IGNOU BHIC-103-full-textbook

BHIC-103
HISTORY OF INDIA-II
School of Social Sciences

Indira Gandhi National Open University
Maidan Garhi, New Delhi
EXPERT COMMITTEE
Prof. Kapil Kumar (Convenor) Prof. Makhan Lal
Chairperson Director
Faculty of History Delhi Institute of Heritage
School of Social Sciences Research and Management
IGNOU, New Delhi New Delhi
Prof. P.K. Basant Dr. Sangeeta Pandey
Faculty of Humanities and Languages Faculty of History
Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi School of Social Sciences
Prof. D. Gopal IGNOU, New Delhi
Director
SOSS, IGNOU, New Delhi
COURSE PREPARATION TEAM
Unit no. Course Writer Unit No. Course Writer
1 & 2 Prof. Suchandra Ghosh, Dept. of History, 10 Dr. Sanghamitra Rai Verman,
University of Calcutta, Kolkata Assistant Professor of History,
3* Dr. Rajan Gurukkal, University of Delhi
Professor and Director, School of Social
11 Dr. Richa Singh
Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University,
Ph.D. from Centre for Historical Studies,
Kottayam, Kerala
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Prof. H. P. Ray (retired),
12*** Dr. Vishwamohan Jha
Centre for Historical Studies,
ARSD College, University of Delhi
School of Social Sciences,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Dr. R. Champakalakshmi,
Formerly Professor of History,
Prof. Raghava Varier
Department of History, University of Calicut,
Kerala
15&17 Dr. Avantika Sharma,
4& 13 Ms. Joeeta Pal,
Assistant Professor,
Ph.D. Scholar, Centre for Historical Studies,
Indraprastha College for Women,
University of Delhi
5& 8 Dr. Sayantani Pal
16 Dr. Suchi Dayal
Associate Professor, Dept. of Ancient Indian
Academic Consultant, Faculty of History,
History & Culture, University of Calcutta,
Kolkata
IGNOU, New Delhi
6 Dr. Vinayak,
18 Dr. Abhishek Anand
Assistant Professor,
Academic Consultant,
Indraprastha College for Women,
Faculty of History,
University of Delhi.
7& 14 Dr. Oly Roy, IGNOU, New Delhi
Assistant Professor of History,
Amity University, Noida
9** Prof. B. D. Chattopadhyaya (retd.),
Dr. Bhupesh Chandra
History Department, Meerut College, Meerut;
Dr. Vishwa Mohan Jha
History Department, ARSD College
Delhi University
*This Unit has been adopted from EHI-02 (India: Earliest Times to 800 A.D.), Block 7 (State and Society in South India: 200
B.C. to 300 A.D.), Units 27 (Early State Formation in Deccan) and 28 (Early State Formation in South India {Tamilaham}).
** This Unit has been adopted from EHI-02 (India: Earliest Times to 800 A.D.), Block 8 (Indian Polity: c. 300-800 A.D.), Unit
35 (Kingdoms in the Deccan and the South).
***This Unit has been adopted from MHI-05 (History of Indian Economy), Block 3 (Early Medieval Economy and its
Continuities), Units 11 (Organization of Agricultural and Craft Production: North India, c. AD 550- c. AD 1300) and 13
(Organization of Agricultural and Craft Production, Regional Profiles of Agrarian Society, Nature of Stratification: South India)
COURSE COORDINATOR
Prof. Nandini Sinha Kapur
IGNOU, New Delhi
COURSE TEAM
Prof. Nandini Sinha Kapur
Dr. Suchi Dayal
Dr. Abhishek Anand
CONTENT, FORMAT AND LANGUAGE EDITING

Prof. Nandini Sinha Kapur Cover Design
Dr. Suchi Dayal Mr. Sandeep Maini
Dr. Suchi Dayal
Dr. Abhishek Anand
IGNOU, New Delhi
PRINT PRODUCTION
Mr. Tilak Raj Mr. Yashpal Kukreja
Assistant Registrar (Publication) Assistant Registrar (Publication)
MPDD, IGNOU, New Delhi MPDD, IGNOU, New Delhi
July, 2020
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Contents
Course Introduction Page Nos.

BLOCK 1 INDIA : 200 BCE TO 300 CE 11
Unit 1 The Sungas and Kushanas 13
Unit 2 Emergence of Regional Powers 30
Unit 3 Early State Formation in Deccan and Tamilakam 45
Unit 4 Agrarian Settlements and Agrarian Societies : 62
Peninsular India
Unit 5 Trade Networks and Urbanization 76
BLOCK 2 GUPTAS AND POST-GUPTA STATE AND SOCIETY 91

Unit 6 Rise of Guptas : Economy, Society and Polity 93
Unit 7 Post-Gupta Kingdoms in North India 108
Unit 8 Harsha and the Rise of Kanauj 119
Unit 9 Kingdoms in the Deccan and South 131
BLOCK 3 TRANSITION TO EARLY MEDIEVAL INDIA 143

Unit 10 Trade and Urbanization 145
Unit 11 Status of Women 156
Unit 12 Crafts and Craftpersons 169
Unit 13 Religions and Religious Practices 183
BLOCK 4 CULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS 197

Unit 14 Languages and Literature 199
Unit 15 Sculpture and Architecture 215
Unit 16 Science and Technology 238
Unit 17 Economy and Trade 253
Unit 18 Environment, Forests and Water Resources 268
GUIDELINES FOR STUDY OF THE COURSE
In this Course, we have followed a uniform pattern for presenting the learning
material. This starts with an Introduction to the Course, underlining significant
developments in a chronological order and covering four major themes divided
into 18 Units. For the convenience of study, all the Units have been presented
with a uniform structure. Objectives as the first section of the Unit have been
included to help you find what are you expected to learn from the study of the
Unit. Please go through these objectives carefully and keep reflecting and checking
them after studying few sections of the Unit. Introduction of the Unit presents to
you the subject-area covered and guides you to the way the subject-matter is
presented. These are followed by the main subject discussed through sections
and sub-sections for ease of comprehension. In between the text, some Check
Your Progress Exercises have been provided. We advise you to attempt these as
and when you reach them. These will help you assess your study and test your
comprehension of the subject studied. Compare your answers with the answer
guidelines provided after the Summary. The Key Words and unfamiliar terms
have been appended to the Unit. At the end of each Unit under Suggested Readings
we have also provided a list of books and references. These include sources
which are useful or have been consulted for developing the material for the
concerned Unit. You should try to study them.
COURSE INTRODUCTION
History is very relevant for society. It is just not limited to understanding the
past. It is about the present too. History studies changes that a culture, society or
country goes through. No culture is static. Cultures change; they go through
many transformations. Some of the changes are so slow and gradual that they
become apparent only later, when we study history. The advantage of history is
that it affords us the long term view. It becomes possible to appreciate changes
which are so minor that they appear insignificant to most people. However, such
changes when looked from the perspective of the long term, allow us to understand
how modern world has emerged over long centuries of development, how kings
and queens have shaped centuries, how ordinary men and women have toiled
and brought changes in their lives. Thus history is not only about the lives and
activities of the elite but also of the ordinary men and women, children and other
genders who have contributed as much to the society as kings and queens have.
History is not only about political events, it is about everything that happens in
society. Not only the extraordinary but also the mundane will be a subject of
study in the present course. We should realize that what appears to be insignificant,
unexciting in the first instance may hold the key to understanding changes of
enormous significance.
The Course on Ancient Indian history (History of India II) that you are going to
study is divided into four Themes. Each Theme consists of a number of units.
Each theme is intended to introduce to you a major concern or period which may
be considered as significant in the context of the history of the ancient period of
our country. The present course on History of India II (BHIC-103), starts with
the post-Mauryan period since the history prior to that was covered in History
of India I (BHIC- 101). The Mauryan period had profound impact on the history
of the post-Mauryan period. Although the political power of one region or one
ruling family over the Indian sub-continent came to an end, it did not mean
decline or set-back for the society as a whole. On the other hand, the empire had
initiated processes of change in many regions, and these processes of change
reached a level of maturity in the post-Mauryan period. The First Theme of this
course is a broad one which deals with such changes. The first two Units deal
with the some new features which became part of the political history of north
India. Population movements across Central Asia had direct impact on the political
situation in the north and north-west India. The Bactrian Greeks, Scythians,
Parthians and later Kushanas moved into the north and north-west India from
Central Asia. They soon became a part of the population of the Indian sub-
continent. They made the political map of northern India in the post-Mauryan
period vastly different from the political map of Mauryan India. Unit 3 discusses
the peninsular India which included both the Deccan and the extreme south,
where the first rulers were local kings and some important families, like those of
the Maharathis, who started mining their own coins from about the second century
BCE. The first organized state in the Deccan, however, was built by the
Satavahanas. In the far south, in the area represented by the present-day Tamil
Nadu and Kerala, an identical change did not take place in this period. In the
different regions of the south, power was wielded by chiefs who are known to us
from poems written in their praise by bards. Among them the chiefs of the Cholas,
the Pandyas and the Cheras were like kings who commanded immense agricultural
resources and profits from trade. The society of Tamilaham was going through
changes and cannot be considered a society with a single structure. There were
major differences between different sub-regions of the far south. These differences
were expressed, in the early Tamil poems, in the different styles of life followed
in different sub-regions in Tamilaham. The different sub-regions like hilly areas,
river-valleys, coastal areas, grasslands were viewed as representing different tinais
(eco-zones) in the early Tamil poem collections known as Sangam. They refer to
big chiefs like the Cholas, The Cheras and the Pandyas who were controlling the
river valleys where agrarian settlements were expanding (Unit 4) and also the
coastal ports which were becoming prosperous because of lucrative trade. The
contacts between different regions was maintained through trade and other means
which became more intense in this period. This is the main subject which is dealt
with in Unit 5. The Indian sub-continent as a whole developed links with Central
Asia, parts of Western Asia, the Mediterranean world including north Egypt, and
to some extent with Southeast Asia and China. These links were not limited to
importing and exporting goods for trade only; they also meant movements of
people and ideas. Towns and cities which had originated much earlier, reached
their most prosperous phase.
Theme II is focussed mainly on the political history of both north India and
peninsular India from the beginning of the fourth century to the eighth century
CE. We have already learnt that a number of ruling families emerged in the
post-Mauryan period. This points to the fact that more and more areas were
experiencing the emergence of local states which were represented by local ruling
families. Secondly, when a large state structure emerged, these small local states
either lost their separate existence or they continued as subordinates within large
states. One such large state structure which began to emerge from the beginning
of the fourth century CE was that of the Guptas. In Unit 6 you will read about the
political and other aspects of the history of the Gupta period. Certain key features
such as the administrative, economic and social aspects of the Gupta period will
be addressed. In the post-Gupta period, a number of new political powers emerged
in different parts of north India (Unit 7 & 8). They may give the impression that
political authority was very fragmented and this was the result of the weakening
of the central authority. However, viewed from a different angle, one realizes
that the formation of new political powers was a continuous process in early
Indian history. Further many powers like the Gurjara-Pratiharas or the kingdom
of Harsha lasted for more than a generation. They were more stable, they had
their bases in the regions in which they emerged and in many cases they marked
the beginning of the political identity of a region or a sub-region. In Unit 9, you
will be reading about the kingdoms that emerged in peninsular India in the post-
Satavahana period. Here too you will notice that the minor ruling families
gradually became subordinates to the powers of the Pallavas of coastal Tamil
Nadu and the Chalukyas of Badami in north Karnataka. The basis of Pallava and
Chalukya power were important political sub-regions, respectively in Tamil Nadu
and Karnataka.
Theme III will address the changes that has started taking shape in the Gupta
and the post-Gupta period. You will learn how these changes may together be
taken to mark the beginning of a new period in Indian history. Historians have
come to think that the ancient phase of Indian history was drawing to a close
now, and the period, approximately between the sixth century and the eighth
century, may be considered to mark the beginning of the early medieval phase.
You will notice that the change from one phase of history to another was not
simply a matter of change from one ruling family to another or even a change
from an imperial power like the Guptas to the rise of comparatively insignificant
local states. This was a change which gave new shape to various spheres of life:
political, economic, social, religious and so on. Political authority had their base
in the control of land. The grants of land by kings created a strata of landholders
who also came to wield political control in their areas. A new kind of polity
emerged in which it was not only the king who was the symbol of political
authority, but different types of political authorities also laid claim to a share in
political power. Land grants to brahmanas, temples and other beneficiaries point
to major changes in the agrarian and revenue systems. The decline of trade and
urbanization (Unit 10 & 12) also put considerable strain on the economy which
was essentially dependent on resources from land. Of-course there was a revival
of trade towards the end of the first millennium CE. The decline of trade and
urban centers is the subject of a lively debate among scholars who either see this
period as one of feudalism and decay, or conversely, one of dynamism. Agriculture
expanded between 7-13 centuries CE. The improvement in agriculture and the
expansion of sedentary settlements through land grants of villages resulted in
the cultivation of cash crops which in turn created favourable conditions for the
development of agro-based crafts and industries. Examples of these were making
of sugar candy and molasses, textiles, salt, edible oil, iron implements etc. A lot
more effort is needed to clarify the nature of dynamism of early medieval economy,
but what is known is enough to belie the obstinate image of an unchanging East
or medieval stagnation. Society was also going through important changes. The
post-Gupta period adversely affected the position of women (Unit 11). Women
on the whole suffered as far as their status and standing in the society is concerned.
The ideal woman was perceived as one who was chaste, loyal and fulfilled her
stridharma and pativratadharma. She was devoted to her husband, practiced
monogamy even though her husband kept many wives or visited a courtesan for
pleasure. The period concerned was patriarchal and deeply ingrained virtues of
chastity, purity and loyalty applied to women more than men. Religious changes,
which were taking shape in an earlier period, manifested themselves in many
forms. The orthodox Brahamanical order in addition to the continuing the tradition
of Vedic sacrifices and Vedic learning for which it was given land grants on an
extensive scale, included the Vaishnava and Saiva orders (Unit 13). Together,
the different groups, practising a wide variety of religious rituals and beliefs,
represent what historian call Puranic Hinduism. Gradually tantrism permeated
all the major religious traditions.
Theme IV will take a sweeping view of language and literature; art and
architecture; science and technology; economy and trade; and environment, forests
and water resources in the period between 200 BCE-800 CE. Unit 14 discusses
important aspects of language and literature that flourished in India. As the Vedic
texts are the earliest specimens of Sanskrit language, so are the Tamil poems,
collectively known as the Sangam, and a few short inscriptions, the earliest
specimens of Dravidian languages. Changes in art styles and the emergence of
architectural languages is yet another important subject of study (Unit 15). The
stupas and viharas received extended patronage by various groups in the society.
Influence of art of other regions like Central Asia and Hellenistic world is seen
on Indian art. The Guptas accelerated the growth of temple architecture and this
period saw the flowering of different styles of temple architecture: Nagara,
Dravida and Vesara. Knowledge benefitting from familiarity with developments
in other parts of the world was applied to astronomy, mathematics and science
(Unit 16). Communication with Western Asia led to an exchange of knowledge
on astronomy, astrology, with some texts from Alexandria, such as Sphujidhvaja,
being translated from Greek into Sanskrit. Unit 17 discusses the broad trends in
economy and trade in this period of thousand years. From the burst of trading
activity in the post-Mauryan period to feudalism in the Gupta and the post-Gupta
period, changes in economy and how they were related to the social set up have
been dealt with in this Unit. The last Unit (18) looks at the water resources,
forests and environment in the period that followed the Mauryas. The way forests
have been perceived in textual sources and how rivers and other water resources
became significant in early India have been discussed. A close symbiotic
relationship between humans and nature was a matter of importance in early
India and played a major role in conserving and preserving the environment
BLOCK 1
INDIA : 200 BCE TO 300 CE
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE
12
The Sungas and Kushanas
UNIT 1 THE SUNGAS AND KUSHANAS*
Structure
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.2 The Emerging Significance of North-West India
1.3 Sources
1.4 The Sungas
1.4.1 Territorial Control of the Sungas
1.4.2 Administrative Structure
1.4.3 Sunga Art
1.5 The Indo-Greeks
1.6 Indo-Scythians and Indo-Parthians
1.7 The Kushanas
1.7.1 Early Days
1.7.2 Territorial Expansion
1.7.3 Successors of Kanishka
1.7.4 Religious Policy of the Kushanas
1.7.5 Dynastic Sanctuaries of the Kushanas
1.8 New Elements in Indian Society
1.9 Non-Monarchical Powers
1.10 Summary
1.11 Key Words
1.12 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises
1.13 Suggested Readings
1.0 OBJECTIVES
After reading this Unit, you will be able to learn about:
political events in India from the close of the Mauryan period to about
300 CE;
the assimilation of diverse foreign elements into the mainstream of Indian
society; and
the religious leanings of the rulers who came to control the north-west and
north India between 200 BCE to 300 CE.
1.1 INTRODUCTION
The collapse of the Mauryan rule in 187 BCE paved the way for the emergence
of several powers in the Indian subcontinent. The period from the decline of the
Mauryas to the rise of the Guptas (2nd century BCE to 3rd century CE) is known
in Indian history as the post- Mauryan period.
* Professor Suchandra Ghosh, Department of History, University of Calcutta, Kolkata.

13
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE The Mauryan Empire had initiated important processes of change in many regions.
These processes of change reached a level of maturity in the post-Mauryan period.
From now henceforth, the monarchical state system become more prevalent.
Though this period did not witness a large empire like that of the Mauryas, it is
historically significant as cultural contacts with Central Asia, and the assimilation
of foreign elements into the Indian society become widespread. Numerous
regional powers emerged in north and north-western India.
1.2 THE EMERGING SIGNIFICANCE OF

NORTH-WEST INDIA
North-western India had always been a region which had active contacts with
Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia. In the post-Mauryan period population
movements across Central Asia had direct impact on the political situation in
north and north-western India, particularly to the west of upper Ganga and
Yamuna. Since the middle of the second century BCE, regions of Central Asia
and the area between the Caspian Sea and China were embroiled in conflict
among various nomadic tribes. These nomadic tribes who were known as the
Scythians, Sakas, Huns, Turks etc. had started migrating from the Steppes in
search of new pasture lands once China was closed to them.
Early on, the Achaemenid invasion of India and Alexander’s campaigns had
opened the north-western parts of India to successive campaigns. Thus, in quick
succession, the Greeks or the Yavanas (as they are known in India) were followed
by the Scythians (Sakas) and the Parthians (Pahlavas). The Kushanas, a branch
of the Yueh-chi tribe soon followed. Of course, the movements did not stop here
and in later periods too, the movements of people across the north-west frontier
continued.
The geophysical characteristics of the Indo-Iranian borderlands allowed for the

formation of easy linkages with the West and Central Asia on the one hand and
regions to the south of the Hindu Kush on the other. Very early in history, the
kings of India had established close contacts with the north-west. Ashoka’s
bilingual inscription has been found at Kandahar in Greek and Aramaic. It
indicates the interaction between the centers of Greek world and the outlying
settlements during the Mauryan period. Ashoka’s own references to ‘Yonas’
(Yavanas, referring to the people in the north-western borderlands, where he
issued Aramaic and Greek edicts) within his empire and to the five ‘Yona’ rulers
of West Asia, North Africa and Greece proper (RE.XIII) are indicative, again, of
communications and commerce between India and the Hellenistic world. Such
widespread and intimate contacts with the regions in the west became more
definite in the post-Mauryan period. However, in the east, Central India and the
Deccan, the Mauryas were succeeded by the Sungas, the Kanvas and the
Satavahanas. We will take up for study some of the more prominent dynasties
like the Sungas, Indo Greeks, Sakas, Parthians and the Kushanas.
1.3 SOURCES
Our sources for studying this period are Mahabhasya of Patanjali, Divyavadana,
Puranas, Malavikagnimitra of Kalidasa, Harshacharita of Banabhatta, a few
inscriptions and art historical materials. For some regions the Puranic lists of
14 dynasties and rulers become important and in some cases the inscriptions
supplement the information. Some information is present in Gargi Samhita, and The Sungas and Kushanas
there are inscriptions from Ayodhya, Vidisa and Bharhut.
One important development in this period was the emergence of minor ruling
families in north India. Information about them is provided by coins minted by
them. These coins have names of rules inscribed on them and thus are an important
source. However for the political history of this period, they have to be
supplemented with sources from Central Asia. Inscriptions written in Kharosthi
script have been found in large numbers in Gandhara and many Kharosthi
documents have been recovered from Central Asia. Besides, Greek and Latin
sources refer to regions of north-western India and its rulers. The Pali work
Milinda-Panha (The Questions of Milinda) gives information about the Yavana
king Menander and on Buddhism of this period. The Chinese historical chronicles
contain many references to events in Central Asia, Bactria and north-west India.
For example, the chronicles of early Han and later Han dynasties of China give
ample information on the early history of Yueh-chis or Kushanas.
1.4 THE SUNGAS

