The Age of Reorganisation

Why This Matters

Imagine a very big school. It has one principal. The principal makes all the rules for everybody. The whole school follows one plan.

Now imagine that principal leaves, and no new principal comes. What happens? Slowly, each class starts making its own rules. The Class 7 teacher runs Class 7 her own way. The Class 8 teacher does something else. There is no longer one big plan. Now there are many small plans.

Something like this happened in India a very long time ago. There was one huge empire — the Maurya empire. One emperor ruled a giant piece of land. Then that empire broke apart. In its place, many smaller kingdoms grew up. Each had its own king. Each made its own rules.

This may sound like a sad, messy time. But here is the surprise. It was actually one of the most creative times in Indian history. Trade grew. Beautiful art was made. New coins were struck. People from far-off lands came to India and mixed in. Ideas travelled.

In this chapter, we will travel through this busy, colourful period. It runs from about 200 BCE to 300 CE — roughly 500 years. Let us see what happened when one big empire became many.

The Big Idea

After the Maurya empire broke up around 185 BCE, no single ruler controlled all of India. Instead, the land was reorganised into many new kingdoms, each fighting to grow stronger. That is why this whole period (about 200 BCE to 300 CE) is called the Age of Reorganisation — “reorganise” just means to arrange something into a new shape. Some of these kingdoms grew from inside India (like the Shungas, Satavahanas, Chedis, and the southern Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas). Others were invaders from outside who came in through the northwest and then settled down here (the Indo-Greeks, Shakas and Kushanas). Even with all this fighting, it was a golden time for trade, coins, art and the mixing of cultures. Most rulers proudly respected every religion and school of thought — a habit that became a deep part of the Indian way.

Let’s Break It Down

We will go step by step. First, how the big empire broke up. Then the kingdoms that grew inside India — north, east, the Deccan, and the far south. Then the invaders who came from outside. Then trade, coins and art. Let us begin.

How one big empire became many kingdoms

In the last chapter, you read about the great Maurya empire and the famous emperor Ashoka. The Mauryas ruled a huge part of the subcontinent.

But after Ashoka, the empire grew weak. We do not know much about the rulers who came after him. What we do know is this. The last Maurya emperor was killed around 185 BCE by his own army chief, a man named Pushyamitra Shunga. (“Commander-in-chief” just means the head of the army.)

With the emperor gone, the empire fell apart. Many regions that had once obeyed the Maurya emperor now became free, separate kingdoms. Each had its own ruler. Each wanted to grow bigger than its neighbours.

The picture below shows this big change. Figure 6.1 shows how one giant empire turned into many smaller kingdoms.

Tap to zoom

Why do scholars call this the “Age of Reorganisation”? Because the old map of India was being re-arranged into new shapes. Old regions became new kingdoms. The borders kept changing as kings fought, made peace, and fought again. The map of India did not stay still — it kept being reorganised.

How did kings try to grow bigger? In two main ways.

• By peace — through a matrimonial alliance. This means two kingdoms become friends by a marriage. (“Matrimonial” comes from “matrimony”, which means marriage.) For example, a king might give his daughter in marriage to the prince of a neighbouring kingdom. Now the two royal families are joined by family ties, so they are less likely to fight.
• By war — simply by attacking a neighbour and taking their land.

Borders were the big prize. A king badly wanted to control the lands at the edges of his kingdom. Why? Because if an enemy held the border, they could march in and attack. Holding the border kept the kingdom safe.

Kingdoms that grew inside India

Several strong kingdoms rose up from within the subcontinent. Let us meet the main ones, region by region. The map below will help you keep track of who was where.

Figure 6.2 below is a simple sketch map. It shows roughly where each main kingdom sat.

Tap to zoom

The Shungas (north and central India). Remember Pushyamitra Shunga, the army chief who ended the Maurya empire? He started his own line of kings — the Shunga dynasty. (A dynasty is a family of rulers, where the throne passes from one family member to the next, like father to son.) The Shungas ruled parts of north and central India.

Pushyamitra performed a grand Vedic ritual called the ashvamedha yajna, the “horse sacrifice”. Let us pause and understand this, because it tells us a lot about how kings showed their power.

