nobles forced Fa Ngum into exile in 1371. King Ku Na (r. 1355-85) in Chiang Mai was well educated and promoted a Buddhist sect that raised the literary and cultural level of the region. Fa Ngums son Phya Ounmuong was born in 1356 and ruled from 1373 to 1416, taking the name Sam Sene Thai for the 300,000 Thai males counted in the census of 1376. He reorganized the military but encouraged Buddhism and avoided war, sending only two expeditions to subdue Chiengsen. After the rule of Lan Kamdaeng (r. 1416-28), Sam Sene Thais daughter Pimpa (or Keokumari) loved a commoner she made prime minister while seven kings died, mostly by assassinations. Finally the nobles had the 95-year-old queen and her husband put to death in 1438. Two of the monks from Cambodia governed Lan Xang until they selected Sam Sene Thais son by an Ayudhyan princess to become King Paya Sai Tiakapat (r. 1441-78). In 1478 a white elephant was captured. A Vietnamese delegation requested some hairs; but Prince Chienglaw hated them and sent excrement instead, provoking a massive invasion by the Vietnamese army that drove the Laos king to abdicate and flee the capital. The army of Laos resisted with heavy losses on both

sides; the Vietnamese withdrew, and fleeing Prince Chienglaw drowned. Kings Suvarna Banlang (r. 1478-85) and Lahsaentai Puvanart (r. 1485-95) had the capital rebuilt. After a short reign by a child, Visunarat (r. 1500-20) promoted literature and Buddhism, using military force to put the rebellious Governor Korkam of Kaborng into a monastery. King Photisarath (r. 1520-47) was devoted to Buddhism but failed to eradicate animism and witchcraft. To improve trade with Siam and Annam he moved his capital to Vientiane. After Chiang Mais line of kings was ended by assassination in 1543, Photisarath accepted the crown for his young son Sethathirat and sent a regent. Siams King Phrajai led an army but was persuaded by Princess Maha Tewi to return home. After Photisarath died in 1547, Sethathirat had to go back to Lan Xang to prevent his brothers from partitioning the kingdom, and Phrajai invaded again. Princess Maha Tewi fought back, and the Siamese army retreated and was routed by the Laos army. Sethathirat managed to withstand Burman invasions, first by fleeing to Ayudhya and then by moving his capital to Vientiane in 1563. After he died in 1570, Burmas king Bayinnaung had Sethathirats brother Oupahat put on the throne in 1575, replacing Sethathirats father-in-law Saensurin. A rebellion led by a man claiming to be Sethathirat was suppressed by the Burmans, and Bayinnaung put the elderly Saensurin back on the throne in 1580; but he died two years later. Saensurins son was resented as a bad commoner and was arrested and banished to Pegu. No one ruled in Vientiane until Saensurins grandson, Prince Nohmuong, became twenty years old and was crowned king in 1591. He declared Laos independent of Burma in 1593, but he died five years later without an heir. After a regency under his father Vorapita and a civil war, Sethathirats nephew Vorawongsa was old enough to rule Laos for himself in 1603. His son Oupagnouvarat gradually gained authority, and in 1622 he rebelled against his jealous father and had him killed; but this prince also died the same year at the age of 25. In the next fifteen years five kings tried to rule Laos in the struggle for power. In 1637 Souligna-Vongsa defeated four rivals and united Laos. He ruled for 57 years and developed good relationships with neighboring states, defining the frontiers. He welcomed a Dutch merchant from Batavia in 1641, and a Jesuit arrived the next year and stayed in Vientiane for five years. Souligna-Vongsa was upset that the king of Tran Ninh refused to let him marry his daughter in 1651. Souligna-Vongsa sent troops that were repulsed, but the next year a larger force captured the capital at Chieng Khouang, forcing its king to comply. Souligna-Vongsas only son was executed for adultery with the wife of a high official. When the King died in 1694, his two grandsons were too young to govern. The chief minister Tian-Tala claimed the throne, but he was murdered in 1700 by Nakhone governor Nan-Tarat, who became king. This stimulated Souligna-Vongsas nephew Sai-Ong-Hu, who had been in Hu all his life after his fathers failed rebellion of 1637. Bringing Vietnamese troops, he joined his partisans gathered at Tran Ninh. They seized Vientiane and put to death Nan-Tarat. Souligna-Vongsas grandsons King-Kitsarat and Inta-Som had fled to Luang Prabang in the north. They gathered an army of 6,000, and in 1707 were able to defeat the forces that Sai-Ong-Hu sent with his half brother Nong. King-Kitsarat was proclaimed king of an independent Luang Prabang. Ayudhya king Petraja sent a daughter to marry Sai-Ong-Hu, and the Ayudhya army got both sides to cease hostilities. In 1713 Chao-Soi-Sisamout established a third independent kingdom in the south at Champassak, which he ruled until 1747. Sai-Ong-Hu was succeeded in Vientiane by his son Ong-Long (r. 1735-60). When Tran Ninh refused to pay tribute, Vientianes army invaded. Annam intervened and ordered a truce. When Tran-Ninhs king Chom-Pou went to negotiate three years later, Ong Long kept him prisoner until Annam demanded his release in 1760. Chom-Pou then paid the tribute regularly the rest of his reign. Ong-Longs policy of supporting Burma was continued by his son Ong-Boun. Burmas king

Hsinhpyushin crushed a rebellion by Luang Prabang and destroyed Ayudhya in 1767; but when the Chinese invaded Burma, it lost control over Siam, Chiang Mai, and Luang Prabang, which attacked Vientiane in 1771. After making peace with China, Burma sent a force that defeated Luang Prabang. In 1774 Luang Prabangs Inta-Som (r. 1727-76) made an alliance with Siams Taksin. Ong-Boun tried to defy Siam, which invaded Vientiane in 1778. General Chulalok captured the city as Ong-Boun fled into exile; the Siamese took back to their capital the famous Emerald Buddha. Siam also demanded that Luang Prabang become their vassal state. When General Chakri became Rama I in 1782, Ong-Boun did homage to Siam and was allowed to return to Vientiane; his oldest son Chao-Nan headed the government as a vassal of Siam. However, when Chao-Nan seized part of Luang Prabang, killing and deporting many, Rama objected and replaced him with his younger brother Chao-In (r. 1792-1805). Laos 1800-1945

Vietnam to 1800
Chinese immigrants and the spread of Hindu culture in the region merged with native practices in Indochina. In 112 BC under Han emperor Wu Di the Chinese conquered Nam Viet and made it the province of Qiao-ji. Many Chinese scholars fled to this province during the revolutionary era of Wang Mang (9-23 CE). After her husband was executed by the Chinese in 39 CE, the noble lady Trung Trac led a rebellion of tribal chiefs, declaring herself and her sister queens; but three years later the local aristocracy was crushed, and a centralized Chinese administration was imposed. As the Han dynasty declined, the Chinese governor of Qiao-ji, Zhe Sie (r. 187-226), became independent. In 248 CE the coastal community to the south called Lin-yi (Champa) pillaged the north and battled the Chinese along the Song Giang. Fan Xiung became king of Lin-yi in 270 and joined Funans Fan Xun in a ten-year war against Qiao-ji (Dongking), whose governor asked the new Qin dynasty for military aid in 280. Lin-yi king Fan Yi opened diplomatic relations with China four years later. Fan Yi reigned for more than half a century and was succeeded by his Chinese prime minister Wen in 336, who used force to extend their disputed northern border until his death in 349, though his son Fan Fo restored that conquered territory to the Chinese. The Chinese attacked Champa in 431 but were driven away. The new governor of Dongking, Tan Ho-chu, in 446 attacked the Champa capital near Hu and was said to have taken 100,000 pounds of gold. Champa supplemented rice agriculture with trade and piracy. In 541 Li Bon rebelled against the Chinese governor and declared himself king of Nam Viet three years later; but three years after that, he was defeated. Another rebellion led by the Li family was crushed in 602. Twenty years later the Tang dynasty established a protectorate over the pacified south they called Annam. Qiao-ji with its capital at Dongking became one of four prefectures. For a century the Chinese ruled in relative peace that allowed prosperity, as Chan Buddhism emphasizing meditation spread. In 722 Mai Thuc Loan captured the capital with the help of Chams and Khmers, proclaiming himself emperor, but his rule did not last. In 767 Javanese invaders were driven away from Annam by the Chinese imperial commissioner Zhang Boyi, but seven years later they destroyed the Champa sanctuary at Nha-trang. In 791 Phung Hung gained control of Annams capital, and his son Phung An ruled for a few years until he surrendered to the Chinese Protector; this enabled Champa led by Harivarman I to reclaim two provinces until protector Zhang Zhou drove them out in 808. In the mid-9th century Nanchao began raiding Annam and captured the capital in 863; the next year the Chinese general Gao Pien led a large force that defeated Nanchao seven times and cleared them out of Annam. Gao Pien was

appointed imperial commissioner and built the citadel of Dai-la-thanh near modern Hanoi. Champas Indravarman II (r. 854-93) restored good relations with China and built the new capital Indrapura, while his successor Jaya Sinhavarman I developed friendly relations with Java. With China in turmoil after the fall of the Tang dynasty, Vietnam became independent in 939, as the rebellions commander Ngo Quyen became king over three provinces north of the Champa kingdom. In 979 Champa king Paramesvaravarman helped Le Hoan seize the Vietnamese throne; but after he put the Vietnamese envoy in prison, this Champa king was killed during a Vietnamese invasion that destroyed Indrapura. Amid the disorder Luu Ky-Tong deposed Le Hoan and seized the Champa throne also. One year after the death of Luu Ky-Tong in 989 the Cham resistance movement put Harivarman II on the throne. With the help of the Buddhist monk Van Hanh in 1009 Ly Cong Uan was proclaimed king of Dai Viet, and the next year they established the capital at Thang-long (Hanoi). Considered devout and a friend of the common people, Ly Cong Uan canceled tax debts while collecting tax on the royal estates, allowing agriculture to flourish. His son Ly Phat Ma (r. 1028-54) was well educated to succeed him. After putting down uprisings led by his three brothers and crushing a rebellion stimulated by his promoting a concubine to royal status, Ly Phat Ma strengthened royal control and promulgated the Minh-dao (clear way) law code in 1042. The campaign he led against Champa two years later destroyed their capital at Vijaya and killed their king Jayasinhavarman II, gaining so much plunder that taxes were reduced, as the capital returned to Dongking. His son Ly Nhat Ton (r. 1054-72) consolidated the royal control but irritated the imperial Chinese court with claims of his own empire. Fear of devious Song policies on the border caused him to fight the Chinese from 1057 to 1061. After being attacked by Champa in 1068, he re-enacted his fathers expedition the next year. Instead of beheading the Champa king, he had Rudravarman III taken captive to Dongking and freed him when he formally surrendered Champas three northern provinces. Champas Harivarman IV cultivated better relations with Dai Viet by sending them tribute until the end of the century. Ly Can Duc was only six when he became king in 1072, and he ruled until 1127. In 1075 Dai Viet commander Ly Thuong Kiet made a surprise attack on Song borders and left placards appealing to reformer Wang Anshis adversaries among Song officials. After years of negotiation Song and Dai Viet officials agreed on a border that became so sacred it still exists. Ly Can Duc died childless, and future Ly kings were dominated by their mothers clansmen. Champas relations with Dai Viet remained good until the mid-13th century except for a brief attempt by Champas king Jaya Indravarman II to regain the three lost provinces in 1103 and an encroachment by Jaya Indravarman III with Angkor ruler Suryavarman II in 1132, though his refusal to help the Khmers against Dai Viet in 1145 led to a devastating Khmer invasion of Champa. Jaya Harivarman I reunited a torn-apart Champa four years later. In 1177 Champa sent a naval force up the Mekong River and pillaged Angkor, causing resentment among the Khmers that brought another Cambodian invasion that divided Champa in 1190. A Cham was made ruler of Panduranga as a vassal of Cambodia and was named Suryavarman; but after crushing rebels he captured Vijaya and declared independence. Khmer forces finally drove him out in 1203, and for the next seventeen years Champa was part of Cambodia. By the end of the 12th century Dai Viet was suffering chronic civil war. The Tran clan inaugurated a new dynasty in 1225 and soon began using the Chinese examination system to recruit educated officials. Mid-century border wars between Champa and Vietnam were halted suddenly in 1257 when the Mongols pillaged Hanoi, though the Vietnamese soon forced them to withdraw. In 1285 Kublai Khans son Togan was defeated by Vietnam, while his ally Sogatu was beaten and

driven into Champa, where he was killed. Champas Indravarman V ended the war by sending tribute to Kublai Khan. Vietnam turned back a third Mongol invasion in 1287. Vietnams Tran Anh-ton (r. 1308-20) invaded Champa in 1312, captured Jaya Sinhavarman IV, and made it a vassal state. Anh-ton was praised in the Vietnam annals for his justice. During the reign (1320-57) of Vietnamese king Minhton, the appointed viceroy Che Anan rebelled against Vietnam in 1323 and reigned in Champa until his death in 1342. Minh-ton invaded the Black River region in 1329. Disturbances broke out in Vietnam in 1343 when starving people, including monks, took up arms, and the unrest continued for the rest of Minh-tons reign. Under his successor Du-ton (r. 1358-69) the Tran dynasty declined, and he died without an heir; but Minh-tons son Nghe-ton regained the throne from a usurper in 1370 and ruled ineffectively until 1394. He wrote poetry and tried to follow his fathers laws. Champa king Che Bong Nga attacked Vietnam several times and sacked Hanoi in 1371; but this Cham dynasty ended with his death in 1390. By 1398 Vietnam had recovered enough lost territory to move their capital south to Thanhhoa. Two years later the general Le Qui Li deposed the Tran king and took the throne. The Tran dynasty appealed to Ming Emperor Yongle, who in 1407 sent a force that occupied Thang-long and captured the usurper, ending Vietnams independence. Chinese culture dominated with civil service exams based on the Chinese classics, and Vietnamese was not allowed to be spoken in schools. About 10,000 skilled Vietnamese were sent to Beijing to serve the empire. Guerrilla attacks led by landowner Le Loi began in 1418; within ten years he was recognized as King Le Thai To. Thanglong capitulated, and China agreed to recognize a second Le dynasty under Chinese overlordship. Meanwhile Champa had recovered their lost territory. Five years after a civil war broke out in Champa, Vietnam took Vijaya in 1446, though Champa soon recovered the city. Finally in 1471 Annam (Vietnam) annexed most of Champa as 60,000 people were killed, and 30,000 captives were made slaves. King Le Thanh Tong (r. 1460-98) also drove the Lao king out of Lan Xang in 1478 and made it do homage to Vietnam, which as Annam was still paying tribute to China. Le Thanh Tong used the Chinese examination system and its bureaucratic structure of six ministries, and Mahayana Buddhism was adopted; but in 1483 he promulgated his own law code based on Vietnamese precedents. In the thirty years after Le Thanh Tong, ten kings ruled Vietnam, including four usurpers. Finally in 1527 kingmaker Mac Dang Dung took the throne, and two years later he abdicated to his son Mac Dang Doanh but retained control until he died in 1541. In 1533 the Le dynasty was restored in two provinces under Nguyen Kim, who was assassinated in 1545. The Mac dynasty ruled in Tongking until 1592 and was recognized by China. Nguyen Kims son-in-law Trinh Kiem struggled against Nguyens sons; but when he died in 1570, Annam was divided between the Trinh and the Nguyen families. In 1592 Trinh Tong captured Hanoi and took over most of Tongking. The Mac managed to survive on the Chinese frontier at Cao-bang until they were driven into China in 1677. While quelling a revolt in Ninh Binh, Nguyen Hoang (r. 1600-13) broke relations with the Trinh at Hanoi in 1600. In 1619 Trinh Tung (r. 1570-1623) killed King Le-Kinh-Tong and put on the Le throne LeThan-Tong. After this, the Le kings were allowed to be figureheads so as not to disturb relations with China, but Trinh ruled the north and Nguyen the south. After Nguyen Phuc-Nguyen (r. 161335), known as Sai Vuong, withheld taxes from Hanoi, war between the Trinh and the Nguyen broke out in 1620 and lasted more than half a century. In 1630 Sai Vuong occupied southern Bochinh. During the reign of Nguyen-Phuc-Lan (r. 1635-48), known as Cong Thuong Vuong, Tongking regained Bochinh until they were defeated at the wall of Truong-duc defending Hu in 1648. Nguyen-Phuc-Tan (r. 1648-87), known as Hien Vuong, went on the offensive in 1655, but Trinh Tac (r. 1657-82) defeated the Nguyen twice in 1659. However, the Trinh were badly beaten at the

Dong-hri wall two years later. Trinh Can led the assault in 1672 but could not conquer Nguyen resistance and gave up. They agreed to make the Linh River the border between their territories. For the next century this boundary was respected as the Trinh governed northern Vietnam and the Nguyen ruled the south, where they founded Saigon in 1674. In the 16th century a few Dominicans tried to spread their faith in Cambodia and Vietnam without much success. In 1613 an English agent and his interpreter landed in Annam but were murdered. Portuguese Jean de la Croix helped the Nguyen establish an arsenal at Hu in 1614. Jesuits arrived that year and were tolerated by Sai Vuong, staying until 1639. The Portuguese named the Nguyen territories Cochinchina. Alexander of Rhodes went to Tongking in 1627 but was expelled by Trinh Trang (r. 1623-57) three years later. Alexander went to the south in 1640; but after he made many converts in five years, the Nguyen also expelled him. He compiled a LatinVietnamese-Portuguese dictionary with the Roman alphabet. In 1636 the Dutch established a factory in the south at Qui-nam; but after crews of two wrecked ships were badly treated in 1641, reprisals occurred. In 1651 a treaty enabled the Dutch to open a new factory at Faifo, but because of conflicts it was closed permanently in 1654. Hien Vuong was disappointed that he was not helped by the Europeans in his military campaigns in the late 1650s, and he stopped missionary work and persecuted native Christians. Alexander of Rhodes ran up against Portuguese opposition and turned to France to sponsor missionary work. Their Socit des Missions Etrangeres began operating from Ayudhya in 1662 and sent missionaries to Cambodia, Annam, and Tongking. In 1663 the Trinh banned Catholicism in the north and began burning their books and killing Catholics. William Gyfford went from Bantam in 1672 and opened a factory in Tongking, but he had trouble collecting debts from the mandarins there, in Ke-cho, and in Hu, where in 1697 the factory was closed. In 1682 the Dutch forced their European competitors out of Bantam, discouraging the French. Even the Dutch abandoned their factory in 1700. In 1738 Pope Clement XII sent a commission to investigate, and three years later he assigned the Jesuits to Tongking and northern Annam, leaving the French the territory from Hu south. French attempts to open trade or send missionaries by Dupleix from Pondicherry were rebuffed by Vo Vuong (r. 1738-65). The Chinese domination of Vietnam left a strong Confucian influence. In 1663 the Le court published The Forty-Seven Rules for Teaching and Changing, and it was reissued again in 1760. The rules were to be taught by the officials to the uneducated men and women. Parents were to educate their children on proper ethics every day. Filial piety was a strong Confucian virtue, and younger brothers were expected to respect older brothers just as wives were to obey husbands, children their parents, and the officials their emperor. Both the Trinh and Nguyen lords employed bureaucratic government with six government ministries over the following: appointing officials; collecting taxes and managing finances; administering schools, examinations, foreign relations, and other rituals; supervising the military; administering justice; and constructing palaces, walls, roads, and dikes. The Vietnamese allowed more rights to women than the Chinese. Daughters had the equal right to inherit property, and the wifes estate was not necessarily incorporated into that of her husband. The philosopher and historian Le Quy Don (1726-84) taught that Vietnam should have an independent Confucianism, and he criticized Chinese imperialism. Trinh Cuong (r. 1709-29) ordered a land survey to renew tax registers, and he limited the power of the mandarins by ending their feudal jurisdiction over villages. He also reformed the courts and removed mutilation from the penal code. Private rice lands were not taxed until 1719. A tax on every male citizen was used to pay for roads, dams, bridges, and communal facilities. Trinh Giang (r. 1729-40) abolished this poll tax, but it was reinstituted by his successor. Trinh Giang needed money to quell riots and so began selling offices. Taxes were put on transportation, salt, and the exploitation of natural resources in mining. Trinh Giang tried to end feudalism by abolishing

government grants based on land ownership, by paying salaries for services, and by not permitting officers to own land within their jurisdictions. The central government took over the minting of money, and tin was added because of lack of copper. He banned the importation of classical textbooks from China in order to develop the native economy. He also taxed Chinese settlers at a higher rate. An indigent scholar could be hired to take an examination, and diplomas could be purchased. Trinh Giangs policies provoked revolts by the royal Le family, mandarin aristocrats, and scholars. In the south the Nguyen began using examinations in 1632 for recruiting officials, and in 1675 current issues were included. Hien Vuong (r. 1648-87) promoted the cultivation of virgin soil and divided the population into eight categories for taxation; two categories had to serve in the military. The Vietnamese began collecting tribute from Cambodia in 1673, and their influence there continued to grow. The Chams were absorbed by the Nguyen in the 17th century. In 1692 Ba Tranh claimed to be the Cham king and rebelled, but he was defeated and executed along with his ministers. Minh Vuong (r. 1691-1725) made Chinese refugee Mac Cuu governor of the new territory of Ha-tien, and Vietnamese invasions took over the provinces Dinh-tuong and Long-ho from Cambodia. When Cambodians tried and failed to take Ha-tien back from Mac Cuus son Mac Thien Tu in 1739, the Vietnamese used this opportunity to take more territory from Cambodia. In 1744 the Nguyen organized twelve provinces, each with a governor, treasurer, and judge. One of these provinces was under a Cham prince, but the Vietnamese still treated the Chams harshly. When Vo Vuong (r. 1738-65) died, his son was only twelve years old; so minister Truong-Phuc-Loan declared himself regent. Mac Thien Tu challenged the Siamese in 1769, but Ha-tien was devastated by Taksins army. Then the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia and defeated the Siamese, but their puppet Ang Tong was replaced by Ang Non in 1773. In 1773 three Nguyen Van brothers in Tay-son, who were not in the royal family, preached economic equality and the redistribution of moveable property such as money and food from resisting mandarins to the peasants. They burned government tax registers and seized the city of Quinhon, defeating the government forces. During this rebellion the Trinh invaded, claiming to defend the Nguyen, and seized Hu in 1775. The brother Van-Nhac, after another victory over the Nguyen army, attacked Hu. Early in 1776 his brother Van-Lu captured Saigon but was then forced out by Mac Thien Tu, who the next year fled Ha-tien to the Siamese court of Taksin. Also in 1777 the Tay-son rebels recaptured Saigon and killed three Nguyen royals. Only fifteen-year-old Nguyen Anh escaped with the aid of the priest Pigneau de Behaine. Tay-son brothers dominated the south except around Hu, and Van-Nhac was proclaimed emperor. After the Tay-son army left the Saigon area, Nguyen Anh returned to the mainland. Do ThanhNhon raised an army for his Nguyen cause and destroyed the rebel fleet, taking control of the Giadinh province. He also helped Champassak (Bassac) governor Mu to overthrow Ang Non and become regent in Phnom Penh in 1779. The next year Nguyen Anh proclaimed himself king of Annam. However, he seems to have become jealous of Do Thanh-Nhons successes and had him murdered in 1781. His supporters rebelled, and the Tay-son brothers were able to regain Saigon. Nguyen Anh found refuge on the island of Phu-quoc while his supporters continued guerrilla warfare. In 1782 his brother Nguyen Man drove the Tay-sons out of Saigon, and Nguyen Anh returned. However, early the next year the Nguyen army was defeated, and Prince Man was killed. Nguyen Anh was pursued from island to island. He asked Pigneau for help and gave him his fouryear-old son Canh as a pledge. Nguyen Anh got 20,000 troops and 300 warships from Siam; but they were defeated by Van-Hus Tay-son forces. Pigneau with Canh sailed to Pondicherry and France while Nguyen Anh went to Siam.

