History of Prabhat

The History of Prabhat refers to events that occurred within the boundaries of the current Prabhat or his predecessor states. The History of Prabhat is characterized by being one of the oldest and most diverse, thanks to the existence of states in the region for 3000 years, which were happening through wars and other events until shaping the current Prabhat.

First Civilizations (3000 BCE - 1200 BCE)
The first Neolithic civilization is the Devana Civilization, which was established in 3000 BCE on the Devana River and Devana Lake, which give this civilization its name. This civilization was based on fishing and rice-producing villages, which spoke Proto-Sanskrit. Around 2900 BCE, another group of nomads from the north related to the former traveled further south along the coast and reached present-day Vidarala, settling on the Vidara River. This gave rise to another of the first two civilizations of Prabhat, the Vidara Civilization, which like its relative carried out agricultural activities to subsist. The peoples of these two cultures were ethnically differentiated over time to give rise to two different ethnic groups but from the same family: the Devanasūna (“from Devana”) to the north and the Bhāgyavāna (“fortunate”) to the south. This ethnic divide occurred in approximately 2100 BCE.

These two cultures were developing during the Bronze Age and expanding over nearby territories. The Devanasūna encompassed the present-day Nāngara, Bhitora, and Anāratta regions, while the Bhāgyavāna encompassed Vidarala, Tughluka, and Bhāgya. While the Devanasūna perfected rice cultivation on the Devanaga River, the Bhāgyavāna settled on the shores of the sea and began to make canoes for fishing. The slight commercial and cultural interaction between these two cultures was the antecedent of a future route that would be key to the development of the later kingdoms that emerged from these two cultures.

Five Kingdoms Period (1200 BCE - 711 BCE)
The prosperity of the cities of the Vidara and Devaga Civilizations prompted the creation of organized states. At the end of the Bronze Age, the city-states of each region formed cultural and commercial ties between them, and led to the creation of federations and confederations. As early as 1200 BCE, when the Iron Age began in Prabhat, what were once numerous city-states concentrated in two civilizations formed the Five Kingdoms of Prabhat, the earliest existing states in Prabhat's territory. These five kingdoms were: Pascātya, Nānga and Anārah in the territory of the Devana Civilization, and Tughluka and Vidarala (the same names as the current regions) in the territory of the Vidara Civilization. It was during the early years of the Five Kingdoms of Prabhat that strong commercial and cultural ties were forged between the two regions. The language that the two civilizations shared, proto-Sanskrit, evolved into Sanskrit thanks to the appearance of the Devanagari script in Pascātya, which spread to the rest of the kingdoms establishing the linguistic union of all of them, although having north and south its own dialect. The relationship between the kingdoms was strengthened thanks to the Malimāra Route, a trade route that crossed the territory between the Devana and Virala regions, which favored the economic development of the kingdoms and facilitated cultural, scientific and technological exchange. The Five Kingdoms of Prabhat were despotic states, led by kings who held all power in their hands and inherited it from their ancestors, thus creating the first dynasties. The existence of these kingdoms, despite the bonds forged, was not entirely peaceful. In fact, researchers have managed to document a war between Nānga and Anārah around 900 BCE to control the fertile lands of the Devana River, which ended up as a victory for Nānga after 1 to 3 years of warfare. In the Period of the Five Kingdoms the first religions were also formed, which were shamanic and animistic beliefs typical of each kingdom. In an ancient Sanskrit text called Sanskāra Sūcanā, written around 850 BCE, the religious rites of a town in Tughluka are detailed, including prayers to spirits of people and animals and praises to the forces of nature.

The economic activities of these kingdoms went beyond agriculture and fishing originated in the first two civilizations. Several evidences have been found that indicate a great mining activity that includes the extraction of gems to be turned into jewels, in addition to the extraction and casting of iron for tools, weapons and armor. In Vidarala the creation of jade jewelery and sculptures was common, while in Nānga the sapphire was considered of high value and widely used in jewelry. This mining demand led groups of people to disengage from the kingdoms and form their own villages in the interior of Prabhat, where there were more mineral deposits due to the existence of mountain ranges. These independent communities traded minerals with the kingdoms and at the same time brought about the arrival of civilization in lands further from the coast. While this was happening, the coastal kingdoms developed the first sailboats to expand fishing operations and collect shells and sea pearls, which served as replacements when there was a shortage of gems.

In 800 BCE, something important happens that would seal Prabhat's fate. In a city east of Anārah called Abhayā a religious doctrine called Viśvāsa appears, embodied in a group of texts in Sanskrit that defines certain religious dogmas such as "karma", the "reincarnation cycle" and "enlightenment", in addition to be the first polytheistic religion of Prabhat since it establishes a trinity of gods to worship: Jnānī, Kharē and Majabūta. The Viśvāsa religious texts spread throughout Anārah and then throughout the rest of the Five Kingdoms, their dogmas being adopted by a large part of the population, although clashing with the animistic traditions of each kingdom. The main source of expansion of this doctrine is the oral route, orally transmitting the teachings of the Viśvāsa. By 710 BCE the first complex rituals and shrines appear, and the city of Abhayā becomes an important religious center.