As mentioned before, the last king of the Mauryas, Brihadratha, was assassinated
by Pushyamitra Sunga in 180 BCE. This is corroborated by Bana, the court poet
of Harshavardhana of Kannauj.
The Sungas were brahmanas and there are several references to Sunga teachers
in Vedic texts. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad mentions a teacher named
Sungiputra. From Panini we learn that the Sungas were of Bharadvaja gotra.
Kalidasa’s Malavikagnimitra describes Agnimitra, son of Pushyamitra, as
belonging to the Baimbika kula and the Baudhayana Srauta Sutra represents the
Baimbikayah as Kashyapas. In view of the conflicting statements, it is difficult
to say whether Pushyamitra was a Sunga of Bharadvaja gotra or Baimbika of
Kashyapa lineage. However, all these sources indicate that the Sungas were
brahmanas. Moreover a later text like Harshacharita also refers to Pushyamitra
as a brahmana who was an ignoble person.
Sunga rule in India according to the Puranas lasted for 112 years. Magadha was
the nucleus of the kingdom. The usurpation of the Mauryan throne by Pushyamitra
is referred to in the Puranas and Banabhatta’s Harshacharita. According to the
Puranas, Pushyamitra ruled for 36 years and died in 151 BCE. His son and
successor was Agnimitra and he was succeeded by his son Vasumitra. The Puranas
refer to ten Sunga rulers. Except for Pushyamitra, Agnimitra, Vasumitra and
Dhanadeva, the historicity of other rulers is not supplemented by sources.
Pushyamitra Sunga is also known for his encounter with the Yavanas (Bactrian
Greeks.) According to Patanjali’s Mahabhasya (III.2.111), there were Greek
incursions during the rule of the Sungas. This information is also corroborated
by Yugapurana. The Greeks besieged Saketa (near Ayodhya in the Faizabad
District of Uttar Pradesh) and Madhyamika (Nagari near Chittor in Rajasthan).
This is clear from the phrase ‘Arunòad Yavano Saketam, Arunòad Yavano
Madhyamikam’. Patanjali also indicates that the yavanas lived outside
Madhyadesha which was situated to the east of Adarsa. The date of Mahabhasya
is taken to be c.150 BCE. Malavikagnimitram, a play by Kalidasa, preserves the
memory of the defeat of the yavanas at the hands of Vasumitra, the grandson of
Pushyamitra Sunga. According to the play, Pushpamitra (Pushyamitra) sent his
15
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE grandson Vasumitra (Agnimitra’s son) who escorted the sacrificial horse during
its travels through different areas prior to the performance of the Asvamedha
yajya. Vasumitra defeated the Yavanas on the banks of the Sindhu river. The
sacrifice was performed after Vasumitra returned victorious along with the horse.
It is not certain who the leader of the Bactrian Greek army was. Menander
Demetrius and Eucratides have been suggested as possible candidates.
After Ashoka’s tryst with Dhamma and Buddhism, the Sungas are known for
having reverted to Brahmanical orthodoxy. In the Ayodhya inscription of
Dhanadeva, Pushyamitra Sunga is credited with the performance of two
Asvamedha sacrifices. Buddhist sources claim that he persecuted the Buddhists.
Divyavadana depicts Pushyamitra as a destroyer of Buddhist monasteries and
places of worship, particularly those constructed by Ashoka. For instance, it is
said that he attempted to destroy the Kukuta Arama monastery at Pataliputra.
According to sources he also fixed a prize of 100 dinaras for the head of every
monk. However this account of Divyavadana seems highly exaggerated. If the
renovations conducted on the Stupas and other Buddhist monuments date to this
period, then it would be difficult to believe that the Sungas acted against the
Buddhists.
Another feature of this period was that the kings assumed grandiose titles. This
is in contrast to the Mauryan period when Ashoka called himself only Raja. In
this period however, we see the use of titles like Maharaja, Rajaraja, Rajati
raja, Shaonanoshao etc. Vedic sacrifices like Asvamedha, Rajasuya etc. were
performed with a view to augment royal power. Theoretical treatises of this period
uphold the concept of divine creation or divine origin of the king. The Manusmriti
explains that Prajapati (the Creator) created the king by combining the essence
of divinities like Indra,Varuna,Vayu,Yama, Agni, etc. More or less a similar
description also figures in the Ramayana which presents the king as someone
who must not only be always obeyed, but revered too (manyascha pujyascha
nityada). Thus relation with divinity formed a crucial aspect of the polity of the
period.
The last Sunga king was Devabhuti. He was killed by his brahmana minister
Vasudeva. Thus, the Sunga line came to an end by 75 BCE. They were followed
by Kanvas whose founding member was Vasudeva.
1.4.1 Territorial Control of the Sungas

The Sunga rule with its centre at Pataliputra, seems to have embraced territories
in the middle Ganga plain, the upper Ganga valley and eastern Malwa. According
to the Divyavadana and Taranatha’s account, it also included Jalandhara and
Sakala in the Punjab. There are two Prakrit inscriptions at Bharhut datable to
first century BCE, which clearly refer to ‘rule of the Suga’ (Suganam raje) which
means ‘of the Sunga’ dynasty. It appears that some of the more distant regions
were probably not directly under their control and merely owed them political
allegiance.
1.4.2 Administrative Structure

The organization of the Sunga kingdom was in all probability not the same
throughout the long period of 112 years. It varied from time to time according to
the power and ability of the ruler at the centre and the extent of the empire. It is
16
possible that Pushyamitra had a central administration at Pataliputra. He was The Sungas and Kushanas
assisted by a council of ministers and bureaucrats, and his empire was divided
into provinces. The provinces were put under the charge of governors of royal
blood. A council assisted it. Certain tribal regions having autonomous power
were also integrated. Patanjali mentions that the sabha which was convened
under Pushyamitra probably functioned as a council of ministers or an Assembly.
It is stated in the Malavikagnimitram that Agnimitra, the Viceroy at Vidisa was
assisted by a Council of ministers. We have also evidence to justify that the
princes of the royal blood were appointed either as governors or Commanders-
in-Chief. Agnimitra, son of Pushyamitra was a governor. The Ayodhya inscription
of Dhanadeva proves that one of his forefathers had been the governor of Kosala
and he was related by blood to Pushyamitra. Vasumitra, grandson of Pushyamitra,
was the Commander-in- Chief of the Sunga army.
Kalidasa and Patanjali mention a mantriparishad. It may have been an important

element in the governmental machinery. Even princes were assisted by parishads.
It appears that after Pushyamitra’s demise, the Sunga kingdom weakened. His
successors may have ruled in the Vidisha area for some time. In the
Malavikagnimitram of Kalidasa, admittedly a drama of a much later date,
Agnimitra is portrayed as the viceroy at Vidisha (near Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh).
This drama also refers to the conflict between Pushyamitra and Yajnasena, king
of Vidarbha (the eastern Maharashtra area). The Sungas were victorious. The
drama further describes Vasumitra’s victory (Pushyamitra’s grandson) over a
Yavana king in an area to the south of the river Sindhu (the river Kalisindh in
Madhya Pradesh or the Indus). However some of the Pushyamitra’s family
members may have ruled in the Kosala area (in Uttar Pradesh) too. The Ayodhya
inscription of Dhanadeva describes him as the lord of Kosala and the sixth in
descent from Senapati Pushyamitra. Pushyamitra is in fact praised by Dhanadeva
for having performed two horse sacrifices (dvirasvamedhayajin), which alludes
to his military success. It is the first inscription on stone or metal which mentions
the name of Pushyamitra. He was earlier known only from literary sources.
The Kanvas, who perhaps began their political career as subordinates of the
Sungas (Puranas call them shungabhrityas), brought to an end the Sunga
kingdom. The last ruler according to the Puranas being Devabhuti or Devabhumi.
According to Bana he was the victim of a conspiracy engineered by his brahmana
minister Vasudeva and was killed by a slave girl who approached him in the
guise of a queen. Altogether ten Sunga kings ruled for a period of 112 years from
c.187 to 75 BCE.
1.4.3 Sunga Art

The Sunga empire played an important role in patronizing art. Bharhut, Bodhgaya
and Sanchi bear evidence of the patronage received from the Sunga rulers. The
gates and railings of the Bharhut stupa and the fine gateway railings which
surround the Sanchi stupa are said to have been built during the Sunga period. A
phenomenal spatial expansion of Buddhist monastic sites occurred from the
second-first centuries BCE onwards.The period saw the flowering of visual arts
including small terracotta images, larger stone sculptures and architectural
monuments like the caitya hall at Bhaja, the stupa at Bharhut and the Great
Stupa at Sanchi.
17
North Torana (Gateway) (Sunga period) of Sanchi Stupa I. Credit: Arnoldbetten. Source:
Wikimedia Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sanchi_Stupa_1_Nord-
Torana_(1999).JPG)
A most characteristic formal quality of Sunga art is its flowing linear rhythm that
binds all isolated objects in one continuous stream of life. The coping stones of
the period have huge lotus stalks flowing in rhythmical waves from form to
form. The vegetal world is intimately, engrossingly and luxuriously rendered in
the Bharhut, Bodhgaya and Sanchi reliefs. Its radiating and continuous linear
movements dominate the composition and all the figures of men and animals
become equal and integral parts of the whole.
The Sunga artists appear to delight in the handling of the human figures. The
reliefs illustrate episodes from the life of the Buddha and incidents that give us
an idea of contemporary life. Some sculptures of Bharhut, Bodhgaya and Sanchi
represent the first organized art activity which was opposite to the court art of
the Mauryas. It reflects for the first time the results of the ethnic, social and
religious fusion and integration. Important religious developments also took place
during this period. Patanjali’s synthesis of the tradition of Yoga became the
foundation of one of the schools of thought.
1.5 THE INDO-GREEKS

Under the rule of Alexander, Greeks had settled in Bactria, a region which can
be identified with the present-day northern Afghanistan, southern Turkmenistan
and Uzbegistan. After Alexander’s death, his generals came to rule the kingdoms.
One such example was the Seleucid kingdom which was coterminous with the
Mauryas. Soon Bactria broke away from the Seleucid Empire in about 250 BCE
and the Bactrian Greeks formed their own empire as the eastern most post of
Hellenism. The Bactrians were pushed out of Bactria by the nomadic incursions
from Scythian tribes. The Greeks were dislodged between 145 and 130 BCE and
the Bactrian Greeks moved southwards and came to control southern Afghanistan
(Arachosia), covering the area from the Hidukush to Gandhara. It is from here
that the history of Indo Greeks begins (to be covered in the 2nd Unit).
18
1.6 INDO-SCYTHIANS AND INDO-PARTHIANS
The Indo-Scythians are also known as the Sakas. They were the first large nomadic
community to reach South Asia through Bactria. The history of the Indo-Scythians
has to be reconstructed largely on the basis of numismatic evidence as the names
of the rulers are furnished by their coins. Scythian is a generic term which refers
to a group of people, originating in Central Asia and then migrating to south and
west. One of the Scythian clans was that of Vonones and his associates who
reached India through Afghanistan; the other was Maues who had crossed the
Pamirs and entered into India. However, in the middle of the first century BCE,
it was Azes, once a co-ruler of the Vonones group who assumed sole power and
extended the rule of the Scythians in India. He issued coins with the title ‘King
of Kings’. Large parts of north-west India were united during the rule of Azes I
and his huge output of coinage suggest a great increase in wealth. He might have
reached the north-western section of the Indian subcontinent from Arachosia
through the Gomal pass and through the regions watered by the Gomal, Tochi
and Kurram rivers. That an Era was introduced in his name in 58/57BCE is
evident from inscriptions which are dated in the Era of ‘The Great King Azes’.
This was known earlier as Vikrama Era but now we know that it owed its origin
to the first Indo-Scythian king, Azes I. Azes I had for some time Azilises as his
co-ruler. Later Azilises succeeded him as the supreme ruler. Azilises could hold
together the territories conquered by Azes I including the original seat of power,
Arachosia. He too issued a large number of coins which is indicative of his control
over areas of north-west India. Apart from consolidating the kingom of his
predecessor; his rule extended to Mathura. His associate Azes II succeeded him
in about the first quarter of 1st century CE. His rule however saw contraction in
the territorial extent of the kingdom. The coins issued by him show that he
continued to rule in the regions of both west and east of Indus. In the region to
the west of Indus we have the name of Strategos (general) Aspavarman on the
reverse of his coins.This implies that there was sharing of responsibility with his
general. We have no evidence of his rule in Mathura.The Indo-Scythians ruled in
the north-west India giving space to local dynasties till they were supplanted by
Gondophares, the founder of the Indo-Parthian kingdom.
The Indo-Parthians or the Pahlavas succeeded the Indo-Scythians in the Indo-

Iranian borderlands. The first ruler was Gondophares whose kingdom extended
from Seistan through Arachosia, to the Kabul valley and over Gandhara to the
Jammu-Pathankot area. Their coins were divided into four principal categories.
The reign of Gondophares could be fixed approximately between c.20 and 45
CE. The Indo-Parthian kingdom was quite large and there were geographical
variations. In order to keep the kingdom together, Gondophares probably allowed
the Kshatrapas a large measure of autonomy. He cooperated with powerful forces
on the ground and absorbed them in his sphere of influence. He expanded his
influence from Seistan to the river Sutlej. His policy was conquest by a system
of absorption, allowing local rulers to keep their independence. The kingdom
collapsed as a result of a major invasion by the Kushanas under Kujula Kadphises.
The overstrikes of Kujula Kadphises over the coins of Gondophares indicate
very clearly that Kujula brought to an end Parthian rule in Paropamisadae (Kabul-
Begram region) and Gandhara.
19
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE Check Your Progress Exercise 1
1) Read the following statements and mark right ( ) or wrong (x)
a) The Sungas were the immediate successors of the Mauryas ( )
b) The Puranic chronicles are an important source of information
for the period between 200 BCE – 300 CE ( )
c) The author of Harshacarita is Kalidasa ( )
2) Write your answer in 100 words.
a) Who were the Sungas? Give an outline of their rule.
...............................................................................................................
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b) What are the important sources for the reconstruction of the history of
northern India between 200 BCE – 300 CE?
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1.7 THE KUSHANAS

A major ruling group of the post-Mauryan period was the Kushanas. The Kushanas
were a branch of the Yueh-chi, a nomadic group of people who inhabited territories
near Dunhuang until conflicts with the Xiongnu led to their migration across the
Tarim Basin to Bactria between c. 165-128 BCE. They were one of the five
clans into which the Yueh-chi tribe was divided.
The significance of the Kushana realm in the political history of the subcontinent
and its north-western borderlands is enormous. With the advent of the Kushanas,
small territorial kingdoms in the Indo-Iranian borderlands gave way to an Empire
which was achieved through political integration of the region. It transformed
the Kushana principality in Bactria into a massive empire which included portions
of Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, parts of Chinese Central Asia, north-west borderlands
of the subcontinent, Mathura and at times beyond Mathura through the Ganga
plains till Bhagalpur in Bihar. Because of this, the Kushana Empire is sometimes
called the Central Asian Empire.
20
Map 1.1 : Kushana Empire. Credit: not mentioned. Source: Wikimedia Commons. (https:/
/commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KushanEmpireMap.jpg)
The glowing testimony of Kushana control till the Ganga valley comes from the
Rabatak inscription discovered from the Puli Khumri area of Afghanistan of
Kanishka I written in Bactrian language. Although the name of Vima Taktu as
the direct successor of Kujula Kadphises (the head of the Kushana clan) is not
entirely clear, the Rabatak inscription confirms that Kujula Kadphises was
followed by another ruler before Vima Kadphises (Kanishka’s father). Vima Taktu
can be linked with ‘Soter Megas’ (‘Great Savior’), the Kushana ruler who issued
a series of coins that follow the coin-types of Kujula Kadphises and precede
those of Vima Kadphises.
During the Kushana period in the first to third centuries CE, political, economic,
religious, and cultural contacts between South Asia and Central Asia increased
greatly. Archaeological excavations, art historical evidence, coins, and inscriptions
directly reflect these connections. During Kanishka’s rule over Transoxiana and
Bactria, the empire came to play an important role in the Silk route. The Silk
route connected China across Bactria with West Asia and the Mediterranean.
21
Figure 1.1: Gold Coin of Kanishka. British Museum. Credit: Not mentioned. Source:
Wikimedia Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KanishkaCoin3.JPG)
Besides this, the Kushana empire had direct contacts with Indo-Roman trade in
the Indian Ocean through the western coast of India.
Figure 1.2: Statue of Kanishka from Mat, Mathura. Credit: Biswarup Ganguly. Source:
Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Great_Emperor_
Kanishka_-_Greatest_of_Kushan_Monarchs_-_Circa_1st_Century_CE_-_Mathura_-
_Government_Museum_-_Mathura_2013-02-23_5836.JPG
22
1.7.1 Early Days The Sungas and Kushanas
The first ruler was Kujula Kadphises who adopted the title ‘Great King, King of
Kings’ on coins patterned on Saka and Parthian issues. He had united the five
tribes of the Yueh-chi and made successful inroads into India. He established
himself at Kabul and Kashmir.
In the light of the Rabatak inscription, the third ruler of the Kushana dynasty was
Vima Kadphises.The nimbate figure of the ruler represented him as a
supramundane being, often showing him as emerging from the clouds, an obvious
indicator of his divine status. The scepter of course indicated the royal authority
or pointed to the prerogative to punish the subjects. In the Dasht-i-Nawur
inscription of Vima, the Kushana ruler was described as the ‘Law of the Living
World’ [Dom(r)a-ata<D’m-arta]. Thus the king was depicted as a law giver or
upholder of the cosmic order. Again, Vasishka had the title devamanusha, or a
god in human form in the Kamra inscription.Significant is the fact that in the
Rabatak inscription of Kanishka I he is given the attribute ‘Bago’ i.e. God himself.
Thus Kanishka was elevated from ‘son of a god’ to god itself.
1.7.2 Territorial Expansion

The maximum territorial expansion of the Kushana empire took place during
Kanishka I's reign. The accession of Kanishka is dated between 78 and 144 CE.
An Era based on 78 CE has come to be called the Saka Era, but it is also thought
by some to be linked to the accession of Kanishka.
According to the Rabatak Bactrian inscription, the Kushana realm at the time of
Kanishka extended to the cities of Saketa, Kausambi, Pataliputra, and Sri-Campa
in the Ganges-Yamuna valley. A colossal statue of Kanishka near Mathura with
a Brahmi inscription labeling him ‘Great King, King of Kings, Son of God,
Kanishka’ shows that he fulfilled the role of ‘Universal Emperor’
(cakravartin).Whereas the Indo-Greeks used basileos basilei (king of kings) title,
the Kushanas borrowed titles from the Persians, Chinese and the Romans. They
took the titles of maharajatiraja (king of kings), daivaputra (son of heaven),
soter (savior) and Kaisara (Caesar).
Kanishka was certainly in control of the north-western frontier areas of the
subcontinent. In the Shah-ji-Dheri relic casket inscription, the city of Purushapura
(Peshawar in Pakistan) figures as Kanishkapura, obviously named after the
Kushana monarch.The renaming of the city after the reigning Kushana emperor
strongly suggests that this was the premier political centre of Kanishka within
his South Asian territories. Here Kanishka erected a huge stupa which was a
place of attraction among foreign travelers.
1.7.3 Successors of Kanishka

Of the successors of Kanishka I, the most powerful and prominent was Huvishka
who ruled for more than three decades. The coinage of Huvishka is especially
varied. It included a large number of gold, and many copper coins. Several
inscriptions of his reign have come from Mathura. His control over the areas to
the west of Kabul is evident from his inscription at Wardak (year 51). Huvishka
also issued the maximum varieties of gold coins. His coins show an impressive
number of images of divinities from the Indic, Iranian, Central Asian and
Hellenistic pantheons. 23
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE From the Ara inscription we have reference to one Kanishka II. The next ruler
Vasudeva also enjoyed a long reign of more than three decades (yrs. 64/67 to
98). His epigraphic records demonstrate the continuity of the Kushana control
over Mathura.Two more successors of Vasudeva I are known from their coins.
They are Kanishka III and Vasudeva II. The last possible ruler of the dynasty
was Vasudeva II. By the time of Vasudeva II’s rule the Kushana realm had shrunk
in size. The end of the empire was brought in by the Sassanid ruler Shapur I of
Iran.
In the Kushana realm we notice the simultaneous rule of two rulers- one senior
and a junior ruler. This form of hereditary dual rule was one such curious practice
under the Kushanas. It thus appears that there was less of centralization under
these rulers. The Kushanas strengthened the satrap system of government adopted
from the Sakas. The empire was divided into numerous satrapies. Each satrapy
was placed under the rule of a satrap.
1.7.4 Religious Policy of the Kushanas

The Kushanas incorporated several local divinities into the Kushana pantheon
which were depicted on coins. Rosenfield rightly proposed that the selection of
reverse types indicated the nomination of individual deities as associates of the
king, ‘divine companions and supporters of the monarchy’ so that the coinage
types were propagandist in nature. The multiplicity of gods that are shown added
to Kanishka’s status and importance.
Figure 1.3: Coin of Wima Kadphises (reigned around 110-20 CE). British Museum. Credit:
Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WimaKadphises.JPG
Figure 1.4: Coin of Kanishka with the Divinity Helios. Greek Language Legend: Obverse:
BASILEUS BASILEON KANISHKOY (King of Kings Kanishka); Reverse: ILIOS
“HELIOS”. (From ‘Coins of the Indo-Greeks’, Whitehead, 1914 ed.). Credit: Wikimedia
Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coin_of_Kanishka_depicting_
24 Helios.jpg)
Iranian religious ideas were dominant on the coins of Kanishka which is the The Sungas and Kushanas
result of their Bactrian cultural background. So the majority of Kanishka’s coinage
shows gods of the Iranian sphere on its reverse, indicating their names in Graeco-
Bactrian. From the Rabatak inscription it is clear that the gods worshipped by
the Kushanas and seen as the source of their power were of Iranian origin and
Nana was the presiding deity. Representation of the Buddha as Boddo is a
significant addition to the repertoire of deities depicted on Kanishka’s coins.
The Buddha is depicted on the coinage in the same way as the gods such as Siva,
Mithra, Ahurmazda etc. By placing the Buddha on a coin, Kanishka has equated
his position with that of deities, and thereby implied for himself a divine role.
The Buddha images used on Kanishka’s coins show that his adherence to
Buddhism was a close reflection of the cults prevailing in his realm.
Figure 1.5: Kushana Divinity Adsho (Carnelian Seal). British Museum. Credit: Wikimedia
Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AdshoCarnelianSeal.jpg
While Kanishka’s religious inclination was based on Bactrian creeds, Huvishka

followed more innovative religious strategies and admitted a wide range of Greek,
Brahmanical, Buddhist and Zoroastrian gods for his numismatic pantheon.
Representations of the Alexandrian and Roman deities indicate an inclination on
the part of Huvishka to appease the Roman traders involved with Indian trade
network.
Figure 1.6: Coin of Kanishka with Lettering BO O” (i.e. Buddha). Credit: CNG Coins.
Source: Wikimedia Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coin_of_
Kanishka_I.jpg)
25
Figure 1.7: Detail of Kanishka coin with the Image of the Buddha. Credit: B.P. Murphy.
Source: Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kanishka_
Buddha_detail.jpg
One has also to remember that the heyday of the flourishing Silk Road trade was
during the rule of Kanishka I and Huvishka. It can be said that multicultural
coins and the cosmopolitan attitude of these Kushana rulers facilitated the trade
that passed through their territory. Skanda, Kumara, Vishakha and Mahasena
were four different gods to Huvishka, which later on merged into one deity that
became known under the name Karttikeya in Brahmanical religion.
The depiction of a bewildering variety of deities on the coins of the Kushanas,

belonging to different religious beliefs in the empire indicates promotion of
pluralistic religious practices by the rulers where acknowledgment of the local is
a significant phenomenon. Though Iranian religion gained pre-eminence, no
particular religion dominated.
1.7.5 Dynastic Sanctuaries of the Kushanas