After Trinh-Sam (r. 1767-82) died, his oldest son grabbed power as Doan-Nam-Vuong; but the killing and plundering by his army was regarded as an arrogant plague. In 1786 the army of VanHu led by General Huu-Chinh defeated them and held the territory from Hu to the Gianh River. They continued north and took the Trinh capital at Hanoi as Trinh-Khai (r. 1783-86) committed suicide. Van-Hu ruled Tongking and northern Annam, Van-Nhac the center around Hu, and VanLu Cochinchina in the south. The Tay-son forces left the north under the Le king Le-Chieu-Thong, but he was challenged by Trinh-Bong (An-Do Vuong). He was the last Trinh ruler and was defeated by Huu-Chinhs Tay-son army. The Tay-sons quarreled among themselves, and Van-Hu sent VoVan-Nham to defeat Huu-Chinh and then appointed Prince Le-Duy-Can to govern. The Chinese sent 200,000 imperial forces and proclaimed Le-Chieu-Thong king. The people believed that the Le king had betrayed them by turning to the Chinese, and Van-Hu proclaimed himself Emperor Quang-Trang in late 1787. The Tay-son forces defeated the Le kings troops and the Chinese forces. Quang-Trang bought off the Chinese emperor by sending him gold and gems while he defeated the Le revolts. He drafted into his army one-third of all men between the ages of 18 and 55 for military training and founded schools on all levels. At Versailles a treaty between Nguyen Anh and France was negotiated by Pigneau de Behaine with foreign minister De Montmorin, who promised ships, men, and arms in exchange for territory and trading privileges. However, Pondicherry governor De Conway delayed and prevented fulfillment of the promises, and Bishop Pigneau was told to return to France. Pigneau on his own raised four ships of supplies and volunteers that included a hundred French officers. Nguyen Anh regained Saigon in September 1788 with Siamese troops. Pigneau arrived the next year, and the French helped the Nguyen pacify Cochinchina. Jean Marie Dayot commanded their navy and destroyed the Tay-son fleet at Quinhon in 1792. That year Van-Hu (Quang-Trang) died, and Nguyen Anh invaded the north. In 1799 Pigneau died on the campaign, probably of dysentery, as Prince Canh commanded the taking of the Quinhon fortress. The Tay-son fought back and regained the city but were defeated again in June 1801. Vietnam's Monarchy 1800-57

Malaya to 1800
Organized states sprang up during the weakened Han empire by the end of the second century CE in the northern Malay peninsula. In the 15th century Melaka (Malacca) grew from a fishing village to become the greatest emporium in southeast Asia. In 1401 the Malay peninsula including Tumasik (old Singapore) had been compelled to recognize the sovereignty of Siam. The refugee Paramesvara from the civil war in Java, who had married a Majapahit princess, murdered his host in Tumasik but was driven out by the Siamese overlords. Paramesvara went to Melaka and paid tribute to Siam. The large Chinese fleets led by the Muslim Zhenghe (Cheng Ho) stimulated trading in the region. Paramesvara sent envoys to the Ming court as early as 1405. The Melaka that Zhenghe visited again in 1409 was no longer dependent on Siam as Paramesvara and his family had been to see Ming emperor Yongle. Melaka got rice from Pedir and Pasai on nearby Sumatra. In 1414 Paramesvara converted to Islam, and Melaka became a growing port for Muslim merchants. Another visit by Paramesvara to China in 1419 confirmed this alliance of protection against Siam. When Paramesvara died, he was succeeded by his son Sri Maharaja (r. 1424-44), who soon went to China with tribute. When Sri Maharaja died, there was a struggle for power between his brother-in-law Tun Ali, leader of the Tamil Muslims, and the old Bendahara (prime minister and chief judge) Seri Amar Diraya, who refused to accept Sri Maharajas son Raja Kasim because his mother was a commoner. The infant and his uncle, whom the Bendahara put on the throne, were murdered by Tun Ali; the old

Bendahara died, and his son took poison, allowing Tun Ali to become bendahara and crown Raja Kasim as Muzaffar Shah (r. 1445-59), who was recognized as sultan by the Chinese. Siam invaded by land in 1445; but Tun Perak led the defense against this attack and a naval one in 1456. Muzaffar Shah was succeeded by his son Mansur Shah (r. 1459-77), and during the next forty years the powerful Tun Perak extended Melakas territory by force of arms with help from Muslim trading of spices, gold, tin, silk, damask, and exotic birds. Most of Melakas industries were for warfarebuilding small but fast ships and forging arms; but they also did woodwork and dried fish. Its commercial ships were built in Pegu and Java. A Muslim sultan was installed at Malayas main granary at Kedah in 1474. Melaka became a center for the spread of Islamic culture that was well received when tolerantly spread by the mystical Sufis. Prosperity also increased under Alauddin Riayat Shah (r. 1477-88) and young Mahmud (r. 1488-1511), who were both also related to Tun Perak. After his death in 1498, his elderly brother became bendahara but died two years later. In 1500 Tun Mutahir, the son of Tun Ali and Tun Peraks sister, was made bendahara and governed until he was killed in 1510 trying to seize the throne. The maritime laws of Melaka were promulgated by Mahmud sometime before 1510. Sea-captains wanted a code and were declared like kings on their ships; but the laws were not written down until after Mahmud was no longer powerful. Adultery on a ship was a capital offense. Melaka was conquered by the Portuguese Albuquerque in 1511, and he sent ambassadors to Siam and Burma. The Portuguese tried to monopolize the spice trade in order to keep the European price high so that they could pay for their military and colonial expenses. Mahmud escaped in 1511 and from the island of Bintang in the Straits of Singapore used his fleet to disrupt trade to Melaka. An attack on Melaka by Javas Pangeran Sabrang Lor failed in 1512. The Portuguese established factories for cloves in Ternate and Tidore of the Maluku islands in 1513. Acheh on the northern tip of Sumatra soon developed into a major Muslim port under Sultan Ali Mughayat Syah (r. 1515-30). By 1519 Acheh had taken over the pepper ports of Pasai and Pedir. Between 1515 and 1524 Mahmud besieged Melaka five times. In 1524 the second Portuguese viceroy, da Gama (son of the navigator), decreed the death penalty and loss of property for owners refusing to get a pass from the Portuguese at Melaka. In 1526 the Portuguese successfully attacked Bintang. One Spanish ship made it to Tidore and sided with them against the Portuguese; but in the treaty of 1529 Spain agreed to confine itself to islands 17 degrees east of the Moluccas (Maluku). Mahmuds son continued to harass the Portuguese, and Muslims made Brunei in northern Borneo an Islamic center. The Portuguese at Melaka had been charging a tariff of only six percent on trade; but after 1544 the governors charged port duties and forced merchants to sell them commodities at discount prices. When Acheh took over Johors vassal Aru in 1539, Johor defeated Acheh in a naval battle. Acheh attacked Melaka in 1537, 1539, and 1547. In 1558 a Turkish armada of 300 warships with 15,000 Turkish troops and artillery besieged Melaka for a month. Acheh got revenge on Johor by sacking it in 1565. Portuguese trade at Melaka prospered despite more attacks by Acheh in 1568, 1570, and 1573, plus one from Javanese Japara the next year. In 1582 the Portuguese helped defend Johor and defeated Acheh. Ungrateful Johor besieged Melaka in 1587; but the Malays lost 2,000 ships while the Portuguese had only eighty men dead. So that year Acheh made a treaty with the Portuguese. Sultan al-Mukammil (r. 1589-1604) deposed the previous Acheh sultan, and according to John Davis, he had thousands of nobles killed to make new lords and laws. Acheh sultan Iskandar Muda (r. 1607-36) gave the Dutch and English monopoly arrangements that harmed local traders, and he banned Gujarati pepper buyers. The Acheh kingdom was militarized and sacked Johor in 1613 and 1615. The Johor sultan joined Iskander in an attack on Melaka in 1616, but it failed. Iskander extended his control from Sumatra to the mainland states of Pahang in 1618, Kedah in 1619, and

Perak in 1620. A reported 22,000 captives were taken to be made slaves in Acheh, but only about 1500 survived. Sikanders attempt to take Portuguese Melaka in 1626 failed. The deportations caused resentment, and in 1629 Melaka, Johor, and Patani combined forces to defeat the Achinese navy near Melaka. Ayudhya extended its control down the Malay peninsula and occasionally collected tribute in the form of small trees made of gold and silver. A Patani princess married a Pahang ruler, and Patanis Queen Raja Ungu (r. 1623-35) irritated Ayudhya by marrying her daughter Raja Kuning to a brother of the Johor ruler. Patani defied Ayudhyas usurping king Prasat Thong by attacking Ligor and Phattalung, and in 1634 Prasat sent 30,000 troops aided by Kedah. Johor and Pahang helped Patani with 5,000 men and fifty ships that repelled the invasion. After Raja Ungu died, the Kedah ruler mediated a peace treaty between Patani and Ayudhya. The arrogance of the Johor prince, who was married to Raja Kuning, provoked the nobles in the Patani court to massacre many Johor people, including the princes mother in 1645. Ayudhyas Narai (r. 1657-88) was powerful enough to collect tribute from the northern Malay kingdoms. In 1637 Johors Sultan Abdul Jalil made a treaty with the Dutch and contributed forty ships to support their siege of Melaka in 1640. When Johor attacked Pahang in 1638, Ahmad of Acheh ended his treaty with the Dutch and refused to participate in the attack on Portuguese Melaka. The Dutch did get permission from Acheh in 1639 to purchase tin from Perak, which objected to this monopoly. In 1641 the Dutch conquered and destroyed Melaka as a commercial port and built up its fortifications to transform it into a military bastion to protect Dutch trade in the region. They mediated a peace treaty between Johor and Acheh. Then Johor pushed Acheh out of Pahang and gained the commerce that Melaka had lost. The Menangkabau of Rembau fought against Melakas new occupation by the Dutch; but after Dutch soldiers burned Melekek and Naning, they made peace. The Catholic church in Melaka was rebuilt as a Dutch Reformed Church, and in 1645 the Portuguese were not allowed to practice their religion openly with stiff penalties for infractions. The Dutch made treaties to purchase tin from Perak and Kedah. In 1647 the Dutch warned Indian ships not to use Malay ports, and this enabled them to make a treaty with Perak, open their factory, and divert 770,000 tons of tin to Melaka; but in 1651 the Malays massacred those in the factory and continued to sell their tin to Acheh and other merchants. In 1656 the Dutch imposed a blockade for three years, and the Achinese had to buy their cloth from Melaka. When Balthasar Bort became governor of Melaka in 1666, he would not allow Catholic priests to perform any religious ritual or collect alms. Threats of invasion by Ayudhyas Narai in the 1670s persuaded Perak to allow a Dutch post on Pangkor Island, but they had to abandon it in 1690. In 1662 the Dutch gained a monopoly on the trade with the lucrative port of Indragiri, but Johor took it away from them in 1669. A proposed marriage between a Johor prince and a Jambi princess was thwarted when the Johor laksamana (naval commander) arranged for his own daughter to marry the prince. This provoked a war, and in 1670 Jambi enslaved 917 people as they attacked Indragiri and Tungkal. The next year the Johor navy with help from Indragiri troops defeated the Jambi fleet. In 1673 a Jambi expedition destroyed the Johor capital at Batu Sawar; the Dutch remained neutral. While Sultan Abdul Jalil (r. 1623-77) took refuge in Pahang, Johors Laksamana with help from the Orang Laut in Riau won an acclaimed victory over Jambi in 1679 and forced them to pay reparations. Ibrahim Syah had become king of Johor in 1677, and the following year resistance by Minangkabau immigrants led by Raja Ibrahims call for a Muslim holy war ended when he was murdered. After their war ended in 1681, Johor and Jambi combined to attack Jambis enemy, Palembang; the Laksamana took half the spoils. When Ibrahim Syah died in 1685, the Laksamana became regent for his ten-year-old son Sultan Mahmud; but the Bendahara, Tun Habib

Abdul Majid, led a revolt, and the Laksamana fled to Trengganu. In 1688 Riau fortifications were demolished, and the people were deported from the island to the Johor River settlement. Sultan Mahmud began ruling in 1695. The aged Bendahara died two years later, and his son, Tun Abdul Jalil, could not control the ignorant and cruel Sultan Mahmud. When the Sultan ordered the wife of a noble to be killed for tasting fruit in the palace, officials had him assassinated in 1699. The regicide of Sultan Mahmud ended the royal line in Johor because he had no children. The Bendahar became Sultan Tun Abdul Jalil Syah, but questions about his legitimacy hurt Johors commerce. In 1702 Bugis began settling in Johor. Ayudhyas army advanced southward and attacked Johors Terengganu in 1710 but then withdrew because of Vietnamese incursions into Cambodia. The Sultans brother was raja muda, and he used Bugis warriors to quell a rebellion in Batu Bahara. He also ratified a treaty with the Dutch in 1713. Johors capital was moved to the island of Riau. During a Kedah succession dispute in 1715, the rulers younger brother promised the Selangor Bugis tin for their help, and Johor lost control over their territory. Temenggong Tun Abdul Jamal led the naval campaign against the Bugis in Linggi. The Johor-Bugis war lasted until August 1717, when Johor abandoned Selangor and the expensive campaign. In 1717 Raja Kecil in Siak claimed to be the posthumous son of Sultan Mahmud, and the next year he attacked the Johor fleet with Minangkabau warriors; but Raja Kecil lost support by killing some of the Minangkabaus Orang Laut leaders, and he also had Sultan Tun Abdul Jalil assassinated. In 1721 the Bugis installed the Sultans son, 20-year-old Sulaiman, but because of his fathers guilt he still had little influence in Johor. Kedha was devastated as the Bugis won a war against Raja Kecil between 1724 and 1726. The Bugis prince Daeng Marewa held the power in Johor, and he was succeeded by his brother, Daeng Cellak (1728-45). After a long mental illness, Raja Kecil died in 1746 and was succeeded by Raja Muhammad, who got help from Daeng Kemboja in defeating a challenge by his half-brother Raja Alam. Also in 1746 Perak gave the Dutch a monopoly on their tin that lasted nearly half a century. In 1754 the Bugis community left Riau desolate and moved to Linggi. The Bugis attacked Melaka in 1756, and the next year the Dutch with Terengganu help retaliated against Linggi. In 1758 the Bugis leaders of Linggi, Kelang, and Rembau agreed to a treaty confirming the Dutch tin monopoly. Two years after Raja Muhammad massacred the Dutch post on Pulau Gontong in 1759, the Dutch replaced him with his brother Alam. Sultan Mansur (r. 1741-93) ruled Terengganu, and he in alliance with Siak attacked divided Kelantan in 1764. The Bugis led by Daeng Kemboja returned to Riau in 1760 and fought off an attack by Raja Ismail of Siak in 1767. The Bugis damaged but could not capture Kedah in 1771 because it was briefly allied with the British. Muhammad Jiwa ruled Kedah until he died in 1779, and his son, Sultan Abdullah (r. 1779-1802), joined with Sultan Mahmud of Terengganu to drive the Bugis out of Malaya. After Daeng Kemboja died in 1777, his nephew Raja Haji took power from Kembojas son at Riau. He sided with the Dutch but felt betrayed when they did not share the confiscated opium cargo from a British ship in 1782. Two years later Raji Haji led an attack on Melaka, but a Dutch squadron led by van Braam arrived, defeating and killing Raji Haji. The Dutch captured Riau and expelled the Bugis forever; Sultan Mahmud made a treaty giving the Dutch Company control over all trade. Selangors Sultan Ibrahim (r. 1782-1826) fled to Pahang; but he came back with forces strong enough to make the Dutch agree to a treaty in 1786. Sultan Mahmud recruited Ilanum forces from Sulu and defeated the Dutch garrison at Riau in 1787; but the Sulu took their booty and left. Sultan Mahmud took refuge on Lingga, as the Dutch recaptured Riau. In the second half of the 18th century, the British gradually gained most of the commerce in the Malayan region because their Company controlled the trade in cloth and opium from India and improved their ships and navigation; also, unlike the Dutch Company, they were allowed to sell armaments. Siams Rama I (r. 1782-1809) began demanding obeisance from the Malayan rulers of

Kedah, Patani, Kelantan, and Terengganu, and this provoked rebellions by Patani in 1789, 1791, and 1808. In the 1790s Sulu pirates engaged in slave raiding. Threatened Sultan Abdullah of Kedah ceded the island of Penang to Francis Light of the English East India Company in 1786 for a pension of 6,000 Spanish dollars per year. In 1795 the British took over Melaka from the Dutch, who let them have it according to William Vs Kew Letters because they opposed France, which had invaded the Netherlands. Needing food-producing land, in 1800 Penangs Lt. Governor George Leith gained more Kedah territory and renamed it Province Wellesley. Malaya 1800-74

Note
1. Hall, D. G. E., A History of South-East Asia, p. 37.

Pacific Islands to 1800

by Sanderson Beck
Sumatra, Java, and the Archipelago Java and Dutch Trade 1613-1800 Philippines to 1800 Australia and New Zealand to 1800 Polynesian Islands to 1800 This chapter has been published in the book INDIA & Southeast Asia to 1800. For ordering information, please click here. Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and most of the islands of the south Pacific developed their own isolated cultures and native beliefs but were not much affected by literate civilization until the arrival of European sailing vessels in the 16th century. However, Sumatra, Java, and the nearby archipelago were influenced by the cultures of India, China, and Muslim merchants.

Sumatra, Java, and the Archipelago

According to a Chinese record, in 502 CE a king on the Sumatran coast was advised in a dream that if he paid tribute, merchants would multiply in his realm. By the 6th century a harbor community was thriving in southeast Sumatra, and Java had several kingdoms. In 671 Chinese pilgrim Yi Zing found a thousand monks at Srivijaya on Sumatra, where Tantric Buddhism was already being practiced. After studying for fourteen years at the Nalanda university in Bengal, he came back to Srivijaya to translate texts from Sanskrit into Chinese before returning to China in 695. He noted that Malayu had become a part of the Srivijaya kingdom, which was preparing to invade Java. Dominating the strait of Melaka (Malacca), the Srivijaya kingdom, centered at Palembang, controlled the regional sea trade, sending camphor, aloes, cloves, sandalwood, nutmeg, cardamom, cubeb, and other goods to China and India for the next four centuries. Javanese civilization developed puppet shadow theater (wayang), gamelan orchestral music, and batik textiles. Gradually through trade and diplomatic contacts Hindu culture spread, though they did not use the caste system, and women maintained their higher status. The Shailendra dynasty honored Mahayana Buddhism with massive temples built in the 9th century at Borobudur and Prambanan, while Shaivism thrived in east Java, where Sindok (r, 929-47) founded a new

dynasty that lasted until 1222. He was succeeded by his daughter, and a Balinese ruler introduced Javanese culture by marrying Sindoks great granddaughter. Shadow dramas (wayang) retold the Hindu stories of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana in Javanese translations with their own servant clowns (panakawans). Srivijayas relations with China improved after the Song dynasty started in 960, but they had to fight a war with King Dharmavamsa of east Java from 990 until that king was killed in a counterattack in 1006. Atisha studied with renowned scholar Dharmakirti in Sumatra from 1011 to 1023 and went on to reform Tibetan Buddhism. Raids by the south Indian Cholas devastated this Malay empire in 1025, enabling the half-Balinese Javanese king Airlangga to reconquer the territories lost by his father Dharmavamsa. Late in the 12th century Jambi replaced Palembang as the Srivijaya capital; but as it gradually lost control of trade, it was disregarded and deteriorated into piracy. The 1295 Yuan History noted that after much killing, the Malayu had finally submitted to Siam. Airlangga (r. 1019-42) put both the Shaivite and Buddhist priesthoods under royal control. Before his death he divided his Javanese kingdom between his two sons. Jayabhaya (r. 1135-57) prophesied his countrys downfall before a rise to greatness and was commemorated in the poem Harivamsa. The two kingdoms were reunited by the marriage of Bamesvara (r. 1182-94) of Kadira to a Janggala princess. According to the Javanese Chronicle Pararaton, amid discontent in Janggala, Ken Angrok usurped power by murdering the regent of Tumapel and marrying his widow Ken Dedes. Then while the last of Airlanggas line, Kertajaya, was quarreling with the clergy, in 1222 Ken Angrok attacked and defeated Kadira to rule as King Rajasa and build a new capital, which came to be called Singhasari. Rajasa was murdered five years later by Ken Dedes son Anusapati, who ruled 21 years until he was murdered by another son of Rajasa, Tohjaya. He died that year and was succeeded by Vishnuvardhana (r. 1248-68). Javanese king Kertanagara (r. 1268-92) took over the Malayu in southern Sumatra in 1275 and conquered Bali in 1284. In 1289 Kertanagara mistreated Kublai Khans envoy, who was demanding tribute. Before the Mongol invasion the Kadiri prince Jayakatwang rebelled and killed the orgyoccupied Kertanagara, whose son-in-law Vijaya joined with the Mongols to overthrow Jayakatwang; then as King Kertarajasa he forced out the Mongols and established the capital at Majapahit in 1293. The island of Java was influenced by Hindu culture, believing in karma and reincarnation, divine incarnations of deities such as Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, and adopting the Dharma Shastras with their caste system. Kertarajasa (r. 1293-1309) founded a new kingdom at Majapahit; but nobles resenting his Malayu queen rebelled, and his son Jayanagara (r. 1309-28) had to face numerous revolts led by Nandi, whose fortress at Lumajang fell in 1316. The young officer Gajah Mada cleverly defeated an insurrection led by Kuti in 1319. According to the Javanese epic Nagarakertagama, while Kertarajasas daughter Tribhuwana reigned (1328-50), Gajah Mada as prime minister helped this Javanese empire expand by conquest to Bali, Sumatra, the Moluccas (Maluku), Borneo, and many other islands. King Hayam Wuruk (r. 1350-89) blamed Gajah Mada for the massacre at Bubat in 1351 as Sunda retained its independence from Java. In this era Java experienced its golden age described in Prapancas 1365 poem Nagarakertagama, venerating the divine wisdom of Kertanagara. Gajah Mada remained influential until his death in 1364 and oversaw the adaptation of the Laws of Manu in the Kutaramanava. A copper inscription from this era instructed judges to take into account the law, local customs, precedents, and the views of spiritual teachers, the aged, and impartial neighbors. Chinas first Ming emperor Hongwu (r. 1368-98) limited trade to its vassals who

