Urbanisation in Early Historic India 9780860545576, 9781407347134

Table of contents :
Cover
Copyright
Preface
Contents
List of Maps and Figures
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Conclusions
Appendix A
Appendix B
Bibliography

Citation preview

Urbanisation· in Early Historic India

George .Erdosy

BAR International Series 430

1988

B.A.R.

5, Centremead, Osney Mead, Oxford OX2 ODQ, England.

GENERAL EDITORS A.R. Hands, B.Sc., M.A., D.Phil. D.R. Walker, M.A.

BAR S430,1988 : 'Urbanisation·in e arly Historic India' © George Erdosy,1988

The author’s moral rights under the 1988 UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act are hereby expressly asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be copied, reproduced, stored, sold, distributed, scanned, saved in any form of digital format or transmitted in any form digitally, without the written permission of the Publisher. ISBN 9780860545576 paperback ISBN 9781407347134 e-book DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9780860545576 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library This book is available at www.barpublishing.com

PREFACE

The present work,

based on a revision of my doctoral

d issertation , i s published with a two-fold ai m. On the one hand I have tried to draw the attention of South Asian archaeologists to certain m ethodological improvements int roduced

by

researchers

elsewhere.

endeavoured to present to a wider n ew area f or evolution. No

work

the

application of

i s possible

On

their

without

the

audience

other of

theories

the advice ,

I have

scholars of

a

cultural

encouragement

and practical a ssistance of a l arge number of i ndividuals. However, the appearance of their names here should i n no w ay i ncriminate them i n t he i nevitable s hortcomings of the work , f or which I alone must be held r esponsible. F irst and f oremost I should like to acknowledge the encouragement p rovided through my years at Cambridge by Drs Raymond and Bridget Allchin , along with many acts of kindness and practical assistance. As f ieldwork f igures prominently i n this book , next to be mentioned are those scholars i n I ndia i n particular in the Archaeological Survey and i n the -

D epartment of Ancient I ndian H istory , Culture and A rchaeol ogy , University of A llahabad whose a ssistance made the -

work possible. I wish to thank, above a ll, D rs. D .K . Chak rabarti and M . Lai, and Professor G .R . Sharma, for their advice on both practical matters r elating to f ieldwork , and on the interpretation of the latter's results, and Dr B .B . M isra for invaluable help in dating the ceramics produced by the s urvey . Much s timulation was a lso r eceived f rom D rs. D .P . Agrawal, B .D . Chattopadhyaya, K .N . D ikshit, K .T .M . H egde, M .C . Joshi, B .B. Lai, V .N . Misra, V .D . Misra, J .N . P al and P rakash S inha . I must also thank M r. Musli m S iddiq i, who provided me with all possible comforts during my long s tay i n A llahabad , as well as t he countless people i n Allahabad D istrict without whose hospitality the f ieldwork could not have been carried out. F inally , I am greatly i ndebted to Dr John Alexander for his extensive criticism of a draught version of this work i nto print.

my

text,

and

for helping to see

None of this research could have been carried out, bpwever, without the generous f inancial assistance of the Social S ciences and Humanities R esearch Council of C anada, whose award of a D octoral F ellowship enabled me to complete my doctoral thesis and whose Postdoctoral Fellowship a long with a research f ellowship f rom Wolfson College, C ambridge s upported i ts revision f or publication . -

-

1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

P reface Table of Contents L ist of Maps L ist of F igures

I ntroduction

1 .

Theory and M ethod 1 .1 1 .2 1 .3

2 .

1

i n the

S tudy of E arly H istoric C ities

C ities and C ivilisation P roblems of Text-aided Archaeology The L iterature of E arly H istoric I ndia

I ntroduction to the F ieldwork 2 .1 S ettlement Archaeology 2 .2 On C hoosing a Survey

Area

2 .3 S ampling 2 .4 G eographic P rofile of A llahabad D istrict

3 .

The S ettlement 3 .1 P eriod 3 .2 P eriod 3 .3 P eriod 3 .4 P eriod

4 .

2 2 23 26 2 9

H istory of A llahabad D istrict

I I I I II IV

1 000 600 B .0 600 3 50 B .0 3 50 1 00 B .0 1 00 B .C. 300 A .D -

-

-

-

The Emergence of C ivilisation 4 .1 The Foundations of I ndian Society 4 .2 The F irst C ities and S tates 4 .3

4 7 1 1

The R ise of Empire

44 5 5 6 5 7 8

88 1 06 1 31

Conclusion

1 51

Appendix A :

D ating C riteria

Appendix B :

S ite

f or

Cat alogue

surface f inds

1 53

1 63

B ibliography

181

i i

L IST OF MAPS

1 .

The

1 6 M ahajanapadas

24

2 . The Central Ganga Valley 3 . 4 . 5 . 6 .

A llahabad D istrict Allahabad

ca.

-

500 B .C .

( After Cunningham, ecological z ones

-

D istrict

-

1924)

25

( After Porter, 1878) d iscovered s ites

31 3 9

Allahabad D istrict s ites of 1000 Northern I ndia mineral r esources -

600 B .0

-

48

-

7 . Allahabad D istrict 8 . Allahabad D istrict

-

-

( After Ball, 1881) s ites of 600 350 B .0 s ites of 350 100 B .0

5 3 58 68

-

-

9 . A llahabad D istrict s ites of 100 B .C . 300 A .D 1 0. K anpur D istrict s ites of 200 B . C. 300 A .D . -

-

-

S ites of

83

-

( After the Neolithic and

Lal,

1 984)

86

1 1.

M ajor

1 2. 1 3. 1 4.

E arly I ron Age P eriods. . . . 89 Fortified C ities 600 350 B .0 107 Major Urban and R eligious C entres 350 100 B .C ...133 The Location of Asokan Edicts

1 5.

Tribal

-

-

-

-

( After Allchin and Norman, O ligarchies c a. 5 00 B .0

1985)

1 37

1968)

147

1 . Chronological Chart of Major Literary Works 2 . R ainfall P atterns i n A llahabad D istrict

21

-

( After

Sharma ,

L IST OF F IGURES

( After Nevill, 1 911) i n A llahabad D istrict

36

3 .

Agricultural Cycle

4 . 5 .

List of S ites D iscovered by the Survey D istribution of S ite-sizes in Period I

40 46

6 . 7 . 8 . 9 . 1 0 . 1 1. 1 2.

Rank-size Curve for Peri od I Plan of Kausa mbi in Period I D istribution of S ite-sizes in Period I I Rank-size Curve for Period II P lan of Kausambi in Peri od II D istribution of S ite-sizes in Period I II Rank-size Curve for Period I II

47 52 56 57 60 66 67

1 3. 1 4 . 1 5. 1 6 .

Bhita P lan of Excavations ( After Marshall, P lan of Kausambi in Period I II Plan of Kausa mbi in Period IV D istribution of S ite-sizes in Period IV

1 7. 18. 1 9.

Rank-size Curve for Period IV M ahagara P lan of Excavations ( After R ajgir J ivakamravana Monastery

20 .

Major

( After

Porter,

1878)

-

S harma,

-

-

Fortified

2 1.

L ist of

2 2.

Chronological

S ites

i n

R adiocarbon D ates Chart of

the

Ganga

Valley

f or Northern

Major

i ii

I ndia

S ettlements

37

1 912)

1 980)

7 ] . 73 7 9 80 81 9 9 1 11 1 34 1 55 162

I NTRODUCTION

The continuity of I ndia 's cultural t raditions has long been a source of pride to her c itizens, and scholars have a ttributed the origin of many modern i nstitutions to the f irst f lowering of c ivilisation i n the Ganga Valley approx imately 2 ,500 years ago . While t his v iew c learly overlooks contributions made by the i nhabitants of other regions, i t r eflects the wealth of documentation available f or a thorough study of the classical phase of Indian c ivilisation. H owever, i n s pite of t he advantages offered by the s imultaneous presence of l iterary and material sources, g ical r esearch i n this area

was

long neglected

archaeolo-

i n

f avour of

the more spectacular remains of H arappan s ites. Only when the partition of the Subcontinent i n 1 947 deprived I ndian archaeologists of their favourite haunts, was attention f inally turned towards what has often been called the s econd u rbanisation of I ndia . Wheeler ,

with characteristic

f oresight ,

was

the

f irst

to realise t he implications of t his d rastic reorientation d ictated by geopolitical factors, as the following statement s hows : " In the past I ndian archaeology has concentrated i ts major efforts upon the Northwestern region, upon what i s now P akistan....

Now

Taxila alike have

all

is

gone

changed.

f rom

Mohenjo

I ndia.

The

daro ,

outlook

i s

Harappa, r eadjus-

t ed and new problems come i nto focus. We know very much more archaeologically about t he I ndus, which has g iven the n ew I ndia perhaps little more than a name, than about the Ganges f aith .

which may al most be s aid to have g iven I ndia a Let us now turn to the valley of the Ganges and

devote to it something of the attention which in the past has been so f ruitfully lavished upon the valley of the I ndus." (Wheeler, 1 948: 2 ) H is

exhortations

proliferation of

were

certainly not

excavations

i n

without

the

Ganga

effect ,

as

the

Valley

shows.

Forty years on, investigators can enjoy the benefits of a well documented and securely dated culture sequence, and d an consult t echnical s tudies on the environment , s ubsistence pattern and t echnological achievements of prehistoric and E arly H istoric cultures. This

encouraging picture

i s only

marred by

the

conti-

nuing d isinclination of most archaeologists to explain the cultural processes they observe i n the E arly H istoric Ganga V alley . S ince contemporary I ndia owes many of i ts social i nstitutions to the patterns established i n the f irst millennium B .C ., such a state of affairs i s particularly s urprising . H istorians, to be sure, have made s ignificant contributions, but without much concern f or archaeological d ata . As for archaeologists, their efforts at explanation

have been l imited to a f ew

monographs and s hort papers,

t he

r est of the works purporting to deal with the cultures of the Ganga V alley b eing l ittle more t han d igests of e xcavat ion

reports. 1

The reasons for this neglect n eed not concern us here. However,

of processual i ssues until some explicitly

f ormulated hypotheses are advanced , r esearch will continue to lack d irection, with f ieldwork remaining a mechanical collection of redundant facts. I t i s in this context that t he present work i s being offered. Given the state of r esearch , and thus the nature of the available d ata , i t can do l ittle more than i dentify s ome k ey problems, offer new i nterpretations, and outline f uture r esearch a ims. No f inal s olutions are offered to any of the crucial questions of the E arly H istoric period , but i f r enewed d iscussion could be provoked ,

my a im w ill have b een accomplished .

A lthough methodological i ssues w ill be dealt with i n a s eparate chapter, certain assumptions, governing the r esearch here presented , must be s tated f rom the outset. To begin with , u rbanisation i s taken to be the c entral a spect o f

the d evelopment of complex societies ,

convenient

f ocus

of

s tudy .

S econdly ,

and hence the most

t he

crucial

i ndicator

f or the development of urban centres i s seen in the development of a hierarchy of settlement types on a regional s cale i t i s for this reason that the central goal of f ieldwork was to g ather previously neglected i nformation on s ettlement patterns in a selected region. F inally , the outstanding attraction and challenge of E arly H istoric archaeology l ies i n the presence of a large body of l iterary evidence, whose s tudy must be i ncluded i n any considera-

-

-

t ion o f cultural d evelopments. Even today most historians and archaeologists either neglect each other's sources or u se them uncritically . Yet a consideration of both types of evidence holds out the promise of making contributions even to general i ssues of cultural evolution , s ince f ew c ases of pristine r ature

u rban d evelopment a re

a s

the

as

well

documented

i n

l ite-

c ities of the Ganga Valley .

To conclude this i ntroduction , t he plan of t he v olume m ay be presented. In the f irst chapter the methodological

1 .)

Among

the historical

works the

s tudies of Thapar

( 1961,

1 978 , 1 983), Kosambi ( 1946, 1 952, 1 956, 1 965) and ( P . S .) Sharma ( 1966, 1983) deserve particular mention . Only Ghosh ( 1973) and Thakur ( 1981) have attempted to treat the r ise of c ities

i n detail,

but a series of papers by Chakra-

barti ( 1974, 1 984b, 1 984c) provides much more valuable i nsights. The s tudy of s ettlement patterns i n Kanpur D istr ict by Lal ( 1984) points the way towards future research g oals, while the studies of Tripathi ( 1975), S rivastava ( 1979) and Roy ( 1983) a re good examples of the l imitations o f

t raditional

approaches.

problems a ssociated with the g eneral a ims will be t reated i n detail. The second chapter will introduce the actual f ieldwork carried out, to be followed by a d iscussion of t he latter's results in the third chapter, where the sett lement history of the surveyed area will be presented . T he f ourth chapter will then a ttempt to chart the r ise of what m ay be referred to as the Ganges C ivilisation; f irst the f ull archaeological record for each outstanding stage of d evelopment

will be evaluated ,

to be

f ollowed by an analy-

s is of the l iterary sources, after which the d ifferent c lasses of evidence will be i ntegrated through the d iscuss ion of key processual issues. I n the concluding section the g eneral r elevance of the f indings f or an understanding of the r ise of complex societies will be set down, along w ith a brief survey of the subsequent fortunes of urban c entres in the Ganga Valley . I n this way the wider ai ms of the work providing some u seful g eneralisations concerning -

u rbanisation , and some explanation for presently observable patterns will also be r ealised . -

CHAPTER 1 THEORY AND METHOD I N THE STUDY OF EARLY H ISTORIC C ITIES

t ion

O ne of s een i n

the chief f actors r esponsible f or the s tagnaE arly H istoric archaeology has been a g eneral

l ack of concern with theory , l eading to i ntuitive research procedures, and outdated methodologies both i n the f ield and i n i nterpretation , and consequently to the multiplicat ion of poorly published and inadequate data f rom which only the s implest of hypotheses could be d rawn ( Agrawal and c nakrabarti, 1 979). Although recently some research proj ects have been conducted along more sophisticated lines ( Sharma , et. al., 1 980; Sharma and C lark, 1 983; Lal, 1 984) the expli ci t Treatment of key theoretical concepts i s s till r are , being largely confined to the writings of Malik ( 1968 , 19 7 6) and Paddayya ( 1981, 1982, 1985). For this r eason alone their d iscussion , however b rief and e lementary , s hould highlight the need f or a more r igorous approach , i n addition to providing the theoretical assumptions on which the present

1 .1

work

i s based .

C ITIES AND C IVILISATION H aving

s tated that

the

emergence of

complex

societies

c an be understood with r eference to u rbanisation , n ection between these processes must be examined .

the conThere i s

a v ast l iterature 2 on u rban origins , but here I s hall d eal w ith only one well-established school of thought, which r egards the sociocultural t ransformations a ccompanying the r ise of c ities as the central i ssue. I ts f ounder , Max Weber s tressed the substitution of secondary for pri mary relat ionships as a characteristic feature of urbanisation ; he pointed

to

the

replacement

of

kinship and

neighbourhood

t ies by i ndustrial, educational and r ecreational organisat ions, to the r elaxation of f ormal controls s uch as those e xercised by c aste and their d isplacement by economic or r acial d ifferentiation, and to the emergence of interest -

-

g roups ( Weber, 1 958). c hilde's well-known l ist butes c onnected with u rbanisation also i ncludes

2 .)

Outstanding

works on

u rban origins

i nclude

of attrithe d eve-

the

contri-

butions of sociologists, such as Mumford ( 1961), S joberg ( 1960) and Weber ( 1958). The archaeological studies of Adams ( 1966, 1981), Childe ( 1942, 1950), Johnson ( 1973), W heatley ( 1971), and Wright and Johnson ( 1975) should also be mentioned, especially as they explore the connections b etween urbanisation and state formation. An excellent t reatment of the v ariety of approaches u sed i n the s tudy of c ities ancient or modern i s to be f ound i n r tindale 's i ntroduction to h is t ranslation of Weber's c lassic treatise -

( Weber,

-

1 958).

l opment

of

social

s tratification,

the

concentration

of

s urplus in the hands of a ruling c lass, craft specialisat ion , and the general r eplacement of k inship bonds with t erritorial loyalties ( Childe, 1950). All these processes are given f urther extensive d iscussion by Ada ms i n his p ioneering

s tudy of

u rban origins

( Adams,

1 966).

I t i s Wheatley , however, who makes t he most explicit connection between u rbanisation and the evolution of social complexity . U tilising the concepts of C entral P lace T heory , which v iews c ities a s purveyors of economic and administrat ive services i n the landscape, he characterises the c ity as " an o rganising principle , an agent of r egional i ntegrat ion , i n short, a c reator of effective space" ( Wheatley and S ee, 1978: 7 ). To elaborate on this point, i t could be said that c ities are best defined as the containers of those i nstitutions that are required for the maintenance of i ncreasingly complex and i negalitarian s ocieties. O ne spec ific instance of this theory i s the interdependence of c ities and states. However, i n order to g ive this i nsight evolutionary s ignificance , we may modify i t by s tating that the process

of

u rbanisation

i s

s imply t he

gradual

a ggrega-

t ion of institutions of social control in a restricted number of s ettlements, which enables their supervision , and hence

their

society .

control,

by

the emerging ruling elements of

I t only remains now to outline the

this assumption s tudy.

on

To begin with ,

the

research

design

influence of

followed

in

my

any study of urbanisation must take a

long perspective, b eginning with the f irst f unctional d iff erentiation of s ettlements, and ending only with the crystallisation of a hierarchy of population centres crowned w ith c ities. Within society , a parallel trajectory leads f rom the emergence of s ocial s tratification best d efined as the restriction of access to basic, l ife-sustaining r esources ( Fried , 1 967) to the e arliest imperial s tates. This development in the Ganga Valley took place between -

-

approximately 1000 B .C. and 300 A .D .. Although i t would be s atisfying to v iew this so-called E arly H istoric period 3 a s a continuum , t he v ery n ature of the archaeological evidence

3 .) The designation Early H istoric covers a multitude of concepts , including a reference to the post-N .B.P. Ware cvlture by Lal, period

of t he archaeological r ecord ( as u sed , f or e xample 1984: 100). Here, i t will be used to designate the works

r e-

f erring to the Ganga Valley i n ca. 1000 B .C ., and proliferation of historical documents i n the form of

between

the

f irst

appearance

of

l iterary

the in-

s criptions f rom 300 A .D . onwards under the Gupta dynasty . A lthough the l abel " Early H istoric" r efers to t he n ature o f available sources, the period covered by i t also sees a f ull span of cultural d evelopment f rom t he r ise communities to the f irst appearance of empires.

of

v illage

n ecessitates a breakdown i nto d istinct s tages, whose succ essive t ransformations will f orm the f ocus of our i nvestig ation. I n w ill

the

have

examination of each

to

be

paid

to

the

s tage particular

emergence

of

attention

those

social

i nstitutions which led to the f unctional d ifferentiation of s ettlements, and to the ordering of these settlements i n a h ierarchy . Changes in these variables through ti me should help to pinpoint the organising principles of society , and t hrough them the forces leading to ever higher levels of s ocial complexity . G iven the r ichness of the evidence pert aining to the E arly H istoric Ganga Valley , which i s due to a l arge body of t extual sources, analysis s hould eventually p roceed beyond the documentation and explanation of a reg ional sequence, towards generalisations concerning the evolution of complex societies. Although in this work the particularistic goal will domi nate, some f indings having possibly wider r amifications will be pointed out f rom t ime to t i me. However, only after substantially expanding the archaeological record so as to match the richness of l iterary data will the more general ai ms be fully rea-

-

l ised. As a f inal point,

we

may note that the emphasis on the

emergence of s ettlement hierarchies n ecessitates the s tudy o f regi onal settlement patterns. In particular the f unctions proposed f or s ites on the basis of surface examin ation or excavations will have to be correlated with population s ize and l ocational c riteria , the l atter i ncludi ng the spatial relationship of s ites both to each other, and

to ecological

boundaries.

Until

r ecently

s uch

d ata

was

c ompletely lacking f or the Ganga Valley , a s the excavation of small t est t renches f or the recovery of trait l ists was g iven preference. On the basis of s uch i nformation regional s equences of cultures were constructed, associated with i ndividual ceramic types and ethnic groups, whose postulat ed movements were held to account f or the great cultural c hanges observed

f or

the

E arly H istoric period .

The level of the ensuing debate on processual issues s ufficiently i llustrates the bankruptcy of this approach 4 , but s ince i t has already received ample criticism, these n eed not be repeated here. I n any case, a departure f rom t raditional methods has now been made, i n particular through

the

survey

of

Early H istoric

s ites

conducted

4 .) The seminar proceedings edited by S inha ( 1969),

i n

( Y .D .)

S harma ( 1971), and D eo and Paddaya ( 1985) are good examples of the traditional preoccupation with the definition of archaeological cultures at the cost of neglecting process ual i ssues, which have been criticised in Erdosy ( 1986b, n .d.); s ee also the comments of Chakrabarti and Agrawal ( 1979).

K anpur D istrict by Makkhan Lal ( 1984). Unfortunately , the a rea investigated by hi m d id not include a s ingle urban s ite, and therefore could not provide the requisite data. I t i s for this reason that a survey in Allahabad D istrict w as undertaken with the results to be summarised below. Before that, however, the methodological d iscussion must be concluded

with

t ies posed period.

1 .2

by

an

examination

the

presence

of

of

the

particular

l iterary

d ifficul-

records

for

our

PROBLEMS OF TEXT-AIDED ARCHAEOLOGY

I t i s one o f the i ronies of E arly H istoric archaeology the wealth of textual evidence has hindered, rather

that

than advanced the s tudy of material remains. A rchaeologists have either neglected l iterary sources, or have directed their

efforts

ancient

t exts.

towards

demonstrating

the

historicity

of

H ence a great d eal of labour has been expen-

d ed on f inding the material equivalents of ethnic groups, and even of specific events r ecorded i n l iterature , a t the cost of neglecting processual i ssues. The m ethodology r equired f or solving s uch problems n amely the construction of culture sequences to be equated with ethnic groups -

-

c oincided well with the culture-historical orientation g iven I ndian archaeology by the combined efforts of S ir Mortimer Wheeler D irector General of the Archaeological Survey of I ndia i n 1 944-1948 and S tuart P iggott author -

-

-

o f the f irst comprehensive account of prehistoric India ( Piggott, 1950). As already pointed out, the legacy of t hese efforts i s a severely l i mited data base, in which only the most elementary patterns can be detected , to the d etriment of both constructing and testing hypotheses reg arding t he cultural evolution of the Ganga V alley . To

this

day the

most

s atisfying application of histo-

r ical i nformation to f ieldwork remains Cunningham 's i dentif ication of numerous archaeological s ites with Early H istor ic c ities, on t he basis of a ccounts provided by G reek and Chinese travellers ( Cunningham 1871, 1924). H is work succeeded in providing a solid historical f ramework for r esearch i nto the E arly H istoric Ganga Valley . I n particul ar, he succeeded in dividing into political entities an o therwise uniform geographic area, greatly assisting the i nterpretation of The

r egional

l i mitations of

s ettlement patterns.

Early

H istoric archaeology stem

f rom i ts practitioners' v iew of history as a chronicle of events

and personages

( to be

reproduced

i n prehistory by a

neat ordering of assemblages i nto r egional sequences). S uch a t radition dominated Anglo-Indian historiography and s ince the predominantly r eligious c ontent of t raditional sources r endered them u seless f or the writing of dynastic history , the

belief

emerged

among

Western

s cholars,

that

I ndia had

no

indigenous historical

t radition.

This

conclusion

was

a nathema to nationalist historians who grew up during the s truggle for i ndependence, yet, i ronically , accepted an outdated v iew of history f rom their f ormer r ulers . They not only persisted i n writing s traightforward dynastic a ccounts based on f acts taken at f ace v alue f rom epic and P uranic s ources but attempted to harness the abilities of arch-

-

a eology

to

f ind

material

evidence of

the past

f or

j ustify-

i ng their faith in the historicity of traditional l iterat ure. 5 Unfortunately i t i s this v iew of history which has f ound the greatest f avour with archaeologists, even though i t has been a ll

t heir

but

abandoned by historians .

No s erious analysis of t he a ncient texts could s upport uncritical use for political history . However, as

K osambi ( 1956) pointed out, history consists of more than t he c hronological ordering o f battles and dynasties. With t he r eorientation of i nterest towards social i ssues the s upposed weaknesses of ancient t exts i n f act t urn out to be their s trenghts, s ince the paucity o f " historical" material i s amply compensated f or by an abundance of i nformation on s ocial i nstitutions which no other corpus of ancient texts c an

match

f or

mass of

detail

and chronological

depth .

This

i s not to say that the texts are f ree of problems, only to point out their enormous potential f or a s tudy of cultural evolution , and their present n eglect by archaeologists. C learly ,

the archaeology of l iterate societies poses

problems of methodology , which arise both f rom the n eed t o properly i ntegrate d ifferent categories of i nformation , and f rom the peculiar qualities of t extual s ources, which must be d iscussed in their turn. To begin with , i t should be d ecided whether the presence of l iterary material will necessitate any funda mental changes in ai ms. Most propon ents of processual archaeology think it should not. They j ustly criticise the neglect of proceesual issues and the absence of g eneralisations i n much of historical archaeolog y 6 , and

f eel

that

i f

theoretical

concerns could be

re-

5 .) Volume one of the History and Culture of the I ndian P eople ( Majumdar, 1 951) provides the most monumental exam1e of misusing ancient I ndian l iterary sources, and has been criticised, among others, by Kosambi ( 1955). I t i s, however , more than compensated for by the many excellent s tudies r eferred to i n f ootnote 1 . The archaeological quest f or v alidating the historical content of I ndian l iterature i s

best

represented

S rivastava

( 1979),

c ontrary opinions 6 .)

Much,

by

Lal

S ankalia s ee

Joshi

( 1955, ( 1976), ( 1976),

but certainly not all;

1 981), and

Thapar

Gaur

( 1976),

( 1984);

c iattopadhyaya

for

( 1976).

the generalisations con-

c erning t he origin of c ities and states referred to in f ootnote 2 were a ll based on the i ntegration of historical s ources

and archaeological

d ata .

oriented i n t heir d irection ,

historical

archaeology would

a t last become a scientific d iscipline ( Binford , 1977b). The only methodological point stressed by them ( Barnes, 1 984 ; Leone, 1 977, Crumley , 1974) i s the need to preserve the i ntegrity o f t extual and material sources , meaning t hat they should be internally analysed for patterning f irst, and only then i ntegrated through

s hows

mutual hypothesis

t esting .

An examination of research i n historical archaeology a more c omplicated picture , however. 7 L iterary s our-

c es are used pri marily for the generation of hypotheses, and material evidence for their testing. Furthermore, i n t he i ntegration of the two sources i t i s the t extual evidence that i s c ited i n the explanation of observed process es, while material evidence plays a d istinctly s econdary role, as the purveyor of i nformation not found i n, or d irectly contradicting , the t exts. Not s urprisingly , archaeology takes on a progressively reduced role a s the l iter ary r ecord e xpands.

best

The reason for our preference for textual sources i s s tated by Kemp ( 1984: 26): "Modern i ntellectual

culture. . is essentially verbal... Ancient texts feed dir ectly i nto t he modern s tructure of knowledge . .T he r esults of excavations on the other hand .. we can integrate only .

poorly and i nadequately within the s tructure of our v erbalis ed knowledge". We may elaborate on this by saying that patterning i n t he archaeological r ecord , however sophistic ated our methods of d eriving i t , c an only be i nfused w ith m eaning through t he u se of analogy , which i n t urn c an c ome only f rom such sources as allow direct observation , and hence v erbal d escription. E thnography and

experi ments

are

e xamples of the - latter, and so are texts, since they survive in their verbal form, and are easily comprehens ible, even a ccounting f or their peculiarities. Therefore , s imply v iewing archaeology and texts as complimentary and i ndependent sources, whose mutual i nteraction will produce explanations i s u nsatisfactory i n the process of i ntegrat ion one will i nevitably dominate the other , whenever they have a common r eferent. While archaeologists a re correct t o i nsist on pattern r ecognition and the e limination of b iases through i nternal analysis of the two d atasets b efore t heir i ntegration , f urther i ssues must be addressed in defining t-i e r elevance o f historical archaeology . -

A t

this

s tage

i t

may be

f ruitful

to separate particu-

7 .) While s tudies of l iterate societies abound , examples of explicit concern with r econciling l iterary and archaeologic al

s ources

W right

are

( 1969),

r are. and

They i nclude

the papers

works by C rumley

i ncluded

i n

South

( 1974),

( 1977a).

C har l ton ( 1981) and Barnes ( 1984) provide the best discuss ions on k ey t heoretical i ssues.

l aristic f rom g eneralising c oncerns. When s tudying l iterate s ocieties one must go beyond explaining specific processes under observation , i n order to c ontribute to t he understand ing of prehistoric societies , where no d irect observation c an aid us i n the interpretation of patterns i n the mater ial r ecord . As C larke ( 1972: 18 ) noted perceptively , " work i n

text-aided

contexts

will

i ncreasingly provide

v ital

e xperiments i n which purely archaeological data may be controlled by documentary data, bearing in mind the i nher ent b iases of both". Such a generalising approach r equires i ts own methodological tools. To wit, while constructing correlations between material patterns and the society that produced them, i t would be f ruitful to initially explain the f ormer w ithout referring to textual sources. E thnographic parallells, previously s tudied h istorical contexts, o r even intuition , may be called upon to offer hypotheses, which can then be compared with d irect historical i nformat ion ( itself analysed internally). 8 This should contribute to the r efinement of analogies u sed i n the i nterpretation of prehistoric patterns, and at ti mes correct our biases. Conversely , one may start with a known historical s ituat ion , and attempt to uncover i ts material correlates ; this has been particularly s uccesful i n t he archaeology of C olon ial America ( South , 1 977a, 1 977b), though i t i s the f ormer m ethodology which w ill be

the

u tilised

i n the present

work .

By contrast, i n s atisfying particularistic i nterests , d etection of patterning i n the two c lasses of evidence

s hould be followed by their integration. In this process one may derive hypotheses f rom the textual record, and evaluate them with r eference to material evidence . Although explanation i s rooted only i n the l iterary record , the r ole of archaeological data and by implication the importance of archaeology as a d iscipline i s n ot thereby d iminished . -

-

I t acts as a check on the l iterary records, hence as an i nexhaustible source of data for hypothesis testing , and c an also provide information on aspects of society not found in the l iterature. The i nformation may generally r efer to " the earthier aspects of human existence" ( Kemp, 1 984), but this need not always be so the i nternal spat ial arrangement of settlements may , for example, have considerable ideological content ( Erdosy, 1 986a). D iscrepancies between the expected material correlates of the l iterary record and the actually observed patterns, of which an example will be given in the next section , are -

also extremely v aluable

i n evaluating the veracity of d ocu-

m ents.

8 .) For this r eason South 's d isdain f or considering h istor ical i nformation on contemporary c ategorisations of artef acts is hard to understand, s ince this would provide the best

means of testing our perceptions of the archaeological

r ecord

( South,

1 977b).

10

F or a v ariety of

r easons,

t herefore ,

the

importance of

archaeology r emains f irmly e stablished even i n historical s tudies, and h istorical a rchaeology has a r esponsibility to provide prehistorians w ith an i ncreased s tock of i nterpret ive i nsights, with which to hypothesize about cultural processes preceding the advent of l iteracy . Moreover, the desire

to

s tudy the

r eflection of

society

i n

i ts

output

of

m aterial c ulture i s a perfectly v alid goal i n any cultural context, past or present, and does not have to appeal to u tility i n prehistoric r esearch i n order to j ustify i tself .

1 .3 THE L ITERATURE OF EARLY H ISTORIC

I NDIA

To i llustrate the d ifficulty of extracting d irect i nformation f rom t raditional I ndian l iterature , i t w ill be s ufficient to quote from the Ramayana the following descr iption of the c ity of Ayodhya , f ul t ranslation of G riffiths: " There ,

f amous

i n t he appropriately f anci-

i n her old r enown

Ayodhya s tands, the royal town . I n bygone ages built and planned By s aluted Manu 's princely hand . I mperial seat; her walls e xtend Twelve measured l eagues f rom end to end , And three i n width f rom s ide to s ide, W ith square and palace beautified . H er gates at even d istance s tand ; H er ample roads are w isely planned . R ight g lorious i s her royal s treet Where s treams allay the dust and heat. On l evel ground i n even row H er houses i n a goodly s how: Terrace and palace , arch and g ate The queenly c ity d ecorate . H igh are her r amparts , strong and v ast , By ways at even d istance passed , W ith c ircling moat both d eep and wide, And s tore of weapons f ortified ... S he seems a painted c ity , f air W ith chess-board l ine and even square. And cool boughs shade the lovely lake Where weary men their thirst may s lake. There guilded chariots g leam and shine , And s tately piles t he gods e nshrine . There gay s leek people ever throng To f estival and dance and song... That no such c ity existed in Ayodhya in the 7 th century B .C . ( the date assigned to the events described i n the Ramayana) i s clear from the archaeological record ; so i s the f act that the author of the above passage used the

1 1

impressive c ities o f t he post-Maurya period , which f ormed part of his cultural milieu , as his models. This emphasizes two points very clearly. The f irst concerns the dating of our

sources:

as oral t ransmission was the earliest means of

preserving t exts, we must d istinguish between the f ollowi ng : the period the text purports to refer to ; the date of the core of t he text along with the d ates of a dditions and modifications ; the period of f inal arrangement; and the t ime of committing t he text to writing . The r elative proxim ity of these dates will then help us to decide on the period f or which r elevant i nformation may be extracted . N ot u nexpectedly , the g eneral absence of historical material i n t raditional I ndian l iterature has l ed to serious d isputes concerning dating . The second point concerns author's b iases and i nterests. We

the need to examine an may , to continue with our

example , suggest that an accurate representation of the c ity of Ayodhya was i ncidental to t he s tory of the R amayan a, and this may have g iven the author(s) l icence to embell ish i ts d escription , i n order to present an image which he f elt was commensurate with the magnificence of Rama 's char acter. Epic and Puranic l iterature, in particular, are r eplete with s tandardised and exaggerated accounts of u rban centres as a result of this policy. This may tell us a lot more about r iod , when f orm ,

the the

than,

cultural a ttitudes Epics and Puranas

say ,

about

the

of the post-Mauryan pewere given their f inal

nature of

settlements of

the

periods to which they purport to refer. To the problems of cultural b ias and uncertain d ating we may a lso add textual d ifficulties c omings

of

r esulting the

f rom oral

texts

can

be

t ransmission .

resolved

Some

through

s hort-

internal

analysis, while others will only emerge during comparison w ith the archaeological record ; here i s a t l east one potent argument for the continued interest in material remains even in l iterate societies. We may follow this preamble w ith a brief examination of the l iterature at our d isposal f or the various periods considered in this study. ( See F igure

1 on page 2 1)

1 .3.1.

Vedic l iterature

The extensive corpus of Vedic l iterature contains the earliest traditions, and i s normally attributed to seminomadic tribes speaking an I ndo-Aryan language who are believed

to have

entered

the

I ndian

S ubcontinent

i n

the

s econd millennium B .C . 8 The texts can be d ivided into samhitas , brahmanas , upanisads, aranyakas , and sutras. San ihitas r epresent the earliest s tratum , and may be f urther s ubdivided i nto the R igveda , S amaveda , Yajurveda and A thar-

8 .)

The

been 1 984)

i dentity o f

the

much d iscussed w ill

b e

t reated

R gvedic

( see esp . i n d etail

A ryans, Renfrew,

which has

i n C hapter 4 .

1 2

r ecently

1987 and Shaffer,

v aveda sa mhitas, r epresenting, respectively , laudatory s tanzas, chants s ung to f ixed melodies, s acrificial f ormul as, and magical t exts. The r est of t he texts a re auxiliary i n c haracter , a nd are normally associated with one or o ther of the samhitas, which are the compositions of d ifferent c ategories of priests. Each samhita has its own brahmanas ( prose explanations of the origin , meaning and u nderlying r eason of r ituals), aranyakas ( normally , but not i nvariably characterised as speculations on the r itual texts, which w ere of a s ecret character , and hence had to be c arried out i n the f orest), upanisads ( philosophical s peculations), and sutras ( divided i nto grhya-, srauta- and dharmasutras, f irst two c ontaining d etailed d escriptions of r ituals , the

l ast,

i dealised codes

of

the and

conduct). 9

A s already mentioned , this l iterature was composed and handed down i n c ertain priestly f amilies , who acted as i ts custodians. At i ts heart were the hymns chanted by priests officiating at sacrifices, around which a vast auxiliary l iterature g rew up i n order to provide a coherent t heory of r ituals. S ince the pri mary purpose of the hymns was to ensure the e fficacy of the c eremonies,

i t

i s not

s urprising

e ither that they were carefully handed down, or that they c ame to be r egarded as the private property of the priestly c lass , even i f they were f requently commissioned by wealthy s acrificers

f or ensuring their spiritual benefit. As they

r epresented the brahmins' l ivelihood, they were a c losely guarded monopoly , having l ittle r elevance to other s ections of society . This s ays,

i s r eflected in their contents;

they

were

written

f rom

the

as Gonda

v iewpoint

of

( 1975)

a male,

i ntellectual aristocracy. They v irtually ignore women , as well as the non-Indo-Aryan , indigenous population of the Subcontinent , who were excluded from the performance of s acrifices. Their purpose was certainly not the provision of useful insights i nto everyday l ife, and most of the r elevant

i nformation

i n addition to that contained

-

v ery presence of t exts of ally in s i miles, prayers,

i n the

this nature i s f ound i ncidentand proverbs. They nevertheless -

s hed l ight on the social relations , g eographical horizons , r itual cycle, tribal divisions, f amily structure, daily a tivities, and r eligious doctrines of I ndo-Aryan society .

9 .) The literary works of Early H istoric India have been g iven extensive treatment in many studies, of which the most r ecent a re the f ollowing : Gonda, 1 975 and 1 977 ( Vedic l iterature); L ingat, 1 972 and E rrett, 1 973 ( Dharmasutras); Norman, 1983 and Wagle, 1965 ( Pali l iterature); Cardona, 1 976 ( Panini); Trautman, 1 971 and Kangle, 1 963 ( Kautilya Arthasastra);

P argiter,

Rocher,

( Puranas).

1 986

m ay serve as a brief f or i ts s ubject .

1962 ( Reprint of 1922 edition) and The

g eneral

introduction ,

1 3

survey by but

is

Warder

( 1972)

much too brief

Only a l imited l egendary material, o f i ntertribal wars and battles with the indigenous inhabitants, survives. By and l arge , the most useful of these texts are the brahmanas , which " represent the i ntellectual activity of a s acerdotal c lass which had succeeded in arranging and systematising the older f orms of belief and worship , and i n t ransforming them i nto a highly complicated s ystem of sacrificial c eremonies"

( Gonda,

1975).

Two f urther points may be noted . To begin with , a s the authors are all of one c lass, only one v iew of society i s p reserved . One may therefore i nterpret the stress on the necessity of s acrifices as a way of propagating the importa nce hence favoured position of priests. Thus, on the -

-

one hand , the V edic texts may be suspected of presenting an i dealised picture of society . On the o ther hand , s ince they w ere not meant for public consumption, there i s no reason t o treat them as propaganda, and we shall unjustifiably accuse brahmins of self-deception, i f we assume that the t exts s eriously d istort r eality , c aution must nevertheless be exercised , but for a d ifferent r eason. I t has been s uggested that the efforts, culminating i n the 6 th century B .C., to codify Vedic l iterature f or p roper t ransmission to posterity ,

can

i ndicate that

the old way of

l ife ,

described

i n the texts themselves, was coming to an end. As the chants and all their appendages were being u sed with d i min ishing f requency , they had to be carefully arranged i n o rder to ensure their preservation , even if they were not w ritten down until the beginning of t he C hristian e ra . The i mage of society presented i n Vedic l iterature should cert ainly not be a ccepted f or B .C.,

even

i f

the

paired through the Although

the period a fter the 6 th century

sanctity of

the

latter

remained uni m-

ages .

Vedic

traditions

were

for

centuries

only

orally t ransmitted , their s acredness has ensured excellent p reservation of the original texts. Their dating has, however, e luded s cholars to this d ay . A lthough the archaeolog ical evidence, as we shall see, contains hints of the arrival of I ndo-Aryans i nto the s ubcontinent f rom the e arly 2nd millennium B .C ., the texts themselves show no indicat ion of a consciousness of this event , and hence a re l ikely to have been composed some ti me later. Thus only a broad lower l imit c an be g iven to their chronology . T he n aming o f the gods I ndra , Varuna and M itra a ll playing a prominent part in Vedic hymns on M itanni royal i nscriptions of Bogazkoy f rom the 1 5th c entury B .C . l ikewise proves l ittle beyond a widespread knowledge of these deities by that d ate , even though i t i s often cited in support of the -

-

d ating o f

Vedic texts.

I nternal criteria are equally lacking . s tated , however, that the entire Vedic corpus e xception of i n

existence

the

I t -

may be with the

later upanisads and t he dhari iasutras

prior

to

the

r ise

of

14

Buddhism,

-

s ince

was the

Buddhist canonical writings make r eference to i ts contents. Assuming the t raditional d ates of Buddha to be correct , we m ay give a terminal date in the 6th century B .C . to the corpus.'° We may then esti mate ( with Gonda, 1975) that at l east 2 00 years were required f or composing the brahmanas , which suggests that the later samhitas on which they were based should have existed by 800 B .C ., and by the s a me r eckoning we may assign 200 years for the composition of the l atter. This s uggests that the R igveda , which i s d emons trably the earliest t ext, must have been composed by 1 , 000 B .C., and i ts earliest sections may go back to ca. 1 ,200 B .C.. This

would at

least satisfy the requirement of

composition f alling s everal I ndo-Aryan i ncursion i nto there are no grounds e ither d ating , or for believing i t

its

centuries after the postulated the Subcontinent. At present for drastically changing this to be accurate to within less

t han a century or two. This, however, should be accurate enough for the archaeological chronology, on which this s tudy must be based . The s ions.

I n

Vedic one

corpus i s

the

falls

into two very unequal

Rigveda,

which

P anjab , and i s the earliest text, accepted by all other works. I ts

was

composed

d ivii n

the

s ince its existence is particular importance

s tems f rom the f act that i t d epicts I ndo-Aryan society at t ime prior to i ts amalgamation with the i ndigenous i nhabitants of the Subcontinent . I n the other we have the r est of the l iterature , with t he Ganga-Yainuna Doab as i ts g eographical focus,

though showing an extension into the middle

Ganga V alley during the composition of the later brahmanas . By the ti me of the appearance of this literature, society had absorbed both I ndo-Aryan and i ndigenous e lements i nto a pattern which retains i ts influence to this day . The cont ents of the works i n these two d ivisions be considered s eparately . 1 .3.2.

will

thus have to

The dharmasutras

When

considering the period of

s tate

formation ,

d ata-

b le by archaeological means to ca. 600 350 B .C ., an e ntirely new corpus of l iterature appears , which i s no less -

1 0.)

This

nuing

i s not

the p lace

controversy

f or a contribution to the conti-

surrounding

the

dates

of

the

Buddha.

B echert ( 1982) provides a good critique of traditional a ssumptions, along with his own i nterpretations. As the chronological scheme adopted in this study is d ictated by t he l imitations of archaeology to provide absolute dates, the l imits assigned to the c rucial period of s tate and c ity f ormation ( the 6 th to 4th centuries B .C .) are wide enough to accommodate the consequences of both long and short chronologies. This s hould i n no way minimise the importance o f resolving the controversy, even i f one is grateful for b eing spared this t ask f or t he present .

1 5

s izeable than the V edic material, but i s entirely d ifferent i n character. One c lass of that l iterature i s i tself the t erminal product of the Vedic phase, na mely the dharmasutras , which were still associated with individual Vedic s chools. They may be seen as the logical culmination of a progression f rom the study of r itual, through a study of r eligious obligations, to the l aying d own of e xplicit codes of conduct ( Lingat , 1 972). That r ulers are now explicitly enjoined to enforce correct b ehaviour, s ignals a change i n the orientation of government away f rom r ituals and i n the d irection of secular administration based on force. S ince this literature was c learly meant to be publicised, i t is more open to charges of bias, as i t represents the i deal world of a ritually superior but politically dependent priesthood. This drawback is balanced by the presence, for the f irst ti me, of abundant and explicit statements on s ocial,

l egal and economic r elationships as

well on d etails

o f family s tructure and everyday l ife . Moreover , an e xtens ive body of Buddhist l iterature, propagating radically d ifferent

i deas,

has by now appeared and can act as a check

on the accuracy of

B rahmanical

texts .

Although dates vary for each text, authority ,

the

works of Gautama ,

and also for each

Baudhyayana ,

Apastamba and

H iranyakesin may be dated to ca. 600 300 B .C . ( Lingat, 1 972), reflecting the then current B rahmanical i deas on s ociety . The work of Vasistha and the V ishnu-smrti, on the other hand , belong to later periods, even if they may -

contain earlier nuclei. As for the s rtis of Manu , Yajnav alkya , Narada, and Brhaspati, they are the products of a c rystallised H indu t radition , falling by and l arge outside the Early H istoric Period, and are of l ittle use here. Among these the Code of Manu i s the earliest , and i s p laced between

the

2nd

century

B .C .

and

the

3rd

century

A .D .,

which i s a range that is too wide for comfort, falling at the v ery end of the period which will be considered here. 1 .3.3 The

P ali

C anon

As already mentioned ,

the early dhar masutras form only

a part of the large corpus of kalpasutraS , but the other t exts of this c lass, the grhyasutraS and srautasutraS cont hin l ittle of d irect i nterest to h istorians. By contrast, the Pali Canon, which was defined by the Council held at Buddha's death, i s replete with information. Although the f irst

written v ersions do not predate

the

i st century B .C .,

the core of t he C anon appears to have been completed by the 3 rd century B .C ., s ince the Bhabru edict of Asoka recommends the s tudy of c ertain passages to the B uddhist

sangha .

As was the case with Vedic texts, the arrangement of the corpus was f ollowed by the a ssignment of s ections to r ecit ers,

whose task i t was to preserve the heritage until it

was committed to writing. As the n ature f rom the Vedic hymns, whose sured remarkably good preservation ,

1 6

passages d iffered i n s acrificial nature ent he

s ame purity of text

c annot

be

a ssumed ;

however,

f ied through t extual of the corpus. G iven

the

l ater

analysis ,

uncertainties

a dditions

and

s eparated

surrounding

c an be f rom

the

i denti-. the

core

dates

of

Buddha , a precise age f or the P ali Canon is d ifficult to a ssign . On the whole, however, the evidence of the Bhabru edict s uggests a t erminal d ate of ca . 3 00 B .C ., and whether w e a ccept Bechert 's date of the mahaparinirvana i n the 4th century B .C . ( Bechert, 1 982), or the t raditionally f avoured d ate i n the f ifth century B .C ., the core of the Pali Canon c an be f irmly p laced within the period of s tate f ormation w itnessed in 600 300 B .C . Following Wagle's analysis, we -

m ay i nclude i n this core d iscourses attributed to

the D igha Nikaya ( parables and Buddha), the Anguttara Nikaya

( enumerations of c ategories), the S amyutta N ikaya ( stories of Buddha 's c losest a ssociates), the M ajjhima N ikaya ( relig ious and philosophical speculations), the V inaya P itaka ( monastic r egulations), and the S utta N ipata ( a collection of r eligious v erses). Much of the social comment contained i n them i s i ncidental to their main purpose of l aying out a code of conduct

f or

the

sangha ,

which s uggests that no n eed

existed for d istortion . This supports the likelihood of v eracity , even i f i t l i mits the range of i nformation. The m ere existence of this corpus i s, however, significant, s ince i t challenges many of the basic c oncepts of B rahmanic al religion , and the two bodies of texts can to some extent be u sed to check each other. Also , as Wagle 's analys is of terms of greeting i n the Pali Canon has shown, imaginative research can bring out some very s ignificant s ocio-economic patterns, and the prevailing attitudes of Buddhists to t hem ( Wagle, 1 966). The s trengths and weaknesses of i ncidental references also apply to Panini's Astadhyayi, a treatise on grammar, f rom which v aluable s craps of i nformation have been pains takingly extracted by Agrawala ( 1953). The date of Panini a s everything else i s not surprisingly the subject of acrimonious debate, but, as a recent synthesis of v iews -

-

s uggests, the evidence " hardly allows one to date Panini l ater than the early to middle 4th century B .C ." and his d ating to the 5 th or even 6th century B .C . ( Cardona, 1 976). l ' .3.4.