Apart from using the coins as a mode of projecting their claims for divinity, the
Kushana rulers also constructed dynastic sanctuaries Bagolango or Bogopouro
(in Bactrian) or devakula (in Sanskrit/Prakrit inscriptions) and they also became
objects of divine worship. Vima Kadphises began the construction of two such
centres of royal cult, one at Mat, near Mathura, the other in Surkh Kotal.
Kanishka I continued and finished building the dynastic sanctuary at Surkh Kotal.
The sanctuary bore the name ‘Kanishka Oanindo-sanctuary’. Kushana dynastic
sanctuaries have been recovered from Khalchayan and Airtam (Uzbekistan). It
corresponds with their image of ‘God like King’. They erected shrines to house
life-sized free standing portraits of three generations of kings at Surkh Kotal and
Mato. The Rabatak inscription belonging to Kanishka I also refers to the
construction of a sanctuary called Nana sanctuary (bago-laggo) which housed
images of different deities as well as the Kushana rulers such as Kujula Kadphises,
Vima Taktu, Vima Kadphises and Kanishka. Significantly in this inscription
Kanishka is called a bago i.e. God himself. As suggested by scholars, the
deification of kings, the practice of installing and worshipping their images in
shrines and people’s veneration for them led to the foundation and growth of the
26
Cult of the emperor. The Cult of the Emperor acted as a cementing factor which The Sungas and Kushanas
accommodated immense diversities of ethnic and linguistic groups, religious
beliefs and cultural practices. There was acknowledgement of diverse regional
features.
Interaction between the Indo-Iranian borderlands and the Doab became more
intense as the major urban centers of the period were integrated by the Kushanas
in their rule. Taxila in the north-west and Mathura in the Doab were located on
the great trade route that linked the Gangetic region with the north-west and
finally to locations in Afghanistan. Such linkages provided elements of
commonality in the material culture of Mathura with those of the north-west. It
allowed the Kushana monarchs to engage in a kind of royal symbolism through
the creation of a dynastic sanctuary at Mathura that suggested that the relationship
with Mathura was much more than of mere political control.
1.8 NEW ELEMENTS IN INDIAN SOCIETY

As mentioned earlier, large scale movement of peoples across the northwest
frontier took place in the post-Mauryan period. It would, however, be wrong to
think that north and north-west India was under foreign domination in this period.
The distinction between foreign and Indian was not clear in this period and the
Yavanas, Sakas etc. in any case became part of the population of the Indian
subcontinent. The Greeks, Sakas, Parthians, Kushanas were gradually Indianized.
According to the lawmaker Manu, the Sakas and the Parthians were kshatriyas
who had deviated from their duties. Thus, they came to be regarded as second
class kshatriyas. In no other period of Indian history were such large numbers of
foreigners assimilated into the Indian society as it was during the post-Mauryan
period.
Most of these rulers did not have their own script, written language or any
organized religion. They became an integral part of Indian society to which they
contributed considerably. They introduced better cavalry and the use of the horse
on a large scale. They popularized the use of reins and saddles which appear in
the Buddhist sculpture of the second and third centuries CE. Kushana equestrian
figures have been discovered from Begram in Afghanistan. The Sakas and
Kushanas introduced the turban, tunic, trousers and heavy long coats. Caps,
helmets and boots were also worn by the Central Asian warriors. Later their
military technology spread to India.
1.9 NON-MONARCHICAL POWERS

There were different areas in the Panjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh where
small local states were being ruled either by minor royal families or by members
of dominant clans like the Audumbaras, Yaudheyas, Malavas, Sibi, Vrishni, and
Kunindas. The Audumbaras occupied the land between the upper courses of the
Ravi and Beas. Kunindas ruled the territory between the upper courses of the
Beas and the Yamuna along the foothills of the Siwalik ranges. The Trigartas
ruled the plain country between the rivers Ravi and Sutlej. Yaudheyas ruled the
territory between the Sutlej and Yamuna and parts of eastern Rajasthan.
Arjunayanas, Malavas and Sibis were distributed in different parts of Rajasthan.
Panini refers to most of the groups mentioned above. With the decline of the
Mauryan empire, these groups asserted their autonomy and they began to control 27
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE different pockets between the Indus, the Beas and the Sutlej. But their peace was
soon disturbed with the inroads made by the Indo-Greeks and the Kushanas. It
was perhaps due to Menander I, who conquered both east and west Punjab in
and around the middle or the third quarter of the 2nd century BCE, that the Malavas
were forced to move towards the Haryana region and then further to eastern
Rajasthan. Similar was the case of the Sibis who were contemporary of the
Malavas and were neighbours. Like the Malavas they too migrated to eastern
Rajasthan following the occupation of their territory by Menander. In the case
of the Yaudheyas, they migrated in phases, being pushed first by the Indo-Greeks
to the region around Rohtak in Haryana, then by the Saka-Pahlavas to Rajasthan
and later on they moved back to their original habitat after perhaps dislodging
the Later Kushanas. The Kunindas had to succumb to the Kushanas. The Vrishnis
offered a different scenario. Though they bore the brunt of the Kushana rule,
they recovered in the post-Kusana phase but were subsequently overthrown by
the fellow Yaudheyas. In the opinion of B.D. Chattopadhyaya, ‘the significance
of post Mauryan Punjab lies in the fact that there was an overall change in the
political-economic scenario and an opening up of new networks of communication
in which the structures of early gana-samghas too started undergoing processes
of change’. Finally, they withered away during the Gupta period.
These ganasangha states were in transition and issued coins in the name of the
gana, or community, in the early stages, suggesting the absence of social
differentiation. In standard literature they are referred to mostly as ‘republics’ or
‘tribal states’.
Check Your Progress Exercise 2
1) Write a note on the ‘tribal’ polities of north India.
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2) Write a note on the assimilation of foreigners into the Indian mainstream.
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1.10 SUMMARY
In this Unit, we have learnt that in the north-western part of the subcontinent
there were Central Asian powers who intruded into the region south of the
Hindukush and beyond at least till Mathura. Actually the boundary line between
regions to the north and south of Hindu Kush were extremely fluid and mutual
contacts must have been intensive.
28
The Greeks, Sakas, the Parthians and the Kushanas gradually merged into Indian The Sungas and Kushanas
society. They came as warriors and therefore most of them were absorbed in the
Indian society as kshatriyas. With various ruling houses interested in trade and
commerce the period also witnessed unprecedented growth in economic life which
was visible in all spheres of economy.The Indo-Greeks, Sakas, Parthians and
Kushanas issued gold, silver and copper coins. Kushana coins became the proto
type for Gupta numismatic issues. Copper coins and coin moulds are found in
large numbers in areas associated with several non-monarchical clans in Madhya
Pradesh and Rajasthan (Malavas, Arjunayanas, Yaudheyas etc.).
1.11 KEY WORDS

Caitya: a Buddhist Shrine.
Gana: a word which has many meanings, including an oligarchy.
Kshatrapa: a viceroy or subordinate ruler of the Scythio-Parthians; a title
assumed by kings of the Kshaharta and Kardamaka dynasties.
Kshatriya: the varna associated with warfare and rulership.
Yavana: Greeks, foreigners from the West.
1.12 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

EXERCISES
1) a) b) c) ×
2) a) See Section 1.4 and its Sub-sections
b) See Section 1.3
1) See Setion 1.9.
2) See Section 1.8.
1.13 SUGGESTED READINGS

Ghosh, Suchandra (2017). State, Power and Religion in the Indo-Iranian
Borderlands and North-west India, c.200 BC - 200 AD. Studies in People’s History
Special Issue, State and Religion in India. Volume 4, Issue 1, June, 1-14.
Habib, Irfan (2012). Post-Mauryan India, 200 BC-AD 300: A Political and
Economic History. New Delhi: Tulika Books.
Majumdar, R.C. (ed.) (1990). The Age of Imperial Unity. Bombay: Bharatiya
Vidya Bhavan.
Mukherjee, B.N. (1988). Rise and Fall of the Kushana Empire. Kolkata: Firma
KLM.
Raychaudhuri, H.C. (1996). Political History of Ancient India, Commentary by

B.N.Mukherjee. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
29
UNIT 2 EMERGENCE OF REGIONAL
POWERS*
Structure
2.0 Objectives
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Antecedents
2.3 Indo-Greeks
2.4 The Saka-Kshatrapas of Western India
2.5 The Satavahanas
2.5.1 Sources
2.5.2 Antecedents
2.5.3 Political History of the Satavahanas
2.5.4 Administration
2.6 Summary
2.7 Key Words
2.0 OBJECTIVES
political events in north-western, western India, and Deccan from the post-
Mauryan period till 300 CE;
the Satavahana dynasty which founded the earliest state in the Deccan; and
the changes in societal and political spheres during this period.
2.1 INTRODUCTION
You have read in the earlier Unit that after the disintegration of the Mauryan
Empire, the period which commenced from 200 BCE becomes historically
significant as one in which there were widespread cultural contacts with Central
Asia along with the assimilation of foreign elements into the Indian society.
Both in north and north-west India, a number of polities emerged. Some of the
polities like those of the Sungas, Indo-Sythians, Indo-Parthians and Kushanas
have already been dealt with in the earlier Unit.
In this period, the regions of the Deccan and south India were also undergoing
change.The beginning of territorial states in north India was represented by the
sixteen mahajanapadas which originated in the 6th-5th centuries BCE. We have
also learnt how in the next few centuries Magadha built a formidable state covering
almost the entire Indian subcontinent. In the Deccan and peninsular India,
however, the emergence of the institution of the state had to wait till the rise of
the Satavahanas in the first century BCE.
* Professor Suchandra Ghosh, Department of History, University of Calcutta, Kolkata.

30
In this Unit, we will be focusing our attention on those dynasties which were not Emergence of Regional
Powers
covered in the preceding Unit but are equally important such as the Indo-Greeks
and Kshatrapas. Additionally, the Satavahanas will be taken up for study.
2.2 ANTECEDENTS
If we go a little back in time, we find that the spread of Chalcolithic settlements
in western Deccan had taken place in the second millennium BCE. The eastern
Deccan was occupied a little later in the second half of the first millennium BCE
by iron using communities. All of these settlements were villages which were
inhabited by a large number of tribes. The Epics and the Puranas mention several
tribes such as the Andhras, Sabaras, Pulindas etc. who lived in the Deccan.
Ashokan inscriptions also mention them. The process of change started with the
Mauryan expansion in the Deccan. The Mauryas were interested in exploiting
the rich mineral resources of the Deccan such as gold, diamond and gems from
Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Land and coastal routes were used to transport
these resources to Magadha. Many prosperous settlements such as Dharnikota
on the banks of the Krishna in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, and Karad in
Satara district of Maharashtra, became important. Many chiefs such as the
Maharathis controlled scattered pockets of this region. The family of Satavahanas
was related by marriage to the Maharathis and with their rise to power the
foundations of the first state in the Deccan were laid.
Before the emergence of the Satavahanas, the first rulers were local kings and
some important families. Examples include those of the Maharathis, who started
minting their own coins from about the second centuries BCE. The first organized
state under the Satavahanas emerged and the changes in the political and social
structure of the Deccan accelerated. Satavahanas attain an added significance as
they problematize the emergence of the institution of state in the Deccan.
Let us discuss the Indo-Greeks first.
2.3 INDO-GREEKS
Under Alexander, the Greeks had settled in Bactria (Bahlika) which is present-
day northern Afghanistan and southern Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The
Seleucid Empire which was formed in Bactria and the adjoining areas of Parthia
by Alexander’s erstwhile general after his fall, was soon overthrown by
Diodotus I (c. 250-230 BCE) who revolted against the Seleucids and established
an independent Bactrian Greek kingdom. The ideal geographical location of
Bactria connecting West Asia and Central Asia on the one hand, and with South
Asia, on the other, held the clue to the rise of the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom.
Soon Bactrians extended their control into other areas as well, for instance, south
of the Hindukush. In c. 145 BCE, they lost their hold over Bactria but continued
to rule over parts of north-west India. The Bactrian Greeks who ruled over parts
of north-west India between the 2nd century BCE and the early 1st century CE are
known as the Indo-Greeks or Indo-Bactrians.
The history of Indo-Greeks is largely reconstructed on the basis of their coins.

These coins were dynastic issues and acted as markers of the sovereign authority
of the ruler. For the first time, the region to the south of the Hindu Kush
experienced die-struck coinage, portraiture and legend. Some of the rulers are,
31
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE however, also known from the Greek and Latin sources. The most detailed extant
account of Bactrian events is that offered by the Latin Philippic Histories of
Pompeius Trogus, preserved only in an abridged form. A few passages on Bactrian
history are preserved in Diodorus, Polybius or Strabo.
The presence of a large number of rulers in a short span of time suggests that
some of them ruled concurrently. Demetrius I, Demetrius II, Appollodotus,
Pantaleon and Agathocles were responsible for extending rule to the south of the
Hindukush into north-western India. Out of the 42 Graeco-Bactrian and
Indo-Greek kings, as many as 34 are known only through their coins. The sequence
of kings which has been proposed by scholars is based on the composition of the
hoards, overstrikes, monogram patterns, geographical distribution of coins and
stylistic features.
The coins of the Graeco-Bactrians which circulated in the region north of the
Hindu Kush were mostly in gold, silver, copper and nickel. They followed the
Attic weight standard. They carried Greek legends, royal portraits and Greek
deities along with the name and title of the king. On the other hand, the coins of
the Indo-Greeks which circulated in regions to the south of the Hindukush were
mostly made of silver and copper. The conquest over Indian territories necessitated
the issue of bilingual and bi-inscriptional coins. On a few exceptional pieces, we
have legends written in Brahmi script. To cite an example, we have a coin type
of Agathocles in which the obverse has a legend in Prakrit written in Brahmi
‘Rajine Agathuklayesa’, and on the reverse in Greek language and script ‘Basileus
Agathokleous’. These Indian issues followed an Indian weight standard. Apart
from royal portraits, the coins carried Indian religious symbols.
Any study of the Indo-Greeks would make Menander I Soter, the main protagonist.
First, he surpasses all the Indo-Greek kings who ruled before and after him in the
subcontinent not only by the number of coins but also by the number of different
dies and monograms for both silver and bronze coins. Secondly, in all the public
and private collections worldwide and in the recent coin hoards, the quantity of
his coins is far superior to any of his Greek contemporaries. Thirdly, he was the
only Greek king who is represented in Indian literature. Two classical authors
refer to Menander, Pompeius Trogus and Strabo. He is indicated as a Bactrian
king by Trogus and he refers to his ‘Indian activities’. Strabo on the authority of
Apollodorus of Artemita writes that more Indian tribes were subdued by the
Bactrian Greeks than by Alexander.
Thus, it appears that by the time of Menander Soter, the Kathiawar peninsula
and the Indus Delta were under their control. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
refers to drachms of Apollodotus and Menander circulating in Barygaza. The
historical background of Menander could be reconstructed from Milindapanha
(‘The Questions of Milinda’ datable to second-first century BCE) which contain
his discussions with the Buddhist monk Nagasena, and the coins.The Pali version
of Milindapaho suggests that he was born in a place called Kalasigama
(‘Kalasigamo Nama, Tatthaham Jati Ti’), Begram, Kavisi region. The
Milindapanho states that his capital was Sagala, identified generally with Sialkot
in Pakistan. His first series of coins were minted and found in the western part of
the Indo-Greek kingdom, thereby, suggesting that like his predecessors
Antimachus II and Apollodotus I, he ascended the throne in the city of Alexandria
of the Caucasus. The date of Menander’s accession to the throne is generally
32 taken to be c.155 BCE, though an alternative date c.165 BCE is also suggested.
Emergence of Regional
Powers
Figure 2.1 Menander Soter Wheel Coin. Obv: BA IAEΩ ΩTHPO MENAN POY
“Of Saviour King Menander”. Rev: Palm of Victory. Kharosthi legend- Maharajasa
Tratadasa Menandrasa. British Museum. Credit: Gardner, Percy, 1846-1937; Poole, Reginald
Stuart, 1832-1895. Source: Wikimedia Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Menander_Soter_wheel_coin.jpg)
Menander I expanded his power base and inaugurated new mints to strike his
innumerable coinages with new monetary types and systems. He truly became
the monarch of the whole Indo-Greek kingdom integrating several areas of the
north-west under a single rule. However, there is no concrete evidence to suggest
that Menander converted to Buddhism, though he must have patronized the
religion to a great extent.
Agathocleia, taken to be the queen of Menander, and her son Strato I (c.135–125
BCE) ruled in the Gandhara region. Agathocleia acted as a regent to her
Figure 2.2: The Bharhut Yavana. Indian Relief of probably Indo-Greek King, possibly
Menander. With the flowing headband of a Greek King, northern tunic with Hellenistic
pleats, and Buddhist triratna symbol on his sword. Bharhut, 2nd century BCE. Indian
Museum, Kolkata. Credit: User: G41m8. Source: Wikimedia Commons. (https://
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bharhut_Yavana.jpg)
33
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE minor son Strato I upon the death of Menander. During the post-Menander phase
of Indo-Greek rule in the region to the south of Hindu Kush, we have three near
contemporary rulers: Lysias (c.120-110 BCE), Antialcidas (c.115-95 BCE) and
Heliocles II (c.110-100 BCE), apart from Strato I. Of them, Antialcidas is
mentioned in the Besnagar Pillar Inscription of Heliodorus as the king of Taxila,
whose ambassador was Heliodorus. He visited Kasiputra Bhagabhadra, the king
of Vidisa (in Madhya Pradesh). Since all the monograms used by Strato I were
also used by Heliocles II, it appears that he took control of Strato’s mints and
territories as well. These rulers must have ruled simultaneously in different pockets
of north-west India. The succeeding Indo-Greek rulers had a very short span of
rule. There were ten rulers within a small span of fifteen years which shows that
political instability had become the norm. The Indo-Greek rule over Gandhara
came to an end due to conflicts with the Parthians and Sakas. Their control over
the area to the east of the Jhelum ended in the late 1st century BCE or early
1st century CE with their defeat at the hands of the Kshatrapa ruler Rajuvula.
Their last stronghold was in eastern Punjab before they withered away.
2.4 THE SAKA-KSHATRAPAS OF WESTERN

INDIA
The Sçythio-Parthians ruled through their Kshatrapas (viceroys or subordinate
rulers). The Ksatrapas ruled over parts of western India during the Kushana period.
A group of rulers who ruled in Gujarat, Saurashtra and Malwa during the post-
Mauryan times are known as Western Kshatrapas.
There were two important lines of Kshatrapa rulers: the Kshaharatas and
Kardamakas.Till recently only two members of the Kshaharata family were known
viz., Bhumaka and Nahapana. Another name, Aghudaka or Abhedaka is now
known from coins, who also bears the family name Kshaharata on his coins.
Bhumaka seems to have originally owed allegiance to Kanishka. His coins with
legends in Brahmi and Kharosthi have been found in coastal Gujarat; some also
could be traced in Malwa and Ajmer area. Bhumaka was immediately succeeded
by Nahapana as his copper coins were of the same type as issued by Bhumaka.
Figure 2.3: Dedicatory Inscription in Brahmi by prime Minister Ayama in the name of his
ruler, Nahapana. It reads ‘Mahakhatapa (“great Satrap”). Manmodi Caves, c. 100 CE.
Source: Jas Burgess, 1883. Wikimedia Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Mahakhatapa.jpg)
Nahapana is known to us not only from his coins but also from several inscriptions
recording endowments and benefactions by his son-in-law Usavadata and one of
his ministers Ayama. The Nambanus of the Periplus and king Naravahana of the
Jaina sources are also identified with Nahapana. Nahapana’s coins have been
found in the Ajmer area of Rajasthan and Nasik area of Maharashtra. In the
earlier inscriptions Nahapana uses the title Kshatrapa and in his later ones
Mahakshatrapa and Rajan. He perhaps ruled more or less independently.
34
Nahapana’s kingdom in its largest expanse seems to have included Malwa, Emergence of Regional
Powers
Gujarat, Saurashtra, northern Maharashtra, parts of Rajasthan and the lower Indus
valley. The capital Minnagara was midway between Ujjain and Broach and
perhaps could be identified with Doha.
Epigraphic and numismatic evidences suggest that control over certain areas,
especially those that gave access to the western sea board frequently changed
hands between the Sakas and the Satavahanas, a formidable power of Deccan
during the post-Mauryan period. That Nahapana was gaining political control at
the expense of Satavahanas is evident from the distribution of his records in
areas which had formed the core of the Satavahana realm: three inscriptions
from Nasik, one each from Karle and Junnar (both located close to Pune,
Maharashtra). A Nasik inscription records his hold over Bhrigukachchha (Broach,
Gujarat), Dasapura (Mandasore in western MP), Surparaka (Sopara, a suburb of
Mumbai) and Govardhana (Nasik). However, soon after, Nahapana was killed,
probably by the Satavahana ruler Gautamiputra Satakarni, who wrested control
of the southern territories of the Kshaharata kingdom.
Figure 2.4: Silver Coin of Nahapana. British Museum. Credit: Uploadalt. Source: Wikimedia
Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Silver_coin_of_Nahapana_British_
Museum.jpg)
During the later years of Nahapana, another Kshatrapa ruler appeared on the
scene. He was Chashtana who belonged to the Kardamaka family. This family
name is found in an inscription at Kanheri where the daughter of Rudradaman
(Chashtana’s grandson), who was the queen of Vashisthiputra Satakarni, mentions
herself as having been born in the Kardamaka family. Chashtana assumed the
title ‘kshatrapa’ on his earlier coins and ‘mahakshatrapa’ on his later ones while
‘rajan’ remained throughout. Chashtana began his rule most probably in 78 CE.
Chashtana was ruling in western India conjointly with his grandson,

