Question : Asses the pattern of settlement, economy, social organization, and religion of India during C 2000 to 500 BC from archaeological evidences.
(2003)
Answer : A clear developmental history of the succeeding stages is not yet available from any one area. The picture has to be reconstructed or pieced together from scenes here and there. According to the archaeological evidences, there were mainly four cultures in India during the period C-2000-500 BC.
The Harappan Culture further divided into two phases (a) mature phase (2200 -1800 BC) (b) later harappan culture (1500-1500 BC). Vedic culture is also divided into two phases (a) rigvedic period (1500-1000 BC) and (b) later vedic period (1000-600 BC)
From the archaeological evidences it is clear, that there were great differences in the pattern of settlement, economy, social organisation and religion among these four cultures.
The end of the neolithic period saw the use of metal. The metal to be used first was copper, and several cultures were based on the use of stone and copper implements. Such a culture is called Chalcholithic which means the stone-copper phase. Technologically, chalcholithic stage applied to the pre-Harappans. The chalcholithic people mostly used stone and copper objects, but they also occasionally used low-grade bronze. They were primarily rural communities spread over a wide area in those parts of country where hilly land and rivers were available. In India settlement belonging to the chalcholithic phase are found in southeastern Rajasthan, the western part of Madhya Pradesh, western Maharashtra and also in Southern and Eastern India. In south eastern Rajasthan two sites, one at Ahar and other at Gilund, have been excavated. They lie in the dry zone of the Banas Valley. In western Madhya Pradesh, Malwa, Kaytha and Eran have been exposed. The Malwa, typical of the Malwa chalcholithic culture of central and western India is considered the richest among the chalcholithic ceramics. Some of its pottery and other cultural elements are also found in Maharashtra.
Several chalcholithic sites have been found in the Vindhiyar region of Allahabad district. In Eastern India besides Chirand on the Ganga, mention may be made of Pandu Rajar Dhidi in Burdwan district and Mahishdal in Birbhum district in west Bengal. Some among these are Senwar, Sonpur and Taradih in Bihar, and Khairadih and Narhan in eastern Utter Pradesh.
The people living in the Chalolithic age in South-Eastern Rajasthan, western Madhya Pradesh, Western Maharashtra and elsewhere domesticated animals and practised agriculture. They kept cows, sheeps, goats, pigs and buffaloes and hunted deer. Remains of the camels have also been found. It is not clear whether they were acquainted with the horse. Some animal remains are identified as belonging either to the horse or donkey or wild ass. People certainly ate beef, but they did not take pork on any considerable scale. What is remarkable is that these people produced wheat and rice. In addition to these staple crops, they also cultivated Bajra. They produced several pulses such as the lentil (masur), black gram, green gram and grass pea. Almost all these foodgrains have been founded at Navadotoli situated on the bank of Narmada in Maharashtra.
The people of Navadatoli also produced ber and linseed. Cotton was produced in the black cotton soil of the Deccan, and ragi, bajra and several millets were cultivated in the lower Deccan. In Eastern India, fish hooks have been found in Bihar and West Bengal, where we also find rice. This suggest that the chalcolithic people in the Eastern region lived on fish and rice, which is till a popular diet in that part of the country. Most settlements in the Banas valley in Rajasthan are small but Ahar and Gilund spread an area of nearly four hectares. Regional differences in regard to cereals, structure, pottery etc., appear in stone copper phase. Eastern India produced rice, western India cultivated barley and wheat. Chronologically certain settlements in Malwa and central India such an those in Kayatha and Eran, appeared early; those of western maharashtra and eastern India were of a much later date.
We can form some idea about the burial practice and religious cult of these people. In Maharashtra people buried their dead in urns under the floor of their house in the north-to-south position. They did not use separate cemeteries for this purpose, as was the case with the harappans. Pots and some copper objects were deposited in the graves obviously for the use of the dead in the next world. Terracota figurine of women suggests that the chalcolithic people venerated the mother goddess similar to that found in western Asia has been found in Inamgaon. In Malwa and Rajasthan stylized bull terracota show that the bull was the symbol of a religious cult.
