| 773-843 (20-90 AD) (L'Uniona Homanus) | 843-880 (90-127 AD) (L'Uniona Homanus) |
The Great Famine of 843 (90 AD)[]
The monsoons are a series of winds that bring in moist clouds that drench the areas of India and Southeast
A picture of the onset dates of Monsoons in the Indian Subcontinent. These did not occur in the year 843 (90 AD).
Asia in rain during the Summer. These weather patterns are very sensitive and vulnerable to changes in the environment. In the summer of the year 843 (90 AD) the monsoons did not arrive in Southeast Asia and the people of Nan as well as Srivijaya fell into famine. At the same time the deserts of Northern Sinica began to send great sandstorms farther outside the desert than they had ever reached before, which also chocked many of the river valleys of Sinica. The death that ensued was massive and amplified even more so by the fact that it came at the end of a time of long and sustained peace between the powers of East Asia. The only areas that were rather uneffected by these developments were the Indonesian islands of Srivijaya, which many of the wealthier members of their society fled to after leaving the continent, as well as the Easternmost areas of the Second Han Dynasty and the Japanese Colonies.
The Srivijaya were, for the most part, to far for people from Sinica to reach them. The dying people of what was Song and Tang moved East. The death that surrounded the people of Sinica was so great that it became the topic of the first novel story of a young boy losing his parents to a long move to the the city of Shanghai to find food and a future. Any money that could be extracted from the traveling people was, the inability of them to leave after they ran out of money led many to settle around the richest person who could orchestrate the movement of food.
These new cities were started on routes moving to the East grew into trading centers once the rains returned and the Western areas were suitable for repopulation. These examples were blown away practically by the events in Mongolia where the Japanese enslaved many of the immigrating people into farm and industrial labor, and almost all of them consented to the enslavement. The move to retake the Mongolian parts of North Asia by the Japanese was met without resistance by the leadership of Mongolia who would greet any occupier who could offer them food. The treatment of the Japanese was harsh but they brought them access to rice and to grazing land for their cattle. The Japanese and the Sinicans had a flood of new recruits to their military which was one of the few respectable remaining forms of employment not already entangled in the control of trade guilds protecting careers like paper making for themselves and their families. The Srivijaya had alm
The World around the Indian Ocean after the Great Famine of 843 (90 AD). Red: Maurya Empire, Orange: Roman Empire, Green: Srivijaya Empire, Light Blue: Parthian Empire, Blue: Ethiopian Kingdom, Purple: Satavahana Kingdom
ost no defenses on their borders with the retreat of the soldiers back to the islands. Srivijaya was however of a firm diplomatic ground with the other Empires.
The next movement in the Asian Continent in response to the monsoons was in the country that was most effected by monsoon cycle, India. The Indians began a campaign of migration in search of food and money. What reserves the successful Maurya Empire had went to these ships that began to explore the Indian Ocean and to control it so that they can gain food from more fertile areas.
The first move was made by a wealthy family from around the Andhra Coast. They were sent by the Samraat (Emperor) Brihadrata II to the East Coast of Africa where they encountered the Kingdom of Ethiopia which became a partner in the trade of grain. Furthermore, the family sent to Africa, named the Satavahana, established their own Kingdom in the uninhabited island of Madagascar and a smaller area on the Southeast coast, under their families name. The second branch of the Indian exploration for food went to the islands of the Srivijaya Empire. Many immigrated there and left their pasts in the Mauryan Empire behind. Later, further families were sent in order to give India control over these fertile regions and to return the immigrants to the rule of the offended Emperor. Many of these immigrating families were part of the Sunga family which had tried to establish their own rule, because they were brahmins and in the Hindu religion believed themselves destined to reign over others. They were defeated by the son of Samraat Brihadrata the first, named Dakshesh, and were regarded as part of the servant caste that had impersonated a higher caste.
The First King of Satavahana
The Kingdom of Satavahana[]
The Kingdom of Satavahana was established in a rebellion to the Maurya rulers. The earlier civil war which resulted in a major blow to some of the more independent minded clans solidified the Maurya Dynasty but came at the expense of other clans like the Satavahana. Among these was the Sungas which later immigrated to the Srivijaya Empire, and in many ways aided them in exposing the weaknesses and possible routes of invasion of the Peninsula. Another was the Satavahana which were less effected by the purges of the Samraat but retained some connection and position in the Empire. With this position the Satavahana waited for any opportunity to leave without risk of being followed. This came when the Samraat decided to search for food on the rim of the Indian Ocean. The Satavahana moved to provide food to the Maurya Empire while building up territory in Africa. The lack of organized civilization or military in Africa, Madagascar was actually uninhabited prior to this migration/invasion, made its take-over much easier. When the Satavahana were confident in their ability to establish a Kingdom they did so though retained export of grain to the Maurya so not to invite them to take the Satavahana Kingdom, though the distance was also a source of protection.