Rudradaman I in Saka Era 52 (130 CE) as known from Andhau inscription coming
from Kutch in western Gujarat. His son was Jayadaman. From the rarity of his
coins it appears that he probably ruled for a brief period and predeceased his
father. Chashtana is also referred to as Tiastenes in Ptolemy’s Geography and he
35
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE is said to have had his capital at Ujjayini in Avanti. This indicates loss of Ujjayini
in western Malwa by the Satavahanas. Rudradaman I was the most important
ruler of the Kardamaka family. During his reign the Saka power experienced a
major expansion. His famous inscription from Junagarh, dated Saka Era 72
(150 CE) bears testimony to this. He assumed the title of Mahakshatrapa. The
title ‘mahakshatrapa’ assumed by Rudradaman I (c. 150 CE) certainly speaks of
his more exalted political position than that of an ordinary Kshatrapa. Thus he
assumed independence by 150 CE perhaps from the Kushanas. Rudradaman I
(c. 150 CE) established his power over Akaravanti, Anarta a (northern part of
Kathiawad), Saurashtra (Kathiawad peninsula), Svabhra (on the banks of the
Sabarmati), Kaccha (Kutch), Sindu-Sauvira (lower Indus valley both to the east
and the west of the Indus), Kukura, Aparanta and Nishada (located somewhere
between the Vindhya and the Paripatra mountains). Some of these places/areas
were once under the Satavahanas and now they were conquered by Rudradaman.
Rudradaman I, according to the Junagarh prasasti, defeated Satakarni twice, the
lord of the Deccan, but spared him on account of the nearness of relation; this
brought him glory. An inscription from Kanheri informs us that the Satavahana
king Vasishthiputra Satakarni married the daughter of ‘Mahakshatrapa Ru..’ (the
name is unfortunately broken off and therefore, not legible). If Mahakshtrapa
Ru is the same as Rudradaman I then the defeated Satavahana king could have
been Vasishthiputra Satakarni who by the virtue of being the son-in-law of
Rudradaman was not uprooted by his Saka adversary.
Figure 2.6: Silver Coin of Rudradaman I (130-150). Obv: Bust of Rudradaman, with
corrupted Greek Legend OVONI OOCV CH NO. Rev: Three arched hill or caitya with
river, crescent and sun. Brahmi legend Rajno Ksatrapasa Rudradaman, “Son of King and
Great Satrap Jayadaman”. Source: Wikimedia Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/
wiki/File:Coin_of_Rudradaman.jpg)
The Junagarh prasasti also throws lights on the diversified revenue demands of
the state. This inscription describes that the treasury (kosa) of Rudradaman I
overflowed with precious metals like gold (kanaka), silver (rajata) and gems by
dint of his collection of lawfully levied taxes (yathavaprapta), like rent on land
(bali), share on agricultural produce (bhaga), and tolls and customs (sulka). The
terms bali and bhaga as revenue demands have been known since the time of
Ashoka and were levied on peasants. The extraction of sulka or tolls and customs
certainly speaks of the collection from commercial transactions. The successors
of Rudradaman I could not keep his entire territory intact but retained their
independent position in western Malwa, Gujarat and Kathiawar till the early
36 fifth century.
Check Your Progress Exercise 1 Emergence of Regional
Powers
1) Discuss the Indo-Greeks with reference to Menander.
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2) Who were the Western Kshatrapas? Discuss their main features.
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2.5 THE SATAVAHANAS

Contemporary to the Sakas were the Satavahanas in the Deccan. The Satavahana
family laid the foundation of the first monarchical polity in Deccan in the
post-Mauryan period.
2.5.1 Sources
The names of the Satavahana rulers occur in the lists of kings found in the Puranas.
However these lists should be used in conjunction with other sources. This is so
because, the names of the kings and duration of their rule vary in different Puranas.
The Puranas also contain a lot of myths and legends which distort the picture.
However, Puranas become an important source when studied with other sources
such as coins and inscriptions.
The Satavahanas minted a large number of coins in lead, silver and an alloy of
copper. Their silver coins carry the portrait of the king and his name. The
inscriptions are found in Buddhist rock cut caves and record donations made by
Satavahana kings and queens to a large number of people. By comparing the
information available in these different sources, scholars generally accept that
the Satavahanas began their rule in the first century BCE. The earliest record is
found engraved on rock in a cave near Nasik in the present state of Maharashtra.
2.5.2 Antecedents
Though earlier scholars thought that the Satavahanas emerged as a major power
soon after the Mauryas, recent excavations and numismatic sources have brought
to light a distinct pre-Satavahana phase which is an intermediary phase between
the decline of the Mauryas and the emergence of the Satavahanas. 37
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE B.D.Chattopadhyaya believes that soon after the decline of the Mauryas and
before the advent of Satavahanas, a large number of small political principalities
emerged in various parts of Deccan. Coins of local rulers often bearing the title
maharathi have been found in stratigraphic contexts at sites such as Verrapuram
in pre-Satavahana levels. At Brahmapuri, coins of Kura rulers have been found
at pre-Satavahana levels. Unstratified coin finds at Kotalingala give the names
of several local leaders such as Gobhadra, Samigopa, Chimuka, Kamvaya, and
Narana. A raja named Kubiraka is mentioned in a late 2nd century BCE inscription
found on a relic casket at Bhattiprolu. All this indicates a significant increase in
the power and status of local elites during the 2nd-1st centuries BCE (Singh,
2008).
2.5.3 Political History of the Satavahanas

We can place the beginning of the Satavahana kingdom around the late first
century BCE, and it flourished for the next 250 years. Paithan in the central
Deccan was the apex political centre throughout the Satavahana history right
from the days of the first ruler Simuka (late first century BCE). Though their
origin must have been in a region located in eastern Deccan i.e. between the
Godavari and the Krishna rivers, initially they rose to power in central Deccan
with Pratishthana (modern Paithan, Maharashtra) as their capital.
The Satavahanas are identical with the Andhras of Puranas. The Sanskrit Puranic
texts mention the Satavahanas as belonging to the Andhra-jati or as Andhra-
bhrityas. There is a debate as to whether the Satavahanas initially came to power
in the eastern or western Deccan. Since they called themselves Andhras, they
probably belonged to the Andhra tribe. The term Andhra-bhritya is taken by
some scholars to indicate that they were subordinates of the Mauryas (bhritya
means ‘servant’ or ‘subordinate’). However Andhra-bhritya could also mean
‘servants of the Andhras’. Thus it may apply not to the Satavahanas but to their
successors.
Early Satavahana coins have been found from Karimnagar district of Andhra
Pradesh indicating that their rule began in eastern Deccan. On the other hand,
inscriptions in the Naneghat and Nasik caves point to the western Deccan as
their initial base. It is possible, according to some scholars, that Paithan was
their initial base territory in the western Deccan, from where they expanded into
eastern Deccan, Andhra and the western coast.
Ashokan inscriptions mention Andhras among the subject population within the
Mauryan realm. Their own inscriptions refer to them as belonging to the
Satavahana family (Satavahana-kula) and never as Andhras or Andhrabhrityas.
The Puranas provide us with varying lists of rulers of the Andhra origin; Matsya
and the Brahmanda Purana mention a list of 30 kings who were assigned a
period of 460 years whereas the Vayu Purana gives a list of 17 kings covering
300 years. Some of the Matsya Purana manuscripts speak of a shorter duration
of Andhra rule of 272/275 years. Epigraphic and numismatic sources provide
the evidence in support of approximately fifteen Satavahana kings who actually
ruled. It is, therefore, more logical to prefer a shorter chronology of 275 years
under fifteen or seventeen Satavahana rulers in the Deccan (from c. 50 BCE to
CE 225) to longer duration of 460 years. Thus it could be said that the Satavahanas
ruled from about the 1st century BCE to 3rd century CE.
38
Powers
Map: India in 2nd Century CE. Credit: Charles Joppen. Source: “Historical Atlas of India,”
by Charles Joppen (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1907). Wikimedia Commons. https:/
/commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:India_2nd_century_AD.jpg
Satavahana Settlements. Source: EHI-02, Block 7. 39

India : 200 BCE to 300 CE If we look at the find spots of the earliest Satavahana inscriptions, we find that
they are available from Nasik and Naneghat in the western Deccan. Coins of
Satavahanas have been found from excavations at Nevasa (Ahmednagar district,
Maharashtra). This suggests that central Deccan was within their realm. The
Puranas and Geography of Ptolemy indicate that the Satavahana capital was
located at Pratisthana (Paithan in central Deccan). The later rulers were losing
their control over the west and had to move further east and southwards from the
late 2nd century CE.
The first known ruler of this dynasty, according to archaeological finds and the
Puranic lists, was Simuka (also called Sisuka). On his coins Simuka is mentioned
as Chhimuka who can be placed around the 1st century BCE. Simuka was
succeeded by his brother Kanha or Krishna, who extended the empire eastwards
till Nasik; next came Satakarni I. He was the first powerful ruler of the dynasty
and has been lauded as the Lord of the Deccan (Dakshinapathapati) in Queen
Naganika’s inscription at Naneghat. Satakarni is known from two records from
Nasik. He is possibly identical with Satakarni figuring in Kharavela’s prasasti.
He probably extended his sway to the east as his coins have been recovered from
Kaundinyapura in Vidarbha. Who succeeded Satakarni I is not clear, but prior to
the succession of Gautamipurtra Satakarni there was another ruler named
Gautamiputra Siva Satakarni whose coins have been recently reported. The
Puranic list mentions one Siva Svati as a predecessor of Gautamiputra Satakarni.
Gautamiputra Satakarni was the next powerful ruler in the dynasty. We learn
about his achievements and personality from the Nasik prasasti, which was caused
to be engraved by his mother Gautami Balasri during the reign of Vashisthiputra
Pulumavi. He is described as the destroyer of the Sakas, Yavanas and Pahlavas.
It also credits him with the annihilation of the Kshaharata dynasty and restorer
of the fortune of the Satavahana family ((khakharatavasa niravasesakara …..
Satavahana-kula-yasa-patithapana-kara).
There were three phases in the struggle between the Sakas and Satavahanas. The
first phase was when, as described in the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, the king
of Barygaza, Nambanus, put a naval blockade around the port of Kalliene (Kalyan)
from where he forced the visiting ships to go to Barygaza. Kalyan’s prosperity
waned and it does not find any mention in the list of ports available in the
Geography of Ptolemy (c. 150 CE). The second phase was during the time of
Gautamiputra Satakarni as is evident from the Nasik prasasti and coins of these
two dynasties. A sure indicator of the Satavahana victory comes from the
Jogalthembi hoard of coins yielding more than 13,000 coins issued by the Saka
ruler Nahapana; more than 9000 of these coins were found counterstruck by
Gautamiputra Satakarni. Counterstriking indicates conquest by the victorious
ruler over his rival. Thirdly, in his 18th regnal year Gautamiputra Satakarni also
donated to a Buddhist monastery near Nasik a piece of land which till recently
had been enjoyed by Usavadata, Nahapana’s son-in-law (khetam ajakalakiyam
Usavadatena bhuktam). Gautamiputra Satakarni could confiscate the plot and
make the donation again to the Buddhist monastery only after the ouster of the
Saka ruler became possible.
The Nasik prasasti describes Gautamiputra Satakarni as the ruler of Asika

(Rishika, between the Godavari and the Krishna), Asaka (Asmaka to the north of
Rishika), Mulaka (area around Pratishthana in the central Deccan), Kukura
40 (northern Kathiawad), Anupa (Mahishmati to the south of the Narmada), Vidabha
(Vidarbha in Nagpur), and Akaravanti (Avanti located around Ujjaini in western Emergence of Regional
Powers
Malwa and Akara in eastern Malwa around modern Sanchi-Vidisa-Bhopal region
in MP). He is also praised as the lord of the following mountains (pavata-pati):
Vijha (Vindhya or the eastern part of the Vindhya range), Achhavat (Rikshavat,
part of the Vindhya to the north of the Narmada), Parichata (Paripatra or the
present Aravalli mountains), Sahya (Sahyadri or the Western Ghats), Kanhagiri
(Kanheri near Mumbai), Mahendra (Eastern Ghats) and Setagiri (the hill near
Nagarjunakonda in the Guntur area of Andhra Pradesh). When he is praised as
the ruler whose chargers drank the water of the three seas (tisamuda toyapita
vahana), there seems to have been an allusion to the expansion of the Satavahana
power over the entire Deccan from the western to the eastern sea-boards. Put
differently it points to his claims of extensive conquest in trans-Vindhyan India.
He fittingly assumed the epithet ‘the Lord of the Deccan’(Dakshinapathapati).
Under Gautamiputra, the Satavahana power penetrated to the areas to the north
of the Narmada, e.g. eastern and western Malwa and southern Gujarat. For the
first time a power of the Deccan expanded beyond river Narmada, traditionally
known as the northern boundary of the Deccan.
He was succeeded by his son Vasisthiputra Pulumavi who too ruled for twenty-
four years (c. 130-54 CE) like his father. He is clearly identifiable with
Siro P(t)olemaios (Sri Pulumavi) of Ptolemy’s Geography. His political centre
continued to be at Betana (Paithan). He indeed retained intact the Satavahana
control over Nasik which has yielded his four inscriptions (yrs. 2, 6, 19 and 22)
and also over Karle near Pune. His inscriptions from Amaravati in eastern Deccan
suggest that the Amaravati region was controlled by him. His coin with ship
motif circulated in eastern Deccan which also indicates Satavahana mastery over
the east coast.
In spite of the heavy losses suffered in later years due to Rudradaman’s conquest,
the Satavahanas somehow managed to retain their control over their primary
stronghold in Nasik and western Deccan (two inscriptions of Vasishthiputra
Satakarni from Nasik and Naneghat in his year 13 have been found). Yajnasri
Satakarni was a prominent king among the later Satavahanas. Inscriptions attest
to his long reign of at least twenty seven years during which the Satavahana
territorial possession comprised Nasik, western Deccan, eastern Deccan and
Vidarbha. He was probably the last of the powerful Satavahana monarchs. His
successors ruled over a much reduced territory which was confined to Andhra
Pradesh and the Bellary area of Karnataka. These later successors are mostly
known from their silver coins with bust of the ruler.The issuance of such coins
began during the time of Vasishthiputra Pulumavi and continued till the end.
The coins of Vasishthiputra Pulumavi have been found in various parts of Andhra
Pradesh. The other rulers whose bust type silver coins have been found are
Vasishthiputra Satakarni, Yajnasri Satakarni, Vasishthiputra Vijaya Satakarni,
Vasishthiputra Sivasri Pulumavi, Vasishthiputra Skanda Satakarni. There are
some coins bearing the name of Madhariputra Pulumavi who may also be
considered as a late Satavahana ruler. All these rulers probably ruled for a very
short period. Some of these later Satavahana rulers are not mentioned in the
Puranic king-lists and are only known through their coins. It was under the later
Satavahanas that coins with bilingual legends were issued and in addition to the
name of the king in Prakrit, these carried a legend in a south Indian language.
41
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE The end of the Satavahana political presence in Deccan is likely to have taken
place in c. 225 CE. This paved the way for the rise of the Vakatakas in the Deccan,
Kadambas in Mysore, Abhiras in Maharashtra and Ikshvakus in Andhra. The
Ikshvakus became prominent in eastern Deccan.
The regular issuance of coins, including coins with ship-motifs (single or double
masted) indicate Satavahana interests in commercial exchanges. Grand epithets
were bestowed upon the Satavahana rulers when they were compared in valour
with several Epic heroes. Being a monarchy, the rulers embraced the Brahmanical
norms as the ideology of the state and performed Vedic sacrifices like asvamedha,
vajapeya and rajasuya. Gautamiputra Satakarni was glorified as a unique
brahmana (eka bamhana) who stopped the admixture among the four varnas
(vinivatita chatuvanasamkara). In the Satavahana realm the importance of queens,
e.g. Nayanika and Gautami Balasri was recognized. Nayanika in fact served as a
queen regent when her son was a minor. Even coins were issued with her name
inscribed on one side, with her spouse Satakarni’s name on the other.
It appears that the Indo-Greeks, Satavahanas, the Kshaharatas and the Kardamaka
rulers maintained diversified and large armies in view of the numerous wars
waged by these powers. The Greeks ruled in different pockets and there could
have been joint rules. Their territorial expansion was based on their military
might. Apart from infantry, the Satavahanas possessed cavalry, chariots and
elephant forces. The army commander was styled mahasenapati, often associated,
however, with discharging civil functions. The maintenance of civil and military
functionaries certainly depended mostly on the agrarian resources, but the realm
collected levies on crafts (karukara), including a cess on salt production
(lonakhadakam). Diversified revenue demands seem to have been a marker of
the emergence of a complex monarchical polity and both the Sakas and the
Satavahanas imposed diverse form of taxes. We find that for both the Sakas and
the Satavahanas, control of Nasik, Junnar, and Karle were important as these
were important towns since they commanded the passes which gave the ports of
the northern Konkan access to the hinterland. The Saka-Satavahana struggle or
the prolonged conflict between the two royal houses dominates the history of
this period.
In addition to the Kstarapas, Satavahana kings had to contend with the power of
king Kharavela from Odisha or Kalinga. He is supposed to have dispatched an
army to the west and it is known that the Satavahana power suffered set backs
both at the hands of the Ksatrapas and Kharavela.
The Satavahanas may have maintained some sort of relationship with the local
chiefs, though the nature is not clear. For example, the inscriptions refer to
marriage relations of the Satavahanas with the Maharathis and the Mahabhojas.
In fact, Queen Nayanika herself was a daughter of a Maharathi. Maharathis are
also known to have made independent donations; most of their inscriptions are
found around Karle. The records of the Mahabhojas, on the other hand, occur
along the west coast.
42
Check Your Progress Exercise 2 Emergence of Regional
Powers
1) Write a short note of about 50 words on the sources that are important for
the reconstruction of the history of the Satavahanas.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
2) Read the following statements and mark right ( ) or wrong (×)
a) Menander was a Buddhist convert. ( )
b) The Junagadh rock inscription was written in Sanskrit. ( )
c) The Satrap system was introduced into India by the Sakas. ( )
d) The Satavahanas made Buddhism their state religion. ( )
e) There is no controversy regarding the origin and identity ( )
of the Satavahanas.
2.6 SUMMARY
The period between 200 BCE-200 CE is important in Indian history. A number
of polities became significant in north-western, western India and the Deccan.
Coins minted by different kings become an important source of history along
with inscriptions and Puranic texts. In fact, thirty Bactrian Greeks are known
from coins only. The nature of coinage and the wide area in which they circulated
suggest wide trade networks. The Satavahana period is important in the history
of Deccan because it was the earliest state that emerged south of the Vindhyas in
the first century BCE.
2.7 KEY WORDS

Kshatrapa: a viceroy or subordinate ruler of the Scythio-Parthians; a title
assumed by kings of the Kshaharata and Kardamaka dynasties
Mahakshatrapa: viceroy, subordinate ruler; a title assumed by some kings of

the Kshaharata and Kardamaka dynasties.
Brahmi: an ancient Indian script
Aramaic: a language and script. The Aramaic or North Semitic script was the
official script of Assyrian, Babylonian, and Achaemenid empires; Ashokan
inscriptions indicate the use of the language and script in the north-western part
of the Indian subcontinent.
43
EXERCISES
1) See Section 2.3
2) See Section 2.4
1) See Sub-section 2.5.1
2) a) b) c) d) × e) ×

Bopearachchi,Osmund (1991). Monnaies Greco-Bactriennes et Indo-Grecques:
Catalogue Raisonne. Paris: Bibliotheque Nationale.
Chakravarti, Ranabir (2017). Exploring Early India, up to c.AD 1300. Third
Edition. Delhi: Primus Publications.
Chattopadhyaya, B.D (2003). Studying Early India. New Delhi: Permanent Black.
Ghosh,Suchandra (2017). From the Oxus to the Indus: A Political and Cultural
History(300 BCE-100 BCE). Delhi: Primus Books.
Jha, Amiteshwar and Rajgor, D. (1992). Studies in the Coinage of the Western
Ksatrapas. Nasik: Indian Institute of Numismatic Studies.
Raychaudhuri, H.C. (1996) Political History of Ancient India with a Commentary
by B.N. Mukherjee. 8th Edition. New Delhi: OUP.
Shastri, Ajay Mitra (1999). The Age of the Satavahanas. Delhi: Aryan Books
International.
Singh, Upinder (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From
the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Delhi: Pearson Education India.
Thapar, Romila (2002). Early India from the Origins to AD 1300. London: Penguin
Books.
44
UNIT 3 EARLY STATE FORMATION IN Powers
DECCAN AND TAMILAHAM*
Structure
3.0 Objectives
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Sources
3.3 About State Formation
3.4 Antecedents
3.5 Geographical Background
3.6 Outline History of Satavahana Dynasty
3.7 Settlement Pattern
3.8 Administration
3.9 Society
3.10 South India (Tamilaham): The Region
3.11 The Five Eco-zones and Subsistence Patterns
3.12 Evolution of Political Society
3.13 Summary
3.14 Key Words
3.0 OBJECTIVES
the Satavahana dynasty which founded the earliest state in the Deccan;
the nature of administration under the Satavahanas, and the changes in the
society at this time.
You should also be able to understand:
what eco-zones constituted Tamilaham (south India) of the early period;
how the various forms of subsistence co-existed and interacted;
how the different kinds of chiefdoms functioned; and
how they represented different levels of political control.
3.1 INTRODUCTION
In the previous Unit you learnt about the emergence of regional powers in the
Indian subcontinent in the period between 200 BCE till 300 CE. In this Unit, we
will study the changes in Deccan. The major power that rose in the Deccan around
the 1st century BCE was the Satavahana dynasty. Here, we will concentrate on
the political and social structure of the Deccan under the Satavahanas.
* This Unit has been adopted from EHI-02, Block 7. 45

