The present volume is an original and updated account of the history and culture of the Sarayupara region, a geographical unit, located to the south of Nepal tarai and north of the river Sarayu, which comprises the present districts of Gonda, Bharaich, Sravasti, Balrampur, Basti, Sant Kabirnagar, Gorakhpur, Siddharthnagar, Maharajganj, Kushinagar and Deoria of the eastern Uttar Pradesh. Though the region has famously been known in historical and cultural writings for its unique contributions to the rise of earliest prehistoric rice-farming communities in India and sermons of Buddha and Mahavira and also for the rise of several clans practicing the republican constitutions, it rarely enjoyed an independent profile as it formed an integral part of the north Indian empires, subjugating the region time and again. It was however during the mid of the ninth century C.E. that the term Sarayupara came into vogue which expressly marks it as a distinct geographical unit and also betrays its independent political rise. The present volume critically examines the factors involved in its making and explores afresh its chequered history under the Kalachuris, Malayaketus, and the Gahadavalas during the 9th-12th centuries C.E. on the basis of freshly discovered epigraphical evidence, which provides enough scope to question and reject several long-held misleading notions about the region. It also makes a maiden effort to explore and analyze the cultural milieu which emerges prominently in the region during the period. This includes the vigorous rise of Saivism, Vaisnavism and the solar cults, the arrival and dispersal of sun- worshipping Maga priests from the Sakadvipa, the in-and-out bound migrations of a number of the Brahmin clans leading to their distinct regional categorizations, arrival of several Rajaputa tribes in course of their militaristic and administrative career leading to the amalgamation of their blood with the local Ksatriya populace and development of art and iconography, expressing the impact of the changed socio-religious environs. With all these facets documented critically on the basis of the extant archaeological sources, the study stands as an invaluable piece of research for those scholars and students who have an inkling to understand the region of Sarayupara vis-a-vis its interconnections to the empires which rose in its vicinity and tried to hamper its independent rise aeain and aeain.
An alumnus of the University of Allahabad with meritorious academic records, Dr. Prem Sagar Chaturvedi joined the Department of Ancient History, Archaeology and Culture, D.D.U. Gorakhpur University, in 1972. He served this institution in several capacities and finally retired as Professor and Head on June 30, 2012. He had the chance of working both as a disciple and colleague under the sage guidance of late Professor V.S. Pathak, an eminent scholar and Indologist, under whose supervision he obtained the Ph.D. degree for his outstanding work Some Aspects of Technology in Vedic Literature. Because of his deep understanding of literary and archaeological sources, Dr. Chaturvedi has gained expertise in several branches of historical discipline. These include Vedic and Buddhist Studies, Ancient Technologies, Art and Architecture, Archaeology and Socio-Religious studies. He is mostly known for his highly acclaimed original work, Technology in Vedic Literature in which by deft-handling of the Vedic, Avestan and Indo-European data, he has drawn the profiles of several prehistoric and protohistoric technologies such as wood, leather, textiles, ceramics, etc., many of which being extremely fragile by nature, could not be procured materially except in some very exceptional situations, and hence, hardly find any allusion in archaeological writings although most of them were synchronously practiced by the early man along with the lithic. He has discussed some more facets of technology in The Vedic Technology, a Chapter contributed to the Volume, The Dawn of Indian Civilization of PHISPC, a dream project envisioned by late Professor D.P. Chattopadhyay and in several other writings in different publications. Besides these, he has exposed quite brilliantly some basic concepts of arts and aesthetics in a number of articles contributed to various journals. He has also authored and edited the volume Archaeological Findings from the Homeland of Buddha in which major archaeological discoveries of the region traversed by Buddha, have critically been analyzed and their significance has properly been exposed before the scholarly world. Another such volume to his credit is Ancient Indian Religious Architecture Beyond the Sectarian Boundaries, in which the relevance of prevalent categorizations of ancient Indian architecture as Hindu (Brahmanical), Buddhist and Jain, has thoroughly been questioned and many of their commonalities and shared concepts have brilliantly been analyzed. Dr. Chaturvedi has been a Senior Academic Fellow with Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi (2012-2014), and worked on the project History and Culture of Sarayupara Region on the Basis of Extant Archaeological Remains during 9th-12th Centuries C.E. Dr. Chaturvedi has guided several researches on different areas of history, attended a number of national and international academic meets, delivered lectures in different academic forums and contributed more than sixty research papers in various journals and publications.
The geographical unit of Sarayupara which falls between 26°05' - 28°30' north latitudes and 80°57'-84°29' east longitudes, comprises at present the districts of Gonda, Bahraich, Shravasti, Balrampur, Basti, Sant Kabirnagar, Gorakhpur, Siddharth Nagar, Mahrajganj, Kushinagar and Deoria of the eastern Uttar Pradesh and some adjacent areas of Bihar. Located to the south of Nepal tarai and north of the river Sarayu or Ghaghara, it extends about 260 km. from east to west and 130 km. from north to south, covering an area of about 33413 sq km. Recent archaeological discoveries have indubitably established that the region had been inhabited since the prehistoric times. Excavations at the sites of Sohgaura, Narahan, Imilidih (all in Gorakhpur district) and Lahuradeva (Sant Kabirnagar district) have revealed a continuous occupation of the region by the Neolithic-Chalcolithic settlers from about 7000 BCE up to the beginning of our historical period. During the 6th century BCE, the region was under the imperial authority of Kosala. In the centuries to come, it was successively ruled by the Mauryas, the Kusanas, the Imperial Guptas, the Pusyabhutis, the Gurjara Pratiharas and the Gahadavalas.