The Kingdom immediately began to build a military, as they were as afraid of the Indians as they should have been, though the Maurya expressed no hostility openly. Some more radical members of his family did indeed describe their desire, in no secret or vague terms, to take the areas already civilized by the Stavahana. The desire to take the lands of any other Empire was a source of support for these radicals in some parts of India. They would be even more angered at the developments in Srivijaya, an Empire which had been taunting the Indians with threats and embargoes on their trade and even going so far as to attack the Indian Coast directly.
The Religions of India[]
The religions of India were very few before the year 190 (563 BC) when Siddhartha Gautama, the first Buddha,
A statue of Siddhartha Gautama, the first Buddha, from Sarnath, India.
was born. He attained a level of enlightenment that, according to his followers, elevated him above mankind and it was the goal and ability of all people to achieve such a station. Before this the Hindu religion dominated the Indian Subcontinent with only small pockets of worship to local gods remaining in a larger and more homogeneous mixture of one faith. Unlike in OTL where the Buddha spent the last half of his life traveling and gaining followers in the northern plains of India around the Ganges river; Siddhartha traveled with his original small group of followers into the southern part of India. He gained acceptance among many prominent members of cities in the South and his religion spread at a fair pace especially after his death. In this region his followers built many temples and in some areas, where they could not build a new temple, practiced worship and rituals in the old Hindu temples or sometimes in their own homes, especially the larger homes of the wealthier members of the faith. The religion however was not able to spread much farther into the interior or north of India. There was never a large or complete purge by the Hindus even when they established Empires that spread into traditionally Buddhist territory, though there were ethnic tensions. In the year 490 (263 BC), three hundred years after the birth of the first Buddha, the Emperor of the Maurya Empire held power on the sub-continent and also over the Buddhist cities. The Buddhists expected to be purged by the devoutly Hindu emperor but were instead treated with tolerance for the most part, saving a small condition. This was the prohibition of public offices from being held by a Buddhist. The Mayor of the long Buddhist city of Thanjavur, named Thenmobala, refused this condition.
A triumphal pillar erected after Asoka conquered Thanjavur.
Thanjavur was the first city in India to have a majority Buddhist population and Thenmobala called this a writ of the people making Asoka’s demand unreasonable and unjust. Asoka would not stand for this and knew very well that the mayor had disregarded the Hindu population, and that Thenmobala’s predecessors had driven Hindus out in past years, not violently but that is only because they did not resist. The Battle of Thanjavur took place and Thenmobala retreated into the sea, taking as many Buddhists as he could. The temples became Hindu and the Buddhist population scattered to the other Buddhist communities in India. Asoka went on to tolerate the Buddhists though that is almost certainly due to their docile attitude after the quick and simple battle. Many successors would enact laws discriminating against the Buddhists in following years after Asoka’s death.
Thenmobala was declared the second Buddha by his most devoted followers who followed him into the island of Sumatra. There they began a new campaign of teaching their religion to the people of the island. many at first accepted without resistance but as they spread and met some other religious groups they began to move to a more militaristic creed. The talk about eliminating suffering through eliminating desire became nothing more than talk, they were called goals that would only come about once they had eliminated any other competing religion. Meanwhile the Buddhists that remained in India were becoming peaceful and refused conflict while forgetting with each generation the memory of Thenmobala and his rebellion. He was called an extremist by some Buddhist leaders in the country of origin but Thenmobala ignored them and came to dominate the whole Island of Sumatra. He swore that he would one day have his revenge of the continent that scorned him. Themobism began in the year 526 (227 BC) when Thenmobala died. His followers began to fight amongst each other and the Thenmobists became a small group that swore to retake that island and all the islands around it while becoming at the same time more eager to get the chance to establish their own Empire, like the Mauryas. A party of other Thenmobists came from southeast Asia and spread word and knowledge of the Chinese Empire and this only energized then more.