India : 200 BCE to 300 CE After learning about early state formation in Deccan under the Satavahanas you
will see that a similar situation was not seen in south India (Tamilaham) during
this period. We do not see the existence of a state power in the region, but only
chiefdoms. State presupposes the existence of a centralized political authority
over a territory. Its authority would be based on the control of the territorial
resources. It would have a regular system of taxation and organized defense.
Facilitating both taxation and defense, the state would have a bureaucracy or a
team of officials of different ranks and functions. On the other hand, a chiefdom
would have no such evolved features. A chiefdom would be a society of hereditary
status, ruled by a chief. His authority would be the one based on the control of
his people bound by the concerned tribal or clannish ties of kinship. The chief
would be the embodiment of the kinship relations of his people. There would be
no regular taxation or periodic exaction of any revenue from the people, but only
occasional voluntary payments to the chief. In this Unit, you will be made familiar
with the variety of chiefly powers and their levels of political development in
Tamilaham.
3.2 SOURCES
The names of the Satavahana rulers, also known as the Andhras, occur in the
lists of kings found in the Puranas. However, there are many difficulties in using
these lists as sources of history without critically comparing them with other
sources. For example, the names of the kings and the duration of their rule vary
in the different Puranas. Moreover, information about the kings is interwoven
with myths and legends, and one has to carefully distinguish between facts and
legendary stories. The Puranas are, nevertheless, useful when studied with other
sources such as coins and inscriptions. The Satavahanas minted a large number
of coins in:
lead,
silver, and
an alloy of copper.
Satavahana 1st Century BCE Coin inscribed in Brahmi Script. British Museum Collection,
London. Credit: PHGCOM. Source: Wikimedia Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.
org/wiki/File:Satavahana1stCenturyBCECoinInscribedInBrahmi(Sataka)Nisa.jpg).
46
Their silver coins carry the portrait of the king and his name. The inscriptions Early State Formation in
Deccan and Tamilaham
are found in Buddhist caves cut in rock and record donations made by Satavahana
kings and queens as well as by a large number of ordinary people. By comparing
the information available in these different sources, scholars generally accept
that the Satavahanas began their rule around the 1st century BCE. Their earliest
record is found engraved on rock in a cave near Nasik in the present state of
Maharashtra.
3.3 ABOUT STATE FORMATION

We should now pose the question: What is a state and how does the emergence
of state bring about changes in society? There are many theories which seek to
explain the reasons for the emergence of a state. Reasons for the emergence of a
state vary from region to region. In certain cases, the development of trade and
the growth of urban centres could lead to the rise of a state. Other theories suggest
that population pressure or conquest could also result in a change in the political
structure.
Scholars generally agree that a state is a more efficient method of controlling

expanding populations. A state exercises control over a more or less well-defined
territory and maintains an administrative machinery to collect taxes and revenue.
It pays for a regular army that enforces law and order. But together with all this,
the inequality and stratification in society also increases. There is a well-marked
distinction between the rulers and the ruled. The rulers control the resources of
society for their own benefit and use. The ruled, on the other hand, provide the
revenue and the money required to maintain the members of the ruling family,
the notables in the state, the various categories of officials and the army. Thus,
the basic difference between a tribal society and a state society is in the nature of
political control. In a state system, a specialized administrative machinery
separates the rulers from the ruled. In a tribal society, political power is generally
exercised by a clan which has no authority to enforce its decisions. The position
of the clan depends on the loyalty of the members and most decisions are taken
together.
3.4 ANTECEDENTS
As we have learnt, Chalcolithic settlements spread in the western Deccan in the
2nd millennium BCE. The eastern Deccan was occupied a little later in the 2nd
half of the 1st millennium BCE by iron using communities. These were, by and
large, village settlements – the abode of a large number of tribes. Early
Sanskrit literature, particularly the Epics and the Puranas, mention several tribes
such as the Andhras, Sabaras, Pulindas, etc. who lived in Deccan. Many of these
are also mentioned by Ashoka in his inscriptions. But, most of these references
are of a general nature and it is difficult to define the region where they lived in
Deccan.
The process of change, perhaps, started with the Mauryan expansion in Deccan.
The Mauryas were primarily interested in exploiting the mineral resources of the
Deccan peninsula. The gold, diamonds and gems from the mines in Karnataka
and Andhra were transported to Magadha in the north through a series of land
and coastal routes. Market centres developed at important points along these
routes such as Dharanikota on the banks of the Krishna in Guntur district of
47
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE Andhra and Karad in Satara district of Maharashtra. Many chiefs known as
maharathis became important in several scattered pockets. But it was under the
Satavahanas who were related by marriage to the maharathis that the first state
emerged in Deccan.
3.5 GEOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND

The Deccan peninsula is divided into the plateau region and the coastal plains by
the hill ranges of the Eastern and Western Ghats. The Andhra coast is much
wider than the Konkan coast to the west. The general slope of the plateau is to
the east and as a result, the major rivers such as the Mahanadi, Godavari and
Krishna flow eastwards into the Bay of Bengal. The deltas and valleys of the
rivers provide fertile areas for settlements. Perhaps, a significant aspect of the
geography of the Deccan is the fact that the hill ranges of the plateau can be
crossed only along the passes.
3.6 OUTLINE HISTORY OF SATAVAHANA

DYNASTY
According to the Puranic tradition it was Simuka Satavahana who established
the Satavahana power. Kanha or Krishna, his brother, is perhaps known to us
from an inscription at Nasik. Another record that lists several rulers of the dynasty
is the Nanaghat inscription of Queen Nayanika, the widowed queen of Satakarni,
who performed Vedic sacrifices. Nanaghat was a major pass connecting Junnar
with the coast, and in a cave at the head of the pass, portraits of the Satavahana
rulers were carved. Unfortunately, the sculptures are now completely destroyed
and all that remains are labels over their heads giving their names.
We know very little about the rulers that followed Satakarni till we come to the
reign of Gautamiputra Satakarni. An inscription of his mother engraved on the
entrance to a cave at Nasik provides us details about the extent of his kingdom
and the events of his reign. One of his major achievements was the defeat of the
Kshatrapas of western Deccan and Gujarat. His mother’s epigraph praises him
as the restorer of Satavahana glory and further proof of this comes from
numismatic evidence. After his victory, he counterstruck silver coins of the
Kshatrapa Nahapana with his own legend and symbols. According to the Periplus
of the Erytheaen Sea, as a result of rivalry between the Kshatrapas and
Satavahanas, Greek ships entering Kalyan, a port near present Mumbai, were
sent under guard to the port of Bharuch. Perhaps, control of the lucrative foreign
trade was one of the causes for the conflict. It would also seem that under
Gautamiputra Satakarni, Satavahana rule extended over Andhra as well.
Gautamiputra was succeeded by his son Pulumavi and it was at this time that the
Satavahanas consolidated their power in eastern Deccan. For the first time we
find Satavahana inscriptions outside western Deccan at Amaravati. Yajnasri
Satakarni was the last important Satavahana ruler and after him the kingdom
was splintered and divided between his successors – one line of kings ruling in
the Andhra region. It was also under the later Satavahanas that coins with bilingual
legends were issued and in addition to the name of the king in Prakrit these
carried a legend in a south Indian language – opinion being divided on its
identification between Tamil and Telugu.
48
In addition to the Kshatrapas, an early Satavahana ruler had to contend with the Early State Formation in
power of Kharavela from Odisha (Kalinga). Kharavela rose to power in Kalinga
in the middle of the 1st century BCE. He dispatched an army to the west without
caring for Satakarni; this suggests that early Satavahana power suffered setbacks
both at the hands of the Kshatrapas and of Kharavela. It was revived only through
the exploits of Gautamiputra Satakarni.
Approximate Extent of the Satavahana Empire under Gautamiputra Satakarni. Source:

The History and Culture of the Indian People, Vol. II. Credit: chetanv. Source: Wikimedia
Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Satvahana.svg).
One of the problems of Satavahana history is that we know very little about the
different pockets of Deccan. For example, the inscriptions refer to marriage
relations of the Satavahanas with the Maharathis and the Mahabhojas– in fact, in
the Nanaghat label inscriptions a Maharathi finds precedence over a Kumara
(prince) and Queen Nayanika herself was the daughter of a Maharathi. Maharathis
are also known to have made independent donations – most of their inscriptions
having been found around Karle, while the records of the Mahabhojas occur
along the west coast.
3.7 SETTLEMENT PATTERN

On the basis of the find-spots of their earliest inscriptions, it can be said that the
Satavahanas began their rule in the western Deccan. A 2nd century BCE inscription
of Gautamiputra Satakarni’s mother from Nasik provides information about the
extent of the kingdom under the Satavahanas. The mention of both the Western
and the Eastern Ghats as forming parts of Gautamiputra Satakarni’s empire
suggests that by this time Satavahana rule covered the entire Deccan and that it 49
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE was divided into aharas (districts). We get the names of at least five aharas in
the inscriptions:
Govardhana-ahara with its centre around Nasik;
Soparaka-ahara on the west coast;
Mamala-ahara comprising the hilly portions of Pune and Satara districts;
Satavahanihara covering the Bellery district of Karnataka; and
Kapurachara perhaps in Gujarat.
Nanaghat/Naneghat Cave Inscription of Queen Nayanika/Naganika in Sanskrit, c. 2nd

Century BCE. Credit: Elroy Serrao. Source: Wikimedia Commons. (https://
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Complete_view_of_Inscription_in_cave_at_Naneghat.
jpg).
West Coast
On the west coast there were a series of ports at Bharuch, Kalyan, Sopara and
Chaul and continuing further south all along the Konkan coast. To these ports
commodities were brought from the inland centres through passes along the
Western Ghats. An important source for understanding the nature of travel and
trade is the 1st century CE text Periplus of the Erytheaen Sea written by an
anonymous Greek sailor. It provides a graphic account of the dangerous passage
through the narrow mouth of the Gulf of Cambay to Bharuch. As a result, incoming
ships were piloted into the port by royal fishermen of the district. We have earlier
referred to the conflict between the Satavahanas and the Kshatrapas over control
of the maritime trade and the competition between the ports of Bharuch and
Kalyan.
Inland Settlements
Across the Western Ghats on the inland side, the major concentration of
settlements were around:
Nasik,
Junnar within a 30 km. radius of Karle, and
further south in the upper Krishna basin around Kolhapur.
It should be emphasized that all these areas were agriculturally rich and fertile
and provided a valuable resource base for the ports on the west coast. These
ports handled much of the trade in 1st century CE between India and the
Mediterranean region and were also linked by overland trans-peninsular routes
across the Deccan to centres in Andhra and along the east coast. It went from
50 Bharuch to Paithan and Ter and further east to centres in Andhra. The ancient
site of Paithan is spread over 4 sq. kms. along the Godavari and from time to Early State Formation in
time a rich yield of antiquities like coins, moulds, terracottas and pottery have
been found in the area so far. We know very little about the structural remains of
the Satavahana period.
Ter lies in the major cotton producing region of Deccan. Excavations at the site
have yielded evidence of wooden fortifications and a number of vats, perhaps
for dyeing cloth. It is also well known for the find of an ivory figurine very
similar to the specimen found at Pompeii, but, perhaps, the most important ruin
at the site is that of a brick caitya subsequently converted into a Brahmanical
temple.
Satavahana Settlements. Source: EHI-02, Block-7.

Another route in the Deccan linked Ujjain to Maheshwar on the Narmada and
past the caves at Ajanta and Pitalkhora to Bhokardan and Paithan. Bhokardan
was a major bead-making centre and was also known for shell and ivory-working.
Inhabitants of Bhokardan or Bhogavardhana are known to have made donations
at the Buddhist caves of Bharhut and Sanchi in central India.
Further south in the upper Krishna valley Karad is an early centre referred to in
Buddhist inscriptions. Also located in the same region is Kolhapur. In the western
part of the town a rich hoard of bronze objects was found. Some of these like the
statuette of Poseidon were, clearly, imports, while others like carts and bronze
vessels were of local manufacture. An extensive site in the adjacent district of
Belgaum is the site of Vadgaon Madhavpur, a suburb of Belgaum town where
excavations have yielded large numbers of coins and other antiquities. Further
south is the site of Banavasi known as the find-spot of one of the Satavahana
inscription. It was, perhaps, a fortified settlement as there are indications of a
fortification wall and a moat. 51
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE The trans-peninsula route across Deccan linked these sites in the western Deccan
to centres like Amravati in the lower Krishna valley and went past the Karimnagar
region of Andhra. The Karimnagar region has an extensive distribution of early
historical sites, an important centre being that of Kondapur about 70 km. north-
west of Hyderabad. Excavations at the site have yielded a rich collection of
coins and terracottas and several structures of brick of various sizes laid in mud
mortar. Peddabankur is a small village now but was an important settlement
during the Satavahana period extending over a 30-hectare area. About 10 km.
from Peddabankur was the fortified site of Shulikatta. It was surrounded by a
mud-rampart and excavations have unearthed a large brick structure at the site.
Another major habitation site was at Kotalingala which was settled in the pre-
Satavahana period as indicated by recent coin finds. The Satavahana settlement
had a mud fortification and extensive brick structures. Large quantities of iron
slag and ore were found at the site. Leading from the Karimnagar region, the
route branched off into the lower Krishna valley which has a large concentration
of early historical sites. Prominent among these are Amaravati and Dharanikota
on both banks of the river Krishna, and Dharanikota was connected to the river
through a navigation channel. The earliest structural activity at the site was marked
by the construction of a wooden wharf which was later converted into a brick
structure. But, with the gradual silting up of the navigation channel the site was
abandoned in the 4th century CE. In addition to the trans-peninsular route, another
alternative was to go to the region of Vidarbha into central India – the important
settlements in Vidarbha being those of Panuar, Pauni, Mandhal, Bhatkuli and
Adam.
One point that needs to be stressed here is that it is only during the Satavahana
period that fortified settlements develop in Deccan, and excavations indicate a
marked improvement in the quality of construction. Brick was increasingly used
both for fortification as well as for other structures. The floors were well-made
by means of rammed clay and the roof supported by wooden posts and covered
with tiles.
The railway lines at present follow the same routes that were used in the ancient
period. The Bhorghat is still the only pass across the Western Ghats connecting
Pune to Bombay past a series of early Buddhist caves such as:
Shelarwadi,
Bedsa,
Bhaja,
Karle,
Ambivale, and
Kondane.
3.8 ADMINISTRATION
Administration under the Satavahanas was much simpler than under the Mauryas.
Inscriptions refer to ministers who were in charge of various functions. Among
other things, they served as treasury officers and maintained land records. The
exact number of ministers is not known. These ministers were appointed directly
by the king and the post of a minister does not seem to have been hereditary, i.e.
passed from father to son. They were, perhaps, paid in money from the revenue
52
collected by the state. We do not have exact figures for the amount of revenue Early State Formation in
collected, but we do know that the state collected taxes both from agriculture
and trade. One of the practices started by Satavahana rulers in the 1st century
BCE was that of donating revenue of a village to either a brahmana or the Buddhist
sangha. This practice became much more widespread under the Gupta rulers.
The importance of land revenue for the king can be judged from the elaborate
procedure that was used to record donations of land. These donations were first
proclaimed in an assembly (nigama-sabha). It was then written down either on a
copper-plate or cloth by an officer or minister. This record was then delivered to
the donee to whom the grant had been made. There was a keeper of records who
maintained a detailed account of these donations.
The rulers at this time were eager to bring more land under cultivation so that
they could earn extra revenue. It seems that anyone who cleared the forest and
tilled a plot could claim ownership of the land. The revenue from trade was
another major source of income. We will discuss the expansion of trade in
Unit 5. Here, we should point out that much of the trade was handled by guilds
who also acted as bankers. The state took elaborate measures to encourage trade.
Highways were made secure and rest-houses were constructed along them.
3.9 SOCIETY
The social structure of Deccan under the Satavahanas shows many features which
are different from those prescribed in the Sanskrit texts such as the Manusmriti.
For example, many inscriptions of the Satavahana rulers mention the names of
their mothers rather than those of their fathers, such as Gautamiputra Satakarni
(Satakarni, son of Gautami). This is not in keeping with the Dharmasastras which
state that in the approved forms of marriage the bride acquires the gotra of her
husband and loses that of the father.
Another interesting feature of the inscriptions is that the Satavahanas refer to

themselves as unique brahmanas who crushed the pride of the kshatriyas.
According to Brahmanical texts it was only the kshatriyas who had the right to
rule. The inscriptions are also useful as they record donations by a cross-section
of population and from this, we can judge the prosperity of certain sections of
the society. Traders and merchants figure prominently as donors, but also
important were blacksmiths, gardeners and fishermen. No doubt, these artisans
and craftsmen benefitted from increased long-distance trade. What is noteworthy
is that they mention their occupations by names and not their castes. In an earlier
Unit we had mentioned that Buddhist texts prescribe a somewhat different division
of society as compared to the Brahmanical texts. Here, the distinction was based
on work and craft and in most cases, people were known by their occupations
rather than their castes.
Another category of donors that is known at this time was that of yavanas
(foreigners). The term yavana originally denoted an Ionian Greek, but around
the Common Era it was used indiscriminately for any foreigner. Many of the
yavanas adopted Prakrit names and made donations to Buddhist monasteries.
Women frequently made gifts either on their own or sometimes with their
husbands or sons. One of the Satavahana queens named Nayanika also performed
Vedic sacrifices and made large donations to the brahman and Buddhist monks.
53
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE These examples indicate that society in Deccan, as it is known from the records
of the period, was not governed by rules laid down by the Brahmanical texts.
Thus, any reconstruction of the ancient social structure should carefully analyze
textual references and establish their veracity by comparing these with other
sources such as inscriptional or archaeological.
The role of Buddhist monasteries mentioned in the records of the period had also
changed a great deal since the time of the Buddha. In the beginning Buddhist
monks were allowed very few personal possessions. These were limited to a few
robes and a begging bowl. Gradually, the influence and membership of the
Buddhist sangha increased. We have seen that Satavahana kings donated large
sums of money and land to the Buddhist monasteries. This added to the wealth
of the sangha. It is also at this time that we get references to donations made by
Buddhist monks and nuns themselves.
CheckYour Progress Exercise 1
1) Discuss some features of society under the Satavahanas.
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2) Write a short note on the inland trade routes of this period.
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3.10 SOUTH INDIA (TAMILAHAM): THE REGION

The land in between the hills of Venkatam and Kanyakumari is called Tamilaham
or Tamilakam. It includes the whole of modem Tamil Nadu and Kerala. With
forested hills, undulated terrains, pastures, arid zones, wet-lands and a long sea
coast, the region represented a combination of diverse eco-zones. The three
principal chiefdoms – the Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas – had their strongholds
both in the interior as well as on the sea coast. The Cheras had Karur in the
interior and Muciris, the well-known ancient port on the west coast.
54
Early State Formation in
Ancient Tamilaham Ports. Source: http://www2.demis.nl/mapserver/mapper.asp. Credit:

Lotlil. Photo Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Ancient_tamilakam_ports.png).
The Cholas had Uraijur in the interior and Puhar on the Coromandel coast as
their strongholds. Similarly, the Pandyas had Madurai and Korkar as their interior
headquarters and port respectively. These were the most important political centres
of the period in the region.
3.11 THE FIVE ECO-ZONES AND SUBSISTENCE

PATTERNS
The ecological differences of the region are reflected in ancient Tamil poetry.
This is in the form of the concept of aintinai (five eco-zones). In ancient Tamil
poetry Tamilaham is portrayed as a combination of five tinais, viz.:
kurinji (hilly backwoods),
Credit: Praveenp. Source: Wikimedia Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/

File:Thinai_en.svg).
55
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE palai (arid zone),
mullai (pastoral tracts),
marutam (wet-land), and
neital (sea coast).
There could be areas in which one tinai or the other dominated. But, generally
most of the tinais were fragmented and mixed up all over the region. The mode
of human adaptation varied from tinai to tinai depending on its ecological
conditions. The social groups also varied. The people of kurinji took to hunting
and gathering. Palai being a dry land, the inhabitants over there could not produce
anything. They took to cattle lifting and plundering. The people of mullai practised
animal husbandry and shifting cultivation. In the marutam, the people could
pursue plough agriculture and in the neital, fishing and salt making. Thus,
Tamilaham had different forms of subsistence as determined by the ecological
conditions of the five tinais. People from each tinai went out interacting with the
peoples of the other tinais and entered into barter of goods. For example, the
people from the hilly backwoods came down to other zones for exchanging their
resources like honey, meat, fruits and other wild goods. The people of pastoral
tracts exchanged their dairy products and the coasted people fish and salt. Agrarian
zones attracted all of them. The small, self-sustaining tinais grew up into larger
eco-zones through such interaction and interdependence. There were larger zones
of productivity as well as non-productivity. The zones of better productivity had
a relatively developed social division of labour. In the zones of lesser productivity,
the society was essentially simple and consisted of clans. By and large, the peoples
of Tamilaham represented a complex society of unevenly developed components
which shared a common culture. The political level of the society varied from
the simple chiefdom of clans to complex chiefdom of ruling houses. A full-fledged
state power was yet to take shape.
3.12 EVOLUTION OF POLITICAL SOCIETY

The earliest recognizable phase of the evolution of political society can be seen
in the chiefdoms of clans. There were several chiefdoms of clans, some big and
others very small. The chiefs of clan-chiefdoms were addressed to in the poems
as the great son (perumakan) or chiefly, son (ko-makan) indicating the relation
between chiefs and their clan members. What is really indicated is the basis of
kinship. Some such chiefdoms must have grown beyond kinship through the
conquests and subjugation of other clans. The relatively larger chiefdoms of
complex nature were born out of conquests and subjugation. Marriage alliances
of chiefs also were responsible for the formation of larger chiefdoms, but the
real basis of the enlargement of chiefdoms was their wealth. Chiefdoms with
large agricultural areas constituted the most powerful ones. There were three
such most powerful chiefdoms in contemporary Tamilaham, viz: the Cheras,
Cholas and Pandyas which represented the phase of the evolution of a political
society anticipating the emergence of a real state.
Different Kinds of Chiefdoms
There were three different kinds of chiefdoms in Tamilaham:
kizar (little chiefs),
velir (bigger chiefs), and
56 vedar (the biggest chiefs) categories of chiefs.
The kizar were headmen of small villages (Ur), generally bound by kinship. Early State Formation in
Many kizars are mentioned in the poems. They are referred to by being prefixed
with the name of their respective villages. Arnkantur-kizar or Urntur-kizar may
be cited as examples. Some of them were subjugated by the bigger chiefs and
had to serve them in their campaigns. The poems refer to kizar doing vidutozil
(obligatory services) to bigger chiefs like the Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas in
their campaigns. The bigger chiefs, in their turn, rewarded the kizars through
gifts which included grant of predatory control over the subjugated villages.
Such kizars, sometimes, received control over certain other villages also as reward
for serving bigger chiefs. The velirs were mostly hill chieftains, though there
were velirs controlling low-lands too. The hill chiefs were:
hunter chiefs,
vetar-koman, or
kuravar-koman, or
neduvettuvan.
The vetar, kuravar and vettuvar were the major clansmen of the hills dominated
by the velir. Venkatamalai (the hills of Venkatam), Nanjilmalai (the high ranges
south of Travancore), Parampuralai (probably modem Parampikkulam reserve
forest near Pollachchi), Potyilmalai (high ranges in the modem Madurai district)
were some of the important centres of the hill chiefs of the period. The Cheras,
Cholas and Pandyas were the three principal ruling houses of the biggest category
of chiefs. They were known as Muvendar – the three cendars. These chiefly
houses had control over peoples of larger areas. The Cheras controlled the peoples
of the Kurinji dominated areas of the Western Ghats towards the sea. The Cholas
had control over the peoples in the Kaveri area and the Pandyas, in the south-
central area toward the seas. They had several lesser chiefs under their service
and paying tributes (tiarai). There was no notion of a precisely demarcated
territory. The political authority functioned through control over peoples rather
than privileges over basic resources. For example, the control over the peoples
like kuravar or vetar or vettuvar by their chiefs made them chiefs. The hills as
well as plains were collectively owned by such peoples. The right of their chiefs
emanated from their kinship with the people. The resources were inherited not
by individuals but by groups whose members were bound by ties of common
ancestry. These were descent groups and they made voluntary payments to their
chiefs. Regular and periodic payment of taxes was not in vogue. However, the
productivity of the chiefdom determined the strength of the chiefs. Compared to
the chiefs of agricultural areas, the pastoral and hunter chiefs were less powerful.
Powerful chiefs tried to subjugate lesser ones and extracted tributes from them.
Plunder raid was the characteristic feature of contemporary political practice.
Plunder and Booty Redistribution