The Shungas loved art and learning. Sanskrit became a favourite language for poems and serious books. (You may have heard of the Yoga Sutras, the famous text about yoga — these were put together by Patanjali during this period.) The Shungas also added to the beautiful Bharhut Stupa in present-day Madhya Pradesh, carving railings with scenes from the Buddha’s life. These are some of the earliest examples of Buddhist art. Notice this: the Shungas brought back Vedic rituals, yet they also helped Buddhist art. Both lived side by side.

The Satavahanas (the Deccan). To the south of the Shungas, across the Deccan (the wide plateau in the middle of India), rose a powerful kingdom — the Satavahanas. They are sometimes called the “Andhras”. Their lands covered much of present-day Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra. Their famous capital cities were Amravati and Pratishthana (today’s Paithan).

The Satavahanas were great traders. We know this because of their coins. Many of their coins have been found from Gujarat to Andhra Pradesh — that is, on both the western and the eastern coasts of India. Some coins even show a ship with two masts. (A mast is the tall pole that holds a ship’s sail.) A picture of a ship on a coin tells us that sea trade mattered a great deal to them, and that they built good ships.

They traded far. Their goods reached even the Roman Empire, far away in Europe. India sent out spices, textiles, sandalwood, ivory and pearls. India brought in glass and perfumed ointments. Taxes on all this trade made the kingdom rich.

One Satavahana custom is special, and worth thinking about. Princes were often named after their mothers, not just their fathers. For example, the famous king Gautamiputra Satakarni was named after his mother, Gautami Balashri — “Gautami-putra” means “son of Gautami”. She was a powerful queen who gave land to Buddhist monks and had an important message carved in stone at Nashik. This shows how much respect and power some queens had.

The Satavahanas mostly worshipped Vasudeva (another name for Krishna). But, like the Shungas, they were open to all beliefs. Their kings gave tax-free land to Vedic scholars, and to Jain and Buddhist monks alike, so these people could study and pray in peace.

In the 3rd century CE, the Satavahana kingdom split into smaller pieces. The main reason was a weak centre — the central government became too weak to hold the kingdom together — along with money troubles. Once again, smaller regional powers rose up to take its place.

Let us pause on one big idea here, because it explains why coins are so useful to historians.

The Chedis of Kalinga (the east). Do you remember the terrible Kalinga war from the Maurya chapter — the war that changed Ashoka’s heart? After the Mauryas weakened, Kalinga (in today’s Odisha, in the east) rose up again, this time under the Chedi dynasty.

Their best-known king was Kharavela. He was a devoted follower of Jain teachings. People sometimes called him bhikshu-raja, the “monk-king”. Yet he respected every religion. Near Bhubaneswar, the famous Udayagiri–Khandagiri caves were cut into the rock, most likely for Jain monks, with carved panels and roomy chambers.

One cave holds the Hathigumpha inscription — a long message carved in stone (in the Brahmi script) that records Kharavela’s deeds year by year: his battles and his good works for his people. In it, Kharavela proudly calls himself a “respecter of every sect and repairer of every temple”. This idea — a ruler who protects all faiths — comes up again and again in this age. It is a deep part of what we may call the Indian ethos (the basic spirit or values of a people).

Kingdoms and life in the South

Far down in the south, a different story was unfolding. This region had stayed independent even at the height of Maurya power — Ashoka mentions these southern kingdoms in his edicts as lands beyond his empire.

Between about the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE, three powerful kingdoms rose in the south: the Cheras, the Cholas and the Pandyas. They often fought one another for control of the south, but together they made the region rich in trade and culture.

This age in the south is also called the Sangam Age, after Sangam literature — the oldest writing in south India. Let us understand the word.

The Cholas. The Cholas ruled parts of south India for a very long time — from about the 3rd century BCE all the way to the 13th century CE. An early Chola king, Karikala, is said to have beaten the combined armies of the Cheras and Pandyas. Karikala did a great deed for his people. He built the Kallanai, also called the Grand Anicut — a clever stone dam across the Kaveri river that sent water to more farmland. This let farmers grow much more rice, which is why the area was nicknamed the “rice bowl of the South”. Amazingly, the Grand Anicut has been repaired over the centuries and is still in use today, helping millions of farmers in Tamil Nadu.

A famous Tamil epic, the Silappadikaram (“The Tale of the Anklet”), comes from soon after the Sangam poems. It tells the story of Kannagi and her husband Kovalan, and centres on justice and a ruler’s duty to protect it. Even today, Kannagi is honoured in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The Cheras. The Cheras (also called Keralaputra, “sons of Kerala”) ruled the western parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, with their capital at Vanji (present-day Karur). They encouraged Tamil poetry and supported Sangam poets. They were famous for trade with the Roman Empire and West Asia, sending out spices, timber, ivory and pearls.

