Ancient History Of Jharkhand (Jharkhand GK In English)

Jharkhand has a unique geographical, demographic and historical composition. It has always been a meeting point for several cultures and races.Different races like Indo-Aryan,Negrito, Proto-Australoids and Mongoloids have co-existed together since ancient times and combined to form a new culture. Travelogue, archaeological and historical proofs play a dominant function in building up of any history but in case of Jharkhand, legends, ancestral stories and folk tales also play a major role in creating its history.
The word Jharkhand is formed by addition of two words viz, Jhar and Khand. Jhar means forest and Khand means a part of land. Thus, the literal meaning of Jharkhand is 'the land of forests'. The first reference of this region is found in Aitareya Brahmana in which it was named as Punda or Pundra. In Digvijay Parva of Mahabharata, this region is called Pundarike Desh. The earliest reference of word Jharkhand comes from a 13th century copper plate inscription. The word Jharkhand has also been referred in the couplet of Kabir Das and Malik Mohammad Jayasi's Padmavat.

Sources of Ancient History of Jharkhand (Jharkhand GK in English)

There are different sources of historiscal evidence which provide important information about the ancient history of Jharkhand. These source are as follows:

Archaeological Sources

▸ Archaeologists have found evidences in different parts of Jharkhand which provide them with substantial amount of information about the place. These evidences are dated to 1,00,000 BC and include copper tools, jewellery, stone tools, coins, idols, etc.

Inscriptions

▸ Some important inscriptions provide authentic information about historical events occurs in Jharkhand.
▸ Saridkel Brahmi inscription (Khunti), Kabrakalan Brahmi inscription (Palamu), Dudhpani inscription (East Singhbhum), Vishnugupta inscription of Kamleswari (Chatra), etc are important evidences of the ancient history of Jharkhand.
▸ These inscriptions are scattered over the state of Jharkhand and hold valuable and authentic information.

Some Important Inscriptions found in Jharkhand

Inscription

Period

Belinigarh inscription

4-5th Century AD

Chandil inscription

8th-9th Century AD

Pat Kum inscription

8-9th Century AD

Mahendrapal Itkhori inscription

9th-10th Century AD

Coins

▸ Coins belonging to the Kushana Empire have been found in the Ranchi district of Jharkhand from the 1st and 2nd century BC.
▸ Some such coins have also been found inMayurbhanj and Singhbhum. Roman coins have been found in Singhbhum, which are a proof that Jharkhand was involved in foreign trade during this time. Indo-Scythian coins have been found in Chaibasa.

Statues

▸ Statues from the Pala dynasty and remains of stones and 'Shiva Linga' from 8th century to 11th century CE have been found in Dumduma in Hazaribagh district.
▸ Idols of Hindu and Jain Gods and Goddesses from 7-8th century CE have been found in Singhbhum.
▸ Buddha idols have been found in several areas of Dhanbad and Hazaribagh. Also, many Jain statues have been found in Palamu and near Kangsabati river.

Drawings/Paintings

▸ Pre-historic paintings have been excavated in 1991, at several places in Hazaribagh. Some pictures of the act of hunting have been found in the caves in Palamu district at Bhawanathpur.
▸ Painting made by primitive people, ancient Sun temple and cave are found in Isko of Hazaribagh district.

Literary Sources

The literary sources of Jharkhand can be divided into religious and non-religious literature.
In religious literature it was described as: — In Mahabharat, Jharkhand has been called Pashubhumi and Pundarike Desh.
— The region of Santhal Pargana, in the ancient period was known by the name Narikhand and later by name Kankjol.
— In Early Sanskrit literature, Chhota Nagpur has been called Kalind Desh.
— In Bhagvata Purana, Jharkhand was known by the name Kikkat Pradesh.
— The region of Jharkhand is called as 'Mund' in Vishnu Purana and 'Murund' in Vayu Purana.
In non-religious literature it was described as: — Chinese traveller Xuanzang described Jharkhand's Rajmahal region as 'Kelo-Nasu-Fala-Na' in his work 'Si-Yu-Ki'.
— Chhota Nagpur and Rajmahal has been described by many foreign travellers such as Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang) (China), Abdul Latif (Iran), Behbahani (Iran), Bishop Heber, etc.

Period of Ancient History (Jharkhand GK in English)

The period of ancient history is divided into pre-historic period and historic period.

Pre-historic Period

The pre-historic period of Jharkhand is divided into early stone age,middle stone age and new stone age. These are discussed below:

Early Stone Age

▸ Stone tools of this age like hand axe and scraper have been found in places like Bokaro, Deoghar, Dumka, Banda inHazaribagh and Damodar river area in Ramgarh.
▸ Copper utensils and tools have been found in Bargunda and Karharbari.
▸ Pre-historic cave paintings are found in Isko, Hazaribagh. These are dated to about 9000 to 50,000 BC.
▸ Pottery, tattoos, marriage and harvest paintings have been found here. Several other materials belonging to the old stone age have been found in areas like Amainagar, Chaibasa, Dahigadha, Dhorangi, Narsinghgarh, Jagannathpur, Lotapahar etc.
▸ Stone tools, paintings are also found in Palamu, Garhwa, Singhbhum.
▸ Places like Jurdag, Parsadin, Jojda, Chipdi, Saradkel etc had earliest remains of paleolithic period.

Middle Stone Age

▸ Many archaeological proofs have been found in Dhanbad and some regions of Dumka and Palamu, relating to the middle stone age.
▸ In places like Badkagaon, Mandi, Rajrappa, etc in Hazaribagh district and Ramgarh, stone tools have been found. The ruins of many temples are found in Dalmi. Also, relics of some Buddhist statues have been found here.
▸ Ranchi district is a storehouse of materials belonging to the middle stone age.
Many proofs have also been found in Jagannathpur and East Singhbhum.
Microliths were much in use during the middle stone age.
▸ The average length of the stone tools used were from 1 inch to 3 inch. Such tools have been found in Dhanbad, Dumka, Palamu, Ranchi and East Singhbhum areas of Jharkhand.

New Stone Age

▸ Several areas of Ranchi, Lohardaga, Jamshedpur and other places in East Singhbhum have been reported to contain proofs of the New Stone Age.
▸ The New Stone Age was much more advanced as compared to the earlier age, as people turned from hunters/gatherers to agriculturists and engaged in animal husbandry.
▸ A proof of this could be the earthenware pots, weapons made of animal bones and hammers made of stone.
▸ Many weapons have been excavated from the Karo river area in Chaibasa in 1868.

Bronze Age

▸ Archaeological proofs of Bronze Age have been found in Singhbhum area. It is believed that this age was founded in Chhota Nagpur region by the Asurs and Birjia tribes.
▸ Different types of tools and utensils made of bronze were found in different regions like Hazaribagh, Ranchi, Bokaro, Dumka, Mandu, Baramunda, Rajrappa, Kusumgarh, Pandu, etc.
▸ A cup made of bronze has been found from Lohardaga. At Pandu, a brick wall, mud pot, and copper tools have been found.
▸ A copper chain and a bronze ring has been found fromMurad. Lupungdih has evidences of early cemetery.

Historic Period

The historic period refers to the period after pre-historic age. This include the vedic period and emergence of Buddhism and Jainism.

Vedic Period

During this period Jharkhand was known as Kikkat Pradesh. Asur, Khadiya and Birhor tribe resides in Jharkhand during this period. In vedic literature, the tribes residing in this region were referred to as Asurs.
Vedic period is divided into two parts which are as follows: Rigvedic Period In Rigveda, Jharkhand was referred to as Kikkatanam Dashoanarya.
People during Rigvedic period were pastoralists. The tribes in Jharkand are referred to as Shishnodeva in Rigveda.
Later Vedic Period During this period, Kikkat Pradesh is divided into several kingdoms like Magadha, Anga, Pundra, Kalinga, etc.During this period, the use of iron was started.

Buddhism

▸ Gautam Buddha was born at Lumbini (Nepal) is 563BC. He was the founder of Buddhism.
▸ Some scholars hold the view that Gautam Buddha was born in Chhota Nagpur.
Amarnath Das, a noted scholar has mentioned the names of some places in Chhota Nagpur, which were associated with the life and times of Buddha.
▸ Ruins of Buddhist monuments and statues have been found in different parts of Jharkhand like Dalmi, Diapur and Budhpur in Dhanbad district.
▸ Many Buddhist statues have been found in areas like Bhula village near Jamshedpur, Katunga village of Gumla district, Jonha in Ranchi district and Ichagarh in Dhanbad.
▸ Stone statue of Buddha has been found from Surjakund near Barhi in Hazaribagh.
▸ Several Buddhist remains have been found in Murtiya village in Palamu, which have been preserved in the museum of the Post-Graduate Department of History in Ranchi University.
▸ There is a mound in Belwadag village located 3 km East of Khunti in Ranchi district, which seems to be a part of Buddha Vihar's remains. The shape of its bricks have special features of the Mauryan era. Chandragupta Maurya was also familiar with this area as one of his rock inscriptions describe the area with reference to the tribes of Atwi.
▸ The renowned historian Devadatta Ramkrishna has identified Atwi as the area between Baghelkhand to the sea-coast of Odisha.
▸ A Buddhist monastery which was referred by Chinese traveller Fa-Hien was found in the Sitagarha mountain of Hazaribagh. Most of the samples found here are made of grey sandstone.

Jainism

▸ Alongwith Buddhism, Jainism also continued to spread in the Jharkhand area. The 23rd Tirthankar of the Jains, Parsvanatha achieved Nirvana on the Parasnath hill (also known as Sammed Shikharji).
▸ It is believed to be the place where twenty of the twenty four Jain Tirthankaras alongwith many other monks attained Moksha. The pilgrimage to Shikharji is a round trip of 27 km through the Madhuban forest in Giridih district.
▸ According to Dr Virottam, Chhota Nagpur area was the main centre of Jainism.
Several remains of Jainism have been found in the river valleys of Damodar and Kasai.
▸ Colonel Dalton found many Jain idols in Pakwira and banks of Kasai river.
▸ Some scholars are of the view that Jainism had the least influence in the areas of Palamu and Garhwa, but Dr Virottam disproved it and point out some worship places of Jains near Satbarwa.
▸ Although this area was not fertile, the commercial passages around it connected Tamralipti to Patliputra, Gaya and Varanasi.
▸ The writings of Hiuen Tsang elucidate that the rule of Shashank overthrew the religions of Buddhism and Jainism and re-established Hinduism as the prominent religion.

Ancient History of Tribes of Chhota Nagpur (Jharkhand GK in English)

▸ The earliest tribes of Chhota Nagpur were Kharias, Birhors and Asurs. Munda, Oraons and Hos were tribes of later time. The Cheros, the Kharwars, the Bhumij and the Santhals entered in the region of Jharkhand subsequently. Thus, the chronological order of tribes is Kharia, Birhor, Asur, Korwa, Munda, Oraon, Ho, Chero, Kharwar, Bhumij, Santhal.
▸ Kharia and Birhor entered Chhota Nagpur through the hills of Kaimur. Kharias were on of the first tribes to move in Chhota Nagpur like the Asurs and Birjias.
▸ The people belonging to the Oraon tribe were perhaps the inhabitants of South India, who has migrated to many places before reaching Chhota Nagpur. Some linguists have found similarities between the Kurk language of oraons and the Kannad and Tamil language.
▸ One of two branches of Oraon settled near Rajmahal. The people belonging to the other branch settled in Palamu and the remaining came to Chhota Nagpur.
▸ According to the historians, Mundas came to Jharkhand from Tibet.
▸ Munda tribes laid the foundation of the Naga dynasty of this region. By 1000 BC almost all tribes except Chero, Kharwar and Santhal had settled in this region.
DM Majumdar's book Races and Cultures of India give information about the entry of Chero, Kharwar, Bhumij, Santhal, etc tribes in Jharkhand.

Magadha Empire (Jharkhand GK in English)

▸ During Buddha era (6th to 5th Century BC), 16 Mahajanapadas were established.
Magadha was the most powerful among these 16 Mahajanapadas.
▸ This Mahajanapada was referred to as Kikkat. The first reference of Magadha can be found in Mahabharata. Jarasandh, the king of Asurs, was the ruler of Magadha.
▸ Magadha Empire was extended from Ganga river in the North to Vindhyas in the South and Sone river in the West.

Mauryan Empire (Jharkhand GK in English)

▸ Chandragupta Maurya was the most powerful ruler of Mauryan Empire. Chanakya was the mentor of Chandragupta Maurya who named Jharkhand as Kukkut in his composition Arthashastra.
▸ This region was known as Aatvi or Aatav during the reign of ChandraguptaMaurya.
▸ Chandragupta Maurya's grandson Ashoka embraced Buddhism and spread the Buddhist culture throughout India.
▸ An Ashokan pillar is situated in Chati Gobindpur in Dhanbad district, gives account about Mauryan expansion.
▸ The rock cut architecture of the Mauryan era was developed by Ashoka.
▸ Megasthenes has praised some of the features of Mauryan rule in his book 'Indica'.
▸ According to Arthashastra, the trade route of Magadha and Mauryan empire and South India passes through the region of Jharkhand.
▸ In Major Rock Edict XIII of Mauryan emperor Ashoka, this region was known by the name of Aatvik tribe. After Mauryan dynasty Jharkhand was ruled by different dynasties viz, Kushana dynasty, Gupta dynasty, Ganda dynasty etc.

Later Mauryan Period (Jharkhand GK in English)

Kushana Dynasty

▸ Coins of Kushanas were found in Ranchi and Singhbhum districts. Kushana ruler Kanishka appointed his own representative Mahakshtrapa Kharapallana and Khstrapa Vanaspara in the region of Jharkhand.
▸ Many Kushana coins have been found in Jharkhand. Three Kushana gold coins with atleast one of Huvishka was found from Belwadaga village in Ranchi district.
▸ In Chhota Nagpur region, 130 copper coins of Kushana period were found from Kositanar in Hazaribagh districts.

Gupta Dynasty

▸ The founder of this dynasty was Chandragupta I. In Jharkhand, the rule of Gupta empire started with the rule of Samudragupta.
▸ Samudragupta extended his empire to some parts of Jharkhand. Harisena, court poet of Samudragupta described his bravery in Allahabad pillar in which he described Jharkhand as 'Murund'.
▸ According to Hiuen Tsang, the ruler of Bengal of Gauda dynasty, Shashanka extended his empire to Jharkhand.

Naga Dynasty

▸ Nagvanshi in Chhota Nagpur region is one of the important rulers of Jharkhand.
The initial history of Nagvanshi is not authentic.
▸ There are different stories about their orgin. J Reid in 'Survey and Settlement Operations in the District of Ranchi' stated that the ancestors of the present Maharaja of Chhota Nagpur established themselves as the chiefs of the Munda tribes probably in the 10th century of the Christian era.
▸ Phani Mukut Rai was the first Nagvanshi ruler who ruled Banta, Harjan, Badam, Ramgarh, Gola, Topi, Palani, Mankeri, Baruta and Keonjhar. In his time, tribes dominated the region but other Hindu castes began to increase e.g. Brahmin, Rajput and other castes.
▸ The Nagvanshi ruler took the help of the Panchet ruler and defeated the ruler of Keonjhar. The fourth Nagvanshi ruler, Raja Pratap Rai transferred his capital from Sutiambe to Chutia.
▸ He invited all people to come and settler in the new capital. His capital was very peaceful. The order of the capitals of Nagvanshi rulers was Sutiambe, Chutia, Kokhara, Doisa, Palakot and Ratugarh.
▸ Nagvanshi ruled over Chhota Nagpur plateau in India for about 2000 years, i.e.
this dynasty continued to medieval and modern period.
▸ Some important rulers of this dynasty were Raja Madhu Singh, Raja Durjan Sal, Raja Raghunath Shah, Maharaja Udai Pratap Nath Shah Dev and the last king was Maharaja Lal Chintamani Sharan Nath Shah.

Pala Dynasty

▸ The Pala Empire was in power during the 8th to 12th century CE.
▸ Empire of Pala dynasty was centered on the present day Bengal-Bihar region. An inscriptin of Mahendrapala has been found from Itkhori in Chatra district.
▸ The Palas brought stability and prosperity in the Bengal region, which had been going through a period of chaos and disorder since the death of Shashanka.
▸ They practised the Mahayana and Tantric schools of Buddhism. Somapura Mahavihara, built by Dharmapala is the largest Buddhist Vihara in India.
▸ They created many temples and works of art and also supported the Universities of Nalanda and Vikramashila. 72 ancient temple of Pala empire were found in Maluti village in Jharkhand.

