Regional State and Regionalism

In the history of India, there has been a constant evolution and development of regionalism and regional states. From the seventh century AD onwards which is the early medieval period till the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, agriculture and agricultural activities played a very significant role in the development of regional states.

Wherever, good agricultural activity took place, it not only fed the population but generated a large surplus that could be sold and wealth could be generated. Trade and trading activities, overland as well as maritime, also provided an important source of revenue.

One finds the rise of powerful sections in the society that controlled the agricultural surplus. Sometimes, some members of this powerful section asserted themselves and acquired political power and became kings and established ruling dynasties. This led to laying the foundation of the states.

Sometimes, some groups came from outside and conquered the land, controlled the administration and became powerful. A large number of regional states after thirteenth century arose due to internal weakness of the Delhi Sultanate. Similarly, with the decline of Mughal Empire, there emerged important states in the eighteenth century. But all these states had a regional history that pre-dated both the Sultanate and the Mughal state.

For example, Bengal was an important regional kingdom in the eighth and the ninth centuries under the Palas and subsequently in the twelfth century under the Senas. It was an important independent state in the thirteenth and fifteenth century and became a powerful provincial kingdom in the eighteenth century too.

Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire ruled over numerous and different cultural zones. Even the regional state of Vijayanagar ruled over different cultural zones. Therefore, it should be remembered that regionalism never disappeared though the regional dynasties gained and lost power and the regions changed their geographical boundaries.

What is this regionalism? Apart from political features, like regional ruling dynasties, there are some important characteristics of regionalism which developed, evolved and changed over a period of time in these regional states. Some of the characteristics of regionalism are:

1. One of the important aspects is language. For example, Oriya, Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Marathi and so on. Indian languages spoken in various regions of India are referred as regional languages. These languages developed in the early medieval and medieval period and were associated with the specific regions.

Though the languages existed in some form or the other, even prior to this but it was primarily from the eleventh and twelfth centuries, that the regional languages came to be used in the official documents. Literary works and local literature came to be written in these languages.

In the medieval period, simultaneous with the use of the regional languages, Sanskrit also came to be used in scholastic texts. However a large number of official documents of the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire and some regional states were written in Persian.

2. Another characteristic is the presence of the local regional cults and religious affiliations. For instance, the cult of Jagannath in Orissa was regional to Orissa. It became the cult of the state, whereby the rulers adopted it, built a huge temple for it and celebrated festivals around it every year. Historians say that Jagannath was a tribal god, whose popularity made the rulers adopt this as the state cult.

A large number of sects and the bhakti religion developed in the regions. For example, Namdev, Raidas, Tukaram, Guru Nanak were located in the regional states. Religions also have their own myths, legends and interpretations and religious practices.

Each region had different gods and goddesses, different temple and mosque architectures. Interestingly, despite these regional differences, where each tradition was specific to a region, there were similarities in the regional traditions too. The saints and priests migrated from one region to another.

For instance, Gesu Daraz, (1321-1422), the Sufi saint, belonged to the Chisti Silsilah that was established in Delhi. He migrated from Delhi to Daultabad in the Deccan region as a child in 1328. Seven years later, in 1335 AD, he came back to Delhi and stayed there for sixty three years. Towards the end of fourteenth century, in 1398, when Timur, a Turkish invader from Central Asia attacked Delhi, Gesu Daraz, migrated back to Deccan.

3. The regional states were not closed isolated areas. Apart from religious interaction between the states, there were networks of interaction through trade and commerce and migration of artisans from one region to another. For example, in the fifteenth century, the silk weavers, Pattanulkars migrated from the Gujarat region to the Vijayanagar state. Also one finds migration of the Africans and Iranians to the Vijayanagar and Bahamani kingdoms.

4. Another characteristic is the development of local and regional art schools like that Bihar, Bengal, Assam, Central India, and Rajasthan and so on. Regional identities were formed as a result of process and there have been changes and they did not exist since time immemorial. The various regional dynasties extended their patronage to art, culture, literature and architecture.

Thus, the presence of numerous regional states did not imply chaos and confusion. These states did wage wars amongst themselves, but provided stability over their respective regions. They had a vibrant culture of their own.

The regional states influenced each other in the area of architecture and political culture. For instance, the early Vijayanagar rulers called themselves as Hindu Suratrana, meaning Hindu Sultan, where the term Sultan was borrowed from the Delhi sultanate.

Similarly, the iqtadari system of the Delhi Sultanate influenced the administrative systems of the Vijayanagar and Bahamani kingdoms.