After Emperor Ashok’s son Emperor Jalauk’s regime, for almost 300 years, no significant ruler dominated the region. Taking advantage of such a scraggly, Kushans established their dominance over the land. The three kings Hushka, Jushka and Kanishka in Kushan lineage were protuberant. They belonged to Turkey. They built cities named Hushkpur, Jushkpur and Kanishkpur.
Kanishka was the most prominent of all in the matters of Political strategy, Pseudoanticline and Military strength and with his nimble leadership and exceptional strength of Kashmiris behind him, he extended his kingdom from Northern Bharat to faraway Central Asia. The Kashmiri culture was infused in these regions as a result of their settlement.
Emperor Kanishka officially adopted Buddhism and made Kashmir into an important Center for its semination and declared Buddhism as the official religion of Kashmir. The third Buddhist Conference was held in Kashmir, too. During the regime of Tushk dynasty, Buddhism spread around Lanka, (Srilanka), Java, Burma (Myanmar) and during Emperor Kanishka’s rule, it reached China, Central Asia and Tibet.
Emperor Kanishka built the city of Kanishkapur, which still exists in Baramulla district of Kashmir, known as Kanispur.
The Huns defeated the then Kashmiri ruler and established their rule at the beginning of the Sixth century (515 CE). The leader of Huns, Mihirkul is known in history, as the ‘Cruel ruler’. The mysterious fact behind Mihirkul, successfully conquering Kashmir, lies in the honest generosity of Bharatiyas. Malava ‘s valiant Emperor Yashovarman had defeated Huns initially. Later, the ruler of Magadh, Baladitya, defeated Mihirkul and jailed him. But the valor is surpassed by kindness in Bhartiya culture. Mihirkul was set free by soft-hearted mother of Baladitya. Mihirkul’s cunning tactics took utmost advantage of this magnanimity and vanquished Kashmir adopting foul maneuvering.
A single example depicting the Cruel mindset of Mihirkul would be sufficient. During one of his Military movements, an elephant from his troupe fell off from the mountain range of Pir Panjal. His bloodcurdling cry excited the king and he immediately ordered a hundred elephants to be thrown off from the peak of the mountain and their collective howl tantalized him!!!
But, King Mihirkul’s inhuman conduct was short-lived. Shaivism in Kashmir was deep routed and their unified strength, as well as their efficiency, enforced Mihirkul to surrender and embrace Shaivism. Mihirkul not only espoused Shaivism but also built the well-known Mihireshwar Temple, which currently falls in the Pahalgam district, known as Mamleshwar Temple.
Both, the invaders from across the border, the Kushan and the Huns, integrated into Bharatiya’s cultural and religious values.
After Mihirkul ‘s death, Kashmir was ruled by local kings and they had established amicable relations with Ujjain’s king Vikramaditya. King Vikramaditya, had appointed one of his competent ministers Pratapaditya, to govern Kashmir. This illustrates that Kashmir, too during the time was a member of Bharatvarsh ‘s federal structure and the ruler at the helm of such a structure, invariably Emperor of Bharat. Prataditya too ruled over Kashmir efficiently and successfully.
In the third volume of Kalhan’s Rajtarangini, there is a mention of a king named Meghvahan.
He was born in Gandhar and as a result of consistent efforts by Emperor Kanishka, Buddhism had spread across the borders of Afghanistan and Turkey. Even Meghvahan had attempted a unique initiative to escalate the spread of Buddhism.
He inspired a ban on Animal slaughter, across the world. (Rajtarangini 3/27)
After banning animal slaughter in Kashmir, he travelled towards South, till Lanka. Once, while travelling for this mission, he was stationed on the shore of the Southern ocean.
A Rakshas, named Shabar, was ready to sacrifice a Brahmin child. King Meghvahan endeavoured to offer his own body (Rajtarangini 3/57), to save the life of a child and hence set an example for amuck Rakshas (Rajtarangini 3/58), to refrain from indulging in combustion.
Meghvahan was married to the princess of Assam, named Amritprabha. Bengal and Assam were predominantly followers of Vaishnavism. The Vaishnav Darshan entered Kashmir, through the dedicated efforts of Queen AmritPrabha. Though it could not be as widespread as Shaivism and Buddhism, neither came in confrontations with any of them. On the contrary, Queen AmritPrabha initiated the creation of Matha named Amrut Bhavan as lodging and boarding facilities for Buddhist monks traveling from across the world.
Amrut Bhavan was also known as Ukaang Bhavan.
Kashmir is situated in the Himalayan mountain range but King Meghvahan had developed highly cordial relations with kingdoms of Southern Bharat. The flagstaff of Kashmir’s flag that was hoisted over the Rajbhavan was presented to King Meghvahan by the King of Srilanka, the state in Bharatvarsh’s southern tip.
After the glorious period of King Meghvahan ‘s regime, the era of 254 years of the Karakota dynasty has been imbibed with Golden ink, while delineating the ancient history of Kashmir.
The founder of the Kakorta dynasty, King Durlabhvardhan, was throned in the year 625 AD.
During his rule, in 631 AD, the renowned traveler from China, Hu-an-Sang had reached Kashmir and stayed in Kashmir for two years as a State guest.
He has portrayed the regnum of King Durlabhvardhan in his recounts. He says,” The king of Kashmir had strong repercussion in lands far and wide, till Takshashila, Hazara, Poonch and Rajouri. He has been a mighty king and ruled over the multitudinous region. He had control over the promenade from Kashmir to Kabul but he was not entirely independent.
The region of Kashmir was under the kingdom of Emperor Harshvardhan, of Kanauj. Kashmir was economically prosperous and flourishing with Fruits and Flower valleys. Buddhism had spread widely.” The account by Hu-an-Sang is a clear indicator of the political system prevalent in Bharatvarsh in the ancient period.
In the similar Karkota dynasty, Queen Shrinarendravarsha gave birth to three princes, named Chandrapida, Tarapida and Avimuktapid, who were also known as Vajraditya, Udayaditya and Lalitaditya.
When Chandrapida (nee, Vajraditya), ascended the throne, he turned out to be an extremely virtuous King. As per the historian, Gopinath Shrivastav, King Chandrapida was considered enormously strong by the Emperor of China too. He had sent his envoy to the kingdom of China with the proposal to fight the battle against Arabs together, in AD 713.
Once the King Chandrapida was locating a venue to build a colossal temple complex. His officials found a location that belonged to a poor Cobbler, who lived on the said land in his hut.
The Cobbler was reluctant to vacate the space. The king’s officials tried to forcefully shift him to another place. King Chandrapida chose to reach out himself and requested the Cobbler to move elsewhere. The cobbler understood that the King’s request was not for his personal benefit but for the purpose of national interest. He agreed to shift to another place with the help of Officials of the Kingdom.
In one more instance, king Chandrapida imparted severe punishment to Brahmin for his heinous conduct. The Brahmin complained to the king’s brother, Tarapida who had been opposing King Chandrapida for a long time. Tarapida convinced the Brahmin to poison King Chandrapida. King Chandrapida, on his death bed, chose to forgive the Brahmin and hence, till his last breath pursued Generosity wholeheartedly.
King Chandrapida’s wife queen Prakashdevi along with Guru Mihirdutta and Minister Kalidutt initiated the construction of a number of Temples and monuments of National importance.
Source of Refrence :
हमारी भूलोका स्मारक-धर्मान्तरित कश्मीर
नरेन्द्र सहगल
राजतरंगिनी-कल्हान