The

is not ruled out

K autilya Arthasastra

One f inal source , whose d ating has g iven r ise to much controversy but i s potentially the most v aluable, is the Arthasastra , t raditionally attributed to the Mauryan minis ter Kautilya. I ts unique position, being one of the f ew ancient s trator

t exts w ritten f rom the point of v iew of an adminiand not a moralist, has led to i ts own problems

quite apart

f rom

questions of d ating .

the prevailing B rahmanical v alue by historians,

i deals,

i t

S ince was

i t challenged

accepted a t

f ace

and was extensively quoted for even

17

the most t rivial f acts. Nevertheless,

even this work des-

c ribes ideal s ituations rather than actual ones, contains m any conflicting v iews, and i s best r egarded as a compilat ion of the political wisdom of ancient I ndia accumulated over a period of s everal c enturies, and originally preserv ed only through i ts i nfluence on contemporary l iterature. H owever, in spite of i ts multiple authorship and f requent l apses into trivial detail the work presents consistent patterns which provide i nsights

i nto political and economic

conditions. I t i s these patterns and not the trivia that make the A rthasastra s uch an excellent source of i nformat ion. The

date

and authorship of

i ts

t ext have been exten-

s ively r evised l ately by T rautman ( 1971), who s uggests f our d ifferent authors, responsible for Books 1 , 2 , and 8 ; 3 , 4 , and 5 ; 6 , 7 , 9 , and 10; and 1 1 to 14, respectively. E ither one of these authors, or yet a d ifferent hand , arranged the t ext, and added the table of contents, the f inal Book and the a scription to K autilya . The date of the compilation i s p laced at ca. 250 A .D ., based on the dating of the earliest r eferences to i t found in other sources. The fact that Asvaghosa i n the 2nd century A .D. refers to the science of arthasastra but not to the actual work provides the terminus post

quem while the d irect

t he P anchatantra , u pper

l imit For

d etails Trautman

to

the

of

r eferences to the work

i n

the Kamasutra and the Jatakas provide the

the

d ating .

composition

administration

suggests

a date

of and of

Book

2 ,

economic 150

A .D .,

where l ife

the a re

based

on

crucial

provided , the

fact

that both the use of Sanskrit for edicts and the c irculat ion of punchmarked coins are assumed. As the earliest S anskrit edict is the rock inscription at G irnar, datable to ca. 150 A .D ., and as punch-marked coins were withdrawn f rom c irculation at about the s ame t ime , the d ating of the c omposition of Book 2 i s quite c learly demarcated f rom both d irections. Books 3 to 5 are admittedly earlier as they predate the entire corpus of dhar asastra l iterature ,

shown

by the f act that the Manusmrti makes e xtensive u se of them , and may be dated at the latest to the ist century A .D . As f or Book 7 , and i ts associated Books 6 , 9 , and 10, only the e laborateness of their doctrines ( which are nevertheless to be expanded even more i n l ater l iterature) prevents T rautm an f rom attributing a " very early date" to them. S ince such i deas a s the policy of sowing d issention , and the u se of a four-fold army are also present i n the P ali C anon , the existence of at least this section of the Arthasastra by the 4th century . B .C . can be assumed. Also , as Derrett ( 1973) pointed out,

even i f no arthasastra texts are pre-

s erved prior to Kautilya's work , the influence s cience of polity i s c learly s een even through the sutras ,

of this dharma-

which are a lready concerned with such topics as the

duties of kings.

18

The t ime o f t he commitment of i deas to paper, however, need not coincide with the date of birth of the i deas themselves. The Arthasastra often gives the impression of s ummarising ancient wisdom and resolving long-standing controversies; the use of quotations f rom ancient authors a ttests to this. The question to decide, therefore, i s: to what period

s hould we

d ate

t he

i deas

themselves,

i n parti-

c ular those concerning administrative Organisation i n Book 2 , which would be the most u seful i n an analysis of s tate f ormation i n E arly H istoric I ndia? We have already remarked that Traut man hi mself favoured an early date for the cont ents of Books 6 ,

7 , 9 , and 10 ,

which treat foreign policy.

There i s l ittle doubt but that the s ituation described t here of several hostile states competing for supremacy i n an atmosphere o f perpetual warfare r eflects the political background to the Magadhan expansion ; in other words it r efers to the 6 th-4th centuries B .C . This period of compet ition i s well known f rom Buddhist accounts and contrasts s harply with t he imperial domination of the entire s ubcont inent i n Mauryan t imes. I t also d iffers f rom post-Mauryan t imes, when t he competition of local powers was overshad owed by

outside

by

and

S akas What

i nterference ,

f irst by

I ndo-Greeks ,

l ater

Kushans .

i s critical here is that the ideas expressed by

the A rthasastra , i n s pite of i ts multiple authorship , r ep r esent a coherent philosophy , one part of which would make l ittle sense without the rest. The text sees a close conn ection between economic and political power and advocates the maximisation of wealth through s trong central authority , which alone could ensure survival in the prevailing political situation so penetratingly analysed. As the author of Book 2 says, the " treasury has i ts source in the m ines; f rom the t reasury the army comes i nto being . W ith the t reasury and the a rmy , the earth i s obtained with the t reasury as i ts ornament" ( Arthasastra 2 .12.). These s ent iments have

such

close parallels

in Book

7 ,

that

i f

the

l atter i s assigned to the period of warfare culminating i n the r ise of the Mauryan empire, then we should date the i deas per meating Book 2 to the sa me t i me. I n spite of the possibility of d istortions , due to the much later compilat ion of the text, the basic i deas expressed i n the Arthas astra may be assumed to have existed by the 4th century B . C.,

even

1 .3.5.

i f a ctual

d etails

must be t reated with c aution .

Later historical and t raditional

F rom

the

3 rd

century

B .C.

onward

l iterature we

have

the

f irst

p roper historical documents , i n the guise of coins , s eals, i nscriptions, and a ccounts of f oreign t ravellers. The f irst t hree categories must also be treated as archaeological f inds, and i n a ddition to occasional textual d ifficulties , a ll the caution applied to material remains must be foll owed ;

by way of compensation,

i nestimable benefits

of

however,

knowing the

19

we can enjoy the

context

of

the written

words. As for foreigners' accounts, they v ary greatly i n quality d epending partly on the competence of their authors a s observers, and partly on t he r atio of d irect observation t o hearsay . There i s also the question of the extent to which the d escription of s ocial i nstitutions i s coloured by t he authors ' own cultural background ( Crumley , 1 974). As regards indigenous l iterary sources of the postM auryan period, their sheer bulk alone precludes detailed consideration here. I n addition, all the major sources the Epics ) the Puranas, the Jatakas , and the d harmasastras suffer f rom the problem of having been continually re-

-

v ised over

s everal

centuries,

hence c ontaining a mixture of

m aterials. The dating of v arious strata in all these works i s d isputed , even when they c an be c learly s eparated . While s ome of their s alient points may occasionally be i ncorpor ated into the analysis especially when they describe c lassical H indu social i nstitutions which are established -

by this ti me the bulk of the literary evidence of postM auryan t imes to be u tilised comprises r ecords recovered by archaeological means, or coming f rom f oreign sources. -

20

F igure

1 :

Age

A rchaeological C lassification

c hron ological

chart of

major

H istorical

l iterary works L iterary sources

P eriod E arly P uranas

3 00 A . D . EARLY H ISTORIC 2 00 A . D .

POLITICAL FRAGMENTAT I ON

or 1 00 A .D . S UNGA- KUS HAN

FULL-SCALE URBANISATION

A . D./B. C .

E pics Jatakas A rthasastra Manusmrti E arly c lassical a ccounts

PERIOD 1 00 B .C . BREAK-UP OF

P all

c anon

EMP IRE MAURYA EMPIRE

I nscribed seals and coins

URBANI SAT I ON

A sokan edicts L ate dharmasutras

200 B . C. NORTHERN BLACK 3 00 B . C. POLISHED WARE

A rthasastra M ILITARISM

400 B .C . " CULTURE"

FORTIFIED C ITIES AND STATE FORMATION

5 00 B .C .

P ali

Canon

( core) ( core)

A st adhyayi E arly dharmasutras Gauta ma Apasta mba Baudhyayana

600 B .C .

7 00 B . C.

EARLY I RON AGE

LATE VEDIC PERIOD

E arly Upanisads B rahmanas A ranyakas

o r

800 B .C .

CHIEFDOMS L ater

and 900 B .C .

PAINTED GREY WARE CULTURE

S amhitas:

A thar v aveda

SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

Y ajurveda S a maveda

1. 900 B .C .----? --- ?--- ? 1 100

B .C . NEOLITHIC AND

BEGINNING OF

Rgveda S at hhita [ NB : This work

CHALCOLITHIC

AGRI CULTURAL

C ULTURES

EXPLOITATION

d oes not r efer to the Ganga V alley]

1 200 B .C . 1 300 B .C . 1 400

B .C . I N GANGA VALLEY

1 500 NB:

B .C .

This i s a l ist of the most important works,

been u tilised

i n the s tudy ,

not a complete

2 1

which have

c atalogue .

CHAPTER 2 I NTRODUCTION TO THE F IELDWORK

While a great d eal of published evidence , both textual and material, was available f or study , i nformation was s ingularly lacking on s ettlement patterns , which necessitat ed further f ieldwork. Although the objectives had to be l imited , the results have contributed to a better unders tanding of the cultural evolution of the Ganga V alley , and w ill be briefly s ummarised prior to the detailed treatment of processual i ssues. Before turning to the results, however, the background to the f ieldwork must be outlined. This chapter will accordingly begin with a d iscussion of the utility of settlement patterns, to be followed by an outline of f ieldwork procedures, and by a description of t he key environmental characteristics of the s urvey area .

2 .1 SETTLEMENT ARCHAEOLOGY I have already stressed in the previous chapter the importance of locational data. S ince the role of c ities i n t he

maintenance of

society has

a s trong spatial

component ,

both the spatial relationship of s ites to each other, and their location in the physical landscape will help in the delineation of s ite functions. As Adams ( 1979: 18) s ays, "We must deal with city and countryside .. as inti mately i nteracting parts of an embracing cultural and ecological s ystem". To look at c ities i n i solation f rom their hinterl ands will not help in the understanding of their origins o r function ; it will not even enable us to demonstrate their existence, s ince to do so we must contrast c ities w ith contemporary settlement

types of l esser complexity .

This spatial emphasis found strong expression i n the work of locational geographers , and thence entered archaeol ogy in the 1960 's. 11 Landmarks in spatial archaeology i nclude r egional research d esigns ( Binford , 1 964), d iscuss ion of key theoretical i ssues, ( Clarke, 1 977) and the appropriation of analytical tools from geography ( Hodder and O rton , 1 976). A lthough the concepts u tilised i n spatial a rchaeology are not f ree f rom d ifficulties ( Erdosy , 1 986a), s ome of the most satisfying archaeological studies have been based on settlement patterns. 12 One reason for this 1 1.) The works of s holm ( 1962), and i nfluential.

Christaller ( 1933), Losch ( 1954), C hiHaggett ( 1965) have been particularly

1 2.)

S ee

1 981 a l.,

for Mesopotamia, and B lanton, 1 978 and Sanders et. 1 979 f or Mesoamerica. But, as C larke ( 1977) s tresses ,

e specially Adams

1 981,

Johnson ,

1 973 ;

and Wright ,

as early as the 1 890 's there were archaeologists concerned w ith the g eographical d istribution of artefacts and s ites .

22

m ay be the relatively high chance of survival enjoyed by s ites, as opposed to i ndividual artefacts, which affords better s amples f or s tatistical manipulation . Moreover, a s r egional patterns are more l ikely , due to their scale, to be influenced by economic and technological factors ( Clarke, 1 977 : 1 3), localised patterns

they will be more easily explained than r esulting f rom i ndividual or " cultural"

a ttitudes. Therefore, their study provides an excellent s tarting point f or s tudies of social evolution , by e lucidat ing the broader processes operating prior to the i nvestig ation of individual s ites in search of " cultural" v ariables. S ince the latter will often i nvolve excavation , there

i s

s urveys,

also a practical namely their

Although

reason

for

favouring

regional

cost-effectiveness .

studies

of

settlement

patterns

are

as

yet

r are in South Asian archaeology, where the majority of r eported s ites a re the products of unsystematic surveys, work by Possehl ( 1980)

in Saurashtra ,

by Bhan and Shaffer

( 1977) in Haryana, and by Mughal ( 1980) in Cholistan , are promising developments. The surveys of Makkhan Lal ( 1984) i n the D oab are particularly s ignificant, even i f they have t aken place in an area Kanpur D istrict which was a -

-

cultural backwater in the Early H istoric period.

F inally,

even after the lapse of a century a great deal of relevant i nformation can be found in Cunningham 's pioneering volumes, sum marised in his Ancient Geography of India ( Cunn ingham ,

2 .2

1 924).

ON CHOOSING A SURVEY AREA

The

i nitial

problem

i n

my

research

design

concerned

the choice of a survey region. While the Ganga Valley i s not easily broken down into geographically d istinct reg ions, thanks to Cunningham ( 1924) a good approximation of E arly H istoric political units can be made in the f ield ( Map 1 ). Given the strong territorial aspect of complex societies, the ability to delineate even approximately their physical boundaries greatly increases confidence in the u tility of one 's f inds. The region eventually selected coincided with the heartland of the E arly H istoric s tate of -

Vatsa, pur

and

-

now occupied by the doab tahsils of Chail, S irathu

i n

This area i s

A llahabad i n

D istrict

( Map

Manjhan-

2 ).

f act conveniently bounded by the Ganga

and the Y amuna , except i n the west , where i t i s coterminous w ith the modern district boundary. I t also contains a v ariety of localised environmental zones, and had a dense concentration of u rban s ettlements i n E arly H istoric t imes , many of which have been extensively i nvestigated . The r eason f or restricting the enquiry to the u rbanised heartland of Vatsa is that this region affords the best opportunity of i nvestigating settlement hierarchies. Most E arly H isto-

23

T HE 1 6 MAHAJANAPADAS

-

c a . 5 00 B .C .

0

KAMBOJA

5 ä0 k m

G

Map 2

0 4

RU SURASE

CHALA KOSA tA MALLA VAJJ I V KAS I

MATSYA

CHED I

. MA .GADHA ANGA

AVANT I Ma cmad

A rab ian S ea

B ay o f B enga l

2 4

2 5

nc s tates appear to have a core area containing the bulk of u rban s ites, which i s s urrounded by wide belts of a lmost exclusively rural s ettlement. The a rea of the l atter i n the c ase of Vatsa was far too great to be included in a season's survey ; moreover, i t has already been i nvestigated by Lal ( 1984), whose f inds could be referred to . 13 T he boundaries of the Vatsa janapada were d etermined by Cunningham ( 1924). On the north i t was separated f rom the Kosala janapada by the r iver S ai, a tributary of the Ganga. On the east i t was bounded by the k ingdom of Kasi; the exact boundary i s not known but may be taken to be roughly halfway between the r espective capitals of Kausambi and K asi ( Rajghat); s uch a d ivision would l eave both banks o f the confluence of the Ganga and t he Yamuna i n the hands of V atsa , which i s s upported by the much g reater i nfluence accorded to i t than to its eastern neighbour. The k ingdom w as bounded by Magadha on the southeast, the two s tates b eing separated by the Tons river, and by the state of Chedi on the south which stretched f rom the Chambal ( a t ributary of the Yamuna) in the west to Mau Ai mma ( modern v illage

opposite

Kausambi

on

the

Y amuna)

i n

F inally , in the west Vatsa was bounded by P anchala; the precise boundaries a re again draw but

may b e

assumed

to

fall

the

east.

the state of d ifficult to

somewhere halfway between

the capitals of Kausambi and Ka mpil, in modern Kanpur D istrict. All told the territory of Vatsa probably encompassed the modern D istricts of A llahabad , F atehpur , K anpur, Unnao , and the southern half of D istricts Rae Bareilly and P ratapgarh . The t erritory i s roughly 20 ,000km 2 i n area , o f which the doab tahsils of Allahabad D istrict , representi ng the survey r egion , comprise ca . 1 1% ( Map 2 ).

2 .3 SAMPLING

S ince the area chosen occupied approxi mately 2 ,000 km 2 , i t could n ot be surveyed completely with t he available r esources. I t is because of the high cost even of surveys that the notion of sa mpling gained popularity. From the t ime B inford ( 1964) urged archaeologists to make their s ampling strategy explicit,

1 3.)

Tahsil

on the g rounds that everyone

d enotes an administrative unit

within

a d ist-

r ict. I n Allahabad D istrict there are three major subdivis ions. Tahsils Meja and Karchana are found south of the Yamuna; Ganga;

tahsils .Phulpur and Handia are to the north of the while tahsils Chail,

Manjhanpur and S irathu are in

the doab region and comprise our

survey area

( Maps 2 and

3 ). The term doab means " [ land between] two rivers"; i f w ritten with c apital D i t r efers to the entire Ganga-Yamuna I ab otherwise r ivers.

i t

merely

denotes

26

any

area

between

two

must u se some guidelines in the collection of d ata which t hey thus may as well state explicitly , the literature a lways abounded in s ampling theory , for the most part borrowed f rom geography .14 The underlying belief is that even a small f raction of a s a mpled region could yield s tatistically r eliable d ata , provided the design i tself was probabilistic. A lthough thods

have

theoretically

s eldom

been

s atisfying ,

employed

on

probabilistic

long-term

me-

projects,

i nvestigators f avouring either a " total" ( Sanders et. al., 1 979) or a purposive ( Ada ms, 1 965, 1 981) strategy. I n€T TIt ive m istrust of s ampling , and a misunderstanding of what i t i s supposed to accomplish, may have played a part in t his development ( Flannery , 1 976 : 159), although practical d ifficulties can also be cited. For exa mple, at t i mes the i naccessability of a part of a survey region makes random designs unattainable; e lsewhere as i n the G anga V alley -

-

the available maps are not sufficiently detailed for an i ntensive survey . Moreover, an examination of the efficiency of probability sa mpling suggests less than perfect r esults . Although t ests a re n aturally r are , g iven the need to have f ully s urveyed an area previously , one may refer to s imulations of 10 to 20% s amples by Judge, Ebert, and H itchcock

( 1975)

i n

the

Chaco C anyon i n the American South-

west, where a total survey had already yielded a d ensity o f 5 to 25 s ites per km2. Here a 10% s ample of s ites occurring at the lower d ensity l imit provided highly e rroneous pred ictions f or example , the density of s ites i n the zone of -

the South M esa i s e stimated i n successive s imulations at 0 , 8 , and 14 per km 2 i nstead of the actual density of 5 per km 2 . Such a result makes i t v illages i n the Ganga Valley ,

unlikely that the number of whose density even today does

not exceed 2 p er km 2 , could be accurately predicted on the basis of a 10% sample. This in any case would still take a year-long season to collect i n the survey region I chose f or study. Therefore the use of probabilistic strategies may do no more than bestow an unwarranted gloss of accuracy to d ata which will already be heavily b iased due to the v agar ies of preservation. I t i s clearly more important to be explicit about one's strategy , than to follow a probabilist ic policy just because i t appears to be more scientific. I n c ertain c ircumstances s uch sampling may be j ustified -

1 4.) The papers edited by Mueller ( 1975) and by Cherry , S hennan and Gamble ( 1978) provide the most comprehensive overview of archaeological sampling . Other influential articles were written by R edman ( 1974) and P log ( 1976). The best s ummary o f the major s ampling d esigns random , strat ified random, systematic and s tratified systematic una ligned was provided by Haggett ( 1965: 191 199) and i s -

-

most

-

o ften quoted by archaeologists .

2 7

S

f or

example

in

trying

to

establish

population

density ,

i gnoring f or the moment other methodological problems. The priorities of the present f ieldwork, however, were quite d ifferent, as the crucial i ndicator of u rbanisation was t aken to be the evolution of a hierarchy of settlements, which made i t paramount to f ind r epresentatives of a ll s ite types

in the course of the survey ,

p recise estimate of

the number of

Having a ccorded priority to

but

s ites

d id not

call

for a

i n each c ategory.

r ecovering

t he

f ull

r ange

of s ettlement types f or each chronological s ubdivision , the location , s ize, and associated artefact scatter of s ites w ere sought, and could occasionally be augmented by excavat ed data. The changing spatial relationship of s ites to t heir n atural environment , providing additional i nformation on technology ,

economic organisation,

and s ite

f unctions

was a s econd process to be i nvestigated . F or this the s ame r ange of v ariables could be u sed , this t ime supplemented by d ata on the environment in Early H istoric ti mes, which could be obtained f rom already published a ccounts . D emographic patterns would undoubtedly have been u seful i n evaluat ing the specific hypothesis that population pressure p layed a key role i n cultural evolution , but the expense of obtaining reliable data through i ntensive survey methods was too great;

nevertheless,

even the heavily biased data

produced by the present survey provided some information that was relevant to the testing of this hypothesis . The

so-called

v illage

to

v illage

method

eventually

adopted was initially employed in Kanpur D istrict ( Lal, 1 984). I n this s cheme s everal l arger v illages were u sed as bases f or exploring the surrounding countryside, and f ieldw alking took place within a radius of 10 to 1 2 km around e ach , with the position of present s ettlements determining the a ctual routes taken . The m ethod i s c learly non-probab ilistic . I t i s also extensive as i ntervals of 1 to 5 km c an s eparate the t ransects walked . N evertheless, the survey i s r igorous to the extent that i t follows predetermined paths, which allows the esti mation of the extent of areal coverage. Moreover, the prevalence of mud-brick architecture , which produces mounds that may be v isible for long d istances on an essentially featureless plain, allows the i de spacing of transects, as even then v illages could be r ecovered i n addition to larger and more complex

s ites .

I n evaluating the results of the survey we may point t o the recovery of 5 settlement types; even accepting a b ias in favour of mounds, the l ikelihood of missing an important s ite category is low. A recent study of rural s ettlement i n Uttar P radesh ( Ahmad , 1 952) s hows the preval ence of large nucleated v illages as opposed to dispersed habitations, and thus supports t he b elief that the g eneral absence of Early H istoric s ites below 1 hectare in area r eflects their r are occurrence, r ather than the l imitations of the survey . As care was taken during the design of the

28

m

s urvey routes to

i nclude a ll

t he environmental

z ones of the

s urvey r egion , the s econd goal , namely the i nvestigation of the effects of environmental d iversity, could also be f ulfilled . While overall population levels cannot be der ived f rom the obtained s ample , by a ssuming that the b iases o f the data, arising f rom a non-probabilistic design, are w eighed equally against a ll the periods, at least the g rowth of population and i ts d istribution among the various l evels of the s ettlement hierarchy could be estimated , even i f

absolute

s ite

f igures

r emain unreliable.

A f inal word i s required regarding the esti mate of s izes. Once again , d ecisions were taken a long pragma-

t ic l ines, m indful of the l imitations of t ime and manpow er. For the definition of an archaeological s ite I have r elied on Sanders' characterisation of " ...any localised area that shows s igns of a lteration by man as observable by archaeological method.... [ and] i s a spatially i solatable unit. " (Sanders , 1965: 12-13). I n the Ganga Valley s ites conform to the g enerally a ssumed pattern of c learly delinea ted artefact s catters on the s urface of the contemporary l andscape .

Due

to the prevalence

of

mud-brick

architecture

w e may a lso add that artefact scatters will generally , but by no means i nvariably , be a ssociated with mounds. F or the s ane

r eason

there

i s

a s carcity of

s tanding monuments ,

and

the artefact s catters are dominated by ceramics, with other c raft indicators l i mited mostly to s ites in the upper echelons

of

the hierarchy .

Though not precise ,

the extent of artefact scatters

i s

the most convenient measure of s ize. S ites were, therefore , walked a long parallel transects at i ntervals of approximat ely f ive metres, and the occupied area of d ifferent periods was esti mated on the basis of the distribution of d iagnostic artefacts. When i t was impossible to esti mate the precise area of each period which often resulted f rom t he predominance of f inds f rom the f inal period of a s ite 's -

occupation the maximum area of the artefact s catter was taken to represent s ite s ize for a ll the periods. This undoubtedly l ed to the overestimation of areas occupied i n e arlier periods , but the deviation would not have d isturbed the overall pattern of s ite s ize distributions and as i t could not have been corrected without a great expenditure o ' f labour, i t was accepted as a distortion a si milar -

-

d ecision has been Adams, 1965).

2 .4

made

in

many

regional

surveys

( e.g.

GEOGRAPHICAL PROFILE OF ALLAH I ½BAD D ISTRICT

2 .4.1

S oil, I n

E arly

topography ,

order

to

H istoric

avoid

and hydrology r epetition during the

settlement

patterns,

29

the

d iscussion of

key

ecological

c haracteristics of the survey area, along with an assessment of their influence on settlement location , must be s ummarised . On the whole the territory chosen may be taken to represent the Gangetic p lains at l arge , thus e liminating a d iscussion of the latter, which in any case i s the s ubject of innumerable works ( e.g. Spate and Learmonth , 1 967). All we must s ay i s that the v ast alluvial tract of the I ndo-Gangetic plains was formed by the infilling of a t rough created during the uplift of the

H i malayan chain,

and i s, on the whole , " remarkably homogeneous topographic ally" ( Spate and Learmonth, 1 967: 42) and pedologically . Local v ariations are nevertheless present , and have l ed to zones of markedly d ifferent agricultural potential, i n turn r eflected in present patterns of settlement. D iscussion w ill focus on these, as well as on the d istribution of m ineral resources , and on the m ate and v egetation cover . I n our f ied ,

each

evidence

regarding past

survey area f ive d ifferent zones forming

a broad

belt

running

may be

c li-

i denti-

approxi mately

northwest to southeast , excluding the pocket of Bundelkhand soils resulting f rom the bisecting of a protrusion of the Vindhyan system described i n the

by the Yamuna ( Map 3 ). detailed l and s ettlement

They have been r eports prepared

periodically for d istricts, which contain a vast quantity of i nformation on a ll f actors l ikely to affect the a ssessment of land r evenue. ( Porter , 1878) The f irst belt contains the r ecent alluvium d eposited by the Ganga, known locally as kacchar. The topography of the area i s even with a gentle s lope towards the river channel, and the soil i s of a f ine s ilty texture. Because of the moisture provided by the a lluvium , ploughing

r egular d eposition of

f resh

little irrigation or manuring is required and i s easy . C onsequently this a rea i s highly prized

by cultivators, especially for the magnificent crops of wheat, which c an be g rown i n the rabi ( winter) s eason . E ven i n areas where sandy soil makes cultivation impossible, f ine thatching grass can grow. Due to perpetual shifting of the Ganga this belt of alluvial soil is up to 10 km w ide, thus being an agricultural area of considerable importance , which at the s ame t ime i s unsuitable for habitat ion , being threatened with i nundation every year ( Ahmed, 1 952). This zone has i ts equivalent a long the Yamuna ( there c alled tan ), but because of the confined channel of that r iver the belt of alluvium is nowhere more than 3 km wide i n Allahabad D istrict and for long stretches i t i s nonexistent. Adjacent and

also

s tream ,

along

to the the

f loodplains of

lower

are high banks,

reaches

the of

two

the

major S asur

r ivers , Khaderi

marking the l i mits of the recent

movements of the r iver channels. Along the Ganga this belt i s at the most 3 km wide, along the Ya muna i t can extend f or up to 8 km, and i t also forms the apex of the triangle

30

3 1

r epresenting our survey region. I t i s d isfigured by rav ines, especially along the Yamuna, and i ts soil is poor, having a s andy texture and high c alcareous content. I n addition to i ts i nfertility and unfavourable topography the d epth of the water t able on the high banks r enders i rrigat ion impossible. C onsequently , the s oil i s s uitable mostly f or kharif ( rainy s eason) c rops s uch a s m illets ( jowar and bajra)

which generally prefer high,

i s grown I n

i n t his spite

f avoured

for

of

the

z one

i n the

these

drawbacks,

s iting of

dry ground . Only gra m

winter s eason . high

habitations

banks for

have been

a v ariety

of

r easons. Although the soil is poor , access to the f loodplain and to the f ertile upland soils i s easy. The area i s w ell protected f rom floods and may be used for the const ruction of dwellings without taking up v aluable agricultur al land. Furthermore, the high banks give access to the m ajor t ransport arteries, n amely the r ivers themselves. A ll t hese

f actors are relevant

i n an analysis of E arly H istoric

s ettlement patterns. The

next

s ubdivision

to be

considered consists of

upland plateau in the northern half of the doab , presently

the

most

important

i s flat and the soil,

agricultural

a r ich dark loam,

zone .

the

which i s

The

ground

sufficiently f irm

f or the s inking of unlined wells, permitting i rrigation at a reasonable cost, which i s further encouraged by the r elatively high water table. All crops do well on this soil, wheat being particularly f avoured . The u sual pattern i s to a lternate wheat with a kharif crop , such as jowar and bajra , f rom year to year; double cropping of the land i s not

generally practised . S outh

of

this

zone,

and

running

right

through

the

centre of t he survey area i s the depression containing the S asur Khaderi. This r iver is a tributary of the Ya muna, entering the l atter only a f ew k ilometres

above

i ts conflu-

ence w ith the G anga. At present the s tream i s i nsignificant f or most of the year, but prone to s evere f looding i n the r ainy season . Before the destruction of forests it was an important perennial water channel. D ue to the topography o f the D istrict , which after reaching maximum e levation on the high banks s inks towards the centre, the S asur Khaderi q aptures v irtually all the surface water of the doab before entering the Yamuna. As a result i ts channel becomes d eeper along i ts lower reaches as do the ravines entering i t; i n f act, the f inal 15 km along i t show an unbroken s tretch of ravines with a ll the characteristics of the high banks already described. For the rest of i ts course the S asur Khaderi i s f lanked by the s tiff c layey soil f ound i n d epressions throughout the doab .

The topography i s undulat-

i ng and the soil c an only be made a rable by thorough soaki ng which c an here be e ffected through the d igging of tanks i n addition to u tilising the natural l akes ( jhils) a lready present in depressions. With i rrigation f acilites a good

3 2

r ice c rop ,

often supplemented by gram

i n the

winter s eason ,

c an be grown . W ithout soaking , however , the soil i s unproductive , especially i n wide areas afflicted by s aline ( usar) patches on which nothing will grow . As a consequence the a rea i s g enerally avoided by r ecent s ettlements . F inally ,

south of the Sasur Khaderi can be found the

southern uplands, which r esemble their northern counterpart except i n their l ighter s andy soils which are not only less f ertile , but due to their loose texture raise the cost of i rrigation by necessitating brick-lined wells. C onsequently , t he l ittle i rrigation which takes p lace u sually comes f rom tanks and jhils. While wheat may be grown the crop i s poor, and r ice alternating with gram i s the favoured stap le . Although the area is bisected by a minor stream , the K ilnhai, the latter i s not s ignificant enough to make an impact on t he d istribution of soils except near i ts confluence w ith the Y a xnuna which i s once again characterised by the presence of ravines. high bank of the Yamuna, above.

2 .4.2 O ther n atural

To the south of this area is the which has already been described

r esources

The t ab i s s ingularly poor i n minerals, but immediat ely t o the s outh s andstone i s found i n g ood quantities at P artabpur and Deoria on the Ya muna, and was ferried to Allahabad even at the t i me of the construction of Akbar's f ort i n the 16th century . In addition , li mestone is found at Pabhosa hill and quarried to the present day , and c lay s uitable for pottery and bricks abounds everywhere . For m etals and s emi-precious s tones , however, i t i s n ecessary to go to the more d istant V indhyan hills ( Maps 3 , 6 ). O ne of

t he c hief advantages of

the area under

s tudy i s

that i t commands long s tretches of both of the major waterways of northern I ndia, as well as their confluence. Although recently neglected because of competition f rom road and r ailways , u ntil t he 1 9th century these v ast r ivers were the principal transport arteries of the Ganga Valley . The Yamuna is perennially navigable by boats of 10 to 1 2 tons far as Delhi, while the Ganga can accommodate boats of 4 ,0 tons up to K anpur. E ven at t he beginning of this century grain , cotton , tobacco , ghee, stone, ti mber, iron ore and piece goods were regularly transported on the rivers, and passenger s ervices were a lso i n operation ( Nevill , 1 911). 2 .4.3 C limate a nd v egatation cover O ne

of

the

most

consistent

locational

E arly H istoric t imes was the preference

f or

patterns

of

s iting v illages

a long r iver banks. A long the Ganga this was understandable s ince the high banks not only offered protection f rom f loods but a lso provided access to broad stretches of r ich

33

r ecent alluvium and to excellent routes of t ransport. The location of s ites a long the m inor r ivers , in particular the S asur Khaderi, is more d ifficult to explain even i f one a llows that their presently erratic f low i s due to deforest ation and hence a recent phenomenon. As already pointed out, the soil along the S asur K haderi i s a poor stiff c lay , which must be extensively soaked i f i t is to be made productive. The undulating terrain i s l ikewise unfavourable. A ll this m odern

i s

reflected

in the avoidance of

this

stream by

settlements.

Why ,

then,

were

river

banks

preferred

in

ancient

t imes? Accessibility to water i s not a convincing reason, s ince f etching water f rom the deep r iver channels would i n the long run be more expensive than the digging of wells. The importance of access to waterways might be c ited for the -major rivers but not f or the minor streams, and the s ane i s t rue f or the a ttraction exerted by l arge stretches of r ecent alluvium . A better explanation l ies i n the extens ive f orests which once covered the v ast alluvial tracts of the Ganga V alley . Mediaeval r ecords m ention the hunting of j ungle

beasts

t igers have the -

he

-

elephants,

buffaloes,

lions,

bison

and

even in the 1 7th century. For earlier t i mes we testi mony of the C hinese pilgrim Yuan Chang , that

traversed extensive

forests during his progress

f rom

P rayag ( Allahabad) to Kausambi ( Beal, 1884). F inally , the Epics, the Puranas, the Pali Canon, and even the S atapatha B rahmanaf la ( 1.4.14-16) also make numerous references to f orests. I t appears that only with the vast population i ncrease a ssumed

of

the

last

i ts present

A lthough

two centuries has

the Ganga

Valley

denuded a spect.

material evidence of past c limate and v egeta-

t ional patterns is scanty ,

the excavations at

Mahadaha in

the Doab ( Sharma, et. al. 1980: 110, 229) detected the presence of pinus pollen , i n a ddition to tones of hippopotamus and elephant. Chirand , in the M iddle Ganga Valley , l ikewise yielded bones of deer, rhinoceros, and elephant, while both H astinapura and Atranjikhera produced pollens of sal ( commonly assumed to have been t he dominant s pecies i n Gangetic f orests), et.

al., The

sissoo ,

and pinus

( Lal,

1 954 ;

c howdhury ,

1 977). most

detailed

i nformation

c omes

f rom

the

meander

l akes of the Gangapar d ivision of A llahabad D istrict, which w ere created in the wake of the southward movement of the Ganga . The core analysed by Gupta ( 1976) shows the f ollowi ng sequence: at the bottom ( 300 to 320 cm below the ground)

v irtually no pollen

m ely arid c li mate; w as open grassland , w een

250 and

ence

of

180 cm

arboreal

was

f ound ,

i ndicating an extre-

between 300 and 2 50 cm the vegetation s till i ndicating a n arid c limate; beta semi-arid

v egetation

and

s tage s ees cereal

the

f irst evid-

cultivation ,

which

c an be dated to 5500-4380±130 B .C .; i n the f inal 180 cm a s emi-humid c li mate a nd an open s avannah f orest c haracterise

3 4

t he

E arly

H istoric

G anga

V alley .

The effects of forest cover on settlement patterns have been studied by Possehi ( 1980) i n Gujarat. According t o hi m s tretches of land by r iver banks provide the most convenient locations for settlements, s ince there annual f looding would, by removing tree seedlings, prevent the g eneration of forests. This would facilitate colonisation w ithout a large i nvestment of e ffort i n c learing t rees. B y the s ame token easy routes of communication can also be e stablished . Settlement would be restricted to the river banks u ntil some f actor, s uch as population pressure , d rove the inhabitants to the expensive task of colonising inter ior

areas.

While

the

explanation

was

offered

with r espect

t o Gujarat, the principles involved in i t can also be applied to the G anga V alley to explain the early popularity of r iverine locations. As

f or

modern

c limatic

patterns ,

the

main

parametres

a re well known ( Spate and L earmonth , 1 967), and need not be d iscussed i n d etail. The only f eatures calling for particul ar attention are the t i ming and quantity of rains,

which

i n a predo minantly dry farming area will have a crucial impact. On average 9 00 mm f all between July and S eptember, w ith a f urther 1 00 mm i n D ecember January , which i n spite of i ts small quantity i s greatly beneficial to the winter c rop . Rains may also fall after the harvest in March, however, with d isastrous effects on recently cut crops ( Figures 2 and 3 ). -

The

sum mer

rains,

which

have

a crucial

impact

on

agriculture appear i n A llahabad D istrict to be quite reliable i n quantity; in 44 years of observation only 7 years s aw precipitation more than one-third i n excess of normal, while in 6 years i t was the shortfall which exceeded 33% ( Nevill, 1 911). Unfortunately , the t i ming of the rains i s equally crucial , for on i t d epends the t imely ploughing of the land and the sowing of the kharif crop. G iven the importance of t i ming , the D istrict Gazetteers are surpris ingly uninformative , beyond stating that the variability of ti ming outweighs the regularity of the amount of the r ainfall, leading to considerable uncertainty year after year. This fluctuation in rainfall, along with localised d ifferences in soils and topography , the general lack of m inerals, and the existence in the past of forests in the i nterior, i s t he most important ecological characteristic of

the

area

s urveyed .

35

F IGURE

4 00

-

2 00

—

2:

RAINFALL

IN

ALLAHAEAD

2 A A v erage v s . a ctua l r a infa ll i n 1 9 15

•

a verage

i n A llahabad C ity

E3

j r ,

J anuary M a rch M ay F eb ruary A l pr i1

Au g usi

r • S ept .

j915

'

N ovember O ctober D ecember

2 B A verage v s . a ctua l r a infa ll i n 1 9 15

•

a verag e

i n t he t ahs ils o f A llahabad D istr ict

E3

i n 1 915

I I S ir athu

J une

J u y

PATTERNS

M a r ijh .

• t ;

S or a or

P hu lp ur

H and ia

36

M eja

K archana

D ISTRICT

F IGURE 3 :

THE AGRICULTURAL YEAR

MONTH

CALENDAR MONTH

KHARIF CROP

ASARH

JUNE-JULY

P LOUGHING SOWING

SAWAN

JULY-AUGUST

SECOND PLOUGHING

RABI

CROP

WEEDING BH TUX )N

AUGUSTS EPTEMBER

KUAR

SEPTEMBEROCTOBER

K P LTIK

WEEDING

P LOUGHING

HARVEST OF

PLOUGHING

EARLY R ICE

OCTOBER

SOWING HARVEST OF LATER CROPS

AGHAN

NOVEMBER

PUS

DECEMBER

WATERING

THRESHING W INNOWING

WATERING

MA G J

JANUARY

PHAGUN

FEBRUARY

CHEYT

MARCH

HARVEST

B PJSAKH

APRIL

THRESHING W INNOWING

JETH

APRIL-MAY

SPREADING OF MANURE BUILDING EMBANKMENTS

LAUND

MAY-JUNE

37

CHAPTER 3 THE SETTLEMENT H ISTORY OF ALL LAHABAD D ISTRI CT C T.

This

chapter

1000 B .C .

a i ms

to

-

300 A .D .

summarise

the

results

of

the

f ieldwork . For each period I shall consider the evidence f or s ite hierarchies, and the f unction of each level of s ite therein. Locations of sites v is a v is each other, and w ith regards to natural f eatures will also be d iscussed a long with d ata permitting d emographic trends . However , while the overall patterns of s ettlement will be a ssessed , -

-

and compared to those found in other areas of the Ganga Valley , processual explanations will be left for the next chapter, where the i nformation content of s ettlement patt erns will be combined with other c ategories of d ata . H ere the results of excavations will only be utilised i f they come f rom the area actually surveyed. I n order not to d isturb the narrative, the detailed s ite catalogue, along w ith the d ating criteria f ollowed during the course o f the f ieldwork , crucial

has been relegated to the Appendix ,

attributes

i n F igure 4 ,

of

the

d isvovered

and on Map 4 .

38

s ites

a re

though the summarised

39

F igure 4 :

L ist o f d iscovered s ites

S ite N umber

N earest V illage

I

1

Adampur

1 .44

2

A llahabad

3

A llahabad

4

A llahabad

5

A llahabad

6

A llahabad

7

A llahabad

8

A llahabad

9

Ambai

1 .44 N /Al -

-

2 .00

2 .00 -

-

-

Buzurg

1 0

A sadha

1 1

A tarsuiya

1 2

A tarsuiya

I I

1 3

A tarsuiya

I II

1 4

A ureni

1 5

Awana A lampur

1 6

B ahadurpur

1 7

B ahman K anti

I

1 8

B ahman K anti

I I

4 .1 9

O ccupied a rea i n hectares I I I II I V

2 .31

2 .31

N /A

N /A

N/A

N /A

N /A

N /A

2 .00

2 .00

N /A

N /A

4 .00

4 .00

N /A

N /A

-

-

-

-

1 .50 2 .16

0 .95

I 1 .41

1 .41

2 .82 2 .12 4 .15

1 .40 1 .62

1 .62 1 .56

3 .79

1 .62 1 .56

1 .56 1 .80

1 .08

B aresa

1 .08

2 0

B ariawan

3 .14

2 1

B herawan

1 .60

2 2

B idaon

5 .15

5 .15

2 3

C hak

A il a .i N iaz

1 .32

1 .32

2 4

t hak

K hudaganj

2 5

c hapaohan

1 .92

1 .92

1 .92 1 .95

40

1 .95

F igure 4 : S ite Number

2 6 2 7 2 8

L ist o f d iscovered s ites

N earest V illage

O ccupied a rea I I I

C hirwa

-

D aryapur

1 .30

I

2 .01

-

1 .30

1 .30

1 .30

1 .57

-

1 .57

1 .57

1 .60

1 .60

t ryapur j jhiawan

3 0

I I

-

D iha

3 1

-

-

-

-

3 .78

E rahampur K alesar

M au P arsa lt hi

0 .42

3 2

F aridpur

3 3

F aziabad

3 4

Gangsari

3 5

G arhi

3 6

K amalpur

3 7

K ara

3 8

K arari

3 9

K ausambi

1 0 .00

40

K ausambi

2 .00

4 12

K ausambi

4 22

K ausambi

f3 2

K ausambi

0 .42

1 .19

1 .19

1 .26

1 .26 -

-

-

-

-

-

2 .80

1 2 .00

-

-

5 0.00

44

i n hectares I II I V

E ryapur j jhiawan

2 9

-

( cont.)

2

K ausambi

4 52

K ausambi

46 2

K ausambi

4 72

K ausambi

482

K ausambi

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

4 1

-

1 .19 1 .26

-

1 .19 -

2 .00

2 .00

N /A

N /A

1 .65

1 .65

2 2 .00

2 2 .00

N/A

N /A

150 .00

200 .00

3 2 .00 4 .30 4 .65 -

5 .58 -

3 .80 -

-

-

6 .80 7 .25 5 .58 . 77 3 .80 2 .01

F igure 4 : S ite

N earest

Number

V illage

L ist o f d iscovered s ites

O ccupied a rea i n hectares I

4 9

K esari

5 0

K hajuapur

5 1

K oh

5 2

K onder

5 3

K otari

P urab

5 4

t dhia

Mai

M asari

M ahgaon

5 6

M ainhai

5 7

Makhupur

5 8

Mustafabad

5 9

N idaura

6 0

P abaiya

6 1

P abhosa

6 2

P ura

6 3

P urab

6 4

S anai

6 6

S ankha

6 7

S apaha

68

S arsawan

6 9

S hahzadpur

T iwaripur

7 2

U dhatu

1 .95

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1 .21

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

4 .15

1 .92

3 .14

1 .02

1 .02

0 .28

0 .28

-

-

-

-

2 .40

6 .75

2 .05

6 .12

1 .80

1 .80

1 .65

1 .65

-

-

-

-

1 .80

-

2 .55 2 .01 2 .40

3 .46

3 .46

1 .62

1 .62

6 .75 9 .17 1 .80 1 .65

-

9 .17 1 .80 1 .65

1 .68

1 .68

N/A

N /A

1 .80

1 .80

-

-

-

-

-

-

42

3 .46

4 .15

-

-

3 .80

1 .21

-

-

-

1 .21

-

-

1 .54

2 .31

-

-

I V

2 .31

-

S ukhda

7 1

I II

-

1 .95

-

S arira

S anjaiti

-

1 .95

K otia

6 5

I I

-

ma i n

5 5

7 0

( cont.)

2 .16 3 .46

NOTES TO F IGURE 4

1 .)

N/A means t hat c ated ,

2 .)

the

s ite

i s occupied i n the period i ndi-

but the area of occupation

i s

i ndeterminable .

S ites 41 t o 48 are mounds j ust outside the ramparts of K ausambi, and are treated as part of that s ite i n the d iscussions following , instead of being counted as i ndependent sites. The area of Kausa mbi in Periods I II

3 .)

a nd

IV i s

t herefore 200 and 2 26 hectares ,

The

following

s ites,

all

falling

just

respectively . outside

the

s urvey area have not been included in the survey sa mple , but a re g iven extensive d iscussion i n the text: BHITA :

Yamuna

Latitude:

81 0 47 118 1

Fortified settlement on the South bank of the 1 5 km southwest of Allahabad . I t was extensive-

ly excavated I ndia mains

25018 124 1 1/ Longitude:

i n 1 911-12 by the A rchaeological

Survey of

(Marshall, 1912). An examination of surface rei ndicates that the r espective areas of occupation

( expressed i n hectares)

i n each period were as

f ollows:

P eriod I : 3 .5; Period I I: 3 .5; Period I II: 19 ( includes 1 4 hectares w ithin the ramparts and 5 hectares without) P eriod IV : 19. JHUSI:

L atitude:

This s ite

2 5025'28"/ Longitude:

i s the

Pratisthana of

81 054

1 07 1

ancient

l itera-

ture ; i t consists of several high mounds a t the confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna opposite Allahabad. Although no e xcavations have taken place at the s ite , the s craping of sections ( Sharma , 1 980) i ndicates continuous occupation f rom ca 1000 B .C . onwards . Unfortunately , due

t o the presence of

an

extensive

modern

v illage

on top of the mounds, the area of occupation can only be esti mated for Periods I II and IV , when i t measured c a. 30 hectares. SRINGAVERpuR: An

Latitude:

extensive

s ite

250

3 5

'

1 7

"

/

Longitude:

consisting

mounds on the north bank of the Ganga,

of

8 1 0 38'47"

several

high

35 km northwest

of Allahabad, which is mentioned in the Ramayana. I t has been excavated by the Archaeological Survey of I ndia ( Lal and D ikshit, 1 981), and a continuous sequence of occupation has been f ound between 1000 B .C . and 3 00 A .D . Surface examination suggests that the extent o f occupation i n P eriod I cannot be measured ; i n P eriod I I only the central mound measuring 1 2 hectares was occcupied ,

while in Periods I II and IV the occupation

spread also to the l esser mounds surrounding total area of approximately 40 hectares .