Both the settlement pattern and burial practice suggest beginning of social inequalities. A kind of settlement hierarchy appears in several Jorwe settlements found in Maharashtra. Some of them are as large as twenty hectares, but others are only five hectares and even less in size. This would imply two-tier habitations. This difference in the size of the settlements suggests that larger settlements dominated the smaller ones. However, in both large and small settlements the chief and his kinsmen who lived in rectangular houses dominated others who lived in round huts. In Inamgaon the craftsman lived on the western fringes, and the chief probably in the centre; this suggests social distance between the inhabitants. In the graves at Chandoli and Nevasa in western Maharashtra some children were buried along with copper based necklace around their necks; other children have grave goods consisting only of pots. At Inamgaon no adult was buried with pottery and some copper. In one house in Kayatha 29 copper bangles and two unique axes were found. At the same places the necklaces of semi-precious stones such as steatite and carnelian beads were found in pots. It is evident that those who possessed these objects were affluent.
The pattern of settlement was not similar in all the Harappan cities. Harappa and Mohanjodaro each had its own citadel or acropolis, which was possibly occupied by members of the ruling class. Below the citadel in each city lay a lower town containing brick houses, which were inhabited by the common people. The remarkable thing about the arrangement of the houses in the cities is that they followed the grid system. According to it, roads cut across one another almost at right angles, and the city was divided into somany blocks. This is true of almost all Indus settlements regardless of size. In Mohanjodaro the largest building is a granary which is 45.71 meters long and 15.23 meters wide. But in the citadel of Harappa we find as many as six granaries.
The drainage system of Mohanjodaro was very impressive. In almost all cities every big or small house had its own courtyard and bathroom. In later phase the confluence of Ganga and Jamuna became gradually the suitable region for the settlement. The settlements in Gujarat were not similar in all places due to the plateau and uneven lands and in the west coast of Gujarat a big seacoast. In later phase of Harappan culture an agriculture community arose in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana. In this religion unsystematic house settlement and fossils have been found. The post Harappan culture is also known as sub-Indus culture were post-urban phase. The late Harappan cultures are primarily chalcolithic in which tools of stones and copper are used. Harappan culture was a Bronze Age culture, they used bronze on a limited scale, and largely continued to use stone implements. Finally no contemporary culture spread over such a wide area as the Harappan culture did.
The Indus people produced wheat barley, rai, peas, etc. It seems that as early as 1800 BC the people of Lothal used rice. Probably cereals were received as taxes from peasants and stored in granaries for the payment of wages. Oxen, Buffaloes, Goats, Sheeps and Pigs were domesticated. They also keptasses and camels, which were obviously used as beasts of burden. The importance of trade in the life of the Indus people is attested not only by granaries found at Harappa, Mohanjodaro and Lothal but also by the presence of numerous seals, uniform script and regulated weights and measures in a wide area. They did not use metal money. Most probably they carried on all exchanges through barter, it return for finished goods and possibly foodgrains. They had set up a trading colony in northern Afghanistan which evidently facilitated trade with central Asia. The Harappan carried on long-distance trade in Lapis Lazuli; Lapis may have contributed to the social prestige of the ruling. We have no clear idea about the political organisation of the Harappans. In sharp contrast to Egypt and Mesopotamia, no temples have been found at any harappan sites. We have no religious structures of any kind except the great Bath, which may have been used for ablutions. Therefore, it would be wrong to think of priests in Harappa, as they did in the cities of Mesopotamia. There are some indications of the practice of fire cult at Lothal in Gujarat in the later phase, but no temples were used for the purpose. Perhaps the Harappan rulers were more conceded with commerce than with conquests, and harappa was possibly was ruled by a class of merchants.
Numorous Terracota figuirines have been found. In one figurine a plant is shown growing out of the embryo of a women. Probably the imge represents the goddes of earth. The Harappans, threfore, looked upon the earth as a fertility goddess and worshiped her. It is difficult to decide whether the Harappan culture was matriachal or not the male diety is represented on a seal. This god has three horned heads, in sitting posture of yoge, and surrounded by an elephant, a tiger, a rhinoceros and has a buffalo below his throne. At his feet appear two deers. This seal make us to believe this deity as Pashupati mahadeva. The animals shown, may have served as vehicles for gods. The phallus worship was also prevalent in Harappa. The pipal three was worshiped. But the gods are not placed in temples. Amulets have been found in large numbers. Probably the Harappans believed that ghosts and evil forces were capable of harming them. The humped bull were also worshipped.
