The Historians' History of the World 02 [Israel, India, Persia, Phoenicia, Minor Nations of Western Asia]

It is the struggles of these tribes against the Kurus which are described in the Mahabharata.

The Pandus, a younger race than the Kurus, and who have become prominent among the Panchalas, rise in rebellion. The Pandus have many allies. The Kurus disappear in a great war shortly before 1200 B.C., and the kings of Pandu ascend the throne of Hastinapura. They hold it for thirty generations, governing at Hastinapura.

1200 Shortly after the great war, Parikshit comes to the united Kuru (Bharata)—Pandu (Panchala) throne. He reigns sixty years in Hastinapura, and dies (according to tradition) from the bite of a snake.

The origin of the kingdom of Kosala was probably of a somewhat later date than that of Magadha and Bharata. The people looked to Manu as their first king, and reckoned one hundred and sixteen kings from him to Prasenajit (600-550 B.C.). The age 1400-1200 B.C. is that of the arrangement of the kingdoms, the establishment of the position of the nobles, the rise of the Kshattriyas—the warrior caste.

Their organised kingdoms show a striking contrast to the condition of those Aryans who remained in the Indus region. We have no knowledge of their fortunes except that most of them retained their tribal life without kings. “The people,” says Duncker, “show not the least interest in preserving the memory of their actions or fortunes.”

1200-1000 is approximately the period of the formation of the castes. These were:

(1) The priests or Brahmans—families who had kept to themselves knowledge of the prayers, rites, and sacrifices of the religion since the old days.

(2) The Kshattriyas—or warriors (the Rajputs of the present day), among whom were the rulers of the kingdoms.

(3) The Vaisyas—or husbandmen.

(4) The Sudras—a non-Aryan servile class (the Dasas of the Rig-Veda), the remnant of the aboriginal tribes.

These castes gradually become separate and distinct. Intermarriage ceases and each keeps to its hereditary employments. As yet the Kshattriyas are the most important, but the priests are slowly influencing the people to the idea that the relations of men to the gods transcend all the other relations of life, thereby pushing themselves into the first place.

The kingdoms on the Ganges continue as in the preceding epoch. Under king Nichahra the capital of the Pandus (Bharatas) is removed from Hastinapura to Kausambi, lower down the Ganges.

In the Punjab and the land of the Indus, a considerable number of principalities have arisen among the kingless tribes. There are also some nations governed by overseers of cantons, heads of cities and districts. Among the states that of Kashmir is the most important. About 1000 B.C. we know there is a brisk trade between the Upper and Lower Indus. Phœnician ships bring home gold and sandal-wood, obtained from the Upper Indus. The process of caste-formation has not gone on to any extent in these regions, and there are now no links between the people of the Indus and the Ganges. 1000-800 Era of the struggle for supremacy between the priests and nobles. At its close the Brahmans have been raised to the first order, and the severest known class distinctions in history have become established—distinctions which are in force at the present day. The supremacy of the priesthood is due to the new religious view it developed—the discovery of the idea of Brahma which takes place about 1000 B.C. This idea was evolved from the mysterious secret of worship, the spirit of prayer, and the phenomena of birth and decay. Behind these phenomena lies a single soul—the world soul. From this soul they arrive at a deity, the cause and basis of the world. This deity is Brahma. It drives out the ancient gods. A rigid system of the universe is developed in which the most spiritual beings stand nearest to Brahma, while the most material are the most remote. We have no knowledge as to the resistance made by the Kshattriyas to these ideas, but they are accepted by the people, and the Brahmans as being the most spiritual of the people, attain the first place, and the whole terrible system of Brahmanism, involving the rise of the people to spirituality through continuous regeneration, and its complicated 800 system of reward and punishment, comes into effect. Although they have the first place, the Brahmans do not interfere with the ruling power in the hands of the Kshattriyas. The monarchs are in full possession of despotic power, and are used by the priests to hold their rule. The Brahmans draw up the customs of family law, marriage and inheritance, of the rights and duties of the castes. The new system is not universally adopted. Even on the Ganges some districts resisted the new system and held to their ancient laws and customs. In the Indus only a few regions followed the development.