All chiefs, big and small, had to resort to plunder raids for satisfying the needs of
their people. The chiefs redistributed the booty among their warriors, bards and
mendicants besides their own kinsmen. The institution of gift-giving (kodai)
was integral to the practice of booty redistribution. Gift-giving was considered
to be the most important responsibility of any chief. Most of the poems in
Puranaruru (one of the anthologies under Ettuttokai) praise the generosity of
the chieftains. Generosity and bravery were the two major virtues of chieftains
according to such poems. The insufficiency of local resources made chiefly
57
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE plunders an economic imperative. A poem in Puranaruru, praising a chief namely
Urtur-kizar, shows how meagre his resources were. When a dependent approached
him for gifts, he called his blacksmith to get him a new lance, so that he could go
for a raid and acquire booty to give gifts. Plunder raids and booty redistribution,
thus, became the characteristic feature of contemporary polity. Chiefs of all kinds
indulged in plundering against one another. Lesser chiefs joined hands with the
big ones in plunder campaigns and obtained their shares of booty. Cattle and
grain constituted the routine items of booty. The bards of the period sing about
the gifts of:
elephants,
horses,
golden lotuses,
chariots,
gems, and
muslin.
Sometimes, the raids of bigger chiefs involved subjugation of villages beyond
their control. In such cases the lesser chiefs assisting the bigger ones got
subjugated villages. It was not the land of the village that was granted but the
control over the people there.
Muvendar and Other Levels of Political Control

The antiquity of Muvendars as the principal ruling groups goes back to the
Mauryan period. Ashokan edicts mention them. The bards praise the Muvendars
as ‘crowned kings’ and mention that the whole of Tamilakam belonged to them.
The title of crowned kings need not necessarily indicate the establishment of
state power. A state presupposes the existence of:
standing militia,
regular taxation,
bureaucracy, and
local administrative bodies.
These had not evolved as yet. Nonetheless, the authority of the Muvendar was
significantly different from that of the other categories of chiefs. Their subjugation
of lesser chiefs was an ongoing process. The main concern of all the three ruling
groups – Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas – was subordination of velir chiefs who
were next in importance. The velir also had great antiquity. Along with Cheras,
Cholas, and Pandyas, Satyaputras or the Adigaiman chiefs are also mentioned in
the Ashokan edicts. Satyaputras were of the status of the velir chiefs. They held
sway over the communities in the high ranges of upper Kaveri area. The other
prominent velir chiefdoms lay on the highlands and sea coast along the fringes
of the areas of Muvendar. The modern districts of Dharmapuri, Nilgiris, Madurai
North Arcot, Tiruchirapalli, Padukkottai were the chief places of the hills and
plains occupied by the velir chiefs. There were about 15 important velir chiefdoms
in all as scattered in Tamilaham. Some of them had control over communities in
strategic centres like:
points of exchange,
58 ports,
junctions of highways, and Early State Formation in
hill stations.
Certain places and resources determined the nature of their power. With the
coming of the period of Indo-Roman trade and control over strategic centres and
trade goods, the importance of the chiefs increased. Pari of Parambumalai (near
Pollachchi), Ariyar of Podiyilmalai (Madurai), Andiran of Nanjilmalai (south of
Travancore), Irunko-vel of Kodunbai (Pudukkottai) were some of the prominent
velir chiefs mentioned in the poems. Velir chiefs controlling such strategic centres
had to face severe challenges from the superior chiefs like Muvendar; sometimes
such competitions led to the annihilation of the weak. The destruction of the
domain of Pari, the velir chief of Parambunadu, by Muvendar is a well-known
example. Apart from direct combats, the bigger chiefs tried to gain access to the
velir domains through marriage relations also. There were several instances of
the Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas taking their brides from velir families. In the
case of the village chiefs of strategic areas the bigger chiefs adopted the method
of military control. They were subjugated and made subservient to the bigger
chiefs. Muvendars had several such subjugated chiefs as their subordinates serving
them in plunder raids.
It is obvious that the Muvendar was the most powerful political authority in
contemporary Tamilakam. Next to them was the political authority of velir. The
village chiefs of Kizar constituted the primary level of political authority. Although
this gives the impression of a political hierarchy, there was no determinate chain
of political control uniting these three levels of political authority. Integration of
the lesser chiefs was in progress under the subjugative and marital policies of
Muvendar. But a unified political system was still in the making. The traditional
authority over resident communities based on kinship remained fundamental to
contemporary political control. Traditional assembly of elders transacted the day-
to-day affairs in every settlement. The assembly site was called manram, a raised
seating around the foot of a tree. It was also called podiyil. The chief was assisted
by a council of elders called avai (sabha), the structure, composition and functions
of which are not known. Two other bodies often discussed as part of early Tamil
polity are:
aimperumkuzu (the five great groups), and
enperayam (the eight great groups).
These were relatively later bodies which, probably, developed after 3rd century
CE. The structure and functions of these bodies, also, are not known.
1) Read the following statements and mark right ( ) or wrong (×).
i) The chiefdoms of Tamilaham were based on payment of regular taxes.
ii) The political authority of the period was based on the control of people
rather than resources.
iii) The Muvendars were full-fledged state systems.
iv) Gift giving was a chief’s primary social responsibility.
59
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE 2) How did different categories of chiefdoms co-exist and interact? Write in
10 lines.
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3.13 SUMMARY
The Satavahana period was important in the history of Deccan because it was in
the 1st century BCE that the earliest state came into being in peninsular India.
The administration of the state was simpler than that of the Mauryas. A crucial
factor was the expansion of overland and maritime trade networks. This provided
additional revenues to the rulers and also resulted in the prosperity of a large
number of towns and cities throughout Deccan in this period.
In this Unit, you have also learnt about the various eco-zones, their subsistence
pattern and the various details of the chiefdom level political formation. You
learnt how the system of plunder raids and booty redistribution functioned as the
crucial factor in the political practice of the time. Another important point you
learnt is the basis of clan ties and kinship in the political authority. You also
learnt about the gradual process of institution formation during the period after
the 3rd century CE.
3.14 KEY WORDS

Eco-zones: A small area with its own ecological characteristics such as climate,
soil conditions, organisms etc.
Tinai: A region with its special ecological factors, social groups and subsistence
pattern.
Chiefdom: A society of hereditary status controlled by a chief who collected
voluntary tributes from his people.
Muvendars: The three principal ruling groups, namely the Cheras, Cholas and
Pandyas.
Velirs: The chiefly groups next to the principal ones.
Kizar: The smallest category of chiefs who had, virtually, control over their
descent groups.
60 Manram or Podiyil: A raised seating around the foot of a tree.

Early State Formation in
3.15 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS Deccan and Tamilaham
EXERCISES
1) See Section 3.9
2) See Sub-section on ‘Inland Settlements’ under Section 3.7.
1) i) × ii) iii) × iv)
2) See Sub-section ‘Different Kinds of Chiefdoms” under Section 3.12.

Champakalakshmi, R. (1996). Trade, Ideology and Urbanisation: South India
300 BC to AD 300. Delhi.
Gurukkal, Rajan and RaghavaVarier, M. R. (Eds.) (2000). Cultural History of
Kerala. Vol . I. Tiruvananthapuram.
Kailasapathy, K. (1972). Tamil Heroic Poetry. Oxford.
Mahalingam, T. V. (1970). Report on the Excavations in the Lower Kaveri Valley.
Madras.
Subrahmanian, N. (1980). Sangam Polity: The Administration and Social Life of
the SangamTamils. Repr., Bombay.
61
UNIT 4 AGRARIAN SETTLEMENTS AND
AGRARIAN SOCIETIES:
PENINSULAR INDIA*
Structure
4.0 Objectives
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Sources
4.3 The Tinai Concept
4.4 Agrarian System in Tamilakam
4.5 Economic, Political and Social organization in Tamilakam
4.5.1 Decline of the Tinai System
4.6 Spread of Agrarian Settlements in Deccan
4.7 Social Life in Deccan
4.8 Summary
4.9 Key Words
4.0 OBJECTIVES
The main aim of this Unit is to discuss agrarian settlements and agrarian relations
in the peninsular part of the sub-continent from 200 BCE to 300 CE. After reading
the Unit, you will learn about:
different forms of subsistence in peninsular India;
tinai system;
social conditions that were prevalent in such societies; and
the organization of labour in such societies.
4.1 INTRODUCTION
The establishment of settled agriculture was a landmark in the history of the
world. Cultivation began in those settlements which had close proximity to water
sources, thereby marking the end of nomadic lifestyle. However, even when
agriculture was the dominant mode of subsistence, hunting-gathering, fishing
etc. did not completely decline.This Unit deals with agricultural expansion in
peninsular India (Deccan and the South). It focusses on the time period between
200 BCE and 300 CE.
Three phases can be ascertained in the spread of agrarian settlements in south

India. In the first phase, agriculture was conducted with primitive technology
and cultivation was confined to the hill-slopes. In the second phase, some
advancement in technology was seen and plough agriculture spread to the river-
62 * Ms. Joeeta Pal. PhD Scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
valleys. In the third phase, non-cultivating groups became part of the agrarian Agrarian Settlements and
Agrarian Societies :
sectors as brahmanas and Buddhist monasteries became the largest recipients of Peninsular India
arable land. They had better knowledge of seasons and aids for methods of
cultivation.
4.2 SOURCES
The main source for Tamilakam is Sangam literature. The other sources include
archaeological finds gathered from megalithic burials, epigraphic evidence from
Tamil Brahmi inscriptions, numismatic evidence in the form of pre-Roman and
Roman coin-hoards and accounts by Graeco-Roman navigators and geographers.
We shall first look at the literary sources.
Sangam literature can be dated at its earliest to the first two centuries CE. However,
the compilation of these works and their classification into eight Tamil anthologies
or Ettutokai dates to a much later time period, that is, around the 12th century.
The poets were men and women drawn from all classes in society and they were
richly rewarded for their compositions.The composition of the texts took place
during the three Sangams. The word Sangam refers to a confluence or
academy.The three Sangams were patronized by Pandyan rulers and were called
the Talai Sangam, Idai Sangam and Kadai Sangam respectively meaning the
beginning, middle and end Sangams. The compositions of the first two Sangams
are lost. All the texts that make up the Ettutogai come from the kadai or end
Sangam.
To use a single corpus of texts for such a long period is hazardous as it may lead
to creating a generalized portrayal of five to six hundred years. Additionally, the
Sangam texts have internal chronologies. Some scholars argue that Sangam
literature contains survivals of the earlier tribal organization. Two different socio-
political time-periods may be adduced from the texts; the first referring to a
‘tribal’ stage as seen in the mullai (pasture and wood lands) and kurinji (hilly
regions) and the second stage of incipient urbanization as seen in the marutam
(agricultural tracts) and neytal (zones near the sea) regions. This shall be further
explained in the Unit.
Sangam literature is a rich source because it describes a range of activities that

were related to agriculture. Many secondary production activities, like the making
of sugar from sugar cane, find rich description in Sangam literature. Primary
agrarian activities like the cultivation of ragi and sugarcane, the harvesting of
grain and smaller activities like the drying of grain are also described in Sangam
literature.
The Graeco-Roman texts include Plinys’ Natural History, The Periplus Maris
Erythraei and Ptolemy’s Geography. From Natural History and Periplus we get
detailed lists of imports and exports. The exports included aromatics, pepper,
ginger, cardamom, cloves and other spices, wild fauna, animal skins, ivory; timber
like teak and sandalwood; cotton fabrics, precious stones, pearls and gems. Hence,
they give us an idea of the goods produced in the tinai tracts.
Coin-hoards are important since they point to economic strategies outside of

agriculture, like trade. Since the goods traded would have included produce from
the tinai tracts, it is relevant to our study of agriculture in peninsular India. Punch-
marked and Roman coin-hoards are found at various places including Pollachi, 63
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE Karur, Vellalur, Kalayamuttur, Madurai, Coimbatore, Yesvantpur, Pudukkottai
in Tamil Nadu and Eyyal, Kottayam, Valluvalli and Puthenchira in Kerala. The
punch-marked coins are from pre-Mauryan kingdoms while the Roman coins
are of the Roman emperors ranging between Augustus in the first century BCE
to Constantinus in the fourth century CE. Roman coins also do not appear to
have been in wide circulation. They were probably only used for overseas trade
or as jewellery. No indigenous coins have ever been found in the context under
consideration, but a few punch-marked coins have been found.
An additional source that is difficult to use is in the form of oral tradition. Several
folk songs describe parts of agricultural processes. However, the difficulty lies
in attributing the songs to a particular time. These are, nonetheless, informative.
4.3 THE TINAI CONCEPT

The establishment of agriculture as a dominant mode of subsistence is associated
with an increase in population and new types of knowledge regarding the seasons
and harnessing of resources.
The aintinais or five tinais/eco-zones are referred to in the Tolkapiyyam: one of

the earliest Tamil texts to have survived till the present. The subsistence pattern
of each tinai was different.The five tinais are:
kurinji or hilly terrain,
mullai or pastures and woodlands,
palai or arid stretches,
neytal or the littorals (zones near the sea), and
marudam or agricultural tracts in river-valleys or plains.
Each tinai tract supported a specific type of economic activity according to soil
type, climate, rainfall and the availability of other resources. Each had a specific
deity as well as a particular flower or tree associated with it. Each tinai tract was
also named after a plant that was exclusive to it. The boundaries of any tinai tract
cannot be distinctly demarcated since one merges with the other. Hence, each
tinai tract should not be thought of as a rigid bounded entity with minimal or no
external relations.
Let us discuss each tinai briefly.
Kurinji
Kurinji was inhabited by the hunting tribes such as vedar, parayar, vettuvar,
katampar and kuravar groups. The kuravar women were known for predicting
the future and for their medical knowledge. The tribes followed a matriarchal
system.
Kurinji was the prime tract for hunting but agriculture was also practised. Though
historians argue that the plough was in use and hence shifting cultivation was
not the only preferred mode. We now know that the inhabitants of kurinji
were cultivating on the hill slopes. They grew beans, sesame, rye, sweet
potatoes, groundnuts, tubers, sugarcane, peas and a special variety of rice called
chamai. They also collected forest produce such as wood, honey and bamboo,
64
rice etc. The cultivation and extraction of honey was performed by both men and Agrarian Settlements and
women. Peninsular India
The deity of Kurinji was Murugan or Seyon, meaning the ‘red one’ or the ‘beautiful
one’. He was the god of war. Later he was incorporated into the Hindu pantheon
as Kartikeya, the son of Shiva. Kurinji is named after a particular shrub that
grows on the hill side and blooms once in twelve years.
Mullai
Mullai was occupied by cowherds. They kept cattle as well as sheep and goat.
They practised animal husbandry, but it alone was not enough for sustenance.
Hence, they also practised shifting cultivation and grew various staples and pulses
and rye. Cattle rearing and dairy farming were the two most important activities
performed in this tract. Women played a major role in these activities.
Despite being a pastoral zone it was a highly forested tract. The mullai areas
formed part of a transitory eco-zone because they lay at the fringes of settled
agricultural tracts and could be merged with them.The presiding deity of the
mullai was mayon or the ‘dark one’, who is associated with Gopala or Krishna.
The mullai is named after a tree that is symbolic of pasture land.
This particular tract was associated with political formations. One theory traces
the origin of the institution of kingship to this tract.This argument becomes
stronger when we consider that the Tamil word for king, ‘kon’ means a herdsman
and that for queen, ‘aachchi’ means shepherdess.
Palai
The Maravars and the Kallars inhabited the palai. Since they occupied arid
tracts which were not sustainable or profitable, they also had to resort to robbing.
The maravars were petty chieftains. In heroic literature they are portrayed as
being preoccupied with cattle raids. However, some scholars argue that such
practices were undertaken in all tinai tracts. Loot and plunder was not as much
related to economic sustenance as with existing power relations.
Historians consider the palai tract to be a seasonal phenomenon of summer when

there was scarcity of water to meet the needs of agriculture. Hence looting and
raiding. The presiding deity was goddess Korravai, but she was worshipped in
all the five tinai tracts. Worshipped for her fertility, she was incorporated into the
Hindu pantheon as Durga. The tree characterizing the palai tract had the same
name and was known for its ability to survive in dry weather in both summer and
winter.
Neytal
The inhabitants of the neytal tracts were involved with fishing, pearl farming
and salt making. While the paratavar gradually exclusively became involved
in pearl fishing and trade, the umanar came to specialize in the production of
salt.
The neytal cannot be thought of as only those areas near the sea but refers to a
variety of water bodies like backwaters, estuaries, lakes, rivers and lagoons. The
gathering of conch shells and their fashioning into bangles and other articles was
also an important activity performed in neytal. Paddy was also cultivated here.
65
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE They also extracted fish oil in the neytal regions. The characteristic flower of
neytal was water lily found in waterlogged or marshland areas and the presiding
deity was Varuna, the rain god.
The Marudam
The marudam appears to have been the region where agriculture was the main
mode of subsistence. Here the ulavar and toluvar practised plough
agriculture.There are instances of individuals specialising in one activity. Hence,
the ulavar were ploughmen, the vinaivalar cultivated hard agricultural tracts
and the toluvar were tillers who were engaged in the cultivation of paddy and
sugarcane.
The marudam areas also attracted individuals from other tinai tracts. The
productivity of this tract also ensured the presence of a variety of artisans as well
as entertainers such as bards, astrologers and musicians. Artisans such as
carpenters (taccar), smiths (kollar) and traders (vanikar) lived in this tract. The
kurinji and marudam tracts were brought into networks of commercial exchange
by the marudam rulers.
The marudam was characterised by a red flower of the same name which grows
in wet lands and the presiding deity was vendan.Women were crucial to all
agricultural activities. Like the mullai, patriarchy developed at a later time. Later
the king came to be known as vendan, in keeping with the name of the presiding
deity.
The data about the tinais is presented as follows:
Kurinji Hilly region Kurinji flower Subsistenc level Ceyon/

that grows on hunting-gathering Murugan
mountains
Mullai Pastoral tract/ Tree that is Pastoralism,animal Mayon

forest symbolic of husbandry, shifting
pasture land cultivation
Neytal Coastal/ littoral Water lily Fishing Varunan
Marudam Riverine Marudam Agriculture Vendan

wetland/ plains
Palai Parched/ arid Palai Cattle-lifting/looting Korravai

zone
However, scholars argue that instead of looking at tinais as absolute categories it

is important to think of them as semiotic tools which referred to spatial
organization at the moment of transition from early chieftaincies to early
Statedoms. The tinais were related to the aesthetics of Sangam literature and
particularly to relationships between lovers.There is no other literary evidence
for the tinai system, let alone, archaeological evidence.
66
Agrarian Settlements and
4.4 AGRARIAN SYSTEM IN TAMILAKAM Agrarian Societies :
Peninsular India
Historically, the earliest kings emerged from the marudam. The earliest towns
arose in marudam and neytal. Thus, these two tinais were associated with the
royal families of the Cheras in the Periyar Valley, the Cholas in the Kaveri Valley
and the Pandyas in the Vaigai and Tamraparni valleys. The marudam had towns
of political and commercial importance while the neytal had towns of commercial
importance only. The important towns were Uraiyur and Kaveripattinam (Puhar)
under the Cholas, Madurai and Korkai under the Pandyas and Vanji (Karuvur)
and Musiri of the Cheras. The towns along the coast were called pattinams. The
mullai and kurinji regions were associated with ‘tribal’ stage and the marudam
and neytal regions were associated with incipient urbanization.
The menpulam or richer fields were located in the marudam. These fields were
used for the cultivation of staple food, rice and sugarcane. In contrast to the
menpulam were vanpulam or larger fields in other tinais that were used for the
cultivation of pulses, millets, sesame, horse-gram, roots, vegetables, fruits and
other crops depending on what could grow in that particular tinai.
Plough agriculture was practised. The bullocks were harnessed using a cross-bar
at their necks. The plough was called the meli or nanjil. It was iron tipped. Iron-
tipped plough was necessary for deep ploughing as was needed by crops like
sugarcane and rice. The use of plough is attested to in literature and inscriptions.
There is a reference to a dealer in ploughshare in a cave inscription in Tamilakam.
Spades, hoes and sickles were used for various operations. Furnaces and iron
slag have been recovered from excavations at many sites. Buffaloes were yoked
to the plough and animals were used at several stages of agricultural process,
such as threshing and pounding. Both tank irrigation and irrigation from minor
dams were available through sluices and harnessed streams. Remains of an ancient
reservoir were discovered near Kaveripattinam in Tamilakam. Since rainfall was
insufficient, irrigation was considered important.
People performed important agricultural activities including the weeding of plants,

clearing of fields, planting of seeds, guarding of crops, husking, winnowing and
pounding of grain. This is seen in both menpulam and vanpulam. We know of
these activities from folk songs associated with each of them. Although both
men and women were involved in production activities, there was a gendered
division of labour.
Land was collectively owned. Debts were referred to as katam or katan. Avanam
or ankati was the main place where exchange took place. The term kurietirppai
was used to refer to a loan of goods which were to be paid back in exchange at a
later time. Profit does not appear to have been a motivation for selling, but rather
exchange was. This extended to producers and sellers of crafts as well.
Uzhavar (ploughmen) and Vellalar (masters of soil) were the cultivators of land.
One of the sources for labour for agriculture was the groups of ploughmen. Atiyor
probably means slaves and vinaivalar means workers earning ‘wages’. Details
about ‘wage’ rates and other conditions of labour are not known. Family labour
was not sufficient for production as it could not lead to surplus. However, in
spite of this limitation, agrarian settlements could sustain different groups of
functionaries like blacksmiths, carpenters, bards, dancers, magicians, priests,
67
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE monks etc.Thus, Sangam compositions tell us about the various activities that
made up the agricultural process.
4.5 ECONOMIC, POLITICAL AND SOCIAL