The cultural, linguistic, economic and more recently religious union of the Five Kingdoms of Prabhat sparked the desire for unification. In 715 BCE, Tughluka and Vidarala were unified thanks to a dynastic union, so the Bhāgyavāna people united under the authority of King Ēkasandha, who began a military campaign to unify all the kingdoms into one empire. In 714 BCE, a great Bhāgyavāna army with weapons and iron armor marched to Nānga, besieging its capital, the majestic city of Tāndūlara, and taking it after a few weeks. In 713 BCE a noble coup sponsored by King Ēkasandha is perpetrated against the King of Pascātya, and this nation is integrated into the dominions of Ēkasandha. Finally in 711 BCE, Anārah is completely taken after 3 decisive field battles. This year is when King Ēkasandha would found the Vidarale Empire, ruled by the Ēkasa Dynasty, and end Five Kingdoms Period.

Vidarale Empire (711 BCE - 537 BCE)
The Vidarale Empire was established as an absolute monarchy, constituted by a caste system that can be said to be Prabhat's first caste system. The initial territory of this empire ranged from present Anāratta to present Bhāgya. The imperial capital was located in the city of Impīryia, a city on the banks of the Vidara River in present-day Vidarala, with imposing walls for its time. The location of the imperial capital and the composition of the noble class favored the Bhāgyavāna ethnic group and the southern region of the country, causing airs of rebellion in the northern regions. To prevent the outbreak of insurrections and promote national unity, King Ēkasandha carried out several reforms, including the establishment of a Devanasūna nobility in the north, the creation of roads to connect the cities of the south and the north and the creation of the School of Āciriya, a movement of teachers and writers that was responsible for the spread of the Sanskrit language throughout the empire and the gestation of Sanskrit literature. The years of life of the Āciriya School, which operated from 708 BCE to 685 BCE, managed to promote the use of Sanskrit as never before, improved its grammar and literature proliferated, creating literary works such as poetry, short stories, legends, epics, chronicles and biographies. One of the most widespread literary works of that time is the Epic of Rakṣaṇaka, an extensive epic and mythological text including stories of war and adventure involving the gods of the Viśvāsa texts, which has become in an important religious text and one of the most famous symbols of the Vidarale Empire's historical period. Thanks to the educational activities of these teachers, the noble class was able to access education and learn to read and write, which would lead to the formation of future schools of thought.

Arrival of the Tylakians and Rendoshians
In 689, the initial peace of the Vidarale Empire was shattered by the arrival of a group of barbarians known as Rendoshians, who hailed from the hot, desert steppes of the west and settled in the present-day Rendozeshah region. The Rendoshians were very different from the peoples of the Vidarale Empire: they had their own language (the Rendoshian), their own ethnic origin, and a warrior culture that was not compatible with the rational and peaceful culture of the Vidarale Empire. Due to these large differences, the first encounters were hostile and soon the Rendoshians began looting the border villages of Bhitora. The Vidarale Empire had a difficult situation in the early years due to the Rendoshian warriors having something they did not have: horses. Thanks to the horses, the Rendoshians made quick raids to the villages of the Vidarale Empire, avoiding head-on battles with the Vidarale army (which had superior numbers) and wasting their economy and defenses. The situation changed in 687 BCE with the arrival of another group of barbarians: the Tylakians. The Tylakians came from the northwest and had a warrior culture and weaponry similar to the Rendoshians, however, they agreed to collaborate with the Vidarale Empire marveling at their organization and began to attack the Rendoshian camps. The allied forces defeated the Rendoshians at the Battle of Sarapa in 685 BCE, and finally defeated them at the Battle of Tanētis in 683 BCE. The Rendoshians agreed to make peace and took refuge in the western parts of Rendozeshah, while the Tylakians migrated south on a long journey to present-day Tylakolia, where they founded the Kingdom of Tylakolia, a federation of clans led by a king in 678 BCE. Relations between the Vidarale Empire and the Kingdom of Tylakolia were quite friendly: they established commercial and cultural ties. The Tylakolians, who spoke a great variety of barbarian languages, adopted Sanskrit and elements of the empire's culture which was spreading rapidly thanks to trade with the empire. To strengthen interactions with the south and gain new hinterlands, the Vidarale Empire colonized the present-day Szattara and Nandūrashi regions, while Tylakolia expanded into Tangli. Peace and economic collaboration between Tylakolia and the Vidarale Empire led to a long decade of economic bonanza, population growth and cultural flourishing in the following decades.

