Century of Changes 1


 * Century of Changes 1
 * by Jonathan I. Edelstein
 * 22 January 2002

Black Death ... To historians of later centuries, the bubonic plague paved the way for many salutary social changes. To its victims, however, the plague was an unmitigated catastrophe. The very trade routes that had been the world's lifeblood became its killer, as merchant ships and caravans carried the plague throughout the civilized world. It is estimated that between the first outbreaks in 305 and the end of the fourth century, the population of Africa and Eurasia declined by a third; in some areas the decline was more than half. Trade did not cease and civilized life did not end, but the Black Death caused devastation and disruption wherever it went. The upheaval, of course, took different forms in different countries...

India, history of ... In the Karamid kingdom, the bubonic plague took its heaviest toll on the Mourners. To be sure, the self-sufficiency and cleanliness of the Mourner communities kept them largely free of the Black Death, but the Mourner physicians went fearlessly among the people to minister to those who had fallen ill. Many fell victim to the very plague they were attempting to treat, at a cost not only of their own lives but the future military manpower of the kingdom. The periodic outbreaks of plague that swept the civilized world during the fourth century drastically reduced the ranks of the Karamids' elite soldiers...

... In many other ways, however, the Karamid empire reached its height in the middle fourth century. Standards of living rose as the population decreased, and the kingdom enjoyed enlightened governance under a succession of adopted monarchs. Possibly the most remarkable of these was Amani II (reigned SE 319-44 [1091-1116 CE]), a scholar and physician at the court of King Anand. In 314 [1086 CE], Anand shocked his other counselors by adopting her as his heir, claiming to have been inspired by a dream. Her quarter-century on the throne proved that his inspiration was more than justified. She established a regularized system of schools in the cities, oversaw reforms in the administration of justice and the codification of the civil law, and maintained a glittering court that included scholars from as far away as China and Spain.

The prosperity of the empire continued under Amani II's successor, Veerindar II (reigned 344-58 [1116-1130 CE]), who, though unimaginative, was a competent administrator and upheld the system bequeathed to him by his predecessors. In one important respect, however, Veerindar II departed from Karamid tradition; in SE 353 [1125 CE], he adopted his eldest son as his successor. Although it was not explicitly forbidden for him to do so, it had become expected for Karamid monarchs to choose their heir from outside the royal family, and Veerindar's choice was widely regarded as ill-omened. The fears of the people were proven true when Veerindar's son ascended the throne as Kuldeep III and became increasingly arbitrary and oppressive. Angered by the injustice of his rule and the heavy taxes with which he supported his lavish lifestyle, the Palas of East Bengal reasserted their independence in 366 [1138 CE]. Unlike most of the Karamid provinces, East Bengal had adopted the Ananite faith, but by the end of the century there was little other sign that it had ever been part of the empire.

Within another decade, the Hindu provinces of north-central India had begun to break away. With the loss of Delhi in SE 404 [1176 CE], the Karamids were reduced to their ancestral heartland, and even that was in danger from Turkish raids and widespread maladministration. The nadir was reached during the reign of Gopal (reigned SE 407-23 [1179-1205 CE]), a capricious tyrant who neglected both military and civil matters in favor of pursuing petty feuds against his counselors.

In SE 412 [1184 CE], the notables of Rajputana and Gujarat took matters into their own hands in an unprecedented fashion. In a declaration symbolically presented in a vineyard, they reaffirmed the ancient principle of Ahab and Naboth, that even the king was not above the law. The declaration required the king to submit his decrees to a council of thirty nobles and Mourners, guaranteed the self- government of cities and the right to freehold property, and placed restrictions on taxation and the administration of justice. Gopal was naturally reluctant to approve the charter, but he was well aware that he had lost the support of the nobles and the armies. The "Declaration of the Vineyard" would be sporadically enforced and often breached, but it would provide the foundation for many of the changes that would take place in subsequent centuries...

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