ORGANIZATION IN TAMILAKAM
The village settlement, or ur, was made up of several kudis or family groups
which specialized in different occupations. The kilar was the headman of ur.
The headman got to live in a slightly larger hut. Scholars consider kinship to
have been an important feature of clans. He comes to this conclusion from the
fact that the chiefs of clans were called komakan or perumakan meaning the
‘hero son’. This suggests that being the headman was a hereditary occupation.
The kings are believed to have emerged from marudams, replacing the older
chiefs and system of chieftainships.
Political forms were not uniform across tinais. Thus, Sangam literature reveals
the tribal character of mullai and kurinj tinais and the urbanism of the marudam
and neytal tinais. The tinais together constituted a nadu. In contrast to nadu/natu
was the katu or forest area.There were also different types of settlements like
brahmadeyas and devadanas etc.
Land revenue was the main source of income for the chiefs. The Tamil literature
mentions irai and tirai as two types of contribution received by the chieftains.
While irai was a regular contribution, tirai was a tribute. Not much information
exists about the rate and mode of collection of revenue. The rulers are often
advised to be moderate in the collection of revenue indicating that coercion and
excesses were practised by authorities. How were resources redistributed amongst
those who required them? Gift was perhaps the most common mode of circulation
of resources. Each producer gave a part of his product to others for services
rendered. Gift of a meal or a piece of cloth was a simple form of redistribution.
Fighting heroes were provided with feasts both before and after plunder and
raid. Many a times gifts included fine imported wine, silk clothes and even gold
ornaments. Brahmanas and warrior heroes were beneficiaries of land donations
and cattle by way of remuneration of their services. The acts of redistribution
through gifts were made by three groups of persons with wealth and power,
namely, the crowned kings (vendar), the minor chieftains (velir) and the well-to-
do agricultural householders (vellalar) of the agrarian settlements. The recepients
of land also received the right to collect income from land.
In order to redistribute the resources efficiently, it was required that all the
resources were collected at a centre, such as the residence of chiefs. The pooling
of resources often led to plunder and pillage of agrarian tracts. Grain and cattle
were looted, fields of enemies were burnt, peasant settlements were set on fire
and rich gardens were converted to waste lands by marauders. The marva fighters
of hill tracts and pasture tracts were employed for plundering. The booty raided
was redistributed among marava fighters and brahmana priests by way of
prestations and remuneration for rituals. Many poems of the Sangam anthologies
speak of excesses committed against poor farmers. Even though pillage led to
terror and exploitation of the peasants, war was celebrated as a noble heroic act.
It was even institutionalised. The memorial stones erected in the memory of
dead warriors were made into cult objects or objects of worship. The pana singers
sang in praise of the war-like qualities of the chieftain and his fighters. On the
68
one hand, booty capture was necessitated by the scarcity of resources, on the Agrarian Settlements and
other hand plunder and pillage led to destruction of resources. This paradox was Peninsular India
a central feature of the mechanism of redistribution at the level of chieftains.
Trade was an important non-agricultural activity. There was a phenomenal

increase in trade during this period primarily in maritime trade. The goods brought
in from Rome were coins, topaz, fine clothing, antimony rods, coral, crude glass,
copper, tin, lead, wine, wheat and ceramics. Of these, gold coins formed the bulk
and were obviously for luxury goods. Wine, wheat and ceramics were brought
for the Roman sailors who stayed till favourable monsoon winds could take them
back. Crude glass, copper, tin and lead were traded as raw materials for the local
bead and bronze industries. The goods exchanged were muslin, beryl and pearls.
Barter system was prevalent and there are references to honey and roots being
exchanged for fish oil and toddy, and sugarcane and rice flakes being exchanged
for venison and arrack. Fish could be exchanged for paddy.
Craft activities were also undertaken. Local rulers are likely to have encouraged
exchange since it improved their socio-political standing.
Exchange may be noted at different levels. For example, there was exchange at
the level of maritime trade. Similarly, there was also exchange at a much basic
level. People were not dependent on long distance trade for their basic needs.
Long distance trade was largely related to luxury goods. The nature of circulation
of luxury goods in the interiors was also different in that it occurred through
networks of kinship, patronage and clientele. The kurinci, mullai and marutam
tracts did not engage in luxury overseas trade, but rather in local subsistence
trade.
The absence of guilds meant that exchange was in the hands of families. Luxury
goods and exotic goods were the main imports. Duties called ulguporul were
levelled on goods coming to the ports. The inland towns were mainly consumption
centres, though some like Kacci, Uraiyur and Madurai dealt with textile weaving.
In terms of archaeological evidence, punch-marked coins in coastal town and
Roman coins and objects have been found at Arikamedu.
Other hereditary occupations may have included that of warriors required to

protect the tinais from marauders. Bards and entertainers may have been a part
of similar hereditary occupations. In the tinai region people were mostly organized
into occupational groups. There was a strong sense of social solidarity amongst
people and groups.
The vast use of iron weapons and implements in burials meant that a full-time
iron smelting industry developed to meet the substantial requirement for iron. It
may have become a hereditary specialization. Similar assumptions may be made
in the case of the manufacture of pottery, since pots were easily broken and
demand for them was likely to have been large.
Society in early Tamilakam was essentially tribal in character with its kinship
organizations, totem worship and tribal cults and practices. Some changes could
be seen in the predominantly agricultural regions. Old kinship ties were breaking
away and the introduction of Brahmanical varna system led to increasing
complexity. Social stratification or inequality between different social groups
69
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE appeared and there was broad distinction between’high’ and ‘low’. The brahmanas
are referred to as a distinct social group enjoying higher status. Although there is
evidence of Vedic sacrifice in Sangam texts, the practice does not appear to have
gained prominence. The presence of brahmanas did not mean that they could not
freely intermix since there are references to brahmanas eating with people
belonging to other groups. Similarly, groups associated with polluting activities
are identified as living separately. With the practice of land grants in the seventh
century, the vellalas became a landed group at par with brahmanas. The kuyavan
or potters, the kollan or blacksmith and the vannan or washerman on the other
hand occupied the lowest rungs in the caste system.
The landed vellalar and the velala peasants constituted the basic producing groups
in agrarian settlements. Craft specialization was only rudimentary and subsidiary
to agricultural production. Mention may be made of blacksmiths (Kdlao) and
carpenters. The extended family was their unit of production. Weaving was another
profession. Religious worship and cult practices of village folk followed old
tribal rituals which necessitated the presence of ritual groups, such as Velan,
Venttuvan etc. They looked after supernatural elements and their management.
However, society was not ‘priest-dominated’.
There was considerable surplus which led to the prosperity of trading groups.
They were known after the commodity in which they traded. Thus we hear of
umanan (salt merchant), Koglavanikan (corn merchant), aruvaivanikan (textile
merchant), ponvanikan (gold merchant) etc. Towards the end of our period these
traders became part of the varna order which had infiltrated into the south.
Tokappiyam, the earliest available work on Tamil grammar, portrays the Tamil
society as consisting of four varna divisions. According to this text the traders
belonged to the vaishya group.The chieftains of the marudam agricultural tracts
started claiming descent from Suryavamsa (Solar line) or Chandravamsa (Lunar
line) as the kshatriyas of north India did. Thus, we find that the society in agrarian
Marudam region of ancient Tamilakam was an amalgamation of old tribal
practices and Brahmanical ideals and ideology.
Each village had a common meeting place for its inhabitants which was generally
under a large tree. The villagers would meet there and also indulge in sports and
community activities. It was through such small gatherings that more complex
political formations were to emerge in later times.
Another way of identifying social complexity is through the study of megalithic

burials which may date back to the period of the composition of Sangam texts.
Agrarian and warrior groups may be identified.
Buddhism and Jainism spread in urban areas, along with increase in trade. Jainism
spread more in inland towns while Buddhism spread more in towns along the
coast. These religions were mainly followed by merchants, craftsmen and royal
families.
We have already seen the tasks performed by women in each of the tinais.
Additionally, women sold a variety of products including toddy, curds and other
milk products, meat, etc.
70
4.5.1 Decline of the Tinai System Agrarian Settlements and
Peninsular India
The fifth to seventh centuries witnessed a change in the manner of agricultural
production that was associated with the strengthening of caste system. Agrarian
society now had to subsist within the overarching framework of caste and
patriarchy. Concepts such as those of purity and pollution were deployed against
women of all castes to varying extents and to certain groups that would go on to
be identified as untouchables. This is particularly seen in the later Sangam texts,
since there are no compositions by women, unlike earlier times. The nature of
qualities attributed to women also changes in these writings and focuses more
on their being polluting and the need to control them.
However, the tinai system did not continue after the end of the time period owing
to several reasons. Firstly, the decline in overseas trade resulted in a decline in
urban growth. This may have been prompted by the lack of institutional control
in rice-producing regions. A crisis of sorts occurred when the chiefs attempted a
more lasting occupation of rice-producing areas. It delegitimized the vendars
leading to lack of institutional control.
With the rise of feudalism, however, small pastoralists lost their importance.
Some chose to stay out of the caste system and were later relegated to the lowest
rungs of caste system, while some continued as agriculturalists.

1) Mark the right ( ) or wrong (×) statements:
a) The five tinais were the Decan, Andhra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and
Kerala. ( )
b) The palai zone was a seasonal phenomenon. ( )
c) The third phase of agriculture in south India is characterized by
introduction of non-cultivating groups into the agrarian sector. ( )
d) Tolkappiyam is the earliest work on Tamil grammar. ( )
e) The Vellalar and Velala were cow herding people. ( )
f) The crowned kings were Vendar and the minor chieftains were
Velir in south India. ( )
2) What factors influenced the creation of a particular tinai?
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
3) List six features of villages in ancient south India.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
71
4.6 SPREAD OF AGRARIAN SETTLEMENTS IN
DECCAN
As you have read, the Satavahanas emerged as a powerful dynasty in Deccan in
the early centuries of the Common Era. The increase in Iron Age sites in Deccan
and south India indicates increase in population. There was a transformation
from cattle rearing and shifting cultivation to a more sedentary settled agricultural
economy. During the Satavahana period there was an overall increase in the
number of settlements in the river basins, on the coasts and the plateau. From
excavations at Ter, Bhokardan and Nevasa we know that during Satavahana times
a number of grains were cultivated including wheat, barley, rice, millets, sorghum,
gram, pea and Indian jujube. Material culture under the Satavahanas showed a
marked improvement from the earlier Iron Age Megalithic culture. Ploughshares,
sickles, spades, axes and arrowheads have been recovered in excavations. The
metallurgy had progressed a great deal and socketed hoes were in use. Gold
working also is attested to in Decan in the Satavahana period. Irrigation facilities
were known. Water wheel for lifting water from wells, tanks was in use.There
are etchings of water devices on Andhra coins. Some historians argue that the
digging of wells was a difficult process and required rich benefactors like the
king or landowners. The people of Decan knew paddy transplantation. The river
basins of the Godavari and Krishna became extensive rice producing regions.
Cotton was grown in black soil areas and the cotton products of Andhra region
were famous even in foreign countries. Plantations of coconut, mango and other
trees was prevalent.
The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea mentions the use of slaves and the source of
labour in Deccan was wage labourers and slaves. Rich landowners or traders
were known as Gahapatis. According to an inscription, Ushavadatta, son-in-law
of Kshatrapa ruler Nahapana of western Deccan, purchased a plot of land from a
brahmana and donated it to a Buddhist Sangha. This indicates that private
ownership of land was in existence. From this deal the private owner received
40,000 kahapana coins. In another example, the Nanaghat inscription of queen
Nayanika speaks of gifting thirteen village to brahmanas for their performance
of Vedic sacrifices. Gautamiputra Satakarni conferred a field measuring 200
nivartanas to Buddhist monks living on the Trirashmi hill. There is also an instance
of a land grant being made to the Aparajita sect. Thus, the Satavahanas started
the system of land grants as early as the first century BCE. This system needs to
be understood as a way for the state to monitor productive lands during a period
when agricultural expansion was taking place. There are also instances of lay
people making land grants from the first century CE onwards.
The Satavahana administration was largely in the hands of local feudatory rulers.
The king used to raise taxes. The measure of land under Satavahanas was called
hala. There is evidence for the use of plough. Taxes like kara, deya, meya, bhaga
were levied. The actual significance of these terms or the amount of revenue
claimed by the state are not known. Some Satavahana rural regions were under
gaulmika who was in charge of a small military unit; when land was granted to
Buddhist monasteries or brahmanas, the state had to guarantee that their rights
were not interfered with by the troops operating in rural areas.
The donees enjoyed certain immunities such as:
1) Against entry by the king’s soldiers for collecting any sort of fees, and
72
2) Against royal officers taking possession of articles from the village. Agrarian Settlements and
These would show that: Peninsular India
1) Ordinarily, villagers had to pay some contribution of money or articles to

soldiers when they came to the village, or
2) The soldiers were authorised to collect the revenue.
4.7 SOCIAL LIFE IN DECCAN

In Deccan, the Satavahanas extended patronage to Brahmanism. They were also
patrons of Buddhism and Jainism. Some of the famous teachers of the Digambara
set flourished in this region. Kondakundacharya, the founder of the Mulasangha
which became popular in south, lived in Deccan. The Mahayana sect of Buddhism
enjoyed good popularity. Acharya Nagarjuna, the greatest exponent of Mahayana
faith flourished in Deccan. Viharas and Stupas were major recipients of grants.
Buddhism flourished during the Satavahana period as it received political
patronage. Brahmanism also received great state patronage. Some foreign
elements such as the Yavanas, Sakas and Pahlavas embraced either Brahmanism
or Buddhism thus resulting in an eclectic atmosphere. Due to the presence of
such elements in society, caste rules were much more flexible. The idea of a
four-fold division of society was present. The practice of calling people according
to their profession was popular. Halaka (ploughman), golika (shepherd), vardhaki
(carpenter), kolika (weaver), tilapisaka (oil presser), and kamara (smith) were
such professional labels. Joint family system was in practice and the society was
patriarchal in nature. Sometimes women are found accepting the titles of their
husbands like bhojiki, maharathini, mahasenapatini etc.
Certain new elements could be seen emerging in Deccan in this period. The
grants of land and even entire villages to religious beneficiaries such as Buddhist
monks and brahmanas became a common practice from now on. Along with
land, certain economic privileges in the form of right to collect revenue from the
village and right over mines was transferred to the donee. Land grants included
fiscal and administrative rights of the peasants. These grants freed the village
from obligatory payments to administrative functionaries and soldiers who visited
the villages. What started as temporary measure became permanent now. The
beneficiaries emerged as powerful landlords and thus new forms of land system
and economy emerged. Brahmanas and Buddhist monks who were recipients of
land had to employ labour to till their land as they themselves were not cultivators.
Thus, the actual tillers of the soil were separated from the land and its produce.
The collective rights over forests, pastures, ponds and reservoirs came to an end.
The peasants cultivating the land were now answerable to the new owners. These
new features became more accentuated as centuries went by and led to a new
socio-economic formulation called feudalism by scholars.
1) What were the main features of land grants in the Satavahana period?
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................... 73
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE 2) Write five lines about the tools and implements and irrigational facilities in
the agrarian settlements in Deccan.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
4.8 SUMMARY
The basis of tinai concept is the relationship between geographic conditions and
means of earning a livelihood. Each tinai had contacts with the other, thereby
forming a network of symbiotic exchange. They were overlapping formations
and had no clear boundaries. The symbiotic relationship between the tinais was
not always peaceful and pillage was a common feature. Around the same time,
the Satavahanas were flourishing in Deccan and started the system of land grants.
The practice of landgrants increased with time and led to important changes in
the countryside.
4.9 KEY WORDS

Tinai system: system of exchange between different groups living in different
eco zones.
Tamilakam: the region between the hills of Venkatam and the tips of
Kanyakumari.
Slash and burn cultivation: system of agriculture where existing plants are
destroyed by burning so that new seeds can be sown.
Pana: a singer of ancient Tamilakam who sang in praise of chieftains
Shifting cultivation: mode of agriculture in which the plot of cultivation is shifted

periodically. This is to avoid exhaustion of land caused by continuous use of the
same plot.
Totem worship: worship of the main symbol of a tribe.
Chiefdom: a society of hereditary status controlled by a chief who collected

voluntary tributes from his people.
Muvendar: the three principal ruling groups, namely, Chola, Chera and Pandya.

EXERCISES
1) Mark Right ( ) and Wrong (×):
74 a) ×, b) , c) , d) , e) ×, f)
2) See Section 4.3 Agrarian Settlements and
3) See Section 4.4 Peninsular India

1) See Section 4.6 and 4.7
2) See Section 4.6

Devadevan. M. V. (2006). Lying on the Edge of the Burning Ground: Rethinking
Tinais. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 49(2): 199-
218.
Gurukkal, R. (1987). Forms of Production and Forces of Change in Ancient

Tamil Society. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 48: 76-81.
Ramaswamy, V. (2007). Historical Dictionary of the Tamils, Lanham: The

Scarecrow Press, Inc.
75
UNIT 5 TRADE NETWORKS AND
URBANIZATION*
Structure
5.0 Objectives
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Sources
5.3 Political Background
5.4 Urbanization in 200 BCE-300 CE
5.5 Trade
5.6 Commercial Organization
5.7 Ports
5.8 The Articles of Import and Export
5.9 Coinage
5.10 Summary
5.11 Kew Words
5.0 OBJECTIVES
the different dimensions of expansion of trade and urban centres in India
from 200 BCE to 300 CE;
trade and traders, trade routes, ports, transport and communication facilities,
and articles of export and import;
urbanization in this period and how it obtained a pan-Indian character;
the interest of political authorities in trade; and
the cities in various parts of the Indian subcontinent: Textual and
Archaeological profiles.
5.1 INTRODUCTION
In this Unit, we shall largely focus on two important areas of economy, namely
trade and urbanization in the period under discussion.This period appears to
have been that of interactions with different cultures including transcontinental
cultures in which the mercantile community played a major role.
In the earlier Unit, you read about agrarian settlements and agrarian society. In
this Unit, besides trade and urbanization we will also be looking at other associated
changes which were taking place in the region. For instance, the introduction of
iron technology during the Megalithic period along with irrigation led to
* Dr. Sayantani Pal, Associate Professor, Department of Ancient History, Culture and
76 Archaeology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata
agricultural surplus in some areas. Secondly, with Mauryan expansion in Trade Networks and
Urbanization
peninsular India, greater contact with the north became possible. Traders,
merchants and others moved through different routes like the Dakshinapatha as
highlighted in the Arthashastra. The earlier system of exchange underwent a
profound change in India. Thirdly, the flourishing Indo-Roman trade further led
to expansion of trade and urban centres. Fourthly, the associated feature of craft
specialization which is indicated by the growth in crafts like pottery-making,
bead-making, glass-making, weaving of cloth became an important aspect in
local exchange or long-distance trade. One thing to remember is that all parts of
India were not uniformly affected by these changes. In some areas earlier forms
of culture persisted.
Let us look at the main features of trade and urbanization under different heads.
5.2 SOURCES
The number of inscriptions increased in this period. Majority of them are donative
records in which the donor has given details about his family identity, place of
origin and occupation. As such they prove to be an important source for this
period. The period also saw the increasing use of metal money. A large number
of coins have been recovered as hoards or in excavations which tell us about
trade and commerce in this period. The archaeological field explorations and
excavations have thrown light on the type of settlements and artefacts which
may indicate the kinds of town planning, articles of daily use like utensils as
well as luxury items like jewellery of precious and semi-precious stones that
were in use. The major two Dharmasastric texts, the Manusmriti and Yajnavalkya
Smriti, were compiled in their final form in this period. The Santiparvan and the
Anusasanaparvan of Mahabharata were also composed during this period and
they contain economic data like attitudes towards dana or the act of giving.
However, it should be remembered that these texts being normative in nature,
might not reflect the actual practices in the society. There are various references
in foreign accounts also which refer to India’s interaction with the outside world.
As for instance, we may refer to the Geographikon by Strabo, Bibliotheca
Historica of Diodorus, Naturalis Historia of Pliny, The Periplous Tes Erythrus
Thalasses (Periplus of the Erythraean Sea) by an unknown author and the
Geographike Huphegesis of Ptolemy.
5.3 POLITICAL BACKGROUND

Politically the period saw the decline of the powerful rule of the Mauryas and
the end of state-controlled economy. In north, dynasties like the Sungas, Kanvas,
Chedis, Nagas assumed power. In Deccan the Satavahanas and Ikshvakus were
powerful. In the far south the Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas became important.
Certain foreign elements such as Greeks, Sakas, Pahlavas and the Kushanas in
the north-west and the western and central parts of India participated in the
commercial ethos of this period.
5.4 URBANIZATION IN 200 BCE-300 CE