It is in this wider context and also as an integral part of other political dispensations that the region of Sarayupara has unexceptionally been the subject-matter of our political and cultural studies pursued till date by the historians. No attempt has so far been made to recognize its independent entity, political or cultural, which, most significantly, emerged during the 9th-12th centuries CE. Testimony of rich inscriptional data pertaining to its independent geo-political rise, and of a variegated archaeological material affirming the emergence of some new cultural configurations in the region, has almost been overlooked or taken with askance by the historians. It is in order to dispel this anomaly and negligence in the existing historical and cultural studies of the region, pursued thus far, that a project, entitled, 'History and Culture of Sarayupara Region in East Uttar Pradesh during 9th -12th Centuries CE on the basis of Extant Archaeological Remains' has been planned to analyze all these aspects critically and comprehensively.
Rise of Sarayupara as a distinct geo-political unit is evidently a post-Harsa phenomenon. Disintegration of political authority from the Northern India during this period led to the formation of a distinct geo-political unit to the north of the river Sarayu, comprising the aforesaid eleven districts of east Uttar Pradesh and extending northward up to Nepal tarai. Emergence of this new unit is evidenced from the terms Sarayupara and Saruvara, specifically occurring in the inscriptions of the Kalachuris and the Gahadavalas. The first reference to this newly-conceived unit is found in the Kahla inscription of the Kalachuri king Sodhadeva of VS 1134 (1077 CE) which describes the king as Sarayupara jivitam, literally, one subsisting on Sarayupara or, more appropriately, on the resources of Sarayupara. Though placed in the eleventh century, it sheds revealing light on the previous history of the dynasty, and, more importantly, alludes to the ninth predecessor of the king, namely, Gunambodhideva, who is stated to have obtained this piece of land (i.e. of Sarayupara) from Bhojadeva (Bhojadevaptabhumih). The king Bhoja of the said inscription is none else but the famous Gurjara Pratihara ruler Mihira Bhoja who ruled over his kingdom from 836 CE to 885 CE. In fact, the Gurjara Pratiharas were constantly at war with their eastern adversaries, the Palas of Bengal, to establish their suzerainty in the Gangetic valley, especially in the region of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar which formed the boundary line between the Pratihara and Pala kingdoms. For it, they required a strong foothold to check the advances of their eastern adversaries and to launch their own military expeditions more expeditiously and effectively. Hence, the Gurjara-Pratiharas under their ablest king Mihira Bhoja created a new geo-political unit of Sarayupara sometime in the middle of the 9th century CE and gave it to his feudatory Kalachuri Gunambodhideva who is stated to have snatched the glory of the king of Gauda, often identified with the Pala king Devapala. Evidently, it was to reward this Kalachuri feudatory for his invaluable military services in the war against the Palas that the Gurjara-Pratihara ruler placed him on this newly-created principality which would apparently be a bulwark against any incursion and adventurous act of their eastern rivals in future. Thus, it is obvious enough that it was in order to meet the militaristic challenges posed by the Palas of Bengal, their principal rivals in the political horizon of Northern India, that the Gurjara-Pratiharas carved-out a new territory of much strategic importance which came to be known as Sarayupara because of its location across the river Sarayu. That it continued as a distinct geo-political unit up to 12th century CE, is corroborated by the testimony of Pall (District Gorakhpur) and Lar (District Deoria) copperplate inscriptions of Govindachandra Gahadavala, respectively of VS 1171 (1114 CE) and VS 1202 (1146 CE), which refer to Saruvara (= Sarayupara) along with its administrative units and villages.
The region was known by some other appellations also. The least known inscriptions of the Malayaketus, who ruled intermittently over this region from the beginning of 9th century to the 12th century CE, term it variously as Daradagandaki, Daddachandika, Daddarandika, Saumyasindhu or Uttarasamudra. Apparently, as the kingdom of Sarayupara extended over the flood-plains of the river Gandaka at the foot of the Himalayas, it was named differently, ostensibly on the basis of this another important river-system of the region, by the Malayaketus, the principal rivals of the Kalachuris in the political life of the area. It is from this part of Sarayupara that three sets of the six copperplate inscriptions of the Malayaketus which are the only sources for delineating the history of the dynasty, have been recovered.
I am, indeed, very happy to put on record that this publication is the outcome of rigorous research of Dr. Neelima Vashishtha, completed under Indian Council of Historical Research fellowship scheme, 'Senior Academic Fellowship'. The publication is the part of Council's monograph series continuing for decades. As indicated by the title, Ram Katha in Visual and Performing Arts of Rajasthan (ca. 8th to 20th Century AD), it unravels examples of Ram Katha in sculptures of temples, manuscripts, wall paintings and folk arts, such as Kavada, Phada, Ramlila,etc. The present study, perhaps, includes all major areas of Ramayana tradition that would facilitate the comprehension of nuances in all arts of Rajasthan and the culture of its people along with the growth and development of visual and performing arts.
I must congratulate the Dr. Neelima Vashishtha for her dedicated and sincere efforts for presenting the research before the reading public. At the same time, I compliment the officials and staff of the ICHR for extending their services in bringing out the publication with care and attention. I thank Prof. Kumar Ratnam, Member Secretary, Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Director (Journal, Publication & Library), Dr. Omjee Upadhyay, Director (Research & Administration) and Dr. Md Naushad Ali, Deputy Director (Publication), and Dr. Saurabh Kumar Mishra, Deputy Director (Journal) for their sincere efforts put in during the process of this publication. Last, but not the least, I thank Mr. Anupam Banerjee of the Khama Publishers for giving his personal attention to help in bringing out the publication in a neat and presentable format.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
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