43

i t,

over a

3 .1 PERIOD I CA .1000-600 B .C .

3 .1.1 S ettlement typology 3 .1.1.1 All

I ntroduction

regional

surveys

must address themselves to the

problem of i nferring s ite f unctions f rom a l imited r ange of a ttributes; some do this explicitly , others implicitly . O ne common solution ( used by Lal, 1 984; 1 979 , etc.) i s to employ a f ixed scale

S anders, et. al., of v alues, most

commonly the s ize and someti mes the density of artefact s catters, for establishing settlement types, which could occasionally be augmented by architectural remains or d ir ect historical references. S ites can then be categorised based on their attribute values, as suggested by such s tatements as " settlements over 10 hectares i n area must be c ities" ( Adams, 1 981: 75). Unfortunately, the great v ariab ility of s ettlement s izes i n space and t ime ( see F letcher , 1 981), undermines this approach. Many v illages presently f ound in Allahabad D istrict, for example, exceed the 10 hectares of

just quoted as a threshold f or the u rban character

s ettlements

s ites

into

( Nevill ,

1 911).

a predetermined

C learly ,

therefore ,

typological

f orcing

classification

r esults i n the loss or d istortion of a great d eal of i nformation . I n a ddition , s uch a r igid s cheme l acks any explanatory and may at best serve as a heuristic device or an i nitial rough c lassification . This i s implicitly r ecognised by Sanders, for example, when in his detailed analyses he d iscards his e laborately constructed typology i n f avour of a classification that i s based on patterning within the d ata i tself ( Sanders, et. al., 1 979: 1 15, etc.). The best

alternative

i s provided by Adams,

who consi-

ders the pattern of s ize d istribution i n particular , any observed discontinuities in addition to the absolute -

-

criteria of the s ize and density of artefact scatters. ( Adams, 1 981; see a lso E arle , 1 976). C onsideration of these attributes along with locational

f actors provides a much

more useful typology, which is why I adopted such an approach in this study , where, to begin with, the pattern of s ite s izes has been examined , and c lusters identified on t -i e a ssumption that breaks i n the d istribution r eflect r eal f unctional differences. The drawing of a rank-size curve was employed f or v isual presentation . The u nderlying i dea i s a modification of C entral P lace Theory: i f higher order centres have more f unctions and serve larger areas, they s hould also have larger populations, which is the most readily recognisable attribute in s urface surveys, even a llowing f or the d ifficulty of relating settlement s ize to population s ize. Anomalies will undoubtedly occur ( Oates, 1 977);

however ,

they

will

not

d isturb

the

overall pattern ,

and i t i s the complexity of the settlement hierarchy that one i s interested i n rather than the f unction of any

44

i ndividual

s ite

I nitial

i n

i solation .

f unctional

d ifferentiation

was,

therefore ,

m ade on the basis of breaks i n the d istribution of s ite s izes. I n the absence of c lear patterning the latter were correlated w ith l ocational a ttributes ( both absolute the p lace o f any i ndividual s ite i n the landscape , and r elative -

the location of s ites v is a v is other settlements) for a ssessing the possibility of f urther d istinctions , i n addi-

t ion to a more accurate determination of the functions of a lready isolated categories. F inally , after i ncorporating a dditional evidence , such a s the n ature of surface f inds o r t he results of excavations, the overall pattern was compared to other archaeologically or ethnographically docum ented cases for the drawing of analogies, which could f urther our understanding . D iscussion of these results, w ill be left to the next chapter, however, along with the explanation of changes observed f rom one period to the n ext, where the l iterary evidence can also be i ncorporated i nto

the

analysis .

3 .1.1.2 v illages Using

t he

method outlined ,

the

s ites of

P eriod

I f all

i nto two clear groups based on their s ize; one s ite of 10 hectares represented the upper echelon of the hierarchy , and 1 5 s ites with areas of . 42 to 2 .80 hectares made up the lower . The g ap between the s ite of 10 hectares and the next l argest s ite of 2 .8 hectares i s sufficiently large to postulate functional divergence; no such gap can be found elsewhere

( Figures 5 and 6 and Map 5 ).

A lthough

no

s ites

of

the

lower

echelon

have

been

excavated i n this area , their f unction of housing t he rural population i s not in doubt g iven their permanent nature; they appear as mounds, i ndicating the u se of mud-bricks i n construction , and are densely strewn with pottery . The presence of m icrolithic b lades and f lakes on s ome of these s ites provides the only evidence of craft activity , the s ample of ceramics collected does not,

since

unfortunately

permit one to s ay w t iere pottery may have been manufactured . T he

average

s ize

of

these

s ites

-

1 .72

hectares

-

s uggests that the pattern of large, nucleated v illages, which today c haracterises the Ganga v alley , was e stablished f rom the beginning . Assuming a density of 160 people per hectare, the v illages of the 1 0th contained an average of 2 70 people ,

-

7 th centuries already their s ize ranging f rom

60 to 450. By comparison, i n Period IV ( 100 B .C . 300 A . D.) the avarage population was 3 14 and even i n the 1 920 's -

i t d id not exceed 450 per v illage i n the D istrict. Only r ecently did the f igure jump to 650 ( Government of I ndia, 1 964). The gradual r ise i n the s ize of v illages i ndicates overall population i ncrease , and possibly the technological improvements which enable g reater a gglomerations of people ,

45

F igure 5 :

The d istribution o f s ites by s ize c ategories P eriod I ( 1000

S ize

N umber

C ategory ( hectares)

0

-

5 •99

1

3-

5.9 91

6-

9 .99

1 0 5 0

-

o f

S ites

1 5

49.99

-

600 B .C.)

occupied

% o f

A rea ( hectares) 2

2 5.80

-

-

-

1

1 0.00

A verage

T otal

S ize ( hectares)

7 2.00

1 .72

-

-

-

-

28.00

1 0.00

-

Total occupied a rea

3 5.80

NOTES TO F IGURE 5 1 .)

2 .)

A lthough f rom P eriod I II onwards there i s a continuum of s ite s izes b etween 1 and 6 hectares , a n a ttempt has b een made to i solate two categories based on the comb ined criteria of s ize and location. As a r esult, some s ites were c lassified a s belonging to the l owest l evel of the hierarchy even though their areas exceeded 3 hectares. I n F igure 4 some s ites are l isted as of i ndeterminate s ize; i n order to take them i nto account i n computing the total occupied area for each period , I have used the average s ize of the measurable s ites f alling i nto the lowest settlement category , to which all these i ndeterminate

s ites

b elong .

46

FI GURE

A F

e I

6 :

RANK—SIZE

CURVES

FOR

PERIOD

• J

F ig ure 6 A R ank-s ize c urve i n P er iod I

.-

I

I ( 1 000

a ctua l -

i d ea l

0

f 0 .8

e a 0 .6

0

£ 0 .4

a I '

g a

0 .2 L_

£

t

1

0

0

4

8

1 2

± 5

2 0

R ank o f s ite F igure G B R ank-s ize c urv e i n P er iod I l ogar ithm ic s ca le

A

I -

a ctua l -

i dea l

F

e a 0

f

$

t e a

"

S

AL

C.1

'a'.

o f

•t

0 .1

t h &

a r B e t

0 .01

I

I

h I ll

-

± 0

I

I

iiil 1 00

R ank o f s ite

47

-

60 ()

B . C.)

48

but there

i s no r eason to

n antly agricultural

i nfer any changes

i n the predomi-

f unction of these settlements .

1 5

Such a nucleated pattern has been associated with advanced polities; however, the reality is far more complex. I n a ddition to t he l evel of political Organisation one must a lso look a t ecological f actors , level of technology , and population density. As an exa mple one may mention the contrast between the nucleation of s ettlement i n the Basin of Mexico during the dominance of T eotihuacan as opposed to the d ispersal of settlement in Aztec ti mes. Both of these periods were c haracterised by c entralised polities , but i n the f ormer i rrigation agriculture predominated as opposed to the chinampa cultivation of the latter. ( Sanders, et. a l., 1979) -

The

most u seful generalisations

by Ahmad

( 1952),

who

e xamined

the

f or

I ndia are provided

d istributions of

v arious

s ettlement types i n Uttar P radesh , and correlated them w ith g eographical, political, social, and economic f actors . The f ollowing agents of agglomeration were identified as a r esult:

high soil

f ertility

areas),

low

table

water

l ier and thus

( permitting

smaller

( making the d igging of

growing

wells cost-

i ncreasing the population served by each),

s ocial and economic

i nterdependence engendered by the caste

s ystem , and the need to cooperate on public works projects. While these social and environmental factors apply to parts of Allahabad D istrict , there a re also areas where water i s i n abundant supply , or the soil is of poor quality . As r egards the s ocial s ystem , u ntouchability , a powerful agent of d ispersal, i s w idely enforced . For these reasons , Abmad s uggests that political i nsecurity , which may be d emonstrat ed for all periods, i s the l ikeliest explanation for the nucleation of s ettlement witnessed in Allahabad D istrict f rom the earliest t imes.

1 5.) F igures f or population d ensity have been e stimated on t he basis of the Bhita excavations. Here three areas were exposed ; one along the s treet l eading to the c ity g ate , one a long a street parallel to the former; and one i n the i nterior of the town. The density of houses in the three a reas may be esti mated at 20 , 40 and 60 per hectare , and t ) iese areas of d iffering density occupied, respectively , 20% , 30% and 50% of Bhita. Assuming that s ize d ifferences occured because of the d iffering economic status, rather than the number, of the i nhabitants, an average of 46 houses per hectare may be computed f or the s ite as a whole. M ultiplying this result with 3 .5 the most authoritative -

f igure f or the s ize of a ncient households ( Russell, 1 958) w e arrive at a density of 160 i nhabitants/hectare . This -

compares

well

with Adams '

e stimate of

1 981: 144, footnotes 3 :6, 4 :1) f ort's f igure of 1 20-200 people 3 96).

1 25/hectare

( Adams,

but is well below Frankper a cre ( Frankfort , 1 948 :

49

A ll the v illages of this period were found along the permanent banks of r ivers; seven by the Ganga, s ix by the S asur Khaderi, two by the Y amuna and one by the K ilnhai. A lthough these banks were favoured for several reasons s uch as defensibility f rom f loods, and access to recent a lluvial deposits and to routes of transport a crucial f actor must remain the presence of forests in the r ich -

-

u pland areas, which i nhibited colonisation without advanced m ethods of c learance . A lthough small s ample s ize precludes a ny wider analysis, along the Ganga and the Sasur Khaderi we may measure the randomness of d istribution , using a modified f orm of Nearest Neighbour A nalysis which examines l inear d istribution patterns ( Pinder and W itherick , 1 975). The original method, developed in plant ecology, would be f ruitless here, partly because i t i s not reliable for the d etection of linear patterns ( King , 1962), which form a s trong component of E arly H istoric s ettlement patterns due to the influence exerted by the presence of rivers , and partly because our

survey yielded only a f raction of all

e xisting s ites. Along the Ganga a continuous segment of 34 miles was surveyed ,

and the

f ollowing i ntersite d istances noted :

Boundary to S ite 31 S ite 31 to S ite 37

2 .5 1 .5

miles miles

S ite S ite

37 32

to to

S ite S ite

3 2 65

6 .0 6 .0

miles miles

S ite

65

to

S ite

67

5 .0

miles

S ite 67 to S ite 1 5 .5 miles S ite 1 to Boundary 7 .5 miles linear nearest neighbour statistic was LRn

The

1 6.)

The

c alculation of the s tatistic

i s

as

=

1 .20 16 .

f ollows:

( d 1 -d )/n LRn

=

Dex p Where: LRn = D obs

=

D exp

=

of

. 5(L/(n-1)

l inear nearest neighbour

s tatistic

the observed mean nearest neighbour d istance obtained by summation of all nearest neighbour d istances followed by d ivision by the number of s ites present the expected v alue assuming random d istribution , obtained by dividing the l ength of the observed s egment by the number of s ites minus one and by

f urther d ividing this r atio by two . As with ordinary nearest neighbour analysis, a value 1 i ndicates a random d istribution , v alues i n excess of 1

r egularity , and values below 1 c lustering . For the sake of g reater accuracy , i n c ases where the l ength of the s egment i s arbitrarily d etermined as i n the present c ase , where -

i t

i s dictated by the

extent of

the

survey

-

s ites whose

n earest neighbour d istance exceeds their d istance f rom the end of the s egment s hould be omitted f rom the analysis .

5 0

A long t he f ollowing

S asur K haderi, a t ransect spacing of s ites: Boundary

to

S ite

of

66

6 3

m iles

8 .5

miles

S ite S ite

66 24

to to

S ite S ite

24 50

8 .0 10 .0

miles miles

S ite S ite S ite

50 64 33

to to to

S ite S ite S ite

64 33 27

3 .5 5 .5 5 .5

miles miles miles

S ite

27

to Boundary

22.0

miles

The calculated statistic was LRn

0 .90.

=

s howed the

Due to the small

s ample s ize too much s ignificance need not be read into these r esults; the range of r andom matching f or s amples of 1 0 i s between . 4 and 1 .6, and our f igures fall well within i t. Nevertheless, the trends towards regularity along the Ganga ( indicated by a result exceeding 1 ) and clustering along the Sasur Khaderi ( indicated by a result below 1 ) w ere confirmed and even intensified in later periods, and

m ay reflect real differences, evaluated in due course.

whose significance will be

3 .1.1.3 K ausambi The

one

s ite d istinguished by

i ts

s ize

was

the

f uture

capital city of Kausambi, and i t therefore deserves some d iscussion . I t has been extensively investigated and its earliest occupation c lai med to fall in the second millenn ium B .C ., though the evidence published so far does not support

this

v iew

( Sharma ,

t ions take place, as crucial areas as the

1 960 ,

1 969).

Until

more

excava-

well as fuller publication of such Ghositarama monastery and the so-

c alled palace-complex, only the surface d istribution of artefacts can be used as a guide, which indicates the presence of two separate s ettlements i n P eriod I . The s ite i n the southwestern corner of the l ater f ort measured only 2 hectares the s ite t ery and

i n

a rea ,

and

i s

counted among the

v illages ,

but

i n t he southeast, b etween the Ghositarama monasthe r iverfront , occupied 1 0 hectares , and was the

nucleus of the later c ity W ithout l ocation of

( Figure 7 ).

the benefit of published evidence only the

K ausambi helps

a lready remarked ,

i n d etermining

the high bank of

i ts

f unctions. As

the Yamuna i s the least

attractive of all the environmental zones in terms of agricultural potential, due to its poor soil and rugged topography . Even in ancient t i mes this area was generally avoided K ausambi is the only site falling into i t until -

P eriod I V and today i t i s the most backward and sparsely populated part of A llahabad D istrict . C learly such an area would have been highly unfavourable f or the l ocation of the m ajor centre of the region f rom the point of v iew of subs istence. This makes the f actors overriding l ocal e nviron-

m ental

considerations

particularly

worthy

of

interest ,

especially the deficiency of the Ganga-Yamuna Doab in in-

5 1

K A U S A M B I

V

U )

U ) ( D 0 C U )

¼ ?

5 2

A r e a o c u p i e d i n P e r i o d

E x c a v t e d a r e a

-

O C U P I E D A R E A

A s o k a n p i l a r

G h o s i t a r m a

N 1 0 -

6 0 B . C ' Ow

E

0

1

C , )

w 0

c B A Y O F B E N G A L

0 C O

w c

x

. 0 . 0 I L

z C L

0 0

/

—j

c

w z

4

o

I f

3

4 . 0 a.

3

0

z z c w I F —

c

V U .

. 0

I f 3

0 . 0

x

C ,

0

z

U .

A R A B I A N S E A

J

53

dustrial r aw materials. While the resources of this alluv ial plain are sufficient for ceramic production and the construction of dwellings, they are inadequate for the f ashioning of all but bone and antler tools. By contrast, a lmost every important mineral can be found in Central I ndia. The deposits of iron and copper ore in the Vindhyan h ills just south of Allahabad D istrict may not be commerc ially v iable today, but were certainly so in ancient t imes, and were being exploited by the tribal population even in the 20th century ( Ball, 1881, El win, 1942, Chakrabarti, 1 977). Raw materials f or s tone tools quartzite, c hert , agate, and chalcedony are also present in abund ance, e specially by the r ivers cutting across the V indhyan s ystem ( Sharma and C lark , 1 983). The s ame i s true of s emiprecious stones, such as quartz, j asper and carnelian, while s andstone f or construction and even s culpture c an be -

-

obtained at s everal quarries j ust south of the Y amuna a t P artabpur, Deoria and Sheorajpur, for example and li mes tone i s found ( and s till quarried) at Pabhosa hill, i n the -

-

K aimur range, S ince the best

as well as i n Rewa ( Map 6 ).

the

areas

location

mentioned are

f or

their

j ust

south of

exploitation

the

D ab ,

i s offered by the

l eft bank of the Yamuna; while the land around i t i s poor i n comparison to other areas of the D oab , i t i s still c apable of producing a surplus i n c ontrast with a ll areas south o f the Yamuna. K ausambi, therefore , was placed as near the s trategic mineral r esources as was a llowed by the d istribut ion of arable land . The f act that w ider economic consider ations determined i ts location, suggests that control of the

movement

r eady

of

raw

i n this period ,

materials

was

a primary objective al-

even to the extent of d etermining the

l ocation and distinctive role of the area 's dominant cent re. I t may be added that i n a ddition to wider environment al considerations , the presence of a prominent r ise measuring approximately 250 hectares a lso helped to d etermine the location of the later capital c ity . This plateau was d iscovered during an examination of Kausambi's defences, whose erection it must have greatly facilitated by doing away with the necessity of e recting a r ampart, and requiri ng only a brick

1 7.)

An

revetment

examination

of

f or

s upport

S harma 's

( Lal ,

excavation

1 982). 17

r eport

( Sharma ,

1 960) s uggested to Lal that the f irst " rampart" d escribed a s consisting of absolutely horizontal , sterile soil l ayers -

w as a natural elevation. This was confirmed by the observation of several sections a t the s ite , where natural s oil was found at the s ame elevation as the top of the -

" ra i ppart". Although this d iscovery d oes not i n i tself i nval idate S harma 's d ating of the d efences , s ince that d epends on his dating of the brick r evetment i n f ront of the " rampart",

there

c haeological, d efences as

are

other

grounds,

both

structural

for discounting a pre-500 B .C .

I have already s hown elsewhere

5 4

date

( Erdosy ,

and

ar-

for the 1 987).

3 .1.2

D iscussion can

see

t he presence of a two-tier hierarchy of settlements,

A lready

i n

the

10th

and

-

7 th

centuries

B .C .

we

s uggest that the largest centre existed to control the m ovement and processing of r aw materials, exploiting i ts position a t the boundary of two zones with d istinct resourc es. Although only two other systematic surveys have been published for Gangetic s ites, they may be examined for parallels. I n northern Haryana Bhan and Shaffer ( 1977) f ound 42 s ites producing Painted Grey Ware datable to ca. 1 000 600 B .C . ( See Appendix A ). Of these, one s ite co-

v ered 9 .6 hectares, and while few details are given, no other s ite exceeded 4 .3 hectares, s uggesting a 2 -tier hier archy of settlement, analogous to that shown for Allahabad D istrict. S ince this area also s ees the r ise of urban c entres i n s ubsequent periods , the parallel i s s ignificant . The only other area where s ystematic survey work was c arried out is Kanpur D istrict, which, as already ment ioned , was a cultural backwater r ight through the Early H istoric period. Not surprisingly , therefore, it i s inter esting pri marily for the contrasts it affords. This i s evident already to 1300 and

i n the earliest period of

1 200 B .C .:

-

4 hectares

were

9 s ites, found ,

settlement ,

dated

ranging in s ize between 0 .75 with no clear break

in their

d istribution. The s ame pattern persisted between 1 200 and 6 00 B .C ., in spite of the i ncrease in the number of record ed s ites to 46 ( Lal, 1 984). H owever, although at l east one analogous s ituation can be demonstrated , much more work i s needed

to

i llustrate

the

b eginnings

of

s ettlement ,

even

i f

i t can be confidently expected that the kind of hierarchy observed i n A llahabad D istrict w ill also be found i n other areas witnessing s tate f ormation i n subsequent phases .

3 .2 PERIOD I I

: CA . 600-350 B .C .

3 .2.1 S ettlement typology The outstanding event of this period was the emergence of a f our-tiered hierarchy of s ettlements, which was r efl ected in the c lear breaks found in the distribution of s ite s izes. The various categories may be d iscussed a scending order; as yet no excavated materials exist

i n to

help the assignment of f unctions to them, but the surface patterns are a lready i nstructive ( Map 7 , F igures 8 and 9 ). At

the bottom of

the hierarchy

were

17

settlements

r anging between . 42 and 2 .0 hectares in area, with a mean s ize of 1 .5 hectares. We may again assume their predomin antly agricultural function f rom their appearance, and f rom the

f act that they a re at the bottom of

the hierarchy .

There are f ew s urface f inds to i ndicate any craft activity , except f or t he u sual dense s catter of pottery , and occasio-

5 5

F igure

8 :

The d istribution of s ites by s ize c ategories P eriod I I

S ize C ategory ( hectares)

O

-

5 •99

1

3-

5•9 91

6

9 .99

1 0 5 0

-

-

Number o f S ites

1 7

3 50 B .C.)

occupied A rea ( hectares) 2

-

2 1

Total o ccupied a rea

%o f T otal

A verage S ize ( hectares)

2 5.50

1 .51

-

1 2.87

1

-

-

2 5.61

-

49.99

( 600

1 2.80

1 2 .00 5 0.00

-

6 .43

1 1 .90

1 2 .00

4 9.80

5 0.00

1 00.50

NOTES TO F IGURE 8 1 .)

A lthough f rom P eriod I II onwards there i s a continuum of s ite s izes b etween 1 and 6 h ectares , an a ttempt has b een made to i solate two categories based on the comb ined criteria of s ize and l ocation. As a result, s ome s ites were c lassified a s belonging to t he lowest l evel of the hierarchy even though their areas exceeded 3 h ectares. 2 .) I n F igure 4 some s ites are l isted as of i ndeterminate s ize ; in order to take them i nto account i n computing t he total occupied area for each period , I have u sed t he average s ize of t he measurable s ites f alling i nto t he lowest settlement category , to which all these i ndeterminate

s ites

b elong .

5 6

FIGURE

9 :

RANK—SIZE

CURVES

FOR FERIOD

F igure 9 A R ank-s ize c urve i n P er iod 1

A r e a

I I

(600

•

a ctua l

•-

i dea l

0

f

s 0 .8 e

-

a 0 .6

0

-

f 0 .4

a r 9 0 .2 e S

t S .

-

t e

..

.. .

.

.

•

0

•

•.

•

•

•

"

.

0 0

4

8

1 2

1 6

2 0

R ank o f s ite F :u j .--9 B A r

R a rk -s i:

c urv e : r P er , l ogarithm ic s ca le

I

I -

a ctua l -

i dea l

C

a 0

f

S

t C

a S

o f t h e . 4

a r

I '-S . ... ‚S

9 S

t

0 .0 1

I

1 1 1 1 11

I

1 0 R ank o f s ite

57

I

I I

it il 1 C

-

350

B . C.)

58

n al

chert

f lakes.

Whether ceramics

were produced

i n the

v illages or only i n the l arger s ettlements cannot be d ecid ed on the basis of the l i mited collections made, but the production of microlithic blades, as pointed out in the previous section, may be assumed f rom the presence of d ebitage on several s ites. I t is only at the end of this period that s tone tools The next level the presence of two

f ully gave

way to

i ron

implements .

in the hierarchy may be inferred f rom s ites,

Numbers

64

and 65,

extending

over 6 .75 and 6 .12 hectares respectively . Site 64 is badly e roded , while the other i s obscured by the remains of s ubsequent periods. A lthough surface f inds were thus l imit ed , the presence of s lag at S ite 65 indicates a wider r ange of craft activities than found in the villages. Locational criteria and as we shall s ee in the next -

c hapter excavations in other areas of the Ganga Valley , a re rather more useful in the characterisation of these s ites, which may for convenience be referred to as minor -

centres. The site of Kara ( Number 37) with an occupied area of approximately 1 2 hectares h ierarchy .

I t

r epresented the next level

will be called a town,

i n the

though this label is

u sed only as a convenient referent, and i s not meant to convey ideas of function . Kara boasts of a lofty central eminence surrounded by lower mounds, and while i t has extensive Mediaeval occupation , due to i ts position as a provincial capital i n Sultanate and Mughal t imes , i t has a long section along the face of the mound eroded by the Ganga , where r emains of worked shell, t erracotta f igurines and beads, nodules of jasper and chert, and i ron s lag give i ndications of i ts principal activities. While no coins w ere found in the course of my survey , v illagers have occasionally recovered punchmarked and cast copper coins, i ndicating the presence of trading activity here in Early H istoric

t imes .

The dominant settlement i n the hierarchy was whose

s ize,

e stimated at

5 0 hectares,

K ausambi,

and e laborate

f orti-

f ication place i t i n a separate c ategory . A lthough excavat ions r evealed l ittle of the early settlement, they at l east corroborate the testi mony of surface f inds in the delineation of the area occupied at this t i me ( Fig. 10). D eposits dating to 600 300 B .C . were uncovered near the Ghositarama monastery and a round the A sokan P illar ( Sharma , -

1 969), and i t i s between these two landmarks , with an extension up to the r iverbank , that surface f inds belonging to this period were collected ( Figure 10). As all these areas a re f ound i n the southeastern and eastern quarters o f the town we may place the nucleus of the city here. I t is also t his area which i s surrounded on Cunningham 's p lan by an

inner

line of

defences,

though neither aerial photo-

graphs nor f ieldwalking could confir m this tantalising d iscovery ( Cunningham , 1871: f ig. XLVIII). Although the

5 9

3 5 0 B . 0 -

N 6 0

w 0

0 0 0

w

C O

60

excavator suggests d atable to the 6th

-

the presence of early N .B.P . deposits, 5 th centuries B .C ., in the area of the

palace complex as well ( G .R .Sharma, 1 968), the evidence i s u npublished and is contradicted by surface f inds. I t appears, rather, that the Period I settlement in the southw estern corner of the s ite was abandoned in Period I I, and r esettled only i n P eriod I II. T he most controversial a spect of the s ite r emains the d efence complex, excavated i n 1 9575 9 ( Sharma, 1 960) and hotly debated to this day ( Sinha, 1 973;

Lal,

1981;

Sharma,

1981, pers. comm .). However ,

as I

have a lready d iscussed i ts d ating elsewhere ( Erdosy , 1 987), i t will suffice to mention that as even the lowest layers s et against the r evetment contain uninscribed cast coins, a s well as s uch r ed ware shapes as the so-called " Ahicchat ra type Xa" j ars ( Sharma, 1 960: f ig. 11: 87), no date prior to the 5 th century B .C . may be contemplated . B esides t he

t he presence of

f irst phase of

massive

f ortifications

the Ghositarama monastic complex ,

and

of

which

b espeak of considerable administrative and religious activ ity , there were lumps of ore and s lag indicating i ron smelting ,

and nodules of j asper and quartz suggesting the

m anufacture of beads. A vast quantity of f inished beads, bangles, terracotta f igurines, stone sculptures, seals, s ealings and coins have also been found on the surface by v illagers. A considerable range of functions is therefore i ndicated even by the s urface f inds which befit a s ite that enjoyed great r espect i n the e arly l iterary works.

3 .2.2

S patial d istribution A lthough

locational

patterns

crystallised

only by

the

3 rd century B .C ., several developments were anticipated , particularly concerning towns. Here our horizon must be expanded to i nclude s ites which, although f alling outside the s urvey area , are yet within the postulated boundaries of the k ingdom of Vatsa, whose u rbanised heartland has b een t he f ocus of our i nvestigations. I n that way the d issection of l ocational patterns c an be conducted with r eference to a h istorical entity , rather than a geographical abstraction , and this will ensure a better understanding of E arly H istor ' ic settlements. For this reason the s ite of Sringaverpur op the l eft bank of the G anga , w ith an area of 1 2 hectares , ( Map 4 , and F igure 4 : note 3 ) must be included in the s ucceeding d iscussion. The i s

that

most

important point

they occupied two of

about the

the locations of towns

fords on the Ganga,

and

consequently provided the means of controlling traffic both along and across that important waterway. However, two o ther f ords a lso f alling within the surveyed area were only guarded by minor settlements. The number of large s ites, therefore , d erations .

appears to have been d ictated by d istance consiKara is ca. 30 km f rom S ringaverpur, which i n

61

turn is 35 km f rom Jhusi,

a s ite which i s s ituated on the

confluence of the Ganga and Ya muna, and attained urban s tatus at least by the 4th 2nd centuries B .C ., but prob-

ably

even before. Therefore,

the

regular d istribution of

towns along waterways a conspicuous f eature of the s ett lement pattern of Period I II i s suggested already for -

-

600

350

-

I n

B .C .

s tudying minor centres ,

two of which were found i n

P eriod I I, absolute locational criteria must be r eplaced w ith relative measures showing the s ituation of s ites v is a v is one another. I n this respect the locations of both are s ignificant . One ( Site 65), apart from occupying the Ganga , was halfway between the towns of K ara g averpur, and separated f rom both by i ntervening The other ( Site 64) was found near the centre of

a ford on and S rinv illages . the S asur

K haderi s tream , halfway between K ausambi on the Yamuna and S ringaverpur on the Ganga . This i ndicates that m inor cent res emerged in order to provide some of the service f unctions of larger settlements over a widely d ispersed area , which would complement their role as centres of c raft production. The as

the

overall

aggregate

pattern of

of

s ettlement

i s

l inear patterns a long

b est the

v isualised

major

r ivers

d raining the area, since even in this period no s ites were l ocated away f rom watercourses. Of the four strea ms the Y amuna with one site, and the Kilnhai with three produced no meaningful patterns. Along the Ganga a total of n ine s ettlements were found in this period, i ntersite

d istances: Boundary

The

with the following

to

S ite

31

2 .5

miles

S ite

31

to

S ite

37

1 .5

miles

S ite

37

to

S ite

32

6 .0

miles

S ite S ite

32 65

to to

S ite S ite

65 67

6 0 miles 5 .0 miles

S ite S ite

67 to 1 to

S ite S ite

1 70

5 5 miles 2 .5 miles

S ite

70

Boundary

l inear

to

nearest

neighbour

5 .0

miles

s tatistic

i s

Li

=

1 .21 ,

showing the same tendency to regularity as in P eriod I . More importantly , i f we i nclude the site of Sringaverpur l ocated on the l eft bank , the r egular alternation of s ites of d ifferent orders may be observed , with larger centres s eparated by smaller settlements ( Map 7 ). Along the S asur K haderi, a total of eight s ites were found , separated by the

f ollowing

i ntervals:

Boundary

3 .0

miles

S ite

54

to

66

5 .5

miles

S ite S ite S ite

66 to S ite 24 24 to S ite 50 50 to S ite 28

8 .0 10.0 2 .0

miles miles miles

to

S ite S ite

54

62

S ite S ite S ite S ite N ot

28 to S ite 64 64 to S ite 33 33 to S ite 27 27 to Boundary

counting S ite

5 4 ,

as

i t

was

1 .5 5 .5 5 .5 22.0

c loser

miles miles miles miles

to the boundary than

to i ts nearest neighbour, we arrive at a statistic of LRn = 0 .80 , which also confirms the trend of P eriod I , which i n t his c ase was t owards c lustering . As regards the n ature of s ites, the minor centre at t his s tream .

S ite 64 was

the largest along

3 .2.3 D emography W ith the

i ncreasing number and d iversity of settle-

m ents a c learer locational pattern, u nderstanding of cultural processes,

leading to a better may be enjoyed from

P eriod I I onwards. Due to chronological depth the rate of population growth can also be determined , along with changes i n the r elative importance of s ites on d ifferent l evels of the settlement hierarchy . This part of the analysis is on

l ess

s ecure g round

m ethod employed , population

due

which

d ifficult .

to

the

non-probabilistic

H owever,

by a ssuming that

i s equally biased against a ll periods , m ay be extracted . To begin with ,

survey

makes the estimation of the s ampled the

survey

i nteresting patterns

we may c alculate the rate of population

growth . The total area occupied according to the survey was 3 5.8 hectares i n P eriod I ( Figure 5 ), and 100 .5 hectares i n P eriod I I

( Figure 8 ). Assuming that there was no change in

the density of population per occupied area and that the f igures refer to the populations at the end of the respect ive periods, and are thus separated by 250 years, an annual growth r ate of 0 .41% c an be computed , which , by way of comparison i s observed The

i n

well

K anpur

i n excess of

D istrict

f aster rate of

( Lai,

the annual

rate of

0 .19%

1 984).

i ncrease i n the u rbanised heartland

of Vatsa is not surprising. I t may be explained either by t he higher degree of socio-economic organisation enjoyed by the central t erritories , or by the attraction of population i nto the emerging urban centres; the latter hypothesis would be particularly i nteresting to test, provided suitable means could be devised on the material record . Although a growth rate of 0 .41% does not appear high i n comparison with recent f igures, i t i s far in excess of long-term rates of growth. Had such a rate been sustained s ince 600 B .C ., then even by using only the area of occupat ion actually r evealed by the survey as a s tarting point, the present population would have to be esti mated at 40 m illion , i nstead of the actual f igure of 1 .2 m illion . Another

s ignificant

trend

i s

63

that

in

spite

of

an

apparently rapid rate of population growth the number of s ites i ncreased only marginally , f rom 1 6 t o 2 1 , i ndicating a tendency to agglomeration in the central area of the s tate of Vàtsa. By contrast , a d ispersed pattern prevailed on the periphery , as shown by the r esults of Lal's survey i n Kanpur D istrict, which showed 9 s ites in 1200 B .C ., 46 i n 700 B .C ., and 99 i n 200 B .C ., with not a s ingle one e xceeding 8 .75 hectares in area ( Lal, F inally ,

the

l argest

s ite

1984).

d iscovered by the survey for

P eriod I I, na mely Kausambi, was 4 ti mes the s ize of its nearest r ival ( Figures 8 , 9 ) and should therefore be c lass ified as a primate u rban c entre . S uch a settlement , accord ing to B erry ( 1961) occurs primarily i n small t erritories, having a s imple economy and only a s hort history of u rbanis ation . This primate d istribution of s ite s izes, a long w ith the concentration of u rban centres i n a restricted area and the massive i nvestment of manpower i n f ortifications, also i ndicates considerable centralisation ,

and was one of the

s alient

350

3 .2.4

f eatures

of

s ettlement

i n

6 00

-

B .C . .

D iscussion E ven

with the l i mitations of the data for the 6th

-

4th centuries B .C. a clear hierarchy of s ites may be i dent ified as the key d evelopment . F urthermore , the associated surface s catters of artefacts now p rovide a dditional evidence of f unctional d istinctions . While the smallest s ettlem ents at best y ielded s ome m icrolithic tools which on the evidence of excavations s urvived up to this period s ites -

-

on

the

next

level produced

i ron

s lag and their

location

s uggested that they also performed some lower level s ervice f unctions. Further up the ladder, towns showed i n addi-

t ion to the a ctivities a lready l isted the manufacture of s ome prestige goods as well as trading activities, which m ay be taken a s their d istinctive t rait, while great reli-

g ious and secular establishments the latter i nferred primarily f rom the construction of massive f ortifications appeared to be restricted to the l argest settlements. I n -

-

addition , the r egular d istribution o f higher order centres , as well as the presence of a pri mate urban centre may be t aken to i ndicate considerable centralisation . Unfortunately ,

several other

s ites

i n the

survey re-

g ion , which attained urban status i n the next period are e ither obscured by later deposits ( e.g. Jhusi), or had to b e studied on the basis of reports, which do not g ive sufficiently narrow chronological l i mits ( e.g. R eh and L acchagiri). In particular, the obsession with N .B .P. Ware as a cultural trait has resulted i n the reporting of many s ites as merely belonging to the " N .B .P. W . culture", and no a ttempt was made t o s ubdivide the 5 00 years thus r epresent ed into smaller units. Therefore, without the benefit of f irsthand observation i t

i s

d ifficult

6 4

to d etermine the s ize

of s ites of the " earl y N .B.P .W. period", and i t is safer to t reat s ites occurring i n 6 00 100 B .C . as belonging to 350 100 B .C ., t han to a ssume t heir e xistence already i n 6 00 3 50 B .C . I t i s for this reason that a full analysis can -

-

-

only be B .C.,

g iven

a long

f or patterns occurring after

w ith the

s uggestion

that

the

4 th

century

they may have a lready

e xisted i n the 6 th 4th centuries B .C .. For the s a me r eason , comparative material f rom other regions of the Ganga V alley i s a lso u nreliable , as i t g ives the impression o f a sudden leap to urban civilisation obscuring the va-

r ious s tages of d evelopment that could be observed , however b roadly , i n A llahabad D istrict . Further data on s ettlement patterns of the 6th-4th centuries B .C . i s all the more necessary for the tantalising g limpses of political organis ation , which a re r evealed by t he s ize and d istribution of s ites i n the one area that has been extensively s urveyed .

3 .3 PERIOD I II:

CA 350

-

100 B .C .

3 .3.1 S ettlement typology I n

3 50

-

1 00 B .C .

already emerging

we

s ee

i n P eriod

t he crystallisation of t rends

I I,

which can

now be

s tudied

i n

f iner d etail d ue to the excavation of the later deposits of some of our s ites. The two most s ignificant changes were the appearance of a new settlement type and the f irst colonisation of the i nterior areas ( Map 8 , F igures 1 1, 1 2). Unlike the clear breaks observed in Period I I in the d istribution of the s izes of lower-order s ettlements, there w as now a continuum of s ites measuring between 0 .28 and 6 .75 hectares, although one may assume that S ites

64 and

6 5, having represented a d istinct category previously , continued to do so. I n v iew of their s ize, 6 .75 and 6 .12 hectares respectively , and their location a t halfway points b etween larger centres, such an assumption may be justif ied . As pointed out for Period I I, the recovery of i ron s lag f rom one o f these s ites ( Number 65) s uggested manufact uring activities absent f rom smaller sites, while their l ocation i ndicated that some of c ities were duplicated i n them .

t he

f unctions of

towns

and

F or the r est of the small s ites one may e ither assume that they continued to s erve t he s ame f unction , w ith great er agglomeration r eflecting other perhaps technological f actors, or postulate the presence of f unctional d iffe-

-

r entiation , even i f that i s not reflected by a clear break i n the rank-size curve. Accepting the f irst proposition , numerous v illages would now be located more than 1 0 km away f rom even the minor centres, making access to services d ifficult.

On the other hand,

if the location of v illages

between 3 and 6 hectares i n s ize i s exa mined , i t will be s een t hat they were f ound within the most outlying c lusters

65

F igure

1 1:

The d istribution o f s ites by s ize c ategories P eriod

I II

( 350

-

S ize

Number

occupied

C ategory

of S ites

A rea

( hectares)

0 3 6 1 0 5 0

-

-

-

-

5.9 91

1 00 B .C.)

% o f T otal

( hectares) 2

3 7

A verage S ize ( hectares)

5 7.80

18.50

1 .56

5.9 91

4

1 6.76

5 .40

4 .19

9 .99

2

1 5.92

5 .10

7 .96

4 9.99

1

2 2.00

7 .00

2 2.00

1

2 00.00

64.00

2 00.00

-

Total o ccupied a rea

3 12.51

NOTES TO F IGURE 1 1 1 .)

A lthough f rom P eriod I II onwards there i s a continuum of s ite s izes b etween 1 and 6 hectares , a n a ttempt has b een made to i solate two categories based on the com-

b ined criteria of s ize and location. As a r esult, some s ites were c lassified a s b elonging to t he lowest l evel of the hierarchy even though their areas exceeded 3 hectares. 2 .) I n F igure 4 some s ites are l isted as of i ndeterminate s ize; i n order to take them i nto account i n computing t he total occupied area for each period , I have used t he average s ize of the measurable s ites f alling i nto t he lowest s ettlement category , to which all these i ndeterminate

s ites

b elong .

66

FI GURE

1 2:

RAN: ,-SIZE

CURVES

FOR

PERIOD

F igure12A R ank-s ize c urve i n P er iod II

A

I ' e

I II

( 350

1

a ctua l

. f r

i dea l

-

a 0

0 .8

—

I

-

t e

-

a

-

0 .6

-

0

-

f 0 .4

—

a

I .

9 e

0 .2

-

E

. t

4

t . ..

.

..

I

8

•

w

N .

I

1 2

I

-

p

1 6

2 0

R ank o f s ite F igure 1 2B R ank-s ize c urv e i n P er iod II

• J

l ogar ithm ic s ca le

A r e a

-

0

-

-

I

a ctua l -

i dea l

.

S

t e a

0 .1 -

a

-

-

0

-

f

t h e

I

0 . 0 1

a

11 •. . .. ..

-

I E-3

I

i llil 1 0 R ank o f s ite

67

I

1

1

I

I II I

1 00

-

100

B .C ..)

68

of

small

s ettlements

( Map

8 ),

and a ssuming t hat

they e xis-

t ed to perform some low level service f unctions previously f ulfilled by S ites 64 and 65, their appearance would have d rastically reduced the d istances travelled by v illagers f or the procurement of O n the basis of

basic necessities.

this evidence we may therefore i solate

a new category of settle ment, whose role i t was to offer s ome of the s ervices also provided by the top three levels of the hierarchy. Their appearance could r eflect both the g eneral expansion of s ettlement, and the i ncreasing complex ity of the e conomic s tructure. Four s uch s ites , Numbers 7 , 2 2, 5 5 , and 6 2 may be i dentified , with areas of 3 .46 5 .15 -

hectares, averaging 4 .19 hectares. I t is s ignificant that none of them existed prior to this period , - this may indic ate their d eliberate establishment by a c entral authority f or the exercise of an administrative role in addition to economic ones. However, until excavations can be carried out on these s ites , their f unctions must r emain hypothetic al, even i f e thnographic d ata, s howing t he d istribution o f primary marketing centres at roughly 10 km intervals in a w ide r ange of examples 18 provides an i nteresting analogy . As r egards the 3 7 s ites below 3 hectares i n area , they made up the rural s ubstratum as before, and their average area r emained v irtually unchanged at 1 .56 hectares . T his period also

saw

towns, at least 2 of which I n d iscussing these centres of the a lready established 3 50 B .C . northern I ndia was

the

emergence of

a network

of

had already been in existence. we must once again take a ccount political f ramework . Even i f by under the dominance of Magadha ,

the f ormer political units i ncluding the k ingdom of Vatsa were i ncorporated into the emerging empire without any m ajor administrative reorganisation , and during the weaken-

-

i ng of central control were able to r eassert their i ndepend ence . Their boundaries s till d etermined the political map of

t he

E arly H istoric period:

although previously

i ndepen-

d ent s ettlement s ystems were now b rought under the overall dominance of an imperial capital, their i nternal patterns continued unchanged . W hile only a Small part of

the area of this kingdom

s & as actually s urveyed , as pointed out i n the previous chapt er , the larger s ites have been extensively reported on by v arious authorities, whose works may be relied upon. Although no centre comparable to Kausambi has been found elsewhere, 7 towns, ranging in s ize between 1 9 and 50 hect ares

18.)

c an be

See

the

i dentified ,

s tudies

of

and d iscussed i n t urn

Skinner

( 1965)

in

( Map 2 ).

China,

Hodder

( 1965) in West Africa, Brush ( 1953) i n W isconsin , and D ickinson ( 1931) in East Anglia. The survey maps of Allahabad D istrict s hows 2 2 rural markets which are also spaced at 10 .8 km.

69

f or the doab tahsils,

The s ite of K ara has already been described; i n this period i t i ncorporated several lower mounds behind the central eminence, occupying a total of 22 hectares. F ragm ents of worked shell, terracotta beads, i ron s lag, and nodules of s emi-precious s tones were f ound to i ndicate the r ange of c raft a ctivities, coins showed t rading activities , a nd t erracotta r ing wells noticed i n s ections a ttested to s ome c ivic planning . The pattern at S ringaverpur ( Lal and D ikshit, 1 981) was s imilar to K ara , w ith occupation extendi ng to the lower mounds surrounding the central s ite. The total occupied area may be estimated a t 40 hectares. T hough t he s ite i s currently being excavated , work has f ocussed on a tank of the Kushar i period, and l ittle i nformation i s available about earlier deposits . U sing the density f igure of 160 persons per hectare ( see note 15), the respective populations of Kara and Sringaverpur 3 ,520 and 6 ,400 souls. Jhusi,

may be esti mated at

the Pratisthana of ancient literature ,

i s an-

other s ite which now attained urban s tatus. While earlier occupation was present , i ts f ull extent could not be d eterm ined due to the presence of a modern v illage on top of the c entral mounds.

In Period III, however,

to an area of 30 hectares, l age ,

the s ite extended

outstripping the present

and housing approximately

4 ,800

v il-

i nhabitants.

Bhita r epresents a new a ddition to the l ist of s econd ary centres, having been no larger than 3 .5 hectares previously . I ts fortifications enclosed an area of 14 hectares , while a second mound, 5 hectares in extent, was occupied j ust to t he south of the f ort. T he s ite was extens ively excavated , and the r esults will b e d iscussed i n due course ( Marshall, 1 912; see also f igure population may be estimated at 3 , 040 .

1 3).

I ts

total

Three s ites could n ot be v isited personally , but f rom the r eports available they could be characterised as towns , mostly on t he basis of their s ize. R eh i n D istrict F atehpur ( Sharma , 1 980), on the left bank of t he Yamuna , was a mound s aid to measure approximately 30 hectares and to contain a f ull cultural s equence with at l east the occupation corresponding to Periods I II and IV extending over the entire mound .

The

s ite

of

Lacchagiri,

on

the

left

bank

of

the

Ganga, has b een r eported to be " extensive" even i f i ts a rea of occupation i n d ifferent periods has not b een determined ( Allchin , F .R ., pers. com m.). Although unexcavated, i t produced a rich crop of surface f inds f rom all periods, with the range of artefacts b eing s imilar to that f ound at other u rban s ites in the survey . Finally , the s ite of Tusaran B ihar r es ,

was e stimated to besides

y ielding

extend over

approximately 20 hecta-

I ndo-Scythian

and punch-marked coins

as well as Sunga-Kushana sculpture ( Cunningham, 1880). I n v iew of these facts i t may be included in our list. I t was l ocated 15 km north of S ringaverpur, i n meander lakes l eft i n the wake of

70

i n an area abounding southward movement

BH ITA PLAN OF EXCAVAT IO NS

44

BAS TI ON

PLAN

o r

S AME

H aUst

40

S AALS

2 7 W1

1

: 1 w ee k

a' i J

L

' I s

.

D t . r

' L8

1

I

1 1 " 1 1 10 1 1

£

a

. 1

P r-M.

E

y M.A, An

I

i i -

-

' -

-

-

-

-

-

F , . -.t N .nt

M E

L.A. A

MIR

L.A. M. .....1

V .

S .C .. . pp .s a ..t.Lv

f ..IA . . t . . ,, A .D .

01f -

—

A.

'

( A f te r Ma rsha l l , 1 912 )

' • 1

71

of the Ganga prior

t ions

to

the

E arly

H istoric period .

F rom this period onwards we may also consult e xcavato aid our study , thanks l argely to the work of

M ar shall a t Bhita ( Marshall , 1912). E xtensive t rading activ ity at this s ite was i ndicated by shops along the main s treet leading to the town g ate , i n which a large number of s eals were found. The goods traded may have i ncluded such l uxury i tems as orna ments of semi-precious s tones , shells, copper, and gold ; s teatite c askets; f inely modelled t erracotta f igurines; and even sculptures made of local sands tone, all of which were manufactured at Bhita. I ron s lag r ecords the presence of smelting , a long with manufactured tools. That the s ite participated even i n long d istance t rade i s suggested by the presence of coins from several s tates in the Ganga Valley and the D eccan such as Ayod hya, K alinga, and Andhra which sprang up a t the d issolut ion of the Maurya Empire . -

-

The workings of a municipal administration at Bhita a re betrayed by the seals of officers, as well as by such t races of u rban planning as wells and brick d rains a ttached to individual houses, and tanks i n public areas, all of which assured a secure water supply and adequate sanitat ion. Roads were laid out and maintained for considerable l engths of t i me as well. Although the details of administ rative organisation must be reconstructed f rom l iterary and epigraphic sources, even the archaeological evidence s uggests a centralised structure. I n addition, both the l ayout of the c ity and the varying quality of housing r eflect

a c lear

gradation of

s tatus

( Figure

D iscussion

may conclude

with K ausambi,

1 3). which by 350

-

1 00 B .C . developed i nto a major c ity. I t remained the only s ite i n the top echelon of settlements , although i t was now dominated by an even greater s ettlement, n amely the c apital o f the Maurya Empire at Pataliputra. Of the 250 hectares protected by f ortifications approximately 1 50 were o ccupied i n this period centring on the Ghositarama monastery and t he Asokan pillar ( Figure 14). The f unctions of areas d evoid of ceramics i s not easy to i nterpret; while some may r epresent plazas or parks, others w ere probably i ndustrial ones, as s uggested for example by the d iscovery of massive quantities of i ron s lag in an area of ca 0 .5 hectares in the northeastern quarter of the c ity , which was v irtually d evoid of pottery. I t appears f rom this evidence that l arge-scale manufacturing activities were kept away from r esidential areas. The

total

occupied area of

1 50 hectares

may r epresent

a population of 24,000. In addition, several mounds im med iately outside the defences were occupied in this period ( Figure

14).

The

most

extensive,

S ite 41,

was

beyond the

southeastern corner of the f ortifications , extended over 3 2 hectares, and appears to have been a suburb. The other

7 2

E i I L 0 U ) C ! )

z w w 0 -

K A U S A M B I

C ) C ) 0

7 3

mounds S ites 42, 43, 45, and 47 were aligned with c ity g ates on the east, northeast, north and west , being about 5 00 metres outside their respective gates, and measuring 3 .8 to 5 .6 hectares i n extent. Their function i s not r evealed by surface f inds, but S ite 42, consisting of 3 high mounds and d ensely s trewn with bricks may be i nterpre-

t ed as

-

a guard-tower

complex

s imilar

to

that

excavated

i n

1 957-59 ( Sharma , 1 960). Taking i nto account these s ites we m ay a dd 5 0 hectares to the occupied a rea of K ausambi, which would

i ncrease

i ts population to approxi mately 3 2,000 .

The pillar edicts of Asoka the

s ite

explicit

and

dating

reference

to

the

( Hultzsch, 1 925),

mid

3rd

-

to the presence of

century

found on B .C .

Buddhist

make

monks

i n

K ausambi, which corresponds with the recovery of the G hositarama monastery. The edicts also attest to Kausambi's administrative f unctions , which , along with lation , extensive manufacturing activities, e stablishments ,

place

i t

among

the

i ts v ast popuand religious

foremost

centres

of

E arly H istoric I ndia ( Figure 20). While extensive manufact uring and trading activity may be seen even in towns, a religious centre appears only in Kausambi. I n v iew of the central role assigned to religious and ethical values in the administration of

the

Mauryan

s tate

the coincidence of

Buddhist monastic establishments and monuments with the major urban centres is not surprising , and i s a pattern common to a ll the major Early H istoric c ities.

3 .3.2

Spatial I n

d istribution

analysing

spatial

patterns

i t

must

be

remembered

that although both archaeological ( epigraphic) and l iterary sources s uggest the presence of an a ll-India empire by the 3 rd century B .C ., the i nfluence of t he political alignment of the preceding centuries, when Vatsa was one of many i ndependent kingdoms, s till persisted. For exa mple, the presence of a town Tusaran Bihar s erved by S ringaverpur but near the -

-

in an area already old boundary of the

k ingdom of Vatsa ( Map 2 ), can be seen to reflect a desire to s trengthen s tate boundaries by means of f rontier posts. This i n t urn testifies to the political upheavals accompanying the process of s tate f ormation . W ith a much larger s ample of higher order centres the locational t rends already s uggested i n the previous period c an be seen more clearly . I t is s ignificant that out of s even towns only one , R eh , was located outside what may be c alled the

u rbanised core area of the erstwhile k ingdom of

Vatsa . The others were concentrated i n an area of 3 000km 2 , i n or just outside the area surveyed. Such a pattern has been associated with highly centralised s tates ( Hodder, 1 978), s ites areas

though the e stablishment of

s everal

minor centres

( 3

of 5 hectares and one of 8 .75 ha.) in peripheral ( Lal, 1 984) r eflects efforts to extend central cont-

7 4

r ol over a wider The

a rea .

regular d istribution of

major centres along ri-

v ers, already postulated for 600 350 B .C ., now beca me p lainly evident ( Map 8 ). Their spacing was as f ollows: -

Along the Y amuna

A long the Ganga

K ausambi to Bhita . .. 40 km Bhita to Jhusi

K ara to Sringaverpur . .. 30 km

1 5 km

S ringaverpur to Jhusi . . 35 km

( Confluence at Jhusi) Jhusi The

average

to

Lacchagiri

d istance

35

separating the

km

centres

was

3 1 km

with

only B hita d eviating s ignificantly , s ince i t was probably s ited to be near a rich source of sandstone , suitable both f or construction and for sculpture. Only the broadly unif orm topography and ecology of the Ganga Valley could permit such regularity,

though the reasons behind the ac-

t ual spacing of 3 1 km are s till unclear . What i s obvious i s that the major s ites controlled both banks of both major r ivers a long with the

l atters ' confluence ,

and also comman-

d ed the routes leading f rom the Ganga Valley i nto the m ineral rich D eccan peninsula. Hence it i s not surprising t hat this r egion p layed s uch a prominent historical r ole . ' bving to the bottom of k ing d evelopment

was

the

the hierarchy ,

e stablishment

of

the 1 2

most stri-

v illages

( out

of 3 7) away f rom r ivers , s ignalling the colonisation of the f orested upland areas. A ll but one of the upland s ites were located within 20 km of K ausambi, i ndicating that the need to f eed a l arge u rban centre may have prompted t he i nitiat ion of this process . 19 H owever , even though v illages were now found away f rom r ivers, randomness of d istribution

1 9.)

E ven

a rough

c alculation of

c aloric

requirements

for

3 2,000 people the postulated population of Kausambi supports this i dea. E sti mating nutritional needs at 2000 c alories per capita , the annual food requirement would be -

-

7 ,360 tons of grain equivalent. I f we accept 300kg/ha as the yield for ancient dry farming ( after Dennell, 1978) i ncreased to 3 60kg/ha a ssuming 20% double cropping , 204km o f agricultural land would be required to grow the r equis ite food supply. g reat

expansion of

I t i s not surprising, s ettlement

therefore,

around K ausambi

that a

was observed

coinciding with the rapid growth of that c ity even i f we take i nto account the possibility of extracting tribute f rom a wide a rea . A concentration of a gricultural producers i n the city would have forced peasants to travel up to 20 km a d ay to their f ields, with d isastrous consequences f or p roductivity.

7 5

r emains d ifficult to measure due t o t he i ncomplete s ample t aken , and we must once again confine our analysis to l inear patterns. Along the Ganga seven new s ites were found ed , three of them falling into the long continuous trans ect already s tudied . I ntersite d istances were as f ollows: Boundary

4 .0

miles

S ite S ite

37 69

to to

to

S ite S ite

S ite

69 32

37

4 .0 1 .5

miles miles

S ite S ite

32 65

to to

S ite S ite

65 67

6 .0 5 .0

miles miles

S ite

67

to

S ite

34

2 .5

miles

S ite 34 to S ite 1 3 .0 S ite 1 to S ite 70 2 .5 S ite 70 to S ite 55 2 .5 S ite 55 to Boundary 2 .5 The l inear nearest neighbour s tatistic i s 1 .28 , s howing an i ncreasing t endency to c ould r eflect i ntensified settlement and t ition along this

r iver,

where

miles miles miles miles computed a t LRn = r egularity , which consequent compe-

environmental

conditions

w ere the most favourable. I n fact, were i t not for the g reater territories of S ites 37 and 65, due to their great er population , the spacing of s ites would have been even more regular. As for the Sasur Khaderi, i n spite of poor soil along i ts banks i t remained a coveted locality where three new s ites spacing:

were

founded ,

with t he

Boundary to S ite 54 S ite 54 to S ite 66

f ollowing e ffect

3 .0 5 .5

miles miles

8 .0 10.0

miles miles

2 .0 0 .5 1 .0

miles miles miles

S ite S ite

66 to S ite 24 24 to S ite 50

S ite S ite S ite

50 to 28 to 29 to

S ite S ite S ite

28 29 64

S ite

64

to

S ite

25

1 0 miles

S ite

25

to

S ite

33

4 5 miles

S ite 33 to S ite 27 S ite 27 to S ite 57 S ite 57 to Boundary

5 .5 2 .0 20.0

on

miles miles miles

The s tatistic i s LRn = 0 .77 , once again showing i ntensifiA . a tion of the t endency towards c lustering , observed i n the preceding periods .

3 .3.3 D emography Assuming ,

once again ,

that

s ites of

P eriods

I I and

I II

were recovered to the s ame degree, and that the maxi mum occupied area f ell a t the end of the r espective periods , we s ee an i ncrease i n occupation f rom 1 00.5 to 3 12.58 hectares b etween 350 and 100 B .C . This threefold increase represent ed an annual growth rate of e xcess even of the previous

0 .46% which was s lightly i n growth rate. The rank s ize

76

curve also retained i ts pri mate aspect, with the l argest s ite exceeding the next largest by a factor of nine ( Figs. 1 1, 1 2) 20 , and with clear breaks in the s izes of at l east the top three l evels of the s ettlement hierarchy . I n f act , one can already d iscern the paradox of vast urban centres coexisting with overwhel mingly rural populations, which characterises

I ndia

even

today .

O nce again, we may also suggest that at least in the central t erritory of the s tate of Vatsa much of the populat ion i ncrease was absorbed by the u rban centres , though we must keep i n mind that the survey was strongly b iased against the recovery of small settlements. The contrast between the core area and the hinterland r emained s triking ; i n the latter the occupied area grew from 54 to 140 hectares between 7 00 and 200 B .C . at an annual rate of 0 .19% yet no agglomeration was d iscernible ; rather the i ncrease was absorbed by a corresponding doubling of the number of -

-

s ettlements

3 .3.4

( Lal,

1984).

D iscussion The

rapid and uneven growth of

c apital c ity g rowing at the

urbanisation

expense of

with a

smaller centres ,

the

s teady expansion of rural population , and the li mited ext ension of control i nto rural areas are all dramatically brought out by the evidence. The settlement hierarchy by now became clearly established, and the d istribution of higher order settlements displayed regularity as well as concentration . All these patterns remained characteristic f or

the For

r est of

the Early H istoric period .

reasons

already

explained ,

the

d ealing with " N .B.P. W . Period" sites r epresent the late, rather than the occurrence of that

ware .

results

of

surveys

should be taken to early phase of the

The only u seful parallel to A llah-

abad D istrict comes f rom a survey of

s ites

i n the r egion o f

the Early H istoric kingdo m of Panchala , which is found in the Upper Ganga-Yamuna Doab , and was prominent in the i st m illennium B .C . Here the city of Ahicchatra , known f rom l iterature as a s tate c apital, had an esti mated area of 1 80 hectares . With i t was associated the secondary centre of Atranjikhera , having an area esti mated at ca. 50 ha.. Both of these sites were fortified , although the defences of Ahicchatra do not predate the 2nd century B .C .. The other s ites ranged i n area between 0 .8 and 12 hectares, and may be s ubdivided i nto 2 c ategories, one of s ites b etween 6 and 1 2 hectares and another of s ites below 4 hectares ( Singh, 1 979).

20.)

T his

f igure

takes

i nto account

only

the

a rea

s urveyed , but even i ncluding S ringaverpur, K ausambi t imes the s ize of t he next l argest centre.

77

actually i s

f ive

I t must also be mentioned that although surveys have been r are , f or the top levels of the settlement hierarchy c apital c ities, towns , and m inor centres we have c onsid erable information f rom excavations. Even i f regional -

-

s ettlement

patterns

are

l ittle known ,

the

existence o f a ll

the types observed Allahabad D istrict c an be demonstrated , and hence i t can be confirmed that the development of s tates and of cities, which began in ca. 600 B .C . in Allahabad D istrict, was a widespread phenomenon in the Early H istoric Ganga V alley .

3 .4 I n

this

PERIOD IV

period

the

100 B .C .

f ive-fold

-

300 A .D .

hierarchy

of

s ettlement

continued unmodified , and even the characteristics of i ndiv idual s ites presented f ew changes ( Figures 1 6 and 1 7). The impression prosperity d evelopment I n

given which

in is

already

Kausambi

i n two ways.

all the

respects i s of cul mination of

outlined .

the pattern of

To begin with,

f ortifications

a period of peak the centuries of

expanded

s urface

f inds

was altered

the area occupied within the

to 200 hectares ,

representing some

3 2,000 people ( Figure 1 5). Outside , on the o ther hand , S ite 4 2 and the extensive suburb represented by S ite 41 d isappeared . Although new s ites grew up on the northern and w estern approaches to the city gates ( Numbers 44, 46 , and 48), most of the population s eems to have withdrawn b ehind t he walls, and the strengthening of the defences is also evident. The destruction of the f irst phase of the d efences a long with evidence of extensive f ighting , shown by a large number of arrowheads and s keletons , may well explain t his d evelopment. Although the level of destruction is datable to the 2nd century B .C ., i ts a ssociation with the i nvasion of Menander remains controversial, as it is based on a hotly d isputed reading of the Brahmi i nscription found at R eh ( Sharma , 1 980). The total occupied area of K ausambi i n this period was ca. 2 26 hectares r epresenting approximately 3 6, 000 people. No

changes

could

be

detected

i n

the patterns asso-

c iated with towns. Their areas in this period did not i nc rease , and there were no additions to their ranks. One of the minor centres t ing

a decline

in

( Site 64) d isappeared, probabl y reflecthe

importance

of

the

Sasur

Khaderi

s tream , along which i t was located. Even if the other s ite ( Number 65) showed no change , we may observe a continuation of the gradual decline of i ntermediate s ites, a lready notable i n the previous period . By contrast, two-fold

increase.

s ites of

the

Altogether

1 2

next

level

which

was

registered

settlements

ranging

a in

area between 3 .14 and 5 .15 hectares were found with a mean a rea of 3 .79 hectares . This i ndicates a s ignificant d isper-

78

3 0 A . D -

N 1 0 B . C

w w 0

C ) ( )

0

C l )

79

F igure 1 6:

The d istribution o f s ites 1 2Z s ize c ategories P eriod IV ( 100 B .C. 3 00 A .D .) -

S ize C ategory

N umber o f S ites

( hectares)

0 3 6 1 0 5 0

-

-

-

-

5.9 91

O ccupied A rea

% o f T otal

( hectares) 2

4 6

A verage S ize ( hectares)

90.64

2 4.10

1 .97

5.9 91

7

2 8.17

7 .50

4 .02

9 .99

1

9 .17

2 .40

9 .17

4 9.99

1

2 2.00

5 .90

2 2.00

1

2 26.00

60.10

2 26.00

-

T otal o ccupied a rea

3 75.98

NOTES TO F IGURE 1 5 1 .)

A lthough f rom Period I II onwards there i s a continuum of s ite s izes between 1 a nd 6 h ectares , a n a ttempt has b een made to i solate two categories based on the comb ined criteria of s ize and location. As a r esult, some s ites were c lassified a s b elonging to t he l owest l evel of the hierarchy even though their areas exceeded 3 hectares.

2 .)

„

I n F igure 4 some s ites are l isted as of i ndeterminate s ize ; i n order to take them i nto account i n computing t he total occupied area for each period, I have used t he average s ize of the measurable s ites f alling i nto t he lowest settlement category , to which all these i ndeterminate s ites b elong .

8 0

FIGURE

16:

RANK-SIZE

CURVES

FOR

PERIOD

IV

•

F igure 1 6A R ank-s ize c urv e i n P er iod I V

A r e a

1

( 1 00

a ctua l

-f r

i dea l

0

£ 0 .8

S

t e a 0 .6 z 0

£ 0 .4

a 0 .2

0

.5

A

5 ....

4

S

P .. .e .

-S

S

S

8

.

.

S. ..

2 0p

-

.

R ank o f s ite F igure 1 6B R ank-s ize c urv e i n P er iod I V A r e

l ogar ithm ic s ca le

im

0

1 -

-

a ctua l i dea l

—

e S

S

0 .1

—

•

. '

5" ‚S

4

—

"

I a r g e

e

-

4

N

p

—

0 .0 1

I

SI . i

i

i

j

" . .A

l

1 0

I II 100

R ank o f s ite

8 1

E . C.

-

300

A . D.)

s al

of

lower

a lthough suggests I nstead ,

order

economic

a nd

administrative

f unctions,

some of these s ites were f ound i n c lusters , which that not a ll of t hem e xisted to provide s ervices . we may s ee political uncertainties r eflected by -

destruction levels at all the major s ites ( Sharma, 1 980) m irrored in i ncreased nucleation of s ettlements , which took -

some

v illages

s ites

on I t

the i s

i nto the

s ize b racket o riginally r eserved for

f ourth l evel of the settlement hierarchy .

i nstructive

to note

t hat

wherever

s ites of

3 to

6 hectares were found c lustered one or more of them were newly founded. C learly , the f unctions of individual s ites m ay no longer be deduced f rom s ize a lone but must be determ ined with r eference to location as well. On the basis of a combination of these criteria S ites 7 , 14 , 22, 51, 55, 62 and 7 2 may be placed i n the fourth order, either because they already belonged to i t i n P eriod I II, or because they would serve to s ignificantly r educe t ravelling d istances to basic services. S ites 15, 20, 30, 52, and 56, on the other hand , do not s atisfy these criteria and are a ssigned to the lowest category of s ettlements i n spite of their s ize ( Map 9 ). As a result, v illages now boast of a mean area of 1 .97 hectares , suggesting a population of approximately 3 14 per v illage. The d istribution of these v illages shows the continuat ion of r egular spacing a long the Ganga as opposed to ever i ncreasing c lustering on the S asur K haderi. I have a lready noted i ncreasing competition for land along the Ganga, which resulted i n the r eduction of average i ntersite d istances to 2 .5 3 m iles, except around the two higher order -

centres of S ites 37 and 65. The two s ites founded in this period ( Numbers 9 and 71) were both at the western and r elatively unoccupied end of the surveyed transect , and their presence i ng manner :

affected

Boundary S ite S ite

S ite 37 S ite 69 S ite 32 S ite 65 S ite 67 S ite 34 S ite 1 S ite 70 S ite 55 The =

to

9 to 71 to to to to to to to to to to

i ntersite

S ite S ite S ite

By contrast

the

9

1 .0

miles

1 .0 2 .0

miles miles

4 .0 1 .5 6 .0 5 .0 2 .5 3 0 2 .5 2 .5 .2.5

miles miles miles miles miles miles miles miles miles

s tatistic

f ollow-

i s now raised to LRn

the s ettlements a long the

s howed a drastic realignment. s ites their

i n

71 37

S ite 69 S ite 32 S ite 65 S ite 67 S ite 34 S ite 1 S ite 70 S ite 55 Boundary

l inear nearest neighbour

1 .42.

d istances

S asur

K haderi

While the founding of f ive

compensated f or the abandonment spacing now looked as f ollows:

8 2

of

the

s ame

number,

8 3

Boundary S ite S ite S ite S ite S ite S ite S ite S ite

21 54 28 29 25 60 30 20

to to to to to to to to to

S ite S ite S ite S ite S ite S ite S ite S ite S ite

21 54 28 29 25 60 30 20 27

S ite 27 to S ite 57 S ite 57 to S ite 49 S ite 49 to Boundary Not

counting

S ites

2 1

and 49

a s

t hey

1 .0

miles

2 .0 25.5 0 .5 2 .0 2 .5 7 .0 0 .5 0 .5

miles miles miles miles miles miles miles miles

2 .0 18.0 2 .0

miles miles miles

were nearer

the

boun-

d ary than to their c losest neighbour the statistic LRn is computed at 0 .31, s howing a s trong t endency to c lustering . I n explaining this pattern we

may recall that the only

advantage offered by the banks of the S asur K haderi was the possibility of s ettlement without l arge-scale c learance of f orests . I n other r espects the poor quality of the s oil and t he undulating terrain were serious handicaps to cultivators. The s ettlements along this r iver i ncreased i n number so long as expansion into the i nterior was difficult, once

technological

problems

were

overcome

with

t he

but

i ntro-

d uction of iron tools, the banks of the Sasur Khaderi lost much of their attraction. As a result, although new s ites w ere founded, those on less fertile stretches, especially near

patches

of

u sar,

were

abandoned.

The

end

of

this

process was the c lustered d istribution just analysed ; the long-term consequence was even more drastic, na mely the v irtual abandonment of the banks of the Sasur Khaderi as evident

f rom the

d istribution of present s ettlements .

F inally , the t rend towards colonisation of the upland areas i ntensified i n this period . 7 new s ites were located on this zone while 7 were abandoned along rivers. As a r esult 1 9 s ites,

35% of the total,

were now in the upland

z one and they were not confined to t he environs of K ausambi any longer . I n spite of this d evelopment, f ull colonisation of the interior d id not take place until the mediaeval period , while the last vestiges of the forests were only d es troyed during the construction of railways. 1 ,

3 .4.1

D emography

The most important d evelopment observable i n this per iod i s a d rastic s lowing down of population growth . W ithin t he

survey

area

the

total

occupied

area

increased

f rom

3 12.58 to 375.19 hectares ( Figures 1 1, 15), representing a g rowth rate of merely 0 .05% , which was below the growth r ate i n the rural area of Kanpur, now standing at 0 .18% ( Lal, 1 984). n ing in 600

The period of population agglomeration beginB .C . also came to an end. Only the c ity of

8 4

K ausambi g rew i n s ize,

while the towns s tagnated and one of

t he minor centres d isappeared . Most of the increase in population was absorbed by v illages and by the city of K ausambi. This may explain why the hinterland represented by Kanpur c entre. S uch

D istrict

showed a f aster growth

sharpening of

the

rate

than the

rural-urban d ivide probably

r eflects f urther centralisation of administrative a nd economic l ife. The desire to extend control into outlying t erritories, a s witnessed by the g rowth of minor c entres i n the r ural hinterland , may be another s ide of the s ame coin ; Kanpur D istrict now boasted of a s ite of 1 1 hectares, i n addition to 18 s ites between 4 and 8 hectares ( Lal, 1984 ; M a p 10). F inally, the great prosperity evidenced by urban c entres in this period could be yet another fruit of the centralising tendency . Unfortunately there i s no comparat ive material to draw upon for other regi ons. Therefore, one must now turn to the task of i ntegrating the evidence here

presented

with

already

published

i nformation

-

l ite-

r ary a s well a s archaeological f or a coherent explanation o f the r ise o f c ivilisation i n the G anga V alley . -

85

KANPUR D ISTR ICT

-

S ITES O F 2 00 B .C .

-

3 00 A .D .

Yãmunã

•

6-11 .25 ha

D is t r ic t b ounda ry

0- 5 .99 h a ( A f te r L a i , 1 984 )

86

CHAPTER 4 THE EMERGENCE OF C IVILISATION

I NTRODUCTION

I n the preceding chapter an outline of the settlement history of Allahabad D istrict between ca. 1000 B .C . and A .D . 3 00 was g iven , showing the evolution of a hierarchy of s ites cul minating in large urban centres by the 4th 2nd -

c enturies B .C ., and the persistence of this pattern for s everal succeeding centuries. My ai m here is to f irst i dentify the l evels of cultural complexity represented by the succession of patterns and then account for the sequence of stages observed , converting a s tatic representation i nto a dynamic one. These two goals may be referred to as m iddle-range and processual analyses. For these purposes there i s additional evidence at our d isposal; namely , the r esults of excavations , analogies s upplied by both past and contemporary societies, and l iterary works. Each section, d ealing with a particular s tage of development , i s to begin w ith the independent analysis of material and l iterary sources , which will afford an opportunity to compare their patterning , a matter of particular interest to historical archaeology . Only subsequently will processual issues be addressed , in the course of which all c lasses of evidence w ill be i ntegrated . Analysis the

w ill

foundations of

C ivilisation"

a t

be

concentrated

what

the

is

on three key processes ;

considered to be

beginning

of

the

the

f irst

" Ganges

millennium

B . C., the emergence of cities and states in the 6th 4th c enturies B .C ., and the establishment and persistence of the politico-economic pattern of the E arly H istoric period f rom the 4th century B .C . onwards. The chapter will be -

followed by a concluding statement regarding the role of c ities i n the c ultural development of the Ganga Valley , their s ubsequent f ortunes .

w ith

and

A lthough m ethodological i ssues have already been dealt i n Chapter I , the goals outlined above call for

f urther comments. I n contrast to the generalising thrust of many r ecent archaeological studies, and of k ey theoretical papers ( e.g. R enfrew, 1982), the ai ms of this study are l imited to explaining the specific process of the r ise of G angetic c ities and states. Such an orientation needs no special pleading , as the study of d iversity i s as v alid a goal

of

archaeology

as

the

i dentification of

regularities .

I ndeed one may well argue that succesful generalisations d epend i n the f irst i nstance on a corpus of well-documented regional histories, and s ince that corpus i s s till meagre , additions to i t should be welcome.

87

Some comment i s also i nvited by the means of e xplanat ion f ollowed here . While the s trict application of G eneral Systems T heory to archaeological s ituations i s f raught w ith problems, not the least of which i s our inability to model even approxi mately human society, let alone quantify cultural v alues, the more relaxed v iew that culture i s composed of interrelated parts has advanced the level of explanations. This v iew, termed by R enfrew ( 1984 ) " systems thinking", i s not widely used at present i n South Asian a rchaeology. I n adopting i t, my aim will be to f irst outl ine the s tructure of Gangetic society at v arious s tages i n i ts d evelopment, paying particular a ttention to i ts i ntern al dynamics, which would d etermine i ts r esponse to certain s ituations . Secondly, I shall also attempt to i dentify those s tresses i nternal or external which at certain -

t imes

may have

-

led

to

i ts

evolution .

The

i dea of

otherwise

i nert cultural systems provoked i nto growth by the " kick" o f some external factor is not fully satisfactory , espec ially s ince that i nitial k ick may well be a ccidental, and hence unpredictable, but at present provides the best approximation to understanding how c ultures d evelop .

4 .1

THE FOUNDATIONS OF I NDIAN SOCIETY

4 .1.1 Late Vedic

S ociety

i n archaeology

H aving already outlined the settlement history of a r epresentative area of the Ganga V alley, the i nformation a fforded piecemeal by the l i mited trait lists produced by most excavations can now be accommodated i nto a coherent f ramework , and will serve to r efine our i nitial picture of cultural d evelopment g ained f rom t he r egional survey . T his c an then be contrasted with the testimony of other sources . W ithin the survey region only the lower l evels of S ringaverpur ( Periods I and I I; Lal and D ikshit, 1981; Saraswat, 1 982) y ielded appropriate evidence , but this can be supplem ented by the f inds f rom Hastinapura ( Period I I; Lal, 1 955) and Atranjikhera ( Period I II; Gaur, 1 983) in the Upper Ganga Valley and f rom Prahladpur ( IA ; Narain and Roy , 1 968), Rajghat ( IA ; Narain and R oy , 1 976), and Q-u irand ( IB ; Verma , 1970; SinhaI l979a) in the M iddle Ganga Valley , all Qf which yielded deposits f rom the 10th 7 th centuries -

B .C . ( Figure 22, Map 11). For convenience, when discussing the archaeological evidence one may r efer to this period a s the E arly I ron Age ( preceding the l arge-scale i ntroduction of i ron t ools), while i n historical t erms i t may be c alled the

L ate Vedic A lready

at

Period . the beginning of

the

ist

millennium B .C .

today's principal crops have been exploited. Remains of r ice , barley , wheat, gram , sesame a nd cotton were f ound at both A tranjikhera and S ringaverpur . R ice was also noted at H astinapura , and wheat or barley at Prahladpur. We may i nfer crop rotation with wheat and barley dominating the

88

A R A B I A N S E A

B A Y O F B E N G A L

E

8 U )

0

. 1

I

89

w inter harvest and r ice the r ainy s eason crop , as today. The presence of cattle, sheep , goat, horse, pig and dog l ikewise suggests that f ew additions were made in s ubsequent periods to the range of domesticated ani mals. I n f act, apart f rom the evidence for hunting as shown by bones of f ish, turtle, deer , leopard , fowl, hippopotamus and elephant the subsistence base of the Early I ron Age s ettlers d id not d iffer materially f rom those of the pres ent rural population . -

-

A s regards the technological base of the economy the evidence i s too meagre to support definitive s tatements. The

use

of

f rom U jjain ,

metals

was certainly l i mited

i ron and copper

celts

f rom

-

an

iron spade

A tranjikhera

a nd a

f ew blades from other s ites were the only tools found . I t i s only in the sphere of domestic l ife that more f requent u se of iron occurred , in the form of nails, clamps, chis els, needles, and borers. The majority of implements -

celts ,

hammers ,

d igging tools,

pestles and mortars

-

conti-

nued to be f ashioned of bone and s tone , with microliths of agate and chalcedony, and arrowheads of iron and bone completing the tool kit. The f or

implications

spatial

and

of

social

the

level

of

Organisation

u tilised are

as

technology yet

poorly

d iscernible. I have already speculated on the basis of the l ocation of K ausambi ( See S ection 3 .1.1.2), that the l arger centres of a two-tiered settlement hierarchy may have s erved pri marily to procure and process i ndustrial raw m aterials, particularly metals. At least two other Early H istoric cities Mathura ( Dalal, 1 980) and Rajgir are -

-

located on the boundaries of ecological zones, supporting that contention . More importantly , even l imited excavations at Atranjikhera another major s ite of the Early I ron Age -

produced two furnaces and a potter's k iln ( Gaur, 1 983), s uggesting that the probing of other sites would yield s imilar r esults. Smaller s ettlements by contrast appeared -

to produce nothing beyond microliths , whose technique of m anufacture was widely d isseminated a nd whose r aw material w as easily transported from i ts source . Given the li mited u tilisation of i ron in this period, scope f or the concent ration of economic activities was l i mited , but had the potential to i ntensify s ubsequently . That the furnaces were found i n a residential area , apparently attached to i ndividual households suggests, i n conjunction with the l imited s ize of the operations and the l imited use of i ron, the development of only part-ti me c raft

specialisation even among i ronmongers . This

i s one of

the f ew positive s tatements on social s tructure allowed by the evidence. Otherwise we may reflect on the general paucity of s tatus markers; this may partly be explained by the preference for cremation over inhumations, though a g eneral e schewing of s umptuary r ules could also be posited . Copper orna ments and cosmetic aids, and beads and bangles

90

of terracotta,

s emi-precious s tones,

g lass and shell are

t he only luxuries found i n the E arly I ron Age, but evidence f or their context is very l i mited, and does not allow one t o conclude whether they were s tatus markers . The solitary post-cremation burial reported f or this period, f rom Chir and , yielded as grave goods a polished stone axe, 2 steat ite d isc beads, one copper bead , microliths, and bone a rrowheads and pins ( Singh, suggest social s tratification , l ysing the latter 's nature . While

an

analysis

of

1970); enough perhaps to but not sufficient f or ana-

residential

structures

could

throw more l ight on this i ssue , the evidence i s once again s everely l imited , s ince very f ew house plans have been laid bare. Wattle and daub construction with f loors of beaten earth was prevalent, although the occasional burnt brick s uggests more e laborate s tructures. Only the i solated f ind o f a 13-roomed house at Bhagwanpura ( Bisht and Asthana, 1 979) can be c ited as a possible elite residence. I ts a rtefactual content copper bangles and anti mony rods, f aience bangle and beads, g lass bangles, terracotta beads and a terracotta athropomorphic f igurine may seem uni m-

-

pressive ,

but

s till

encompasses

t he

f ull

v ariety of

luxury

goods occurring in the Early I ron Age and suggests that a more c areful r eporting of the contexts of f inds would have provided a better picture of social Organisation than we now possess. I t would be just as u seful to know the extent of Bhagwanpura , s ince the possible correlation of an elite r esidence with a major s ite on the order of Kausambi, for example would enhance our understanding of the beginnings -

-

of

the

agglomeration

o rder of To

of

population

i nto

a hierarchical

settlements. conclude

with

the

real m of

religion ,

the

only

r itual s tructures reported f or the E arly I ron Age were p its containing "many small charred bones .. with sharp cut marks" as well as ash and " lumps of charred grains i ncludi ng paddy", f rom Atranjikhera ( Gaur, 1 983 : 1 28 ). Unfortunat ely , such f eatures could be equally s atisfactorily i nterpreted as refuse pits. Of greater significance are the t erracotta d iscs with i ncised motifs of sun , moon , swastik a, chariot and possible f ire-altar, which were found in i ncreasing quantities f rom this period onwards ( Gaur, 1 983; L al, 1 955). Their designs are c learly V edic i n i nspiration , and as they a re the only artefacts with a c lear i deological m essage , they show the prevalence of a set of beliefs which would have been considered i ntrusive i n earlier t imes . The r eplacement of i nhumations with c remation , another common Vedic practice ,

also points

to the

d ominance

of

new

i deas ,

whose s ignificance will emerge when considering the authorship of the Vedas, which are the only l iterary works f rom the Early present

I ron Age.

taboo on

the

A f inal point of eating of

b eef

i nterest is that the

was

certainly

t ive at the beginning of the 1 st millennium B .C . by the butchering

marks

f ound on

c attle

91

bones.

i noperato judge

4 .1.2

D iscussion

S edantary agricultural communities, a low level of t echnology u tilised i n the production process, social s trat ification , part-ti me craft specialisation and a 2-tier h ierarchy of s ettlements a re the m ain material correlates o f Early I ron Age society . The central places, such as Kausamb i .

and

Atranjikhera,

have

assumed

control

of

the

movement a nd processing of raw materials especially met als and are often located at the boundary of two zones -

-

w ith d istinct economic resources . V illages mostly e xist to house the rural substratum. There are as yet no traces of o rganised r eligious or administrative activity , m ay only r eflect the l imitations o f f ieldwork . G iven the paucity of the evidence,

though this

better documented

c ases of r elatively s i mple social Organisation may enable one to expand on t he d escription g iven thus f ar . S outhwest ern I ran ( Johnson, 1 973; Wright and Johnson, 1 975) also s aw the emergence of u rban centres , with the S usa A period s howing the earliest evidence of a hierarchy; even i f the s ubsequent evolution of the two areas d iffers,

parallels

m ay be drawn. A total of 40 sites measuring . 1 to 3 .5 hectares were found , in addition to a settlement of 10 hectares at S usa which later became t he dominant c entre of t he region , i n t he manner of K ausambi. Although evidence of craft activities came f rom both categories of s ite, with l ittle i ndication of specialisation or centralisation , S usa already s howed important a dditional f unctions , having y ield ed " elaborate buildings and brick platform" as well as

s torerooms on a central mudlarge numbers of seals and

s ealings ;

that

the

inference

is

the

s ite

acted

as

the

centre of a redistributive network spanning the countrys ide. Further s upport f or this thesis comes f rom the f inds of seals on some of the smaller s ites, which i ndicate the s ending of goods, as opposed to the lack of sealings which m ay have i ndicated t he r eceipt of commodities. I n this c ase therefore , the presence of a 2-tier settlement hierarchy coincides w ith a r edistributive n etwork, which appears t o have been the principal concern of administration . Such f eatures should be particularly sought out i n f uture excav ations of G angetic c ities. I n southern I raq , the pattern of settlement i n Late Ubaid Sumer (Wright, 1 981) shows a s lightly more advanced s ituation . Here the s ites of Ur and Eridu, measuring respectively 1 0 and 1 2 hectares, are t he centres of two enclav es , each of which has in addition a minor centre of 5 hectares and f urther s ites of 0 .3 3 .1 hectares, thus s howing a three t iered hierarchy . There i s now evidence for craft specialisation in the shape of the large-scale pro-

duction of c lay s ickles and pottery at Eridu. In addition , s ubstantial residential structures and elaborate burials have been exposed , along with a large temple platform s howing t he e xistence of a r eligious s anctioning authority .

9 2

I t

i s

most

important

f rom

the point

of

v iew

of

s ettlement

patterns , that i n both the cases c ited the d ifferences in s ettlement s ize are parallelled by real f unctional d iffer ences , with the larger sites having all the functions of the smaller ones n amely a gricultural production and partt ime craft activities i n addition to their unique roles as administrative, redistributive and religious centres. -

-

A ll this i s s upplemented by status d ifferentiation and at l east part-ti me craft specialisation, both of which have b een noted

f or t he Ganga

Valley as

well .

The archaeological s ituations just analysed approxim ate the anthropological concept of chiefdoms. Taking a m inimal definition of the latter, after C arneiro ( 1981), t hey could be c haracterised as societies with a permane r .t control agency of co-ordination , having political, m ilitary a nd judicial power, where authority rests on religious s anction rather than force. They are usually manifested m aterially by the presence of a number of

v illages under

the control of a paramount chief ( Carneiro, 1 981: 45). The most detailed d iscussion of the archaeological correlates of such a society is given by P eebles and Kus ( 1977), who r equire

the presence of

hierarchy l ike

status

d istinctions,

settlement

( while they prefer a three-tier hierarchy ,

Johnson argue

for

a two-tier one),

o thers

part-ti me

craft

specialisation , monumental architecture, and organisational complexity ( as shown, for exa mple, by the abilit y to conduct long d istance trade). The f irst three of these c riteria are c ertainly present i n the Early I ron Age of the Ganga V alley , a nd at l east one e xample of a mud embankment ( at Jakhera) i s also found. While the f ifth i s not demons trable i n the material r ecord , i t i s amply attested to by t he l iterary evidence , which must now be considered .

4 .1.3 Late Vedic As

Society i n l iterature

d iscussed

i n

the

f irst

C hapter ,

the

l iterary sour-

c es for this period comprise the later Vedas and their auxiliary works , which were probably composed i n the 10th -

7 th centuries B .C. i n the upper Gangetic plains. They show a society d ivided into four orders ( varnas). The highest was t he priestly or brahmin c lass, enjoying a monopoly over the performance of sacrifices which becomes i ts chief source of l ivelihood , and also c laiming r itual superiority over the other orders. Below them the warrior ( ksatriya) c lass was charged with the duty of f ighting, s upplied the rulers of Late Vedic polities, required above a ll d own

to

i n a series of

uphold a s ocial texts

order

and who

which

( Satapatha Brahmana

was

also were laid

1 11.9.3.7.,

V II.5.2.3, IX .4.1.1-3 and 4 .1.9). I n effect, k ings were to protect private property and compel everyone to perform his/her prescribed duties.

Private ownership of land was

r ecognised for the f irst ti me in a passage in the Taittir iya S amhita ( 2.2.1), which details the necessary r ituals

9 3

i n c ase of a d ispute b etween n eighbours concerning f ields . The origin of s uch property probably lay i n the practice of granting revenues f rom v illages to brah mins, which was often praised and for which several examples occur r eya

B rahmana T he

8 .20 ;

0 iandogya

social order

Upanisad

( Aita-

IV .2.4-5).

included two further c lasses;

the

vaisyas , l owest of the twice-born , c harged with the duties of husbandry and handicrafts, and the sudras who were d escribed as serfs, and often classified alongside land, p lough , and c attle as the possessions of the higher orders . A lthough often confused w ith caste , varna , l iterally meani ng " colour", is best translated as order, the system of varnas being the a llocation of f unctions among members of society . Even i f originally based on ability , the system certainly degenerated into a hereditary division. That i t predates the caste-system i s c lear f rom the l iterature , as the post-Vedic dharmasutras a re t he f irst to speculate on the origin of c astes , attributing them to prohibited i nterm arriages. The of

the

t exts

social

d escribe

are

equally

order.

a s imple

explicit

Although

system

of

they

about talk

the of

administration ,

maintenance kings,

which

they

corres-

ponds to the archaeological evidence . Apart f rom the s over eign the only officials mentioned were the army commander , the royal charioteer, the t reasurer a nd the c hamberlain who w ere all part of the k ing 's entourage, and the v illage headman, the tax-collector and the ambassador, who repres ented the royal interests at large. I t is l ikely that all these officials belonged to a council advising the k ing on m atters of state, and had at the sa me ti me f irst-hand experience of administration with no middle-level o fficials i ntervening between them and the population . S uch are prec isely the characteristics d istinguishing chiefdoms f rom s tates ( Johnson , 1 973), and we may so c ategorise Late Vedic political units in spite of the loftier t itles of their r ulers. The

s i mplicity of the royal administration was,

how-

ever, complemented by an e laborate s ystem of r itual, which must have been deemed an effective means of upholding the social order. The i deological j ustification f or i ndividual r ituals need not detain us; it has been dealt with at l ength by such authorities as K eith ( 1914, and 1 925) and Ghoshal ( 1957). I t i s sufficient to point out that as the universe was seen to be the product of a pri meval s acrif ice , f urther s acrifices r emained c rucial i n the upholding of the universal order. C onsequently , there were compulsory d aily rituals for all three of the twice-born orders, and these were augmented by s pecial s acrifices whose a im was t o s ecure favours in all aspects of l ife prosperity , glory i n battle, and offspring were especially coveted . Important -

r ituals s uch as

were a lso prescribed r oyal a ccessions .

f or

special political

94

events ,

F rom the point of

v iew of

social control,

however,

t here were more important considerations than universal harmony . The s acrifices were also an effective means of emphasizing the superiority of the twice-born ( often d ist inguished by t he appellation Aryan), s ince only they were a llowed to commission them. They were also a convenient tool f or the c oncentration of wealth i n the hands of brahu dns , who charged heavily for their i ndispensable services , and could be u seful particularly for s iphoning off the wealth of the vaisya class. As sudras were despised as s erfs, there was probably l ittle to take f rom them, and this may have been responsible for their exclusion f rom s acrifices with all the psychological consequences that s uch

a d isability entailed . By propagating the belief

that

even

the

most

trifling

d ifficulties s hould be r esolved through r ituals, the priest ly c lass strove to d emonstrate i ts essential role i n the m aintenance of the social order. I t must be remembered , however , that our inferences are based on texts produced exclusively by the brahmins themselves , and their v iews o f society need not have corresponded entirely with reality , especially

as

the

secular

authority

of

the

king

was

a

constant danger to their position in the formative stages of L ate Vedic society . The upper c lasses eventually r esolved their conflict through co-operation as only thus could they maxi mise the benefits accruing to each; while royal power was recognised , i t was s ubordinated to r itual author ity ( Dumont, 1 970). The

remaining d etails

of

social

control

were effecti-

vely supplied by the great royal sacrifices, with whose consideration we may close this account of Late Vedic society . They were performed at such events as the access ion of a new r uler , or his s eeking universal sovereignty . They n ot only l egitimised s ecular power but a lso s tressed a ll other aspects of the existing social order , i n a cycle of r ituals which i n s ome c ases extended over two years. I t i s s ignificant that while sudras were not permitted to commission s acrifices, they were required to participate i n certain stages of the royal sacrifices, where the roles played by them reinforced their inferiority. The most important of the ceremonies was the Rajasuya, extending over a period of 2 years, which began at the k ing's accession . Through i ts endless r ituals i t defined the k ing 's prerogat ives , duties , and qualities; a sserted the i ndependence o f the priestly c lass and its close co-operation with royal power; honoured those i n key administrative positions; and a lso sanctified the roles played by all four orders of society . I t appears, therefore, that i n this e arly period a g reat deal of r itual was deemed sufficient for effective co-ordination and control, and secular administration was a s

yet

undeveloped ,

with

only one

level

of

officialdom

below the ruling chief. The consequence of this was that apart f rom a central place where key sacrifices could be

95

performed there would be l ittle n eed f or

l arge s ettlements ,

and the two-tier hierarchy of s ettlement observed f or the E arly I ron Age confir ms this. The emphasis on r itual also agrees with the more detailed evidence for 2 or 3-tiered s ettlement patterns i n Sumeria, where the central place contained r eligious s tructures ( Wright , 1 981).

r ial

I ndeed ,

the

sources

confirm

s alient

f eatures of t he

each other ,

l iterary and mate-

f or even

the hierarchy of

s ites i s reflected i n the l iterature by the d istinction b etween gra ma ( village) and i nahagra ma ( great v illage), while the absence of t he t erm nagaram ( city) shows t hat no s ettlement was thought to be1on3 to an order of magnitude d eserving an urban appe1lation . 1 The emphasis on s ettlem ent patterns in a study of the material remains of past s ocieties is therefore justified, s ince the degrees of con 1exity of settlement hierarchies appear to reflect equally well defined s tages i n the evolution of s ocieties . H ere both the l iterary and material sources reveal i ncipient social s tratification , and the textual evidence a lso s tresses the importance of r itual over secular force in controlling

society.

I n

this

respect

the

two

classes

of

evidence present a combined picture which d iffers l ittle f rom what anthropologists r ecognise as chiefdoms, s howing that

this

much c riticised concept may have solid historical

grounding . I t only remains now to e xamine the origin of this phenomenon i n the Ganga V alley , b efore turning to i ts s ubsequent d evelopment.

4 .1.4 The

roots of

4 .1.4.1 As

The

I ndian society

I ndigenous t radition

a lready pointed out,

the emergence of

social

s tra-

t ification i n the G anga V alley l aid t he foundations f or all s ubsequent developments. Consequently , our d iscussion of u rbanisation must begin with an explanation f or the r ise of a type of society in which , in the words of Fried ( 1967: 1 86), ' members of the s ame s ex and equivalent age s tatus do not have equal access to the basic resources that sustain l ife". Needless to say , the problem has attracted a great d eal of attention, and several generalisations have been proposed , s tressing s uch f actors as t echnological c hanges , s ubsistence shifts , population pressure , and environmental d iversity . E ven i n t he absence of l iterary evidence a s tudy of

s ettlement

2 1.)

The

word nagaram ,

s ettlements, A ranyaka

patterns

occurs

for

could

most the

point

out

s ignificant

c ausa-

commonly u sed to denote u rban f irst

t i me

in

belonging to the Black Yajurveda

the

Taittiriya

school

( Gonda,

1 975), and datable to the end of the Late Vedic P eriod. A lthough puram , meaning f ort , i s encountered i n Vedic l iter ature ,

i t

does not necessarily c arry an

96

u rban connotation .

t ive f actors. F or exa mple, the locations of some of the l argest s ites of the Early I ron Age ( e.g. Kausambi) at the boundaries of ecological zones, and the evidence of craft a ctivities a t o thers ( e.g . Atranjikhera), supports the v iew that t rade and r edistribution necessitated by i nterregional ecological diversity lay at the root of the rise of cities and

s tates

at

l east

in

some

areas

( Ada ms,

1 966),

s ince

these were the activities concentrated at the dominant s ettlements. H owever, as the l iterary sources demonstrate , the outstanding event in the foundation of Early H istoric c ivilisation i n the Ganga V alley was the i nteraction of two c ultural, indeed ethnic, traditions. I n explaining the patterns observable i n the 10th 7 th centuries B .C . one must therefore outline these traditions, and reconstruct their i ntegration i nto a unified social s tructure . -

I t cultural

i s only r ecently that research tradition

of

the

Ganga

i nto the

Valley

began,

i ndigenous with

the

D istrict Allahabad as i ts focus ( Sharma, et. al., 1980 ; S harma and C lark, 1 983, M isra, 1 977). A complete sequence o f cultures f rom the Upper Palaeolithic to the I ron Age has been uncovered at such s ites as Bagor, c hopani Mando , hadaha , Mahagara , and Koldihwa . We must , however , confine our attentions to the N eolithic and t halcolithic phases a t Mahagara and Koldihwa , which, along with the remains at t hirand ( Verma, 1970; S inha, 1 979a), Lal Q ila ( Gaur, 1 973) and Atranjikhera ( Gaur, 1983), best represent the society which confronted the i ntrusion of I ndo-Aryan speaking peoples

(Map ii).