The Hindu Swastika which was made an official symbol of the Hindu religion after the death of Emperor Ashoka
Hinduism in India became more violent as the Buddhists began to become more radical and along the lines of the outcasted followers of Thenmobala. What few folowers he had did not distinguish themselves from the traditional Buddhists. The symbol of the swastika became a symbol of Hinduism as the discrimination laws against the Buddhists became more and more repressive. The Buddhists were first taken on in the northern cities and almost none escaped. Those who did escape, traveled to the islands that Thenmobala reached. the news they brought of the death toll in India only angered and energized the Thenmobists. The Buddhists moved into the highest mountains of the Himalayas, those who were left, and the Thenmobists attempted another expansion but were reaching for help. The Swastika in India became a national icon of the Hindu religion, which was becoming more and more associated with the government of the following Samraats. The Great Shaman of Pataliputra was established to look over the temples of the Maurya Empire and the High Buddha of the Thenmobists was made in Sumatra shortly after to couter the Shaman of Hinduism.
The Indian-Southeastern mix became more militaristic than any other group. The Cambodian influence grew as the Indian one fell though the hatred of India remained and so did the memory of Thenmobala and his writ of the people. The word Khmer, derived from the word for wholesome, defined these people and they became the Khmer Party on the island of Sumatra. Emperor Sujin of Japan in the year 680 (73 BC) took an interest in the small group and decided to use them as a client state to compete with Sinica after their defeat in the Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese provided the aid needed by the Khmer party to grow to be a contending Empire. The Maharajah, a term from India rather than the Southeast, was less faithful than the members of the Thenmobist hierarchy led by the High Buddha, who was believed to inherit the spirit of the Buddha and Thenmobala after a writ of the High Priests of the cities in their territory. He acted in many ways to set peace for his country and to allow it to grown so they could contend with the Indians, who were still hated, though not openly. The Treaty of Hainan which made Srivijaya, the empire ruled by the Themobists, a recognized and sovereign country, not just a Japanese client state, also allowed for the migration of the Thenmobists into the continent. The High priest in his palace, in the Holy and Independent City of Thenmobang (Padang), became the leader of a large religion and credited it to the tireless work of the People of Srivijaya while also recognizing the rule Thenmobala and Buddha, becoming much more like gods, and their spirit which existed in the Maharajah.
The War of the Indian Ocean 864-880 (111-127 AD)[]
The War of the Indian Ocean consumed some smaller conflicts though they all took place on the Indian Ocean, hence the name. The Build-up and the events of the war are described here.
The Srivijaya-Satavahana Alliance[]
The Satavahana was a new and growing Kingdom on the edge of Africa. Srivijaya was a still young Empire but had recognition by other countries, and security on its borders. Moreover, both were connected by a common hatred, of the Maurya Dynasty on the Indian Peninsula. Despite the youth and determination of both countries they were still very disconnected by the large ocean between them. There were many pirates as well as members of the Indian Navy throughout the open seas. These kept the countries from acting with each other in any meaningful sense but they desired deeply to take on the Indians in a two front war.
The Alliance was tenuous but there was an identification among the people of both countries with the people of the other. The Satavahana were sympathetic to the missionaries that came to their Kingdom from Srivijaya and many converts came to the Thenmobist side. The teachers of the Satavahana began to encourage expansion farther into the African continent. The Satavahana did so, mostly claiming empty desert lands. The Satavahana Kingdom built strong defenses from the Ethiopians, the most immediate enemy, and the Romans, though they were across the desert. The Srivijayans repopulated the mainland and had it at a well developed stage by the year 858 (105 AD). The Indians had similar redevelopment goals and reached them though they presented themselves as still developing and falling behind other countries, so as to provoke an attack and a quick and complete victory.
The Srivijaya and the Satavahana declared their mutual hatred of the Maurya and their resolve to support each other in any conflict that took place against the Maurya. They also concluded a deal to no longer send food to the country while focusing their resources on military affairs. The Indians did not suffer from the loss of the Srivijaya and the Satavahana sources of food, some farmers native to India were happy at the departure of their crops from the markets and the lowering of competition. The Srivijaya and the Satavahana were hesitant to make a move as were the Indians. Neither believed that any of the others would strike first. When the Indians moved out of the open waters to defend their coast lines the Srivijaya wasted no time in transporting weapons and the designs for making them to the Satavahana, from which the Thenmobist Temples were gaining more and more followers. This build up was unknown to the Indians, who still did not have the military technology of the Far East Asians, except some inefficient rifles that were no longer in use in Sinica. The Japanese and the Sinicans watched closely at the developments but declared that they would not interfere, none desiring, or having the stability necessary, to enter into a large conflict over such a wide, and to the Sinicans unknown, territory. An attack came from the Satavahana, rather than the Srivijaya as was expected, in the year 864 (111 AD).