Kinship was the basis of social structure, and a man was identified by the clan to which he belonged. People gave their primary loyalty to the tribe, which was called Jana. Vis was divided into grama or smaller tribal unit meant for fighting. The most numerous varna of vaishyas arose out of the vis or the mass of the tribal people. The family was considered comprising not only mother, father, brother and sister but also many more people. It seems that family in early vedic phase was indicated by the term griha. Society was patriarchal headed by the father. Varna was the term used for colour, colour may have provided the identity mark for social orders, but it was not so rigid as it became in later vedic phases. The Dasas and Dasyus were treated as slaves.
Every people discovers its religion in its surrounding. The Aryans found it difficult to explain the advent of rains, the appearance of the sun and the moon, and the existence of river and mountains etc. So they personified these natural forces and looked upon them as living beings to whom they gave human or animal attributes. We have a large number of such divinities in the Rigveda, which is full of hymns composed in their honour by the poets of the various families. The most important is Indra, the 2nd Agni, the 3rd Varun etc.
In the later vedic period the upper Doab developed to be cradle of Aryan culture under Brahmanical influence. The whole of vedic literature compiled in this area in the land of Kuru-Panchalas. The cult of sacrifice central to this culture was accompanied by rituals and formulae. The former gods Indra and Agni lost their importance and Prajapati came to occupy in the later vedic period.
Towards the end of the vedic period began a strong reaction against priestly domination against culture and rituals, the Upnishads were compiled. These philosophical text criticized the rituals and laid stress on the value of right belief and knowledge.
The Rigvedic people possessed better knowledge of agriculture. Plaughshare is mentioned in earliest part of Rigveda. They were acquainted with sowing, harvesting and threshing. Agriculture was also known to the pre-Aryans who lived in the area associated with the vedic people Rigvedic Aryans predominantly were pastoral. The Rigveda mentions such artisans as the carpenter, the charriotmaker, the weaverr, the leather worker, the potter etc.
From around 1000 BC onward iron was used in western part of India. In western Uttar Pradesh iron implements used in 800 BC. Iron brought a new technological revolution and made ploughshare. With the iron ploughshare land brought under cultivation clearing the woods. The vedic people continued to produce barley but in later vedic period rice and wheat became their chief crops. The later vedic period saw the rise of diverse arts and crafts. Agriculture and various crafts enable the later vedic people to lead a settled life. Since they cultivated with the wooden ploughshare, the peasant could not produce enough for feeding those who were engaged in other occupations. Hence peasants could not contribute much to the rise of towns.
The period between 600 BC to 50 BC was the rise of Janpada and Mahajanpada in northern India plain. From the 600 BC onwards the widespread use of iron in Eastern Uttar Pradesh and western Bihar created conditions for the formation of large territorial states. In the age of the Buddha we find 16 large states called Mahajanpadas. They were mostly situated north of Vindhyas and extended from the north west frontier to Bihar. Of these, Magadha, Koshala, Vatsa and Avanti seem to have been considerably powerful. Many towns were seats of governments, but whatever be causes of their origin they eventually turned out to be markets and came to be inhabited by artisans and merchants, Saddalaputta at vaishali had five hundred potter shops. We hear at vessas or merchants street in varanasi the products of crafts were carried over long distances by merchants. These contained fine textile goods, ivory objects, pots etc. All the important cities of the period are situated on river bank and trade routes and connected with one another.
Trade was facilitated by the use of money. Coins made of metal appear first in the age of Buddha. We cannot think of crafts, commerce and urbanisation in the middle Gangetic basin without a strong rural base, administrators, military personnel and numerous other functionaries could not live in town unless taxes, tributes and titles were available in sufficient measure to support them. None agriculturists living in town had to be fed by agriculturists living in villages. In return artisans and traders living in town made tools, clothes etc., available to the rural folk. It seems that the nucleated rural settlements in which all people settled at one place with their agricultural lands mostly outside the settlements first appeared in age of Buddha.