End of the Vidarale Empire
In 545 BCE, a large unknown epidemic (experts estimate it was probably tuberculosis) struck the Vidarale Empire and to a lesser extent the Kingdom of Tylakolia and the Rendoshian tribes. This epidemic killed 21% of the imperial population, which despite being a not so high number, had fatal consequences on the economy and society of a nation that had not had experiences of previous epidemics. The trade routes that connected the imperial cities were emptied by fear of the disease, the army had to be demobilized to prevent it from spreading, the king and his court isolated themselves in the palace, ordering that no one enter what isolated the government of communication with their territories, and the famine quickly spread through areas without food self-sufficiency. This scenario was exploited by various pretenders to the throne and separatist movements, which exploded in 541 BCE once the worst of the epidemic was over. These insurrections were: the throne pretender Uttara from Tughluka, the throne pretender Maēnli from Szattara, and a separatist movement from Nāngara made up of ethnic Devanasūna people who sought ethnic primacy. The civil war was bravely faced by the imperial government which mobilized its men to crush the rebellions. However, the army had been plagued by famine and disease, and their numbers were drastically reduced. Uttara and his troops defeated Maēnli at the Battle of Shazar in 540 BCE and again at the Battle of Traviniya in 539, in which Maēnli was killed by Uttara himself. Imperial troops defeated Uttara at the Battle of Tabhesit in 539, however the war was promptly stopped by a resurgence of the epidemic. The civil war was resumed in 537 when Uttara launched a fleeting campaign in which he crushed the separatists of Nāngara and besieged the imperial capital of Impīryia until it fell, at which point Uttara triumphantly entered and assassinated the last Vdarale emperor, to found the Uttarine Empire honoring his name.

Reign of Uttara
Uttara discarded all the previous political organization, since instead of declaring himself as the founder of a new dynasty of the Vidarale Empire, he founded a new empire on the foundations of the previous one, which was called the Uttarine Empire. He renamed himself Sāmarthyavāna Uttara ("Uttara the Mighty"), and claimed to be a divine manifestation to justify his right to rule. He established the capital of the new empire in the city of Kanēksana in present-day Malimarā, as a way to unite the northern and southern regions. He created a complex administration in which he appointed a consul as his right hand and a royal council made up of nobles, priests, and officials. He established a first-level division made up of prefectures, governed by prefects appointed by the king, and a second-level division made up of provinces, represented by councils of local nobles and a governor appointed by such councils. He abolished barter and other payment methods with the introduction of the first metallic currency, the "Muliya", made of an alloy of gold and silver. He ordered the creation of an imperial guard for the defense of the emperor, his family, and high-level officials, and established a complex military hierarchy in the army. These reforms during the first years of his mandate meant the stabilization of the empire after the epidemic and the civil war, a more efficient administration, a more developed economy and greater security for the dynasty, which saved the empire from possible rebellions.

Around 530 BCE, a curious episode happened in which Sāmarthyavāna Uttara visited a rural village of the empire, and in it he saw how the locals tamed and trained elephants. This gave him the idea of using them in the army, so he ordered to recruit elephant trainers to train them and be part of the army. Battalions of war elephants were formed, which had mounts on which archers and javeliners were placed. These elephants caused fear of the enemy on the battlefield, and they were a brute force with which enemy ranks could be broken with their thrusts and tusks. From taming wild elephants to elephant rearing, the Uttarine Empire grew to a staggering 3,000 war elephants. Elephants were also used as a means of transportation, both by the army and by civilians who could afford to acquire one of these beasts.

Between 525 BCE and 500 BCE, various texts of a religious nature known as Bhavisyas were written and published, which were a continuation of the spiritual doctrine of the texts called Viśvāsa. The publication of these texts led the prophets and priests who preached the Viśvāsa to meet in the city of Abhayā (from which the Viśvāsa texts originated) at the request of the emperor Sāmarthyavāna Uttara, which was called the First Council of Abhayā. At this council the priests decided to make modifications to the doctrine of Viśvāsa by means of the new dogmas preached by the Bhavisyas. This gave rise to the first Prabhat religion, Devanagism. The contribution of the Bhavisyas to the previous doctrine was the formation of the concept "dharma", the devanagist cosmology, the avatars (different manifestations of the triad of primordial gods: Jnānī, Kharē and Majabūta) and the religious hierarchy of this new religion. Thanks to the positive results of this council, Emperor Sāmarthyavāna Uttara adopted Devanagism as the official religion of the Uttarine Empire and commissioned the construction of a great temple in the city of Abhayā, which would be considered the holy place of Devanagism. The construction of the great temple was commissioned to the architect Khandum, who did not come from the Uttarine Empire, but from the Kingdom of Tylakolia. It was planned as a brick structure with a 60 m high central tower and 4 smaller towers. The construction of this temple required the hiring of many workers, so Sāmarthyavāna Uttara preferred to buy slaves from Rendoshian slavers to lower costs. The temple, named as Utpatti Temple, was completed in 493 BCE (although it would receive modifications in the following centuries). Emperor Sāmarthyavāna Uttara died 2 months before the completion of the temple construction due to cancer, so he could not see his long-awaited work completed. Uttara's reign lasted 44 years and was one of the most prosperous of the ancient Prabhat empires.

Reign of Jaidev
Uttara's son and successor, Jaidev, entered the throne with ideals of territorial and religious expansion. His first decree was to compel all the ruling nobles of the prefectures and provinces of the Uttarine Empire to convert to Devanagism, to ensure their devotion and the conversion of the provinces to this religion. Most of the nobles accepted, however, a group of nobles rooted in shamanic beliefs from their local regions were reluctant to convert and interpreted the decree as an offense from the new king, thus forming a military coalition to overthrow him. These nobles ruled over territories in Szattara, Nandūrashi, and Vidarala, so the insurrection focused on the southern part of the empire. At that time most of the imperial troops were stationed in the north since the southern garrisons had joined the rebellion, so Emperor Jaidev had to ask for help from the Kingdom of Tylakolia, closer to the center of the insurrection, to stop the rebellion from the beginning and thus not generate major problems. The king of Tylakolia agreed and sent the fierce Tylakian troops to confront the rebellious nobles. The sagacious soldiers of Tylakolia were able to fight the smaller rebellions, but in Vidarala the nobles recruited civilians and captured military bases with which they armed themselves to the teeth. Finally, a large army commanded by the same Emperor Jaidev arrived in the conflict zone with large numbers of war elephants, which appeared for the first time on the battlefront giving very positive results, since they charged and destroyed the enemy ranks with ease. Thanks to this the elephants would become a fundamental part of the armies of the historical empires of Prabhat.

In 490 BCE the last rebel stronghold surrendered, and Devaganism was able to be established as the dominant religion in the Uttarine Empire. To repay them for their aid in the war, the Kingdom of Tylakolia asked the Emperor Jaidev to pay a sum of coins, but he was reluctant to pay due to the expenses incurred in the war together with the excessive personal expenses of the emperor. The King of Tylakolia would request the payment of this sum several times more, receiving a no for an answer, which generated a cooling of diplomatic relations. In 488 BCE, Tylakolia sent an ambassador to Kanēksana to again request payment of this sum, this time aggressively. Emperor Jaidev saw such audacity as a great offense and slaughtered the Tylakolian ambassador, displaying his head in the central square of Kanēksana. This was reason enough for both nations to declare war on each other, starting a great campaign between the two main Prabhat nations. Despite the advanced numerical and technological position of the Uttarine Empire, it was having financial problems due to the rebellion of the nobles and the unnecessary expenses of the Emperor Jaidev, in addition to that the war was publicly frowned upon, so only a few regiments could be mobilized at the beginning of the war. For their part, the Tylakians were skilled horsemen and knew perfectly their flat subtropical terrain, in which they knew how to ambush and fast raids with their horses. In addition, they had managed to dominate the seas in recent decades thanks to the construction of light and fast sailing ships, with which they reached Anvēṣaka Island, which was colonized and became a key point for Tylakian maritime supremacy. The first maneuver in the war was the Naval Battle of Bhāgyan Bay, in which the imperial fleet was defeated and partially destroyed thanks to a rapid action by the Tylakians destined to render the naval forces of the Uttarine Empire inoperative, an objective that was successfully achieved. Furious at this initial defeat, Emperor Jaidev took command of his troops and marched towards the city of Jiṅgalsa north of present-day Tangli, to besiege it and thus destroy the border defenses of the Kingdom of Tylakolia. Although the city eventually fell after a long siege, Uttarine troops suffered setbacks, including the elephants' weakness to the sounds the Tylakians made to scare them away, causing the elephants to retreat in terror and many times they will crush the troops of their own armies. Uttarine armies were also frequently ambushed by horse troops on the flat lands of Tylakolia, making the Imperial advance difficult.

After the fall of Jiṅgalsa in early 487 BCE, the Tylakolian high command adopted a new strategy in the war, which was to avoid head-on battles, wear down the Imperial army, and cut its supply lines through coastal assaults with its powerful fleet. The coastal assaults succeeded in staggering imperial supplies, forcing Emperor Jaidev to demand food from the peasants of Jiṅgalsa. They not only refused, they also formed an armed resistance thanks to weapons infiltrated by Tylakian spies. Imperial troops had to delay their advances to crush these rebellions and take supplies by force. This time was taken advantage of by Tylakolia to recruit more soldiers and carry out more coastal assaults on Vidarala and Nandūrashi, which caused trade in the southern part of the Empire to collapse. Emperor Jaidev decided to divide his army to garrison the coasts, and sent emissaries to the center of the Empire to convince the rest of the nobles who had not mobilized to join the war. Once the imperial army was reinforced with these new troops, the emperor continued his march towards the city of Drāphṭavuḍa, an important city of Tylakolia due to the large number of ships being built there. Drāphṭavuḍa fell in 486 BCE after a lengthy siege, dealing a blow to the Tylakolian naval force as ship production declined. The situation forced the Tylakians to plan a massive assault to take back this city, organizing an army mostly made up of mounted troops and chariots. This decision however proved fatal as it led to the Battle of Vanaspa in 485 BCE, a pitched battle in which Imperial troops defeated the Tylakians thanks to their powerful ground force. After this traumatizing experience, the small army of Tylakolia set out for guerrilla warfare with many more coastal attacks and rapid assaults on supply lines and Imperial troops separated from the main contingent. This strategy caused significant casualties on the imperial side but only delayed the inevitable for a few years, since in 481 BCE the imperial troops commanded by the Emperor Jaidev himself put the great city of Tylajunā, capital of the Kingdom of Tylakolia, under siege. This attack was a real surprise as the Tylakians were not expected to attack the capital directly, since there were still several cities resisting in the front line. Emperor Jaidev decided to surround these cities and directly attack the capital to end the costly war at once, a tactic that turned out to be very successful. Due to the fierce resistance of the Tylakian troops who were assaulting the Imperial siege forces using rapid raids, the siege lasted until 480 BCE when the walls fell and the imposing Imperial troops entered the city where a bloody battle was fought, where many civilians they died due to the destruction caused by the elephants. The king of Tylakolia stayed to resist in the palace which was attacked by the imperial troops, who assassinated the king after a combat carried out by him and his royal guard.

The war officially ended in 478 BCE with around 230,000 killed in combat, and was delayed as Emperor Jaidev had to wage costly campaigns to destroy the Tylakian garrisons located in the cities that had remained standing, but nevertheless the crown prince of Tylakolia along with a large contingent of troops and civilians was able to escape to Anvēṣaka Island thanks to the fleet, which was still intact. It was on Anvēṣaka Island that the Tylakolian resistance was organized, ordering the new king to establish the necessary infrastructure to build a powerful fleet and thus dominate the seas. While this was happening, the pacification of the conquered lands became a complicated task for the Emperor Jaidev due to the hostility of the Tylakian inhabitants who did not accept the invading government. In addition, war spending forced serious budget cuts, including a reduction in army numbers. The situation was able to stabilize in 475 BCE, but a new problem emerged for the Uttarine Empire. Forces in exile from Tylakolia located on Anvēṣaka Island began raiding the trading ships of the Uttarine Empire, forcing the emperor to ban maritime trading activities, causing a collapse of trade. The emperor confronted this by financing the construction of causeways to improve land connections, with money made from the wood trade with the Rendoshians, who were short of wood. The hostility of the Tylakian inhabitants began to cease when Imperial missionaries began to spread Devanagism in their lands, which brought the Tylakians culturally closer to the empire. The remainder of Jaidev's reign was characterized by palace intrigues, surviving several assassination attempts. Jaidev finally passed away of natural causes in 465 BCE, his reign having lasted 28 years. Some remember him as a bad ruler, others see him as a great conqueror. The next emperors of the Uttarine Empire would have to take charge of converting the inhabitants of Tylakolia and dealing with the Tylakian naval threat.

Māsṭaralism Foundation
In the year 312 BCE, the religious leaders of Devaganism met again at the Second Council of Abhayā, due to a theological dispute in which some gurus interpreted that they should be seen as avatars because they had reached spiritual perfection and were the unique link between people and gods. Most of the priests completely rejected this idea and made it known at that council, in which they forbade the gurus to be treated as avatars. Some gurus refused to follow the dictates of the council and formed a new religious current called Māsṭaralism, in which they declared that the Devanagist gurus should be treated as avatars of the gods Jnānī, Kharē and Majabūta. The priests who had participated in the council saw this as an attack on the true religion and asked the emperor to persecute the followers of Māsṭaralism, which the emperor accepted. Many followers of Māsṭaralism were killed, while others managed to escape by moving away from urban centers. To survive in hiding, they began to develop an architecture based on the creation of artificial caves. These man-made caves display a high level of technical competence, the extremely hard granite rock having been geometrically carved and polished to a mirror-like finish. These caves were decorated by religious ornaments carved into the rock and became the hiding places of the persecuted. The architecture of these caves evolved over the following centuries to become architectural marvels.