The dating of the Neolithic phase cannot, be satisfactorily resolved;

at present

one s et of radiocarbon dates

f rom Mahagara and Koldihwa falls i nto the 7 th-5th millennia B .C., another i nto the 2nd millennium B .C . ( Sharma , et. a l.,

1980). The dates f rom Chirand ( Agrawal and Kusumgar,

1 974), and the thermoluminescence d ates f rom L al Q ila and Atranjikhera ( Gaur, 1973) also f all i nto the 2nd millennium B .C.; either a long span of t i me is indicated , or the earlier dates are incorrect. G iven the early dates of the solithic phase in the Vindhyas ( Sharma, et. al., 1 980), the former possibility is the more likely , confirmed by

f urther

though must be

r esearch .

A t all the above s ites a mixed economy was f ound with agriculture and herding supplementing the l ivelihood g ained f rom hunting and gathering. Remains of rice, wheat, and l entils, as well as bones of domesticated c attle, pig , and s heep/goat, attest to the former, while bones of turtle, f ish , molluscs, e lephants, rhinoceros, and d eer s how evidence of the latter. Such activities were pursued with the a id of a sophisticated r epertoire of s tone and bone tools ; on the other hand , even when copper was known , i t was u sed s olely i n ornaments and u tensils. A lthough excavations were on a small s cale , and f or the most part remain unpublished , the presence of status d istinctions could already be d is -

97

cerned , through s uch f inds a s beads of s emi-precious s tones f rom Chirand, and beads and bangles of copper f rom Lal Q i ja. Equally

s ignificant

i s

the

i ntrasite

settlement pat-

t ern unearthed at Mahagara ( Sharma, et. al., 1 980; and F igure 18), even i f i t i s our only exa mple and needs conf irmation . As opposed to the beehive pattern produced by the crowding of huts a t M esolithic s ites , the e ight excavat ed residential units at Mahagara, consisting of 1 to 3 f loors surrounded by post-holes, were clearly demarcated and varied in size between 22 and 80 m2 . Moreover, the l argest unit also contained the bulk of the f ood-processing equipment ( 66% of querns and 36% of mullers), 70% of cooking vessels, 30% of storage jars, and 25% of d ining v essels, as opposed to 8% of microlithic blades. By contr ast , the house with 43% of the latter posseessed only 7% of the d ining vessels, 3 .7% of storage j ars, and 1 .63% of q uerns , having neither cooking vessels nor mullers . The

f oregoing evidence

i s

v aluable

f or a ll

i ts brevi-

ty as it depicts an early stage of stratification . As yet no hierarchy of s ettlements can be demonstrated as s ites , when measured,

were all below 2 hectares in area; Chopani

M ando measured 1 .5 ha., Mahadaha . 4 ha., and Mahagara . 8 ha.. The s tandard of habitation and the range of artefacts were also poor compared even with the Early I ron Age. O n the other hand, while Sharma ( Sharma , et. al., 1980 : 192) i s correct i n denying the presence of an i nstitutionalised d ivision of labour, his statement that " there does not appear to be any clear indicat ion of social d ifferentiat ion , let alone stratification" is belied by the evidence he hi mself produced. The presence of some mechanism of r edistribution indicated by the concentration of a high -

proportion of f ood processing and s toring artefacts i n one house also suggests a relatively advanced society , sup-

ported

by

a

mixed

economy

of

agriculture

and

hunting-

g athering . While the extent of the colonisation of the Ganga Valley prior to the i st millennium B .C . cannot be properly O . C.P .

assessed ,

Ware

The

nent.

the The

large

number

latter

of

s ites

a considerable population

reason why this picture

depiction of n ative that

the

s uggests

i nhabitants

1 984).

i s at variance with the

( dasyus)

i n the

f ocusses on the Northwest of

characterisation of

producing

( Lal,

dasyus

as

R igveda ,

the

r ich

i s

S ubconti-

and greedy

towndwellers r ipe f or plunder agrees with the archaeologic al record f or the M ature and L ate H arappan phases, even i f the question of who c ame f irst i nto contact with the R igved ic Aryans i s still not s ettled ( Dales, 1 964, Wheeler, 1 968 , Allchin, 1980). Clearly , however, their interaction w ith the i ndigenous people of the N orthwest d id not l ead to any assi milation of traditions. This is why the Rgveda is so v aluable , preserving a s i t d oes a picture of I ndo-Aryan society before i ts absorption of I ndian elements .

98

o

•

•.

•

S

•

•

•

S

•

I t

S

• •

C o

‚•'

• •

1

Lu

11

/

-

.

/

.

50

/

•

c r

N

S S

.. -

C D

C l )

4

S

a .

L U c o

c i )

c m

N

I —

C l )

• 1

I —

C , )

0 I

‚ /

I -j

0

w z

/

L L

0

/

z

L I

: .

I

• .

•'S

.

/

— J

a -

/

•

.5'

.5 .

S..

C o

. S.

.

N

L L I

/

55•

c

• ' 5 .

0

.

/ .5'

99

. ‚•

P O S T H O L E S

5'

4 .1.4.2

T he

I ndo-Aryan contribution

The Rgveda,

representing I ndo-Aryan cultural tradi-

t ions , i s not a treatise on society , but a collection of hymns, conveying isolated f ragments of information . Even so , t he e xistence of a s emi-nomadic pastoral e conomy w ith agriculture supplementing but subordinate to herding , is c lear. C attle were the main source of wealth and prestige a nd l inguistic evidence suggests that their ownership by exogamous clans ( called gotras, whose l iteral meaning i s c attlepen) f ormed the basis of social d ivisions. Above the l evel of the clans were tribes, whose hostility to one a nother , originating in disputes over water and grazing r ights, was evident f rom the numerous battles n arrated . A s i n indigenous society , the seeds of stratification were already present with three broad c lasses d efined . The brahm ins were r itual specialists who o fficiated at the r equis ite sacrifices; unlike in later t imes, however, they had no monopoly of this function as chiefs could themselves officiate at s acrifices i n a ddition to commissioning t hem . The ksatriyas were c lassified as warriors while the vaisyas were i nvolved in crafts and agriculture. As the roles of the d ifferent c lasses

were not yet

c learly demarcated ,

the

system retained some f lexibility , marked most clearly by the absence of a body of laws whose enforcement became the primary royal duty i n s ubsequent periods. While craftsmen w ere mentioned , full-ti me specialisation , entailing also hereditary occupation ,

cannot be r ead

i nto the

texts .

L eadership was military in nature and may not have existed i n t imes of peace until continuing hostilities l ed to the appearance of full-ti me chiefs. Even then chiefs were primarily

expected

to

l ead

i nto battle

and be

l iberal

w ith booty . There i s a lso evidence that their authority was tempered by the presence of an a ssembly of notables ( sabha) and at t imes even by a f ull t ribal a ssembly ( samiti) ( Sharma, J .P ., 1 968). Thus, although f ew details of social and economic institutions are preserved , the picture s uggests i ncipient social s tratification . I t i s this f orm of s ociety that ca me i nto contact with the native dwellers of the Gangetic plains, with the r esults to be d escribed below . 4 .1.4.3 D iscussion I n analysing the conflicts leading to the establishm ent of Late Vedic society, a f ew general comments may be m ade. The contact appears f rom the l iterature to have been hostile ,

and parallel cases of conflict between a society

w ith a s lightly superior economic and technological base and a nother w ith m ilitary advantage have often been observ ed . Such encounters usually ended in the latter imposing themselves as a military aristocracy on the former, and other I ndo-Aryan t ribes such a s the K assites i n Mesopotamia and the G anga

Hyksos

V alley

in Egypt provide useful parallels.

the

r esult

was

s imilar

100

-

the economic

I n the system

of t he s ubjugated group was adopted along with the imposit ion of the emerging social order of the conquerors with t he modifications n ecessary to e nsure the e stablishment of a dependent g ains. T he Valley by

relationship for

evidence of the l ate

the extraction of economic

widespread

2nd

settlement

m illennium

B .C .

would

in

the

s uggest ,

Ganga t hat

numerically the native population would have been overwhelmingly d ominant. I n order to achieve their s ubjugation , t he social d ivisions within their own society would have had to be u tilised , and s ome members of the emerging l ocal e lites whose presence i s r eflected , however i nadequately , -

i n the archaeological record would have had to be coopted into the new ruling c lass, with the rest of the n ative population f orced i nto a d istinctly inferior posit ion . This alone can explain the durability of the recons tituted social order, where racial d ifferences were s ucc esfully transformed into institutionalised gradations of purity , backed up by economic and moral sanctions, and -

u ltimately by secular force. Unlike other Indo-Aryan conquerors, such as the Hyksos, who were, after a while, expelled f rom their conquests , the new r uling e lite i n the Ganga V alley w as able to perpetuate i ts position . On this hypothesis the f ollowing specific mechanisms of i ntegration may be postulated . 1 ) The newly constituted priestly order ( brahmins) i ncluded both the r itual special ists of the Vedic Aryans and those of the subjugated i ndigenous population . 2 ) The ksatri ya ( warrior) order remained exclusively I ndo-Aryan and the corresponding s ecul ar leadership among the native population , if i t at all existed , was e li minated. 3 ) The artisans and peasants ( vaisyas) were formed of the lowest order of society . 4 ) T he agricultural labourers ( sudras) f rom t he i ndigenous population . The

I ndo-Aryan were d rawn

f irst of these postulates originates with Kosambi

( 1950), who a sserted that the a doption of a new way of l ife by the Aryans necessitated a new set of ceremonies, of a k ind which only the native r itual specialists would have 1 een f amiliar w ith . We may add , that their co-option at the top of the r itual hierarchy would also have provided an e ' xcellent way of making use of existing divisions, to perpetuate a new and, for I ndo-Aryans, d istinctly favourable social order . Unfamiliarity with the new r ituals may , i n a ddition , e xplain why the s ecular r ulers were n ow e xclud ed f rom their performance ; s uch a c lear d ivision of s ecul ar and religious f unctions so early i n t he d evelopment of s ociety has f ew parallels. The fact that many brahmin i ndividuals and c lans encountered in the l iterature have non-Aryan

names

provides

the

c learest

evidence

of

this

development, a long with the keen competition of the brahmin and ksatriya c lasses f or dominance ( Kosambi, 1 946).

101

The

s econd a nd

third postulates need

l ittle

support ,

s ince the ksatriya and vaisya orders a lready existed among I ndo-Aryans, and could easily be transferred into the new s ociety . The preservation of the local religious leaders but not of secular ones, i f i ndeed the latter existed , would , above a ll other measures , have ensured the s tability of the emegent society. The f inal s uggestion is supported partly by the fact that sudras were not present in I ndoA ryan society; only the tenth book of the Rgveda, recogn ised as a very late addition , mentions them . Furthermore , a s trong emphasis i s p laced i n a ll t exts on t he d ivision of society into the twice-born and the sudras, with the l atter portrayed i n particularly d erogatory t erms ( Taittir iya

Brah mana

1 .2.6.7,

111.2.3.9,

Satapatha

Brahmana

X IV.1.1.31), and suffering f rom numerous and unique d isabil ities , such as their exclusion from certain rituals. The l atter were probably thought n ecessary as much f or psychol ogical as f or economic reasons and ence of the elaborate r itual cycle

-

-

along with the presperhaps reflect the

i nitial sense of insecurity of a dominant but numerically s mall

alien

ruling

c lass .

Needless to say ,

the above hypotheses are

derived

f rom texts, and need confirmation i n the archaeological r ecord . I n particular, the nature of indigenous social d ivisions needs to be c larified, and the evidence l eadership religious or secular evaluated. For -

moment

l ittle

-

can

be

done

to

provide

either

support

for the or

r efutation f rom the archaeological record for the i deas e laborated above, however consistent they may be with the l iterary evidence . At least one aspect of the problem may , however, be examined , concerning the material evidence for I ndo-Aryan speaking peoples , which has recently been challenged

i n

the

I ndian

context

( Shaffer,

1 984).

I t

i s

not

s uggested that a mere demonstration of their existence would v alidate the hypotheses presented above. R ather , the point is that even i f few satisfactory suggestions can be m ade, no would be

d iscussion of the Early H istoric Ganga Valley complete without touching the " Aryan problem",

g iven the vast bulk of Vedic l iterature left to posterity by people The

c lai ming to be g ame of

I ndo-Aryans .

f inding the

material

traces of

I ndo-Aryan

speaking peoples is old, and by no means restricted to the I ndian S ubcontinent ( see R enfrew, 1 987 f or a r ecent a ssessm ent).

So

far,

most efforts have

lack of success,

met

with a conspicuous

though in I ndia this is as much a product

of the methods used as of the nature of I ndo-Aryan society . F ailure to f ind a s ingle convincing I ndo-Aryan trait has even led some to question the very existence of such a g roup of people S haffer ( 1984), f or example , argues that -

the whole of Vedic l iterature is the result of indigenous social evolution, i n the course of which a newly emergent d ominant class tried to validate i ts social position by pleading a f ictitious foreign ancestry . However, such a

1 02

v iew i s contradicted by the widespread d iffusion o f I ndoAryan languages; were the s i milarities within this group m erely i n the r ealm of v ocabulary , l inguistic d iffusion may perhaps be argued , but the s tructural parallels still point to a common ancestry. I n any case, even i f no i ndependent confirmation of I ndo-Aryan movements exists in I ndia, in southwest Asia there i s historical evidence for the movem ent of such I ndo-Aryan groups as the H ittites, Kassites, and Hyksos i nto the r egion i n the s econd m illennium B .C . The

" Aryan

problem",

naturally ,

has

several

d i men-

s ions. O n s uch a spects as the movement of I ndo-Aryans prior to their entry into the Subcontinent, internal d ivisions w ithin the migrating groups s uggested by G rierson on the -

basis of l inguistic d ivisions in northern I ndia and the possibility thereby of s everal waves of i ncursions, and the -

d ates of the migrations, the evidence at our disposal i s i nadequate f or proper solutions. To complicate matters , the authors of the Vedas have no recollection of their entry i nto the S ubcontinent , though their aloofness towards the i ndigenous i nhabitants and their memory of an ancestral home c aution against i ndigenous origin. I nterest here,

u sing

t his

however,

omission

to

s uggest

must centre on the

their

material

t races of an I ndo-Aryan ethnic group. Considering their d epiction i n the Rgveda as pastoralists , their e lusiveness i s not surprising, s ince such groups, especially i f they move i n small numbers , may leave f ew material traces . Most of the t raits a ssociated with them f rom t ime to t ime have b een d ismissed . The Copper Hoards have now been f irmly t ied to an i ndigenous c halcolithic culture of the Ganga V alley , producing a d istinctive pottery , called Ochre Coloured Ware ( Lal, 1 950). Painted Grey Ware ( Lal, 1 955) has no convinc ing parallels outside northern I ndia , and as another local product. F inally, i ron f avoured by Kosambi ( 1956) the Rgveda ( Pleiner, 1 971), g enous origin ( Chakrabarti, A ll

the a ttempts

-

may be regarded particularly -

is not only not mentioned in but may even have had an indi1 977).

r elated above have

i t

i n

they try to f ind a single distinctive trait around the neck of I ndo-Aryan speakers. Y et,

common

that

to be hung as Allchin

( 1980) points out, only a c areful modelling of the i nteract ions of I ndo-Aryans with other peoples will enable us to d evise suitable criteria for the i dentification of their material traces. I n this respect, a contrast must f irst be d rawn between the Early and the Late Vedic periods. In the f ormer

the authors of the

R igveda l ived

i n the

Panjab ,

s ide

by s ide with other groups, with whom they kept up sporadic and hostile i nteraction mainly by d estroying their l ivelihood and plundering their riches, but whom they never a ttempted to i ntegrate i nto a new social s tructure. A ccult uration was thereby mini mal on both s ides, and traces of d iffering t raditions s hould be r ecoverable f rom the mate -

103

r ial record . By contrast, once the I ndo-Aryans moved i nto the Ganga Valley , they set about the i ntegration of v arious groups i nto a unified social s tructure , borrowing e lements f rom all available sources, and the result of this social engineering i s reflected i n the later Vedic works. I n particular the economic s ystem of i ndigenous cultures was adapted to the i deological and social system of the I ndoAryans ;

i n such a situation one should not expect to f ind

m any t races of I ndo-Aryan material culture, r ather a continuation of i ndigenous t raditions . B y contrast , evidence for i deology s hould s how the dominance of the newly e stablished upper classes. V iewed e ntly

i n

this

summarised

l ight ,

in

the

Alichin,

material 1 980;

evidence

A llchin

( conveni-

and

Alichin ,

1 982) i s highly i nformative . To begin with , throughout the 2nd m illennium B .C . i ntrusive e lements of material culture m ay be observed in the northwestern regi ons of the I ndian S ubcontinent, existing s ide by s ide with local survivals. The best examples are the presence of horse and horsef urniture in the burials of the Gandhara Grave Culture i n S wat , the evidence of cremations s ide by side with the previously preferred i nhumations at the s ame s ite, the occurrence of Vedic motifs on the painted burial u rns f rom t he Cemetery H phase in Harappa, once again s ide by side w ith continuing Harappan motifs, and the conjunction of these i ntrusive t raits with the appearance of pottery with c lear I ranian parallels. In addition , f ire altars may be i dentified at Kalibangan f rom ca. 2000 B .C ., and the s a me period i n B aluchistan produced metal objects having C aucas ian parallels,

as

well as kurgan burials and evidence

f or

the u se of horse and horse f urniture . S uch i ntrusive e lements with evidence of I ranian affiliation, combined with the survival of indigenous traditions, would f it in well w ith the picture d erived f rom t exts of the co-existence of two d istinct ethnic groups in northwestern I ndia in the s econd

m illennium

B .C ..

Further

t esting of

my a ssumptions ,

particularly with respect to regional and i ntrasite settlem ent patterns, i s undoubtedly required. However, as i s so o ften the case with Early H istoric I ndia , the evidence available already shows significant patterns, on whose basis at least preli minary hypotheses can be profitably drawn, provided one's attention is not monopolised by the occurrence of i solated cultural traits . I n

the

s ubsequent

m illennium

the

f ocus

of

I ndo-Aryan

society moved f arther east , with r esults a lready described above . N ot surprisingly f ew t races of I ndo-Aryan material c ulture survive: the ceramics of the Ganga Valley show no I ranian parallels, and metal objects also appear to have been I ndianised . Only horses are conspicuous, appearing i n the Ganga V alley i n the e arly f irst m illennium B .C . at s uch s ites cement of

a s of

Vedic

H astinapura and Atranjikhera . i nhumations motifs

i n

with

However ,

c remations,

d ecorative

patterns ,

104

and

the

the

repla-

domination

especially on

the

l arge numbers o f t erracotta d iscs occurring f rom the E arly I ron Age onwards, reflect the u surpation of the i deological s phere by i ntrusive e lements . S uch a picture again corresponds to the pattern derivable f rom the literary sources r egarding the n ature of Early I ron Age society. The evide nce

f or

i tself

the

e xistence of

I ndo-Aryan ,

a d istinct

ethnic group ,

may n ot thereby be conclusive ,

calling

but

i t

i s

s ufficiently strong to call for f urther testing through much needed f ieldwork. What follows here, however, is an e xamination

of

society , which C ivilisation.

the l ed

internal to

the

dyna mics eventual

105

of r ise

Early of

I ron

the

Age

Ganges

4 .2

THE F IRST C ITIES AND STATES

4 .2.1 The archaeological evidence W ith the advent of an elaborate hierarchy of settlem ents crowned with urban centres, the 6th 4th centuries B .C . s aw a new phase i n the cultural evolution of the G anga V alley . Confirmation of the trends observed i n Aliahabad D istrict can only be found in excavations, however , where the 5 00 years represented by the N .B.P .W. " culture" have been subdivided i nto smaller chronological units; until survey projects also adopt this practice , the gradual d eve-

lopment of urbanisation will continue to be obscured . Although no excavation of a v illage has yet been published, the existence of the o ther s ettlement c ategories has been amply confirmed and their characteristics have also been c larified . Even in the absence of surfacial evidence , therefore, r egional s ettlement hierarchies parallelling the patterns observed in the cated (Map 12). The best

site of Jakhera

D istrict of Allahabad are

( Sahi,

1977)

r epresentative of a minor centre;

i n area ( Singh,

1979),

indi-

may be taken as the i t

i s eight hectares

located at a d istance of 15 km f rom

the town of Atranjikhera , i tself s ubordinate to Ahicchatra , the t raditional capital of the P anchala region . I t c learly r epresents the third r ung on the hierarchical ladder , based on such a combination of s ize and d istance criteria . I ts excavation has shown that even relatively small s ettlements c an be protected by d efensive structures , as a mud rampart dated to Period IIB ca. 8 th 6th centuries B .C . and m easuring 5 metres at the base and . 8 metres in height was f ound . This s ite corroborates the t estimony of survey d ata , -

-

-

a s i t produced evidence of craft activities: tools of antler, bone and i ron, beads of agate and jasper and ceram ics were all manufactured locally . I t is f rom such craft centres, that articles i n widespread demand , such as tools of cultivation , articles of domestic u sage , and a l imited range of ornaments may have been provided over a wider a rea than could economically be served by larger settlements. S ince Jakhera i s the only well documented r epresentative of i ts type , however, more excavations are needed to confirm these characteristics of Among ( Gaur,

towns,

1 983).

I t

is

minor

centres .

Atranjikhera 50 hectares

is

the

in area,

most

informative

and located at a

d istance of 80 km f rom Miicchatra , the capital of the P anchala region. This s ite was protected by a mud ra mpart f rom 500 B .C . onwards, which was 30 metres at the base and 6 metres high. I t performed all the f unctions of minor centres ( as evidenced by the f inds of i ron s lag, furnaces, nodules k iln),

of

jasper,

worked

shell

f ragments,

and potter's

in addition to trading activities indicated by the

presence of coins and of weights made f rom semi-precious

106

(

C d B A Y O F B E N G A L

L O C )

0 0 ( 0 U -

0 C l )

w C l )

w

U -I -

0

A R A B I A N S E A

I L

1 07

s tones. While some trading and redistributive activities c an be i nferred even f or smaller s ites such as Jakhera , at l east for the procurement of minerals, evidence for long d istance trade in this period only comes f rom towns and c ities. O ther examples of towns, based on size, location and a rtefactual content i nclude P rahladpur ( Narain and Roy , 1 968),

H astinapura

( Lal,

1 955),

Ayodhya ,

Buxar,

and

Masaon ,

i n addition to the sites discussed in the preceding chapt er. With a dditional f ieldwork more s ites will undoubtedly b e added to this l ist , which at the moment i s i ncomplete . I n contrast to their

multifarious economic activities ,

however , towns appeared to play no role i n the i deological sphere. R eligious centres , above a ll B uddhist monasteries , f lourished only i n the v icinity of the largest settlements , which were i dentified by t radition w ith the capital c ities o f the early s tates of the Ganga t j alley . P erhaps only such c ities could afford the surplus needed f or the maintenance of mendicants, and the erection of permanent structures. Even i f the early monastic remains are i nsignificant i n comparison with the elaborate edifices of the Maurya , S unga , and K ushan P eriods, their location i ndicates a c lose r elationship between the dominant religious and secular e lements of society, which was already reflected in Vedic l iterature . Although our scanty knowledge frustrates any attempt at a definitive c atalogue , at l east f ive s ites can b e called urban, in addition to K ausambi which I have already described i n the preceding chapter (Map 12, and F igure

20).

R ajghat t lement at

( Marain and Roy ,

1976-78),

the earliest set-

the religious centre of Varanasi,

is

the best

d ocumented of the cities. I t was defended by a mud rampart m easuring 20 metres at the base and 6 metres in height, r esting on a wooden platform , and complemented by a moat on the western s ide, where the city was not protected by the G anga and Varuna s treams. The defences protected 40 hectar es, while the suburb of S arai Mohana, across the Varuna, e xtended over a further 100. 2 radiocarbon measurements ( Figure 21) date the earliest stage of the defences to ca. 5 00 B .C . As i s the case with other c ities of this period, the range of f inds prior to the 3rd century B .C . does not n i atch the magnificence of the fortifications , even allowing f pr the l imited areal exposure of e arly deposits, which i s common to urban s ites due to the undue reverence shown to s tructures of later periods by excavators. Houses were built of wattle and daub , having f loors of rammed c lay . The expanding r epertoire of i ron tools c ontinued to be supplem ented by bone implements , and luxury objects were restrict ed to beads and bangles of t erracotta , copper, g lass, and s emi-precious stones. Terracotta images and discs often i ncised with s uch Vedic motifs as t he s un and the s wastika -

complemented the a ssemblage . The c ity of R ajghat s upport ed the extensive monastic community of S arnath, where Buddha preached his f irst sermon; although the excavated -

108

r emains of the latter s ite do not precede the 3rd century B . C., the original monastic settlement i s undoubtedly f rom the

t ime of C ampa

B uddha . ( Sinha ,

1 979b ) capital of the Anga

janapada ,

was

another urban centre on the Ganga. Although of unknown d imensions , its historical importance and the richness of i ts f inds may p lace i t i n the top c ategory of s ettlements. I ts rampart is dated by the excavator to the "e a r l y N .B.P. W . Period", which should mean the 6th-5th centuries B . C.; to this a revetment of baked bricks was added in the 2nd century B .C . Here evidence of craft activities was e xtensive ,

as gold and stone j ewellery ,

as well as j ewel-

l er's moulds were found along with i ron and copper s lag . Furthermore , the presence of coinage and seals indicated t rading contacts . Unfortunately few details of s tructures a re published , beyond brick drains, wells and possible s tore rooms, all of which were encountered f rom the very b eginning of the " N .B .P. W . culture". The enigmatic s ite of Rajgir ( Cunningha m, s hall ,

1906;

Jackson ,

1914;

Law,

1938 ;

Ghosh ,

1871; 1951,

Mar1958)

was the l argest of a ll E arly H istoric c ities , but has never r eceived due attention . I t was the capital of Magadha, until

superseded by

Pataliputra

i n

the 4th century B .C .,

and thus lay at the heart of the most powerful state of E arly H istoric t imes. I ts l ocation i s anomalous , b eing the only major c ity not on a r iver , an exigency which , accordi ng to Kosambi ( 1952), was d ictated by the presence of extensive mineral d eposits i n southern B ihar . I t was enclos ed by a cyclopaean wall g irdling the hills which provided a n excellent natural means of d efense themselves . The wall extends to a length of 40 km; it is 5 metres broad at the base , reaches a height of 3 metres, and consists of stone blocks up to 2 metres i n length encasing a rubble core ( Ghosh , 1958). The date of its construction remains a mystery even though i t i s traditionally ascribed, along w ith the earthen ramparts forming an inner line of defenc es, to B imbisara , who r uled i n the 6 th century B .C ., which would make i t by far the largest E arly H istoric s tructure . An

inner

l ine of earthen ramparts,

extending over a

l . ngth of 4 .5 m iles at the western end of the area enclosed by the hills, represents the heart of Old Rajgir, but excavations around i t produced no datable structures . Only the fortification of New Rajgir, located outside the area enclosed by the hills can be dated ,

since deposits

found

beneath i t are assigned to the 2nd century B .C . by 2 radioc arbon measurements ( Figure 2 1). The date thereby s uggested conflicts with the t radition which a ssigns the construction of New Rajgir to Ajatasatru, the son of Bi mbisara. On the one hand this d emonstrates the d anger of relying on t radit ion . On the other hand , however , i t supports an early d ate f or the inner fortifications. As it is likely that n aturally defended space within the ring of hills

109

the was

occupied f irst,

and that considerable t i me

would have e lap-

s ed before the abandonment of such a favourable position , w e may postulate that at least the i nner fortifications d ate to the ti me when Rajgir was still the capital of M agadha , i .e. to the 5 th century B .C . One important f ind , i n l ight of the nature of urban centres, is the monastery of Jivakamravana, found to the east of the i nner defences and consisting of four large elliptical halls within a r ectangular enclosure ( Figure 19). This is believed to be the earliest preserved monastic complex partly because of i ts plan , s uggesting an emphasis on s hared f acilities , and partly because of i ts a ssociated coarse red pottery , which i s said to precede the appearance of N .B.P . Ware at the s ite

( Ghosh,

1951).

Although

the

c ity

of

U jjain

( Banerjee,

1960)

falls

outside the Ganga Valley, i t enjoyed strong economic and political links with i t, as i t was the capital of the k ingdom of Avanti, one of four major contenders f or suprem acy in the 6th 4th centuries B .C . in northern India. I t w as founded on the bank of the S ipra, a tributary of the Y amuna, and was surrounded by the largest of all Early -

H Istoric r amparts, a nd height

of

hectares with

15

with a r eported basal metres,

which

width of

enclosed an

7 5

area

metres of

190

evidence of additional occupation outside

it. Excavations revealed a wide range of craft activities f rom the 6th century B .C . onwards, in particular i ron s melting and the manufacture of i ron tools, bone arrowheads

and stone beads. Houses were built of baked bricks, and s ome form of municipal administration i s evidenced by met alled roads, brick tanks, wells and drains. Numerous coins attest to t rading activities , s tone, though not described, r eligious

while an apsidal structure of may indicate the presence of

edifices.

P ataliputra

( Sinha and Narain ,

1970;

Waddell,

1903;

A ltekar and M isra, 1959, Spooner, 1 913) is the most r ecent o f the early urban centres to be d iscussed. I t succeeded R ajgir as the capital of Magadha by the fourth century B .C., and was d escribed by Megasthenes , a S eleucid emissary t o the Maurya court i n 302 B .C . ( Mccrind1e, 1 926). U nfortun ately , excavation of the ancient settlements has been made d ifficult by the overlying modern c ity of Patna, although i nvestigations by Waddell , S pooner , and S inha suggest that the d efences of the c ity may have enclosed as much a s 1 350 hectares , which would support Megasthenes ' report that 5 70 bastions were built into the fortifications. The excavat ions of a pillared hail and of a rampart stabilised by an i nternal wooden palisade, both belonging to the late 4th c enturies B .C ., t ed have

also corroborate to some extent the repor-

magnificence of this city , been I n

most

of

which appears

to

i rrevocably lost .

addition

to

a clarification of

v arious s ettlement types,

the

functions of

the archaeological evidence s hows

1 10

RAJG IR

-

J IVAKAMRAVANA MONASTERY

2 0 m e t res

/

N

b 1 11

other

s ignificant d evelopments. A lthough three of

the

major

s ites of A llahabad D istrict K ausambi, Bhita , and S ringav erpur have been excavated, only Kausa mbi produced any u seful i nformation . The excavator 's P re-structural P eriods belong to 600 300 B .C .; i nformation obtained f rom them -

-

-

( Sharma , IVA and

1969) can be augmented by data from Atranjikhera B ( Gaur, 1 983); Champa IA and B ( Sinha, B . P .,

1 979); H astinapura 111 1 ( Lal, 1 955); P rahladpur l B ( tarain and Roy, 1 968); Rajghat lB ( Narain and Roy, 1 976-78); S ringaverpur l ilA ( Lal and D ikshit, 1981), and Ujjain I I ( Bannerjeè,

1 960)

( Figure 22,

Map 1 2).

W ith regard to the subsistence base no significant changes

took place.

H unting s till

s upplemented

a griculture ,

and only urad , a gram r ich i n calcium and protein was added to the l ist of cultivated crops, while there has been no change in the range of domesticated ani mals exploited . A lthough i t i s s tated that the y ield of r ice increased s ignificantly at Atranjikhera , the evidence supporting that s tatement i s not presented ( Gaur, 1 983: 244). I n the realm of t echnology, however , the widespread use of i ron tools i n agriculture was an important advance . I t would be a m istake to v iew this development as r evolutionary , s ince i ron had been known f or at least 3 or 4 centuries; although i t was u sed primarily

i n

the

manufacture of weapons and household

equipment, hoes, s ickles and ploughshares f rom the 8 th 6 th centuries B .C . at Jakhera suggest a gradual substitut ion of this metal for other materials ( M .Lal, 1 985). However, the t ransition i ntensified i n the 6 th 4th centur ies B .C ., s ince only then did most well-documented s ites produce a full range of agricultural implements hoes , -

-

-

s ickles, ploughshares, and tools chisels, tongs, knifeblades , adzes, anvils, and crucilbies, in addition to the nails, r ings, c lamps, arrowheads and s pearheads of previous -

periods . I n a corresponding development, microlithic and copper tools the l atter always i n l imited supply d isappeared and their raw materials were now utilised only in -

-

ornaments . Bone implements i n particular arrowheads points alone seemed to retain their popularity . -

and

-

I f

we add to the

l ist the stone tools used domesti-

c ally f or f ood processing pestles , grinders and mortars Of quartzite i t can be seen that . the technological base of the economy in this period already reached a level not -

-

to be s ignificantly exceeded until the 20th century. The importance of i ron tools is d ifficult to over-estimete i ron i s noted not only for i ts hardness but also f or i ts abundance ( a point already made by Childe and repeated in t he I ndian context by Kosambi, 1 956), and i ts use enabled the rapid colonisation of the previously neglected upland -

areas. Although the precise role of i ron in the cultural evolution of the G anga Valley must b e carefully analysed i n due course,

i t

may be noted here that

i ts

i ncreasing impor-

tance could theoretically enable a g reater concentration of craft

activities ,

due

to

t he

scale a nd relative

1 12

complexity

-

of i ts manufacture, which must have encouraged s pecialisat ion . The d ifferentiation of settlements on the basis of their e conomic f unctions was therefore greatly f acilitated , and I have a lready noted the emergence of m inor centres i n the 6 th 4 th c enturies B .C ., whose d istinguishing f eature was the performance of certain c raft activities not present at smaller s ites . -

These partially

technological

r esponsible

f or

improvements the

f irst

must

at

least be

appearance

of

monumen-

tal constructions as well , which are represented by earthen r amparts , usually revetted with bricks. While the r a mpart of

Kausambi has been reinterpreted as a natural feature,

i ts r evetment by baked b ricks belongs to this period , along w ith the ramparts of Ca mpa, Old Rajgir(?), Atranjikhera , U jjain , Pataliputra, and Rajghat. At the last three s ites the and

f ortifications were i nternally reinforced with t imber i n all cases they were complemented by moats. The

l argest of these structures was found at Ujjain. I t measured 7 5 metres at the base, had a height . of 1 5 metres, and a length of 6 km; I ts total volume approached 3 million m3 . Based on

the

cost of

labour-intensive

operations i n t he 1 9th century ,

canal

d igging

when pisee embankments were

constructed at the rate of . 58m 3 /man-day ( Chapman, 1854; D ickens, 1861), the rampart of Ujjain would have taken 5 .2 m illion man-days to build . Assuming f urther that the s tructure had to be raised between consecutive rainy seasons , to prevent possibly serious d amage by f looding, we m ay e stimate a labour f orce of over 20 ,000 men working for 2 50 days, which bespeaks of a considerable ability to o rganise labour f or communal tasks . The monumentality of these s tructures contrasts s trangely with the poverty of other material remains . I t i s true that the reluctance to destroy s tructures f or the sake of opening up l ow-lying d eposits has hampered the excavation of the early l evels of most urban s ites. However, even taking into account this factor , the contrast is quite s triking ; apart f rom Ujjain and C a mpa neither of which -

has been properly published

no other site yielded much

-

beyond mudbrick s tructures, and the occasional objects of i ron , terracotta and semi-precious s tones . Moreover , at the pe early urban s ite, na mely Kausambi, where extensive s urface survey has been carried out, only 50 hectares out of the 250 enclosed by the fortifications was actually occupied in the 6th 4th centuries B .C . ( Figure 10). -

T he

explanation

offered by

d efences were t hrown up H e c ites the a bsence of

against parapet

r amparts vulnerable to attack

-

Mate f loods , walls

( 1970) -

i s

that

the

and not attackers . which renders the

and the gentle s lope of the

outer f aces of r amparts , as evidence that they could only be effective against floods. However, as all the c ities were located on the permanent banks of rivers, well above t he l evel of t he water , f looding would not have presented a

113

s erious danger to them . S couring of r iverbanks, especially i n bends where many cities were s ited , was a far greater m enace , which m ere construction of r evetments on top of the banks actually threatened with collapse would not have countered . Therefore, even a ccounting f or the weaknesses of r amparts against human attack, they cannot be interpreted as flood barriers the fact that they were occasionally -

b reached

by

f loods

shows

that

they

would

not

have been

e ffective in this role, either. H owever , the unnecessarily large s ize of ramparts, combined with the absence of parapets points to hitherto poorly understood factors affecting their construction . P erhaps Mumford 's s tress on the symbolic s ignificance of c ity walls, later developed by Wheatley into a contrast between s acred ( urban) and profane ( rural) s pace , provides the best explanation . C ities c an thus be v iewed as attempts to r ecreate the universe i n microcosm , which n eeded explic itly sy mbolic protection in the shape of outsized ramparts. Such a conception would have enabled planners to r ecreate universal order in the spatial layout of settlem ents, which could act as a powerful legiti mation of the existing social s tructure . A contrast of s acred and profane space , the dwellings of gods and demons respectively , i s certainly favoured by the Manasara , an architectural treat ise of the 7 th century A .D . ( Acharya, 1 946), and i t would be attractive to see the germs of this i dea in the f irst m illennium B .C .. On the other hand , no fortifications, apart from those of S isupalgarh , exhibit the geometric r egularity also prescribed by the Manasara ( Figure 21). Whatever the solution to this d ilemma, the addition of parapets to the earliest defences by the 2nd century B .C ., and the defensibility of newly constructed earthworks , point to a proper m ilitary f unction f or r amparts by the end of

the

Early H istoric The

m ains

evidence

meagre,

Period .

for

full-ti me

although the

craft specialisation re-

ability to construct

massive

r amparts would suggest that sufficient surplus must have existed to support artisans. S tandardisation and mass production of goods i s i ndicated i n this period pri marily for the production of l ow volume and high v alue goods, s uch a s the fashioning of j ewellery at Champa, and of stone beads and bone points at U jjain ; at the l atter s ite the excavator a lso remarked on the vast quantity of i ron s lag found . C ertainly , the widespread use of i ron tools even in agricultural production would suggest their manufacture by full t ime specialists, even i f no evidence of manufacturing processes

i s

a s yet

f orthcoming .

A f inal aspect of economic l ife concerns the d evelopm ent of t rade networks. As s uggested , even i n the previous period some degree of organisation would have been required , as the raw materials for tools of metals and semiprecious

stones

all had

to be

imported

1 14

f rom outside

the

Ganga

Valley.

S ome

s ites,

such as

Hastinapura,

are

even

c laimed to have yielded weights of semi-precious stones ( Lal, 1 955: P late L : 5 , ii), although such a f unction should not be attributed to stone d iscs without proper m etrical analysis. Even accepting the c lai ms f or weights prior to the 6 th century B .C ., however , the i ntroduction of coinage after this date still represents a new level of t rading a ctivity , both i n v olume and i n organisation . T he i n I t

d ate o f

the

earliest

coins

i s ,

as

everything

e lse

Gangetic a rchaeology, a s ubject of passionate debate . 22 i s n ot my i ntention here to r esolve the d ispute, though

one may point out that at most s ites coins f irst appear i n d eposits which also yielded N .B.P. Ware, and at s ites for which detailed i nformation i s available ( Hastinapura and Atranjikhera) t he earliest coins a re i ntroduced at the s ame t ime as, or j ust after, N .B.P. Ware. As the latter can be d ated to ca. 600 100 B .C . ( see Appendix A ) the earliest coins could be placed in the f ifth century B .C .. Cribb -

( 1986) may be correct in s tating that no conclusive evidence exists for the presence of coins prior to the early 4th century B .C ., but his scepticism betrays a lack of u nderstanding of the value of archaeological evidence in d ating f inds. He i s more justified in s aying that no evidence for coinage can be found in Late Vedic texts, even i f m easures of precious metals have been u sed as payment. The d iscovery of a hoard of 3 , 000 cowrie shells from the N .B .P. l evels at Masaon also throws i nteresting l ight on the use o f

currency prior

to the

i ntroduction of coins .

To return to the subject of trade,

i ncreased volume

could have r esulted f rom i ntensified agricultural and craft production , a s well f rom a demand f or a g reater number and r ange of l uxury goods . While the majority of raw materials i ron and copper ores , and s emi-precious s tones i n parti-

22.)

Esti mates of

the

date of

the earliest

I ndian

coins

r ange f rom the mid-3rd millennium B .C . ( Bhandarkar, 1921) to the 4th century B .C . ( Cribb, 1 986). Bhandarkar's dating d epends on his assumption that the Rgveda can be dated to the 3 rd m illennium B .C . and that coins a re mentioned i n the t ext, neither of which can be taken seriously . Sharma ( 1960) a ttempted to date the f irst coins to 800 B .C . on the basis of the K ausambi excavations , but as his chronology i s based on a v ery e ccentric i nterpretation of archaeological s tratigraphy ( Erdosy, 1987), it can be d ismissed . Even the d ate of 600 B .C . proposed by M itchiner ( 1973) and Kosambi ( 1956) s eems unrealistic i n v iew of the l ikely d iffusion of coinage f rom a s ingle West A siatic source. A more conservat ive a ssessment of the evidence by D havalikar ( 1975), G upta ( 1969) and Roy ( 1959) results in a d ate of ca. 500 B .C ., which i s supported by the stratigraphic relationship of coins and N .B .P .Ware , though s ee C ribb ( 1986) f or an a ltern ative opinion .

1 15

cular

can be found in the V indhyan hills immediately to

-

the south of the Ganga Valley , some had to come from farther afield . For example , the s teatite u sed i n the manufact ure of i ncreasingl y popular ( relic) caskets could come f rom no nearer t han Jabalpur ( Ball, 1 881), while the s ilver u sed at t i mes in coins could only be found i n southern I ndia

or

A fghanistan .

I n spite of impressive advances i n technology and the organisation of labour, however, social s tratification continues to be poorly r eflected i n material remains . Only an i ncrease in the quantity of beads and i n d iversity of t heir raw materials c an be pointed to , along with a s imilar i ncrease

i n

the

quantity

and

range

of

copper

objects.

Furthermore , there i s s till no solid evidence f or s ignificant d ifferences in dwelling structures and the u se of baked bricks appears to be li mited to drains and wells. Although " barns" for the storage of grain were found i n Atranjikhera , they were attached to private residences and their capacity ( ca.1.5 1 .8m 3 ) was too small to indicate the presence of a redistributive system. All this contrasts v ividly with the evidence f or massive construction projects -

a nd with the r elatively advanced t echnological base ; whether i t i s merely the product of inadequate s a mpling or a r eflection of actual forces at work will have to be d iscussed i n due course even s atisfactorily resolved .

4 .2.2

the

problem

cannot

now

be

D iscussion Even

important B .C..

if

the

meagre

changes

evidence

occurring

Settlement patterns

at

our

in

the

show

the

d isposal

6th

-

4th

suggests centuries

emergence of a four-

t iered hierarchy with clearly defined f unctions f or its e lements , f ulfilling the tenet of C entral P lace Theory that higher order

s ites have all

the

f unctions of lower order

ones in addition to some unique to themselves. Craft spec ialisation , monumental architecture , r apid r ates of popul ation growth and agglomeration , and intensification of production as s hown by the l arge-scale u se of i ron tools i n agricultural operations have also been noted , as well as a t endency towards the regular spacing of towns and c ities, a d a pri mate rank-size curve. I f the previous period 's f indings i ndicated a chiefdom, here we may j ustifiably a rgue f or the f irst emergence of a s tate l evel of political organisation. I n postulating the presence of states we must begin w ith a workable definition, which i s best provided by Johnson ( 1973): " A s tate will be d efined as a society which i s primarily r egulated through a d ifferentiated and i ntern ally specialised decision-making organisation which is s tructured in mini mally three hierarchical levels". The point

i s

elaborated

in

a joint

paper

1 16

with

Wright;

the

l owest

l evel

of

administration

makes

d ecisions

about

pro-

d uctive and t ransfer activities , the next level coordinates and corrects the latter, while the highest level coordin ates and corrects the middle-level agencies rather than i nterfering d irectly with decisions about production and t ransfer ( Wright and Johnson , 1 975). On the plane of i nform ation theory t his hierarchy i s parallelled by the messagec arrying , observing and s ummarising f unctions of the lowest l evel, the s toring f unction of the middle level, and the d ecision making function of the top level. Due to the l ocational aspects of i nformation processing and decision m aking s ystems, and to the tendency of human activities to g ain i n efficiency i f related t asks are concentrated i n the s ame area , a hierarchy of f unctions will lead to d iffering d egrees of population agglomeration, which in turn can be a rchaeologically detected through a study of settlement patterns. To d emonstrate the presence of s tates, a ccording to this theory would i nvolve the d emonstration of a minim ally three-tiered s ettlement hierarchy . To evaluate the validity of these assumptions, well-documented

s ettlement

hierarchies

may

be

some

examined

to

s ee i f they are parallelled by an e laborate decision making s tructure. M iddle

The best exa mple i s supplied by Susiana

Uruk

Period

( Johnson ,

1973).

The

3 largest

in the sites,

m easuring 10, 1 1, and 25 hectares, are characterised by monumental s tructures , i nterpreted as public buildings and official r esidences. I n a ddition , they are a ll d ivided i nto acropoleis and lower towns . A sophisticated administrative t echnology i s evidenced by the numerous f inds of cylinder s eals and bullae ( hollow clay balls containing counters). The evidence f or the two lower l evels ( two s ites of 6 .5 and 3 .5 hectares , a s well as a third level of s ites between 0 .1 and 2 .8 hectares) is not detailed but the presence of administrative f unctions i s i nferred f rom the occurrence of w all cones at even some of the smallest s ettlements , where they are significantly correlated with exchange i tems, s howing that at the lowest level of administration s ites f unctioned as mediators of l ocalised exchange . I n addition , the existence o f an extensive r edistributive system i s a lso i nferred from the abundance of bevelled ri m bowls, which were i nterpreted after H ans N issen as r ation bowls f or dorvee labour. -

O ther examples of chies

-

3 or 4 tiered settlement hierar-

which produced good

evidence

f or

s tate

Organisation ,

e ither f rom l iterary or f rom material sources, are Early Dynastic Sumeria ( Ada ms, 1 966) and the Basin of Mexico i n t he

F irst

I ntermediate

3 P eriod under the domination of

T eotihuacan ( Sanders, et. al., 1 979). Even in the I ndus V alley one may r ecognise a four t iered settlement hierarchy;

the top l evel represented by s ites of 82

to

85 hec-

tares, the second by sites of 14 to 42 hectares, the third by s ites of 3 .8 to 10 hectares, and the bottom level by s ites of less than 2 .6 hectares ( Chakrabarti, 1979). Cen-

1 17

t res of the top three orders

( for

exa mple,

Mohenjo-daro ,

K alibangan , and Lothal) all provide good evidence of craft production and t rade , while town planning , s tandardisation of material culture , as well a s a high level of technology a ll point to an e fficient system of administration , even i f t he i nability to d ecipher the written r ecords prevents us f rom

f ully understanding A lthough

of the 6th evidence of

i t .

i n the G anga Valley the archaeological r ecord

4th centuries B .C . does not provide clear decision making processes, it shows a clear

-

hierarchy of settlements, d istinguished not only by s ize, but also by economic activities . On the strength of better documented examples s howing a correlation b etween administ rative and settlement hierarchies , however , we may postul ate the presence of at least three l evels of administrat ion , indicating a state level of political organisation . The observed contrast between u rbanised core a reas and the w ide

belts

of

rural

settlements on

their periphery

( in

the

case of the Vatsa janapada represented, respectively , by the D istricts of Allahabad and Kanpur) would also lead us to expect a highly centralised administration within E arly H istoric polities.

I t

the literary evidence

will now be to

s ee how

i nstructive to turn to these

expectations are

f ulfilled.

4 .2.3

The l iterary evidence The

4th

nature

centuries

of

s urviving

B .C.

is

l iterary works

al most

as

f rom the 6 th

i nformative

-

regarding

c ultural processes as the contents. One may d iscern three parallel v alue s ystems, competing y et i nterrelated , which r eveal

a great

deal

about

the

stresses operating at

the

t ime of s tate f ormation . Two of these v iews a re extensively r epresented , as the Brahmanical outlook on society i s refl ected in the dharmasutraS, and the Buddhist challenge to these views i s present in the Pali Canon. The science of arthasastra p reserved in -

an ancestral form of political economy this period not in independent texts,

through the other

two bodies

of

l iterature.

S uch

-

i ssues

i s but as

the duties of kings and the conduct of foreign policy are among i ts subjects t reated piecemeal, r eceiving f ull d isc ussion only in the Kaut i lya Arthasastra , a work originat ing i n this period , but , as d iscussed i n C hapter 1 .3, only composed i n i ts f inal form i n the 2 nd century A .D . One t ext f alling outside these categories, but containing useful f ragments of i nformation , i s the Astadhyayi of P anini, the c lassic t reatise on S anskrit grammar . S ome elements of the emerging picture are common to a ll these texts; above all, they r eflect the expanding g eographical horizon of the i nhabitants of Northern I ndia , which was already anticipated by the eastward advance of Aryan

colonisers

i nto B ihar

and

the

H i malayan

118

Tarai

i n

the

Late Vedic P eriod ( Satapatha B rahmana 1 .4.1.14-17). By the 6 th 4th centuries B .C . even an author f rom the Northwest , s uch as Panini, was f amiliar with the regions of Magadha -

a nd V ideha i n t he M iddle G anga V alley , and with K alinga on t he east coast, not the l east b ecause a t rade route i s s aid to have connected Taxila i n the Northwest with P ataliputra i n Bihar, with roads branching off towards the Tarai and the D eccan. L ikewise , the V inaya P itaka of the P ali C anon , which f ocusses on the Ganga V alley , mentions such places a s Taxila , and the regi on of Avanti i n Central I ndia, whose customs

are

Just as

d escribed

i n d etail

s ignificantly ,

( Horner,

1 949:

I V :

263).

the S ubcontinent has been d ivi-

d ed i nto d istinct regions, or janapadas, of which Panini m entions over 1 75 . Most of them were f ound i n the Northwest which i s not surprising , considering that he was f rom t hat r egion and could be expected to be more familiar with it. The P ali Canon , and the much l ater Puranas are more d iscrim inating , discussing only 16 mahajanapadas ( great janapadas). Although their catalogues show d ifferences, many of the n ames recur f requently , and one may draw up a composite l ist, consisting of the following: Anga, Assaka, Avanti, c hedi, l la , these ,

G andhara , Ka mboja, K asi, Kosala , Kuru, Magadha, Matsya, Panchala, Surasena, Vajji, and Vatsa. Of Assaka i s i n the Deccan, Avanti in Central I ndia ,

Gandhara and K amboja i n the Gangetic Basin ( Map 1 ).

Northwest,

and the

r est

i n the

The precise nature of the janapadas i s still d isputed , but

in this period they appear to reflect regional

d ivi-

s ions , rather than political units. The Kosala janapada , f or example, i s s aid to i nclude the t erritory of the S akyas a long with the kingdom of Kosala itself. I t therefore r efers to a g eographic d ivision with

i ts

d istinctive s et of

c ustoms, within which the earliest political units were f orming and s lowly expanding. Only when the larger units w ithin the janapadas ca me to dominate smaller ones, for example when Kosala annexed the territory of the Sakya t ribe, did the regional d ivisions begin to correspond to political ones. The s ettlement pattern of the V atsa janapada , the subject of my survey , is revealing in this regard as i t shows an urbanised core of some 2 ,000 km 2 with a r ural hinterland 10 t i mes i ts s ize, i nto which control was extended gradually , as shown by the belated emergence of l ocal centres ( Maps 2 , 7 to 10). I n spite of the restricted meaning of janapada , however, the political entities described in the l iterature m ay be a ccorded the t itle of s tates by the 6 th century B .C . f or several reasons. To begin with, the importance of r itual in the maintenance of the social order di minishes, to be r eplaced by an e laborate administrative s tructure. At the

top

of

the

hierarchy

s its

the

king ,

advised by his

preceptor ( purohita) and by a council of ministers. The n ext l evel i s o ccupied by the heads of v arious departments

119

of s tate ,

army commanders,

v illage a nd town administrators ,

a nd ambassadors. They are assisted by an array of c lerks , a ccountants, tax collectors, surveyors, and foremen, with l abourers and artisans in royal employ occupying the humblest positions i n the state machinery. H ere, thus, i s t he evidence to suggest that the multi-tiered hierarchy of s ettlement observed i n the G anga V alley i s a proper r eflect ion of a state level of political organisation , where a c lear administrative hierarchy has been stressed as an e ssential ingredient ( Johnson, 1973). Another feature of s tate organisation appears i n the explicit reliance on f orce , danda, in the maintenance of the social order, contrasting with the social and religious s anctions f avour ed by s impler social systems. As K autilya s ays, " Administ ration of t he Rod [ of punishment] c onstitutes the s cience of politics. On i t i s d ependent the orderly maintenance of worldly l ife. ., i t brings s ecurity a nd well-being to l iving b eings"

( Arthasastra

1 .4.4,

1 .5.1).

While explicit descriptions of settlement types are r are in the l iterature, the outlines of a hierarchy to parallel the archaeological record may be dra wn up. The Arthasastra ( 2.1.4.) as usual, provides the most explicit s cheme, with administrative centres envisaged f or each 10 , 2 00 , 400, and 800 v illages, which recognises the varying spatial influence of d ifferent levels of the administrat ion . The last of these settlements i s c learly meant to be the capital c ity , d escribed i n d etail, with a f ull complim ent of economic, administrative and religious functions ( Arthasastra 2 .4).

The settlement s erving 200 v illages

i s

m eant as the headquarters f or collecting revenue, while the centre for 10 v illages housed the f ield officers of the r evenue

depart m ent,

whose

task

i t

was

to enumerate

the

i nhabitants and produce of the land, and to collect the prescribed taxes ( Arthasastra 2 .35). F inally , v illages were i deally to contain 1 00 to 5 00 f amilies of a griculturalists , and have territories extending over a radius of up to 6 km. 23 The injunction against selling commodities at the point of their origin ( Arthasastra 2 .22.9) was probably i ntended to concentrate all trade in markets where the r equisite duties could be collected; small centres would have been an i deal location for such activities, oorresponding absence of t rading f rom v illages .

with the

O ther texts a re n ot as explicit i n their t reatment of s ettlements , though even they reflect a multi-tiered hie-

2 3.) According to the Arthasastra ( 2.1.2),

v illage bounda-

r ies should extend over one or two krosas. The metric equivalent of one krosa may be taken to be 3 to 3 .5 km ( Kangle, 1 963: 1 59), and t he best r eading of the passage i s that the v illage boundaries should be 1 or 2 krosas from the habitations,

making a territory of with a radius of 6

km.

1 20

r archy .

Whereas the Late

Vedic

texts

talked pri marily of

gramas and mahagramas, both the Pali Canon and P anini's A stadhyayi mention s everal d istinct types . V illages ( grama o r gama) were the smallest s ettlements with c ities ( nagara) and capitals ( rajadhani) representing the other extre me. The intermediate category of nigama is most conveniently described as a market town, though i t may also refer to w ards within a c ity . More specialised types of settlement w ere pattana port, puta-bhedana market, pura fort, -

-

-

and ghosa c amps of herdsmen . While these s ettlements are not so easily placed i nto a hierarchical scheme, three l evels at least may be d istinguished. Although rajadhanis were particularly l arge s ettlements monopolising political -

power, nagaras were a lso large and wealthy with d isposable surplus, evident f rom the B uddhist mendicants ' reliance on them for alms, which was a constant f eature of the C anonic al l iterature. The

s tratification of society ,

parallelling administra-

t ive and s ettlement hierarchies had already been a f eature of Late Vedic t i mes. I t i s in the succeeding period, however,

that the term jati

comonly translated as caste

-

-

c ame to be u sed extensively to describe social groups . The r elative s ignificance of the t erms varna and jati have l ong b een

d isputed.

The

former

may

well

have

denoted

broad

social d ivisions i n an emerging s tratified society , s uch a s has been observed for the Late Vedic Period, but by the t ime the dharmasutras appeared , i t had become l ittle more than a vehicle for expressing in a readily intelligible s cheme the ordering and internal relations of a complex society ( Derrett, 1973). The number of social groups has multiplied , and even if jatis were i dealised to some ext ent, they corresponded more readily to real social divis ions. The

origin

of

jatis

is

unclear.

Most

sacred

texts

attempt to derive them f rom i ntermarriages of varnas, t hough this may only reflect a desire either to f ind some tangible role for a now outmoded concept, or to warn against the mixing of social orders,

which in the v iew of

the dharmasutras l ed to chaos. A more u seful approach would b e to look f or the i nternal and external stresses operating on society. I nternal developments of relevance were the m intenance of s trong k inship t ies even i n a now stratified s ociety , and t he emergence of c lear occupational specialis ation , both of which are well sum marised by Wagle ( 1965) i n his pioneering s tudy of ancient I ndian social s tructure. The s ystem of j atis could have evolved out of the combinat ion of kinship t ies with craft specialisation, and the s ubsequent ordering of the now hereditary occupations ( whether followed or not) on a scale of r itual purity. The r esultant social system was too complex to be accurately described in all

i ts detail,

and the concept of varna may

w ell have been r etained i n order to express the principles governing society in i ntelligible form. Each varna, after

1 21

a ll,

was

theoretically endogamous,

had

i ts

own

s et

of

-

prescribed as well as permitted occupations , and certainly c lai med a f ixed place on the hierarchical ladder of s ociety . The f iction of c astes arising f rom the i ntermixing of v arnas was added to explain the bewildering array of s ocial groups present, in contrast to the four-fold d ivis ion of s ociety described by t he t exts . -

S uch

an

explanation

would

not

be

complete

without

m entioning another fact, however, n amely the formation of ever larger socio-political units , resulting i n the constant absorption of new elements i n society. I t i s this d evelopment, which must have l ed to the r ise of an e laborat ely d ifferentiated society; in order to preserve social s tratification and thereby avoid chaos in the emerging s ociety , each newly absorbed g roup had to be g iven a p lace . They were thereby enabled to retain their group identity , and acquired status i n accordance with their degree of r itual purity , ascribed to them by the members of the expanding society . I t is for this reason that the dharmas utras appeared at this t ime , as D errett ( 1973) so percept ively pointed out; they are not legal codes, but r ather expressions of

an

ideal of

l ife,

to which all

members of

society old and new had to pay homage . By presenting an i deal, to which all other patterns of behaviour could be -

-

compared , the d harmasutras above all set up a mechanism whereby new mwmbers of an expanding society could be absorbed i nto the old . Local customs, of which more and more may be expected to appear with the expansion of society , were r etained provided they d id not conflict with sacred t eachi ngs, and social groups could be self-governing , but an i deal was s et in f ront of all of them, comparison with which could determine group in society .

the

position of

a newly absorbed

The very layout of the dhar i asutras suggests as much: Apastamba ,

f or

example ,

begins by i nvoking the

V edas a s his

u ltimate authority ( 1.1.1.2-3), follows by summarising the duties and rights of v arnas as the cornerstones of the social order

( 1.1.1.4-7),

then describes an i dealised pic-

ture of t he four-fold l ife ( which , of course only B rahmins w ere to follow) from student to householder to ascetic to hermit ( 1.1.2 2 .6.12) and f inally charges the k ing with -

the maintenance of the i dealised social order ( 2 .12.25-29). Gautama has a s i milar plan f or his work, though he spends more ti me on the ideal of Brahmins and Ksatriyas cooperat ing i n the maintenance of society , a nd on the l ifestyle of the individual orders. Actual legal matters, such as marr iage and inheritance, are only t reated summarily , and administrative details are few. The dhar asutras would be w rongly c ategorised , therefore , as l egal or political manua ls i n the vein of the later s imrtis and of the Arthasastra ; they a re best s een as programmatic s tatements regarding the f ormation of H indu society , v alue among a ncient t exts .

and

as

1 22

such have particular

N eedless to s ay,

the absorption of ever larger terri-

tories with their populations could not proceed to a unif orm , prearranged plan, s ince local power relationships a lways played a part i n determining the position of social groups.

This

may

be

another

reason

why

the

i deal

of

a

s tratified society could only be expressed in a schematic w ay , and no explicit ordering of j atis was undertaken by a ny of the texts. Social groups of the sa me customs and hereditary occupation could enjoy a v astly d ifferent s tatus i n

d ifferent

parts of

the

country and

s ince

the

underlying

principles were only s tated i n general t erms, they r emained i nviolate i n spite of these d iscrepancies . No better evidence exists to s uggest that the c aste system was e ssentially a means to bind together ever expanding social and t erritorial units. That each territory developed i ts own s ystem of ranking was due to d ifferences in local power r elationships, which were no less important for the fact that they could only tacitly be acknowledged by the authors of l egal t reatises . I n conclusion, however, it must be stated that this period sees only the formative stages of the syste m. As Wagle notes ,

the two most s triking manifestations of c aste ,

commensality and endoga my, were as yet absent; even i f the dhari iasutras railed against mixed marriages,

the rules of

i nheritance ( Gautama XXVIII.35-40 , f or example) s howed how t hey were accepted i n practice . Also , detailed statements of obligations, r ights, and l egal and administrative procedures are left to dhar asastras , the earliest of M anusmrti, only dates to bet ween 200 B . C. -

which , the A .D . 200.

N evertheless , as even Buddhist literature shows, recognit ion of the hierarchical n ature of the social order already b egins to permeate behaviour, even to the point of i nfluenc ing s alutations ( Wagle , 1 965). T he s trictures of B uddhism against using caste as a yardstick of spiritual merit may also be taken a s a s ign of the pervasiveness of c aste; even i f the system has not yet reached its most refined form, the ground was already well

l aid .

This period not only witnesses the foundations of H indu society , but also the f irst s erious challenges to i t , f rom Buddhism a nd Jainism. These developments reveal essent ially d ifferent responses to the emergence of a new form of society . On the one hand the Brahmanical school of thought assigned a d ivine origin to society with all i ts d ivisions ; all the social orders were predetermined from the start along with their r ights and obligations, and no t erritorial l imits were assigned to the d ivine writ . On the other hand , B uddhist theologians v iewed social c lasses as the r esult of t he progressive evolution or i ndeed degener ation of human s ocieties ( Ghoshal, 1 964). H owever, while -

-

Buddhists maintained that a person 's j ati had no bearing on his chances of s alvation , they d id not attack the operation o f the c aste system i n Even Buddha hi mself,

everyday l ife , as commonly assumed . through his choice of greetings,

1 23

r ecognised

d ifferences

i n

social

s tanding.

However,

one

s hould not thereby underesti mate the strength of B uddhism as an i nstrument of reform, or i ts contributions to H indu s ociety , which outlived its actual demise as a living r eligion A s

i n

i ts

b irthplace .

regards the

d ifferent

way of

science of arthasastra ,

l ooking at

things

t han

it

i s

more a

a challenge e ither

to Buddhist or H indu thought. I ts practitioners, f oremost among them, were pri marily concerned

Kaut i lya with the

preservation of society i n i ts politico-economic manifestat ions, and i f they sometimes contradicted B rahmanical princ iples , they d id so on pragmatic grounds, preferring the point of v iew of statesmen to that of spiritual guides. Their i nterests were s imply d ifferent , concentrating on the preservation of a state through efficient administration and astute manipulation of the wider political scene . The end of a ll these efforts was s till to preserve a r ighteous s tate , even if they added the pursuit of power and wealth to that of r ighteousness, as a l egitimate goal of at l east a l imited c lass of society . I n this they d id nothing beyond r eaffirming the age-old belief i n t he threefold pursuit of dhar a

( righteousness),

artha

( wealth),

and ka ma

sure), and even they accepted that these fruits w ere to be enjoyed s trictly i n the order s tated . O ne f inal d ichotomy may be

( plea-

of

l ife

mentioned at this point,

n ai iely the parallel existence of k ingdo ms and tribal olig archies. Of the 16 mahajanapadas l isted above, those of M alla and Vajji are of the second k ind , with the Sakyas -

Buddha's own k in as another important r epresentative . I n the latter type of s tate the crucial decisions of administ ration were i n the hands of an a ristocracy , meeting perio-

d ically i n a ssembly ,

rather than

i n the hands of a k ing and

his advisers. Someti mes, as i n the case of the Vajjians, even a confederacy of tribes was achieved . While little d irect i nformation i s available on the i nternal Organisat ion of oligarchies , they are s aid to parallel those of the Buddhist sa mgha , i n which e laborate procedures of d ecision m aking , both of j udicial and adminstrative k inds , have been s et up. This, along with the geographicall y coterminous area of the oligarchies and the birthplace of Buddhism , are of s ignificance when analysing the i nternal s tresses of the dmerging society i n greater detail, i n the f ollowing chapt er. What r emains to be d one here , however, i s a d iscussion of how this complex, s tratified society , now organised i nto s tates , d eveloped out of t he r elatively primitive c hiefdoms of the Late Vedic P eriod .

4 .2.4 The process of S tate f ormation ,

s tate

f ormation

with i ts

i n the Ganga Valley

corollary of

urbanisation ,

has been a f avourite subject of a rchaeological l east

f rom

the

t i me

of

c hilde's

and

1 24

research ,

S teward 's

at

c lassical

f ormulations of regular sequences of development, which r eceived f urther s ignificant contributions f rom historians ( Wittfogel, 1 957), anthropologists ( Service, 1962, F ried , 1 967), and archaeologists ( Ada ms, 1966; Renfrew, 1972; F lannery , 1972; consideration of

F riedman and Rowlands, 1 978; etc..). A the cultural history of the Ganga Valley

could make u seful contributions to t his s ubject, because i n spite of i ts extensive documentation i t has never been i ncorporated i nto previous syntheses . The ' juxtaposition of the

material and l iterary sources

once again justifies the f aith of such scholars as Wright and Johnson i n the parallel existence of social and settlem ent complexity , where administrative hierarchy i s r eflect ed i n a d ifferentiation of s ite c ategories , and where the basis of the f unctional d ifferentiation of settlements points to the crucial forces supporting the social order. W hile Late Vedic society was pri marily held together through the use of ritual, which required only modest centres

for

their performance,

f rom the

6th century

B .C .

onwards we see the emergence of an administrative s tructure, and a parallel ordering of economic f unctions, which have led to highly d ifferentiated loci of habitation , w ith their d istinctive economic and administrative/ideolog ical f unctions . Thus the i nitial assumption that focussing on r egional s ettlement patterns w ill help the analysis of c ultural evolution i n the Ganga Valley has been j ustified . P erhaps the

most

s ignificant point

to emerge

f rom a

s tudy of the Early H istoric Ganga Valley is the need to consider societies i n their totality , i nstead of s earching f or pri me movers; this has been stressed already by advoc ates of the applications of systems theory i n archaeology . M any of the events that

were

widely believed to have caused

s tate formation elsewhere can be ruled out for this case. I rrigation works , favoured by S teward , and particularly by W ittfogel, and more recently by S anders f or Mesoa merica, a fford one such example. Due to the topography of the G angetic Basin, where the major rivers f low in deep channels, and the gradient is negligible, the cost of canals w as prohi bitive, and only i n the 1 9th century d id canal i rrigation become an important measure , though i t may have c i iginated under the D elhi Sultanate in the 14th century (aychaudhuri and H abib , 1 982). Even today , large areas are primarily s erved by wells and tanks, whose d igging could b e c arried out by communal effort , without the supervision of any c entral authority . The c hilde I ndian

primacy

of

technological

i nnovations ,

favoured by

for B ronze Age civilisations, and applied to the I ron Age most explicitly by Kosa mbi ( 1956), must

a lso be ruled out. I have already remarked that the most important innnovat ion iron tools was introduced on a l arge scale only f rom the 6th century B .C . onwards, by which t ime the process of s tate f ormation was well advan-

-

125

ced . While i ron tools undoubtedly p layed a n important p art i n the colonisation of the Ganga Valley , and helped to i ntensify the production of surplus, their i ntroduction appears rather to be a response to prevailing pressures, than their originator. Their role as a catalyst i n no way d iminishes

their

importance ,

only places

i t on a d ifferent

plane. F inally ,

population growth has a lso been advanced as a

key v ariable; here the g eneral coincidence of d ensely popul ated areas and the presence of states , as shown for e xamp le by a survey of A frican s ocieties ( Stevenson , 1 968 ), was r egarded as the key argument. We may once again object, however, that such a coincidence by no means establishes the f act that i t i s high population d ensity that causes the emergence of s tates and n ot v iceversa . I n at l east one c ase of early state d evelopment in southwestern I ran Wright and Johnson argue that f ar f rom i ncreasing , population a ctually declined in the period preceding the rise of -

s tates Valley

-

(Wright and Johnson, 1 975). A lthough i n the there i s no data for the period preceding

f ormation ,

the r ate of population growth was g reater

Ganga state i n the

period following the emergence of states, than during the l atters ' rise in 600 350 B .C .. This may once again s uggest that advocates of population growth as a pri me -

mover have

i nverted the

d irection of

An examination of the

causality .

i nternal dynamics of cultures i s

the only f ruitful l ine of approach, even if most modelled s ystems suffer f rom the need for external sti muli, s ince only by determining the response of a system to certain s ituations , can we understand cultural evolution . Such an approach was u sed by R enfrew i n h is s tudy of the emergence of c ivilisation i n the Aegean , where he stressed the importance of human values, such as the desire to emulate one's peers , and i n particular the tendency to equate social and m aterial v alues, i n other words to g ive material expression to s tatus d ifferences ( Renfrew, 1972). Even i f the analysis suffers f rom an explicit debt to contemporary notions of economic behaviour ( with special reference to Veblen 's The Theory of the Leisure C lass), i t demonstrates the potential f or l in i ng various components of a cultural system . I t may be of i nterest to note, however, that the absence of evidence f or conspicuous consumption i n the Ganga V alley i n 600 -

3 50 B .C .

i s y et

a nother

way i n

which the area d efies

e asy

generalisations. We

may ,

therefore ,

mation by comparing order

to

identify the

cultural complexity. o f two cultural

-

approach the problem of

L ate

V edic

forces

society to responsible

-

the

f ori n

increasing

traditions,

gradual

as a result of

explicitly recognised and

provided with the r equisite theoretical followed by

for

s tate

successor

I have already noted the i nteraction

and ethnic

which social s tratification was w as

i ts

j ustification .

expansion of

1 26

This

society on all

f ronts.

I t seems as

i f the expense of the

i nitial setting

u p of means of social control led to an i ncrease in the r equired surplus, which could only be produced after f urther e laboration of the administrative s tructure , which i n turn raised the surplus require ment to even higher l evels, resulting i n the emergence of the positive f eedback l oop of systems theorists. Eventually , elaborate r ituals w ere

replaced

w ere ordered

w ith

an

administrative

network ,

i nto a multi-tiered hierarchy ,

s ettlements

and the

s ize of

political units, the density of population , the level of t echnology employed in agriculture, and consequently the c olonisation of the Ganga Valley all recorded spectacular advances, culminating in the r ise of a centralised empire i n northern I ndia by the late 4th century B .C . I n examining the

system

in greater

detail,

one

may

b egin with a look at the s ubsistence base of society , which c an be d escribed as " intensive s ubsistence t illage" (Whitt iesey , 1936), being l ittle d ifferent from present day practices, i f t he range of c rops or the l evel of t echnology a re anything to go by. This agricultural regi me produces primarily rice, cotton, and millets in the summer, and wheat,

barley ,

and gram i n the

winter .

Two of i ts characte-

r istics are a dependence on the annual rainy season and a m arked seasonality of labour.

I n response to these condi-

t ions peasants c an practice double-cropping , cross-planting a nd s taggered planting , all designed to m ini mise the r isk of crop f ailure, and i ncrease the area cultivable with a f ixed quota of manpower , though at the price of s ub-optimal production. I n v isualising the agricultural practices of the early f irst millennium B .C ., we may pose the i nitial hypothesis that they evolved through a gradual r eduction i n the fallow period . S uch a c hange would c all f or more c areful preparat ion of the soil, f ire and axe

and for changes in the agents used from

to hoe and ,

eventually ,

to plough ,

which could

l ater be accompanied by a switch from tools of stone and wood to those of i ron. F ollowing Boserup ( 1965) we may then s tate that gradual intensification in such circumstances would lead to an i ncrease i n cultivated area, per capita l abour input, and total output per person . I t is because productivity would d ecline constantly , as studies of i ntens ification in contemporary societies suggest ( Boserup, 1 965; C lark and Haswell, 1 967), that labour i nput would have to be increased in order to achieve greater output. H owever, until decreasing marginal returns of labour and t he decline i n y ields r esulting f rom pushing cultivation i nto less favourable areas outweighed the effects of i nc reasing labour input, the subsistence system would be c apable of expanding , even after the adoption of permanent f ield cultivation , though a t the price of reduced leisure . E xamining the effects of intensification in subsiste nce patterns

on other a spects of

society ,

127

one

may suggest

a fter Boserup that

the

inhabitants of

the E arly H istoric

Ganga Valley , contrary to modern notions of behaviour, would not have been concerned w ith i ncreasing output a t the cost of r educed leisure , unless compelled to do so , i n this c ase to meet the d emand f or i ncreased surplus e xacted by a s tratified society . I t is this factor that would raise the need f or s tricter c ontrols, as people w ill n ot volunteer to work more, particularly if the f ruits of their labour are to be taken away. I n order to achieve i ncreased output, therefore , ever more elaborate administrative s tructures w ill have , to be set up and social s tratification r einforc ed , whose expenses will have to be met by f urther s urplus production ,

leading

to

further

i ntensification,

which

c loses the circle of events. Furthermore , due to ever d ecreasing marginal returns of labour, each new cycle of i ntensification

will

have

to be

accompanied by

i ncrease i n labour i nput t han previously , r ate

the process of

which

a higher

may a ccele-

evolution .

The f inal crucial variable is represented by populat ion s ize. The i ncrease i n output due to a gradually s ifying regi me may either be returned to the labour

i ntenf orce ,

or redistributed among the other c lasses. However, as a 1 lthusian model proposed for pre-industrial economic growth by Day ( 1981) indicates, population s ize will v ary d irectly with wages. Therefore , we c an see that along with i ncreasing surplus, social s tratification and elaboration of administration , there occurs another potential positive f eedback l oop i nvolving the d ependence of population l evels on the proportion of production allowed to stay i n the hands of producers. This potential f or growth can also be s een to operate for a very long time, until the marginal product per person declines to the l evel of the perceived s ubsistence requirement of the producers . An i nteresting consequence of the a ssumptions i nvolved i n D ay 's model i s , that if the allocation of i ncome unduly favours those in power, the eventual l evel of production as well as popula-

-

t ion will be much lower than would have been the case , if the pri mary producers had been rewarded with at l east a part

of

the

f ruits

of

their

i ncreased productivity .

A fter examining the l iterary and the nce ,

some

facts

may

be

c ited

i n

material evid-

support

of

the

above

r pconstruction . To begin with , at the end of the second m illennium B .C . the agricultural regi me of the G anga Valley w as s till r elatively primitive . A lthough the major cultiv ars were already known, and by inference both rabi and kharif crops were g rown , the r ange of tools u sed was l imit ed . The general absence of digging tools, and of the use of b e

metals, and conversely the presence of taken to i ndicate shifting cultivation .

s tone axes could A lthough f urther

evidence would be useful, we may assume that there was c onsiderable s cope f or expanding agricultural production at the t ime when the i nitial s teps were taken towards i ntegrat ing the

i ndigenous

and

I ndo-Aryan e lements of

1 28

society .

The

f irst s igns of i ntensification occured i n s ettlement patt erns , which already between 1000 600 B .C . showed the dominance of l arge, nucleated v illages among settlement types , in contrast to the smaller settlements of previous periods. I t may be inferred that the i ntensification perm itting such nucleation was achieved through the gradual r eduction of f allow periods, s ince the alternative option -

-

that of i ntroducing better tools was not exercised until the 6th century B .C ., according to the archaeological record . S ince the former option could be supported even in the absence of large surpluses, i t must have been more a ttractive at the beginning . Along with this intensificat ion we have already seen the emergence of a society or-

d ered into broad divisions ( varnas), with differential r ights and obligations, and the setting up of elaborate r ituals f or the maintenance of order . That

the

elaboration

of

society

and of

i ts

control

m echanism merely r einforced the demand f or s urplus, may be deduced f rom the f act that f rom the 6 th century B .C . onwards i ron tools came i nto agricultural production , repres enting f urther i ntensification. Population i ncreased rapidly and the new level of output led to a greater concent ration s upport

of surplus, which could by 600 350 B .C . even monumental structures . At the same t ime the l itera-

ry r ecord shows the emergence of a s tate l evel of political o rganisation , with the hierarchy of administrative f unctions r eflected i n the c lear d ifferentiation of s ettlem ents based on size and economic functions. Due to the gradual expansion of states b rought i nto a s ingle polity ,

many new social groups were and the need to prevent chaos

by a ssigning p laces to each group i n a hierarchical s cheme l ed to the refinement of the caste system; jatis replaced varnas in social d ivisions, and a body of l iterature ( the dharaasutras) arose to present an i deal way of l ife against which the performance of other social groups could be m easured , and their place i n society d etermined . W e

may also add that

the growth of population between

600 and 100 B .C . was considerable ( .41 to . 455% per annum), while physical s igns of s tatus d ifferentiation were few. Even i f the preference for cremations and the immersion of remains in rivers over inhumations i s taken into account the lack of elaborate structures, and of large quantities of luxury goods, as well as the l i mited range of artsitic expression until the Maurya and S unga P eriods argue that a s ubstantial part of the national wealth remained in the producers ' hands. I t is after 100 B .C ., when the rate of population w itnesses

growth

plunges

conspicuous

to

. 05%

per

consumption

for

annum, the

that

f irst

one

ti me,

through e laborate religious s tructures ( Mitra, 1 971) and a great r efinement of the plastic arts . The l iterary evidence r egarding r ates of t axation would also s uggest a r elatively moderate demand , at least in theory; Kautilya favours a r ate of one-sixth

( Arthasastra

2 .15.3)

1 29

r ising to one-third

f rom

the

most

f avoured

r egions

i n

t imes

of

emergency

( Ar-

t hasastra 5 .2.2-6) and advocates tax exemptions for newly colonised lands ( Arthasastra 2 .1.15). This supports the a ssumptions r egarding the relationship of wages to populat ion ,

which

f eatured

i n

Needless to say ,

D ay 's

model.

this explanation depends on the as-

s umption of an external s timulus,

n amely social s tratifica-

t ion i nduced by the interaction of two cultural and e thnic traditions, which may be v iewed as a historical a ccident . However , by concentrating on the structure of the -

-

e stablished society, its evolution could be exa mined through i ts r esponse to the i nitial shock . The f act that no s ingle event can be applied universally as a pri me mover m ay i n any c ase suggest that the i nitial stimuli provoking social evolution have to be found s eparately f or a ll r egion al sequences. This model also suggests that i n the absence of constraints any society which achieved a degree of s tratification may continue to develop ever more elaborate i nstitutions. That the Ganga Valley offered an enormous potential f or e xpansion due to i ts s ize and n atural f ertil ity i s s hown by the culmination of progress i n the e stabl ishment of an empire ,

f ollowed by the generation of wealth

i ncreasingly evident f rom material remains which not even the political upheavals at the end of the Early H istor ic P eriod could i nterrupt. T he f urther i ntensification of evolution will be the s ubject of the f ollowing pages ; here w e may only reflect that perhaps a more fruitful l ine of -

-

approach to s tate f ormation would be to look rather f or the constraints which could prevent i ts occurrence, than for the factors which should lead to i t, once a society had r eached a certain

s tage of

s tratification .

1 30

4 .3

THE AGE OF EMPIRE

4 .3.1 The archaeological I n a ll

r espects

t echnology ,

-

r ecord

s ubsistence and settlement patterns ,

c raft production ,

l ong d istance t rade and popu-

l ation levels the archaeological record for 350 100 B .C . i s notable primarily f or the i ntensification of t rends originating i n the 6 th 4th centuries B .C ., which s uggests -

-

-

the

generation

o f

hitherto

unattainable

wealth

by

the

es-

tablished socio-economic i nstitutions . Only one new c ategory of settle ment can be i solated i n Allahabad D istrict, which , based on i ts d istribution i n the landscape was probably a market c entre f or primary produce ( See C hapter 3 .3). Unfortunately , no excavated examples can be found which could confir m this hypothesis, although the d ispersal of c ertain f unctions of larger centres may be a related devel opment. By 350 100 B .C . even minor centres such as t hirand in Bihar, and Jaj mau in Kanpur D istrict produced evidence of involvement in long-distance trade by their y ield of coins, while towns such as Atranjikhera peared c apable of supporting religious establishments, which -

'

were previously associated only with the largest cities. This may reflect the d ispersal of wealth, and of some of the new economic i nstitutions to smaller settlements , although i n other r espects the f unctions of t he v arious s ite c ategories

continued

unchanged .

The

rank-size

curve

in

A llahabad D istrict r etained i ts primate aspect, and i n the only other urbanised area surveyed the Panchala region -

( Singh , 1 979) the largest s ite ( Ahicchatra) was once again four t imes the s ize of i ts nearest r ival ( Atranjikher a). The concentration of u rban centres i n r estricted areas -

also continued, with the founding of only lower order administrative posts in the rural hinterland. Population g rowth remained high, and the rich upland soils of the Ganga Valley were colonised for the f irst t i me, according to the evidence from both Allahabad and Kanpur D istricts ( M.Lal, 1 984, and Map 8 ). W riting

was

i ntroduced

i n

the

3 rd century B .C .,

enhan-

c ing efficiency in communications, and consequently in administrative Organisation ; it is significant that the earliest surviving i nscriptions contain the edicts of the u rya emperor Asoka, followed by legends on coins and s eals. By the end of the second century B .C. a new level of wealth is evidenced by the appearance of large i nstitutions and a ssociated r eligious s tructures

monastic ( conveni-

24.) An apsidal brick s tructure d ating to P eriod I VD ( 200 5 0 B .C .) was f ound at A tranjikhera , and may be i nterpreted -

as

a temple

( Gaur,

1 983).

Sonkh

i s

another

small

town

possessing apsidal temples. I n Kushan times even a site such as c hirand was able to support a monastery .

1 31

ently summarised

i n

M itra ,

1 971),

t he

extraordinary r efine-

m ent in the plastic arts, the variety of luxury goods, the existence of municipal authorities reflected i n p rovision of roads, wells and sanitation facilities. these trends continued i nto the C hristian E ra, with

and the All the

participation of the Ganga Valley i n i nternational maritime t rade s ignalling a f urther quantum l eap i n economic d evel opment f rom the 1 st century A .D .. Trade with the Roman world was carried on through seaports such as Tamluk in Bengal, B roach i n G ujarat , and Arikamedu i n Madras , but the occurrence of Rouletted Ware i n Ayodhya, and the r eference to Ujjain as an inland emporium in The Periplus of the E rythraean Sea ( Huntingford, 1 980) suggest that even the G anga Valley and C entral I ndia were drawn i nto i nternation al networks. A ll these i ndicators of unprecedented wealth continued throughout the political upheavals of the i st -

4 th centuries A .D ., proving t he durability of t he i nstitut ions laid down in the preceding centuries. Only the rate of population growth appears to have s lowed d own , though as yet no evidence exists to confirm this t rend outside A llahabad D istrict. I n contrast to the li mited presence of large,

fort i -

f ied urban centres until the 4th century B .C ., the subsequent periods see a proliferation of such settlements, of which a l ist based largely on Cunningha m 's surveys may be d rawn up ( Figure 20 , Map 1 3). I t i s not exhaustive , contain ing only those s ites f or which adequate documentation i s available . Among them , Mathura , K ausambi, Ahicchatra , R ajg ir, Ujjain, Vaisali, S ravasti, Rajghat, and C ampa were c apitals of janapadas, which were demoted to the status of provincial capitals i n the days of t he Maurya empire, but a t least in the case of the f irst three beca me the cent res of autonomous s tates in the second century B .C .. -

-

Ayodhya , Besnagar and S isupalgarh are the other s ites which m ay be s een as r egional c entres i n the post- Mauryan period , while the rest were smaller towns, except, of course for the imperial capital of Pataliputra, which remained the l argest city in the Ganga Valley even after the de mise of the

Mauryas. B ased on the evidence from Bhita ,

which is still the

o 'hly extensively excavated urban centre ( Marshall, 1 912), a'beit a small one, cities were d ivided into d istinct r esidential zones. H ere t he f inest houses were found alon the main road leading to the c ity gate; they averaged 250m i n a rea with l arge c entral courtyards surrounded by 10-12 rooms, each 2 * 2 to 3 * 5 metres in s ize, and were served by their

own

wells

and brick-built

s ewers.

T hey

were

l aid

out regularly along the road, separated by alleys, and a ccording to the excavator had shops f ronting the road -

-

( Figure 1 3). Si milarly constructed houses were also found near the Asokan pillar at Kausambi,

which appears to have

m arked the junction of the two main throughfares of the c ity . Although f ew details of the artefactual contents of

1 32

U ) U J c c

E 0 0 L O

z

B A Y O F B E N G A L

L U 0

C O

0 Ca

J L U

c r

.

.c

c

0

z

I 1

z

c c — )

C h a r s a d .

A R B I A N S E A

F igure 20:

M ajor

f ortified s ites

Date

of

Area i n hectares R eligious F ortified U ndefended S tructures

Def ences

S ite

i n the Ganga V alley

P ataliputra

300 B .C .

1 350 2

M a thur a

3 00 B .C .

3 00

B esnagar

200 B .C .

240

Vaisali

1 00 B .C.

2 40

Kausambi

5 00 B . C.

200 6

O ld R ajgir

5 00 B .C.?

200

U jjain

5 00 B . C.

1 90 8

Ahicchatra

200 B .C.

180

S ravasti

200 B . C.

1 60 10

1 2

S isupalgarh

200 B .C.

1 44 11

? ??

Raj ghat

5 00 B . C.

40 12

1 00

New

-

-

2 5 ( 1800?)

B aliraj g arh

200 B .C.

7 0 13

Atranj i khera

5 00 B .C.

5 014

-

? ?? 1

1 006

200 B .C .

Rajgir

-

-

20 15

T il aurakot Ayodhya

3 00 B .C .

E r an

? ??

Bh ita

3 00 B .C .

Ca mpa

5 00 B .C .

2 016 1 0

104

1 4 17

5

? ??

NOTES TO F IGURE 20 i ndicates that

s unknown the extent of occupation i 1 0.) S inha , 1 967

1 .)

? ??

2 .)

Waddell,

3 .) 4 .) 5 .) 6 .)

I .A. R . 1 973-4 Cunningham , 1880b S inha and R oy, 1 969 F ield observations

7 .) 8 .)

M arshall, 1 906 I .A .R . 1 956-7

9 .)

I . A. R .

1 903

1 964-5

1 1.) 1 2.)

Lai, 1 949 Narain and Roy ,

1 3.) 1 4.)

I . A. R . 1 962-3 Gaur, 1 983

1 5.)

R ijjal,

1 6.) 1 7.)

Bakker, 1 976 M arshall, 1 912

1 34

1 979

1 976

dwellings in Bhita are provided , the f inds of seals and coins in them have been interpreted to show their occupat ion by wealthy merchants. Such a conclusion, in v iew of the location of Bhita in the proxi mity of mineral-rich r egions (Map hypothesis.

6 ),

may be

Another r esidential

accepted

ward ,

at

least

as

a working

along a parallel

road ,

also

s howed a r egular l ay-out, but the houses were more d ensely packed . No evidence of shops existed and the houses, while of the s ame general p lan as before,

were only approximately

180m 2 in area. The poorest zone , exposed only in a small t rench i n the i nner quarters of the town s howed no r egular layout and exhibited f requent changes i n plan . Although no complete houses survive, their area averaged ca. 1 40m 2 . There was no provision of wells and drains for each house anymore, nor were they always separated by lanes f rom one another . They may i n f act s erve a s an archaeological repres entation of the s lums of more recent c ities. Beyond residential zoning little can be said of the f orm of E arly H istoric c ities, due to the l ack of adequate exposure .

With

the

interesting

exception of

S isupalgarb

( Lal, 1 949), whose walls and c ity g ates were l aid out with r emarkable regularity , gridiron plans appear to have been r estricted to the Northwest, where they were probably i ntroduced by the 5lndo-Greeks in the second century B .C . (Wheeler, 1 962). 2 However, even at such s ites as T axila and Charsada only the wealthy l ived i n regularly laid-out wards. Absence of gridiron planning, moreover, does not imply d isorganisation , only that d ifferent principles were u tilised , which may yet be r evealed by f urther excavations. The excellent sanitation facilities provided by drains, wells,

tanks,

and ring wells,

and the constant

roads seen at such sites as Kausambi,

Ujjain ,

repair of

Bhita ,

Raj-

ghat, and Ahicchatra attest to the existence of municipal organisations, which are also referred to in Asokan ins criptions ( Hu tzsch, 1 925; Alichin and Norman, 1 985) and i n the eyewitness account of Megasthenes ( McCrindle , 1 926).

2 5.)

I t

may

also

c ities of ancient

be

noted

that

at

least

in

theory

the

I ndia s hould also have been l aid out on a

gridiron plan , as suggested by the Manasara ( Acharya , 1 946) and the Kautilya Arthasastra ( 2.4). The only exa mple of r egular layout, however, is afforded by S isupalgarh ( Lal, 1 949), whose walls for m a square and are pierced on all f our sides by two uniformly spaced gates. What is not yet c lear i s whether the i dea had an indigenous or f oreign origin. As Scargill ( 1979) points out, gridiron plans have so many natural advantages that i t is not surprising i f they were favoured. On the other hand, they may have been i ll adapted to cope with the need to express the i ntricac ies of social r anking i n space . which appears to have been a prime f eature of H indu s ettlements ( Erdosy , 1 986a).

1 35

Among

i nscriptions

v aluable , as empire i n the

the

A sokan

edicts

a re

particularly

they show the existence of an I ndia-wide t hird c entury B .C ., r eveal d etails of admini-

s tration , and describe religious practices as well in accordance with the moral preoccupations of their author. Their d istribution has been taken to i ndicate the extent of M auryan suzerainty , which i s to s ome extent corroborated by their

contents,

for

example,

by

explicit

O rissa and Gujarat as f rontier areas . i n Kandahar ( Afghanistan), G irnar

references

to

The p lacing of edicts ( Gujarat), Yerragudi

( Karnataka), Dhauli ( Orissa) and Rummindei ( Nepal) may be taken to denote the boundaries of the Empire , although the pattern of l ocalised concentrations of edicts s eparated by w ide areas could point to an effort to control only major c ities, trade routes, and areas r ich in precious minerals (Map

14). A lthough the edicts are concerned primarily with pro-

pagating a r ighteous

way of l ife,

they also g ive d etails of

administrative organisation. The king was portrayed as a benevolent, i f paternal ruler constantly concerned with his s ubjects '

spiritual

as

well

as

material

welfare .

H e

super-

v ised the efforts of administrators e ither through personal tours , or through sending out envoys, and personally advoc ated

adherence

to dha m ma,

which

i ncluded

such

general

v irtues as obedience to elders, non-violence and religious toleration. The edicts appear to make it clear that all policies emanated f rom the sovereign , even i f he was advis ed by a Council and expected a spirit of unfettered init iative f rom his administrators. The l atter c lass are seldom described in detail, although heads of provinces and d istricts , as well as municipal and police officers were mentioned i n the edicts, along with t he o fficers of dhamma , and royal envoys on r egular tours of i nspection . A hierarc hy of officials can thus be i dentified , with t he presence of at least four levels: king , councillors and royal envoys,

and at least two grades of administrative officers,

i n charge of provinces or c ities and of d istricts respectiv ely . I n this way the evidence of a well-knit network of s ettlements and the spread of administrative centres, r eflected i n s ettlenent patterns, f inds i ts counterpart i n the epigraphic evidence i n an elaborate machinery of cen& ralised The

administration . royal

edicts

also

provide

an

insight

into

the

m ethods of administration employed. I t is clear that Asoka, under whom the Mauryan empire reached i ts height , was using a combination of the Buddhist emphasis on nonv iolence and the Hindu ideal of dhar ma to consolidate his v ast empire whose conquest, and the a ccompanying bloodshed , partly attributable to Asoka himself , were recent memories . F requent admonitions to people to adhere to the i deals eulogised take up most of the Asokan edicts, with the king h imself ai ming to s et an exa mple of pious behaviour and t ireless public service. Practical manifestations of this

1 36

policy consisted of encouraging trade through the proper m aintenance of highways, of providing gifts of land and a lms to brahmins, and of the establishment of Buddhist monasteries and stupas, which proliferated from his ti me onwards.

As a s eries of edicts devoted to the

affairs of

the Buddhist sangha shows, Asoka, hi mself a lay follower, endeavoured to preserve the unity of the f aith, no doubt r ecognising i ts At

importance to the fortunes of his dominion .

a s lightly l ater

d ate

i nscribed

s eals

also entered

the archaeological r ecord i n s ufficiently large numbers to supplement the testi mony of edicts ( Thaplyal, 1 972). They r eflect the break-up of the Maurya Empire in the 2nd century B .C ., and the revival of the former janapadas . Among the rulers mentioned are Sunga kings, and dynasties based i n Kausambi, Ayodhya, P anchala, and V idisha, along with the t ribal oligarchies of the Maiwas and the Yaudheyas . A f ull compliment of officials also possessed their own seals, i ncluding army commanders ( senapati), governors ( kshatrapa a S cythian t itle), administrators ( amatya), police chiefs ( dandanayaka), and d irectors of s tores ( or f orts? kotha-

-

-

kara

S inha,

1 969).

municipalities , earliest

The use of

merchants ,

examples

of

the

seals

extended

guilds and bankers , latter

date

only

further

to

although the to

the

Gupta

period . Even without consideration of the l iterary sources an advanced u rban c ivilisation can therefore be d iscerned f rom material r emains f rom the 4th century B .C . onwards .

4 .3.2 The historical background to the emergence o f empire The

historical

counterpart

to rapid advances

i n

mate-

r ial culture i s provided i nitially by the i nterstate r ivalr ies of the 6 th 4th centuries B .C . leading to the f oundat ion of the Mauryan empire, and by the creation of highly centralised administrative structures. I n spite of these achievements, however, political s tability remained an impossible goal, and in the f inal centuries of the Early H istoric P eriod ( from the f all of the Mauryas i n the s econd -

century B .C . to the rise of the Guptas 500 years later) a constant shifting of political fortunes accompanied the c Q eneration of unprecedented wealth. For want of reliable historical documents only the pattern of conflicts and the n ature of Early H istoric administration can be recreated , but

they will provide t he

necessary background .

I n the sphere of politics the emergence of states in the Ganga Valley by the s ixth c entury B .C . has already b een outlined . I t i s the f requency of quarrels between them which best sums up the political scene, v iew of foreign affairs in demonstrates t he mentality of " The k ing ,

and the following

the Arthasastra r ulers:

( 6.2.13-15)

endowed with personal excellences and those

of his constituents,

t he s eat of good policy ,

1 37

i s the

would-

be conqueror.