The peasants had to pay one-sixth of their produce as tax. The picture of economy that emerges from a study of material remains and the Pali texts is much different from the rural economy of later vedic times in western Uttar Pradesh or the nature of economy of a few chalcolithic communities found in some parts of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. We notice for the first time an advanced food producing economy spread over the middle gangetic basin and the beginning of urban economy in this area. It was an economy which provided subsistence not only to direct producers but also to many others who were not farmers or artisans. This made possible collection of taxes and maintenance of armies on a long term basis and created conditions in which large territorial states could be formed and sustained.
In these Mahajanapada, there was a republican government existed either in the Indus basin or in the foothills of Himalayas in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The Indian legal and judicial system originated in this period. Formerly people were governed by the tribal law which did not recognise any class distinction. But by now the tribal community has been clearly divided into four classes—Brahmana, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. So the Dharamshastra laid down the duties of each of the four varnas and the civil and criminal law came to be based on the varna division. The flourishing economy paved the way for changes in religious attitudes. The cow slaughter had been stopped for agricultural cause. The lower varnas showed resistance to religious discrimination and criticised the social discrimination
Question : Describe the distinguishing features of important archaeological cultures of the Indian subcontinent datable between c. 2000 B.C. and c. 500 B.C.
(1995)
Answer : Chalcolithic village communities of North-West prepared a full fledged background for the origin of the Harappan culture based on matured urban elements. Around 1750 B.C. this urban civilization met a decline due to various factors and once again the region became a centre of rural folklore. The Jhukar and Jhangar cultures succeeded the mature Harappans. The cemetery H-culture came into existence in Harappa and two more nearby sites. This is represented by jerry-built walls, black-on-bright-red pottery and two successive burial strata. The Jhukar culture is distinguished by a buff pottery with designs executed in a purplish-black pigment, often augmented by red. The ware of Jhangar culture is gray or grayish-black.
The Ahar-Banas culture of the period under review was associated with Chalcolithic village communities. This culture was in existence in the Banas valley in South-East Rajasthan extending over the regions of Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Bhilwara, Ajmer, Jaipur and Tank. But the important sites are Ahar and Gilund. The mound of Ahar is 1500 x 800 feet, while one room is 9 x 4.5 metres. The first phase is marked by three types of pottery buff and cream slipped wares, highly fired chocolate coloured wares and bowl in the white painted black and red ware. The second phase witnesses the cultivation of Jowar, millet. The mound of Gilund is 1500 x 750 feet. There is also a structure of kiln burnt bricks. Hearths and clay-like storage pits are remarkable remains. Carbon - 14 method places the duration of Ahar-Banas culture around B.C. 1725 ± 140.
Excavations at Maheshwar and Navdatoli on the Narmada, Awra and Nagda on the Chambal and Eran on the Bina have revealed the existence of farming communities. But Kayatha and Navdatoli are the two important sites Kayatha, on the bank of the KaliSindh, an affluent of the Chambal, is the testimony of two to three cultural groups. The first period, named as the Kayatha culture, has yielded three samples of wheel-turned pottery, numerous axes of copper, bangles, microliths and beads of pebble agate and steatite. The period of this group is determined between 220 and 2000 B.C. The second group is an extension of the Ahar culture. The houses consisted of one or two rooms made by closely set wooden posts. These were enclosed by a bamboo screen, plastered with clay and coated with line. The evidences of two types of houses are available circular and rectangular. Houses were made side by side and the way in between them was a regular feature.
The potteries of different types are found in the Malwa culture. These are available from general cups to decorated goblet forms. The black-on-red pottery predominates but there is a small proportion of white-on-cream or yellow and white-on-black surface. The designs of painted pottery are geometric. Copper was a well-known metal, although with limited uses. The farmers of this region used to produce two kinds of wheat, lentil, black gram, green gram, green peas, linseed and lathyrus. They entered the rice producing stage around 1500 B.C. The time of Navdatoli has been fixed between 1600 and 1300 B.C.
