Mithila and Magadha (700AD - 1100AD)

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About the Book Since 1780 A.D., when for the first time an old inscription was discovered at Munger, much material has been gathered for a history of the land. Remains of ancient buildings, coins, pottery, inscriptions, sculpture, manuscripts, accounts of foreign travellers etc. have been discovered and published. But though text-books on Indian history for schools and colleges have taken into account the results of these discoveries, there has been very little effort so far to take up a territorial and cultural unit and build up a picture of its people in a certain period of its history. There are some works which apparently fulfil this requirement. But their treatment of the subject is explorative rather than interpretative, compartmental rather than comprehensive. In the following pages an attempt has been made to bring together the results of archaeological (inscriptional, sculptural and architectural) and literary (including philosophical) researches and, on that co-ordination, to base a picture of the society in Mithila and Magadha in 700 A.D. - 1100 A.D.

It would be useless on the part of the author to pretend that the work is entirely original, though he does believe that some new light has been thrown on the state of saffairs in Mithila and Magadha during the five centuries that followed the death of Harsavardhana in 648 A.D. With regard to the quality of his contributions to the historical knowledge of the time and place that form the subject-matter of the following inquiry, he can only say that on the material available to him, he could have produced no beter work. In dealing with the subject, he has suffered under certain natural disadvantages. Having been born and brought up among Brahmans of Mithila whose ancestors twelve hundred years ago so frequently come in for inquiry here, who had so much to do against Buddhists of the times, he has found it extremely difficult to be impartial in his conclusions. This fact is stated here in order to enable the reader to detect Prejudices that might have crept in here inspite of the author's sincere endeavour to avoid them.

This being an examination paper, it is perhaps no place here to record his gratefulness to those who have helped the author in his studies here. Without naming them, therefore, he must say that whatever may happen to this thesis at the hands of the examiners, he will ever remember their kindness and sympathies.

Preface since 1'80 A.D., when for the first time an old inscription was discovered at Munger, much material has been gathered for a history oldie land. Remains of ancient buildings, coins, pottery, inscriptions, sculpture, manuscripts, accounts of foreign travellers etc. have been discovered and published. But though text-books on Indian history for schools and colleges have taken into account the results of these discoveries, there has been very little effort so far to take up a territorial and cultural unit and build up a picture of its people in a certain period of its history. There are some works which apparently fulfil this requirement. But their treatment of the subject is explorative rather than interpretative, compartmental rather than comprehensive. In the following pages an attempt has been made to bring together the results of archaeological (inscriptional, sculptural and architectural) and literary (including philosophical) researches and, on that co-ordination, to base a picture of the society in Mithila and Magadha in 700 A.D. - 1100 A.D.

It would be useless on the part of the author to pretend that the work is entirely original, though he does believe that some new light has been thrown on the state of saffairs in Mithila and Magadha during the five centuries that followed the death of Harsavardhana in 648 A.D. With regard to the quality of his contributions to the historical knowledge of the time and place that form the subject-matter of the following inquiry, he can only say that on the material available to him, he could have produced no beter work. In dealing with the subject, he has suffered under certain natural disadvantages. Having been born and brought up among Brahmans of Mithila whose ancestors twelve hundred years ago so frequently come in for inquiry here, who had so much to do against Buddhists of the times, he has found it extremely difficult to be impartial in his conclusions. This fact is stated here in order to enable the reader to detect Prejudices that might have crept in here inspite of the author's sincere endeavour to avoid them.

This being an examination paper, it is perhaps no place here to record his gratefulness to those who have helped the author in his studies here. Without naming them, therefore, he must say that whatever may happen to this thesis at the hands of the examiners, he will ever remember their kindness and sympathies.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages