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Samrat (or, Samraj) is a Sanskrit word meaning emperor.[1]. The title for an empress was Samrajyi (साम्राज्ञी).[2] This word has also been used as an adjective of various Vedic deities.
Introduction[edit]
From the latter part of the Vedic era, every powerful state started trying to get the post of 'Emperor'. In Aitareya Brahmana (VIII, 14.2.3) there is a description of different types of states in different Indian regions and it is said that the kings of the eastern direction were anointed for the post of emperor. The development of the first Indian empire in Magadha is also known from history. Later, opposites like Chakravarti, Sarvabhaum and Ekrat etc. also started being used for the emperor. In fact, all these words denoted a ruler who himself had full sovereign power and who did not accept the supremacy of any king greater than him.
In Amarkosh (Kshatriya section 8), the emperor is said to be the one who is the giver of Rajasuya, the controller of other kings and Mandaleshwar i.e. the center (Vijigishu) of the twelve kingdoms. In Shukra-Niti, written some time later (1.182 and onwards), various types of rulers have been classified on the basis of their income. In that order, there was an emperor who was bigger than Samanta (Fuedal Lord), Mandalik, Raja (King), Maharaja (Great King) and Swarat, whose income was between 10 million to 100 million Karshapana. Virat and Sarvabhaum have been placed above the emperor. But the basis of emperorship and empire was economic, it does not seem acceptable. In fact its basis was political power. Rajashekhar in Kavyamimansa (Ga. O. Series, page 92) has called the emperor the conqueror who conquers the entire land from the South Sea to the Himalayas. But that place has also been called Chakravarti area. It is clear that Samrat and Chakravarti were used as synonymous terms. In the 3rd Century BCE, Kautilya had also considered the Asetu Himalaya (Himalaya to Kanyakumari) [3] region as the Chakravarti region in the Arthashastra. (Arth., ninth, 1). The same expansion of the empire's territory is also found in Vayu Purana (45, 80-87) and Matsya Purana (113.9-15). the Vayu Purana reads "he who conquers the whole of Bhāratavarṣa is celebrated as a samrāta (Vayu Purana 45, 86)."[4] But this was only an ideal, which only a few emperors like Chandragupta Maurya, Bindusara, Ashoka, Dasharatha and Samprati could achieve. Even among the many rulers who held the title of emperor after the Maurya Empire, no one could fully achieve that ideal.
Pravarasena I was the only Vakataka ruler to be called Samrat[5] even though his empire never even covered half of Bhāratavarṣa.
Samrajya system[edit]
In the Vedic period, there was a federal imperial system called the Samrajya system and Samrat was the emperor of that system.[6]
Those monarchs, who could bring under subjection many petty rulers called Rajans, claimed the title of Samrat.[7]
Chandragupta of the Maurya Empire is referred to as the first emperor of the mostly unified Indian subcontinent.[8]
References[edit]
- ^ https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/samraj
- ^ "RBSE Class 7 English Vocabulary Gender". 9 April 2019.
- ^ https://mr.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E0%A4%86%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%B9%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B2%E0%A4%AF
- ^ Pargiter, F. F. (1922), Ancient Indian Historical Tradition, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, pp. ff. 8 p. 40
- ^ Singh, Upinder (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Pearson Education India. p. 482. ISBN 978-81-317-1677-9.
Pravarasena I was the only Vakataka king with the imperial title samrat; the others had the relatively modest title maharaja.
- ^ Mahajan V.D. Ancient India. S. Chand Publishing. p. 166. ISBN 978-93-5253-132-5.
- ^ Luniya, Bhanwarlal Nathuram (1978). Life and Culture in Ancient India: From the Earliest Times to 1000 A.D. Lakshmi Narain Agarwal. p. 130.
- ^ Chandragupta in the Encyclopædia Britannica