An Introduction to the Study of Indian History.

by Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi

Review by: Brijen K. Gupta
The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 19, No. 4 (Aug., 1960), pp. 482-483
Published by: Association for Asian Studies
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2943621 .
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482 JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES
menianmonarchs. In Ashoka'stime,as in pre- quite understand theAsiaticmodeof produc-
cedingmillennia,India was readyto borrow tion. By combiningimaginationwith ethno-
fromotherAsiancultures. As Wheelerputsit graphic,epigraphic, numismatic, and literary
in his finalparagraph: evidencehe has givenus a volumewhichis at
* . . on theonehandIndianprehistory ... dis- onceprofound and provocative.
plays,liketheIndianlandscape, wideexpanses of Europeanhistorical tradition, declaresKos-
uniformity: a monotonous andinterminable Palae- ambi, is hardlyof benefitin reconstructing
olithic, a diffuse centuries
Microlithic, of Indus Indian history.India has no histories,no
Civilization, centuriesof GangesCivilization,chronicles, butmanymyths. The onlychronide
leaguesofMegaliths. Buton theotherhand,again worthits saltis R?jatrahgi l, whichtellsvery
liketheIndianlandscape, thismonotony is broken littleabouteventspriorto theseventh century.
by suddenchangesand heights; everand anon Unsystematic diggingbeingcarriedoutbyvari-
Indialeapsfromitssleepand graspsnewideas, ous Indiancolleges
withquickand prehensile in- and universities has wors-
new opportunity,
telligence. ened thestateofIndian archaeology. Epigraphic
and numismatic findings, thoughvaluableat
Ihis shortbookaccomplishes much.It gives places,are notsufficient in themselves.
but littledetailof the different culturesde- In thesecircumstances the Indian historian
scribed, citingonlysuchpointsas seemcrucial must"concentrate uponsuccessive developments,
totheauthor.It thusprovides an outlinerather in chronological order,in themeansand rela-
thana fullpicture,an intelligent and illumi- tionsof production" (p. 6). And sincecultural
natingsummaryof our presentknowledge, changeis a reflex ofeconomicdevelopment we
competent and welcometo students of Indian mustadd thedimension ofethnography to our
culturesand civilizations. historical
methods(pp. 7-8). In Indiastoneage
W. NORMAN BROWN rubselbowswithatomicage. Primitive social
University ofPennsylvania and economic clusters survivesidebysidewith
An Introduction to the Studyof IndianHis- all the civilizedinstitutions of the Hindu so-
tory.By DAMODAR DHARMANANDKOSAMBI. ciety.This can be seenin thetechnique of the
Bombay:PopularBook Depot, 1956.lix, Poona potters whichis identicalwiththetech-
384.64 plates,47 linedrawings. Rs. 18/I2. nique used by the Indus Valley people4000
yearsago,and thesocialsystem of thePardhis
(paper).
whichhasundergone verylittle,ifany,change.
In thelast decadean amazinglylargenum- This reviewer acceptsKosambi'sreconstruc-
ber of volumes,monographs as well as com- tionof theIndusValleyhistory. The civiliza-
pendiums,on Indian historyhave appeared. tiongrewin thedesert;it useddam irrigation,
Unfortunately a majorityof themare monu- and harrowcultivation. The questionmaybe
mentsto a patheticill-digestion of historical
asked thatif it did growin a desertclimate
method.Amongthecontemporary Indianhis-
what the necessity was forburnt-bricks, how
toriansthereseemsto be a conscious attempt to
the brickswere fired,and why some of the
glorify India'spast,and if thisorientation con-
seals depictanimalswhich could have been
tinuesIndologymayverywellbecomea mean-
seenonlyin forests. Kosambiarguesthatthe
inglesspanegyric.
brickswere firedupstreamand thenfloated
Kosambi'sbook is a welcomereliefin this
atmosphere of intellectualobscurantism. The downtheriver.Thisis quiteprobable. Deodhar
authoris nota historian by profession; he is a beamswere,indeed,broughtfromupstream.
mathematician on the facultyof the Tata In- And theabsenceofburnt-brick housesat places
stitute ofFundamental Research.He has at his awayfromthecourseoftheriverstrongly sug-
command a knowledge of severalIndian and geststhatbricksmay have been fired upstream.
Europeanlanguages.As a disciplined natural Kosambi'sassumptionthat the depictionof
scientisthe knowsthe value of brevityand tigers,rhinoceros and water-buffaloes, usually
facts.He confesses to beinga Marxist,but he foundin well-watered forestregions,on the
rejectsMarxistorthodoxy. India,he says,never Indus seals was the resultof totemsof pre-
passedthrough a stageofslavery,nordid Marx agricultural levelis arguable,if notacceptable.