Encircling hi m on all s ides with t erritory

immediately next to his is the constituent called the enemy . I n the s ame manner, one w ith t erritory s eparated by one ( other t erritory) i s the constituent called the a lly" Out of the multitude 16 mahajanapadas emerged ( Map 1 ), but

by

the

6th

century

B .C .

the

l ist

of

contenders

was

r educed to four, according to the t esti mony of the P ali C anon and the later Puranic works. Of these, Avanti with i ts capital of U jjain was in the C entral I ndian region of M alwa . V atsa , whose patterns of s ettlement were i nvestigat ed by the f ieldwork, occupied t he l ower Ganga-Ya muna Doab w ith Kausambi

as

i ts capital.

I t

was bordered by the equal-

ly prominent s tate of K osala , which extended f rom the D cab i nto the Hi malayan Tarai as a result of i ts conquest of K asi and the Sakyas, and had i ts capital at S ravasti. The f inal contender was the kingdom of Magadha, originally r estricted to the territory around R ajgir in southern Eihar , but expanding by the 5 th century B .C . over the entire Lower G anga V alley through i ts conquest of Jnga to i ts e ast and of the Vajjian confederacy to i ts north . The d etails of the conflicts between these s tates need not detain us; one by one the kingdom of Magadha overcame i ts

r ivals,

and

with

t he

conquest

of

K osala

( traditionally

a ttributed to king Ajatasatru in the 5 th century B .C .) i t took control of the M iddle as well t he Lower Ganga V alley , extending i ts rule towards the west in the fourth century B .C . under the dynasty of the Nandas . H ow the domination of the rest of the Subcontinent was achieved under the Mauryas, however, remains unclear, s ince t he historical evidence s ion

affords only occasional g limpses . Although the i ncurof Alexander the Great in 326 B .C. has lately been

played down,

it probably performed the useful service of

d estroying the k ingdoms of the N orthwest, enabling c handragupta to f ill the vacuum left there by the Greek withdraw al. Judging b' a favourable alliance contracted by Chandragupta with the

S eleucids the conquest of Afghanistan was

a lso accomplished by h im , and perhaps only the expansion to the east and south could be ascribed to Asoka; this is corroborated to some extent by the 1 3th Major Rock Edict, chronicling the subjugation of Orissa and the accompanying b loodshed which induced Asoka to turn to more peaceful pursuits. As discussed ,

the location of royal edicts not only

d efines the vast extent of this empire, but also suggests i ts sporadic nature, with d irect control only of major towns, t rade routes and m ineral-rich areas. E ven this l imit ed control appears to have been beyond the means of r ulers a fter Asoka, s ince by 180 B .C ., when the last ruler was overthrown by his army commander, the writ of Magadha was once again l i mited to the Middle and Lower Ganga Basin; local dynasties arose out of the a shes of f ormer janapadas at Mathura , Ahicchatra , Kausambi, and Ayodhya , while I ndo-

1 38

G reeks and l ater S cythians t ook over t he N orthwest, a nd the S atavahanas r uled the South . The shifting political fortunes of the s ucceeding c enturies could f ill volumes, but i t i s sufficient to note the prevalence of political uncert ainty and external i nterference , the periodic attempts at unification f ollowed by the r e-emergence of local political units, these E arly

and

the

r apid

factors, H istoric

i ncrease of

as the chief P eriod .

Accompanying

all

wealth

i n d efiance of all

features of the close of the

the political

upheavals

was

the

set-

t ing up of highly centralised administrative structures, some of whose aspects have already emerged f rom the archaeological record; the overwhel ming dominance of c apital c ities , the c lear hierarchical ordering of settlements , and the concentration of u rban centres i n l imited areas i n part icular may be cited. In the l iterature many more details are provided , e specially by t he A rthasastra , which summaris ed the political wisdom of the Early Historic Period. A f ull r ange of administrative f unctions i s d escribed , s tart ing at the lowest level with revenue and police officers i n the countryside and with municipal officials i n the towns, whose duties included the enumeration of the popul ace, taxes.

the

assessment

Their

work

was

of

revenue,

and

the

coordinated on the

collection

next

level by

of the

r evenue administrator, while other heads of depart ments d irected various economic activities with their own subord inate officers, c lerks, f oremen , and labourers. Above them the ministers took overall charge of policy, and checked the activities of lower officials through i nspectors and spies, while otherwise remaining aloof from day to day operations. At the apex of the hierarchy s at the k ing as the u ltimate decision making authority , setting out polic ies with the advice of ministers, to be implemented by the administration. This system of administration was characterised by c areful compiling of r ecords by low-grade officers who were expected to keep in permanent contact with the populace, and by the close supervision of each level of officialdom by the agents of immediate superiors . Consequently , officers of i ncreasing r ank were correspondingly removed f rom contact

with

those

governed .

D irection

was

from

above,

usually taking the form of royal edicts, which were to be communicated throughout the kingdom . A final feature was m eticulous attention to detail, which, if the following s tatement

setting out

anything to go by, bureaucrats: " He

the

duties

of

revenue

officers

is

must have made l ife very d ifficult for

should record the number of villages by

f ixing

their boundaries, the number of f ields by an enumeration of p loughed and unploughed [ fields], dry and wet f ields, parks, vegetable gardens, [ flower and f ruit] enclosures, f orests, structures, sanctuaries, temples, water-works ,

139

c remation grounds,

rest-houses,

sheds for drinking water,

holy places, pasture lands and roads, [ and] in conformity w ith t hat he s hould k eep r ecords of the s ize of boundaries , f orests and roads , and of grants , s ales , f avours and exempt ions, concerning v illage boundaries and f ields, and [ keep r ecords] of houses by an enumeration of taxpayers and nontaxpayers. And in the m, [ he should record] so many are persons belonging to the four varnas, so many are f armers , cowherds, t raders, artisans, l abourers and s laves, s o many are twofooted and f our-footed creatures , and so much money , l abour, duty and f ines arise f rom them. And of males and f emales in the families, he should know the number of children and old persons, their work, customs, and the amount of their income and expenditure." ( Arthasastra 2 .35.3-5) As

the

entire

administration was

maximisation of r evenue , i ng a succesful foreign

geared towards

the

which was necessary f or conductpolicy whose ulti mate aim was

conquest, one may examine i n some d etail the v arious econom ic activities providing this revenue; later i t will be shown how centralisation may have i nfluenced their l ocational aspects.

Agriculture was rightly reckoned to be

the

basis of the economy and must be d iscussed f irst. I t was carried out pri marily by private producers on their own, s alable, land, although state farms manned with wage and corvee labour were also established ( Arthasastra 2 .24.2). Those who f armed their own land had to pay a basic rate of one-sixth of their produce ( Arthasastra 2 .15.3), rising to one-third in t i mes of emergency ( Arthasastra 5 .2.2), in addition to water charges and army provisions ; on the other hand , loans of cattle, grain and money as well as tax exemptions were offered to cultivators of v irgin lands ( Arthasastra 2 .1.13-15), and programmes of public works were instituted in times of distress ( Arthasastra 4 .3.17). There was a notable emphasis on maximising production , as c an be seen not only from the incentives just noted , but also f rom the threat of eviction i ssued to negligent farmers ( Arthasastra 2 .1.10). The extensive watch kept over the countryside with the assignment of one r evenue officer to every 5 or 10 v illages with extensive record keeping f unctions i s also worth noting ( Arthasastra 2 .35.2). A lthough

forestry

remained

an

important

activity ,

g iven the extensive forests of the Early H istoric Ganga Valley which y ielded a wide r ange of products ( Arthasastra 2 .17), mining enjoyed an even more strategic role. Mines w ere royal monopolies, to be worked by wage and corvee l abour under the c ontrol of and

their

products

were

there j oined by agricultural i n the f orm of taxes. Control royal

of

ownership

foremen and

manufacturing of

( Arthasastra

immediately

s trategic

sent

to

2 .12.21),

royal

stores ,

forest produce collected

was

achieved

through

primary products,

1 40

the

e specially

m inerals and f orest produce. C raftsmen in most cases were i ssued raw materials and were expected to return a specif ied q uantity and quality of f inished goods by the prescribed ti me ( e.g. Arthasastra 2 .13.33-59, 2 .23.3-7). Private manufacturing and trade were restricted to the processing of such materials as were not royal monopolies hence probably to f ood-processing , textiles and the f ashioning of -

s uch domestic u tensils as pottery . S trict supervision ensured that s tandards were m et and a ll r evenues r ecorded . A s f or state controlled enterprises, individual craftsmen could

again

be

i ssued

f inished products,

with

raw

materials

in

return

for

but production was also carried out in

t he royal stores themselves, by wage labourers under the s upervision of fore men ( Arthasastra 2 .15.63, 2 .17.2, 2 .18.1). I n t his way f ull control over quality and l evel of output was maintained , and the collection of revenue was c arried out w ith maximum effectiveness. F rom

the

point

of

v iew

of

revenue

the

most

v ital

activity was t rade, which was kept under particularly c lose s crutiny . Markets could only be set up in approved locat ions and s tiff penalties were prescribed for v iolating this s old were

r ule ( Arthasastra 2 .12.19). P rimary goods could not be i n the places of their origin ( Arthasastra 2 .22.9) and thereby channelled into markets to ease s upervision .

T rade i n manufactured goods was also r estricted to approved places where the state's officers checked weights and prices, collected the requisite customs dues, and also g athered i n a f ixed share of the proceedings i n the f orm of a sales tax ( Arthasastra 2 .16, 2 .19, 2 .21). C ertain goods were royal f its.

I n

monopolies,

addition,

the

whose sale yielded handsome pros tate

could

use

i ts

considerable

s hare of the market to determine prices through speculative buying and s elling , thereby augmenting i ts r evenues ( Arthas astra 2 .16.1-2). Foreign trade was also promoted and a c arefully graded system of customs duties ensured the import of strategic goods i nto the country while their export was forbidden. I n spite of all the controls, trade was greatly encouraged in v iew of i ts profitability to the s tate. The major t rade routes, both on d ry l and and r ivers , were well guarded and provided with amenities , were rei mbursed f or loss of revenue due to accidents ( Arthasastra 2 .21.25).

4 .3.3

and t raders robbery or

D iscussion

Throughout the Arthasastra the dominant concern of rulers i s the maxi misation of production and t rade, and their channelling through a restricted number of outlets f or ease of s upervision and r evenue collection . G iven the political uncertainties of the Early H istoric P eriod , refl ected in Kautilya 's own treat ment of foreign policy ( Arthasastra , Books 6 to 8 ), and the recognition of the link between economic and political power ( e.g Arthasastra

1 41

1 .4.1-2;

2 .12.37),

centralisation

was

seen as

the

key

to

the survival of the state . I ts occurrence at an early s tage i n s tate f ormation parallels d evelopments i n other pristine s tates in Mesopotamia and Mesoamerica, and justifies the v iew ( Cowgill, Altschul, S load, 1 984) that, contrary perhaps to expectations, i t reflected a pri mitive stage i n economic development. Most likely, an army of bureaucrats was seen as the shortcut to wealth and power, and in the upheavals a ccompanying t he r ise of s tates t he i nefficiency of centralised polities was overlooked. The fall of the Maurya Empire, however, appears to have provided conclusive proof of the f ailure of excessive centralisation , and event ually l ed to a thorough r eorganisation of administrative and economic policies under the Guptas ( Kausambi, 1956; hattopadhyaya,

1 974).

The dramatic changes occur i ng in the archaeological r ecord by the

f rom the 4 th century B .C . onwards are not d iminished f act that they only represent the intensification of

already emergent trends. Even i f a l evel of s tatehood and u rban development had been reached by 350 B .C ., the advanc es in population, crafts, trade and urbanisation remain spectacular. Equally clearly ,

all these developments were

precipitated by the centralisation of polities, which were i n turn engendered by political upheavals. Therefore, the question that must be answered i s: why was the r ise of s tates connected with growing militarism, evident not only f rom the l iterature, but also f rom the proliferation of m assive I t

f ortifications? i s

t rue

that

warfare had been present prior

to the

r ise of states; i ntertribal hostilities already occupied Vedic bards, nucleated settlements arose as early as the 1 0th 7 th centuries B .C . even in areas where the ecology -

would have favoured dispersal, and i ron had been used for t he manufacture of weapons long b efore tools were made f rom i t.

However,

the warfare characterising the Ganga Valley

prior to the r ise of states was fought either for control of natural resources , with the v ictors expelling the vanquished f rom favoured areas so that they could move

i nto

them , or for the acquisition of booty , and contributed l ittle to cultural evolution . Only a fter the r ise of s tates d id territorial aggrandizement become a desirable policy , l eading to militarism, as opposed to mere warfare, whose characteristics

were

i dentified by Webster

c entralised leadership, exploitation ,

the

permanent

( 1977)

conquest

rise of a professional

for

as highly economic

military class,

and great i nvestments i n m ilitary t echnology and architect ure . Only the last can be d iscerned i n the archaeological r ecord of the Ganga Valley , but l iterary evidence attests to

the presence of

B .C .

-

t he d ating

the other

i s crucial,

three

s ince

f rom the

t he

6th century

m ilitarism that l ed

to administrative centralisation appears to have arisen only after the emergence of s tates, thus presupposing the achievement of a certain level of Organisation i n society .

142

W arfare

h as

b een attributed

to

s everal

f actors,

among

which population pressure i s particularly prominent ( Carneiro , 1 970, 1 981; Webster, 1 975, 1 977). However, neither population pressure nor the more refined concept of c ircums cription c an be shown to e xist

i n the

Valley . Resource scarcity is another s ome f avouring l uxury goods ( Friedman

E arly H istoric Ganga factor quoted , with and R owlands, 1 978),

others ti mber, stone and minerals ( Childe, 1942), or d epending on c ircumstances grazing l and , i rrigation works or agricultural land ( Steward , 1 955). Of these , the neglig ible quantity of luxury goods f ound i n the G anga V alley up -

-

to the 2nd objects of

1 st centuries B .C . seems to rule them out as competition. Land, in turn, was in abundant

-

s upply as the be colonised

f orested upland areas were only beginning to in the 4 th 2nd centuries B .C ., and wide -

belts of rural areas s eparated the janapadas. F inally , such crucial raw materials as i ron ore may have been absent i n the Ganga Valley , but were f ound all over the hilly regions south of the a lluvial plains

( Map 6 ;

B all,

1 881 and

hakra-

barti, 1 977) i n sufficient quantities to meet the needs of a ll the E arly H istoric s tates. I f i ron became an objective of

conquest ,

this

was

because

i ts

monopoly would have

led

to decisive economic and hence m ilitary a dvantage. I n general, attempts to monopolise key economic resources may -

-

have i nfluenced the conduct of war, but were not the c auses of conflict due to an abundance of sup ply . For the same r eason some other explanation than proxi mity to the r ich m ineral deposits of the S ingbhum region ( Kosambi, 1956) must also be found for the success of Magadha over i ts r ivals. Unfortunately ,

while

the description of

the proper

conduct of war, and of i ts consequences, occupies a good d eal of space in the Arthasastra, much less is said about the motives behind conquest. This may, of course, reflect s uch a general acceptance of war, that for a contemporary r eader no explanations were required , but this argument affords l ittle consolation to modern s tudents of the text. N evertheless, we can s till d iscern the dominance of econom ic motives , as expressed in the following statement: "Material gain,

spiritual goods,

and pleasures:

this

i s the triad of gain [ from military expeditions]. Of that i t i s better to attain each earlier one in preference to each later one" ( Arthasastra 9 .7 .60-61) Among other factors,

one may cite the long tradition

of i ntertribal r ivalries, which was already a feature of I ndo-Aryan society b efore the l atter 's entry i nto the G anga V alley . I f the monopoly of key resources provided the most effective means of warfare, the tradition of hostilities could have certainly provided the necessary excuses now -

that

the

f ormation of

s tates

enabled the pursuit of

t erri-

torial conquest, the old t ribal arguments could be settled once and for all. However, the factor underlying the f re-

143

quent a ssociation of m ilitarism w ith s tate f ormation i s the i nternal tension generated by the emerging inegalitarian s tate societies. Orwell may have been the most forceful r ecent exponent of the idea that internal social cohesion could be ensured through t he s timulation of e xternal confl ict ( Webster, 1977), but his v iews were anticipated by about two thousand years by K autilya, who s tates: " Subjects who

are

impoverished ,

become

greedy;

when

greedy,

they

become d isaffected; when d isaffected, they either go over to the enemy or themselves k ill their master . Therefore he [ the k ing] s hould not a llow these c auses of decline , greed and d isaffection among subjects to arise, or, i f arisen , s hould immediately counter-act them . .. G reed , r estricted to a part , being confined to the principal men , can be d irect ed to spend i tself on the enemy 's possessions or can be removed" ( Arthasatra 7 .5.27-34). H ere i s war v iewed a s one of a range of available political options f or reducing i nternal tensions, which may well explain militarism i n the context of s tate f ormation . H owever, i t must a lso be point ed out that while the Arthasastra is greatly concerned w ith the conduct of war, i t advocates i ts pursuit only i n the absence of peaceful means. I t is his d ispassionate t reatment a longside

of the subject of war, which places Kautilya such renowned exponents of s tatecraft as Machia-

v elli. To

assert

that

war

was

adopted to reduce

internal

t ensions in developing s tate societies calls for a demons tration that such t ensions actually existed , a task greatly f acilitated by the masterful analysis of ancient I ndian society by

Kosambi

( 1946 ,

1 950 ,

1 952 ,

and 1 956).

H e

was the

f irst to emphasize that hostilities b etween the brahmin and ksatriya orders , represented by such texts as the P arasurama myth found in the Puranas, were engendered by the nonI ndo-Aryan origin of however, i s only one the

ethnic

s ignificant numbers of priests . This , r eason f or t racing i nternal s tress to

d ifferences

underlying

the

emergence

of

social

s tratification . The s econd important f act i s the e xistence of two parallel systems of government , as monarchies shared the Ganga V alley with t ribal o ligarchies. A lthough K osambi does not d iscuss i t, . the two processes could be seen as two s ides of the same coin, with the antagonistic forms of v ernment reproducing on a larger scale the s trife between I ndo-Aryan and i ndigenous i nhabitants . S uch a view conflicts

with the assumption,

best ex-

pressed by J .P. Sharma ( 1968), that oligarchies show the e laboration of surviving Vedic t ribal i nstitutions , such as sabha ( meeting of elders) and samiti ( tribal assembly) i n certain parts of the Ganga Valley . However, only the gener al principle of widespread participation i n the d ecision m aking process is common to the two cases, whereas a much better

parallel

Buddhist w as,

i n

may be

drawn

between

monastic communities f act,

observed

even

and of

by

the

organisations

the oligarchies .

of

This

contemporary commentators,

1 44

OL uuunisr n coinciaes witf l t t ie one area ot t i ie G anga V alley the N ortheast which was i n the hands of o ligarchies ( Map 15). Buddha hi mself was a member of the Sakya c lan , whose o ligarchy was exterminated by a k ing of K osala i n the 5 th century B .C ., according to t radition .

pic ice

-

-

The fact that the areas i nfluenced by B uddhism Jainism

-

w ith the

were

coterminous

l i mits

of

the

i n

the

t ribal

6 th

-

-

5 th centuries

oligarchies

i ndicates

and B .C . the

c lose relationship of the two phenomena. That both have been attributed to the i nternal evolution of I ndo-Aryan society reflects the biases of scholars who depend solely on the l iterary record to reconstruct the history of the G anga Valley; s ince most texts are s ilent about the i ndigenous i nhabitants e ncountered by the I ndo-Aryan t ribes, t hey c an only come to l ight through archaeological research . H owever, if we accept that ancient I ndian society was the r esult of the i nteraction of at l east two d istinct cultural t raditions, then Buddhism with i ts d isparagement of the v ery basis of the developing society , na mely the caste s ystem , and t he t ribal o ligarchies with their hostility to monarchic states, may be viewed as an indigenous response to the challenge posed by the the G anga Valley .

i ncursion of

I ndo-Aryans

i nto

A lthough this hypothesis requires much more evidence before i t can be satisfactorily tested, one may point to the l ocation of o ligarchies i n the region f arthest r emoved f rom the d irection of I ndo-Aryan advances. The earliest r ecord of any attempt at colonising the northeast i s f ound i n t he S atapatha B rahmana; by contrast, the e xistence of a f lourishing indigenous culture there from the second mill ennium B .C . i s indicated by the excavations at C hirand, which have so far yielded the most advanced Neolithic a ssemblage found in the Ganga Valley. I n later t i mes the t ribal groups inhabiting the region Licchavis, Mallas, S akyas, etc. were regarded as low mixed castes, who d id -

-

not f ollow either Brahminical,

or

-

even more importantly

-

V edic r ituals ( Kosa mbi, 1 956), which would also suggest their indigenous origin, along with the great hostility e xhibited towards them by monarchical s tates . E ven

i f

the

t he presence of

underlying causes i nternal

r emain

t ensions arising

to be

c larified ,

f rom the

i ncrea-

s ingly i negalitarian nature of developing s tates i s c lear . The t ribal o ligarchies may have been overcome by M agadha by t he 5 th century B .C ., but the challenge represented to the i nequalities e nshrined i n t he caste s ystem by B uddhism and Jainism spread rapidly in the Ganga Valley . The belligerence characterising t he political r elations of E arly H istoric s tates may thus be ascribed to t he desire of r ulers to a lleviate i nternal tensions through external adventure, which could both strengthen the authority and provide additional

prestige surplus,

1 45

of the ruling with which to

T HE L OCAT ION OF ASOKAN E D ICTS

0

5 00 km

. • .

A A

•C h ie f a dm in is t ra t ive c en t re

1 46

MAJOR ROCK E D ICTS M INOR ROCK E D ICTS

•

MAJOR P ILLAR .E D ICTS

I

M INOR P ILLAR E D ICTS

1 47

a lleviate

i nternal

s trife.

Needless

to

say hostilities,

once begun , would have acquired their own momentum and this m ay help explain their persistence. F urthermore, as Webster j ustly observes, militarism leads to the creation of a professional c lass of s oldiers, who w ill be powerful a dvoc ates of war for their own ends, helping to perpetuate i nstability . T hese d evelopments occurred with s uch f orce i n the Early H istoric Period , that the political game had to be p layed out to i ts l ogical conclusion , which was a chieved when the entire Ganga Valley as well as most of the r est of t he S ubcohtinent f ell under the Mauryan sway . I n t his l ight the policies of Asoka made perfect s ense . S ince no f urther m ilitary outlets could be

f ound after the s ubjugation of an

entire subcontinent, d ifferent means had to be employed to ensure social harmony , which could be provided by a c ombin ation of the Buddhist stress on non-violence with the B rahmanical i deal of following one's calling, along with the spirit of religious toleration characterising both c reeds. Such practical measures as the promotion of trade m eanwhile f ostered the material welfare of s ubjects , and on the whole Asoka 's rule of benevolent d espotism provided an i deal

to

which all ancient societies could aspire .

Having

e xamined the

s tated their political

underlying

consequences ,

causes of we

warfare

and

must s till see how

i t led to the rapid expansion of urbanisation, craft production and population . The solution l ies i n the centralis ation of administration, which was seen as the best guar antee of maxi mum production and trade with the closest possible supervision. The efforts to perpetually expand production i n all sectors of the economy have already been outlined . P articular emphasis was p laced i n the A rthasastra on the colonisation of v irgin lands , which i n the archaeological record i s r eflected in the spread of v illages to the previously neglected upland areas of the Ganga V alley . S imilarly , there were f acilities and concessions provided f or traders. The effect of all this was to increase the r evenue of the state, and this was made necessary because of the generally hostile r elations prevailing i n the Early H istoric Ganga Valley . Such a policy would provide a sound explanation for the-rapid growth of population , production , and cultural complexity which manifested i tself i n t he r ise df

an

e laborate hierarchy of Equally

e ffects

of

important,

a centralised

s ettlements.

however,

would

administrative

have

been

s tructure

on

the the

d evelopment of v arious s ettlement types. H ere the survey of the region of Vatsa along with the evidence of other excav ations and surface surveys r evealed the f ollowing important patterns,

v isible already

in 600

-

350 B .C .,

though

f ully developed only i n the next period: 1 ) All the u rban s ettlements were concentrated in a small area at the heart of the s tate; 2 ) A fter the i nitial period of a gglomeration the population of the largest settlement and of the vill ages at the bottom of the hierarchy gre w rapidly at the

1 48

expense

of

towns

and

minor

centres;

3 )

D ifferentiation

based on s ize was accompanied by a clear delineation of f unctions, with larger s ites serving all the f unctions of smaller ones i n addition to their unique roles; v illages averaging 1 .5 to 2 hectares

i n area existed to house agri-

cultural producers, above them s ites of 3 to 5 hectares were assumed to be marketing centres based on their locat ions , minor centres of 6 to 10 hectares were centres of craft production, towns of 20 to 50 hectares participated i n trade and redistribution , while the capital city not only performed all the f unctions already l isted , but also s upported large religious establishments, elite r esidences , and c ivic/ceremonial s tructures s uch as t he a udience hall of Pataliputra . I n comparing these developments to the postulated effects of c entralisation on settlement patterns, d iscuss ion must begin with agriculture , as i t f ormed the basis of E arly H istoric economies. I t is by nature a d ispersed activity , and cannot be economically concentrated ; witness the f igures c ited by Chishol m ( 1962: 1 12) to the effect that agricultural production would decrease by as much a s one-half s hould f ields be s ituated more than two k ilometres away

f rom

residential

areas.

I n

order

to

extensive administrative duties prescribed t ra without i ncurring prohibitive sures would have been practicable; concentrated

in

large

v illages

carry out

the

i n the A rthasas-

expenses , only two meathe population could be

and

the

lowest

levels

of

administration , concerned with the implementation of policy could be dispersed . This i s why Kautilya suggested that v illages should contain 100 to 5 00 f amilies, and that r evenue officers should supervise 5 10 v illages . I n v iew of this the presence of the two lowest levels of the set-

t lement hierarchy observed in Allahabad District nucleated v illages and s ettlements i nterpreted as primary m arketing centres is understandable, as i t points to a centralised administration . The important injunction that primary products should not be sold at the point of their origin , already alluded to above, also provides confirmat ion of the role of some of the l arger v illages as primary -

-

m arketing centres, which o therwise c an only be e stablished on the basis of ethnographic analogies . As manufacturing and t rading a ctivities can be econom ca11y carried out by larger individual units serving w ider a reas and l arger populations, the t ask of centralisat ion is easier in their case. I f the spirit of the Arthas astra was adhered to, then concentration would have been maximised , with only r easons of economic efficiency d ictati ng the d ispersal of at l east some manufacturing a nd t radi ng . A lthough the archaeological record i s always i ncompl ete, the clear correlation of s ite s izes with certain economic activities i s d iscernible , and may be s een as the consequence would also

of the centralising tendency. Such a policy explain the clear breaks observable in the

149

d istribution of t he s izes of s ites i n the u pper echelons of the hierarchy , as well as the dominance of the chief sett lement, which in addition to i ts economic pre-eminence would have housed all the important administrative and c eremonial i nstitutions, as well as a s izeable part of the e lite of society . I n Allahabad D istrict the capital city ( Kausambi) was f ive t i mes the s ize of the largest town ( Sringaverpur), and even the smallest town ( Bhita) was twice the s ize of the l argest minor centre ( figure 4 ), a pattern parallelled by the d istribution of s ettlement s izes i n P anchala ( Singh , 1 979), another u rbanised a rea. T hat the t rends even intensify with the growth of capitals at the expense

of

smaller

u rban

s ettlements

may

a lso

to the policy of centralisation followed ,

be

a scribed

along with the

notable concentration of u rban s ettlements which s uggests that the close control advocated over all v ital economic and social i nstitutions i n the A rthasastra was effectively put i n practice . have encouraged

The d ispersal of major settlements would the growth of autonomous power centres

( Hodder, 1978b) and for this reason control over large t erritories was s acrificed at l east i n the e arly s tages of s tate development, in order to ensure dominance in more l imited areas. On several f ronts, therefore, the patterns of settle ment observed in the Early Historic Period s upports the idea that the r ise of centralised s tates provided the background to the spectacular progress of u rbanisation , and that centralisation was i tself a r eaction to the militarism accompanying the rise of states in the 6 th

-

4th centuries B .C ..

1 50

CONCLUSIONS The emergence of civilisation

in the

Early H istoric

G anga Valley is a vast subject, to which no justice can be done in the course of a brief enquiry. However, if this work the

succeeds

i n

l iterary and

demonstrating the

material

that

only a combination of

evidence produces

m eaningful

e xplanations , than i ts central objective will be f ulfilled . O f the available sources, textual i nformation i s at present much

more abundant and

i s

l ikely to play a dominant role i n

f uture investigations also. However, the archaeological r ecord will remain valuable for the testing of ideas der ived

f rom ancient l iterary a ccounts,

and efforts

s hould be

m ade to produce the k ind of d ata which i s capable of r esolv ing processual i ssues connected with the r ise of c ivilisat ion . In particular, regional surveys are required to demonstrate in other areas of the Ganga Valley the presence of patterns observed in Allahabad and Kanpur D istricts, while the excavation of habitations on the scale achieved at of

C halcolithic s ites i n the D eccan ancient social s tructure . I n

the

absence

of

detailed

i s needed for the study

documentation of

material

r emains i t i s d ifficult to a ssess the wider s ignificance of the study of Early Historic I ndia. I t may already be evid ent, however, that the broad evolutionary sequences cons tructed by anthropologists such as Fried and Service, which have been s everely criticised , have their equivalents i n the Early Historic Ganga Valley . The concentration on the emergence of regional settlement hierarchies as the b est indicators of urbanisation and state for mation may a lso be j ustified , s ince they are parallelled i n the l iter ary record by the development of progressively more complex economic and administrative i nstitutions. I n particul ar , the strict delineation of settlement categories not only by their s ize but also by their range of services r eflects the centralised polities emerging in the Early H istoric P eriod , which are also i ndicated by primate u rban centres and by the concentration of major settlements in r estricted are s. However , supports

the

just

as

the

existence of

history

of

the

Ganga

broad evolutionary s tages,

Valley so

i t

d efies many long-cherished explanations of the rise of c ivilisations. Among these, hydraulic theories, population pressure and t echnological i nnovations were major casualt ies already a lluded to . Whether the suspected root of the chain of events unfolding in the Ganga Valley , na mely the i nteraction of conflicting cultural and e thnic groups, has g eneral application remains to be seen . To the extent that population movements i n prehistoric t imes are notoriously d ifficult to i dentify , wider use of the i dea may be impract ical. For this r eason alone i t would be more s atisfactory to concentrate on the i nternal dynamics of evolving societ ies,

which will reveal the reasons behind their growth,

1 51

even

if

not

the

original

s ti mulus.

Also,

here

one

may

expect more regularity than i n the search f or prime movers , which could o ften be t raced as i n this c ase to histori-

c al

-

accidents . Only

u tility become

after

of

further

a s tudy

of

f ully known.

cross-cultural the

E arly

studies

H istoric

will

Ganga

the

Valley

One point of possible general r elevance

m ay , however, be noted , n amely the c lear evidence f rom the l iterary sources that internal stresses accompanying the emergence of social s tratification were d irected towards external targets, which led f irst to interstate hostilit ies, and s ubsequently to the e stablishment of c entralised polities. The emergence of large , sophisticated u rban cent res and the spectacular i ncrease in wealth seen f rom the 3 rd century B .C . onwards , i n defiance of chronic political i nstability , were the results of this development. G iven the evidence for centralised economies and the r ise of empires soon after the appearance of s tates in such areas as

Mesopotamia ,

and

Mesoamerica ,

this theory of the origin

of m ilitarism may have s ome g eneral application . Turning back to the narrower concern of

I ndian c ities ,

t he pattern of l arge u rban centres e xisting i n an overwhelm ingly rural landscape i s established as early as the 6 th -

4 th c enturies B .C .. e lsewhere as well,

While s imilar patterns may have e xisted their continuity in I ndia i s striking .

I n attempting to explain this phenomenon one

i s r eminded of

M ax Weber 's narrow definition of u rban centres , as containi ng a f ortress, a market, a court administering autonomous law , a body of citizens forming a distinct group in the s ocial order,

and at

l east partial autonomy and autocephaly

( Weber, 1 958 ). on the one hand this definition excludes the e arliest u rban f orms, which may a ccount f or Weber 's n eglect of

u rbanisation outside

Mediaeval

Europe and

i ts

c lassical

antecedents, and on the other i t points to a s ignificant evolutionary s tep , namely that only after c ities achieved a certain degree of autonomy could they take a leading role i n the growth of society . In I ndia, cities clearly could not f ree themselves f rom the domination of the political powers that created . them i n the f irst place . They r emained the centres of o rthodoxy , r ather than i nnovation , and while they consumed the surplus of the countryside they gave l ' ittle in return. Their fortunes were i nextricably l inked w ith that of their political patrons , as s hown by the rapid g rowth and abandonment of many over the c enturies, and they certainly never met the criteria set by Weber for truly u rban settlements in spite of their transitory magnific ence .

Society remained correspondingly inert in the ab-

s ence of the s timulus expected f rom i ts l argest congregat ions of population . The r easons f or the s tagnation i n the f ortunes of I ndian c ities need not concern us, however, i n a study of their origins, nor should they detract for the moment f rom the notable achievements of Early H istoric societies

i n

the

Ganga

V alley .

1 52

APPENDIX A

DATING CRITERIA FOR S URFACE F INDS

A .l

IN ALLAHABAD D ISTRICT

I ntroduction

t ions

Ever s ince the publication of the H astinapura excava( Lal, 1 955), t he material culture of the G anga V alley

has been ordered

into a succession of assemblages,

characterised by one

easily

i dentifiable

ceramic

each

type .

The

earliest " culture" used Ochre Coloured Pottery; it was s ucceeded by a " culture" producing B lack and R ed and B lack S lipped Wares, in turn ousted by the Painted Grey Ware " culture", which f inally gave way to the Northern B lack Polished Ware " culture". Although such an arrangement of " cultures" spatially and t emporally w ill prevent any mean ingful debate of processual i ssues , i t may be s alvaged f or u se i n the d ating of surface f inds, s ince s ome s triking and r elatively abundant wares have well defined chronological l imits. The establishment of s ecure d ating criteria f or the s urface f inds in Allahabad D istrict relies pri marily on excavations carried out in the Middle Ganga Valley , most notably at Prahladpur

( Narain and Roy ,

1968),

Rajghat ( Na -

r ain and Roy, 1 976) and S ringaverpur ( Lal and D ikshit, 1 981, and pers. comm .), since the Painted Grey Ware phase, which i s so prominent i n the Upper Ganga V alley , i s absent here, being replaced by a Black Slipped Ware phase. An attempt w ill be made at the s ame t ime to d ate other import ant stages, such as the Painted Grey Ware " culture", in the culture sequence of the Ganga Valley , so as to assist the i ncorporation of excavated materials during the consideration of processual i ssues ( Chapter 4 , above). A table of r adiocarbon dates ( Figure 21), and a chronological chart of s ites mentioned i n the t ext ( Figure 2 2) a re appended .

A .2

The

dating of

The

Early I ron Age s ites

earliest

documented

( Period

a ssemblage

i n

t he

I ) M iddle

and

Lower Ganga Valleys ( not counting the Neolithic sites) is r ingaverpur I , which produced Ochre Coloured Pottery ( henceforth O . .C .P .),

l boo B .C. However,

and which has been dated to 1050 to as no O .C .P. was located in the course

of the survey , the earliest period of relevance is repres ented by S ringaverpur I I, P rahladpur IA , and Rajghat IA . A ll these levels are characterised by a well defined ceram ic horizon, consisting of B lack S lipped, B lack and R ed, R ed and Gray wares, and by the f irst appearance of i ron . S ince B lack S lipped Ware ( henceforth B .S. W.) comprises up to 45% of these a ssemblages , m ay

be

taken

as

a key

and i s easily i dentifiable ,

indicator

of

s ites

belonging

i t to

P eriod I of the survey . This ware is characterised by a f ine fabric, well f ired in reducing conditions and hence

1 53

possessing a black c olour;

the n ame B lack

S lipped was g iven

i n recognition of a burnished s lip of black or dark grey colour which was applied to vessels before f iring. I t i s the precursor of the better known Northern B lack P olished Ware ( henceforth N .B .P .W .), and i s d istinguished f rom i t by i ts black as opposed to reddish core and by i ts l ack of surface lustre. The characteristic shapes of B .S . W. as -

-

-

i ndeed of N .B .P .W . and P .G .W . ( which corresponds to B lack S lipped Ware chronologically, but is restricted to the Upper Ganga Valley) are bowls and d ishes , i ndicating that -

the B lack S lipped v essels s erved e ating purposes. This ware has been extensively described in the Prahladpur ( Narain and Roy, 1 968), Rajghat ( Narain and Roy, 1 976: Volume 2 ) and

Atranjikhera As

B .S . W.

appearance sufficient

( Gaur,

1 983)

continued

to

reports . be

produced

even

after

the

of N .B.P .W ., however, it is not in i tself a d ating criterion . Therefore only i f a s ite pro-

duced Black and Red Ware, and such Red Ware shapes as f unnel-shaped l ids (Misra, 1977: f ig. 16: 32) deep bowls w ith collared ri ms ( Lal, 1955: f ig. 12: XXXb) and, in particular,

large storage j ars

and externally thickened ri ms

with splayed or outturned ( Narain and Roy ,

1968:

f ig .

1 0: TIA , IB , ID ; Narain and Roy, 1 976: Volume 2 : f ig. 5 : 3 7-40 ; Gaur, 1983: f ig. 52: J-4, J-4B, J-5; Lal, 1955: f ig. 1 1: X , Xa), in addition to B .S. W., to Period I . The

dating of

the horizon

was

it taken to belong

must principally depend on

the radiocarbon and thermoluminescence

measurements

S ringaverpur

this

I I.

The

lowest

phase of

period

f rom

( II

A )

y ielded a radiocarbon date of 2855±200 b .p., which may be c alibrated ( after Pearson and Stuiver, 1986) to ca. 1000 B .C . The succeeding phase ( II B ) produced TL d ates of 2 743* 300 B .P.(793 B .C.), 2769+400 B .P.(819 B . C.), 2690±280 B .P.(740 B .C .) and 2660±280 B .P.(710 B .C.), as well as a solitary radiocarbon date of 2620±130 b .p. which may be calibrated to ca. 800 B .C .. This provides a date of ca. 1 000 B .C . for the commencement of the B .S. W . phase , and d ates of ca. 8 0 7 00 for the middle phase. Although the -

top levels of period I I ( II C ) produced no dates, the end of the period may be d ated to 600 B .C . by the appearance of N .B.P. W . i n the l ayers j ust above I IC , as will be d iscussed below . This provides a chronological range of 1000 600 B .C . for the s ites of Period I of the survey , as well as -

f or

the archaeological

d eposits

i n S ringaverpUr

I I,

R ajghat

IA and P rahladpur IA . D eposits immediately preceeding the appearance of N .B.P .W. at such s ites as Arara, B ahiri, Chi .rand , Sonpur, and Mahisdal in the Lower Ganga Valley a lso yielded radiocarbon dates in the range of 900 7 50 B .C . ( calibrated ; see F igure 21), supporting this dating . -

As

an

examination

of

radiocarbon

d ates

available

the P .G .W . phase of the Upper Ganga Valley shows, t ime-span may a lso be taken f or this assemblage,

1 54

f or

a s imilar r epresen-

t ed by H astinapura

I I,

Jakhera I I,

Atranjikhera I II etc.,

which can thus be taken to belong to Age/Late Vedic P eriod. A lthough as many available for deposits producing P .G .W .

the Early Iron as 26 dates are ( Figure 21; see

a lso Lal, 1984: Table 3 ) many of them must be d iscarded. These i nclude TF-317 f rom Ahicchatra because i t i s described as coming f rom a d isturbed d eposit;

PRL-325

f rom G anwa-

na , TF-287 f rom Atranjikhera and TF-51 f rom Alamgirpur as they g ive dates which are totally i nconsistent with our knowledge;

i s

the one

e rratic date in an otherwise consistent sequence;

TF-191

f rom Atranjikhera ,

because

i t

and all

the dates from Bateshwar and Jodhpura s ince the entire s equences of dates f rom these s ites are i nconsistent. I t m ay also be mentioned that TF-83 , 90 and 1 12 f rom H astinapura come f rom the flood deposits above the P .G . W. phase and are more properly assigned to a post-P .G .W . period . The r emaining dates are UCLA-703a and b and TF-993 f rom Noh , d ating the

middle phase of the P .G .W .

assemblage to 830

-

7 60 B .C .; TF-291 f rom Atranjikhera, TF-85 and 91 f rom H astinapura , and TF-1144 f rom Noh dating the late phase of t he P .G . W. to 5 50 400 B .C .; and TF-1228, PRL-67 and 68 f rom Khalaua, and PRL-81 f rom Allahpur from unspecified -

P . G. W .

levels dating to ca.

7 50

480 B .C ..

-

Altogether a time span of 800

400 B .C .

-

is indicated

f or the middle and upper P .G .W. levels, with no dates as yet f rom an early level. As P .G .W . overlaps with N .B.P. at s everal s ites, the dates f rom the latest phase, as well as the late measurements from s ites such as Tilaurakot, and Thapli on the f ringes of t he G anga V alley may be d iscounted i n esti mating the age of the pre-N .B.P .W . phase of P .G .W ., r epresented by H astinapura I I, Jakhera I I, and A tranjikhera I II, which may be assigned to 800 600 B .C . ( Figure 22). The lower l i mit of P .G .W. may yet be dated earlier once -

m easurements f rom early deposits become available. I t is unfortunate that TF-191 f rom Atranjikhera, which gives a date of 1 070 B .C . coflicts with the rest of the series f rom that s ite, and cannot be taken into consideration as att empted by Lal ( 1984) and others.

A .3 The dating o f

s ites of

P eriod

I I

The d istinctive ceramic of P eriod I I of the survey i s the well-known N .B .P .W ., even though R ed ware r emains numer ically dominant. N .B .P .W . was f irst recognised by Cunningham ( 1874) and Marshall ( 1912) at Bhita, and immediately a ssumed to i ndicate prehistoric occupation . I n spite of the r elative complexity of i ts manufacture ( Hegde, 1 975) i t occurs

i n abundance ,

although

i ts

surface

treatment

varies

g reatly in quality. As i t has been described in v irtually all excavation r eports , i ts t echnological f eatures will not be d iscussed here ( see Gaur, 1 983, Narain and R oy , 1 968 and 1 976: Volume 2 ; Ghosh and Panigrahi, 1944). As with B .S .W ., bowls a nd d ishes dominate, i ndicating that l ike i ts pre-

155

decessor

i t was a deluxe table ware,

-

whose presence may

be taken to i ndicate s tatus d istinctions . At the s ame t ime , a lthough expensive to produce , i t r epresents only a modest t echnological advance over the preceding ceramic i ndustries and i ts u se as an i ndicator of f undamental cultural process es such a s u rbanisation i s totally unwarranted . I ts princ ipal

s ignificance

w idespread t rait, S ince t he

i s that

i t

i s

an e asily r ecognisable and

with well defined chronological

l imits .

ware enjoyed a long period of popularity ,

i t

was necessary to look for ways of subdividing the period r epresented by i t. Therefore, those s ites which produced not only N.B .P .W . but also the earlier B .R .W . and B .S. W ., were assigned to P eriod I I, while those s ites at which N .B.P. W . was the earliest cera mic type were assigned to P eriod I II. The survival of B .R . W. and B .S . W. i nto the early phase of the N .B .P. W .

" culture" has been attested at

most Gangetic s ites ( Atranjikhera, S ringaverpur, P rahladpur and Rajghat all produced overlaps), and j ustifies the separ ation of

P eriods

I I and

The only problem gories as

I II of the

survey on this basis.

with u sing overlapping ceramic cate-

d ating c riteria occurs

when a s ite

may have been

occupied i n P eriods I and I II but not i n P eriod I I; i n this c ase large quantities of both Black S lipped and NBP Wares m ay be found along with Red ware shapes of both periods I and I II. This pattern i s i ndistinguishable f rom a pattern produced by the occupation of s ites continuously f rom P eriod I to Period I II. G iven the l i mited dating criteria presently available , this shortcoming could not be r emedied and one may therefore expect a possible e xaggeration i n the number of s ites actually present i n P eriod I I . As this was considered a small price to pay f or the ability to a ctually d istinguish s ites of P eriods I I and I II, i nstead of l umping them together and thus s everely d istorting the available data ,

i t

was accepted as a shortcoming .

The chronological l i mits of

P eriod I I depend on the

lower li mit assigned to the ti me-span covered by N .B.P. W ., and on the s ubdivision of this period i nto two s ub-periods. A lthough lately attempts have been made to push the date back to 7 00 B .C . ( B. B . Lal, 1 980, 1 983 and M . Lal, 1 984) a lower li mit of 600 B .C . ( as advocated , for example by Joshi,

1 979)

i s

more realistic.

Of the dates quoted by M .

Lal ( 1984) only those f rom the erratic Mathura and Bateshw ar s eries, as well a s TF-994 f rom Noh which conflicts with an otherwise consistent series, support his hypothesis. O nce these a re e liminated f rom consideration , we are l eft w ith 24 dates from unspecified N .B .P . levels ranging f rom 480 B .C . to 200 A .D ., 4 dates f rom early N .B.P . deposits f alling between 400 and 360 B .C ., 8 dates from mid-N .B .P . d eposits f alling between 400 and 3 60 B .C ., and 8 d ates f rom late N .B.P . deposits dating to 200 B .C . 70 A .D .. Using the l atest r ecommended c alibration curve ( Stuiver and P ear-

son ,

1986;

P earson and

Stuiver,

1986;

156

F igure

21)

even a

d ate of 600 B .C .

seems

excessive,

although s ince

most

of

the dates come f rom middle and late N .B.P . deposits, the d ating of the appearance of N .B.P . may provisionally be assigned to the 6th century B .C .. As regards the subdivis ion between periods I I and I II of the survey, such depos its

as Atranjikhera

IVA and B ,

Rajghat

IB ,

Hastinapura

I IIi S ringaverpur l ilA , and the lower l evels of P rahladpur T B all produced an overlap of N .B .P . with surviving P .G .W . and B .S . W. wares, and they have been assigned to ca. 600 3 50 B .C . by the excavators. Dates of ca. 400 B .C . from -

overlapping P .G .W. and N. B. P. deposits at Ahicchatra also s upport a division in the 4th century B .C . On the strength of this evidence P eriod i n the survey area .

A .4 The dating of The

s ites of

I I has

s ites of

been

P eriods

P eriods

I II

and

d ated to 6 00

I II and IV are

-

3 50 B .C .

IV easily

d istin-

guished , as both have characteristic Red ware shapes, and while N .B.P.W. i s present in Period I II, i t i s absent f rom P eriod IV . Therefore, s ites which produced NBP Ware without B lack S lipped and B lack and Red wares but associated with s uch characteristic Red ware shapes as handis ( cooking v essels),

d ishes

with sagger base

( Narain

and

Roy ,

1977:

F igure 12: 26) and pear-shaped water vessels called Ahicchatra type X a j ars ( Ghosh and P anigrahi, 1 944) were assigned to Period I II. By contrast, sites producing only Red w are , w ith such characteristic s hapes as l ids with a v aseshaped

central

depression

( Narain and Roy ,

1 976 :

Volume

2 :

F igure 16: 1 2-14, 23-25), sprinklers ( Ibid, F igure 20: 637 6), knobbed l ids ( Ibid , F igure 1 6: 15-19), s traight-sided small bowls with obliquely cut or f eatureless r i ms ( Ibid , F igure

16:

3-7),

and

vases

r ims and concave necks assigned to Period IV .