End of the Uttarine Empire
In 117 BCE the end of the Uttarine Empire would begin. The emperor Rastadharta had earned the contempt of the people, the nobles and the priests, due to his indifference to the problems of the government, his sinful acts and excessive spending on personal luxuries. In addition, corruption in the administration system was at the highest levels ever seen, and some people had started circulating coins with less metal and counterfeit coins that were other metals and not gold and silver. These problems caused a severe economic crisis that brought poverty to the empire. In this year the commercials concentrated at the palace gates to ask the emperor to take measures against the crisis, but the emperor responded by expelling the merchants through the imperial guard. In 116 BCE, a large Tylakian fleet from Anvēṣaka Island landed at Tylajunā, former capital of the Kingdom of Tylakolia, and took the city which had no garrison. This began the reconquest of Tylakolia by the exiled Tylakians. The imperial army had not been paid in a long time so most regiments went on strike and did not mobilize for war, giving free pass for Tylakolia to be fully reconquered in 115 BCE. The inaction of the emperor caused the governor of Pascātya to declare his independence, which was followed by the rest of the governors who earned the loyalty of their military garrisons. The emperor could do nothing against this and was finally assassinated by the imperial guard in 114 BCE, the year in which the Uttarine Empire was ended. A great number of kingdoms and republics would originate from the former territorial divisions of the Uttarine Empire.

Kingdoms and Republics Period (114 BCE - XXX CE)
After the fragmentation of the Uttarine Empire, the old kingdoms of Pascātya and Anārah would regain their independence (the latter being renamed Anarattā). The eastern coast would be dominated by the republics of Ganta and Rattasha, which were formed thanks to the intellectuals convincing local rebels to form states governed by a senate. From the Szattara area the Kingdom of Herkata would be born. The Kingdom of Tylakolia would be re-established under the same dynasty, which survived in insular exile. To face the economic crisis that the Uttarine Empire had left them, the new states minted their own currencies and diversified economic activities. The rice monoculture began to be accompanied by crops of sorghum, millet, banana, mango and guava, among other fruits and cereals. The transport infrastructure built by the emperors was used for trade. Little by little, the economy of the nations was going up and the first investments were made in the political and social organization. While the kingdoms maintained a despotic system, the Ganta and Rattasha republics organized a democratic system based on citizen participation in politics through a Senate, which elected a consul to govern. This system gave rise to the formation of political factions which represented their political ideals in the Senate. While the kingdoms applied military repression or religious fanaticism (especially Anarattā, which had a very powerful clergy) to stay stable, the two republics enjoyed popularity with the multitude.

Herkata Holy War
Conflicts were not long in coming, since in 110 BCE the Kingdom of Herkata adopted Māsṭaralism as the official religion, challenging all other states which were deeply Devanagist. In 109 BCE a coalition formed by Pascātya and Anarattā declared war on Herkata accusing him of heresy, thus starting the first religious war in Prabhat's history. The coalition suffered serious setbacks to conquer Herkata territory due to the resilience of its soldiers. However, the religious role in the war managed to attract volunteers and mercenaries from Ganta and Rattasha who offered their services free of charge to fight against what they considered heretics. These mercenaries carried out raids and sabotage to wear down Herkata's army, allowing Herkata's strong border defense to be broken in 107 BCE and the great coalition army (which used a lot of war elephants, like its ancestor, the Uttarine Empire) started a breakthrough towards the capital of Herkata. By 105 BCE the capital of Herkata had fallen and the remaining soldiers took refuge in the artificial caves built by the Māsṭaralists. The coalition established the formation of a new government in Herkata from the reigning dynasty at Pascātya, which adopted the main branch of Devanagism as the official religion and began the persecution of heretics. However, this kingdom had economic problems and instability since its establishment due to the devastation of the war and the resistance of the Māsṭaralist population, so it had to be helped by Pascātya and Anarattā. This victory was applauded by the rest of kingdoms and republics that professed Devanagism which founded the first military-religious organizations to purge the heretics. The wave of murders after this war led to the fear of the non-professing population and was forced to convert by force, which caused the disappearance of several local shamanic and animist beliefs. Māsṭaralism was able to continue to exist hidden within its artificial caves and in small diasporas in the territory of Tylakolia and the Rendoshian tribes, where they were not persecuted.

Rise of the Rendoshian Empire
After the Herkata Holy War, a large group of Māsṭaralists who escaped persecution in the eastern lands came to the Rendoshian territories, which were divided into numerous tribes that controlled small territories and engaged in pillage and grazing. The refugees brought new religious ideas that clashed with native animism, but were nevertheless very well accepted by the local priests who set out to analyze their religious practices. In 97 BCE, a religious prophet named Brahnavira mixed the religious dogmas of Māsṭaralism with the animistic traditions of the Rendoshians to form a new philosophical doctrine and religion, called Arjatāism. Arjatāism is a non-theistic religion that denies the existence of any divinity, including a creator God, but includes the moral beliefs of Devanagism being described as an ascetic movement that promulgates self-control, non-violence, and liberation of the soul. Brahnavira's words ran through all the Rendoshian tribes and received such acceptance that Arjatāism was adopted as the official religion of the Rendoshian people. The religious unity that the Rendoshian people achieved led to the emergence of a feeling of unity, which erupted in 97 BCE when Rānattavana, leader of the Ugrana tribe, began a military campaign to unify all the Rendoshian tribes. His campaign won the support of Brahnavira and his religious followers, as well as other tribes who rallied to his cause. The unification was finalized in 95 BCE when Rānattavana crushed the last opposing tribes and was proclaimed emperor, this year being the creation date of the Rendoshian Empire.