The Pandyas. The Pandyas ruled parts of Tamil Nadu, with their capital at Madurai. They go back several centuries BCE. The Greek writer Megasthenes, in his book Indika, called the Pandya kingdom prosperous and well-run, busy with trade with the Greeks and Romans. The Pandyas were a strong naval power (a kingdom with a powerful navy — that is, ships of war) and were famous for their pearls. Their inscriptions show that the kings cared deeply for their people and, once again, encouraged all schools of thought.

Let us compare these three southern kingdoms side by side, so they are easy to keep apart.

Kingdom	Where it ruled	Capital	Famous for
Cholas	Parts of south India (Kaveri delta)	Puhar / Kaveripattinam	King Karikala and the Grand Anicut dam, still used today
Cheras	Western Tamil Nadu and Kerala	Vanji (Karur)	Trade with Rome and West Asia; supporting Tamil poetry
Pandyas	Parts of Tamil Nadu	Madurai	Strong navy and famous pearls; praised by Megasthenes

The invaders who came from outside

So far, every kingdom we have met grew up inside India. Now we turn to a very different kind of change. During this same period, invaders entered from outside, through the northwest frontier (the northwestern edge of the subcontinent).

Remember from the first diagram why the northwest was the weak spot? When the Mauryas fell, the northwest region became weak and unguarded. This made it an easy door for outsiders to enter.

Here is the wonderful part. These outsiders came as conquerors — but India did not stay foreign to them. They mixed in. They liked Indian culture, married into it, used Indian gods on their coins, and slowly became part of Indian life. Their cultures and India’s cultures blended together.

The Indo-Greeks. Long ago, the Greek king Alexander had marched into the Indus plains and then turned back. When he left, he kept some of his governors (called satraps) behind. Over time, these Greek rulers set up their own independent kingdoms in the northwest (roughly today’s Pakistan and Afghanistan). They came to be called the Indo-Greeks — Greek by origin, but living in India and deeply shaped by Indian culture.

We learn most of what we know about them from their coins, dug up by archaeologists. The coins were made of gold, silver, copper and nickel. Often a king is shown on one side and a Greek god on the other. But here is the telling detail: some coins instead show Indian gods like Vasudeva-Krishna and Lakshmi. A Greek-origin ruler putting Indian gods on his money — that is the blending of cultures, right there in your hand.

The Heliodorus pillar near Vidisha (in Madhya Pradesh) is another lovely example. It was set up by an Indo-Greek ambassador named Heliodorus, whose inscription praises Vasudeva as the “god of gods”. A Greek honouring an Indian god in stone — cultures coming together again.

The Shakas (Indo-Scythians). After the Indo-Greeks came another group from outside, the Shakas (also called Indo-Scythians). They too invaded the northwest and ruled for a long time, from the late 2nd century BCE until the 5th century CE. The famous Shaka Samvat calendar comes from this period. (A samvat is a calendar with its own way of counting years.) It runs 78 years behind the common Gregorian calendar we use today, and in 1957 it was chosen as the Indian National Calendar.

The Kushanas under Kanishka. The greatest of these outsiders were the Kushanas. They came originally from Central Asia and entered India around the 2nd century CE. At their peak, their empire stretched all the way from Central Asia across large parts of northern India. That is huge.

Their most famous and most powerful king was Kanishka. A famous stone statue of him survives — it is “headless” (the head is missing) but still grand, showing his clothing, weapon and footwear. The inscription on it calls him maharaja rajadhiraja devaputra — “the great king, king of kings, son of God”.

Look closely at Kanishka’s coins and you find the blending of cultures again. One coin shows Kanishka holding a spear on one side, titled “King of Kings”, and the Buddha on the other side, with the word “Buddha” written in Greek letters. Another coin shows an emperor on one side and Shiva with the bull Nandi on the other. Why would one powerful ruler show the Buddha and Shiva on his money? Because he respected many faiths — and wanted his many different subjects to feel that their gods were honoured by their king.

Figure 6.3 below sums up how different beliefs lived together in this age.

Tap to zoom

Trade, coins and art

We have seen a lot of fighting. But the same period was also a golden time for trade, coins and art. Let us look at each.

Trade with the wider world. This age connected India to faraway lands. Two great trade systems mattered.