brought tribute; this stimulated Javas Majapahit king Hayam Wuruk to annex the empire of Srivijaya. He appointed a council of five ministers to rule the Javanese empire. As the queen had no son, Wikramawardhana (r. 1389-1429) succeeded his uncle Hayam Wuruk, who had appointed his son (by a lesser wife) Virabumi to rule eastern Java. A civil war broke out in 1401 and lasted five years until Virabumi was assassinated. The Javanese empire continued to decline because of rebellion during Queen Suhitas reign (1429-47), and her brother Kertawijaya (r. 1447-51) was apparently the last ruler of that royal house. Between 1451 and 1478 Java was governed by six kings from different houses as civil wars disrupted the country. The year 1478 was the end of a century in the Javanese calendar and is considered the date for the fall of the Majapahit empire. That year the partially Chinese Jin Bun used his Muslim army to conquer Majapahit; but he left it to establish an Islamic capital at Demak. The last king of Majapahit was Girindrawardhana (r. 1486-1527). He tried to make a commercial treaty with the Portuguese at Melaka in 1517. Jin Bun protected him but died the next year. Increasing commerce by Muslims since the 13th century brought growing Islamic influence to the Indonesian islands. Ali Mughajat Syah (Shah) founded the sultanate of Acheh on the northern tip of Sumatra about 1515 and ruled until 1530. Sultan Alauddin Riayat Syah al-Kahar was an aggressive ruler of Acheh for more than thirty years until he died in 1571. Patih Yunus conquered Japara in 1511 and became sultan of Demak. Eunus ruled Demak next but died in a failed raid on Melaka in 1521. Demak finally destroyed Majapahit in 1527, dominating Java and reaching the peak of its power in 1540; but its most powerful ruler was killed seven years later while campaigning against Hindus in east Java. Then Jepara became the major city, besieging the Portuguese at Melaka in 1550 and 1574. Banten accepted Islam under its first sultan, Falehan (r. 1526-52). Muslims dominated the north coast of Java. Christian missionaries were rarely able to penetrate where Islam had been established. The arrogance of Simao dAndrade caused a rupture in all Portuguese trade relations with China in 1519 that was not repaired until the treaty of 1550. China let the Portuguese begin using the port of Macao in 1557. The Portuguese also had factories in Ayudhya and Patani that traded with China. In the Molucca islands the Christians were rapacious, and Antonio Galvao (1536-40) was the only Portuguese governor who gained respect from the natives. The Jesuit Francis Xavier arrived at Ambon in 1546 and spent 18 months in the Moluccas but found the Christians too ignorant and the people too barbarous; so he left and went to Japan. Ternates Sultan Hairun complained the Portuguese deprived him of spice profits; he controlled many islands and attacked Christian communities. A fleet from Goa persuaded him to make a new agreement, but Hairun was murdered in 1570. The people of Ternate revolted until the Portuguese defeated them in 1574, when Governor Vasconcellos built a fort. The Portuguese also built a fort at Tidore in 1578. Yet as in India, Portuguese militarism outspent the commercial profits. The English explorer Francis Drake visited Indonesia in 1579 on his voyage around the world and collected spices before departing the next year. English ambassador Thomas Roe wrote to the Mughal court in 1613 that the Portuguese settlements were beggared by the maintenance of their military forces. Bantens fourth sultan, Maulana Muhammad (r. 1580-96), was the first Javanese prince to make a treaty with the Dutch in 1596; but the rude behavior of the Dutch captain Cornelius de Houtman soon alienated the Javanese, and his violence made the Dutch unwelcome at Madura. De Houtman was killed at Acheh; his brother Frederick was a prisoner for two years and compiled a Malayan-Dutch dictionary. In 1600 Dutch admiral Steven van der Haghen made a treaty with Ambon (in the Moluccas) against the Portuguese. The next year Goa sent a Portuguese fleet to

regain control of Indonesia; but they had to flee from an attack near Banten by five ships from the Netherlands. In 1602 the Dutch formed their United East India Company, Vereenigde OostIndische Compagnie (VOC), two years after the English had established a similar enterprise. The Banda Islands gave the Dutch a monopoly in the nutmeg trade; but the Muslim natives soon came into conflict with the Hollanders because they needed to import rice from Java and Makasar. The Dutch traded with Gowa; but in 1605 Gowas prince proclaimed his conversion to Islam. The sultans tried to remain neutral in the European conflicts and would not allow either the Portuguese or the Dutch to fortify their trading posts. The Dutch appointed Pieter Both as governor-general in 1609, and the next year they chased the English away and tried to conquer the Banda Islands by force, alienating Makasar. The English fleet under James Lancaster arrived at Acheh in 1602 and built a factory at Banten. On the second voyage of the English East India Company in 1605 Henry Middleton went to Ambon and negotiated with the Portuguese; but a Dutch fleet overcame the Portuguese and prevented the English from trading. The Dutch then captured Tidore, but Middleton managed to get cloves from Ternate before the Dutch forced him to return to Banten. More English voyages followed, and in 1615 they established factories at Acheh, Priaman, and Jambi, then at Jacatra and Jepara two years later. Because the Dutch were spending more on forts, garrisons, and squadrons, in the 17th century the English Company was able to pay higher dividends than the VOC. Sultan Iskander Muda (r. 1607-36) was Achehs most powerful ruler. In 1613 his forces defeated Johor and abducted Sultan Alauddin Riayat Syah II. The next year Iskander defeated a Portuguese fleet at Bintan. Acheh conquered Pahang in 1617 and Kedah in 1620, sacked Johor again in 1623, and took Nias by 1625. Iskander launched a campaign with several hundred ships against Melaka in 1629, but they were devastated by the Portuguese. Iskander created feudal war chiefs and assigned them districts. After having his own son killed, Iskander named as his successor the Pahang prince he had taken hostage in 1617 and who had married his daughter. She succeeded her husband as Taj ul-Alam (r. 1641-75) and made peace with Johor. Three queens ruled Acheh after her until 1699. Then three Arabs ruled Acheh until 1726, and six Bugis ruled 1727-1838.

Java and Dutch Trade 1613-1800

According to Javanese chronicles, Panembahan Senapati Ingalaga led a rebellion after the Mataram ruler refused to convert to Islam about 1576. He conquered Demak in 1588, Madiun, and Kediri (Kadira) in 1591. After Senapati died, his son Krapyak had to overcome rebellions starting in 1602. He opened up trade with the Dutch at Jepara in 1613, the year he died. His son Agung (r. 1613-46) ruled Mataram in central Java, and he began raiding eastern Java in 1614. Surabaya counterattacked but was defeated. Agung then conquered Lasem and Pasuran before he devastated rebelling Pajang in 1617, deporting their people to Mataram. In 1618 Agung prohibited the sale of rice to the Dutch company (VOC), and hostilities between the VOC and Mataram erupted. The year after taking the port of Tuban in 1619, Agungs navy blockaded Surabaya, but the city did not fall to Mataram until 1625. During the interval Agungs fleet also conquered Banjermasin and Sukadana in Borneo and the island of Madura. The Dutch refused several requests from Agung for naval support. Mataram attacked Batavia in 1628 but could not sustain a siege the next year. The Sultan of Banten felt threatened by Mataram and made a treaty with Governor-General Coen, ending a decade-long blockade. In 1630 religious teachers led a revolt in Tembayat, and Agung had the rebels massacred. Agung went there on a pilgrimage in 1633, but three years later he crushed religious opposition at Giri. Jan Pieterszoon Coen wrote in 1614 that the Dutch should be prepared to use force in overcoming their European competitors in commerce. He became governor-general of the

Netherlands Indies in 1618. The next year he changed the Muslim name of Jacatra (Jakarta) to Batavia, and it became the capital of their East Indies empire. As Batavia grew, the Dutch purchased many slaves, stimulating the selling of criminals, debtors, and war captives in Bali. Also in 1619 the Dutch and English companies agreed to share the commerce and the costs of defense in the region. In 1621 Coens fleet conquered Lonthor, the Bandas, and Ceram. However, in 1623 the Dutch governor of Ambon had ten Englishmen and ten Japanese executed. In 1627 the English moved their factory from Batavia to Banten. The Dutch invaded Ceram in 1635, but this failed and provoked a rebellion that Governor-General Antonie van Diemen quelled in 1637 with seventeen ships. The next year he made a treaty at Ambon with Sultan Hamja. Van Diemen sought Chinese trade, but in 1661 the Dutch had to give up their factory on Formosa to Ming refugee Guo Xingye. The Portuguese from Melaka traded with Brunei in northern Borneo. The Dutch tried to control the pepper production in Banjermasin and made monopoly contracts with the Sultan in 1635 and 1664; but they were not kept, and the Dutch withdrew from the south coast of Borneo in 1669. Agungs son Amangkurat I (r. 1645-77) of Mataram made an agreement with GovernorGeneral Cornelius van der Lijn (1645-50) to grant freedom of trade to the VOC. Amangkurat was a ruthless tyrant who collected ten thousand women in his palace. According to VOC ambassador van Goens, Amangkurat had 4,000 spies and put 5,000 of his Muslim enemies to death. To control the price of cloves, the Dutch stopped overproduction and smuggling by destroying trees everywhere outside of Ambon. In 1649 Arnold de Vlaming van Oudshoorn began cutting down trees in west Ceram. The elimination of clove production in the Moluccas provoked a revolt in 1650 that took six years to suppress. Ternate sultan Mandar Syah and the people on Hoamoal were deported to Batavia until he agreed to let the Dutch cut down trees. The people were forced to plant rice and sago, and the impoverishment stimulated piracy. In 1651 Amangkurat ordered a census for tax collection and banned his subjects from traveling outside of Java. The next year he prohibited the export of rice and timber, though he told the VOC they could purchase rice from him. VOC ships were attacked at Palembang in 1657 over their pepper monopoly, and they established a post there two years later. Governor-General Johan Maetsuycker (1653-78) had devised the Statutes of Batavia for Van Diemen and had governed Sri Lanka. He directed the elimination of Portuguese power by taking Colombo in 1656, and the next year he sent Van Goens to drive the Portuguese away from Sri Lanka and the Coromandel and Malabar coasts of India. After Dutch factors and sailors were murdered at Palembang in 1658, Maetsuycker forced the Sultan to permit a Dutch fort and a monopoly over their pepper. In the Painan Contract of 1662 the VOC was authorized to protect the Minangkabau chiefs revolting against Acheh, which was subdued by the Dutch navy four years later. Makasar under Hassan Udin had been fortified by European traders; but in 1660 Johan van Dam captured a Makasar fort, and Hassan Udin agreed to stop interfering with the VOC and expel the Portuguese. When he failed to do so, Maetsuycker sent Cornelius Speelman and the Bugis chief of Bone, Arung Palakka, whose family Hassan Udin had murdered. Hassan Udin was forced to submit to the Dutch in 1667, dismantled his forts, and granted the VOC a trade monopoly. Arung Palakka became king of Bone in 1672 and ruled it until he died in 1696. Rumors of conflict between Amangkurat I and his son began in 1660, and the next year an attempted coup by the crown princes party failed; many were executed. Raden Kajoran was considered a holy man, and his daughter married the Madura prince Raden Trunajaya, who came to know Matarams crown prince Adipati Anom. In 1675 Trunajaya began a rebellion against Mataram in Kediri and eastern Java. Amangkurat had made a treaty with the Dutch in 1646, and thirty years later he asked for their help. Speelmans naval force was sent against Trunajayas pirates from Makasar. Trunajaya occupied the capital Plered and stole the Mataram treasury. Amangkurat died while fleeing to the Dutch, who made his successor Adipati Anom grant them territory south of Batavia while his brother Puger was proclaiming himself king at Plered. The more

aggressive Rijklof van Goens succeeded Maetsuycker, and Dutch troops under Anthony Hurdt captured Kediri. Adipati Anom was crowned as Amangkurat II (r. 1677-1703), and he personally stabbed the captured Trunajaya in 1680. The Dutch helped Amangkurat win the civil war over his brother Puger, who submitted in 1681. The Dutch also intervened in a succession struggle in Banten by supporting Sultan Haji. His father Abulfatah had become Sultan Ageng in 1651 and endured a blockade by the Dutch for three years until he made peace in 1659. Sultan Haji got his name because of his pilgrimage to Mecca but returned in 1676 to find his younger brother had been made heir-apparent. During the Mataram crisis in 1677 Ageng moved his forces into Cirebon and Priangam. Haji replaced his father in 1680 and promised the Dutch he would return escaped slaves even if they had converted to Islam. His capitulating to the VOC lost him Muslim support, but Dutch forces relieved the siege of his palace and helped him win the civil war. In 1683 they captured Ageng, and the Dutch kept him in prison at Batavia until he died. The next year the grateful Sultan Haji gave the Dutch exclusive trading rights in his kingdom in lieu of paying them a large indemnity for the war expenses. The Dutch held the territories of Cirebon and Priangam. The English were forced to leave Banten and moved to Bengkulu (Bencoolen) on the west coast of Sumatra. When Governor-General Speelman died in 1684, his corruption and abuse were revealed. He had arrested one hundred innocent people, sold free men as slaves, authorized pay for soldiers who did not exist, underpaid pepper suppliers, embezzled money, and was known for his debauchery. The Balinese slave Surapati led a band of eighty men who killed twenty VOC troops and then went to Kartasura. Rebelling Muslims turned to piracy in the Java Sea, but the fleet of Ibn Iskander was destroyed by a Dutch squadron in 1686. Captain Jonker was a Muslim who rebelled against the VOC; but he was killed in 1689, and fifty of his followers were executed. Amangkurat II sent his army against Surapati in 1690, but they were defeated. Amangkurat III (Sunan Mas) succeeded his father in 1703 but was challenged by his uncle, Pangran Puger, who was supported by Maduras Panembahan Cakraningrat II (r. 1680-1707). Puger got the Dutch on his side and was enthroned as Pakubuwana I (r. 1704-19) at Kartasura. In 1705 he ceded more territory and recognized Batavias claims to Priangam, Cirebon, and eastern Madura. In addition the VOC could build fortifications anywhere on Java, purchase unlimited rice, had monopolies on opium and textile imports, and got other trade concessions. Sunan Mas fled to the court of Surapati. In 1706 the Dutch defeated them, killing Surapati and exiling Sunan Mas to Sri Lanka. Pakubuwana tried to pay his debts to the VOC, which had losses at every office in Ambon, Banda, Ternate, Makasar, Banten, Cirebon, and the Java coast. The sons of Surapati rebelled again in 1712 and were finally defeated in 1719. Matarams Pakubuwana died that year, and his son Amangkurat IV had to fight his brothers for four years. These civil wars and the VOC monopolistic policy of buying at low prices and selling at high ones caused much poverty and smuggling. In 1721 the VOC executed 49 people for an alleged Muslim plot to massacre Europeans led by Pieter Erbervelt, and the next year Governor-General Zwaardekroon had 26 Company servants beheaded in one day for theft. Amangkurat IV could not pay his war debts and died in 1726, succeeded by his son Pakubuwana II (r. 1726-49). He was only sixteen years old, and the court was divided between his mother Ratu Amangkurat and the chief minister Danureja, who exiled the Kings brother Mangkubumi. Crowded Batavia suffered poverty and an epidemic in 1734. Early in the 18th century Lambertus Loderus got a government printing license in Batavia, and in 1707 he published a Dutch-Malay dictionary. The VOC introduced coffee in 1696. Serious cultivation began in 1718, and in 1725 three million pounds were harvested from Java. After a fiveyear legal case established the right to be a Christian, the ruler of Roti converted in 1729 and

promoted Christian education. By 1765 the Rotinese were teaching their own schools using the Malay language. The VOC paid annual dividends of 20 to 40 percent but had to increase its debt to do so. Most of the workers were not paid enough to buy their imports, and they made their own textiles. Despite VOC quotas, many Chinese immigrated, and the number of beggars and criminal gangs increased. In 1740 Governor-General Adriaan Valckenier deported unemployed Chinese to Sri Lanka, and a rumor spread that they had been thrown overboard. Soldiers, slaves, and other Javanese feared an uprising and massacred more than a thousand Chinese. Valckenier even had Chinese prisoners killed. The government promised the Chinese amnesty if they turned in their weapons within a month, but most went east and attacked Europeans. In 1741 the rebels took over Juwana, besieged Semarang, and massacred VOC employees at Rembang. For a while Pakubuwana II sided with the rebels by sending troops that supported the siege of Semarang. Maduras Cakraningrat IV (r. 171846) allied with the VOC, and in 1742 Pakubuwana came back to the Dutch side. The rebels seized Kartasura, but six months later Cakraningrats forces drove them out. Pakubuwana II was restored in 1743. Valckenier in 1740 had arrested and deported his opponent, Baron Van Imhoff; but the interim Thedens put Valckenier in prison, and Imhoff returned as governor-general (1743-50). Cakraningrat IV tried to expand his realm in eastern Java, but the VOC finally forced him to flee from Madura in 1745. That year Pakubuwana moved his court to Surakarta. In 1746 Mangkubumi defeated the rebel Mas Said and claimed the reward that his brother Pakubuwana II had offered. However, Governor-General Imhoff advised the King not to give it because Mangkubumi was getting too powerful. So Mangkubumi joined with Mas Said in rebellion. Pakubuwana trusted the VOC governor of the Northeast Coast, Von Hohendorff, who had helped restore him, and while dying in 1749 he ceded his kingdom to him and the VOC. Mangkubumi claimed the kingdom, but Hohendorff crowned Pakubuwana III. The third Javanese war of succession went on until 1757. The new Northeast Coast governor, Nicolaas Hartingh, opened negotiations by offering Mangkubumi half the kingdom in 1754, and the next year the VOC recognized him as Sultan Hamengkubuwana I. In 1756 he built his court at Yogyakarta in central Java. Mas Said submitted the next year, and Pakubuwana III gave him an appanage of 4,000 households. Mas Said was crowned Mangkunegara I and reigned until 1795. All three rulers now recognized the sovereignty of the VOC. Meanwhile in Banten the Sultan Zainul Arifin (r. 1733-48) was sent into exile by the VOC and his Arab wife Ratu Sarifa. Her intrigue had replaced the crown prince with her nephew, but her regency was unpopular and provoked a rebellion. In 1750 the VOC arrested and exiled both her and her nephew. The former kings brother agreed to govern until the previously exiled crown prince returned. After some plundering by rebels, they fled. Zainul Arifins son Zainul Asyikin (r. 175377) was proclaimed sultan of Banten, which became a fief of the VOC. After these succession wars, Java had several decades of relative peace. The two major courts at Surakarta and Yogyakarta agreed on a new law code in 1771 and two years later on law for settling disputes. Pakubuwana III was succeeded by his son Pakubuwana IV (r. 1788-1820). He was only 19 and chose advisors who aroused hostility; rumors led to his court being surrounded by enemies in 1790, persuading Pakubuwana to surrender his counselors to the VOC, which sent them into exile. Hamengkubuwana was succeeded by his son Hamengkubuwana II in 1792. About 1770 the French captured clove plants and introduced them to the island of Mauritius and other French colonies, ending the lucrative Dutch monopoly. Willem van Hogendorp and others founded the Batavian Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1778. Van Hogendorp wrote histories of Java and promoted the study of smallpox vaccination. He published the play, Harsh Blows, or Slavery, depicting and criticizing Portuguese and Eurasian treatment of slaves.

After John Adams got the Dutch to recognize the independence of the United States, the Netherlands found itself at war with England in 1780; but an expected attack on Batavia did not occur. After the French invasion of the Netherlands in 1795, the Kew letters allowed England to take over Dutch colonies under the agreement they would return them after the war against France. The British blockade of Batavia disrupted the export of coffee. The 17 directors were replaced by a committee in 1796, and the VOC was formally dissolved on the first day of 1800. The StatesGeneral gave the Asian territories of the Dutch to Hollands royal family. Intrigue permeated the Yogyakarta court of Sultan Hamengkubuwana II (r. 1792-1810), and the corve system used in building projects burdened the people. Mangkunegara II (r. 1796-1835) on his accession had his inheritance taken by the corrupt Governor-General, Baron van Reede tot de Parkeler. Alexander Dalrymples settlement on the island of Balambangan failed in 1775.