The Rendoshian Empire went through a period of reform to return what had once been a land of barbarian tribes into an empire organized in the likeness of the eastern kingdoms. So that the tradition is not affected, Rānattavana made a nobility constituted by the old ruling clans of the Rendoshian tribes. The emperor had a large number of Arjatāist temples erected to spread his religion throughout the lands of the empire. He also ordered the modernization and expansion of the army, since Rānattavana planned to conquer the eastern states taking advantage of their divisions, designating as the first objective the unstable Kingdom of Herkata, which had consequences of the religious war that was fought in its territory. Herkata received a surprise attack in 86 BCE by a large Rendoshian army composed mostly of horse archers, who became the preferred force of the Rendoshian Empire for their combat ability. Mounted forces raided the villages of Herkata, wasting their fragile economy, and then ambushed their troops. The Kingdom of Herkata had to be aided by Pascātya, Anarattā and Ganta, who declared war on the Rendoshian Empire causing a large-scale war. The newborn empire had the head start thanks to its military innovations, managing in 84 BCE to take the capital of Herkata and occupy the entire kingdom for 3 years. However, the numerical and logistical superiority of the coalition caused the Rendoshians to withdraw from Herkata. The Rendoshians chose to carry out attacks on Pascātya, the main military power, to undermine the military capacity of the coalition. However, the vast majority of battles resulted in draws or Pyrrhic victories, losing many lives with little territorial advancement over the years. The sides, financially and morally worn out, decided to sign a peace treaty in 75 BCE, in which the status quo ante bellum was agreed. However, the instability resulting from two consecutive wars led to the collapse of the Kingdom of Herkata, which was divided between the Kingdom of Pascātya and the Republic of Ganta. In the Rendoshian Empire, the war served as a warlike experience and generated resentment towards the eastern states, forging a greater historical identity for the Rendoshian people.

Austronesian Invasion
While the northern states were engaged in a war, the Kingdom of Tylakolia began to have instability due to social conflict between the Tylakians who embraced traditional culture and the Tylakians who had adopted Devanagism and elements of the culture of the northern states, due to previous occupation and cultural assimilation by the Uttarine Empire. The King of Tylakolia failed to defuse tensions and civil war broke out in 83 BCE between the Traditional West and the East Devanagist. The king and his family went into exile to the Republic of Rattasha, which intervened in the war in 82 BCE in favor of the Devanagist Tylakians because they shared the same religion. The traditionalist side had numerical superiority, however thanks to Rattasha's support for the Devaganist Tylakians the war stalled, as both sides had serious casualties but there were no significant territorial advances. Finally a peace treaty was signed in 78 BCE, which established the division of the Kingdom of Tylakolia into Western Tylakolia (traditionalist) and Eastern Tylakolia (Devanagist). In 37 BCE, Eastern Tylakolia began a military reunification campaign with the support of the Republic of Rattasha, however, this conflict would be interrupted by a major event.

In 36 BCE, a large group of Austronesian peoples from the west (specifically the Yafans) settled in Maliba and attacked Anvēṣaka Island with a large fleet, coming into direct conflict with Western Tylakolia. The two Tylakolias agreed to stop the civil war to defend themselves from the invader. However, the Austronesians were skilled warriors and very numerous, so they were a much greater threat than expected. Through land and sea, the Austronesians managed to conquer much of Western Tylakolia and finally took the capital in 34 BCE, resulting in a very quick and easy campaign for the Austronesians. The Republic of Rattasha decided to support Eastern Tylakolia to face the invader, waging bloody wars on land and sea. The Austronesian occupation of Western Tylakolia continued until 27 BCE, when the Allied forces managed to completely liberate the territory. The spiteful Tylakians decided to continue the campaign to exterminate the invaders, fighting another bloody battles until the Austronesian peoples were expelled from the region in 23 BCE. Tylakolia was reunified again this time by adopting Devanagism as the official religion, and the culture became very similar to the culture of the Northeast. However, the Austronesian invasion left permanent marks on Tylakolia, such as linguistic elements, cultural practices, and groups of Austronesians who remained living in rural villages and intermingled with the Tylakians, forming a new ethnic group, the Austro-Tylakians. It was also the first foreign invasion of the Prabhat towns after the arrival of the Tylakians and Rendoshians that happened in the Vidarale Empire period, 653 years ago. When the news of the invasion swept through all the nations in the region, the first feeling of national identity was formed before Prabhat's existence, when all the peoples (including the Tylakians, Rendoshians, Bhāgyavāna and Devanasūna) expressed their support against the foreign invasion.