• The Silk Route was a long overland road network. (Overland means by land, not by sea.) It carried silk and other goods from China, across Central Asia and Persia, all the way to the Roman world in the west. It got its name from Chinese silk, a prized cloth. The Kushanas controlled a large part of the Silk Route, so trade flowed and India connected with Asia and the West.
• Sea trade meant carrying goods by ship across the ocean. India’s coasts were busy with ships sailing to and from Rome and West Asia.

Figure 6.4 below shows these trade links.

Tap to zoom

Why did far-off Rome want Indian goods so badly? Because India had things they could not get at home — spices to flavour food, fine cotton textiles, ivory, and pearls for jewellery. And India wanted Roman glass and gold coins in return. When two places each have what the other lacks, trade grows.

Coins as evidence. We keep mentioning coins. Why do historians love them so much? A coin is like a tiny history book. Figure 6.5 below shows why — and also shows the two great styles of art of this age.

Tap to zoom

Two great styles of art: Gandhara and Mathura. Under the Kushanas, two famous schools of sculpture grew. Both are celebrated for mixing Indian and Greek styles.

• The Gandhara style grew in the northwest (the Punjab region). Its artists carved in grey-black schist stone and blended Greco-Roman features with Indian ones. They made fine Buddha images with realistic bodies and flowing robes. (By the way — does “Gandhara” remind you of a character from the Mahabharata? Gandhari was the princess of Gandhara.)
• The Mathura style grew in the Mathura region of present-day Uttar Pradesh. It used red sandstone and was a more clearly Indian style, with less Greek influence. It is known for full, smoothly modelled figures of Indian gods — Kubera, Lakshmi, Shiva, the Buddha, and the nature spirits called yakshas and yakshinis.

Let us put the two side by side.

Feature	Gandhara style	Mathura style
Where it grew	The northwest (Punjab region)	Mathura region (Uttar Pradesh)
Stone used	Grey-black schist	Red sandstone
Influence	Strong Greek (Greco-Roman) plus Indian	Mainly Indian, little Greek influence
Look of figures	Realistic bodies, flowing robes	Fuller, rounded, smoothly modelled

It was also in this age that great Sanskrit texts took shape, including major versions of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. So art, stories and ideas all flourished — even while kings fought over borders.

Figure 6.6 below puts the whole age on a single timeline, so you can see who came when.

Tap to zoom

Common Mistakes

Let us clear up a few ideas that students often get muddled.

Quick Check

Test yourself with these questions.

Practice Problems

Try these yourself before opening the solutions.

Easy

Medium

Challenge

Summary

• After the Maurya empire broke up around 185 BCE, India split into many smaller kingdoms. This long period (about 200 BCE to 300 CE) is called the Age of Reorganisation because the old map was re-arranged into new, competing kingdoms.
• Kingdoms grew bigger in two ways: by peace (matrimonial alliances — friendship through marriage) and by war. Holding the borders was vital for safety.
• Inside India, the main kingdoms were the Shungas (north and central India), the Satavahanas (the Deccan, great traders), the Chedis of Kalinga (under the Jain king Kharavela), and the three southern kingdoms — Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas (the Sangam Age).
• From outside, invaders entered through the weak northwest: the Indo-Greeks, the Shakas, and the Kushanas under their greatest king, Kanishka. They did not stay foreign — they blended into Indian culture.
• Trade boomed, both by land along the Silk Route (much of it controlled by the Kushanas) and by sea with Rome and West Asia. India sent out spices, ivory and pearls, and brought in glass and gold coins.
• Coins are precious clues for historians: they reveal a ruler’s name, religion, wealth, and how far trade reached. Two great art styles grew under the Kushanas — Gandhara (grey stone, Greek-Indian mix) and Mathura (red sandstone, mainly Indian).
• Most rulers proudly respected all religions and schools of thought — a habit that became a deep part of the Indian way of life. Great Sanskrit texts, including versions of the Mahabharata and Ramayana, took shape in this age.

What’s Next

You have seen how, after one big empire fell, many kingdoms rose, traded, fought, made art, and mixed cultures together. India did not fall into darkness — it buzzed with creativity.

Now another great empire is about to appear and pull much of north India back together, beginning one of the most brilliant chapters in Indian history. Next, in Chapter 7 — The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity, we will meet the Guptas and discover why their time is often called a “golden age” of art, science and learning.