Philippines to 1800
On their voyage that was the first circumnavigation of the globe, the Spanish ships led by Magellan discovered the islands east of Vietnam in 1521. While attacking natives on the island of Cebu, Magellan was killed by an arrow. Juan Carvallo went to the Moluccas and established a factory for collecting cloves at Tidore. Despite their 1529 treaty with Portugal, Spain sent ships to these islands. A voyage of five ships from Mexico in 1542 named the islands after Prince Philip, and Miguel Lopez de Legazpi led the first permanent Spanish settlements of 1565 that were extended to the islands of Cebu, Leyte, Pany, Mindoro, and the plain of Luzon before his death in 1572. Manila was founded in 1571, and the local chief agreed to let the Spaniards propagate their religion. The natives had no concept of land as property until the Spaniards started buying it from their chiefs. The Spaniards found this conquest did not help them in the spice trade, nor did it give them access to Japan and China; but their third purpose of converting the natives to Christianity was fairly successful. The Christians had arrived before Islam had spread beyond the southern islands, and those religious conditions tended to remain. The Chinese Limahong led the pirates that killed Martin de Goiti. The Chinese had been trying to catch these pirates; so after they were defeated by the Spaniards, interim Philippines governor Lavezares was able to arrange trade relations between the Spaniards and the Chinese before he was replaced by Francisco de Sande in 1575. Spanish efforts to invade the Moros in the southern region in 1578 and Mindanao in 1596 both failed miserably. In 1578 fifteen Franciscans arrived in the Philippines to join the Augustinians, and Domingo de Salazar became the first bishop of Manila three years later. He called a synod in 1582 that questioned the Spaniards legal right to take possession of the Philippines, and the synod decided that they had no right to collect tribute from the Filipinos. Bishop Salazar later returned to Spain in order to ask for a royal decree to prohibit the forced labor of the Filipinos for building churches and other public works. He also requested that military escorts for missionaries be abolished. The Jesuits came in 1581, followed by Dominicans in 1587 and Recollects in 1605. By 1595 some 134 missionaries claimed they had baptized 288,000 Filipinos. Education was dominated by Christian theology; but key terms were not translated so as not to be confused with indigenous beliefs. In 1585 Philip II banned Chinese trade with Manila, but Mexicos viceroy would not enforce this. In 1593 Spain required all commerce from the Philippines to go through Acapulco in Mexico, and this policy continued until 1815. Forces from Manila were sent to attack Ternate; but in 1593 Spaniards in a hundred ships were massacred when their Chinese rowers mutinied. In 1600 Oliver van Noort lost one of his five Dutch ships while attacking Chinese and Filipino ships in Manila Bay. In 1603 the Dutch helped Ternate repulse an attack by the allied Portuguese and Spaniards. Two years later Dutch aid also enabled Ternate sultan Zaide to drive the Portuguese out of his island and Tidore; but in 1606 Manila governor Pedro de Acua led an expedition that defeated Zaide and the Dutch and

garrisoned Ternate with Spaniards and Filipinos. The Philippines were organized into fifteen provinces under alcalde-mayors responsible to the Spanish governor-general; but the pay of the mayors was so low and their local power so despotic that corruption was rampant. The governorgeneral had autocratic power and established a supreme court called the Royal Audiencia in 1583. Native customs were respected unless they violated the Spaniards Catholic morality. Spanish adventures to get involved in Cambodia by helping defend them against Siam began in 1593, and in the next ten years Cambodia had six different kings before they decided that Spanish aid was not worth the trouble and agreed to become a vassal state of Siam in 1603. Admiral Wittert blockaded Manila Bay for five months in 1609, but in April 1610 Spanish ships defeated and killed him. European traders had often found concubines, who were paid to be temporary wives during visits; but about 1600 the Spanish and Dutch noticed that slave women of kings or nobles were being used as prostitutes. The Malay epic Sejarah Melayu of 1612 portrayed abortion as a common occurrence. Because divorce in southeast Asia was usually easy, many observed that husbands had to be more attentive to their wives. They usually married much younger than in Europe. Yet virginity was considered such an obstacle to marriage that it might be ritually removed, probably because blood was believed to be polluting by men. Governor-General Juan de Silva ventured into the Moluccas in 1616; but his Portuguese allies did not show up, and the fleet returned because of de Silvas death. The next year the Dutch defeated the Spaniards at Playa Honda and plundered shipping in Manila Bay for the next three years. An Anglo-Dutch blockade of Manila lasted sixteen months until May 1622. The Dutch built a fort in the Pescadores Islands and in 1624 started using Formosa to divert trade from Manila. The Spaniards won a third naval battle against the Dutch at Playa Honda and built two forts on Formosa. In 1637 Governor-General Corcuera conquered some Muslim bases in Mindanao and the next year took over Jolo. Corcuera decreed the obligation of personal service, and in 1639 the Chinese in Laguna revolted against this and abusive tax collectors. Thousands of Chinese were killed before the revolt was subdued the next year. In 1642 the Dutch captured the Formosa forts, and three years later they bombarded the Spanish fort at Jolo. After his term of office, Corcuera was put on trial in a residencia, but he was acquitted. A Jesuit negotiated a peace treaty with Jolos Sultan Bungsu in 1646. The Spaniards used two old galleons to win several naval victories over the Dutch. In 1647 Martin Gerretsen with twelve ships invaded Manila Bay and bombarded the fort at Cavite; but his flagship was sunk by artillery, and he was killed. The Dutch fleet went to Corregidor and plundered Bataan until they encountered resistance and suffered disease. In 1648 Spain and the Netherlands made a treaty at Munster. Some raiding went on until 1662 when Coxinga threatened to attack Manila; but the Spaniards withdrew from Zamboanga, the Muslim Moros region, and Ternate. This retreat allowed Moro raids, but Jesuit requests to reoccupy the fort were denied as too expensive. When Governor-General Fajardo drafted workers to build the Cavite Arsenal, many protested. Juan Ponce Sumoroy led the violent rebellion that spread in 1649, but it was quelled the next year. Rebellion spread again in 1660, and Andres Malong proclaimed himself king of Pangasinan. The next year Pedro Almazan was named king of Iloscos, but all these rebel leaders were crushed and executed in 1661. Spains queen Mariana sponsored the missionaries sent to the islands that were named the Marianas after her and became part of the Philippines in 1669. On the island of Guam, Jesuit missionary Diego Luis de San Vitores baptized Chief Kapuha (Quipuha), who granted land for a Catholic church. San Vitores baptized 13,000 native Chamorros in the first year. Kapuha died in 1669, and two years later war broke out between the Spaniards and the Chamorros. After their most destructive war, the Chamorros asked for peace, and the Spaniards insisted that they attend mass every Sunday. San Vitores solicited money from Queen Mariana, and churches were constructed. In

April 1672 Chief Matapang and his war chief Hirao murdered San Vitores for having baptized his baby daughter without his permission. This provoked another war, and Matapang was mortally wounded in a battle on the island of Rota in 1680. The Spaniards conquered the Chamorros of the Marianas, forcing them to live in five villages after 1695. The Chamorro population was reduced from nearly 200,000 to 5,000 by 1740 when they were moved to Guam from all the northern Mariana Islands except Rota. The Palaus and Carolines became dependencies of the Philippines in 1696. Late in the 17th century the private encomiendas, which could collect taxes, were abolished. Friars were allowed to borrow money from the Government and the Obras Pias (charitable foundations), and in 1717 Governor Bustamente learned that both the Government and the Obras Pias were bankrupt. After he urged them to return the money, friars murdered him in 1719. The Muslim Malays developed confederacies, and in 1704 a Jesuit priest from Manila arbitrated a dispute between Madindanau and Sulu. Zamboanga was finally fortified again in 1718 for campaigns against the Moros. In 1722 the sultan of Sulu agreed to release Christian captives and tolerate Christianity, but such alliances did not prevent Moro raiding at sea. Sultan Alimud Din revised Sulu laws and translated Arabic texts and part of the Quran into Sulu. In 1744 he opened his dominion to Jesuit preaching and even allowed a church and a Spanish fort. Complaining Muslims compelled the Jesuits to take refuge in Zamboanga, and in 1749 his brother Bantilan seized the throne as Sultan Muhammad Muizzudin. Alimud Din fled with his family to Manila, where he was baptized and named the Catholic king of Jolo. An expedition in 1751 to restore him was aborted after he was suspected of treason for having written to the Mindanao sultan saying he had been forced to allow the Catholic religion in his domain. Governor-General Obando issued a decree permitting acts of war against Filipino Muslims, but such plunder and slave-holding was prohibited by other laws. In 1752 Alimud was imprisoned at Manila, and other captives were branded on the face as slaves. Alimud was allowed to marry his former concubine in 1755 and was given a pension. Also in 1744 Francisco Dagahoy, irritated that a priest would not give his brother a Catholic funeral, led a popular revolt with 3,000 followers; they held out in the Bohol mountains, and their community of 20,000 people lasted until 1829, when they were given amnesty and resettled. A series of agrarian uprisings around Manila began in 1745. Philip VI ordered the ecclesiastics investigated for usurping land, but the Audiencia and the Council of the Indies in Madrid refused to remedy the injustice. A royal decree in 1751 allowed the alcalde-mayors to engage in trade and business; this corrupt policy was not abolished until 1844. By the middle of the 18th century less than one thousand Spaniards lived in the Philippines, but 904,110 Christian Filipinos were counted. Governor Arandia (1754-59) reorganized the military, but Muslim raids killed and enslaved thousands on the coasts of Luzon and the Bisayas. To neutralize Chinese economic influence, Arandia expelled non-Christian Chinese in 1755, but the Chinese mestizos retained their higher social status. After Spain gave up its neutrality in the Seven Years War to become an ally of France, in 1762 the British with 6,700 men and thirteen ships seized Manila, overcoming the defense by a thousand soldiers and 5,000 Filipino civilians. Despite General Drapers promises, the British spent forty hours sacking Manila. Archbishop Rojo signed the capitulation, but Simon de Anda organized resistance outside the capital, proclaiming himself captain-general and governor. General Drake and Rojo governed the British occupation in Manila. The British released Alimudin and gave him a boat to return to Jolo, where he was restored to his throne but soon abdicated so that his son Israel could rule. The division between Rojo and Anda and this blow to Spains military prestige stimulated rebellions by Filipinos in Pangasinan, Laguna, Cavite, Tondo, Iloilo, Zamboanga, Samar, Cebu,

Panay, and Ilocos against the Spanish authorities, who were never popular because of their dictatorial exploitation of natives. Diego Silang led the largest rebellion in Ilocos, refusing to pay taxes because the Spaniards had not defended the country. The British appointed Silang governor of Ilocos. Silang had Bishop Ustariz and twelve Augustinian missionaries arrested, but he was killed by Miguel Vico to free them. Governor-General Anda suppressed the uprisings, and he also complained to the king about friars meddling in worldly affairs and owning estates. After news of the European peace treaty arrived, the British evacuated Manila in March 1764. The Philippines lost its monopoly over the China trade as Europeans began to compete. Moro raids began capturing about 500 Filipinos a year to sell as slaves. Spains new imperial policy caused the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767, and the Dominicans agreed to submit to some investigations. King Carlos III declared in 1773 that parishes could be filled with Filipino secular priests, but they were not yet well educated. Friars complained, and the King suspended secularization three years later. Governor-General Jose de Basco (1778-87) founded the Economic Society of Friends of the Country in 1781 to develop the natural resources of the Philippines. He encouraged the cultivation of indigo, cotton, tobacco, cinnamon, pepper, sugar, silk, hemp, tea, coffee, and the opium poppy, and the next year tobacco became a government monopoly. Compulsory labor on tobacco plantations sometimes prevented workers from growing enough food. Carlos III (r. 1759-88) sponsored an annual ship going around the Cape to Manila, and in 1785 he became the principal shareholder in the Royal Company of the Philippines; but this enterprise failed because merchants preferred their galleon trade. In 1788 Historia General de las Islas Filipinas in 14 volumes by the Franciscan missionary Juan de la Concepcion was published. The Philippines government wasted 1,500,000 pesos fighting the Muslims between 1778 and 1793.

Australia and New Zealand to 1800

C. M. H. Clark began his multi-volume history of Australia by stating, Civilization did not begin in Australia until the last quarter of the eighteenth century.1 This Ethics of Civilization also does not focus on pre-literate cultures because of the lack of information about specific events. Yet it is helpful to understand something about the Aboriginal culture that still has direct influence from farther back in time than probably anywhere else on Earth. At least 38,000 years ago and perhaps 50,000 or more, the dark-skinned, curly-haired, broad-nosed Negrito people migrated from southeast Asia into New Guinea, Australia, and Tasmania. During the ice ages these lands were connected; after the ice melted, they were separated by the Pacific Ocean about 12,000 years ago. Australias inland sea dried up, and much of the continent became a desert. The second wave of immigrants have been called Murrayians and are related to the Ainu who inhabited Japan. These peoples went south as the Carpentarians arrived; the latter are related to the Vedda of Sri Lanka. A few thousand people lived on the island of Tasmania, and about three hundred thousand in Australia had some two hundred languages. As the Malays spread in the archipelago of Southeast Asia, the island of Timor (which means east) became their eastern boundary. The Aborigines lived by hunting and gathering without using metals. They did not farm by planting grains nor did they herd animals, though some may have had fish farms. They had no private property, but about five hundred tribes were very territorial, which accounts for the multiplicity of languages. Family relationships were important, but there did not seem to be chiefs or an aristocratic hierarchy. In the warm climate they usually did not need clothes, or they used furs and fires. Yet they had a very sophisticated oral culture and passed on their lore about what they call the dream-time, which refers to the spiritual world that exists eternally before the creation of this Earth and is still present as the home where souls go after death. The Aborigines usually believe in reincarnation and often communicate with each other and disincarnate spirits by means of mental telepathy. The Iora tribe fished; the men hunted, and the women gathered food. Many lived in

caves. Children were initiated into adulthood at puberty. By then most girls had already been promised in marriage to older men. Mothers fed their children their milk for at least three years. Abortions and infanticide were used to prevent too many children. Men sometimes swapped wives or offered their hospitality to comfort visitors. Neither the Hindus, Buddhists, Chinese (except for a brief landing in 1432), Muslims, nor even for a time the European navigators disturbed the land of Australia. Judging by the hostile rituals by which they tried to discourage the first Europeans with sticks and stones, it seems likely to me that the Aborigines sensed the danger to their way of life by intruders from outside and used their magic to try to keep them away. In the 17th century explorers began approaching. In 1606 the Dutch captain Willem Jansz concluded that no good was to be done there, and Pieter Nuyts explored the southern coast in 1626-27. In 1642 the Dutch East India Company wanted to find precious minerals and decided that the undiscovered land must be explored. That year Abel Tasman discovered the southern island later named after him which he called Van Diemans Land. In 1644 he explored the northern coast and named the land mass New Holland. The English navigator William Dampier was not impressed by the land he saw at Sharks Bay in 1688 nor on the west coast in 1698. He called the people miserable and brutal. Captain James Cook, after visiting the noble savages of Tahiti in 1768, circumnavigated New Zealand, and landed at Botany Bay, claiming southeastern Australia for England as New South Wales. Cook suggested that the people there who seemed so wretched were actually very happy. The British had been sending convicted criminals to work in Maryland and Virginia since 1717; but after these colonies declared their independence in 1776, this was not practical. Joseph Banks had sailed with Cook on the Endeavour, and in 1779 he proposed that convicts be transported to New South Wales. After Britain lost their American colonies in 1783, this idea took hold; three years later George III ordered the Admiralty to transport 750 convicts to Botany Bay and appointed Arthur Phillip as governor. No convicted murderers or rapists were transported; almost all the crimes were some form of stealing or fraud, most being minor theft. A judge advocate and six military officers were to preside over a criminal court. At Sydney Cove the men began building tents and huts on January 26, 1788, and eleven days later the women convicts disembarked. That night during a rainstorm that blew down tents, many were raped or participated in an orgy with rum. The next day Phillip threatened to shoot any man who went into the womens quarters at night, and he warned that anyone caught stealing cattle or chickens would be hanged. Only a third of the men had been working, and he said that those who did not work would not eat. Cholera and influenza germs quickly spread and began devastating the Aborigines. Any prisoner escaping faced the likelihood of being killed by a spear. Some convicts stole native tools and weapons to sell as souvenirs. After three whites were killed, in March 1789 a group of sixteen with clubs went out for revenge; the Iora ambushed them, killing one and wounding seven. Governor Phillip ordered the other eight to be flogged with 150 lashes and be in leg irons for a year. Phillip also had six marines hanged for stealing food. The first crop failed, and the second harvest only produced enough seed to save for the next planting. Food supplies were carefully rationed. To keep the French away, Phillip sent 22 people to Norfolk Island to grow flax. A vegetable garden was planted on an island in the Sydney harbor to prevent the greens from being stolen. One ship made it to Cape Town and back in May 1789 with wheat, barley, and flour. An old man died of starvation before a ship arrived in June 1790. More convicts were brought, although about a quarter had died on the voyage. Many were too ill to work. Watkin Tench recorded that 38 convicts escaped into the wilderness in 1791. That year Phillip tried to show the Aborigines his justice by having a white man flogged for having stolen a native womans tackle; the Aborigines felt sympathy for the victim, and the woman tried to stop the

flagellator. European civilization had bad effects on the Aborigines, and some became drunkards. In 1796 Aborigines killed one of their girls for having worked in the house of a European. In 1800 some Aborigines murdered whites and burned their houses. In revenge some settlers killed two Aborigines. By 1806 the soldiers were being ordered to drive the Aborigines away. As the Europeans continued to encroach, they were often met with guerrilla warfare. During this long frontier war at least 2,000 European settlers were killed, and the number of Aborigines dying by such overt violence was about ten times that. After serving their sentence or upon being given a conditional pardon, each male was granted thirty acres of land with twenty more if married and ten more for each child. After Phillip left in December 1792, the settlement was governed by officers. Major Francis Ghose encouraged the convicts to work by paying them with rum, and he allowed officers to engage in trade that soon enabled them to accumulate wealth. By 1799 they owned most of the sheep and horses and a large portion of the cattle and goats. John Macarthur cultivated a large farm with vines, fruit trees, vegetables, grains, pigs, cattle, and poultry, using the first plow in 1795. He quarreled with authorities, and in 1802 Governor King sent Macarthur to England for trial; but he persuaded the Secretary of State to let him return to begin the wool industry on a grant of ten thousand acres. Many convicts were given pardons to work, but they were not allowed to return to Britain until their sentence ended. Convicts were punished for disobedience or drunkenness, usually by flogging; those not deterred by this often fell into despair and degradation. In 1795 coal was discovered at a place later named Newcastle, and the next year a theater opened in Sydney. Around a thousand years ago people migrated from eastern Polynesian islands to the southern island group they called Aotearoa, which means the land of the long white cloud. Their tribes had a large ruling class, commoners, and some war captives who were treated as slaves. They did not use written language but had a strong oral tradition. Their chiefs sought to preserve and enhance their mana, a kind of magical power that implied prestige. Chiefs and other persons and objects had a sacredness called tapu (taboo) that deterred people from violating them. Those who broke a tapu were punished and shunned until they were ritually purified. They were warriors and often fought to gain satisfaction or revenge (utu). A proverb indicates that men died for women and land. Their fighting was hand-to-hand because they did not even have bows and arrows. In 1642 Abel Tasman sailed from Batavia and explored these islands the Dutch named Nieuw Zeeland. In the first encounter the Maoris killed four Europeans. The word maori means normal, and the tribes adopted this name only after meeting the invaders. In 1769 Captain James Cook came from Tahiti with a chieftain interpreter and circumnavigated New Zealand. Cook tried to interact with the natives without injuring them, but in the early encounters ten Maoris were killed; he called them a brave, warlike people with sentiments void of treachery.2 Cooks estimate of 100,000 Maoris has been accepted as probable by recent scholars. In 1772 a French expedition to the Bay of Islands led by Marion du Fresne killed some Maoris and burned three villages. In 1792 a gang from the Britannia collected 4,500 sealskins for the Chinese market, and the next year a British ship left a party of sealers on the South Island. One of Vancouvers ships abducted two Maori men to teach convicts on Norfolk Island how to work flax. As women did this work and they did not know how, Captain Philip Gidley King sent them back, supplying the Maoris with seed potatoes, which became a staple in their diet.

Polynesian Islands to 1800

Little is known of the history of New Guinea and most of the islands of Melanesia until German traders arrived in the 1870s. Papuans had been living there for about fifty thousand years, and Austronesians migrated there about 4,500 years ago. Portuguese navigator Jorge de Meneses

discovered New Guinea in 1526. Three years later in the Treaty of Zaragoza the Portuguese claimed the western Pacific and let Spain claim the eastern Pacific. Alvaro de Mendaa de Neira from Peru named the Solomon Islands in 1568, hoping that gold would be found there. In 1606 Pedro Fernandes de Queiros landed in the New Hebrides and was expelled by the natives. Two French vessels were shipwrecked on the Solomon Islands in 1788. In Micronesia the Mariana Islands have been discussed above in relation to the Philippines. Spaniards also explored the Caroline Islands in the 16th century; Jesuits tried to evangelize them, starting in 1710; and they were colonized in the 19th century. In 1788 the Gilbert Islands and the Marshall Islands were named after the two British captains who discovered them. The experience of Alexander Selkirk living for five years on Islas Juan Fernandez off the coast of Chile until 1709 inspired Daniel Defoe to write the immensely popular Robinson Crusoe in 1719. Rousseaus philosophy of the noble savage helped inspire the romantic movement, and Diderot also piqued interest in France by publishing his Supplement to Bougainvilles Voyage in 1796. In Polynesia in 1722 Jacob Roggeveen found Rapanui (Easter Island), Bora Bora, Maupiti, and Samoa, but the Dutch Company confiscated his ships because they had not authorized his venture. Whaling ships got supplies from the Marquesas Islands in the 1790s. In 1767 British captain Samuel Wallis of the Dolphin led the first exploration of Tahiti. He fired cannons at the southern side of the island and then went to Matavai Bay in the north. So many Tahitians surrounded his ship on canoes that he ordered more firing and later the destruction of all the canoes on the beach. After this bad start, the British soon learned that the Tahitians were very friendly and did not have sexual inhibitions. Sailors traded nails and later shirts for sexual favors. Although the ship surgeon claimed they currently did not have any syphilis or gonorrhea, these venereal diseases would eventually spread. Tahiti had several local chiefs, and Purea was regent for her young son Tu. For Tahitians the main taboo was to be unkind, but they did not recognize private property and would take things. Their generosity and gift exchanges gradually degenerated into bartering for better bargains because the Europeans had things they wanted such as iron, muskets, and rum. Young Tahitians practiced free and open sexual play, and even the married were not jealous and shared their spouses with others. Their arioi were priests who excelled in entertaining by music, dance, plays, wrestling, and lascivious games. Because they did not want children, the arioi practiced infanticide. The supreme God of the Tahitians was called Te Atua and was impersonal and transcendent, but the son Oro had come down to Earth on a rainbow for a beautiful girl. Soon after the British left, Louis Bougainville and two French ships arrived at eastern Tahiti in April 1768. The crews were suffering from scurvy but soon recovered, and Bougainville claimed the island for France. The London Royal Society wanted the transit of Venus to be observed in 1769 because the phenomenon would not recur for a century. So the British sent Captain James Cook and the wealthy young botanist Joseph Banks on the Endeavour. Purea liked Banks, but she began to abuse her increased power, making her people construct a large temple. Other chiefs allied against her, and she was defeated. Cook had Fort Venus built at Matavai Bay, and he imprisoned five chiefs until two marines who had run off with women were returned. Banks persuaded Cook to take Tupia and his servant back to England. After his second voyage to Tahiti in 1774 Cook took Omai, bringing him back on his third voyage in 1776. Tuteha and Vehiatua had overthrown Purea; by the time Cook returned, they had died and the younger Vehiatua had become friendly with Tu. The girls were bartering for dresses, and a taboo was put on the diminishing pigs. Tu acquired new tools and became the most powerful chief. Spaniards visited Tahiti three times and left two priests on the

island in 1774. They spent their time guarding their possessions; their mission failed when they could not cure the ill Vehiatua. Banks became president of the Royal Society and proposed that breadfruit plants be taken from Tahiti to the West Indies to supply a cheap food for the slaves there. In 1787 Captain William Bligh and the Bounty sailed to Cape Horn before going east, stopping only at the Cape of Good Hope on the way to Tahiti. Tu joined the Arioi and married Itia; their first child was killed, but then he quit the society to have children. Tu became regent and took the name Pomare. Bligh had three deserters captured, flogged, and put in irons. He left Pomare in power with a few muskets and pistols. Near Tonga, first-mate Fletcher Christian wanted to desert in a boat but learned that about half the crew wanted to join him. So they put Bligh in a boat with eighteen others but had to keep four who wanted to go with them on the Bounty. Blighs boat found an island the next day, but then Bligh sailed 3,600 miles to the nearest European settlement on Timor. The Bounty went to Tubuai; they built a fort but did not get along well with the natives. Christian went to Matavai Bay and by lying managed to get 460 pigs, 50 goats, and fowls. Sixteen men from the Bounty stayed in Tahiti despite the danger, and Pomare gave them land with houses. They built a schooner, and their muskets helped Pomare become ruler of all Tahiti. When the HMS Pandora arrived, the fourteen mutineers were arrested. Four drowned when the ship sank in the Torres Straits. After a trial four were acquitted, three were pardoned, and three were hanged. Meanwhile Captain Bligh had successfully transported the breadfruit. The London Missionary Society (LMS) sent the first missionaries to Tahiti in 1795. Two years later eighteen Calvinist missionaries came and criticized the infanticide and free sexuality. When the Nautilus arrived, the missionaries tried to stop the bartering for muskets. After Tahitians stripped off their clothes, eleven missionaries decided to leave on the Nautilus. The number of Tahitians had dwindled from over a hundred thousand to 16,050. The Fiji islands are in eastern Melanesia and probably were a stepping off point for many who migrated further east to Polynesia. Fijians had no written language until the 19th century. Fear of epidemics caused them to strangle the sick in the 1790s. On the island of Tonga in 1616 the Dutch killed natives with muskets after encountering hostility and fled from what they called Traitors Island. In 1799 three missionaries were murdered there during a civil war, and the other seven missionaries fled. Austronesians migrated to Samoa about two thousand years ago. The language of the Samoans may be the oldest in the Polynesian group. In 1768 Louis de Bougainville saw Samoans sailing far from land, which he called the Navigator Islands. Explorer Laprouse had a difficult encounter in 1787, and Samoans killed twelve of his men. Laprouse was unable to punish the perpetrators and restrained himself from attacking the innocent. Four years later the HMS Pandora, while looking for Bounty mutineers, was attacked and used guns to kill many Samoans. These incidents apparently discouraged other ventures. Polynesians from the Marquesas Islands first settled in the Hawaiian Islands perhaps as early as 400 CE. According to legend, about 1100 the priest Paao sent a messenger to Tahiti or Samoa, and Pili came to overthrow the bad ruler and become chief. Many migrated from Tahiti in the 12th and 13th centuries, bringing food plants, dogs, pigs, chickens, and paper-mulberry trees. Pilis descendants and other new chiefs became dominant and established their religion on the larger islands of Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, and Kauai. Their religious concept of kapu is similar to tapu (taboo). Women were not allowed to eat with men nor partake of bananas, coconuts, pork, and some kinds of fish such as shark.

