Taank Kingdom

Taank Kingdom
c. 7th century–c. 10th century
Taank Kingdom shown in violet in the north of the Indian subcontinent circa 700 AD.
Religion	Hinduism
Government	Monarchy
History
• Established	c. 7th century
• Disestablished	c. 10th century
Preceded by Succeeded by Alchon Huns Hindu Shahis Turk Shahis
Today part of	Pakistan India

Taank Kingdom (also known as Takka ^{[1] [2] [3]} or Taki ^[4] ) was a kingdom based in the Punjab from 6th to 10th century CE. The kingdom was located south of Kashmir and north of Sindh, extending from the Indus in the west to the Beas river in the east. Its capital was the city of Sagala (modern day Sialkot).

History

Takka kingdom was called as Tseh-kia or Zhejia (磔迦) by the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang, who visited it in 629–645 CE. According to him, the kingdom stretched from river Beas in its east to the Indus in the west, and the states of Mülasthanapura (Multan) and Bofadou or Parvata (near modern Sialkot) were its vassals. ^{[5] [3] [6] [7]}

Xuanzang further noted that it produced abundant quantities of non-sticky rice and wheat, also gold, brass, iron and other metals. ^{[8] [9] [10]} Despite having an illustrious Buddhist heritage as evident from three colossal stupas, Buddhism had declined in the region, ^{[11] [12]} and later collapsed after the Alchon Hun persecution, resulting in it being sparsely practised in only about ten monasteries. On the contrary, Brahminical Hinduism rose as the primary religion in the region and there were several hundreds of Hindu Deva shrines. ^{[13] [14]}

Hyecho, a Korean Buddhist monk from Silla, also visited the kingdom in the early 8th century. He recorded its name as Takshar or Zhashe (吒社), and located it to the west of Jālandhara . Contrary to Xuanzang he found many Buddhist monastires, with king and commoners alike believing in the three jewels. ^[15]

The earliest Muslim source to mention the kingdom is Akhbār al-Ṣīn wa’l-Hind, written in 851–52, and traditionally attributed to a merchant named Sulaiman. He calls the kingdom al-Ṭāqā. According to his account the ruler of the kingdom lived peacefully with its neighbours and was in good terms with the Arabs and the Rashtrakuta Empire of Deccan. He described the women of the kingdom as most beautiful of all Hind. ^[16] Several scholars have identified Takka kingdom with the kingdom of al-Usaifan, located between Kashmir, Multan and Kabul. Its king is reported by al-Biladhuri to have converted to Islam during the reign of Caliph al-Mu'tasim (r. 833–842). ^[17]

In 915, the Arab historian al-Masudi mentions it as at-Tákin, referring to the hills of the Punjab. In Hudud al-Alam , an anonymous geographical treatise written in 982, the kingdom is called Tāqi and is described as "a country with populous towns". ^[18] In the Rajatarangini of Kalhana (12th century CE), the kingdom is called Takka-désa while al-Biruni in his Kitab al-Hind calls it Tākēshar, located in the vicinity of Kashmir. ^[19] The Chach Nama (history of Sindh) mentions it as Tak. ^[20] The Lawik dynasty of Ghazni is also believed to have belonged to the Takka people. ^[21]

See also

• History of Punjab

References

1. Handa, Om Chanda; Hāṇḍā, Omacanda (2001). Temple Architecture of the Western Himalaya: Wooden Temples. Indus Publishing. p. 27. ISBN   978-81-7387-115-3.
2. Grewal, J. S. (8 October 1998). The Sikhs of the Punjab. Cambridge University Press. p. 4. ISBN   978-0-521-63764-0.
3. Bakker, Hans (29 June 2015). The World of the Skandapurāṇa. BRILL. p. 113. ISBN   978-90-04-27714-4.
4. Ahmad, Aijazuddin (2009). Geography of the South Asian Subcontinent: A Critical Approach. Concept Publishing Company. p. 81. ISBN   978-81-8069-568-1.
5. Balogh, Dániel (12 March 2020). Hunnic Peoples in Central and South Asia: Sources for their Origin and History. Barkhuis. p. 307. ISBN   978-94-93194-01-4.
6. Rongxi (1996), pp. 97, 306.
7. Balogh, Dániel, ed. (2020). Hunnic Peoples in Central and South Asia: Sources for their Origin and History. Barkhuis. pp. 93, 279, 307. ISBN   978-94-93194-01-4.
8. Singh, Upinder (2017). Political Violence in Ancient India. Harvard University Press. p. 241. ISBN   978-0-674-97527-9.
9. Foreign Influence on Ancient India by Krishna Chandra Sagar p.216
10. Ghosh, Amalananda (1965). Taxila. CUP Archive. p. 791. Archived from the original on 18 November 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
11. Gopal, Navjeevan (3 May 2019). "In ancient Punjab, religion was fluid, not watertight, says Romila Thapar" . The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 3 May 2019. Retrieved 9 March 2023. But after the Gupta period, Buddhism began to decline
12. Fogelin, Lars (2015). An Archaeological History of Indian Buddhism. Oxford University Press. p. 149. ISBN   9780199948239. the emergence and spread of Hinduism through Indian society helped lead to Buddhism's gradual decline in India.
13. McNair, Amy (2007). Donors of Longmen. University of Hawaiʻi Press. p. 89. ISBN   9780824829940 . Retrieved 9 March 2023. ... and the destruction of Buddhist establishment in Northwest India by the Hephthalite invader, Mihirakula (502-542) in the early sixth century.
14. Ghosh, Amalananda (1965). Taxila. CUP Archive. p. 791. Archived from the original on 18 November 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
15. Whitfield (2012), p. 107.
16. Mackintosh-Smith (2017), p. 14.
17. Ḍār, Saifurraḥmān (1984). Taxila and the Western World. Lahore: al-Waqar Publishers. p. 20. OCLC   1172089120.
18. Minorsky & Bosworth (1970), p. 91.
19. Minorsky & Bosworth (1970), p. 249.
20. Vishveshvaranand Indological Journal, Vol XVI (in English, Hindi, and Sanskrit). Hoshiarpur: Vishveshvaranand Vedic Research Institute. p. 92.
21. Devra, G.S.L.; Arora, Shashi (2012). "Hindu Commanders in the Army of Sultans of Ghazna: A Case Study of Vijaypal of Bayana". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 73: 205–211. ISSN   2249-1937. JSTOR   44156207.

Bibliography

• Bosworth, C.E., ed. (1970). Hudud al-'Alam: The Regions of the World. Translated by Minorsky, V. (second ed.). London: Luzac & Co. OCLC   615158224.
• Sīrāfī, Abū Zayd Ḥasan ibn Yazīd (2017). F. Kennedy, Philip (ed.). Accounts of China and India. Library of Arabic literature. Translated by Mackintosh-Smith, Tim. New York: New York University Press. ISBN   978-1-4798-3059-6.
• Xuanzang (1996). The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions. BDK English Tripiṭaka. Translated by Rongxi, Li (1. print ed.). Berkeley, California: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research. ISBN   978-1-886439-02-3.
• Whitfield, Roderick, ed. (2012). Korean Buddhist Culture: Accounts of a Pilgrimage, Monuments, and Eminent Monks. Collected Works of Korean Buddhism. Vol. 10. Seoul, Korea: Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism. ISBN   978-89-94117-17-1.

• Cunningham, Alexander (1871). The Ancient Geography of India: I. The Buddhist Period, Including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang. Munshiram Manoharlal. pp. 150–154. ISBN   9788121510646.