( Lal,

with externally rib-collared 1 955: F igure 21: XXXVII) were

The lower chronological l imit of P eriod I II has already been placed at 350 B .C ., that being the upper l i mit of period I I. The upper l imit of P eriod I II coincides with the d isappearance of N .B.P .W . f rom Early H istoric ceramic assemblages. This has been put at ca. 200 B .C . by M . Lal and y B .B . Lal ( 1955), and at 50 B .C i by Gaur ( 1983) and by Agrawal and Kusumgar ( 1974b). Although an examination of radiocarbon m easurements ( Figure 22) s uggests a l ater d ate at

most

sites,

with 0 B .C ./A .D .

l ate N .B .P . deposits,

being a median value

for

most of the post-N .B.P . layers can be

dated also by palaeographic and numismatic evidence , and on this basis the end of the N .B.P . W. phase may be advanced to c a. 100 B .C .. This places Period I II of the survey in the 3 50 100 B .C . t i me bracket. As regards P eriod IV , the end of the post-N .B .P .W ./ S unga-Kushana phase represented by i t has been put at 300 A .D . by all archaeologists, and this -

phase may therefore last from 100 B .C . to 300 A .D .; by this t ime t he abundance of i nscribed seals and c oins provides a

1 57

w idely accepted chronology. Of the excavated sites, S tructural P eriods I II to V I at K ausambi, H astinapUra IV , R ajghat I I and I II, Vaisali I II and P tranjikhera V produced the most useful information supplementing P eriod IV , while S tructural P eriods I and I I at Kausa mbi, H astinapura 1 11 2 3 , Atranjikhera IV C and D , R ajghat IC , V aisali I I and S ravasti I I best supplement the surface f inds of P eriod

I II.

1 58

F IGURE 21: LIST OF C14 DATES S ite

P hase

Laboratory Number

i n b .p .

E nte

( half-life of

C ute

i n B .C .

5 570 yrs)

AHI CCHATRA

-

-

-

-

-

ALLAHPUR

-

-

-

ARARA

-

ATRANJ IKHERA

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

BAHIRI

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

BESNAGAR

-

-

CHARSADA

-

-

CHI RAND

-

400 480

TF-301 TF-310

2 155/100 2 400/150 2 360/105 2420/150 2 255/105 2050/90

BM-193

2040/150

5 0

TF-51

1 060/95

WSU TF-311 BM-194

4 10

3 70 80

P RL-81

P .G .W ./N.B.P.

PRL-83

2 270/90 2 160/105

380 200

B .R. W .

PRL-931

2 780/120

920

B .R .W .

TF-289

2 550/105

7 90

TF-415 TF-191

2450/200 2890/105

7 50

P .G .W . N .B.P. W . N .B.P. W.

TF-291 TF-287 TF-194 TF-284

2410/100 1 605/95

450

2410/85 2180/90

450 3 40

N .B.P. W . N .B.P. W .

TF-283 TF-195

2 150/105 1 845/95

1 90 AD 1 30

2 070/90 1 990/90 1 910/90 2 130/105

1 00 AD 1 0 AD 80 1 70

2065/120 1 975/100

1 00 AD 20 9 10 7 60

L ate

-

TF-317

P .G .W .

-

-

BATESHWAR

P .G .W .

B .R. W . M id P .G .W .

-

AYODHYA

P .G .W .

N .B.P. W . N .B.P. W .

-

ALAMGI RPUR

L ate

P .G .W ./N.B.P . P .G .W ./N.B.P . N .B.P. W . N .B.P. W .

-

P . G. W .

N .B.P .W .

PRL-466

N .B.P. W . N .B.P. W .

PRL-462 PRL-467

L ate N .B.P. W . L ate N .B.P. W . L ate N .B.P. W .

BS-70 BS-66 BS-69

B .R .W . B .R .W .

PRL r - 866 PRL-86 7

2770/140 2 490/150

PRL-198 PRL-200

2490/90 5 130/240

PRL- 1 99 PRL-201

5 90/130 2 520/160

PRL-197

2410/100

B .R .W ./P .G .W . T ransitional M id N .B.P . L ate N .B.P . L ate N .B.P . N .B.P. W .

TF-387

2 350/100

400

N .B.P. W .

PRL-283

2 200/130

3 50

N .B .P . W .

UW- 7 7

2 160/60

200

N .B.P. W .

UW- 78

1 940/70

AD 7 0

B .R .W .

TF-336

2640/95

8 10

159

CHI RAND GANWARIA HAST INAPURA

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

2 385/125 2 270/110

F lood d eposit TF-112

2 260/95

380

2 220/110 2 225/110 2 015/95

360

TF-80 ,82

1 940/110

AD 7 0

N .B.P. W .

TF-176

2000/100

N .B.P. W .

TF- 1 77

1820/100

N .B.P .

-

-

-

-

TF-81

PRL-2 7 8

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

0 AD 2 10

4060/170

P RL-213

2 210/110

TF-221

2 385/100

410

E arly N .B .P . M id-N.B.P. W . M id-N .B.P. W .

TF-219 TF-103 TF-225

2 325/100 2 295/105

M id-N.B. P. W . Late N .B.P .W .

TF-105 TF-100

2 285/105 2 220/110 2 160/95 2 150/105

3 90 3 90 380 360 2 00 1 90

TF-226

2 110/95

1 60

Late

-

3 60 30

2 610/110 4360/160 2 270/100 2670/150 2 310/140 2 250/110

N .B .P .

L ate N .B .P .W . TF-104

-

AD 8 0

PRL- 277 PRL-2 7 5 P RL- 2 12 PRL-272 P RL-273 PRL-274

E arly

-

-

W THURA

Late P .G .W . TF-85 F lood d eposit TF-90

P . G. W . P . G. W . P .G .W . P . G. W .

-

MA U SDAL

7 50 4 10 380

B .R ./P. G .W . B .R./P. G. W .

-

LUMBINI

2 450/120

P .G .W .

O . C .P . o .c .P .

-

-

KHALAUA

TF-91

Late

-

KAYATHA

4610/110

L ate N .B .P .

-

KAUSAMBI

PRL-325

P .G .W .

F lood d eposit TF-83 Early N .B .P . TF-88

-

JODHPURA

1 930/105

L ate

-

-

HATIMPUR

TF-446

N .B.P. W .

-

N .B.P. W .

M id-N .B.P.W.

TF-394

2 380/95

400

N .B.P. W .

TF-694

2 350/95

400

P .G .W .

PRL-67

2 450/155

7 50

P . G. W . P .G .W .

TF- 1 2 28 PRL-68

2420/140 2 370/170

480 400

N .B.P. W .

BS-39

2 105/100

1 60

E arly

TF-389

2 565/100

7 90

I ron

E arly N .B .P .

PRL-342

2 180/160

M id N .B .P .W .

PPL-334

2600/150

M id N .B.P. W . M id N .B .P .W . M id N .B.P .W .

PRL-336 PPL-340 PRL-337

2 540/90 2 390/150 2 340/100 2 490/140

L ate N .B .P .W . PRL-333 L ate N .B.P .W . PRL-338 L ate N .B .P .W . PRL-343 N .B.P. W . PPL-339

1 60

2 280/100 2 150/100 2 380/100

NOH

-

-

-

-

-

P IPRAHWA

-

-

-

-

R AJGIR

-

-

R UPAR

-

-

SOHAGAURA S ONPUR

-

-

TAKIAPER TH 1 PLI

-

-

-

T ILAURAKOT UJJAIN

2 690/225

8 30

TF-993 UCLA-703a TF-1144 TF-994

2 600/105 2 480/260 2 370/85 2 560/100

8 00 7 60 4 00 7 90

N .B.P. W .

P RL- 3 23 P RL-322 P RL-324

2 290/100 2 250/100 2 170/130

3 90 3 70

N .B .P .W .

-

R AJGHAT

UCLA-703b

N .B.P. W . N .B.P. W .

-

PURANA Q ILA

M id-P .G .W . M id-P .G .W . M id-P.G .W . P .G .W . N .B.P .W .

-

-

P RL-97

2 000/140

2 00 0

B .R .W . N .B.P .W .

TF-292 TF-293

2 350/95 2 370/105

400 4 00

N .B.P. W . N .B.P .W .

TF-46 TF-45

2 150/100 2 150/100

1 90 1 90

M id N .B .P .W . M id N .B .P . W .

TF-209 TF-213

2 365/100 2 275/100

400 3 80

N .B.P. W .

P PL-182a

2 130/90

1 70

p re-N .B.P. W .

TF-376

2 510/105

7 70

N .B .P .W .

P RL-184

2 070/100

1 00

P .G .W .

PRL-732

2 070/120

1 00

P .G .W .

P RL-731

2 030/140

4 0

P .G .W .

TF-737

2 235/95

3 60

M id-N .B .P . W .

TF-409

2 335/95

400

1 ) The c alibrated d ates a re e stimated on t he b asis of t he c urve published i n S tuiver and P earson ( 1986) and Pearson a nd S tuiver ( 1986), which has b een r ecommended by the 1 2th R adiocarbon Conference i n 1 986. I n all cases a reading was t aken f rom the central of 3 curves; the ranges of error w ere not calculated , but are on the whole s i milar to the r anges provided with the original radiocarbon d ates. I n c ases where more than one calibrated reading i s possible (& .g . f or 2 180-2220 a nd 2 460-2500 b .p .), t he o ldest r eading w ap taken for the s ake of consistency , but as the crucial d ates separating cultural s tages were not i n the ranges where multiple r eadings were possible , this would not have a ffected the establishment of chronology. The only except ion occurs w ith BM-194 f rom Ahicchatra , which i s the e arliest N .B .P . d ate f rom a n u nambiguous context a nd which c ould be calibrated to 480 , 440 , or 420 B .C .. As stated i n the t ext , w ith t he u se o f t he l atest c alibration curve one m ay have to rethink the dating of N .B .P . prior to 500 B .C ., though a date of 6 00 B .C . was provisionally accepted , e specially s ince most N .B .P . d ates ( like most P .G .W . dates) c ame f rom the m id a nd u pper l evels producing this ware .

1 61

F igure

2 2:

T ime-scale

c hronological chart of major s ettlements

ATR

HST

JK F I

KSB

' T I 'H

RGH

SRG

SRV

VSL

3 00 A .D .

I v S P7

200 A . D . I II 1 00 A .D .

V

IV

SP5

I II

IV

I II I II

B .C . /A .D S P3 1 00 B . C.

I I IVD

1 11 3

S P2 SPIB

200 B .C .

-

-

-

-

l ic H IC I IB

HC 300 B . C.

IVC

1 112

400 B .C .

IVB

l iii

hA

SPIA

I C

I lIB

l B

l ilA

I II

5 00 B .C . IVA

FLOOD

PS5 P S4 PS3

?

PS2

600 B .C .

I IB

I I

hA

PSi II C

7 00 B . C. 800 B .C .

I

I II

I I

I IB

I

I

IA

I IB

900 B . C. hA

hA

1 000 B .C . I 1 100 B .C . I I

I

1 200 B .C . 1 300 B .C. 1 400 B . C. 1 500 B . C.

I

I ? ABBREVIATIONS AND SOURCES

ATR:

Atranjikhera

HST: JKH:

H astinapura ( Lal, 1 955) Jakhera ( Sahi, 1 977)

( Gaur,

K SB: M TH :

K ausambi Mathura

RGH : SRG :

Rajghat ( Narain and R oy , 1 976) S ringaverpur ( Lal and D ikshit,

SRV : VSL:

S ravasti ( Sinha, K . K., 1 967) V aisali ( Sinha, B .P. and Roy ,

( Sharma, ( Reports

1 983)

1 969) i n I ndian Archaeology 1 981) 1 969)

1 62

-

a R eview)

APPENDIX B :

B .l.

CATALOGUE OF S ITES

I ntroduction I n order to maintain a continuous narrative i t

necessary to exclude

a detailed

main t ext. On the other hand , f rom the d ata collected

i n

as

the

s ite many

catalogue

i nferences

course of

the

f rom

was the

were drawn

f ieldwork ,

i t

was desirable to present the evidence in the form of an appendix . I t i s hoped that the information g iven will enable other students of the Early H istoric Period to assess t he v alidity of conclusions drawn f rom the data, and also to revisit the already discovered s ites for further r esearch , s hould this be d esirable . A s

s ite

s ize

was crucial

i n the

i nitial definition of

s ettlement c ategories, a note on the f actors a ffecting i ts precise determination is required. To the extent that the l imits of artefact scatters are easily located, there are no problems i n deciding what may be called a site. The prevalence of mudbrick architecture r esulting i n the f ormat ion of

mounds

f urther eases

i dentification .

Another advan-

tage is that the major rivers of Allahabad D istrict are confined by high banks which have been stable throughout the Early H istoric P eriod, and thus d istortions caused by alluviation need not worry investigators. On the other hand , due to high and concentrated rainfall ( ca. 900 mm in June-September) erosion i s considerable , which is aggravat ed by human destruction, whether by present occupation, roadbuilding , or the mining of mounds f or manure . All these f actors, along with a long history of ploughing may cause the d ispersal of artefacts beyond the original s ite boundar ies. This is someti mes reflected in the decline in artefact

density towards

s ites '

peripheries.

Consequently nei-

ther t he s ize of mounds , nor the present extent of a ssociat ed artefact s catters i s l ikely to g ive a precise estimate of s ite s ize . I t would be d ifficult to propose s olutions to this problem, short of excavation . I t may be pointed out i nstead that even if

individual

s ite

s izes

may have been

affected , the overall pattern of the d istribution of s izes would not be. And s ince it is the latter that is significant , the distortions arising out of the li mited capacity of i n

surface surveys the analysis .

to

estimate

s ite

163

s izes

may be

accepted

B .2 NB :

S ITE CATALOGUE

The numbers assigned to s ites agree with the numbers

g iven on F igure 4 . nearest to i t.

Each

s ite

is

n amed

after

the

v illage

1 .) ADAMPUR Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight: M aximum Area: P resent

2 5033 '35" ( North) 6 metres 2 .31 hectares

condition :

P lanted

d isturbed by mediaeval Surface

f inds:

scattered a ll mediaeval

the

occupation .

wheat,

lentils

and gourds;

Muslim s hrines on the southern

Ceramics over

with

and 81 0 36 113 1' ( EaSt)

of

Periods

mound ,

I II

and

IV are

s lope found

though obscured by e xtensive

C eramics

of earlier

P eriods are

res-

t ricted to the western and southern s lopes. The esti mated area of occupation is thus 1 .44 i n P eriods I and I I and 2 .31 in P eriods I II and IV . 2 .) Co-ordinates:

On

BHARADWAJ ASHRAM

25 0 27'26"

P resent condition : habitation .

ALLAHABAD:

The

the

and 8 10 5 1 41"

mound

other

i s totally obscured by present

hand,

as

i t

is

in

a

locality

mentioned in the Ramayana, i t was excavated in the 1970 's and habitation was f ound to extend back to the " early NBP" period ( Period I I). sured , however . R eferences:

The extent of the s ite cannot be mea-

I ndian Archaeology

cheology , 3 .) Co-ordinates: P resent condition :

a R eview,

-

7 9; 1 981-82. L al, B .B ., The two

5 5(1981),

ALLAHABAD:

This s ite

1978-

I ndian Epics vis-a-vis ar-

Antiquity

2 50 2 9'47"

1960-61;

27

-

3 4 .

CHILLA

and 8 10 5 3'50" i s also obscured by recent ha-

b itation but pottery collected i n 1 960 and now kept i n the University Museum , Allahabad , dates to P eriods I II and IV . No

i dea c an n ow be had of the extent of the s ite,

R eferences:

I ndian Archaeology 4 .)

Co-ordinates:

-

ALLAHABAD :

2 5025'13"

a R eview ,

however.

1 960-61.

DARYABAD

and 8 1050112 1 t

P resent c ondition: The s ame as that of s ite 3 . R eferences: I ndian Archaeology a R eview , 1 960-61. -

1 64

5 .)

ALLAHABAD :

Co-ordinates:

2 5028'40"

M aximum H eight:

ca.

M aximum Area:

2 hectares

P resent

condition:

D RAUPADI

GHAT

and 8 1 0 49'20"

2 .5m high s ection exposed

The

site

has been

severely eroded by

f loods, as i t i s located on the high bank of the Ganga. I t i s covered by modern occupation , but has a 200 metre long s ection

exposed by the

S urface

f inds:

r iver.

C eramics of

all

f our

periods occur

i n abun-

dance and r ing-wells may be noticed i n s ection . R eferences: I ndian Archaeology a R eview , 1 960-61. -

6 .)

ALLAHABAD:

Co-ordinates:

25 0 26'53"

P resent condition:

MEDICAL COLLEGE and 8 10 5 1'13"

P resent occupation has , obliterated all

surface r emains , but during the d igging of the foundations f or t he M edical C ollege, pottery of P eriods I II and IV was f ound and handed over to the University Museum. R eferences:

I ndian Archaeology 7 .)

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight: M aximum A rea:

-

ALLAHABAD:

a Review,

1 960-61.

SALORI

25 28'37" and 8 10 5 3'58" 2 metres 4 hectares

P resent condition: Partly planted with lentils and partly occupied by a modern s ettlement. Due to the construction of roads, several sections have been exposed . Surface f ound

f inds:

Ceramics

throughout

R eferences: 8 .)

the

of

Periods

I II

and

I ndian Archaeology ALLAHABAD :

-

a R eview ,

-

9 .)

Surface

i rrigation f inds:

The

1 960-61.

1 960-61.

AMBAI BUZURG

2 5 0 44'58" and 8 1 0 23' 3 metres 1 .5 hectares

P resent condition: by small

been

TEJ BAHAD ( JR SAPRU HOSPITAL

Co-ordinates: 2 528 '19" and 8 1 0 50'55" P resent condition: Same as s ite 3 . R eferences: I ndian Archaeology a R eview,

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight: M aximum Area:

IV have

s ite .

00

"

Planted with wheat and peas and cut up channels . scatter

of

pottery

165

is

l ight,

s ince

sherds are regularly cleared off the f ield. C eramics of both P eriod IV and more r ecent t imes can be s een throughout the

mound . 1 0.) 2 5 0 26'11"

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight: M aximum Area: condition :

Surface

f inds:

D ense s catter of pottery belonging to P eriod Mediaeval Period

M aximum Area: P resent condition : f inds:

the

P eriod

ATARSUIYA I

2 50 2 1' 08" and 8 1 028 3 .5 metres . 95 hectares

Co-ordinates: M aximum Height:

Surface

81 02 31 5 21 1

P lanted with peas and lentils.

i i.)

but

and

3 metres 2 .16 hectares

P resent

IV and to the

ASADHP

'55 "

P lanted with wheat and gram .

Pottery and brickbats are

presence

of

N .B.P .

ware

mostly

suggests

mediaeval,

occupation

in

I II. 1 2.)

ATARSUIYA I I

2 5 0 21'18"

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight:

and 8 1 0 28'54"

5 metres 2 .82 hectares

M aximum A rea: P resent

condition :

Surface

f inds:

P lanted with lentils and peas .

Dense

scatter

of

pottery

and

brickbats.

Pottery of P eriods I I and I II was r estricted to the southe rn half of the mound , while i n P eriod IV the entire mound was occupied . 1 3.) Co-ordinates:

2 5 0 20 '55

M aximum H eight: M aximum Area:

f inds:

and

8 1 0 28 56"

2 metres 2 .12 hectares

P resent condition : Surface

ATARSUIYA I II

P lanted with wheat

D ense scatter of ceramics of P eriod 1 4.)

AURENI

Co-ordinates:

25 0 4 4

M aximum H eight: Maximum A rea:

2 metres 4 .15 hectares

1 51 1

and 8 1020'58"

1 66

IV .

P resent c ondition: S urface

f inds:

P lanted with wheat and l entils

D ense s catter of pottery of P eriod

and Mediaeval wares and brickbats 1 5.)

G upta

were also found .

AWANA ALAMPUR

2 50 2 3'42" and 8 1025'08" 7 metres 3 .79 hectares

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight: M aximum Area: P resent

IV ;

condition :

s everal gullies,

Uncultivated

mound cut

by a road

and by

and topped by a school building .

S urface f inds: P ottery of P eriod IV and of the Gupta period occurs a ll over; c eramics of P eriod I II only on the western s lopes. 1 6.) Co-ordinates: M aximum Height:

25 0 28' 2 4"

and

8102 21 171 1

2 metres 1 .62 hectares

M aximum Area: P resent condition: Surface f inds: i n

BAHPDURPUR

P lanted with wheat and lentils.

Ceramics of Periods

I to I II

in abundance,

addition to waste f lakes of chalcedony . 1 7.)

BAHMAN KANTI

Co-ordinates:

2 5024'49" and

M aximum Height: M aximum Area:

5 m etres 1 .56 hectares

P resent condition: Surface

f inds:

81024

I 1 24 1

P lanted with wheat,

and badly e roded .

Large quantity of ceramics of 18.)

Co-ordinates:

1 1-1V

BAHMAN KANT I I I

25024'50" and 6 m etres 1 .80 hectares

M aximum Height: M aximum Area:

Periods

810241 371 1

P resent condition : B arren mound with modern H indu temple on top . Salination has rendered the soil useless, and also s everely d amaged S urface over

t he

f inds: mound ,

the pottery .

C eramics of

P eriod

but abundant 1 9.)

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight:

25 0 27'28"

IV were

i n gullies BARESA

and 8 10 1 9'06"

3 metres

167

thinly scattered

exposed by e rosion .

M aximum A rea:

2 .16 hectares

P resent condition:

Barren

mound.

S urface f inds: L arge quantities of M ediaeval pottery f ound a ll over the s ite ; ceramics of P eriod IV only i n the northe rn half. 20.)

2 5 0 24'46" and 8 10 2 m etres 3 .14 hectares

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight: M aximum Area: P resent i ng

condition :

s aline

Surface along

BARIAWAN

C ultivated

' "

with peas ,

but

also contain-

( usar) patches.

f inds:

Pottery belonging to Period

IV was

found

with brickbats . 2 1.)

2 5 0 43'57" and 8 1 015 6 metres 1 .60 hectares

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight: M aximum A rea: P resent western

BHERkWAN ' 40 "

condition: Apart f rom f ields of lentils on the s lope, t he mound i s b arren , and d amaged by s alt

Surface f inds:

Large quantities of ceramics of Period IV ,

badly d amaged by s alt. 2 2.)

condition :

Cultivated

barren northern s lope. Surface

f inds:

2 3

"

8 metres 5 .15 hectares

M aximum A rea: P resent

and 8 10 2 3'

250231 491 1

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight:

BIDAON

Modern

Ceramics of

with l entils , s hrine on

Periods

except

f or

the

top .

I II

and

IV scattered

thinly all over the mound, often obscured by the large quantity of Mediaeval and modern pottery also present. C hert f lakes were also f ound . 2 3.) Co-ordinates: M aximum Height: M aximum Area: P resent

condition :

CHP IK AILAI M IAZ

250231 1 0 1 1

and 8 1 024

'14 "

1 metre 1 .32 hectares Most

of

this

s ite has been destroyed

order to provide t he foundations f or i t. S alt damage i s also extensive .

168

a r oad

r unning

i n

a cross

S urface f inds: L arge quantity of pottery of P eriods I II and Iv can be picked up both f rom the r emaining mound and f rom t he f oundations of the road . 2 4.) 25035

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight: M aximum A rea:

1 18 t1

condition :

S urface

f inds:

Uncultivated ,

' 47 "

grassy

mound .

Large quantity of pottery of

wall

v isible

in

2 5.) Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight: M aximum Area: P resent

8 1 020

and

5 metres 1 .92 hectares

P resent

I II; brick mound.

CHP iK KHUDAGANJ

section near

the

I to

top of

the

CHPPAOHPN

25 0 30'03" and 8 1 028 5 metres 1 .95 hectares

condition:

P eriods

Barren mound ,

modern v illage and much r ecent

'30 "

partially covered by a

r efuse .

Surface f inds: Ceramics of Periods I II and IV were found , but were l argely obscured by r ecent remains . 26.) Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight: M aximu m A rea: P resent

CHIRWA

25 0 2 9'28 and 8 1 0 34 ' 37" 4 metres 2 .01 hectares "

condition:

The

northern

s lope

of

the

mound

is

planted with l entils, the r est i s barren . Surface f inds: C eramics of P eriod IV , and Mediaeval pottery and brickbats,

a ll

f ound

i n

27.) Co-ordinates: r ximum H eight: M aximum A rea:

l arge

quantities.

DARYAPUR

2 5 0 24'40" and 8 1 036 1 metre 1 .3 hectares

'00 "

P resent condition:

Planted with lentils and peas; pottery

often r emoved boundaries.

the

S urface

f rom

f inds:

and concentrated along

C eramics of all f our P eriods were found 28.)

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight:

f ields

DARYAPUR MAJJHIAWAN I

2 5031'08" 6 m etres

and 8 10 2 7'39"

1 69

f ield

M aximum Area:

3 .14 hectares

P resent

condition :

S urface

f inds:

southern half

P lanted with peas.

T he pottery of

the

i s

mostly r ecent ,

mound cera mics of

but a long the

Periods

I I

to

IV

were present. 2 9.)

DARYAPUR M JJHIAWAN I I

2 50 3 1'07"

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight: M aximum A rea:

and 81 0 27' 42"

1 .60 hectares

P resent condition: The s ite is so badly eroded that no mound c an now be d iscerned , only a d ense s catter of pottery i n a barren patch of land. S urface

f inds:

C eramics of P eriods 30.) 2502 41 331 1

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight:

IV .

D IH 1 and 8 1 035

'21 "

7 metres 3 .78 hectares

M aximum A rea: P resent

I II and

condition :

P lanted with lentils and peas .

Surface f inds: Dense scatter of pottery of Period IV , well as brickbats, terracotta ring-wells and flakes

as of

chalcedony. 3 1.)

FARAH MPUR KALESAR MAU

25 0 43'11"

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight:

and 8 1021156 1 1

1 metre . 42 hectares

M aximum Area:

P resent condition : P lanted with lentils Surface f inds: C eramics of P eriods I and 3 2.)

P resent S urface r ecent

f inds:

P lanted with lentils.

C eramics of

all

four periods,

were noticed . 3 3.)

Co-ordinates:

and 8 1026108 1 1

3 metres 1 .19 hectares

condition :

d iscards

FART DPUR PARSAKHI

25 0 38 '45"

Co-ordinates: M aximum Height: M aximum Area:

I I.

FAZLJBAD

2 5 0 26'15" and 8 1032 ' 09 "

1 70

as

well

as

M aximum H eight:

2 m etres

M aximum Area:

1 .26 hectares

P resent c ondition: S urface I II;

f inds:

P lanted with l entils

D ense scatter of ceramics of Periods

f lakes of

I to

c halcedony and chert . 34.)

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight:

GANGSARI

25 03 41 3 61 1

and 8 1 0 34 '51 "

5 metres 2 hectares

M aximum A rea:

P resent condition: i ts r ubbish dump . Surface f inds:

Mound occupied by a modern v illage and

Ceramics of Periods I II and IV ,

as well as

recent r efuse . 35.)

GARHI

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight:

2 5 0 24'35" 4 metres

M aximum Area:

I ndeterminable

P resent condition :

The

and 8 1017 115 v

mound has been v irtually obliterated

by present occupation, except for s erves as a prominent rubbish dump . Surface f inds: much

r ecent

C eramics of P eriods

top,

I II and

which

today

IV v isible among

refuse . 3 6.)

KA4PLPUR

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight:

2 5 0 42'06"

and 8 1 020

M aximum Area:

1 .65 hectares

P resent

i ts

condition:

This

is

the

'35 "

one

site

located by

the

survey where absolutely no mound was v isible. The ceramics came partly f rom recently ploughed f ields of wheat and partly f rom the excavation of a t ube-well. Surface

f inds:

C eramics of P eriods 37.)

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight: M aximum area: P resent condition : i ts

I II and

IV

KARA

2 5 0 41'56"

and

10 metres s ee below

i n s ection along the Ganga

Kara

which

r eflect

D elhi

Sultanate and the

81 02 21 091 1

i s noted f or

s tatus

as

i ts

a provincial

Mediaeval c apital

r emains , under

the

Mughals. The ruins of mosques and

171

tombs are found i n an area of several square k ilometres. E arly H istoric deposits on the other hand are confined to t he mostly h arren mounds between r ecent buildings a nd the G anga, where they c an be picked up i n l arge q uantities both on the surface and in sections. G iven the extent of later occupation the area covered by Early H istoric remains may well be u nderestimated Surface

f inds:

C eramics

northern end of the the na me . implies ca . 1 1th century P eriod

I I

of

P eriod

I occur

mound of Jaychand ka

only

Q u a

‚

at

the

which as

i s still crowned by a stone fortress of A .D ., over an area of 2 .8 hectares. I n

occupation

spread over

the rest of

the

mound and

to lower mounds to i ts north in an area totalling 1 2 hectares. In Periods I II and IV a much larger but lower mound to the east was also occupied , making a total of 22 hectares . In addition to pottery terracotta discs, ani mal f igurines , and votive tanks, as well as bead cores, worked s hell, and iron s lag were found . Extensive structural remains, i ncluding terracotta r ing-wells were also exposed i n section , while a large number of Early H istoric coins ( punchmarked , s ants. R eferences:

as

well

as

Cunningham ,

Kushan) have been

A .,

Report of

found by pea-

a Tour

in

the

Cen-

t ral

P rovinces and the Lower Doab 1 n T f-82, Si mla, 1 884 Fuhrer , A ., Monumental Antiquities and Ins criptions in the Northwest provinces and Oudh , Allahabad , 1891 I ndian Archaeology R eview , 1 977-78 -

38.)

KARARI

Co-ordinates:

25 0 27'11" and 8 10 2 5'32"

M aximum H eight: M aximum A rea:

4 metres ?

P resent condition :

Mound i s almost completely built u p ,

and

a lso contains recent r efuse . C eramics of P eriods I II and I V were found, but the area of Early Historic occupation cannot be determined . 3 9.) Co-ordinates:

2 5 0 20'30"

KAUSAMBI and

810231 3 0 1 1

This s ite refers to the remains of Period I found in area of 1 0 hectares i n the southeastern part of the f ortif ied area of K ausambi. I n P eriod I I occupation extended to the entire area between the riverbank and the Asokan pill ar , which covers 50 hectares, and according to Cunningham 's plan ( Cunningha m, 1871) was enclosed by an i nner l ine of f ortifications. I n Periods I II and IV the occupied

1 72

area

within t he

fortifications has

grown

to

1 50 and 200

hectares, respectively. For full description of Kausambi s ee c hapter 3 , as well as f igures 7 , 1 0 , 1 4 , and 1 7 . R eferences:

S harma ,

G .R .,

The

Excavations

5 9: The Defences and F us dha , Allahabad ,

a t

K ausambi

the Syenaciti 1 960 .

1 957-

of

the

S harma, G .R ., T he excavations at K ausambi 1 9495 0 , Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of I ndia, Number 74 7T 69). C unningham , A ., Four Reports Made during the y ears 1862-1863-1864-1865, S imla, 1 871. I ndian Archaeology a R eview, 1 953-54 to 1 9636 4 -

40.) Co-ordinates:

KAUSAMBI

2 5 0 20'30" and 8 1 022

' 42 "

This s ite r efers to the concentration of ceramics of P eriod I found i n t he southwestern corner of the l ater fort ified

area ,

covering

2 hectares .

Occupation ceases

i n

P e-

r iod I I but r eturns in Period I II, when the s ite is i ncluded i n the occupied area of the c ity of Kausambi ( Site 3 9). NB : S ites 4 1-48 are not counted s eparately , but i n d iscussi ons their areai r Tnc1uded in the total occupied area of Kausambi. 41.) Co-ordinates: M aximum Height: M aximum A rea: P resent

KAUSAMBI

25 0 20 '15" and 8 1 023 7 metres 3 2 hectares

condition :

S everal

mounds outside

corner of the fortified area, recent houses. Surface

f inds:

' 49 "

the

some ploughed,

Ceramics of Period

I II only ,

southeastern others under

but

in abun-

dance; terracotta beads and bangles, and cores of j asper and chalcedony were also found . 42.) Co-ordinates: M aximum Height: Maximum Area:

chert,

KAUSAMBI

2 5 0 20'53" and

81 02 31 5 41 1

7 metres 4 .3 hectares

P resent condition:

H igh, barren mounds connected by plou-

ghed f ield S urface finds:

Both the mounds and the ploughed f ield are

d ensely s trewn w ith brickbats, as well as with ceramics of P eriod I II. As the site is just outside the eastern gate,

173

i t

may have s erved as a guard-room c omplex ,

excavated

i n 1 957-59

( Sharma , 43.)

Maximum A rea: P resent condition : Surface

f inds:

hectares,

Ceramics of Period Period

mound . P ossibly another eastern gate.

j ust

the

4 .65 the

north-

81 023s 291 1

P lanted with lentils,

Ceramics of

P eriod

cut up by gullies.

IV in abundance;

brick

s ections cut by gullies 45.)

KAUSAMBI

Co-ordinates:

25 21'30" and 8 10 2 3

M aximum Height: Maximum Area:

5 metres 5 .58 hectares

P resent condition : f inds:

outside

over

4 metres 7 .25 hectares

walls exposed in

Surface

in an area of

c A usA ri

25 0 2 1'16" and

P resent condition : f inds:

I II

IV and brickbats all

guardtower

44.)

S urface

'52 "

P lanted with lentils

ceramics of

Co-ordinates: M aximum Height: M aximum Area:

to that

KAUSAMBI

2 50 2 1'11" and 8 1 023 3 metres 6 .8 hectares

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight:

s imilar

1 960)

' 2 0"

P lanted with wheat and lentils

Abundant

i n ceramics of

Periods

I II

a nd

IV ,

and partially occupied by a modern Jain temple . 46.)

KAUSAMBI

Co-ordinates: 25 0 2 1'08" and 8 1022130 1 1 M aximum H eight: 4 metres M aximum Area: . 77 hectares P resent condition : P lanted with wheat and lentils Surface were

f inds:

Both ceramics of

P eriod

f ound i n abundance 47.)

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight: M aximum A rea: P resent

condition :

KAUSAMBI

25 0 20'55" and

810221 291 1

3 metres 3 .8 hectares P lanted with lentils.

1 74

IV and

brickbats

Surface

f inds:

C eramics of

P eriods

I II

a nd

IV and b rickbat s

both i n abundance. Outside the western gate, another guardtower . 48.) 25 0 20'43"

C o-ordinates: M aximum H eight: M aximum A rea:

and possibly

KAUSAMBI and 8 1023126 1 1

5 metres 2 .01 hectares

P resent condition: l entils.

Partly overgrown,

partly planted with

Surface f inds: C eramics of Period IV and brickbats f ound i n abundance; just outside the western gate and possibly a guardtower. 49.) Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight: M aximum Area:

25 0 25

'

KESARI 3

5

MASARI

'/ 81 04 7' 4 8"

3 metres 1 .54 hectares

P resent condition: Planted with wheat and peas, disturbed by a modern cemetery . Surface f inds: C eramics of P eriod IV , and of Mediaeval date found in abundance, especially in the area d isturbed by graves. 50.) Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight: M aximum Area:

25 03 01 3 71 1

Surface

f inds:

Barren mound ,

C eramics of

f ound i n abundance;

lower

almost completely eroded

P eriods

I to

I II,

and brickbats

KOB I NAM

2 5 0 35'37" and 8 1 0 30'17" 6 metres 3 .8 hectares

P resent condition: i ts

'30 "

one terracota d isc was also picked

5 1.) Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight: Maximum Area:

and 8 1 026

1 .95 hectares

P resent condition :

were up.

KHAJUAPUR

The

mound is crowned by a mosque,

but

s lopes are planted with l entils.

Surface f inds: C eramics of P eriod IV and of Mediaeval date were f ound i n a bundance, along with r ecent r efuse f rom the surrounding v illage .

1 75

5 2.) 2 50 3 2'41"

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight:

P resent condition :

as

f inds:

C eramics of P eriod were 5 3.)

IV and of

f or earth .

Mediaeval date ,

i n abundance . KOTARI

25028149 1 1

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight: M aximum A rea:

P URAB

and 8 1024'01"

5 metres 2 .31 hectares

P resent

condition :

Surface

f inds: were

81 01 91 491 1

Barren mound r ecently mined

well as brickbats

brickbats

and

8 metres 3 .46 hectares

M aximum A rea:

S urface

KONDER

P lanted with lentils.

Ceramics of f ound among

Periods recent

I II and

r efuse .

To

IV as well as the

south and

east of the mound are e arthen embankments which a re have belonged to an

Early H istorical

f ort,

but

s aid to

no ceramics

were found either on the embankments or between them and the central mound . 5 4.)

M DHIA MAI

25 0 42'51" and 8 10 1 6'09" 5 metres 1 .21 hectares

Co-ordinates: M aximum Height: M aximum Area:

P resent condition:

Partly barren and partly planted with

l entils. Surface of

f inds:

C eramics of

P eriods

I I

to

IV ,

and

f ragments

with numerous

sections

wattle and daub were found . 5 5.) 25 03 01 4 51 1

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight: Maximum A rea: P resent

and

81 03 71 0 61 1

6-metres 4 .15 hectares

condition:

exposed by s evere Surface f inds:

MAHGAON

Barren

mound

e rosion .

C eramics of P eriods

I II and

in abundance. 5 6.) Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight: M aximum A rea:

25 0 20'27"

MAINHAI and

81 02 41 3 41 1

3 metres 3 .14 hectares

1 76

IV and brickbats

P resent c ondition: S urface f inds:

P lanted w ith l entils and peas

C eramics of P eriod IV were found everywhere ,

while those of P eriod I II only in the southern half of the s ite. During excavations in 1 963 many stone sculptures of the Mauryan and post- Mauryan period c ame to light, and roughly hewn sandstone blocks can still be seen. The s ite m ay therefore have been a s atellite of a community of c raftsmen . R eferences:

I ndian Archaeology 57.)

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight: M aximum A rea: P resent

-

a R eview

58.)

25 0 2 1'54" and 8 1 023 7 metres . 28 hectares Barren mound

Surface

C eramics of

f inds:

5 9.)

M aximum Area:

' 46 "

I II and

IV ,

and f rag-

' 46 "

P eriods

I II and

IV .

NIDAUPA

2 5 0 40'53" and 8 1019100 s 1 6 metres 2 .55 hectares

P resent condition: i ts

41-42.

MUSTAFABAD

P resent condition:

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight:

1 963-64:

P lanted with peas and lentils.

Surface f inds: Ceramics of Periods m ents of wattle and daub were f ound .

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight: M aximum A rea:

containing

M KHUPUR

2 5 0 24'12" and 8 1 037 3 metres 1 .02 hectares

condition :

K ausambi,

The top of the

mound is barren,

while

s lopes a re cultivated with wheat .

S urface f inds: A great deal of pottery from Period IV was found i n addition to M ediaeval c eramics and b rickbats . Due tp terracing a number of brick walls have been exposed in s ection , which , j udging f rom their position , may belong to Period IV . 60.) Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight: M aximum A rea:

PABAIYA

25 0 28 '54" and 8103 01 361 1 7 .5 metres 3 .8 hectares

P resent condition:

Terraced mound with barren top ,

s lopes a re planted with wheat and l entils.

177

whose

S urface f inds: C eramics of P eriod I V i n an a rea 1 60 metres i n d iametre ( 2 .01 hectares); ceramics of later periods all over the s ite. Due to terracing brick walls have been exposed

i n

s ections. 6 1.) 2 50 2 1'56"

Co-ordinates: M aximum height: M aximum Area: P resent

the

and 8 1019'25"

2 metres 2 .4 hectares

condition:

turbed by

PABHOSA

P lanted with

construction of

lentils,

a road

to

and badly d isthe

quarries

of

P abhosa hill. S urface

f inds:

C eramics of

Period

IV as

well as of

Mediae-

v al d ate . O n the hill of Pabhosa 1 km to the south caves of the Early Historic Period have been found , but no pottery i s associated with them . R eferences:

Fuhrer , A ., I nscriptions Oudh ,

The Monumental Antiquities and i n the Northwestern P rovinces and

Allahabad , 62.) 2502 8

Co-ordinates: M aximum Height: M aximum Area:

1891.

PURA KOTIA

1 22 1

and 8 1019'07"

3 metres 3 .46 hectares

P resent condition:

Partly overgrown,

partly planted with

l entils. Surface

f inds:

Ceramics of P eriods 63.)

I II and

IV and brickbats

PURAB SARIRA

Co-ordinates: 2 5 0 25'32" and 8 10 1 9' 30 " M aximum Height: 6 metres M aximum Area: 1 .62 hectares P resent condition : Partly barren and partly cultivated with wheat, Surface

and also u sed as a rubbish dump . f inds:

Ceramics of Periods

I II and IV ;

v illagers

have s truck brick walls i n d eep d igging , which they t radit ionally associate with the gates of Kausambi. This i s unl ikely ,

however,

as K ausambi 64.)

i s 16 km away f rom this s ite. SANAI

Co-ordinates:

2503 0

M aximum Height:

3 metres

M aximum A rea:

6 .75 hectares

P resent condition :

126 1

Barren ,

and 8 1 028

'03 "

badly eroded mound .

1 78

Surface end ;

f inds:

those of

C eramics of P eriods

P eriod

I I and 6 5.)

M aximum Area: condition :

the

eastern

SANJAITI

2 50 3 6'56" and 8 1 029 8 metres 9 .17 hectares

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight:

P resent

I only at

I II a ll over the s ite .

S everal

mounds,

'30 "

planted

with

wheat

and

l entils. Surface f inds:

Ceramics of Period I were found on a mound

southwest of the modern v illage. I n Period I I occupation spread to the mound west of the v illage . I n P eriods I II and IV occupation extended to a third mound to the west of the other two , and the same area was also occupied i n Mediaeval t imes. I ron s lag was noted. 66.)

25 0 38'52" and 8 10 1 6'

Co-ordinates: M aximum Height:

P resent condition :

due

f inds:

to this

to estimate throughout.

Thin scatter of pottery of a ll

the area occupied in each Period and

Co-ordinates: M aximum Height: M aximum Area:

i t

was

a ssumed

to have

four

P eriods;

was d ifficult

remained

unchanged

SAPAHP I

25 0 34'26" and 8 1 2 32 '28 " 4 metres 1 .65 hectares

condition:

covered by a modern Surface periods

"

P lanted with wheat and lentils.

67.)

P resent

05

1 metre 1 .8 hectares

M aximum Area:

Surface

s IN 1 cnA

Mound

partly

cultivated ,

and

partly

v illage .

f inds: In the exposed part sherds of all occured in abundance, in addition to some

four i ron

s lag , but whether occupation at any time extended to the now built-up a rea cannot be determined . 68.) Co-ordinates: M aximum Height: M aximum Area: P resent lower

SARSAWAN

2 5 0 27 48" and 8 10 1 6' 5 metres 1 .68 hectares

condition:

Top

of

the

5 7

mound

"

is barren,

but

its

s lopes a re cultivated with l entils and mustard s eeds.

1 79

Surface f inds: primarily on

Ceramics of P eriods I II and IV were found,

the

cultivated 6 9.)

Co-ordinates: P resent

s lopes .

SHAHZADPUR

2 50 3 9'15"

condition:

Like

and 8 10 2 5'00"

Kara,

Shahzadpur

i s a presently

i nsignificant v illage, surrounded by extensive Mediaeval r uins , which include a fort and several mosques built by S hah Jah n, all of them in a dreadful state of neglect. Amidst all the Mediaeval pottery cera mics of Periods I II and

IV were

v illage ,

but

f ound ,

e specially a long the northern end of the

the extent of occupation cannot be 7 0.)

Co-ordinates: M aximum H eight: M aximum A rea:

Surface

f inds:

Barren

Co-ordinates: M aximum Height: M aximum A rea:

P eriods

I I to

IV

TIWARIPUR

25043'47" and 8 1022'36" 3 metres 2 .16 hectares

P resent condition : f inds:

'24 "

mound

C eramics of 7 1.)

Surface

SUKHDA

2 50 3 2'07" and 8 1 035 6 metres 1 .8 hectares

P resent condition :

measured .

P lanted with wheat and lentils.

C eramics of

P eriod

I V ,

and of

the

M ediaeval

P eriod 7 2.) 25 0 27'59"

Co-ordinates: M aximum Height: M aximum Area: P resent

UDH T TU and 8 1032137v

7 metres 3 .46 hectares

condition :

P lanted with peas and lentils .

. .

S ) , lrface

f inds:

Ceramics

of

Period

IV

r emains all over the site.

180

found

among

later

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209

ited above, b rief excavation I n addition to the works c ites l isted below i n the r eports are available f or the s rchaeology a R eview ( name o f f ollowing i ssues o f I ndian A e xcavator i n parentheses): -

Ahicchatra : Ayodhya:

( N .R . Bannerjea) 1963-4;

( A .K . Narain ,

B alirajgarh :

( R .

1 964-65 ( with plan).

B .B. L al) 1 969-70;

S ingh,

B .P .

S inha)

1 976-77;

1 962-3

1 979-80 .

( with

plan);

1 972-73; 1 974-5; B esnagar :

( M .D . K hare) 1 963-64;

1 964-65;

1 965-66;

1 975-76 ;

1 976-77. Bharadwaj

Ashram:

( B .B .

Lal

and

K .N .

D ikshit)

1 978-79;

1 981-82. c hampa:

( B.P . S inha) 1969-70 to 1 976-77 .

c handraketugarh :

( K .G .

t hirand :

( B .P .

1 972-73;

1 980-81;

E ran:

G oswami)

S inha)

1 962-63;

1 956-57 1 963-64 ;

t o

1 966-67 .

1 964-65;

1 968-69

t o

1 981-82 .

( K .D . Bajpai) 1 960-61 to 1 964-65.

H ulas:

( K .N . D ikshit) 1 978-79 to 1 983-84.

J ajmau:

( R .C .

S ingh)

1956-57;

1 957-58 ;

1 974-75;

1 975-76;

J akhera :

( K .A . N izami) 1974-75; 1975-76 .

K ampil:

( K .K .

S inha)

1 975-76.

K anauj:

( K .K .

S inha)

1955-56.

K ankarbagh: K atragarh :

( B .K . Thapar) ( S.R .

1 973-74;

1 970-71.

Roy) 1975-76 to 1 979-80.

K ausambi(Ghositarama): K hairadih :

1 968-69;

1 976-77 .

( G .R .

S harma)

( K .K . S inha) 1 981-82;

L al Q u a ( R .C . Gaur): N arain)

1 968-69;

1 955-56

1 982-83; 1 983-84. 1 969-70 .

M saon :

( R .B .

t 4 athura:

( M .C . Joshi) 1 954-55; 1 973-74 to 1 976-77.

P iprahwa-c nwaria:

1 964-65;

1 953-54 to

( K .M .

1 965-66 ;

S rivastava)

2 10

1 967-68 ;

1 970-71

t o

1 970-71 .

1 976-77 .

R ajgir:

( D .P. P atil, A .C . Bannerjee) 1 953-54;

p lan) 1 957-58 ; 1 958-59 1 962-63; 1 974-75. S anghol: S onpur: 1 970-71 S arai

( R .S . ( B.P .

Mohana:

Son i ch:

B isht) S inha)

( with p lan);

1 968-69 1 956-57;

to

1 961-62

1 971-72;

1 959-60;

1 977-78 ; 1 960-61;

( with

section);

1 980-81. 1 961-61;

( A.K . Narain) 1967-68.

( H . Haertel) 1 966-67 to 1 972-73.

S ringaverpur: 8 4.

( B.B .

Tamluk:

( M .N .

t shpande,

T ripuri:

( K .D . Bajpai) 1 965-66 to 1970-71.

U jjain:

1 954-55 ( with

( N .R .

Lal and K .N .

B annerjee)

S .K .

D ikshit)

Mukherjee)

1 955-56

to

1978-79

1954-55;

1 957-58 ;

211

to 1 983-

1 973-74 .

1 964-65.