While looking for a northwest passage from the Pacific Ocean, in January 1778 Captain James Cook on the Resolution and with the Discovery came upon Kauai. The islanders were friendly and traded fish, pork, and sweet potatoes for brass and iron. When one took a meat cleaver, men from the Discovery fired guns at him. Lt. Williamson shot dead a man who was trying to take a boat hook. Concerned about spreading venereal disease, Cook tried to limit contact to only his healthy men. They estimated there were about 30,000 people on Kauai and five hundred on Niihau. Cook named the archipelago the Sandwich Islands after the Lord of the British Admiralty. In the spring Cook went north but could not find an opening in the ice. In November they returned for the winter and found that venereal disease had already spread to Maui. During this season the Hawaiians celebrated the return of Lono, and they seemed to believe that Cook might be a reincarnation of the god. Cook was greeted by about ten thousand Hawaiians at Kealakekua Bay. In February 1778 a large boat was stolen, and Cook went ashore to abduct the chief Kalaniopuu until it was returned. When a crowd of more than two thousand gathered, Cook changed his mind. Meanwhile his men blockading the canoes had killed a chief. When the crowd began throwing stones, Cook shot twice, killing one man. After the marines fired a volley, Cook was struck down and killed in the tide. Four marines were also killed. Captain Clerke fired cannons at the crowd and later negotiated for Cooks bones. After Kalianopuu died in 1782, he was succeeded by his son Kiwalao; his nephew Kamehameha became guardian of the war god Kukailimoku. These two factions quarreled over land, and in a battle Kamehamehas ally Keeaumoku killed Kiwalao. The most powerful chief was Kahekili on Maui. He invaded Oahu, sacrificed his foster-son to the war god, and tortured other Oahu chiefs to death. Kahekilis half-brother Kaeokulani ruled Kauai. Fur traders traveling between America and Canton began stopping to trade, and the Hawaiians wanted muskets. John Kendrick of the Lady Washington and others sold guns and ammunition to chiefs. Hogs were made kapu to foreigners unless they paid with weapons. Some sailors venturing on shore were killed. In 1790 at Honuaula on Maui the American merchant Simon Metcalfe on the Eleanora killed some Hawaiians in revenge for one sailors murder. The fighting escalated, and Metcalfes men killed or wounded more than a hundred. When his son Thomas Metcalfe arrived later, chief Kameeiamoku and his men killed him and four others. Another chief allowed Isaac Davis to live. Kamehameha took possession of the ship. He put a kapu on the bay and abducted boatswain John Young when the Eleanora returned. Kamehameha did not let Davis and Young leave, and they became his allies, helping him with cannons to defeat the army at Maui. Kamehameha had to fight Keoua on Hawaii until Keeaumoku treacherously murdered Keoua at a negotiation. British merchant William Brown discovered the valuable harbor Honolulu in Oahu and was promised this island by Kahekili for military aid. Cooks former midshipman, George Vancouver, made three voyages to the Sandwich Islands. He brought sheep and cattle, but he refused to sell arms to Kamehameha and tried unsuccessfully to stop the civil wars. Kamehameha put a kapu ban on slaughtering cattle for ten years. When Kahekili died in 1794, his son Kalanikupule with Browns help defeated Kaeokulani of Kauai and Maui. In celebrating the victory, Brown fired a salute to the Lady Washington. The cannon was mistakenly loaded, and Kendrick and some of his crew were killed. A month later natives killed Brown and some of his crew, and Kalanikupule took over two ships until George Lamport and their crews regained control. Lamport warned Young and Davis, and in 1795 Kamehameha invaded Maui and Oahu, chasing down and killing Kalanikupule. The next year Kamehameha had to give up invading Kauai to go back and put down a revolt on Hawaii. He invited leading chiefs to reside at his court where he could watch them. He appointed governors for the other islands and had a fleet of 800 vessels built to transport an army of several thousand. He traded for muskets and cannons.

Notes
1. A History of Australia by C. M. H. Clark, Volume 1, p. 3. 2. Quoted in A History of New Zealand by Keith Sinclair, p. 32.

Summary and Evaluation

Ancient India India 78-1526 Mughal Empire British in India Southeast Asia and Pacific Islands This chapter has been published in the book INDIA & Southeast Asia to 1800. For ordering information, please click here.

Ancient India
The pre-Aryan Harappan civilization in the Indus valley seems to have had many feminine and egalitarian qualities, but unfortunately, without writing, little is known of their history and beliefs. Floods and over-grazing may have made them more vulnerable to conquest. The invasion of whiteskinned Aryan conquerors of the dark natives in India is documented in the Vedic scriptures of the Hindus. Powerful religious beliefs similar to the Iranians' were used to justify the establishment of a caste system based on skin color and occupations. Hindu society was dominated by the Brahmin priests and Kshatriya warrior-kings, supported by artisan, merchant, and farming Vaishyas, all of whom exploited the labor of the natives. Aryan ways were patriarchal and violent. Yet somehow in India the western religion combined with the eastern methods of yoga and meditation to develop a remarkable spiritual philosophy and ascetic way of life based on inner awareness and renunciation of the world. The sages of the Upanishads left teachings that written would inspire millions with their mystical wisdom. The doctrines of karma and reincarnation explained how spiritual justice transcends one lifetime, and the mystical methods offered seekers a path of liberation from the cycle. An ethical life of nonviolence was only the first step in such an awesome endeavor, while renouncing worldly success made the society more inward than other materialistic cultures. The practice of nonviolence by Parshva was developed into a major religion by the noble Mahavira, whose extraordinary ascetic disciplines and spiritual awareness attracted devoted followers. Adding chastity to the ethical disciplines of nonviolence, truthfulness, not stealing, and freedom from possession, Mahavira established a religious community that spread Jainism. Yet the extremity of the asceticism, which some believed required nudity, did not become as popular as a similar but more moderate religion founded in the same era by Siddartha the Buddha. The life of Siddartha Gautama and his teachings as the Buddha have inspired millions of people seeking peace and enlightenment to live more ethically. His renouncing princely wealth and power to become an ascetic only to discover that a moderate path between the extremes of strictness and luxury was the most successful approach to spiritual awareness is an archetypal story of great significance. The four noble truths of the Buddha are: 1) life is painful; 2) pain is caused by craving; 3) stopping craving stops pain; and 4) the way to stop craving is by correct understanding, intention, speech, action, livelihood, attention, concentration, and meditation. The Buddha by his counseling

prevented a war between the Kolyas and the Shakyas. The Buddha refused to discuss speculative and metaphysical questions as irrelevant to ending suffering and finding enlightenment. He overcame attempts by Devadatta to cause a schism in the Buddhist community and refused to harm him even after Devadatta tried to kill him. The teachings of the Buddha offered a practical way to reduce social harm as well as personal suffering. The Buddha diagnosed the psychological causality of attachment in his theory of dependent origination. Ethical behavior is an important part of the Buddhist quest for enlightenment. The Buddha's leadership of the community that formed around his teachings set an example of wisdom. His teachings were passed on orally and then in writing in numerous dialogs analyzing human consciousness and ethical conduct. One of the greatest Buddhist works on ethics is the poetic Dhammapada, which emphasizes compassion, self-mastery, and awareness. The Questions of King Milinda has the Hellenistic Bactrian king, who converted to Buddhism, ask many difficult questions, which are answered by Nagasena. Thousands of people were profoundly influenced by Buddha's teachings in his own lifetime, and Buddhism spread throughout India in the next five centuries, influencing the policies of kings as well as individual seekers. Although the injustices of war and the caste system were certainly not eliminated, there can be little doubt that efforts to practice Buddhist compassion by so many greatly improved the ethics of Indian society. After he killed his father to become king of Magadha, Ajatashatru was influenced by the Buddha, built a new capital at Pataliputra, and sponsored the first Buddhist council. Nonetheless he was followed by murderous kings, who were eventually replaced by the Nanda dynasty. Although Indian culture developed a rich literature, they were more interested in spiritual truths than historical events. Thus little is known about political history in India except for Alexander's brief invasion in 326 BC which was described by Greek historians. According to them Indians never marched outside of their country for war. Some kingdoms defended themselves against the Macedonian army, while others who surrendered were killed for refusing to fight fellow Indians. Alexander experienced the fiercest military resistance to his conquests in India and was nearly killed there himself. Indian philosophers and naked Jainas discussed justice and other issues with the aggressive Greeks and influenced Pyrrho, who later founded the Skeptical school of philosophy. This warfare stimulated Chandragupta to raise an army that enabled him to unite India in the Mauryan empire. The 500 elephants he provided in a treaty helped Seleucus to hold his west Asian empire against other Greeks. The Mauryan empire was inherited by Ashoka in 273 BC. Though before his conversion to Buddhism he was responsible for many people being killed and deported, Ashoka's implementation of Buddhist teachings made him one of the greatest monarchs of all time. He ruled with wisdom and compassion as he renounced war, promoted justice, and tolerated all religious faiths. The Mauryan dynasty had ended by about 187 BC when Bactrian Greeks invaded and were driven back. After the Greeks took over the Punjab, King Menander was also converted to Buddhism. Aryan conquests had gradually spread south, and Buddhism followed centuries later. The island of Sri Lanka was converted to Buddhism and became a stronghold of that religion. The Hindu Dharma Sutras described the ethical duties of the four castes and the four stages of life as the celibate student, married householder, forest retreat, and the final renunciation. The Laws of Manu offered ethical counsel as well as law codes, such as avoiding eating meat because of the principle of nonviolence. Other principles included truthfulness, not stealing, purity, and selfcontrol. The main duty of the Brahmin is to teach, the Kshatriya to protect, the Vaishya to trade, and the Sudra to serve.

The Artha Shastra by Kautilya gave political advice and lowered the ethical standards of the sacred traditions. Although Kautilya claimed to teach justice in pursuing power and wealth (artha), he recommended the use of war and the employment of spies and deceit for calculated advantage. Kautilya valued wealth above all, thinking that could be used to buy everything else. The fourth value of Hindu culture after liberation (moksha), justice (dharma), and wealth (artha) was pleasure (kama). The Kama Sutra by Vatsyayana presented views on how pleasure can be attained, particularly erotically. Sexual morals varied, some abstaining from adultery; others considered it a risk worth taking. The attitudes of ancient India toward sexuality seemed to be quite practical and open-minded. As a minority view, materialists did exist in ancient India. Although they emphasized worldly pleasures, they did teach ethical values; one Carvaka was even martyred for opposing the violence of the great Bharata war, according to the epic Mahabharata. Of the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy the Nyaya emphasized logic and discerning knowledge. Yet ethical living was important in the process of spiritual liberation. Vaishesika focused on individual responsibility for one's actions (karma). Liberation was achieved by freeing the soul from the body. Progress was mainly by virtue (dharma). Mimamsa also emphasized dharma and soul transcendence, and they recommended prayers, rituals, and sacrifices as methods. Humans are free, but dharma supports the universe. Mimamsa focused on making one's action (karma) virtuous (dharma). Its complementary school was Vedanta, which suggested meditation and liberation by awareness as taught in the Upanishads, the end of the Vedas. The Samkhya and Yoga schools also worked as a pair. Samkhya taught how to discern the spirit and soul from nature, the field of knowledge and manifestation, in order to attain independence. Samkhya's ethics differentiated the good (sattva) from the passion of activity (rajas) and ignorance (tamas). Yoga was the practical method used for achieving independence and is brilliantly outlined in the classic text by Patanjali called the Yoga Sutras. The ethical foundation is found in the first two steps of restraint (not injuring, not lying, not stealing, not lusting, and not possessing) and the observances (cleanliness, contentment, discipline, self-study, and surrender to the Lord). Physical postures and breath control then prepare one for the psychological steps of withdrawal from the senses by attention, concentration, and meditation. The value of these disciplines is still demonstrated by the yoga many practice in the world today. In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna also taught various yogas for increasing spiritual awareness, although his justification of the war and urging of Arjuna to fight in battle can be questioned. The wisdom in this famous book is extensive and includes how not to be attached to the fruits of action by practicing ways of action, knowledge, intuition, renunciation, devotion, and meditation. The qualities of goodness, emotion, and ignorance are differentiated, and the liberation beyond all of them is held up as the ultimate goal. The imaginative literature of ancient India excelled in two great epic poems and in folktales. In the Ramayana by Valmiki virtue is exemplified by the noble couple Rama and Sita. In their adventures every man and woman could find nearly ideal behavior portrayed in challenging circumstances, as Rama survives exile and regains his kingdom in the great monkey war, while his wife Sita endures captivity by the enemy and a difficult reconciliation. Vyasa's tremendous Mahabharata depicts two quarreling families and culminates in a great war between them for the kingdom. Justice (dharma) is indicated this time by Vidura and the oldest

Pandava brother Yudhishthira, whose weakness for gambling though puts the Pandavas in a difficult position. The war is nearly fatal for the entire human race, but in the epilog Yudhishthira and his enemies are reconciled in heaven. Although nonviolence (ahimsa) is exalted as the highest virtue, the heroes of this war epic have difficulty practicing it. The Jataka tales present Buddhist teachings set in stories of the Buddha's previous lives as humans, spirits, and animals. The lessons illustrate his sermons and show how karma can work from life to life. In them the power of goodness is very uplifting, and virtue always triumphs. The Panchatantra contains animal fables with more worldly messages, demonstrating how creatures can survive the danger of being eaten in a competitive world by cleverness and cooperative friends.

India 78-1526
India had a favorable balance of trade with the Roman empire in the first century CE, but they had their own internal conflicts under the Satavahana kingdom. In the northwest, Iranian kings known as the Pahlavas were driven out by Scythians led by Kanishka (r. 78-101), who supported Buddhism and founded the Shaka era. Buddhist philosophers such as Parshva and Ashvaghosha were favored at his court. The new greater vehicle of Buddhism called Mahayana emphasized the bodhisattva saint who helps others, and this doctrine was explained in the Surangama Sutra, which warned of allurements from sex and ego. Ashvaghosha wrote the earliest Sanskrit drama, and his poem Buddhacharita described the life and teachings of the Buddha. His Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana distinguished suchness (bhutatathata) from the cycle of birth and death (samsara). He taught compassion for all beings and thus criticized the prejudices and inequities of the caste system. Prajnaparamita was translated into Chinese in 179 CE and discussed perfect wisdom. The bodhisattvas renounced their heavenly reward in order to serve the whole world. Nagarjuna in the 2nd century CE founded the Madhyamika (Middle Path) school of Mahayana Buddhism, and some of his followers split off into the Yogachara philosophy. Nagarjuna discussed ethics in his Suhrllekha, recommending the transcendental virtues of charity, patience, energy, meditation, and wisdom, and he warned against being fettered by attachment to religious ceremonies, wrong views, and doubt. The Buddhist Text of the Excellent Golden Light advised kings to avoid fighting but to punish criminals. Buddhist Vasubandhu in the 4th century taught that only consciousness exists, and thus we create our own reality. Buddhism took hold on the island of Sri Lanka, but there the Mahayana doctrine was suppressed in the 3rd century CE. The outstanding Tamil epic poem The Ankle Bracelet (Silappadikaram) was written about 200 CE by Prince Ilango Adigal. In this romantic story the faithful wife Kannaki proves that her executed husband did not steal the anklet, and the causes of the tragedy are explained as karmic effects from previous lives. This story inspires people to be more ethical and spiritual, and Kannaki came to be worshipped as a goddess of chastity in Sri Lanka and southern India. Sri Lanka remained Buddhist, and in the 5th century Buddhaghosha translated texts and explained the conduct, concentration, and wisdom of Buddhism in his Visuddhimagga. The Jain philosopher Kunda Kunda of the Digambara sect also taught about karma and how one can be freed from it by meditating with pure thought, releasing desire and aversion. In The Perfect Law (Niyamsara), Kunda Kunda described the five vows of non-injury, truth, non-stealing, chastity, and non-possession. Gupta empire replaced tribal customs with the caste system, ruled over vassals, and suffered invasions from the White Huns in the 5th century. Harsha-vardhana (r. 606-47) gained control over northern India and promoted Hindu culture. The Chalukyas had a wide empire, but Muslim Arabs

encroached in the west. The Tamil classic, The Kural by Tiru Valluvar contains moral proverbs on the traditional Hindu goals of dharma (virtue or justice), artha (success or wealth), and kama (love or pleasure). The mystical Vedanta philosopher Shankara emphasized non-dualism and elucidated Hindu scriptures. In the Crest-Jewel of Wisdom Shankara explained spiritual psychology. Indian drama was analyzed by Bharata in the Natya Shastra. Early plays by Bhasa introduced the court jester, and The Little Clay Cart portrays aristocrats and merchants, enabling audiences to see ethical consequences of various actions. Plays of the great Kalidasa contain mythic elements with heavenly nymphs. The title character in Shakuntala becomes the mother of India's founding emperor Bharata. Rakshasa's Ring by Vishakhadatta portrayed the political manipulations of prime minister Chanakya, also known as Kautilya, in the court of Chandragupta. The powerful ruler Harsha not only patronized the arts, but he also wrote plays himself. Bhavabhuti in the early 8th century was the court poet in Kanauj. His plays portray courtly love and romance. These plays from India show that in a period of many centuries when few plays have remained from any other culture, theater could still entertain and enlighten many people. Indian literature also described the consequences of actions by karma, and the Puranas, especially the popular Srimad Bhagavatam, portrayed the examples of the divine in human incarnations as Vishnu becomes Krishna. Hindu religion regained strength during the two and a half centuries preceding the Muslim invasions that began about 1000. This era saw much fighting between Hindu kingdoms, and even some Jains as soldiers justified killing enemies. The Brahmin caste was favored by law and dominated religion, education, and land ownership. Most women worked in the home or in the fields. The erotic art found on temples indicates a less puritanical attitude toward sexuality among Hindus as Buddhism declined and Tantra methods were developed. Tibet was influenced by Buddhism from the 6th century and adopted it as the state religion in 791, though conflicts remained between Buddhists and the followers of the native Bon-po religion. The Tibetan Book of the Dead explains how to become liberated from reincarnation by being aware as one dies. Atisha (982-1054) came to Tibet from India in 1042 and reformed Tantric practices by introducing celibacy and a higher morality among the priests; he wrote a book on enlightenment and founded the Katampa order. The Kagyupa school had a series of teachers that included Naropa (1016-1100), Marpa (1012-96), Milarepa (1040-1123), Lharje (1077-1152), whose book listed yogic precepts, and Tusum Khyenpa (1110-93), who founded the black-hat Karmapa order in 1147. In 1000 Muslims led by Ghazni ruler Mahmud invaded India and looted immense treasure. A Pala empire in Bengal dominated the east until the Muslims conquered them in the early 13th century. Ghuzz Turks under Muhammad Ghuri attacked the Gujarat kingdom in 1178 and overcame organized Hindu resistance by 1192. In 1221 Mongols led by Genghis Khan crossed the Indus into the Punjab. In the south the Cholas fought the Pandyas and the Chalukyas. Buddhism remained strong in Sri Lanka under king Vijayabahu (r. 1055-1110). Hemachandra (1088-1172) converted Gujarat's Chalukya king Kumarapala to Jainism, and Bijjala was a Jain king. His minister, the Shaivite Basava (1106-67), argued against violence and caste prejudice. Sri Lanka king Parakramabahu I (r. 1153-86) used heavy taxation to rebuild Pulatthinagara and Anuradhapura that had been destroyed by the Cholas, and he developed trade with Burma. In the 13th century the Hoysalas fought the Pandyas for empire as Chola power decreased. The Sufi poet Amir Khusrau described how Islam used the sword to triumph over Hindu idolatry. By 1300 invading Mongols, now Muslims, had taken over Delhi and subjugated the Hindus under Islamic law. 'Ala-ud-din Khalji (r. 1296-1316) expanded and centralized the Delhi Sultanate. After winning a struggle for power, Tughluq invaded and annexed Bengal. His son Muhammad bin Tughluq (r. 1325-51) caused famine and rebellion with his heavy taxes and lived in luxury, favoring Muslims

