Rulers of Indus Valley Civilization

ABSTRACT

Though Over 1400 sites of Indus Valley civilization have been discovered and there is a rich collection of archaeological information, the historians and archaeologists have no clue about the rulers and the system of governance of the settlements. This paper shows that the best sources of information about the rulers are the Shastras namely the epic Mahabharat and the Puranas. The chronology of the Shastras neatly explains the phases of the civilization like consolidation phase, mature phase and the localisation phase. 

However, the chronology of the rulers given in the Shastras does not conform to the chronology of the rulers given in the official version of ancient Indian history. The reason for the discrepancy has to be the matter of a separate paper.

Key words: Panchang, Kalyugabda, Indus ValleyCivilisation, Harappan rulers, Mahabharata and Puranas.

 

INTRODUCTION

The Indus Valley Civilization is one of the oldest civilizations in human history. It is said to be a contemporary of ancient Egyptian civilization and nearly 1,000 years after the earliest Sumerian cities of Mesopotamia. Though the earliest settlements of Indus Valley Civilization are dated to be of about 7000 BC, its periodisation is made as follows.

1. Consolidation phase from about 3300 BC till about 2600 BC
2. Mature phase from about 2600 BC till about 1900 BC.
3. Localisation phase from about 1900 BC till about 1300 BC

Over 1400 Indus Valley civilisation sites have been discovered, of which 925 sites are in India and 475 in Pakistan spread over more than a million square kilometres [386,000 square miles] and extends throughout northwest India, Pakistan and parts of Afghanistan.

This really makes it one of the largest ‘Old World’ civilizations in terms of geographic extent.

It is not known who the king of the Indus Valley was. The limited knowledge of the existence of a king is due to an artefact called ‘the Priest King’ which is the iconic representation of the Indus Valley Civilization. It is not known exactly who he was or the role he played in society.

The second theory posits that there was no single ruler, but a number of them representing each of the urban centres, including Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa, and other communities. Finally, experts have theorized that the Indus Valley Civilization had no rulers as we understand them, with everyone enjoying equal status. The simplest way to arrive at the correct answer is to refer to the Panchang.

The year KALIYUGABDA 5126 began on 9th April 2024 AD. Thus, it was started by the rulers who ruled about 5126 years ago which was the time of Indus Valley Civilization. The fact that KALIYUGABDA has remained pivotal to Indian culture for more than five millennia shows the stronghold of those rulers over the entire civilization.

KALIYUGABDA

Therefore, it is important to recall, “Who started the calendar of KALIYUGABDA?”

It is common knowledge that Kaliyuga started when Bhagwan Krishna left his mortal body and King Yudhishthira abdicated in favour of King Parikshit the grandson of Arjun.

From a careful and critical examination of the descriptions of Shanti Parva, Anushasan Parva and Ashvamedha Parva of Mahabharat as well as the descriptions of other Puranas it is clear that after the battle of Kurukshetra the Pandavas had become the paramount power of entire India along with the adjoining territories and their suzerainty was accepted by all the other rulers. This tradition continued during the rule of the descendants of King Parikshit.

The relationship of the descendants of king Parikshit with all the other kings in and around India was like the relationship of the British crown with the princely states in and around India from 1858 to 1947.

The “consolidation phase” of Indus Valley Civilization started around 5000 years before today. The consolidation was possible because of the stronghold of the rulers of the dynasty over the entire civilization and other parts of India.

KINGS OF THE PANDAVA DYNASTY 

The consolidation and mature phases of Indus valley civilization flourished during the millennium of uninterrupted peace following the holocaust of Mahabharata war. 

The most important ruling dynasty of the area during the time was the dynasty of King Parikshit.

Subsequent to the war the capital was shifted from Hastinapur to Kaushambi.

