‘Kuntaleśvaradautya’—A Study

The ambassador of an Indian Emperor is seemingly on an official visit to a kingdom south of the Vindhya-s. On reaching his destination, instead of being received with due deference, the ambassador is not even given a proper seat in the court — certainly an appalling disregard to the socio-political mores. The ‘courtiers jeer at …

The Ancient Maukharis: An Analysis

The word ancient carries a different weightage when it is used with regard to the great civilizations. The people, their customs, their rulers, and their dynasties – stretching back millennia or even more, they were the ancients. The ancient rulers loved to boast of their old aristocratic pedigree, originating from the great old families, from …

The Second Indo-Hunnic War

Ancient India in the early 6th century was riveting with socio-political and religious churning. In the political sphere, one of the catalysts for this churning were the Huns or the Hūṇa-s as they were called in India. As stated in previous post of this blog, the timeline of the Indo-Hunnic relations can be divided into …

Climatic Factors in the Gupta Decline & After

"̍..[a] history whose passage is almost imperceptible, that of a man in his relationship to the environment, a history in which all change is slow, a history of constant repetition, ever recurring cycles.." ~ Braudel, as quoted in Jha, 2014: 588 Decline of an empire is never a linear process and involves complex to and …

The Elusive Kācha – Rāmagupta

Of the many mysteries of Indian history, the illustrious Gupta Empire can claim to have a fair share of them. One of these mysteries had been the elusive personalities of Kācha and Rāmagupta. For those who do not know about it – a quick summary is needed. Over the past century, we learned about various …

The First Indo-Hunnic War

“He (Prakāśadharman) bears the royal glory, which brings auspicious results, in order to benefit the world and not to increase (his own) pleasure...” Richard Salomon's translation of a verse from the Rīsthal Inscription of Prakāśadharman, the later Aulikara ruler, dated 515 CE.1 If we try to classify the timeline of the Indo-Hunnic relations, it can …

Gupta-Hūṇa Relations: A Study

THE north-western frontier of the Indian sub-continent throughout it's history has been an entry point for the invading armies. The first major historical invasion which resulted in the loss of territory to India was the Achaemenid invasion during the great expansion by it's king Cyrus around 535 BCE. It made inroads into our territory and …

The Nāga Dynasties in Ancient India

How many of us remember reading about how the great Gupta Emperor Samudragupta established his empire in north India? But do we remember reading about one Ganapatinaga? I am talking about the Naga dynasty of ancient India and there fascinating though still somewhat obscure history. The Nagas came into prominence on the political map of …