over Hindus. Traveler Ibn Battuta brought gifts and was made a judge. Firuz Shah (r. 1351-88) lowered taxes and sponsored public works while independent Bengal prospered under Sikander (1359-89). Another civil war for power in Delhi brought on the devastating invasion by Timur's Tatars in 1398. Gujarat, Malwa, Jaunpur, and others were independent as the Sayyid dynasty of sultans ruled Delhi from 1414 until the Afghan Buhlul Khan took over in 1452. Sultan Sikander Shah (r. 1489-1517) was succeeded by his son Ibrahim, but he was overcome by Babur's Mughal invasion in 1526. The Muslims placed themselves above the Hindu castes and taxed heavily the "infidels" they ruled. Barani served in the government under Muhammad bin Tughluq but was imprisoned by Firuz Shah. He wrote a history of the Delhi sultanate up to 1357 and a book on government in which he expressed his aristocratic ideas that justified discrimination against Hindus. Shaikh Hamadani described the strict laws that Muslim rulers imposed on non-Muslims. The Rajput states were independent in the 15th century. Mewar became the most powerful and called on Babur. Malwa struggled against Gujarat. In the east, Bengal succumbed to Muslim rule. Gujarat's Ahmad Shah (1411-43) fought the Bahmani kingdom and built Ahmadabad. Mahmud Begarha ruled Gujarat 1458-1511 and protected the Bahmani king, and his son Muzaffar II fought against the Rajputs. Kashmir suffered changes and was ruled mostly by Muslims. Tibet remained Buddhist; the Gelugpa order was founded in 1409, and the Karmapas controlled Lhasa until 1517. The Muslim Bahmani kingdom in the Deccan lasted from 1347 to 1527 amid much political violence. Brothers Harihara and Bukka converted to Islam in order to govern Kampili; later they renounced that religion and declared their independence, founding the Vijayanagara kingdom in 1336. Bukka I (r. 1356-77) began fighting the Bahmanis in 1358, and he tolerated all religions. His son Harihara II (r. 1377-1404) expanded the Vijayanagara kingdom. Devaraya II (r. 1422-46) centralized the state by controlling the chiefs. After a period of decline, Virupaksha was overthrown in 1485 by Narasimha Saluva. Krishna Deva Raya (r. 1509-29) encouraged trade with the Portuguese to gain horses and strengthened Vijayanagara. On Sri Lanka regional rulers struggled for power, and Parakramabahu VI (r. 1411-65) was the last king to rule the entire island. They survived invasions by Muslims in 1323, by Chinese explorer Zhenghe in 1406 and 1411, and by Vijayanagara about 1432. Portuguese ships began arriving at Calicut in 1498 and used their naval power to control the spice trade. In 1509 Viceroy Almeida defeated a Muslim fleet near Diu, and Albuquerque conquered Goa the next year. The Portuguese built a fort at Columbo in Sri Lanka in 1518. Kabir was a Muslim weaver who used a Hindu mantra as well as Sufi methods of spirituality. He emphasized the direct experience of God through meditation, prayer, charity, and fasting without rituals, ceremonies, or philosophical doctrines. He criticized caste distinctions, the eating of meat, and all violence. His poems inspired many to seek God, and his blending of Hindu and Islamic mysticism foreshadowed Nanak's new synthesis. Chaitanya (1486-1533) became a devotee of Krishna and popularized the bhakti practice of the Vaisnavas. He sang and danced in ecstasy and persuaded Orissa king Prataparudra not to invade Bengal. Nanak (1469-1539) was from a Hindu family, married, and had two sons before he had an enlightening experience in November 1496. He declared, "There is no Hindu; there is no Muslim." Like Kabir, he did not recognize caste distinctions. He preached to both Hindus and Muslims and began traveling in 1499. He taught praising God, charity for all, purification by bathing, serving humanity, and constantly praying to God. Sikander Lodi had him arrested at Delhi for preaching in public, but singing in jail got him released. He traveled to Mecca and returned to witness Babur's invasions of the Punjab which he criticized as butchery. A wealthy devotee donated land, and he

spent the rest of his life in Kartarpur with his disciples. He emphasized the oneness of God and recommended repeating the divine name and surrendering to the will of God. He taught that all people are equal and warned against the selfishness of lust, anger, avarice, attachment, and pride. By practicing the discipline of loving meditation the grace of God can liberate one from the cycle of karma and reincarnation. He did not consider himself an avatar or prophet but the Guru of the Sikh religion. He named Angad as his successor.

Mughal Empire
Babur was from Farghana and conquered Samarqand, Kabul, and Qandahar before invading India in 1519. His army killed 15,000 at the battle of Panipat near Delhi in 1526. His son Humayun helped him defeat the Rajputs, and in 1529 the Mughal army overcame Bihar's army of 100,000 men. Babur died in 1530 and was succeeded by Humayun, who invaded Gujarat. Sher Khan became governor of Bihar and invaded Bengal in 1537. Sher Khan become Shah by overcoming Humayun, who fled as far as Iran. Sher Shah organized the Mughal empire into 47 sarkars with two officers each, writing Hindi and Persian. He promoted farming, reformed tariffs, built roads, administered justice, disciplined soldiers, and paid fair salaries to reduce corruption. He was killed taking a fort in 1545 and was succeeded by his son Islam Shah, who tried to kill those he suspected of taking his throne. Humayun promised to promote the Shi'a faith and got 14,000 Persian soldiers, but he turned on the Persians over Qandahar and captured Kabul in 1553. Islam Shah died the next year, and Sikander Shah won the power struggle and took Delhi in 1555. Like his father Babur, Humayun cut down on opium and renounced alcohol in order to invade India. His Mughal archers defeated Sikander's massive cavalry, but the victorious Humayun died in January 1556. Akbar (r. 1556-1605) was only 13 years old when he began ruling the Mughal empire. He defeated his rivals and married a Hindu princess in 1562. He ended the forced conversion and enslavement of prisoners and the discriminatory jiziya poll tax on non-Muslims. As he matured, Akbar curtailed his philandering and hunting. His army conquered Gujarat in 1573 and Bengal the next year as he steadily expanded the Mughal empire. Officers were ranked in a feudal hierarchy. Akbar patronized the study of various religions and formed his own Divine Faith based on ethical and rational mysticism from all religions. His palace and a few disciples were affected by his unorthodox ideas and practices, but his imperial policy was universal toleration. Muslims resented his appointing Hindus and rebelled by proclaiming his brother Hakim emperor at Kabul in 1580, but they were defeated. Akbar moved his capital to Lahore in 1585 and maintained peaceful relations with the Uzbeks and Persians. His Deccan campaign began in 1591 with diplomacy but turned to invasion in 1595. After Prince Murad died, Akbar himself led the army in 1600; but while he was invading Khandesh, his son Salim revolted. The Empress made peace between them in 1604, and Salim succeeded as Jahangir (r. 1605-27). Emperor Jahangir promised to uphold Islamic law and tried to ban wine, cannabis, and tobacco. His son Khusrau rebelled but was captured and blinded. Jahangir married the Persian widow Nur Jahan, and she became very influential. Bengal was annexed as a Mughal province in 1613. Prince Khurram campaigned in Rajasthan, the Himalayas, and the Deccan. When Jahangir was ill in 1621, Khurram had Khusrau secretly killed. Khurram got money from Gujarat and challenged the Emperor, but he was defeated and agreed to govern the Deccan. Nur Jahan had hopes for Shahryar; Prince Parwiz tried to challenge him but died of alcoholism in 1626. After Jahangir died, vizier Asaf Khan supported Khurram; they blinded Shahryar, and Khurram became Emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628-58). He spent about 29 million rupees on building projects, including the famous Taj Mahal as a mausoleum for his wife. Yet he wasted much more money and lives on warfare. Famine followed a devastating war in 1629. His army attacked the Portuguese at

Hughli, killing and enslaving thousands. Shah Jahan was an orthodox Muslim and prohibited construction of temples and churches or conversion to Hinduism or Christianity. Prince Muhammad Shuja governed Bengal 1639-59, and Prince Aurangzeb governed the Deccan. The Mughals fought the Persians over Qandahar with huge losses. When Shah Jahan became ill in 1657, his four sons fought over the empire. Aurangzeb (r. 1658-1707) cleverly won the civil war, which impoverished the empire and caused a famine. He sent Mir Jumla to govern Bengal, and he made war on Assam. Aurangzeb was devoted to Islam, and his intolerant policies persecuted Hindus, resulting in constant war against rebels and the ruination of the Mughal empire. Even his son Akbar revolted with the Rajputs. The most resistance by the Marathas was in the Deccan, and Aurangzeb moved his court there in 1695. Living in tents, the Emperor fought them until 1706. The imperial treasury was depleted and could not pay its large army, while Mughal aristocrats became morally degenerate. Many people became robbers during the chaos of war and the injustice of religious persecution. Kashmir led by the Chak tribe struggled against the Mughals but was annexed in 1586. Emperor Shah Jahan replaced the oppressive Kashmir governor Itiqad Khan in 1632 but ordered Zafar Khan to attack western Tibet. During the reign of Aurangzeb, Kashmir had twelve Mughal governors. Sonam Gyatso (1543-88) ruled Tibet and was given the title Dalai Lama by the Mongol Altan Khan, whom he converted. The Mongols intervened in Tibet briefly; but the fifth Dalai Lama became an independent ruler and did much to unify Tibet before he died in 1682. In southern India the Vijayanagara kingdom suffered power struggles and hired Muslim soldiers. Emperor Shah Jahan urged the Bijapur sultan Muhammad 'Adil Shah to annex Vijayanagara, and he did so in 1649 with help from Shahji. Shahji's son Shivaji Bhonsla (1627-80) became the Maratha leader of the rebellion with 10,000 cavalry and 60,000 infantry. Shivaji raided Puna in 1663, and the next year his Marathas carried off much wealth from the port of Surat. After Aurangzeb sent an army against his fortress at Purandhar, Shivaji made a treaty with the Mughals in 1665 and, after he was detained and escaped, another treaty in 1668; but the Emperor's edict to destroy Hindu temples and schools the next year incited more rebellion. Shivaji crowned himself king in 1674, appointed eight military commanders as ministers, instilled discipline in his army, and practiced religious toleration. After Shivaji's death, his son Shambhaji deposed his brother Rajaram. Shambhaji plundered the country, avoided the Mughal army, and made a treaty with the English at Bombay, but he was captured and killed in 1688. Rajaram led the Maratha resistance until he died in 1700. A large Maratha army continued the struggle against Aurangzeb's imperial forces. In northern Sri Lanka the Hindus resisted encroachment by Portuguese Christians, but in the south Bhuvanekabahu (r. 1521-51) sold cinnamon to the Portuguese. Sitavaka's Mayadunne (r. 1521-81) favored Muslim traders and fought Kotte and the Portuguese, who put the Catholic convert Dharmapala (r. 1551-97) on the Kotte throne. Mayadunne's son Rajasimha (r. 1581-93) defeated Kandy in 1581, but the Portuguese took over Sitavaka in 1593. Kandy king Senerath (r. 1604-35) made a treaty with the Portuguese in 1617, but the Portuguese built forts at Trincomalee in 1623 and Batticaloa in 1628. Senerath's son Rajasimha II (r. 1635-87) turned to the Dutch in 1636, and they drove the Portuguese off Sri Lanka by 1658. Governor Rycloff van Goens projected Dutch power by occupying forts and declaring monopolies. In India the Portuguese established footholds near Madras and at Hughli, but they made Goa their capital and tried to monopolize or control the ocean trade. On land Catholic missionaries like Francis Xavier made converts; but their intolerance alienated Hindus and Muslims. The Dutch arrived and blockaded Goa in 1603. Emperor Jahangir gave the English trading exemptions in 1618, and the English built a factory at Hughli in 1651. The Portuguese gave Bombay to the English in

1661. India exported cotton and imported gold and silver. The English captured 14 Mughal ships at Surat during the 1688-90 war. The Mughal empire allowed the English to collect taxes on their land at Calcutta in 1698. In the late 16th century Tulsidas wrote his great poem deifying Rama called Ramacaritamanasa. He removed the blemishes on the characters of Rama and Sita from the ancient story so as to make them even more ideal role models for men and women. The story of Rama was presented in long plays, and the worship of Rama and Krishna were the basis of the growing Bhakti movement of religious devotion. Ekanatha elucidated the ethical ideas that Jnanadeva had found in the Bhagavad-Gita. Tukaram wrote thousands of poems and urged Hindus to be heroic in order to overcome the misery they suffered under the Mughal domination. Ramdas Samarth suggested that the Hindus needed to develop their intellect in order to overcome the Mughals, and he advised Shivaji. Ramdas taught self-awareness through meditation on God with active work. The third Sikh Guru, Amar Das (1552-74) appointed three women to be preachers and recommended monogamy and widow remarriage. After the fourth Guru Ram Das died in 1581, he was succeeded by his son Arjun, who transformed the religion into a government that collected taxes. He collected the writings and hymns of the Sikh Gurus into the Adi Granth. Because Arjun helped fleeing Prince Khusrau, Emperor Jahangir had Arjun tortured and put to death in 1606. His son Hargobind was only eleven years old, but he was recognized as Guru. Hargobind spent years under house arrest but then was given political authority in the Punjab. Hargobind organized a Sikh army and fought the Mughals from 1634 to 1640. Tegh Bahadur became the ninth Guru in 1664. He challenged Aurangzeb's law against non-Muslim temples and schools and was beheaded for refusing to convert in 1675. His son Gobind Singh proclaimed the Sikh nation in 1699 and declared war against the Mughals. The Sikhs were defeated in 1704; Gobind Singh escaped, but he was assassinated in 1708. The Mughal empire continued to decline because of power struggles and factions. Bahadur Shah won the throne in a civil war but died in 1712. Banda Bahadur led a Sikh revolt against the Mughals until he was killed in 1716. Two Sayyid brothers helped Farrukh Siyar become emperor; their intrigues led to another civil war that made Muhammad Shah emperor (r. 1719-48) but brought their own downfall in 1720. Nizam-ul Mulk ruled the Deccan and co-existed with rival Marathas led by Peshwa Baji Rao I (1720-40). Jai Singh governed Malwa for the Mughals and paid off the Marathas. Persia's Nadir Shah invaded and sacked Delhi in 1739 but then left, enabling 'Ali Muhammad Rohilla (r. 1721-48) with 40,000 Afghans to expand his territory. Peshwa Balaji Rao (r. 1740-61) tried to lead the various Maratha groups. The Sikhs were organized into eleven communities but suffered heavy losses in 1746 at Lahore. Ahmad Shah Abdali of Afghanistan invaded India eight times between 1747 and 1767. Mughal emperor Ahmad Shah (r. 1748-54) tried to govern from Delhi through Safdar Jang, the eunuch Javid, and Imad-ul-mulk but was imprisoned by Imad. Marathas under Balaji Rao hired mercenaries, adopted western warfare methods, allowed chiefs to attack Hindus, and made temporary alliances during this chaotic period of Afghan invasions, Sikh struggles, and Muslim efforts to retain the Mughal empire or establish their own independent states. After Mughal emperor Alamgir II was assassinated in 1759, Ahmad Shah Abdali invaded again. The Maratha army plundered Delhi the next year, but the Afghans captured Delhi and with their Mughal allies severely defeated the Marathas at Panipat in 1761. The Maratha confederation broke apart under regional leaders. The Afghan troops insisted on going home and were harassed by Sikhs, who took over the Punjab. Najib tried to govern in Delhi while the Jats and Sikhs competed for the Doab. Shah Waliullah (1703-62) was an influential Islamic theologian who translated the Qur'an into Persian.

British in India
Joseph Dupleix developed French trade in India, but he failed to take Fort St. David from the English in 1747. Salabat Jang gave the French a lease in the Deccan in 1750, but the next year Robert Clive and the English captured Arcot. French power in India faded in 1761 when they surrendered Pondicherry. Nizam 'Ali of Hyderabad became a faithful ally of the English, and Muhammad 'Ali of Madras borrowed much money from them. After Bengal nawab Siraj attacked Calcutta in 1756, Clive's forces won it back and made Mir Jafar nawab in 1757. Conflicts over taxes caused Mir Jafar to be removed and re-installed, and the English army won an important victory over Awadh's Shuja-ud-daula at Buxar in 1764. Clive returned as governor the next year and tried to arrange dual government between the nawabs and the English East India Company. While the Company was making money and paying large dividends, in 1770 Bengal suffered a devastating famine in which about ten million people died. Warren Hastings was appointed governor of Bengal in 1771 and tried to employ more Indians in the revenue administration. In 1774 he became governor-general but was often opposed by his council. Controversial scandals later led to Hastings' impeachment trial in England, but he was acquitted. In southern India the British made a treaty with Mysore's Haidar 'Ali but did not keep their agreement to defend him when he was attacked by the Marathas. Later Haidar made an alliance with the Deccan's Nizam 'Ali and the Marathas, defeating the English advance on Puna. In 1781 British forces defeated Haidar and Maratha Mahadji Sindia, and by 1784 treaties had restored conquered territories and released prisoners. The Maratha army invaded Mysore in 1786, but Haidar's son Tipu made a treaty and paid six million rupees. After Tipu attacked Travancore, the English and their allies went to war with Mysore, which surrendered in 1792 and lost half its territory, paying 33 million rupees. Cornwallis was governor-general 1786-93 and implemented various reforms in the Company, but he opposed hiring Indians except in low positions. Cornwallis fixed rents with the permanent settlement in 1793. Some zamindars (landlords) had to sell because they were set too high, and absentee landlords had little connection with the peasants. Cornwallis instituted a British judicial system and abolished legal fees. John Shore governed for five years with restraint using diplomacy. Governor-General Richard Wellesley (1798-1805) was an imperialist and organized a vindictive attack on Tipu's Mysore in 1799. Wellesley forced Mysore, Tanjore, Surat, and Karnatak to accept subsidies in exchange for British protection and control. The Awadh (Oudh) nawab had to cede half his territory when accepting the subsidiary alliance. Wellesley censored newspapers, encouraged missionaries and private trading, and improved roads. Maratha conflicts caused a series of civil wars from 1797 until Wellesley began intervening with British forces in 1803. The British soon conquered Agra, Delhi, Gujarat, and Orissa. Wellesley's wars nearly doubled the Company debt to 31.5 million pounds, and he was replaced for acting illegally. Acting Governor-General Barlow reduced the forces and disbanded recruited Marathas, cutting the annual deficit. In 1806 English religious insensitivity provoked a mutiny at Madras. Governor-General Minto (1807-13) used diplomacy to head off conflicts and restore the finances of the Company. Moira earl Lord Hastings became governor-general in 1813 and served for nine years. The 1813 Charter Act ended the Company's monopoly on Indian trade and declared Crown sovereignty. After Wellington's victory in the European war against Napoleon in 1815, the British forces in India went after the Pathan and Pindari brigands, forcing many Rajput states and others to accept defensive alliances. Maratha Peshwa Baji Rao II signed a treaty in June 1817, but he revolted in November. The Marathas suffered their final defeats and lost almost all their territory to the British in 1818. Their being overcome by the British was caused by many factors such as overextended conquests, Maratha conflicts, administrative anarchy, plundering armies, British money and superior military

equipment and discipline, lack of Maratha nationalism, precarious agriculture, and lack of industry, trade, social equality, and education. In the north battles continued between Sikhs, Jats, Marathas, Rohillas, and Muslim supporters of Emperor Shah 'Alam II. In 1774 Awadh's Shuja-ud-daula and the English annexed most of Rohilkhand. Afghanistan's Timur Shah invaded India five times. After Mughal commander Najaf Khan died in 1782, Maratha chief Mahadji Sindia took power in Delhi. The Sikhs frequently raided the region. Ghulam Qadir's Rohillas committed atrocities and blinded Shah 'Alam, but Sindia put Ghulam to death. By 1792 Sindia had Maratha paramountcy over the Rajputs and Jats, but he died two years later. Sikhs suffered civil war, and Shah Zaman's Afghans invaded until they went home in 1799. Young Ranjit Singh took over Lahore, won many victories, avoided fighting the British, and formed a Sikh confederacy. In 1809 he made a treaty with the British, agreeing on the Sutlej River as their boundary. Shah Shuja ruled Afghanistan 1803-09 but had to flee and take refuge with Ranjit Singh and then the British. Ranjit Singh's Sikh armies failed to conquer Kashmir but finally captured Multan in 1818. Dzungar Mongols invaded Tibet in 1717, but Chinese emperor Kangxi sent forces that drove the Dzungars out of Tibet in 1720. Councilor Pholhanas resigned but returned with troops from Tsang to defeat and kill the leaders of the anti-Chinese faction at Lhasa. Pholhanas was a popular leader and was proclaimed king of Tibet in 1740. Narbhupal Shah (r. 1716-42) governed the Gurkhas in western Nepal. His son Prithvi Narayan Shah conquered Kathmandu in 1768 and united Nepal. Tibet discouraged foreigners and came into conflict with Nepal in 1788; four years later a Manchu army helped the Tibetans defeat the Gurkhas and invade Nepal. In 1814 the British went to war with the Gurkhas over Tarai, but the 1817 treaty made Nepal a British ally. The Dutch East India Company continued to exploit Sri Lanka with monopolies that fixed prices. Discontent of cinnamon peelers erupted in a major revolt in 1757, and Kandyans joined them until the Dutch captured the capital in 1765. Buddhists had visited Burma and Thailand to improve their education, but only the top caste could be ordained monks. The 1795 French invasion of Holland caused the Dutch to turn Sri Lanka over to the English, and they made it their colony of Ceylon in 1802, taking over the monopolies of the pearl fisheries, cinnamon, salt, and tobacco. The British fought the Kandyans for two years until General Maitland took a defensive posture in 1805. The English introduced jury trials and land grants to Europeans. Their troops finally took Kandy in 1815 and gained sovereignty in a treaty, but they had to agree to protect the Buddhist religion. Governor Brownrigg revived the government-imposed labor requirement. Thomas Munro's revenue reforms in Madras were eventually adopted throughout British India. Ranjit Singh extended his Sikh confederation and stimulated a war of succession in Afghanistan. James Buckingham published the Calcutta Journal but was deported by acting Governor-General John Adam. In Calcutta colleges were founded for Christians and Hindus along with a madrasa for Muslims. When Burma extended its realm into Assam and Arakan, they came into conflict with the British. In 1824 a British force occupied Rangoon. Many lives were lost by diseases, and Burma signed a treaty in January 1826, ceding territory to the British. The English also used force to control Bharatpur. William Bentinck was governor-general 1828-35 and turned the deficit caused by the Burma war into a surplus. The British annexed Assam, Cachar, and other territories. Bentinck made special efforts to stop widow suicides (sati) and punish murdering robbers (thugs). Sayyid Ahmad of Bareilly led an Islamic revolt against Yar Muhammad in 1829 and proclaimed himself caliph; but his taxes and intolerance were unpopular, and he was killed at Balakot in 1831. Many planters settled in India to exploit cheap labor. Bentinck and Macaulay promoted schools that used English along with native languages. Shah Shuja's forces tried to regain his throne in