But in course of time their influence progressively declined till the time of the end of the dynasty, when their influence was limited only to the small area around their capital Kaushambi. The kings of the dynasty after the Mahabharata war were as follows:

1. Yudhishthira ruled from 3138 BC to 3102 BC
2. Parikshit
3. Janmejaya
4. Shatanika
5. Aswamedhadatta
6. Adhisimha Krishna
7. Nishakshu: Ganga flooded Hastinapur. Capital shifted to Kaushambi
8. Ushna
9. Chitraratha
10. Suchiradha
11. Vrishnimanta
12. Sushena
13. Suneedha
14. Nrupegakshu
15. Sukhibala
16. Pariplava
17. Sunaya
18. Medhavi
19. Ripunjaya
20. Urva
21. Thigma
22. Brihadratha (Contemporary of Bimbisara of Magadha)
23. Kasudana
24. Shatanika II
25. Udayana
26. Kihinara
27. Dandapani
28. Niramitra
29. Kshemaka

According to the Puranas King Kshemaka lost the war with Mahapadmanand. During the period of more than a millennium long paramountcy of Pandav dynasty, uniformity was established all over India such as uniform length measurements, weights and time measurements in addition to uniform urban planning, road networks, drainage system etc. This uniformity was strengthened through imperial encouragement to religious tourism that is known as Theerthatan. In fact, the foundation of modern Hinduism was laid during the consolidation phase of IVC.

LOCALISATION PHASE

The archaeologists believe that around 1900 BC the mature phase was giving way to the localisation phase. It means that the stronghold of Pandavas was being lost and the local kings had become independent of the central rule. 

The most powerful of the emerging kingdoms was Magadha with its capital at Giribraja.

The first millennium of Kaliyuga was one of the best periods of Indian history.

The deterioration of the society started after the rise of the Nanda dynasty of Magadha Empire when India got divided into many independent mutually hostile warring kingdoms. The people blamed it on Kaliyuga.

Most of the Puranas available now were written or revised during that period of degeneration. The Puranas reflect the public sentiment of the degenerate period of Kaliyuga.

The Puranas state that King Mahapadmanand was coronated at Rajagriha (Rajgir) in the year 1504 years after the birth of King Parikshit which, according to the Panchang, was in 3138 BC.

Thus, according to the Panchang and the Puranas King Yudhishthira and his dynasty ruled from 3138 BC as the paramount rulers of India and the adjoining areas till the rise of the Nanda dynasty of Magadha Empire in 1634 BC.

CONCLUSION

There is evidence of settlement in the Indus valley area as early as 7000 BCE. 

However, The Indus Valley Civilization is generally separated into three phases:

1. Consolidation phase from about 3300 BC till about 2600 BC
2. Mature phase from about 2600 BC till about 1900 BC.
3. Localisation phase from about 1900 BC till about 1300 BC.

 

Chronology of Kaliyugabda indicates that from about 3300 BC till 3100 BC was the period of rise of the civilisation described in Mahabharat culminating in the unified rule of India from about 3100 BC resulting in consolidation which was complete by about 2600 BC leading to the mature phase.

By about 1900 BC the stronghold of the central rulers appears to have slackened leading to the localisation phase finally resulting in the end of Pandav dynasty soon after 1634 BC.

 

Reference

 

1. Sir Mortimer Wheeler: The Indus Civilization, third Edition.

 

1. Cartwright, M. World History Encyclopaedia (2015), Chavin Civilization” Chavin Civilization – World History Encyclopaedia.

 

1. Mark, J. World History Encyclopaedia (2020), “Indus Valley Civilization” https://www.worldhistory.org/Indus_Valley_Civilization.

 

1. Stephanie, V. Harappa.com (2014), “The First Images of the Announcement: The Illustrated London News” https://www.harappa.com/blog/first-images-announcement-illustrated-london-news.

 

1. Mengal, M. World History Encyclopaedia (2020), “Priest-king from Mohenjo-Daro” https://www.worldhistory.org/image/12858/priest-king-from-mohenjo-daro.

 

1. Handwerk, B. Smithsonian Magazine (2019), “Rare Ancient DNA Provides Window into a 5,000-Year-Old South Asian Civilization”.https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/rare-ancient-dna-south-asia-reveals-complexities-little-known-civilization-180973053.

 

1. Shinde, V. et al. “An Ancient Harappan Genome Lacks Ancestry from Steppe Pastoralists or Iranian Farmers.” Cell, 2019.