Rise of Local Dynasties in Jharkhand (Jharkhand GK in English)

Munda Kingdom

▸ Rita or Risa was the first tribal leader of Munda. He selected Sutiya Pahan as the ruler of Mundas who renamed the region of 'Sutiya Nagkhand'.
▸ Sutiya had divided his state into 7 gadhs and 21 parganas. These 7 gadhs were Lohagadh (Lohardaga), Hazarigadh (Hazaribagh), Palungadh (Palamu) Mangadh (Manbhum), Kesalgadh and Surgujgadh (Surguja).
▸ Further, he divided these gadhs into 21 parganas which were Omdanda, Doisa, Khukhra, Surguja, Jaspur, Gangpur, Porhat, Girga, Birua, Bonai, Korya, Lachra, Birna, Sonpur, Belkhadr, Belsing, Tamad, Lohardih, Kharsing, Udaipur and Changmangkar.
▸ The state formed by Sutiya Pahan was spread over entire Jharkhand.

Man Dynasty

▸ This dynasty was founded in Hazaribagh and Manbhum area. The reference of this dynasty was found in the inscriptions found in Dudhpani in Hazaribagh.
▸ Later this dynasty was divided into many small regions.

Rakshel Dynasty

▸ Palamu was ruled by Rakshel dynasty. The Rakshels reached Palamu from Rajasthan. They called themselves Rajput.
▸ They annexed Surguja to their kindgom. Other tribes of Palamu were the Kharwars, the Gonds, the Korwas, the Paharias and the Kisans.
▸ The Kharwars established their supremacy. Pratap Dhawal was an important ruler of this tribe.
▸ The part of Palamu was under the control of the Rakshels who ruled till the 16th century.

Singh Dynasty of Singhbhum

▸ Singhbhum is known by the name of the Singh rulers of Porhat. The descendants of the Singh dynasty claim that they had established their state even before the entry of Ho tribe in Singhbhum.
▸ According to Ho tribal people, Singhbhum is named after their god Singhbonga.
▸ The founders of Singh dynasty came from Western India and occupied Singhbhum around 8th century AD.
▸ There are two branches of Singh dynasty, viz the first branch was founded by Kasi Nath Singh and the second branch was founded by Darp Narayan Singh who succeeded to the throne in 1205 AD. Some prominent rulers of the second branch were Kashi Ram Singh, Jagannath Singh, etc.
▸ After the death of Darp Narayan Singh, Yudhisthira became the ruler. He ruled from 1262 AD to 1271 AD. The fourth ruler of this dynasty was Achyut Singh.

Dhal Dynasty

▸ The Dhalbhum area of Singhbhum region was ruled by the Dhal kings. They were probably washerman by caste. They used to offer human sacrifice.
▸ Chintamani was the first king of Dhal dynasty. Rankini Devi was the family goddess of Dhalbhum rulers.

Ramgarh State

▸ It was founded by Baghdeo Singh in 1368 AD. Alongwith his brother he worked with Naga Rulers. They left the service of Naga rulers and came to Karnpur. By defeating the local ruler they established their control over the region.
▸ They made Sisiya as their first capital. Later the capital was transferred to Urda, then Badam and at the end to Ramgarh.
▸ Raja Hemant Singh (1604-1661) made his capital from Urda to Badam. Later Raj Dalel Singh transferred his capital from Badam to Ramgarh in 1670.
▸ In 1772, Tej Singh of Singh Dynasty became the king of Ramgarh. He ruled from a place called Ichak. In the beginning of 1880, Ramgarh state passed into the hands of third dynasty. The first ruler of this dynasty was Raja Brahmadev Narayan Singh. The capital was shifted to a place known as Padma which is about 22 km from Hazaribagh. In 1937, Kamakhya Narayan conquered the throne of Ramgarh.

Khadagdiha State

▸ This state was located in the North-East of Ramgarh state.
▸ This state was established in the 15th century by Hansraj who defeated a ruler of Bandwat caste and established his control over a 90 km long region in Hazaribagh.

Panchet State

▸ It was the most powerful state of Western Jharkhand region. It was located in the East Nagvanshi state. According to the prevalent legend, it was established by the Son of King of Kashipur, Naresh Anit Lal.
▸ He constructed the fort of Panchetgarh and accepted the tail of Kapila cow as the state emblem.

Chero Dynasty

▸ This dynasty was established by Bhagwat Rai by defeating the Rakshels in 16th century AD.
▸ The rulers of this dynasty ruled over the Palamu region. The famous ruler of this dynasty was Raja Pratap Dhawal.