Afghanistan by besieging Qandahar in 1834, but he was defeated and returned to his exile at Ludhiana. The last Maratha raja, Pratap Singh, was removed from Satara by the British in 1839. After Russian envoy Simonitch persuaded Persia's Muhammad Shah to besiege Herat in 1837, the British navy took an island in the Persian Gulf to pressure the Persians to withdraw. The Persians retreated in September 1838, but Governor-General Auckland went forward with the planned invasion of Afghanistan by supporting Shah Shuja's force with armies from Bengal and Bombay. Ranjit Singh made them go around his territory through Sind, which was forced to contribute 2,500,000 rupees to Shuja and Ranjit Singh. Macnaghten used gold to bribe local Afghans, and Shuja was enthroned at Qandahar in 1839. Dost Muhammad was defeated and fled. Shuja was not popular at Kabul, and the British occupation was resented. The British defeated Dost Muhammad again, and he surrendered. Macnaghten was captured and killed, and the remaining Bengal army agreed to withdraw, leaving behind most of their guns and muskets. In January 1842 the British army was ambushed and slaughtered going through the Khurd Kabul Pass. Ellenborough replaced Auckland and let Generals Pollock and Nott go back for revenge at Kabul to restore British honor before evacuating Afghanistan. In 1843 Dost Muhammad returned to rule Afghanistan. Ellenborough sent the aggressive Charles Napier to annex and govern Sind, where he established a modern police force. The British army also took over Gwalior. After Ranjit Singh died in 1839, various of his relatives intrigued and killed each other over the Sikh power amid army revolts. Hindu raja Gulab Singh of Jammu gained Kashmir. Lal Singh and Tej Singh took control of the Sikhs, but both betrayed them secretly in the war against the British. Governor-General Hardinge imposed a treaty on the Punjab in 1846, reducing the Sikh army. Henry Lawrence became resident at Lahore and backed Tej Singh. John Lawrence replaced his brother, worked to improve the Punjab, and suppressed the raids and rebellion of unemployed Sikh soldiers. The revolt spread, and Governor-General Dalhousie (1848-56) ordered the Punjab occupied. The British forces defeated the rebelling Sikh army, which surrendered in 1849. Dalhousie annexed the Punjab and appointed the Lawrence brothers to a ruling board. They supervised disarmament, reformed the military, established police, and promoted agriculture, roads, bridges, canals, and schools. Dalhousie (1848-56) used the doctrine of lapse when a male heir was lacking and other reasons to annex various states. He sent military forces to Burma in 1852 and annexed a new province the next year. The prosperous state of Awadh was accused of government corruption and annexed in 1856, taking land away from the Talukdars and raising rents on cultivators. Dalhousie also sponsored western education, public works, railroads, telegraph lines, a postal system, forest conservation, tea plantations, and prison reform. As the English Company's rule in India neared a century in 1857, many Indians were discontent with their lack of opportunity, economic exploitation, and fear of Christian domination. In 1856 Governor-General C. J. Canning required all new recruits to serve abroad regardless of caste rules. A rumor that cow and pig grease was on the cartridges for the new Enfield rifles offended both Hindu and Muslim sepoys, who began to mutiny by refusing to use them, freeing prisoners, killing their officers, and plundering Europeans. In May 1857 the 7th Awadh regiment at Mirat set this pattern and spread it to Delhi, where mutineers took over the government. The mutiny spread throughout Awadh as Talukdars and chiefs turned it into a revolt. Henry Lawrence kept some sepoys loyal at Lucknow, which was besieged for nine months. Rohilkhand had no British regiments and revolted. In Bengal, the Punjab, the Deccan, and the south the mutinies were sporadic and suppressed. Canning learned of the mutiny soon by telegraph and summoned British armies from Madras and Bombay. Punjab forces and Gurkhas helped the large British army suppress the rebellion in Awadh, Gwalior, and Rohilkhand. The rebels fled north into Nepal, which extradited

only those believed to have killed Europeans. The rule of India by the East India Company was ended in August 1858, and in November Queen Victoria proclaimed equal rights and religious protection for Indians. British power was reimposed by means of its superior military force over rebels who had tried to use chaotic violence in a desperate revolt. After the mutiny, the proportion of British soldiers in the Bengal army was increased. Because of the huge war debt, Viceroy Canning imposed an income tax. The Police Act of 1861 replaced some military with civil power. Native principalities were recognized but under British control. Talukdars and others regained their land rights. British settlers came to India to make money and tended to be more racist. Indians were given some opportunities, but discrimination was still prevalent. John Lawrence was viceroy 1864-69 and borrowed to finance irrigation, transportation, and sanitation. He refrained from intervening in Afghanistan, though a British force invaded Bhutan in 1865. Viceroy Mayo increased the income tax and salt tax while decentralizing government. He was assassinated in 1872. Viceroy Northbrook reduced taxes and made sure a famine was prevented. By 1875 the population of India was about to reach one quarter of a billion. Rammohun Roy studied Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity. He criticized Hindu idolatry and recommended the ethics of Jesus along with the Hindu theism of the Upanishads. He led the successful campaign to abolish widow burning (sati) and promoted social reforms through Bengali and Persian weeklies and in colleges. He helped to found what became Brahmo Samaj based on the worship of one God and social reforms to help humanity. He was the first prominent Hindu to visit England in 1831, and he influenced their Indian policies. Devendranath Tagore revived Brahmo Samaj, and Keshab Sen led efforts for women's rights and universal religion. Sayyid Ahmad Khan protected Bijnor for the British during the mutiny, and he analyzed its causes. He encouraged Muslims to learn English and get western education. Tibet was ostensibly under Dalai Lamas, but they were often so young that usually regents ruled. The three largest Buddhist monasteries were represented on the Council (Kashag) and later in the Assembly. After Kashmir invaded, Tibet made a treaty in 1842, and a war with the Gurkhas ended in the 1856 treaty. Nepal suffered under intrigues involving the Pandes faction until the capable Jung Bahadur was appointed prime minister in 1846. He visited England in 1850 and supported the British in quelling the mutiny in 1858. The British Colony of Ceylon took over the Company's monopoly on cinnamon in 1822, and its monopoly on salt was lucrative. Colebrooke investigated and recommended extensive reforms in administration, revenues, expenditures, and the compulsory labor system, most of which were implemented in 1833 along with Cameron's judicial reforms. The Government ended grants and started selling land by auction to planters. Railroads helped coffee dominate the economy of Ceylon by the 1870s. The number of schools greatly increased. The Government stopped protecting Buddhism, but two societies founded in 1862 fostered a purified Buddhism.

Southeast Asia and Pacific Islands

The indigenous cultures of Southeast Asia were influenced by both China and India. Burma adopted Theravada Buddhism and dominated the Mons, who occasionally rebelled. Burmans also attacked their neighbors; King Hsinhpyushin destroyed Ayudhya in 1767, and under Bodawhpaya (r. 17821819) they took over Arakan in 1785. Burma lost parts of its empire to the British by wars in 1825 and 1852. Burma's King Mindon (r. 1853-78) made peace and ruled wisely as he revived Buddhism.

Sukhothai chief Ramkhamhaeng (r. 1283-1317) established the written Thai language. Ramadhipati founded Ayudhya in 1350 and was the first king of Siam with Hindu laws. Boromaraja I (r. 137088) took over Sukhothai, and Boromaraja II (r. 1424-48) conquered the Khmers at Angkor. Siam's Trailok (r. 1448-88) enforced strict laws and became a monk in 1465. Burma invaded Siam in 1564 and dominated it until 1586. Siam's King Narai (r. 1657-88) tolerated European missionaries and merchants until 1687. Boromokot (r. 1733-58) promoted Buddhism. After Ayudhya was destroyed in 1767, Taksin organized Siamese forces and defeated the Burmans in 1775. His general founded a new dynasty in Siam as Rama I. Rama III (r. 1824-51) made a commercial treaty with the English, and Rama IV (r. 1851-68) opened up trade to all Europeans. He and his son Rama V began modernizing Siam. Cambodia struggled against Chinese imperialism from the third century CE. Jayavarman II (r. 80250) began the Angkor era as the Khmer god-king. Buddhism spread into Cambodia during the 13th century. Jayavarman VIII (r. 1243-95) reinstituted the Hindu caste system, but Theravada Buddhism won royal favor under Indravarman III (r. 1295-1308). Siam's army often invaded Cambodia, which became a vassal state in 1603. The Vietnamese began intervening in 1698. Cambodia suffered between these neighboring powers until the French took over portions of Vietnam and Cambodia, recognizing Siam's control over western Cambodia in the treaty of 1867. Souligna-Vongsa ruled a united Laos 1637-94, but a civil war caused it to be divided into Vientiane, Luang Prabang, and Champassak by 1713. Vientiane's king Chao-Anou went to war against Siam, which devastated Vientiane in 1828. Vietnam was part of the Chinese empire for more than a millennium. Buddhism spread in Vietnam, which became independent of China in 939 CE. The Vietnamese fought off the Mongol invasions, but in the 15th century they were dominated once again by Chinese Confucian culture. King Le Thanh Tong (r. 1460-98) used the Chinese examination system and bureaucracy, adopting Mahayana Buddhism. In 1570 Vietnam was divided between the Trinh and the Nguyen families. They fought for half a century after 1620 but then had peace for a century. In 1773 three Nguyen Van brothers from Tay-son led a socialist revolt that overcame the Trinh family in the north but in 1801 was defeated by Nguyen Anh, who reunited Vietnam as Emperor Gia Long. His son Minh Mang (r. 1819-41) applied Confucianism, persecuted Christians, and rejected European trade. Tu Duc (r. 1847-83) was also a pious Confucian, but he was forced to cede provinces to France in 1862 and 1874. Paramesvara developed the port of Melaka, allied with China, and converted to Islam in 1414. The Portuguese conquered Melaka in 1511. Malayans suffered several attacks by Acheh from 1537 until they defeated the Achinese navy in 1629. The Dutch took over Melaka in 1641 and made it a military base. Johor prospered, but its last king was assassinated in 1699. In the second half of the 18th century, the British gained most of the Malayan commerce because their superior ships controlled trade from India and sold armaments. Raffles made Singapore a British port in 1819. In 1824 a treaty recognized English control over Malaya and the Dutch over most of the islands. In the 19th century many Chinese immigrated into Malaya. In 1874 the British resolved Malayan conflicts in the Pangkor Treaty. The Srivijaya kingdom practiced Buddhism on the island of Sumatra during the middle ages. Javanese culture in Bali developed Hindu religion, shadow theater, gamelan music, and batik textiles. Javanese king Kertanagara (r. 1268-92) conquered the Malayu in southern Sumatra and Bali. Kertarajasa (r. 1293-1309) founded the new kingdom of Majapahit in Java, and Majapahit king Hayam Wuruk (r. 1350-89) annexed the kingdom of Srivijaya. From the 13th century Muslim merchants brought Islamic culture, and Ali Mughajat Shah founded the sultanate of Acheh on northern Sumatra about 1515. In the 16th century the Portuguese tried to use naval force to control

commerce in the region, but the Dutch company began competing with them in the 17th century with Batavia as their capital. The Dutch also had to borrow to pay for military expenses. Three Javanese wars of succession ended in 1757, and the Dutch gained sovereignty over Java. European conflicts brought the French-appointed Daendels and then the English Raffles to govern Java until 1816. The Dutch regained control, but 200,000 died in the failed Javanese rebellion in 1825-30. In the next half century the Dutch exploited export crops to transfer 832 million guilders out of Java despite famines in the 1840s. Gradually in the 1860s most of the compulsory labor programs were ended, but sugar and coffee systems were prolonged. On Sumatra the Dutch took control of Acheh in 1874. On the first voyage around the world Magellan was killed in 1521, and Legazpi began settlements on the Philippine islands in 1565. Despite Spanish invasions the southern islands remained Muslim, but others converted to Christianity. From 1593 to 1815 Spain required all commerce from the Philippines to go through Acapulco, Mexico. Spaniards and the Dutch battled over trade until they made a treaty in 1648. Spaniards claimed the Mariana Islands in 1669 and conquered the Chamorros. In the Philippines corrupt alcalde-mayors were allowed to engage in trade and business from 1751 until 1844. The British navy sacked Manila in 1762 and stayed for two years while native Filipinos rebelled against unpopular Spanish overlords. The Philippines fought an expensive war against Muslim raiders between 1778 and 1793. The Philippines prohibited foreigners from retail business in 1828. In the 1840s Filipinos began to struggle for racial equality. By 1863 the Philippines had free public education. In 1869 a new Spanish constitution brought to the Philippines universal suffrage and a free press. In 1872 striking workers were joined by some mutinying soldiers; thirteen were executed while others were imprisoned or fled. The English began a penal colony at Sydney in 1788. Aborigines had been living in Australia for thousands of years, gathering food, but new diseases wiped out most of them. English convicts were paid with rum and became farmers along with settlers. Irish convicts rebelled and were punished in 1804. Captain Bligh tried to ban alcohol and was deposed in 1808. Macquarie governed New South Wales from 1810 to 1822. Bigge made a study and advised moving the convicts out of the towns, a policy implemented by Governor Darling (1825-31). The British explored and claimed all of Australia. A shortage of women increased homosexuality and prostitution. Maconochie experimented with humane treatment of prisoners on Norfolk Island. Transportation of convicts to New South Wales ended in 1840 and to Tasmania in 1853. Squatters developed sheep farming despite a recession in the 1840s. After 1850 deviant women were put in a lunatic asylum instead of prison. The discovery of gold in 1851 led to much immigration. Diggers protested the license fees and agitated for manhood suffrage. In 1855 striking stonemasons in Melbourne began demanding an eight-hour day, which Victoria adopted in 1874. Chinese immigrants worked hard but were persecuted. Australia gained male suffrage in 1858. Land was made easier to purchase. Isolated on the land, some bush rangers turned to robbery. Factional politics caused provincial governments to change often. The province of Victoria led the trend by establishing free and compulsory public schools in 1872. About a thousand years ago the Maoris came to the islands the Dutch named New Zealand in 1642. Captain Cook visited in 1769, followed by other Europeans taking sealskins and timber, then traders and whalers. Maoris occasionally attacked and ate Europeans they killed. A few missionaries from Australia began arriving in 1814. Chief Hongi visited London in 1820 and came back with 300 muskets that enabled him to defeat other tribes in civil wars that lasted until 1832. Wesleyan and Anglican missionaries arrived. The flax trade grew but was overtaken by timber and whaling. Some Europeans found protection by marrying Maori women, and some tribes were united in 1835. E. G. Wakefield promoted the sale of land to capitalist settlers. British consul Hobson made a treaty with fifty chiefs at Waitangi in 1840 that ceded sovereignty to the English and promised Maori rights;

two years later New Zealand was a colony. George Grey learned Maori and governed liberally, promoting education, but his 1852 constitution favored European land-owners. Maoris wanted to be ruled by a king and resented the loss of their communal land to Europeans, who by 1858 outnumbered them. A Maori uprising began in 1860 and lasted until 1872. Superior British weapons enabled them to confiscate much rebel land. A gold rush started in 1860 that greatly increased settlement on the South Island. In the early 1870s New Zealand borrowed money to build railways, roads, bridges, and telegraphs. Polynesians many centuries ago made voyages to various islands. The British first contacted the sexually uninhibited Tahitians in 1767, and Captain Cook visited three times. In 1789 the crew of the Bounty mutinied and returned to Tahiti; some helped Pomare I conquer the island, and others fled to Pitcairn Island. Missionaries had little success until Pomare II converted in 1812. The Christian Tahitians won a civil war and in 1819 imposed puritanical laws. The French used force to protect Catholics in 1838 and took over Tahiti five years later. Wesleyan missionaries came to Fiji in 1835. Fijians made efforts to govern themselves but ceded sovereignty to the British in 1874. The Tonga chief accepted the Methodist religion in 1831 and ruled as King George Tupou until 1893. Missionaries started coming to the Samoan Islands in 1828 and eventually converted most of the natives. The British and Americans were influential, and in 1860 Samoans adopted the Vaimauga code of laws. Conflict over the kingship was mediated by the American and British consuls in 1873. Captain Cook was killed on Maui in 1779. Kamehameha through force became the chief of the Hawaiian Islands in 1795 and appointed some haole (white) sailors as governors. After he died in 1819, his favorite wife Kaahumanu persuaded his son Kamehameha II to abandon the kapu (taboo) traditions that discriminated against women. Missionaries began their work in 1820. Kamehameha II died of measles in London in 1824. Kaahumanu wanted to be a Christian and urged laws against vices. By the 1830s Hawaii had more than a thousand schools teaching 50,000 people to read. Kamehameha III proclaimed religious toleration and human rights in 1839, and the next year the Government had a constitution and public schools. Hawaii's independence was recognized by Britain, France, and the United States. Land titles of the King, chiefs, and commoners were settled, giving the Government land to sell at low prices. Hawaii developed a booming sugar industry and exported rice and coffee. In 1875 they made a reciprocal treaty on duty-free trade with the United States.

Evaluating India and Southeast Asia

Civilization in ancient India must have had a worthy beginning in the Harappan culture of the Indus valley to be able to sustain such spiritual values after the Aryan invasion of the subcontinent established a racist culture based on an increasingly rigid caste system. Thanks to Hindu sages, Mahavira, and the Buddha, ancient India offered outstanding ethical and spiritual teachings. Although worldly politicians still exploited people and caused suffering in local wars, the emphasis on the virtue, justice, and duty they called dharma had a profound affect on their religions, relationships, and literature. In methods and teachings that enhance spiritual transcendence in realization of the soul, India is yet to be surpassed. Buddhism, a unique religion without a god, would spread throughout Asia in future centuries and offer spiritual teaching and methods of psychological insight that would benefit hundreds of millions of people. The development of Mahayana Buddhism in India from the first century spread its excellent ethics. This Buddhism would move east into China and north into Tibet; but after a few centuries Hinduism regained its prevalence over most of India, imposing its caste system but still enlightening with its ancient spiritual philosophy. The rich culture of India also allowed theater to flourish with its dramatic lessons for human experience. In the middle ages devotion became the

most popular expression of Hindu religion. Theravada Buddhism survived mostly on the island of Sri Lanka, and Jainism with its nonviolent ethics could still be found in India. Yet as with the rest of the world, in India kingdoms still struggled for power using violent methods. Such conflicts became worse with the conquests of the Muslims after 1000. The sultans in Delhi dominated much of northern India and imposed higher taxes on non-Muslims. The invasion by Timur and his Tatars in 1398 plundered Delhi and weakened the sultanate. Political struggles caused conflicts not only between Muslims and Hindus but among them as well. The poet Kabir and Nanak, founder of the Sikh religion, offered a mystical synthesis of Hinduism and Islam in order to help reconcile the religious division. Babur's invasion from Afghanistan founded the Mughal empire of India in 1526 and would dominate most of India for the next two centuries. The Muslims imposed their Persian culture and a feudal system with themselves above the Hindu castes. Akbar continued the Mughal expansion and decreed a policy of religious tolerance, but his personal search for a universal religion had little influence. Emperor Shah Jahan was less tolerant and wasted human and material resources in wars. Aurangzeb fought a civil war to win the throne, and his taxes and persecution of Hindus provoked growing resistance and wars that brought about the decline of the Mughal empire amid the decadent lifestyles of the aristocratic Muslims. Shivaji led the Maratha resistance, but their military methods did not offer a better alternative to Mughal domination. Thus these frequent wars devastated India. Some Hindus found consolation in a devotional form of religion. Sikhs followed the leadership of their guru and gradually grew from a cult into a religion with political power. Tibet continued its Buddhist culture and was isolated enough to survive, while Sri Lanka suffered from the economic exploitation by the Portuguese and Dutch. The embattled Mughals declined as they fought the Marathas, the Sikhs, and invasions by Persians and Afghans. In the 18th century these groups also fought each other and the British, as most of India suffered from endemic warfare. The British conquest of India was for the economic exploitation by the English East India Company, but it was accomplished by means of the powerful British military and administrative government. Operating from Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, the Company gradually extended its political domination and economic exploitation by taking control of one kingdom after another. Because the Mughals, Marathas, Rajputs, and Sikhs often fought each other, India had no national unity to withstand the British, who had eliminated their French and Dutch rivals. The Chinese helped protect Tibet from the Gurkhas. Although the English instituted some reforms and brought western culture, their making sepoys fight wars in Burma and Afghanistan and the annexations of various kingdoms, the Punjab, and Awadh on top of the impoverishment of Indians by mercantilism along with fears of religious domination erupted in a desperate mutiny and revolt in 1857. Yet the violence and criminal behavior of the rebels did not win over enough people, and the British Government took over from the Company and reimposed their domination with some reforms based on the lessons learned. Yet India was opened to private exploitation, and the European settlers had more racist attitudes after the mutiny. Efforts by Rammohun Roy and other reformers gradually developed modern education for Indians, women's rights, and eventually national identity, but by 1875 India had a long way to go to develop a successful independence movement. Southeast Asia was influenced by both China and India, and in the 13th century invading Mongols brought Islam, especially to Indonesia. These influenced their religions and culture, but the regions developed independent nations in Burma, Siam, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Malaya until the Europeans began struggling for domination in the 17th century. Buddhist Burma developed a little empire, often attacking the Mons and Siam, until they lost territory to British imperialism in the 19th century. Siam (Thailand) survived the Burman invasion of 1767, and a new dynasty of Rama kings began to modernize the country and trade with Europeans. Cambodia and Laos suffered from wars with their neighbors Siam and Vietnam which prevented the revival of their ancient Angkor

era. Vietnam became independent of China politically in 939 but was influenced by Confucian culture as well as Buddhism. An attempted socialist revolt in the late 18th century was overcome by the traditional Nguyen dynasty, which tried to be independent but had to cede territory to French imperialism. The Malay peninsula struggled with commercial competition between the Portuguese, Dutch, and the English. Sumatra, Java, and the Indonesian islands also were dominated by the commercial interests of Muslims, Portuguese, and especially the Dutch, who gained control in the 18th century and exploited it in the 19th century. The southern islands of the Philippines became Muslim and remained so after the Spaniards converted most Filipinos to Christianity. The development of public education helped Filipinos struggle against Spanish domination and for more rights. As a British penal colony, Australia was an experiment that grew out of that and developed education, labor unions, and democratic government. The British also took over New Zealand from the Maoris and tried to offer them rights under their cultural domination. The Polynesian islands lost their paradisal innocence to lusty European sailors and puritanical missionaries. Devastated by diseases, most converted to Christianity and were commercialized by western culture. By 1875 India and much of Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands were under British imperialism, while most of the rest were dominated by the Dutch, French, and Spanish. Even the United States was beginning to influence the Hawaiian islands. People were learning from each other, but the unethical use of force was still an unresolved problem, especially in international politics.