The Indian War 864-872 (111-119 AD)[]
The move by Satavahana was not as large as it could have been but it arrived with much momentum on the Western Coast of India. The loose defenses fell quickly and so did the fortifications, cities, and especially the treasuries. The money taken was quickly moved back across the sea to Satavahana so it could not be recaptured and to prove the success that was happening in the campaign so far away. Not to mention that it may earn some promotions among the leaders and very likely some reinforcements.
The First city to be taken was Gandhinagar which was chosen as the site of attack because it was far from the more heavily defended side of India over in the South West, facing Srivijaya. The Ports of Gandhinagar were also strategic in cutting off the trade and messaging from the city outwards by lengths of months. The city could also be used as a stepping stone to the Indus River which would provide even more money and resources to the Satavahana cause.
The confusion and frustration of the Samraat and the commanders was made by the fact that they were aware that once the Srivijaya knew about the invasion of India on the West Coast they would move in through the east. The Large Indian Army moved some troops to face the Satavahana, who had acquired weapons like the grenade and the more advanced rifle. The stalemate on the Western edge of India pinned some troops continuously but the Satavahana were refraining from advancement so that reinforcements could arrive behind them or from another angle to rendezvous at the front line.
Meanwhile from the Indians came reports of misinformation to confuse the government and military intelligence of their rival. The High Buddha was reluctant to declare a war despite the urging of the Maharajah. The information from the Satavahana messengers, those which penetrated a semi-strong blockade in the Indian Ocean, were begging for help and describing the chance that needed to be seized as quickly as possible. The Srivijaya, trying to feel the temperature of the water, went into the island of Sri Lanka and set up a base of operations that would await further information.
When the Indians learned of the attack on Sri Lanka the Eastern Troops moved out from the harbors and into the island. This allowed the thinning of the troops of Indian, though they maintained able to keep the Satavahana at bay, their reinforcements were much less than anticipated. In the back parts of the Satavahana conquest Hindu groups were rising up against the commanders and regiments placed to keep order in their city. The Indians from the Indus River Valley moved south into the base of operations for the Satavahana in Gandhinagar.
The Srivijaya, while keeping some troops occupied in the island of Sri Lanka, moved in larger naval forces than was expected or reported of them. The Indians began scrambling to take these ships and do whatever possible to keep them from landing. While this news was going on, and the war began to take a two front strategy after the landing of the Srivijaya on the mainland in the September of 867 (114 AD), the Great Shaman moved out of the sub-continent of India through land still not yet taken by the two armies. this was kept a close secret and not even discovered to have happened until after the end of the conflict.
The Hindus had effectively torn the Satavahana advance asunder allowing for the Indians to begin to push them back into the sea by the summer of 868 (115 AD) but the Srivijaya remained invincible. The flamethrowers of Taiwan which were given to the Srivijaya by the Japanese Empire burnt all the ships that the Indians brought to Sri Lanka, they were effectively stranded on an Indian controlled island but managed to rest control of half of it from the troops they had left, which still greatly exceeded that of the Srivijaya. A support ship that went to the island to provide replenishment for their troops was taken by the Indians, who had effectively broke the Indian defenses on the island and were preparing to rebuild ships in order to return to the mainland. The Indians, rather than take their regiment to the mainland, where they would be insignificant, moved into the island of Sumatra which was very loosely defended with many of the military meant and weapons stores off to the Indian frontier. The Srivijaya were unaware that the war was about to be brought to them.
Satavahana reinforcements came to take on the Hindus, which was seen as a fairly doable task which resulted in the Srivijaya taking on, solely, the forces of Indian that were remaining. The island of Sumatra was under attack and the Japanese were hardly close enough to support their ally, though they did send troops once they received the news, which was much later than would have been liked by the Srivijayans. The Great Buddha moved farther up into Peninsular Srivijaya and was prepared to retreat back into the Song-Tang Commonwealth or into the Kingdom of Nan. The Indian troops were facing resistance and not simply moving through the cities effortlessly. The weapons taken by the Indians, after experiencing first hand how they operate, made their attack the most frightening and when combined with their larger size made them incredibly strong. Japanese troops kept the Indians from moving out of the island but were not themselves prepared for a land war. The Great Buddha stayed in Srivijaya territory and the Maharajah moved with a small company back into the islands after a flagship of the High Buddha’s courier reached the very successful Indians.
In (119 AD) the areas of the Indian subcontinent were effectively neutered except for rebel Hindus which the Satavahana insisted on handling. the remainder of the Srivijaya, rather than engage in nation building, moved back to their home land to take back their main island.
