Harking back: Our ancient history: Does it hold lessons for us?

Do we ever learn from our history? The last few pieces on ancient Lahore, and Punjab, elicited some amazing responses. Most readers never knew that our history was that ancient. Most people think our history begins when Mahmud of Ghazni decimated Lahore in 1021 AD.

A lot of people wrote in to express their shock that Buddha stayed in Lahore for three months. My response is simple: Read translations of the Buddhist holy books. But then there is so much western history that shows Alexander defeating Porus of Bhera, a corruption of the word ‘Puru’ meaning king. A few even ask just why would Chandragupta Maurya come to Lahore and stay here. If I was to say that Chandragupta was a Punjabi a lot of readers will disbelieve it. My suggestion is that they should read the distinguished historian Dr Hari Ram Gupta and his well-known book titled: ‘Even Chandragupta Maurya was a Punjabi’.

So this piece is dedicated to clearing a few misconceptions of events, or as Dr Gupta very aptly starts his book with the sentence “today’s rumours are tomorrow’s history”. So first comes Alexander. After the Puru of Taxila agreed to support Alexander against the Puru of Bhera (known in the west as Porus), his army was joined by 600 horsemen from near the Murree hills nearer the Swat area. A large group was from the Koh-i-Mor area, and these gallant horsemen have been titled Mauryan. The word ‘mor’ is derived from the word ‘moor’ or peacocks, for which this area is still known. In fact Chandragupta’s mother was termed a ‘mourni’ because she looked after a flock of peacocks. But then we still call beautiful women in Punjabi that.

After serving Alexander with distinction, we see that at Bhera the battle was a stalemate and with new troops joining Porus, the Greek invader understood that it was only a matter of time before he would be overrun. Hence a peace pact was agreed, but on the condition that Porus would be assisted in conquering the kingdom of Lahore. But the Puru of Lahore was tactically shrewd and withdrew to join a much larger union of armies that awaited Alexander.

Most rulers in the sub-continent then were related, mostly through marriage. So an alliance was always possible among the willing. The Greek invader and his generals clearly understood that they were all doomed if they fought the over 600,000 combined army that awaited. The local armies had mostly switched to horse cavalry like Alexander possessed and could match, if not decimate, the Greeks. In a way he had no option.

So it was that Alexander fled the sub-continent via the Punjab in 326 BC only to die in Egypt in 323 BC. At this point we see Chandragupta forming his own army and his first battle was against a Greek general Seleucus. It was clear that the armies were evenly matched and they came to an agreement where the daughter of the Greek married the Punjabi Chandragupta. The only details available about that pact is from Strabo who says that areas east of the Indus were handed over to Chandragupta.

Once that was done then Chandragupta moved to consolidate the whole of the Punjab and had two capitals, they being Sialkot and Lahore. This is when he extended his empire more and more eastwards and formed one of the largest ever known in the sub-continent.

Kautilya the Sage was to write that Chandragupta’s empire extends from the Himalayas to the ocean. Here we can learn a lot from the Asoka inscriptions at Taxila. They state that Taxila was the common seat and seal of government and Lahore and other centres were local capitals.

The administrators of local capitals were termed as ‘mantris’, or ministers, a term still used all over the sub-continent. Here our readers, especially those interested in our ancient history, would be well-advised to try to read the ‘Arthasastra’, a classic of Chanaka in its own right. The writing of Kautilya would also be immensely useful. The members of the royal family were posted as governors, people like Asoka and Kunala. Very soon, as is Buddhist tradition, we see Chandragupta’s empire became a massive welfare state. If anything the Punjab was the world’s first welfare State under Chandragupta. But then we refuse to believe such information. Such has become our communal mindset.

There were a few rebellion no doubt, but they were not against the royal family, but against corrupt officials. So we see that the capitals of the different Punjab cities enjoying a high degree of independence, but with the king closely monitoring the food and security situation. It was in this time period that we see that the port of Lahore gained great importance, with river trade with flat-bottom boats with square sails going as far as Europe.

Alexander had tried to build the Kolache port, now known as Karachi, for connecting India with Europe via Egypt. That task Chandragupta managed to some extent.

It was in this time period that Taxila was at the height of its glory. It was one of the world’s leading educational institution. Here from the Jatakas we know that students from all over India were admitted at the age of 16. The compulsory subjects were mathematics, the Vedas language, philosophy, political science and economics. Besides this history, hunting and military science. Then there were specialist schools of law, medicine and military science. Lastly, there were 18 different schools to learn skills and crafts. So it was that after six years of study one passed the University of Taxila.

So if we are to learn at all from our ancient history, it seems the rulers must ensure justice, must make sure that there is enough food available for the people and that education for everyone is made compulsory. The quality of education and the ability to learn any skill to earn a livelihood make up for an efficient welfare State. Any State that does not cater for these basics is bound to fail and eventually collapse.

We also learn from history that beliefs, no matter of which ilk, have to be tolerated, and that if the Brahmin classes acquire more power than the State allows, they undercut the very State itself. For this reason Chandragupta brought the Brahmins down and that is why Lahore ultimately went for Buddhism, which is an egalitarian belief system. In an earlier piece we had explained how the Hun invaders destroyed 700 years of Buddhist beliefs in Lahore and the Punjab. The Brahmins returned to power. What happened next is before everyone.

It thus makes sense for our readers to educate themselves about our past, which is very ancient. Crockery found in an archaeological dig in the Lahore Fort dates it at 4,500 years old. There is so much to learn, starting from the nomads who walked into our lands from the West and South. How did Taxila become the learning centre of the Punjab and the whole of the sub-continent, and why did it collapse after the power of priests increased? There is just so much to learn.