Bibliography
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India
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Four Classical Asian Plays ed. Vera R. Irwin. Baltimore, 1972. Further Dialogues of the Buddha (Majjhima Nikaya), Volume 2 tr. Lord Chalmers. London, 1927. Ganapati, S. V., Sama Veda. Delhi, 1982. Geiger, Wilhelm, Culture of Ceylon in Medieval Times. Wiesbaden, 1960. Genius of the Oriental Theater, The ed. G. L. Anderson. New York, 1966. Ghoshal, U. N., A History of Indian Political Ideas. London, 1966. Goetz, Hermann, The Art of India. New York, 1964. Gommans, Jos, Mughal Warfare: Indian Frontiers and High Road to Empire 1500-1700. London, 2002. Govinda, Lama Anagarika, Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism. New York, 1969. Great Sanskrit Plays tr. P. Lal. New York, 1964. Great Thinkers of the Eastern World ed. Ian P. McGreal. New York, 1995. Grewal, J. S., The Sikhs of the Punjab. Cambridge, 1990. Grihya-Sutras, The tr. Hermann Oldenberg, 2 volumes. Delhi, 1886. Gupta, Hari Ram, History of the Sikhs, Volumes 1-5. New Delhi, 1984, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1991. Habib, Mohammad and Afsar Umar Salim Khan, The Political Theory of the Delhi Sultanate (Including a translation of Ziauddin Barani's Fatawa-i Jahandari). Allahabad, no date. Hemacandra, Acarya Sri, Mahaviracaritra, Volume 6 of Trisastisalakapurusacaritra or The Lives of Sixty-three Illustrious Persons tr. Helen M. Johnson. Bardoa, 1962. Hindu Myths tr. Wendy O'Flaherty. New York, 1975. History of Ceylon, Volume 3 ed. K. M. de Silva. Colombo, 1973. History of India as Told by Its Own Historians, The Muhammadan Period, Volumes 2-5 ed. H. M. Elliot and John Dowson. Delhi, 1867-1877. Humphreys, Christmas, Buddhism. Middlesex, 1951. Hymns of the Rig Veda tr. Ralph T. H. Griffith, 2 volumes. New Delhi, 1987. Indian Metaphysics and Epistemology ed. Karl H. Potter. Princeton, 1977. Institutes of Vishnu, The tr. Julius Jolly. Delhi, 1880. Irvine, William, Later Mughals ed. Jadunath Sarkar, 2 volumes. New Delhi, 1971. Hibbert, Christopher, The Great Mutiny: India 1857. New York, 1978 Husain, Mahdi, Tughluq Dynasty. Calcutta, 1963. Jackson, Peter, The Delhi Sultanate. Cambridge, 1999. Jain, Kailash Chand, Lord Mahavira and His Times. Delhi, 1974. Jaina Sutras tr. Hermann Jacobi, 2 volumes. New York, 1884, 1895. James, Lawrence, Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India. New York, 1998. Jataka, The tr. Robert Chalmers, 6 Volumes. London, 1895, 1897, 1905. Jataka Tales tr. H. T. Francis and E. J. Thomas. Bombay, 1956. Junankar, N. S., Gautama: the Nyaya Philosophy. Delhi, 1978. Kautilya, Arthasastra tr. R. Shamasastry. Mysore, 1915. Keay, John, The Honourable Company: A History of the English East India Company. New York, 1991. Keay, John, India: A History. New York, 2000. Keith, Arthur Berriedale, The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads, 2 volumes. Delhi, 1925. Khilnani, N. M., British Power in the Punjab 1839-1858. New York, 1972. Knappert, Jan, Indian Mythology. London, 1991. Kopf, David, The Brahmo Samaj and the Shaping of the Modern Indian Mind. Princeton, 1979. Kotnala, M. C., Raja Ram Mohun Roy and Indian Awakening. New Delhi, 1975. Krishnamurti, R., Akbar: The Religious Aspect. Baroda, 1961. Kundakundacharya, Svami Sri, The Building of the Cosmos or Panchastikayasara (The Five Cosmic Constituents) tr. A. Chakravartinayanar. Arrah, 1920. Lacy, Creighton, The Conscience of India. New York, 1965.

Lal, Muni, Aurangzeb. New Delhi, 1988. Lal, Muni, Humayun. New Delhi, 1978. Lamb, Harold, Babur the Tiger: First of the Great Moguls. New York, 1961. Lamb, Harold, Tamerlane: The Earth Shaker. New York, 1928. Larson, Gerald James, Classical Samkhya. Delhi, 1969. Latif, Syad Muhammad, History of the Punjab. New Delhi, 1889. Laws of Manu, The tr. Georg Buhler. New York, 1886. Life of Tukaram tr. Justin E. Abbott from Mahipati's Bhaktalilamrita chapters 25-40. Delhi, 1930. Macauliffe, Max Arthur, The Sikh Religion: Its Gurus, Sacred Writings and Authors, Volumes 2-3. Oxford, 1909. Mahabharata, The: Book 1, The Book of the Beginnings. tr. J. A. B. van Buitenen. Chicago, 1973. Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, The tr. Pratap Chandra Roy, 12 volumes. Calcutta, no date. Mahabharata of Vyasa, The tr. P. Lal. New Delhi, 1980. Mahanarayanopanishad tr. Swami Vimalananda. Madras, 1979. Majumdar, A. K., Caitanya: His Life and Doctrine. Bombay, 1969. Majumdar, R. C. et al, An Advanced History of India. London, 1960. Malik, Hafeez, Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan and Muslim Modernization in India and Pakistan. New York, 1980. Malik, Idram Ali, The History of the Punjab 1799-1947. Delhi, 1970. Maratha Supremacy, The ed. R. C. Majumdar. Bombay, 1977. McLeod, W. H., Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion. Delhi, 1976. Medieval Indian Literature, Volume One: Surveys and Selections ed. K. Ayyappa Paniker. New Delhi, 1997. Mill, James and Horace Hayman Wilson, The History of British India, 9 volumes. London, 1848. Mimamsa Sutras of Jaimini, The tr. Mohan Lal Sandal. Allahabad, 1974. Minor Upanishads tr. Swami Madhavananda. Calcutta, 1988. Mitchell, Robert Allen, The Buddha. New York, 1989. Mizuno, Kogen, The Beginnings of Buddhism tr. Richard L. Gage. Tokyo, 1980. Modern Evaluation of the Mahabharata ed. Satya Pal Narang. Delhi, 1995. Moon, Penderel, The British Conquest and Dominion of India. London, 1989. Mughal Empire, The ed. R. C. Majumdar. Bombay, 1974. Mughal State 1526-1750, The ed. Muzaffar Alam and Sanjay Subrahmanyam. Delhi, 1998. Muhammad, Shan, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan: A Political Biography. Meerut, 1969. Mller, Friedrich Max, The Six Systems of Indian Philosophy. New Delhi, 1899. Nag, Jamuna, Raja Rammohun Roy. New Delhi, 1972. Norris, J. A., The First Afghan War 1838-1842. Cambridge, 1967. Nyaya-Sutras of Gautama, The tr. Ganganatha Jha, Vol. 3 and 4. Delhi, 1919. O'Flaherty, Wendy Doniger, The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology. Berkeley, 1976. O'Flaherty, Wendy, Tales of Sex and Violence. Chicago, 1985. Oxford History of India, The ed. Percival Spear. Oxford, 1958. Panchatantra, The tr. Arthur W. Ryder. Chicago, 1956. Panikkar, Raimundo, The Vedic Experience: Mantramanjari. London, 1977. Parmu, R. K., A History of Muslim Rule in Kashmir 1320-1819. Delhi, 1969. Patanjali, The Yoga Aphorisms tr. Prabhavananda. Hollywood, 1953. Pearson, M. N., The Portuguese in India. Cambridge, 1987. Poems From the Sanskrit tr. John Brough. Middlesex, 1968. Points of Controversy (Katha-Vatthu) tr. S. Z. Aung and Mrs. Rhys Davids. London, 1969. Political Profile of Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan: A Documentary Record ed. Hafeez Malik. Delhi, 1993. Prakash, Om, European Commercial Enterprise in Pre-colonial India. Cambridge, 1998. Principal Upanishads, The tr. S. Radhakrishnan. London, 1953.

Questions of King Milinda, The tr. T. W. Rhys Davids, 2 volumes. New York, 1890 and 1894. Radhakrishnan, S., Indian Philosophy, Volume 2. London, 1931. Raja Rammohun Roy and the New Learning ed. B. P. Barua. Hyderabad, 1988. Raju, P. T., Structural Depths of Indian Thought. Albany, 1985. Rajyagor, S. B., History of Gujarat. New Delhi, 1982. Ramakrishnananda, Swami, Life of Sri Ramanuja. Madras, 1959. Rammohan Ray, The Essential Writings of Raja ed. Bruce Carlisle Robertson. Delhi, 1999. Rammohun Roy: A Bi-Centenary Tribute ed. Niharranjan Ray. New Delhi, 1974. Rammohun Roy and the Process of Modernization in India ed. V. C. Joshi. Delhi, 1975. Ranade, R. D., Mysticism in Maharashtra. Delhi, 1933. Regmi, D. R., Medieval Nepal Part 1. Calcutta, 1965. Richards, John F., The Mughal Empire. Cambridge,1993. Richardson, Hugh E., Tibet and Its History. Boston, 1984. Rig Veda, The tr. Wendy O'Flaherty. New York, 1981. Roy, Atul Chandra, History of Bengal: Mughal Period (1526-1765 A.D.). Calcutta, 1968. Sacred Laws of the Aryas tr. George Buhler, 2 volumes. Delhi, 1879 and 1882. Samkhya: A Dualist Tradition in Indian Philosophy ed. G. J. Larson and Bhattacharya. Princeton, 1987. Samnyasa Upanishads tr. A. A. Ramanathan. Adyar, 1978. Samsookha, Puranchand, Lord Mahavira. Calcutta, 1957. Sanwal, B. D., Nepal and the East India Company. New York, 1965. Sarkar, Jadunath, Fall of the Mughal Empire, 4 volumes. Calcutta, 1964, 1950, 1952. Sarkar, Jadunath, History of Aurangzib, Volumes 1-2. Bombay, 1912. Sarkar, Jadunath, A Short History of Aurangzib 1618-1707. Calcutta, 1962. Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta, A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar. Oxford, 1966. Sayyambhava, Arya, Dasa Vaikalika Sutra tr. Kastur Chand Lalwani. Delhi, 1973. Schulberg, Lucille, Historic India. New York, 1968. Schweitzer, Albert, Indian Thought and its Development tr. Mrs. Charles E. B. Russell. Boston, 1936. Sekkizhaar, Periya Puranam: A Tamil Classic on the Great Saiva Saints of South India ed. G. Vanmikanathan. Madras, 1985. Selections from Brahmanas & Upanishads tr. R. C. Dwivedi. Delhi, 1965. Sen, Keshub Chunder, The Book of Pilgrimages. Calcutta, 1940. Sen, Prosanto Kumar, Biography of a New Faith, Volume 1. Calcutta, 1950. Sethi, V. K., Kabir: The Weaver of God's Name. Punjab, 1984. Shakabpa, Tsepon W. D., Tibet: A Political History. New Haven, 1967. Sharma, L. P., The Mughul Empire. New Delhi, 1988. Sharma, S. R., Mughal Empire in India. Bombay, 1940. Shendge, Malati J., The Civilized Demons: The Harappans in Rigveda. New Delhi, 1977. Singh, Khushwant, A History of the Sikhs, Volume 2: 1839-1964. Princeton, 1966. Singh, Kirpal, Jap Ji: The Message of Guru Nanak. Delhi, 1964. Singh, Trilochan, Guru Tegh Bahadur: Prophet and Martyr. Delhi, 1967. Slametmuljana, B., A Story of Majapahit. Singaore, 1976. Smith, Vincent A., J. B. Harrison, and Percival Spear, The Oxford History of India. Oxford, 1958. Song Celestial Bhagavad-Gita, The tr. Edwin Arnold. London, 1970. Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy, A ed. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Charles E. Moore. Princeton, 1957. Sources of Indian Tradition ed. Wm. Theodore de Bary, 2 volumes. New York, 1958. Speaking of Shiva tr. A. K. Ramanujan. Middlesex, 1973. Stein, Burton, Vijayanagara. Cambridge, 1989.

Stein, R. A., Tibetan Civilization tr. J. E. S. Driver. Stanford, 1972. Stephens, H. Morse, Albuquerque. Oxford, 1897. Struggle for Empire, The ed. R. C. Majumdar. Bombay, 1957. Subrahmaniam, N. S., Encyclopaedia of the Upanishads. London, 1986. Subramaniam, Kamala, Mahabharata. Bombay, 1971. Tarn, W. W., The Greeks in Bactria and India. Chicago, 1985. Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha, The ed. E. A. Burtt. New York, 1955. Thapar, Romila, Ancient Indian Social History. New Delhi, 1978. Thapar, Romila, A History of India, Vol. 1. Baltimore, 1966. Thirteen Principal Upanishads, The tr. Robert Ernest Hume. London, 1931. Thirty Minor Upanishads tr. K. Narayanasvami Aiyar. Madras, 1914. Thomas, Edward J., The Life of Buddha. London, 1949. Three Sanskrit Plays tr. Michael Coulson. Middlesex, 1981. Tiruvalluvar, The Kural tr. P. S. Sundaram. London, 1990. Tod, James, Annals and Antiquities of Rajast'han, 2 volumes. London, 1914. Tsong Khapa, Life and Teachings of ed. Robert A. F. Thurman. New Delhi, 1982. Tukaram, Says Tuka: Selected Poetry of Tukaram tr. Dilip Chitre. New Delhi, 1991. Tulasi Das, Ramacaritamanasa The Holy Lake of the Acts of Rama tr. W. Douglas P. Hill. Bombay, 1952. Upanishads, The tr. Sri Aurobindo. Pondicherry, 1972. Upanishads, The tr. Juan Mascaro. Baltimore, 1965. Vaisesika Sutras of Kanada tr. Nandalal Sinha. Allahabad, 1974. Valmiki, The Ramayana tr. Hari Prasad Shastri, 3 volumes. London, 1962. Vatsyayana, The Kama Sutra tr. Richard Burton. New York, 1966. Vaudeville, Charlotte, A Weaver Named Kabir. Delhi, 1993. Vedic Age, The, ed. R. C. Majumdar. Bombay, 1951. Walker, Benjamin, The Hindu World, 2 volumes. New York, 1968. Warder, A. K., Indian Kavya Literature Vol. 2: Origins and Formation of the Classical Kavya. Delhi, 1974. Wisdom of China and India, The ed. Lin Yutang. New York, 1942. Woodruff, Philip, The Men Who Ruled India, Volume 1: The Founders. London, 1953. Woodruff, Philip, The Men Who Ruled India, Volume 2: The Guardians. New York, 1954. Yajurveda, The tr. Devi Chand. New Delhi, 1988. Zimmer, Heinrich, Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization, ed. Joseph Campbell. Delhi, 1946. Zimmer, Heinrich, Philosophies of India ed. Joseph Campbell. New York, 1951.

Southeast Asia and Pacific Islands

Agoncillo, Teodoro A. and Milagros C. Guerrero, History of the Filipino People. Quezon City, 1977. Andaya, Barbara Watson and Leonard Y. Andaya, A History of Malaysia. Honolulu, 2001. Andaya, Leonard Y., The Kingdom of Johor 1641-1728. Kuala Lumpur, 1975. Barwise, J. M. and N. J. White, A Traveller's History of Southeast Asia. New York, 2002. Brookes, Jean Ingram, International Rivalry in the Pacific Islands 1800-1875. Berkeley, 1941. Butler, Samuel, Erewhon or Over the Range. Newark, 1981. Cambridge History of Southeast Asia, The, 2 volumes ed. Nicholas Tarling. Cambridge, 1992. Chakrabongse, Chula, Lords of Life: A History of the Kings of Thailand. London, 1967. Chandler, David, A History of Cambodia. Boulder, 1996. Chandler, David P. et al, In Search of Southeast Asia: A Modern History. Honolulu, 1987. Chapuis, Oscar, A History of Vietnam from Hong Bang to Tu Duc. Westport, 1995.

Clark, C. M. H., A History of Australia, Volumes 1-4. Carlton, 1963, 1968, 1973, 1978. Clark, Manning, A Short History of Australia. New York, 1963. Clarke, Marcus, His Natural Life. New York, 1976. Clarke, Marcus, Old Tales of a Young Country. Sydney, 1972. Daws, Gavan, Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands. Honolulu, 1968. Fischer, Steven Roger, A History of the Pacific Islands. London, 2002. Fornander, Abraham, Ancient History of the Hawaiian People to the Times of Kamehameha I. Honolulu, 1996. Ghosh, Manomohan, A History of Cambodia. Calcutta, 1968. Gilson, R. P., Samoa 1830 to 1900. Melbourne, 1970. Grattan, C. Hartley, The Southwest Pacific to 1900. Ann Arbor, 1963. Hall, D. G. E., A History of South-East Asia. New York, 1981. Howarth, David, Tahiti: A Paradise Lost. London, 1983. Hughes, Robert, The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding. New York, 1986. Kalakaua, David, The Legends and Myths of Hawaii. Honolulu, 1990. Kanahele, George S., Waikiki: 110 B.C. to 1900 A.D. Honolulu, 1995. Kennedy, J., A History of Malaya. London, 1970. Kingston, Beverley, The Oxford History of Australia, Volume 3: 1860-1900 Glad, Confident Morning. Melbourne, 1988. Kociumbas, Jan, The Oxford History of Australia, Volume 2: 1770-1860 Possessions. Melbourne, 1992. Koenig, William J., The Burmese Polity, 1752-1819. Ann Arbor, 1990. Kuykendall, Ralph S. and A Grove Day, Hawaii: A History. Englewood Cliffs, 1961. Lacour-Gayet, Robert, A Concise History of Australia tr. James Grieve. Middlesex, 1976. Legge, J. D., Britain in Fiji: 1858-1880. London, 1958. Lieberman, Victor, Strange Parallels Southeast Asia in Global Context, c. 800-1830. Cambridge, 2003. Macquarie Book of Events, The ed. Bryce Fisher. McMahons Point, 1983. Malaysia: Selected Historical Readings ed. John Bastin and Robin W. Winks. London, 1966. Manich, M. L., History of Anglo-Thai Relations. Bangkok, 1970. Manich, M. L., History of Laos (including the history of Lannathai, Chiengmai). Bangkok, 1967. Manich, M. L., History of Thailand & Cambodia. Bangkok, 1970. Marsden, William, The History of Sumatra. New York, 1966. Masterman, Sylvia, The Origins of International Rivalry in Samoa 1845-1884. London, 1934. Mead, Margaret, Coming of Age in Samoa. New York, 1961. Meleisea, Malama et al, Lagaga: A Short History of Western Samoa. Apia, 1987. Merry, Sally Engle, Colonizing Hawai'i: The Cultural Power of Law. Princeton, 2000. Molina, Antonio M., The Philippines Through the Centuries, Volume 1. Manila, 1960. Morga, Antonio de, History of the Philippines, 2 volumes. Cleveland, 1907. Moorhead, F. J., A History of Malaya and Her Neighbors, Volume 1. London, 1957. Moorhead, F. J., A History of Malaya, Volume 2. Kuala Lumpur, 1963. Myint-U, Thant, The Making of Modern Burma. Cambridge, 2001. Nguyen-Van-Thai and Nguyen-Van-Mung, A Short History of Vietnam. Saigon, 1958. Oliver, Douglas L., Ancient Tahitian Society, Volume 3: Rise of the Pomares. Honolulu, 1974. Oxford History of New Zealand, The ed. Geoffrey W. Rice. Auckland, 1992. Rawson, Philip, The Art of Southeast Asia. New York, 1967. Reid, Anthony, Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce 1450-1680, Volume One: The Lands below the Winds. New Haven, 1988. Reid, Anthony, Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce 1450-1680, Volume Two: Expansion and Crisis. New Haven, 1993. Ricklefs, M. C., A History of Modern Indonesia since c. 1300. Stanford, 1993.

Robson, Lloyd, A History of Tasmania, Volume 1: Van Dieman's Land from the Earliest Times to 1855. Oxford, 1983. Rogers, Robert F., Destiny's Landfall: A History of Guam. Honolulu, 1995. Sar Desai, D. R., Southeast Asia: Past & Present. Boulder, 1997. Scarr, Deryck, Fiji: A Short History. Sydney, 1984. Selected Documents in Australian History 1788-1850 ed. C. M. H. Clark. Sydney, 1950. Selected Documents in Australian History 1851-1900 ed. C. M. H. Clark. Sydney, 1955. Sinclair, Keith, A History of New Zealand. Auckland, 1988. Southeast Asia in the 9th to 14th Centuries ed. David G. Marr and A. C. Milner. Singapore, 1986. Southeast Asia: Languages and Literatures ed. Patricia Herbert and Anthony Milner. Honolulu, 1989. Spate, O. H. K., Monopolists and Freebooters: The Pacific since Magellan, Volume 2. Minneapolis, 1983. Speeches and Documents on New Zealand History ed. W. David McIntyre and W. J. Gardner. London, 1971. Suggs, Robert C., The Island Civilizations of Polynesia. New York, 1960. Tate, D. J. M., The Making of Modern South-east Asia, Volume 1: The European Conquest. New York, 1971. Taylor, Jean Gelman, Indonesia: Peoples and Histories. New Haven, 2003. Thomson, Arthur S., The Story of New Zealand. New York, 1970. Vlekke, Bernard H. M., Nusantara: A History of Indonesia. Chicago, 1959. Williams, Lea E., Southeast Asia: A History. New York, 1976. Winstedt, Richard, A History of Classical Malay Literature. Kuala Lumpur, 1961. Wood, W. A. R., A History of Siam from the Earliest Times to the Year A.D. 1781. Bangkok, 1933. Wyatt, David K., Thailand: A Short History. New Haven, 2003. Zuiga, Joaquin Martinez de, An Historical View of the Philippine Islands tr. John Maver. Manila, 1966.
Copyright 2004 by Sanderson Beck