Material culture and state system
better methods of cultivation in
 Conquest opened doors for
trading and missionary activities
 Spread of the material culture of
Gangetic basin to peripheries of
the empire. Characterized by:
o Extensive use of iron
o Plenty of punch-marked
coins
o NBPW pottery
o Intro of burnt bricks
o Ring wells
o Rise of towns in NE India
 Easy to access to rich iron ores
of south Bihar -> socketed axes,
sickles, ploughshare
 Arms and weapons were
monopoly of the Mauryan state,
but not other iron tools
 Burnt bricks used for the first in
NE India
 Houses made of both burnt
bricks and timber
 Wooden structure at Patliputra
 Logs of wood used as defence
against foreigners.
 Burnt bricks made it possible to
have lasting and large
structures -> flowering of towns
 Rings wells appeared for the
first time in Gangetic plains ->
supply water for domestic us->
no longer imp to have
settlements on river banks
o served as soak-pits in
congested settlements
 elements transferred to northern
Bengal, Kalinga, Andhra and
KN with modifications:
o Mahasthana inscription
in Bogra (Bangladesh) in
Maurya Brahmi -> NBPW
o Sisupalgarh in OD ->
NBPW and iron
implements and punch-
marked coins
 Art of steelmaking -> steel
objects found in min Gangetic
plains -> jungle clearance and
Kalinga -> rise of Cheti
Kingdom
 State formation in peninsular
India came from Mauryas
o Chetis in OD
o Satavahanas in Deccan
o Chera, Cholas and
Pandyas
o People of Tamraparni or
SL lived on the fringes of
the Mauryan empire
 Process of spread of material
culture
o Kautilya: new setllements
should be founded with
the help of cultivators
and shudra labourers
o New peasants allowed
tax remission, supplied
with inputs to start
cultivation
 Ashoka launched a deliberate
and systematic policy of
acculturation.
o Tribal and other ppl
would take to the habit of
settled ppl, taxpaying,
peasant society, respect
for paternal power, royal
ath
Causes of decline
 Brahmanical domination:
Ashoka’s dhamma and
probhibition of killing of birds
and animals and discourging
rituals affected the income of
brahmins -> rise of Brahamincal
kingdoms on the ruins of ME:
Shungas and Kanvas,
Satavahanas
 Financial crisis: expenditure
on army and bureaucracy; largs
grants made to Buddhist monks
by Ashoka
 Oppressive rule: disturbances
in Taxila during Bindusara’s
 reign against the misrule of
bureaucrats (dushtamatyas);
Ashoka introduced rotation of
officers in Kalinga, Ujjain and
Taxila to counter this -> failed
attempts
 New knowledge in outlying
areas: Magadh lost its spcl
advantage -> regular use of iron
tools and weapons in peripheral
provinces -> new kingdoms
 Neglect of NWF and Great
Wall of China: danger of
Scythians (nomads from Central
Asia) -> Chinese ruler Shih
Huang Ti (247-210 BC)
constructed Great Wall of China
-> forced Parthians, Shakas and
Greeks to move towards India
 Finally destroyed by
Pushyamitra Shunga in 185
BC (general of Last Mauryan
ruler, Brihadratha; a brahmana);
Shungas ruled in Pataliputra
and Central India; revived vedic
practices and brahamanical way
of life; persecuted Buddhists ->
succeeded by Kanvas (also
Brahamans)
CRAFTS, TRADE and TOWNS IN
THE POST-MAURYA AGE
Crafts
 Sakas, Kushanas, Satvahanas
(200 BC to 200 CE) and first
Tamil states saw the most
flourishing pd for cradts and
commerce
 Remarkable growth
 Digha Nikaya (pre-Mauryan
text) mention 2 dozen
occupations
 Mahavastu (this pd) mentions
36 occupations
 Milind Panho mentins 75
occupatios
 Craftsmen inhabited both towns
and villages
 Mining and metallurgy
o 8 crafts assoc. with gold,
silver, copper, lead, tin,
brass, iron and precious
stones
o Mention of various kinds
of brass, zinc, antimony
and red arsenic
o Telangana region show
the richest specimens of
iron artefacts
o Karimnagar and
Nalgonda in Telangana
show evidence of various
kinds of tools
o Indian iron and steel
exported to Abyssian
ports
 Clot making
o Incl. silk weaving and
making of arms and
luxury goods
o Mathura famous for
shataka (a kind of cloth)
o Dyeing in south Indian
towns -> dyeing vats in
Uraiyur (TN) and
Arikamedu
o Increase in manufacture
of oil due to use of oil
wheel
 Luxury articles included ivory
work, glass manufacture and
bead-cutting
o Thriving shell industry
o Ivory objects in
Satvanahan sites in
Deccan
o Roman glass objects in
Taxila and Afghanistan
o Beginning of CE:
knowledge of glass-
blowing reached india
and attained its peak
 Coin minting
 o Coins made of gold, connected with Silk
silver, copper, bronze, Route
lead and potin o 2nd route called
o Coin moulds found in uttarapatha
north and Deccan  Trade b/w India and Roman
 Manufacture of terracotta empire not in articles of daily
o In almost all Kushan and use; articles of aristocratic
Satavahana sites necessities
o Largest nos found in  First started trade with southern
Yelleshwaram in most India -> Tamil kingdoms
Nalgonda distt have their earliest coins
o Meant for use of upper  Romans imported spices,
classes in towns muslin, pearls, jewels, precious
o With the decline of towns stones, iron goods (cultery,
in Gupta and post-Gupta plants and plat products
times, such terracottas  Silk from China to Roman
declined empire through Silk Route
 Guilds o Disrupted by Parthians ->
o Around 2 dozen guilds silk diverted to western
o Confined to Mathura Indian ports
region and to the western  Romans exported wine, wine-
Deccan which lay on imp amphorae and pottery
trade routes (discovered at Tamluk in WB
o Devotees of Buddha and Arikamedu)
deposited money with  Lead imported from Romans
guilds of potters, oil  Roman goods have not been
millers and weavers in discovered in any good nos in
exchange of necessities north India
for monks o Kushans traded with
 Thriving trade between India eastern Roman empire
and eastern Roman empire (because of the conquest
o In the beginning, trade of Mesopotamia in
via land -> disrupted by 115CE)
the Central Asian o Begram (near Kabul):
contacts large glass jars made in
o Since 1st CE, carried on Italy, Egypt and Syria
sea  Arretine pottery found in south
 Knowledge of India, not found anywhere else
monsoon  Satavahanas accrued most of
o Ports such as Broach the profit from Roman trade
(the most flourishing) and (most of the trade was mostly
Sopara in the W and south of Vindhayas ruled by
Arikamedu and Satavahanas and further south)
Tamralipti in the E 
o 2 routes used by Sakas
and Kushans from the
NW frontier to the
western sea coast ->
converged at Taxila and