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BOOK REVIEWS 483
In the opinionof thisreviewerthe failureof Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations,
theIndus peopleto build up defenseforcesin- thoughtheyshareda commoneconomicand
dicatesthatthesepeoplewere not accustomed technologicalbackground,achieveddivergent
to hunting,and, hence,to forests. This maybe forms.If the processof Indian historywereas
anotherargumentin favorof Kosambi. simpleas Kosambi'slip-service Marxismwould
We findconvincinghis view thatdasa was tendto makeout,thenour authorshouldhave
nota chattelslave,and thatthe rigidityin the been able to explainthe characterof theecon-
castesystemdevelopedwiththebreakdownof omybetweenthecollapseof Indus cultureand
Indian cash economy.Kosambi is perhapsthe riseofMauryas.Certainly we knowtheceramic
firstwriterto equatevrataswithanimaltotems, stylesofthisperiodand yetnothingof itsecon-
and this also is convincingon the basis of omy. Marxismalso failshim when he is un-
philologicalevidence. anycogenteconomicreasonfor
able to attribute
Kosambi seems to be obsessed with the thefailureof the Indianeconomyto developa
Morgan-Engelsthesis that group marriage, bourgeoischaracterafterthe Mauryanempire.
matriarchy, and matrilineardescentpreceded An old-fashionedMarxist overestimation of
patriarchy.It is veryeasyfora Marxistto con- economicforcesin a societymissestheindivid-
fuseextendedlibertinism in somesocietieswith ualityof a culturethatis distinctively its own,
promiscuity or groupmarriage.His explanation and which is the productof ideas and non-
of the originand development of caste seems economicfactors.
hardlysatisfactory. The conceptof dasa and The two most glaring weaknessesof the
the development of guilds may explaincleav- book are inadequatetreatment of Indianlitera-
ages in the Hindu society,but failsto explain tureand philosophy, and toolittlediscussionof
thegrowthofthousandsofendogamousgroups the Muslim and Britisheras. His conceptof
in India. The information that Indians knew feudalismfromabove seems misleading.The
the use of iron in iooo B.C. is by no means asserdonthatin the Gupta periodtherewere
well established. Coghlan'sview in Prehistoric no landlordsbecause the Amarakofahas no
and EarlyIron in the Old Worldis at besta wordforthemshowshow a good linguistcan
guess. go to pieceswithill-digested speculations. It is
In sayingthathis "introduction" is a Marxist farfromcertainthatthetermsgramani,grim-
interpretation of Indian history,Kosambi, I ika,gramadhipati, and gramakiita onlyindicate
think,is tryingto shockhis Westernreaders. a class of government in the opinion
officials;
It is truethatat timeshe is obsessedwithcer- of this reviewertheyalso indicatehereditary
tain Marxianideas,as in the social growthof landowners.
patriarchy fromgroupmarriage,but he seems Kosambi'sbook,however,is mostchalleng-
to be much more in the traditionof Gordon ing. It will be criticisedby specialistsand lay
Childe. Kosambi attributesto Marx a domi- readersalike,but no one will fail to be fasci-
natinginfluence becauseof his interest in eco- natedbywhathe has to say.The bookdeserves
nomichistory and theIndian mode of produc- thewidestpossibledistribution. It is regrettable
tion, and the need of surplusto achieve an thatonlya dozen librariesin thiscountry have
urbanrevolution. But whenKosambibeginsto this book. Kosambi has initiateda greatdia-
talk of institutional frameworks that are not logue on the courseof Indian history. It is the
economic,he fallsshortof Marxism.At times dutyof studentsofIndian history to contribute
he appearsto me to be as much interested in to thisdialogue.
Malinowski'sfunctionalism as in the Marxian BRIJEN K. GUPTA
ideas of economicintegration. In his recon- SouthernIllinoisUniversity
struction of thehistoryofMagadhahe seemsto
Reformin India. By
imply that economic determinismwas sub- A Centuryof Social
sumedundergeographical S. NATARAJAN. Bombay:Asia Publishing
determinism. Frank-
fortin his Birth of Civilizationin the Near House, 1959. XX,208. Bibliography, Index.
East has convincinglyestablishedthe inade- $3.25.
quacyof technological and economicmodelsin Duringthe nineteenth centurya greattrans-
explainingthe behaviorof civilizations.The formation cameoverthelifeofIndia. Its politi-

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