Samraat Harishchandra, formerly the Great Shaman became the Samraat (Emperor) after the end of the War.
The Massacre of the Arafura Sea and The New Maurya Empire[]
The islands of Sumatra was taken quickly because the Indian troops that escaped moved into the sea with money, resources, and hostages. The Indians attempted to move out of the Indonesian archipelago and land in the loosely inhabited island of Australia to reconstruct a civilization. The Japanese and Srivijayan troops that moved in on both sides to take the Indians almost completely decimated them. One ship, the wealthiest, in terms of stolen booty, though also the most humble appearing, moved into the island and took refuge with the aboriginal tribes of the Australians. The remaining money was taken back to the Srivijayans or to the ocean with the bodies of the Indians.
The Siege of the Arafura Sea, the farthest the Indians managed to leave despite that lone ship, was a massacre and called despicable by the descriptions told in India. The Great Buddha who returned to the island of Sumatra after the Indians expulsion declared the war against them won and the conquest to be an example of the greatness of Thenmobism. The Great Shaman of the Hindu religion returned after he escaped India in the year 865 (112 AD) shortly after the start of the conflicts with battle ready and uncivilized people who were envious of the wealth that was going on around them. They went by no name and had no nation but were invited by the Shaman to join the Indians if they would fight in his army. Because most generals believed that the Shaman had either been killed or committed suicide they did not look for his body. When the Hindu swastika was raised on standards seen approaching the still fractured parts of Western India with pockets of Hindus fighting the Satavahana around the year 875 (122 AD) it was a message from God to the Hindus but a curse from the underworld to the Satavahana.
The Hindus approached the Satavahana and the Srivijaya, who took the estimated number of troops from the Shaman to be just an exaggeration and thus sent much fewer troops than they might have, and began the last battle in the War of the Subcontinent. The Hindus, with their new converts of unorganized people, began to take on the formal armies of the Satavahana and the Srivijaya. The weakness of the war-tired troops of Satavahana, who had been constantly fighting a stalemate battle with few developments against the Hindu communities, made it easy for the grouping of the Shaman’s legion and the loyal Hindus who kept the faith to come together and cleave the Satavahana into pieces. The retaking of the Western lands made it impractical for them to send more troops from Africa. The Srivijaya also were pushed almost entirely into the sea and any remaining troops who were not lucky enough to be killed or to escape back to the homeland became prisoners of the Hindus and were subjected to torture and humiliation.
The Great Shaman, who had led to Hindus back to a control of the subcontinent, declared himself the Samraat of the “New Maurya Empire” though he was not himself a member of the Maurya family. The new Samraat moved to make the other religions of India intolerable, even small local variants. The success that he had after the disastrous war that preceded him justified his taking of total control. Also, the deeply religious people of the western lands who kept praying despite the odds were extremely in favor of anything the Great Shaman did. When people told them that he had abandoned his country in the war they responded with his return and the legion he brought, though in actuality it is most likely that the Shaman found these people after escaping and if he had not then he would live in exile and the subcontinent would belong to the Srivijaya and Satavahana.
The zealots drove the Buddhists onto the border lands of the Parthian Empire and the New Maurya. The Shaman changed his mind about letting them escape and said that if he allowed this to happen they may return with other countries to attack them. The decision to kill the Buddhists, who were a much more peaceful people than their cousin religion the Thenmobists, was carried out and not looked back upon. The area of the Hindu Kush mountains which had been part of the Parthian empire became a rounded buffer zone, which the Parthians were not able to support or battle for in the year 880 (127 AD), where the ground was called, by the new Samraat of India, saturated with the blood of the Buddhists. This small addition provided much more secure borders for the Indians, though their population was much smaller now. The new additions helped in the reconstruction as they became a new working class in the caste System of the New Maurya.
The next change that the Samraat made was to declare the abolition of the untouchable caste. The inclusion of them into the society added many new laborers for the temples, palaces, monuments, and other projects of the Samraat. The office of the Great Shaman and the Samraat were combined in him and his successor would be the first of his many sons that came with his many new wives. The highest class, which suffered the least from the earlier conflict, became even wealthier and more powerful. They increased their faith in the Hindu religion and began attending the ceremonies more often. These festivals became more standardized by the central planning of the Samraat as did the whole religion. Any opposition was met with death or imprisonment. The New Maurya Empire was established and the Satavahana and Srivijaya went their separate ways despite their common religion.
[]
| 773-843 (20-90 AD) (L'Uniona Homanus) | 843-880 (90-127 AD) (L'Uniona Homanus) |