DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9541#0046
24
HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.
that peace could long be maintained between a rising and ambitious
sect, and one which was fast sinking into decay; apparently beneath
the load of an overgrown priesthood. Accordingly we find that ten
years after the death of Siladitya troubles supervened as prophesied,1
and the curtain soon descends on the great drama of the history of
northern India, not to be raised again for nearly three centuries. It
is true, we can still follow the history of the Ballabhis for some little
time longer, and it would be satisfactory if we could fix the date of
their destruction with precision, as it was the event which in tin; Hindu
mind is considered the closing act of the drama. If it was destroyed
by a foreign enemy, it must have been by the .Moslem, either before or
during the time Mohammed Kasim, a.h. 71-2, 718. It was a flourish-
ing city in G40, when visited by Hiouen Thsang, and from that time,
till the death of Kasim, the Moslems were in such power on the Indus,
and their historians tell us the events of these years in such detail,
that no other foreigner could have crossed the river during that period.
If it perished by some internal revolution of convulsion, which is more
probable, it only shared the fate that overtook all northern India about
this period. Strange to say, even the Moslems, then in the plenitude
of their power during the Khalifat of Bagdad, retired from their
Indian conquests, as if the seething cauldron were too hot for even
them to exist within its limits.
The more southern dynasty of the Chalukyas of Kalyan seem to
have retained their power down to about 750, and may, up to that
time, have exercised a partial sway to the north of the Nerbudda, but
after that we lose all sight of them ; while, as a closing act in the
great drama, the Raja Tarangini represents the King of Kashmir—
Lalitaditya—as conquering India from north to south, and subjecting
all the five kingdoms, into which it was nominally divided, to his
imperious sway.
We need not stop now to inquire whether this was exactly what
happened or not. It is sufficient for present purposes to know that
about the middle of the 8th century a dark cloud settled over the
north of India, and that during the next two centuries she was torn
to pieces by internal troubles, which have left nothing but negative
evidence of their existence. During that period no event took place
of which we have any record ; no dynasty rose to sufficient distinction
to be quoted even in the lists of the bard; no illustrious name
appears whose acts have been recorded; no buildings were erected of
which we have a trace;2 and but few inscriptions engraved. Bark
1 ' Vie et Voyages de Hiouen Thsang,' < - This does not apply to Oritsa, which,
i. p. 215. It need hardly be said that all from its remote situation, and having at
these ]iarticulai,s are taken from the three : that time no resident Buddhist popula-
volumes relating his Indian experiences, i Hon, seems to have eseaped being drawn
translated by Stanislas .lulien. into the vortex of these troubles,
HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.
that peace could long be maintained between a rising and ambitious
sect, and one which was fast sinking into decay; apparently beneath
the load of an overgrown priesthood. Accordingly we find that ten
years after the death of Siladitya troubles supervened as prophesied,1
and the curtain soon descends on the great drama of the history of
northern India, not to be raised again for nearly three centuries. It
is true, we can still follow the history of the Ballabhis for some little
time longer, and it would be satisfactory if we could fix the date of
their destruction with precision, as it was the event which in tin; Hindu
mind is considered the closing act of the drama. If it was destroyed
by a foreign enemy, it must have been by the .Moslem, either before or
during the time Mohammed Kasim, a.h. 71-2, 718. It was a flourish-
ing city in G40, when visited by Hiouen Thsang, and from that time,
till the death of Kasim, the Moslems were in such power on the Indus,
and their historians tell us the events of these years in such detail,
that no other foreigner could have crossed the river during that period.
If it perished by some internal revolution of convulsion, which is more
probable, it only shared the fate that overtook all northern India about
this period. Strange to say, even the Moslems, then in the plenitude
of their power during the Khalifat of Bagdad, retired from their
Indian conquests, as if the seething cauldron were too hot for even
them to exist within its limits.
The more southern dynasty of the Chalukyas of Kalyan seem to
have retained their power down to about 750, and may, up to that
time, have exercised a partial sway to the north of the Nerbudda, but
after that we lose all sight of them ; while, as a closing act in the
great drama, the Raja Tarangini represents the King of Kashmir—
Lalitaditya—as conquering India from north to south, and subjecting
all the five kingdoms, into which it was nominally divided, to his
imperious sway.
We need not stop now to inquire whether this was exactly what
happened or not. It is sufficient for present purposes to know that
about the middle of the 8th century a dark cloud settled over the
north of India, and that during the next two centuries she was torn
to pieces by internal troubles, which have left nothing but negative
evidence of their existence. During that period no event took place
of which we have any record ; no dynasty rose to sufficient distinction
to be quoted even in the lists of the bard; no illustrious name
appears whose acts have been recorded; no buildings were erected of
which we have a trace;2 and but few inscriptions engraved. Bark
1 ' Vie et Voyages de Hiouen Thsang,' < - This does not apply to Oritsa, which,
i. p. 215. It need hardly be said that all from its remote situation, and having at
these ]iarticulai,s are taken from the three : that time no resident Buddhist popula-
volumes relating his Indian experiences, i Hon, seems to have eseaped being drawn
translated by Stanislas .lulien. into the vortex of these troubles,