Daimabad in Ahmadnagar district is very important from this point of view because the occupational strata fall into various sub-periods. In the first sub-period, we have microliths, polished stone axes and a coarse gray ware. The third sub-period has links with the culture of Malwa. The fourth sub-period is called the ‘Jorwe culture’. This culture belongs to the period between 1400 and 1000 B.C. but it continued up to the 700 B.C. level at Inamgaon. The people of this settlement lived in rectangular and circular houses. Walls were made from clay and kneaded mud with the designs roofs. The black-on-red diagnostic pottery with the designs of parallel lines is found here. The people used to produce Bajara, wheat, lentil, Kulthi and some where rice. Cotton is noticed at Nevasa. They domesticated cow, buffalo, goat, sheep, pig and horse. The disposal of the dead is an important feature here. Urns or jars were used many times. These urns were buried underneath the house floor or close by.
In South India, the Microlithic culture of Teris was followed by the makers of polished stone axes made of fine grained basalt with a splayed-out cutting edge. The baseline for settled phase and copper entered there at a later stage. This covers generally the areas of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The more note-worthy sites are Brahmagiri, Sangankallu, Maski, Piklihal, T. Narsingpur, Kodekal, Utnur and Nagarjun Konda. Carbon-14 determinations place these cultures between 2300 and 900 B.C. The features of the later stages are-wheel turned painted pottery and use of metal. The houses of these sites were either round or rectangular. Wattle and doab were used to prepare walls, supported inside by thick wooden posts and a bamboo screen. Floors were doubled with lime. These people produced barley and gram and the occurrence of charred grains of Kulath and boat shaped querns show incipient agriculture. But cattle played an important part in their lives. Dungs were deposited inside the enclosure and being burnt on year to year basis. These are known as ash mounds in archaeology. The dead were buried near the habitation in various contemporary forms.
We have proto-historic copper tools from Kuchai in the Mayurbhanj district of Orissa which is a Neolithic site. A coarse brownish-red ware and polish stone axes are the basic features of this place. Bhagrapir and Qunria of this state are the noteworthy find spots of the copper hoard culture. Hami and Baragunda in Jharkhand are famous sites. Pandurajar dhibi in Burdwan district and Mahisadal in Midnapur are famous excavated sites. The former is marked by white-painted black and red as well as black-on-red wares. This is related to the last quarter of the second millennium B.C. The people lived in wattle and doab made houses. Fractional pot-burials were in vogue. The distribution of above patterns of pottery white painted black-and-red ware happens to be present in the middle Ganga Valley. Prahladpur near Varanasi, Sohagaura in Gorakhpur and Chirand in Bihar are famous places. We do not come to know about any stage of Chirand which is devoid of metal than can be said as old as 2000 B.C. The remains of stone tools, houses of wattle and doab and a rich collection of various crops like rice and moong are visible here. The next stage is associated with the black and red ware of the Chalcolithic nature. Sonpur, a place near the confluence of the rivers Ganges and Gandak, presents the unpainted black and red ware.
The cultural tradition at Ganga Basin begins with the ochre colour pottery. The credit goes to B.B. Lai who first discovered it at Hastinapur from below the levels of the painted grey ware culture. This culture is also known as the Gangetic valley copper hoards. Numerous copper tools have been discovered from Bahadarabad, Rajpur Parsu, Bisauli, Fatehgarh, Sarthali, Bithur, Pariar and Sheorajpur. These include ordinary, shouldered and bar like cells, looked spearheads, antennae swords, harpoons and other objects. The ochre colour ware culture has no certain characteristics excepting the evidence of rice at Atranjikhera in this stage. The tools in the same context have been found even outside this region. The sites of Pondi Kalan and Gungeria in Madhya Pradesh, hami and Baragunda in Jharkhand, Tamajuri in West Bengal, Ouria and Bhagrapir in Orissa, Kalhur have been identified in Rajasthan. The people of the copper Hoard culture of the basin might have some contacts with South India. The artifacts of this culture give to the ochre colour ware a date prior to 1200 B.C.