War of the Republics
The republics of Ganta and Rattasha were organized in a federal system in which the Senate gave autonomy to the cities that made up the republic, being a federation of cities led by a Senate in which they were represented. The two republics maintained a social, cultural and economic system quite different from the monarchical states. Their social hierarchy was based on a large and superior group, the citizens, who were all native men. It was followed by women and serfs who had limited rights, and finally slaves who had no rights or freedom. The use of slaves was quite widespread in the two republics, being the main labor force and composition of the armies. Culture underwent a re-flourishing in the period of existence of these two republics, thanks to the fact that a greater number of people could participate in art. Examples of arts with exponential growth in this era are music, painting, sculpture, architecture, theater and sports. Religion was also a fundamental part of the culture, erecting many Devaganist temples, especially those used for the worship of a specific god. Philosophy had its greatest growth at this time, with several schools of thought being born in the two republics (which later expanded to the rest of the states), characterized by a variety of proposals on how to understand the world and the place of man in it. This philosophy was always accompanied by religion, because instead of developing as a vision opposed to the dogmas of Devanagism, it served so that the priests could debate and arrive at better interpretations of religion. Ganta and Rattasha adopted an economy largely based on trade, for which they developed maritime fleets with which they traded with distant states of Kesh, selling at high prices the products they bought from the kingdoms of Prabhat for insignificant prices. The military side at Rattasha formed a strictly militarized society, while at Ganta a large naval force and the contract of mercenaries were relied upon.

The great similarity between these two republics caused a rivalry to form between them, especially in the economic aspect. Ganta and Rattasha vied for dominance of markets in other states, prompting frequent squabbles between merchants from the two nations. In 22 BCE, Ganta blamed Rattasha for the assault and murder of a group of Ganta merchants in the border area, leading to a diplomatic crisis that nearly sparked a war. However, it was discovered that the assault had been carried out by a new group of bandits on the border, who carried out many more assaults on merchants since that year. This motivated the creation of a military alliance between Ganta and Rattasha to defend themselves against the bandits, carrying out joint military operations that managed to eradicate most of the bandits. However, diplomatic troubles were rekindled when in 13 BCE Ganta imposed high tax rates on foreign merchants to favor its own merchants. This action led Rattasha to do the same, generating an economic war until an agreement was reached in 11 BCE in which low taxes were established. In 3 CE, a slave rebellion broke out in Ganta, in which slaves seized power in 3 cities south of Ganta and declared their independence, forming a league of city-states to defend themselves from the Republican army. Ganta's senate asked Rattasha for help in crushing the separatists considering the military alliance they had signed, however Rattasha refused to help, causing Ganta to break the military alliance. In 4 CE an aristocratic coup occurred in Ganta that suspended its democratic system and formed an authoritarian government which crushed the separatist cities. The Rattasha government helped large numbers of rebels escape to their lands, prompting the Ganta government to declare war in 5 CE.

The beginning motivated the Rattasha senate to delegate greater powers to the consul, while in Ganta the aristocratic dictatorship remained in power and persecuted the democratic resistance to preserve institutional stability during the war. The war was divided into several expeditions on the part of the two sides to conquer the enemy cities. The first expedition (5 CE - 7 CE) was a campaign by Ganta to destroy Rattasha's border positions. Although most of the battles were victory for Ganta, they had to withdraw due to supply problems as they had not logistically prepared for a war. Rattasha called the Kingdom of Tylakolia to war, which was his ally due to helping him defend against the Austronesians. Rattasha and Tylakolia sent a large expeditionary force (8 CE - 12 CE) that managed to regain the territories taken by Ganta, weakened their naval force, and penetrated their interior territories. However, this expedition was stopped as Ganta financed rebellions of aristocrats in the eastern cities of Rattasha. This period of the war (13 CE - 19 CE) would be characterized by indirect conflicts, such as rebellions in the eastern cities of Rattasha financed by Ganta and a rebellion in Herkata, which had been annexed in part by Ganta, financed by Rattasha and Tylakolia. In this period the economy of the belligerent nations was seriously worn out, poverty increased and the monarchies of Pascātya and Anarattā took the opportunity to impose restrictions on the merchants of the two republics. The war was resumed thanks to a new military expedition (20 CE - 24 CE) by Rattasha and Tylakolia, which destroyed Ganta's army in several battles and besieged several major cities, until penetrating the capital which fell in 24 EC. The peace was signed after 19 years of war, resulting in Ganta's loss of regional power status. The victors forced the losers to grant independence to various city-states and a new republic in Herkata, in addition to granting very stiff financial compensation that ruined Ganta's economy. The exaggerated expenses of the war motivated a coup in Rattasha that established a dictatorship between 25 and 29, in which the harsh consequences of the war were experienced. After this stage, Rattasha established itself as the dominant republic, maintained a monopoly on trade with distant nations and established several independent city-states as its vassals.