The agrarian expansion of the period under review led to the production of surplus
which enabled non-producers like craftsmen and traders to devote themselves to
trade and commerce. Cities were centres of trade and commerce, craft 77
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE specialization as well as centres of administration. In the north-west, Taxila was
a famous city. The remains of this city have been excavated from three mounds,
namely Bhir, Sirkap and Sirsukh. The mound of Sirkap has yielded artefacts
belonging to 200 BCE to 200 CE. The city began to show marks of urbanization
from the period of the Indo-Greeks but it was the Indo-Parthian rulers who fortified
the city with walls. Well-made roads and planned houses reflect Greek and
Hellenistic influences. At Ahichchhatra a new road was built by 200 BCE. At the
Lichchhavi kingdom of Vaishali in north-east Bihar the fortification wall was
rebuilt at least thrice between 200 BCE to 200 CE. At Sisupalgarh in Odisha
marks of urbanization are seen from 300 BCE. But it advanced rapidly from 200
BCE onwards. A huge wall was built sometimes between 200-100 BCE at first
with unbaked bricks and later with baked bricks. There was a remarkable large
and embellished gateway to the early historic city of Sisupalgarh.
Mathura emerged as the foremost city in north India during this period. The city
reached the highest stage of development during the Saka, Pahlava and Kushana
rule. Since these rulers had close connections with the north-west, Mathura
although being located in the Ganga-Yamuna doab, became closely associated
with historical developments in the north-west. The city-remains at Sonkh show
the highest marks of development during the Kushana period. The residential
buildings were built of both mud bricks and baked bricks. The walls of the city
were also renovated and broadened. In the Anguttara Nikaya (6th century BCE)
the description of Mathura is not a favourable one. It describes the dusty roads of
Mathura, poor transport and deplorable economic condition in which alms were
not easily obtained by bhiksus. This sorry picture of the city can be remarkably
contrasted with the description in the Buddhist text Lalitavistara in the 3rd century
CE. The city increased in size, was much more populated and alms were easily
available.
The most important city in the east was Chandraketugarh. Situated at a distance
of 23 miles north-east from Kolkata, the site is surrounded by a high mud-wall.
The extent of the site indicates that the city was large. At its earliest level Northern
Black Polished Ware (NBPW), a pottery of the urban phase, was found. The city,
however, reached its fullest dimension and urban character in the 1st century
only. Pottery, terracotta figurines, cast copper coins are found in this stage. The
wine glasses hint at the leisure time spent by city-dwellers. The terracotta images
are also sophisticated and give an idea of the taste of the urban elite classes.
From the site of Mangalkot in lower Bengal the strata dated to 1st-3rdcenturies of
the Common Era shows evidence of urbanization. Terracotta images, precious
stone neckpieces, drinking glasses, sprinklers of red ware with painted designs,
cast copper coins and seals undoubtedly bear testimony to the life of urban centre.
Houses were made of bricks and there were brick-wells adjacent to them.
Excavations at Nevasa, Ter and Satanikota in Deccan have given evidence of
urban phase. Satanikota was a Satavahana urban centre situated in Kurnool district.
This fortified city was situated on the right bank of the Tungabhadra. It flourished
during the period of 1st century BCE to 3rd century CE. Apart from the wall, the
city was surrounded by a ditch as well. The fortification wall was made of burnt
bricks with an elaborate gateway to the south. Manufacture of precious stone
beads was an important craft activity in the city.
The Saka and Satavahana inscriptions from Nasik refer to nagara, nigama.
78 Rudradaman, the Saka Mahakshatrapa claims to have protected the nagara,
nigamas from the wild beasts and thieves. During the reign of Gautamiputra Trade Networks and
Urbanization
Satakarni the process of urbanization spread to eastern Deccan with the expansion
of Satavahana power. Amaravati, Bhattiprolu, Salihundam, Nagarjunikonda are
sites in the Krishna Delta which were decidedly urban in character. The accounts
of the Periplus, Ptolemy, the coins and inscriptions hint at the flourishing
agriculture and trade in this region. Dhanyakataka was a city located on a
navigable channel of the Krishna. The inscriptions found here also refer to traders
and their guilds. The city was protected on three sides by hills. Inside the city a
walled enclosure was perhaps the royal residence. Nagarjunikonda was the capital
of the Iksvaku dynasty (225-350 CE). Most of the residences were located in the
eastern part of city. The alignment of roads was remarkable. It was a centre of
Buddhist and Brahmanical religion as well. There was an open-air auditorium
accommodating at least one thousand spectators which reminds us of Roman
amphitheatres.
The process of urbanization also reached far south. Two great cities were Madura
and Kaveripattinam. The Tamil poem Maduraikanchi contains an elaborate
description of the city of Madura. Kaveripattinam was an ancient port city of the
Cholas, situated in northern Tamilnadu. Description of Kaveripattinam is found
in Padinapalai and the Tamil epic Silappadikaram which is a little later in date.
In this text, Kaveripattinam appears as a developed and an affluent city. This
indicates its gradual transformation into a great city. The Silappadikaram refers
to the settlements of traders, artisans and fishermen in different parts of the city
while one part was exclusively meant for the residence of Yavana traders. The
city was a port as well. It contained a light house indicating its importance in
maritime trade. Excavations have revealed a storehouse near the port. The epic
poem refers to a large number of public baths and water bodies. It tallies with
field data which revealed circular brick structures that may have contained water.
Water was supplied to it by a channel from river Kaveri. The arrangements made
for amenities suitable for a city indicates the importance of Kaveripattinam as an
urban centre.
5.5 TRADE
Different geographical regions had products which were specific to them. They
lacked in some others. Hence, exchange between regions existed from a very
early time in the historical period. For instance, the agricultural tracts produced
food-grains and sugarcane but had to depend on coastal areas for salt and fish.
The coastal areas produced considerable salt and fish but rice, the staple food,
had to be brought from areas of paddy cultivation. The hill ranges were rich in
timber, spices etc. but they had to depend on agricultural tracts and coastal areas
for food grains and salt. Thus, local and very often long-distance over land and
over seas trade networks developed.
Barter was the most common mode of transaction in the context of local trade.
Most of the items of barter were for immediate consumption. Salt, paddy, fish,
dairy products, roots, venison, honey and toddy were regular items of barter in
the far south. Very rarely, luxury items like pearls and elephant tusks also appeared
as items of barter. Exchange rate was not fixed. Petty bargaining was the only
method of fixing the price of articles. Paddy and salt were the only two items for
which a set exchange rate was known in barter system of the far south. The
exchange was not profit oriented.
79
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE Extensive network of over-land trade routes inside the subcontinent facilitated
the movement of merchants and traders. Four major routes and their ancillary
shorter routes throughout India were in existence. A route began from Pratisthana
or Paithan, the Satavahana capital, and it continued through Tagara, Nasik,
Setavya, Banasabhaya, Ujjayini and Sanchi to the mid-Ganga valley. It finally
reached Shravasti, the capital of Kosala in north. Another route ran from Champa,
the capital of Anga kingdom (Bhagalpur region) to west and north-west towards
Pushkalavati in the kingdom of Gandhara. This route finds mention in the context
of the forest exile of Rama in Ramayana. A third route began from Pataliputra in
east and it reached Patala in the Indus delta. The Periplus refers to a land route
connecting Bhrigukachha, the famous port of the west coast with Kabul. The
route ran from Kabul through Puskalavati, Taxila, Punjab and Gangetic valley,
crossing Malava till Bhrigukachha. The Buddhist sources refer to a route which
ran from the Ganga valley to Godavari valley. This was known as Dakshinapatha.
Kautilya, the author of Arthashastra mentions the articles which the southern
territories traded in, which included conch-shells, diamonds, pearls, precious
stones and gold. Good varieties of textiles also moved between north and south.
Northern Black Polished ware, a deluxe urban pottery also found its way to the
extreme south from north India. The remains of this pottery have been found
from the territory of Pandyas. Items like herbs and spices which included
spikenard and malabathrum (herb used in the preparation of ointment) were
shipped to the west. The large number of punch-marked coins that have been
recovered from different part of south India bear testimony to the brisk trade
between the north and south.
1. Bharukaccha (Bharuch)
2. Sopara (Supparaka)
3. Kalyan (Kalliena)
4. Nasik
5. Pratishtana (Parithan)
6. Tagara (Thair)
7. Tyadis (Kadalundi)
8. Muziris (Cranganore)
9. Madura
10. Podouke (Pondichery-Puducheri)
11. Alexandria
South India’s Trade with the West. Source: EHI-02, Block 7

80
The benefit of long-distance overland trade was mostly in luxury goods and was Trade Networks and
Urbanization
enjoyed by ruling elites. Regular trade links between Asia and Europe were
established in the 2nd century BCE. The major participants in this trade were the
Roman empire in West and the Han empire in China in East. The expansion of
the Roman Empire and the emergence of a powerful line of rulers led to the
growing demand for luxury items in the Roman empire as well as in the West
Asiatic countries. Silk was in high demand in West and it was produced only in
China. This silk reached West Asia through a long journey through the Central
Asian Taklamakan desert, the Pamir plateau and Iran. From there it reached the
hands of Roman elites. Although other items were also transported through this
road, silk being most precious and in demand, the road was known as the Silk
Road in history.
Indo-Roman Trade. Credit: USER: PHGCOM. Source: Wikimedia Commons. (https://

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Indo-Roman_trade.jpg)
Silk Road, however, was a lengthy route and traders had to pass through various
hazards. This naturally resulted in the high price of articles transported by traders
through this route. Here the rulers of Iran acted as mediators and levied heavy
tolls and custom duties on this trade. There was considerable animosity towards
them among the Romans as their intervention resulted in very high prices of silk
and other products. With the rise of Kushanas in the early centuries of the Common
Era, this role came to be assumed by them. The resultant trade and urbanization
proved very profitable for all players.
The direct trade between Roman world and peninsular India was carried through
the mediacy of Arabs. The Arabs had established commercial connections with
India, making the sea as a highway of trade before the beginning of the Common
Era. They enjoyed an enviable position in the East-West trade. They had some
knowledge of the wind systems in the Arabian sea and they kept it a trade secret.
81
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE With the ‘discovery’ of monsoon winds which is attributed to a navigator named
Hippalus, direct contact was established by the Romans with India. The Periplus
shows that this wind used to flow in the month of Epiphi (July) when traders
used to embark upon their journey in the Red Sea. From Eden at the confluence
of Red Sea and the Arabian Sea, the Indian coast could be reached in a faster and
easier way by following the direction of wind.
The Romans brought raw materials like copper, tin, lead, coral, topaz, flint, glass
(for making beads) and finished products like best quality of wine, clothes of
fine texture, fine ornaments, gold and silver coins and different kinds of excellent
pottery. They carried back with them spices and medicinal herbs like pepper,
spikenard, malabathrum, cinnabar; precious and semi-precious stones such as
beryl, agate, carnelian, jasper, onyx, as well as shells, pearls and tusks; timber
items like ebony, teak, sandalwood, bamboo; textiles items of coloured cloth
and muslin as well as dyes like indigo and lac. The Romans paid for Indian
articles in gold. South India had commercial connections with Sri Lanka and
Southeast Asia. Spices, camphor and sandalwood were the main items that were
traded.

1) Write a note on over-land trade routes in India in this period.
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2) Read the following statements and mark right ( ) or wrong (x).

a) The period between 200 BCE to 300 CE is notable for the ( )
decline of long-distance trade.
b) The name Silk Road was coined in the 19th century. ( )
c) Hippalus is the name of south-western monsoon wind. ( )
d) Muziris was a port in the Konkan coast. ( )
e) India bought pepper from Rome. ( )
f) The Arabs acted as mediators in the Indo-Roman trade. ( )
g) Barter was completely eliminated in the period between 200 ( )
BCE and 300 CE.
5.6 COMMERCIAL ORGANIZATION

In small scale local transactions, the producers were dealers too. The community
of Paratavas used to deal with fishing and salt making. They are mentioned in
the neital (coastal) region of ancient Tamilakam. The salt merchants were known
as Umanas. Big bags of salt were transported by carts drawn by bullocks or
asses. Besides salt merchants, dealers in corn (koolavanikan), cloth
(aruvaivanikan), gold (ponvanikan), sugar (panitavanikan) were also part of the
82
trade. They were quite affluent as they figure in some cave inscriptions of Trade Networks and
Urbanization
Tamilakam as donors of dwelling places to some ascetics. There is a reference to
the organization of Tiruvellarai; its members are referred to as nikamattor,
meaning the members of nigama, a guild. In Deccan we find, besides merchants,
wandering bards, dancers, messengers, mendicants too who moved from one
place to another and used trade routes. Most of the Buddhist cave sites were
located near these trade routes in Deccan and they were providing food and
shelter to travelling merchants and even provided loans. Not only the merchants
from Deccan but also traders from Tamilakam participated in sea borne trade.
The presence of some Indian traders in Egypt and Alexandria is attested by foreign
writings of this period. In south India, chieftains of Tamilakam encouraged sea-
borne trade. Light houses were erected on shores; there were wharves where the
Roman ships unloaded their merchandise to be stamped with the chieftains’
emblem. Storage facilities were provided, warehouses were given protection.
Sea-borne trade in the far south as well as in Deccan shows some features of
what is described as ‘administered trade’ by some modern scholars.
There are ample references to merchants in the donative records of this period.
They appear under various designations, the most common being vanik, sreshthin,
sarthavaha. The Jataka stories frequently refer to them. Among them, vanik was
probably a petty merchant while the sarthavaha was the chief of a sartha or
caravan. They used to travel with their merchandise to far off places in ox-driven
carts. The Jataka stories refer to a sarthavaha who embarked upon a journey
from pubbanta (eastern frontier) to aparanta (western frontier) with 500 or 1000
carts.
The setthi or sreshthin was the foremost among merchants. In Jataka stories
they appear as very wealthy. The Jataka stories refer to sreshthin as a private
entrepreneur who was very rich. But what is more significant is that he was also
the leader of merchants. Perhaps his wealth accorded him such a leading position
among the merchants. The Jataka stories indicate close association between kings
and sreshthin. Though he was a frequent visitor to the royal court, he was never
a rajabhogya (an employee of the king). This relationship between the king and
sreshthin was largely based on their shared economic interest. In the royal court
sreshthin used to represent the merchants. He used to keep the king informed
about the well-being of the merchants and their trading interests. The Avadana
literature shows that a sreshthin gave a huge amount of money as loan to the
king of Kosala in order to fight against Magadha. Thus, the king depended on
them for his financial requirements. This close relationship and understanding
between the merchants and the rulers is a special feature of this period. The
rajasreshthin used to carry on trade on behalf of the king. There was a
rajasreshthin called Habban of the Parthian ruler Gondophares (19-46 CE). In
the Syrian version of the life of St. Thomas (c. 3rd century) it has been told that
this Habban was appointed by Gondophares to procure an efficient architect to
build the royal palace. Habban thus brought St. Thomas as a slave from West
Asia to India. The historicity of this account may be questioned but it reflects the
king’s dependence on the rajasreshthin for his requirements.
5.7 PORTS
Ptolemy and Periplus both refer to the ports of the western and eastern sea-board
of India flourishing in the first two centuries of the Common Era. The most
83
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE famous was Barbaricum at the mouth of the Indus. It was located at the only
navigable middle channel of the Indus. It played an important role in the
Indo-Roman trade. On the basis of the Chinese text Hou Han Shu it is known
that the merchants earned a healthy profit from the maritime trade between Shentu
(Lower Indus) and Rome. This territory was under the control of Kushanas until
the mid-second century CE.
The next important port was Syrastrene (Surat of present day) on the Gujarat
coast. Among the ports of the west coast the most important was Barygaza. It
finds mention by both Ptolemy and the Periplus. In the Indian sources it is
mentioned as Bhrigukachha (Bharugachha in Prakrit). It was situated at the mouth
of Narmada. It was however difficult to navigate ships to this port due to shallow
waters. So Nambanus (Nahapana, the Saka Satrap) appointed oarsmen to help
the ships coming from other countries to reach the port. They used small boats
called trappga and Kottymba in order to guide foreign ships to enter the port or
to go out from it. Perhaps the Satavahana kings also followed the Sakas in this
matter. An inscription from Kanheri refers to sagarapalas who could have been
appointed in the same manner to pilot foreign ships to the port. Barygaza was
well connected with its hinterland. According to the Periplus it took 30 and 20
days respectively from Tagara and Pratishthana (in central Deccan) to Barygaza
by ox-driven carts. In the east Barygaza was connected to Ujjayini. The Periplus
further states that the articles of trade from China were transported from Bactria
to Kabul, Pushkalavati and lower Indus and reached Barygaza by land route.
Such an extensive hinterland was not associated with any other ports of India at
that period.
In the Konkan coast, the Periplus refers to three ports, Souppara (Sopara near
Mumbai), Kalliene (Kalyan) and Semylla (Chaul, 23 miles to the south of
Mumbai). All of them were under Satavahanas. The Periplus tells us that until
the reign of Elder Saraganus (Satakarni I) Kalliene was a busy port. But its
prosperity was much affected by the fight between Sandanes (Sundara Satakarni)
and Nahapana who laid a siege on the port. The Greek ships were prohibited
from entering the port. This indicates the interest of both the Sakas and
Satavahanas to control the Indo-Roman trade. The port of Kalyana probably lost
its importance due to this siege and it does not find mention in Ptolemy’s
Geography in 150 CE.
The ports of Mandagora (Bankot), Palaepatme (Davol), Melizigara (Jaygarh),

Byzantium (Vizadrog), Togurum (Deogarh), Turannaboas (Malvan) were situated
to the south of the Konkan coast. But none of them were as important as Kalyana.
In fact, the ports of northern Konkan were more important since northern Konkan
was agriculturally more prosperous, and their ports were well-connected with
their hinterlands. Both Pliny and Ptolemy refer to the activities of pirates in
southern Konkan.
In the Malabar coast the port of Muziris finds mention in the Periplus, Ptolemy
and Sangam literature. It was situated near Cranganore in Kerala. It corresponds
to Muchiripattanam of Sangam literature which states that Yavana ships came to
Muziris with gold coins and used to fill themselves with black pepper on their
return journey. In a third century Roman text a shrine in memory of the Roman
emperor Augustus has been mentioned. This indicates that Muziris housed Roman
sailors also. It was under the control of Chera kings. A mid-2nd century CE loan
84 contract document written on papyrus records how a ship anchored at Muziris
was loaded with Gangetic nard (a fragrant oil), excellent textiles, ivory products Trade Networks and
Urbanization
etc. From Muziris it was to sail for a port in the Red Sea where these goods
would be unloaded. Finally, it would reach the port of Alexandria in Egypt. Thus,
the far-flung commercial contact of Muziris with the Gangetic delta on one hand
and Alexandria on the other are illuminated by this fascinating document.
The ports of Coromandel coast were under the Pandyas and Cholas. They are
Camara, Poduke and Sopatma. Poduke corresponds to Arikamedu where
excavations have revealed a Roman trading post. Here amphorae, Arrentine ware,
Roman lamps, glass and stone beads have been found. Another famous port was
Kaveripattinam known from Sangam literature. Ptolemy mentioned it as
Khaberos. It is modern Puhar or Pumpuhar.
In the Andhra coast two important ports were Kontakossylla (Ghantasala) and
Allosygne in the Masulipattana area. From another port of this coast, ships used
to sail to Chryse Chora or Suvarnabhumi, well-known in early Indian literature.
It referred to the southern coast of Myanmar, Thailand and the islands of Southeast
Asia. The Iksvaku inscriptions of Nagarjunikonda refer to regular contacts
between the Krishna-Godavari delta with Srilanka and Vanga. Ceylonese monks
came to Buddhist sanghas of Krishna-Godavari region. This cultural contact
could have been based on trade linkages.
The Periplus refers to the port of Gange at the Gangetic delta. The country was
also known as Gange. The port is generally identified with the archaeological
site of Chandraketugarh. Its muslin was famous. It was exported to the port of
Bhrigukachha through the Gangetic valley or reached the Dravida country by
coast. From there it was exported to Roman markets. The port of Tamalites
mentioned by Ptolemy is probably the same as the port of Tamralipta in modern
Tamluk area of Medinipur.
Ptolemy used the designation Emporion (a trading outpost) in case of some

selective ports. B.N. Mukherjee thinks that if a port in the east had a Roman
settlement then it qualified for Ptolemy’s Emporion. The emporions were more
numerous in the Malabar and Coromandel coast than in Deccan. Significantly
Ptolemy did not use the term for the ports of Gange and Tamelitus. This indicates
that the ports of Bengal did not play as active role in the trade between India and
Roman Empire.
5.8 THE ARTICLES OF IMPORT AND EXPORT

Pliny, Ptolemy and the author of the Periplus give some hints regarding the articles
of import and export in the Indo-Roman trade. Among the agricultural products
rice and wheat were exported from the Konkan coast, Malabar coast and
Bhrigukachha to the coast of east Africa. Pepper was a much-valued item in the
Roman markets. Malabathrum was exported from the Malabar coast. Sandalwood
was another item of export. Among craft products, garments of cotton and muslin
were much valued. On the other hand, Chinese silk also reached the Roman
markets through Indian ports. Thus, India came to be involved in the international
silk trade. Apart from precious stones, the Romans were also interested in semi-
precious stones like agate, carnelian etc. Luxury items formed an important portion
among the articles of export, and they had a high price in the Roman markets.
Thus, traders involved in this trade used to earn a good amount of profit. The
85
India : 200 BCE to 300 CE enormous price the Malabar black pepper fetched, as Pliny mentions, justifies
its labelling as ‘black gold’ by Romila Thapar.
The articles of import from Rome and West Asia, were, however, not so varied.
Dates came from Persia to Barygaza. The Periplus refers to Italian and Arabian
wine. The Roman amphorae and the wine glasses found in excavation sites bear
testimony to the import of wine. Among the other items of import were the needle-
crafted garments from Babylon and Alexandria, glass vessels, copper, tin and
lead. The Roman gold coins were imported as bullion to the ports of west coast.
From the above list, it is clear that it was India which earned huge profits from
Indo-Roman trade. In 22 CE, Tiberius, the Roman Emperor complained that
Rome is being drained of its wealth to meet the heavy demands of luxury items.
Pliny further states that every year the Indian goods were being sold at a hundred
percent higher price in the Roman markets and thus the Roman Empire was
losing 550,000,000 sesterces money in each year.
5.9 COINAGE
Many different types of local coins were in use in south India. Ancient Tamil
literature speaks of them as Kasu, Kanam, Pon and Ven Pon. These coin types
have not been discovered. In Deccan inscriptions refer to Kahapanas which were
local silver coins and Suvarnas which were gold coins of Romans or Kushanas.
Besides these, coins of lead, potin, copper mixed with tin and other metals, copper,
silver and punch marked coins were prevalent.
Large number of Roman coin hoards have been found in many parts of peninsular
India. They can be dated between first century BCE and third century CE. These
coins were mostly in gold and silver. Copper coins were also in use, but they
were rare. Some scholars believe that Roman coins were used as bullion.
Imitations of Roman coins were also current in south India especially on the
Coromandal coast where there were some trading stations.
The large number and variety of coins issued in this period bears testimony to
the flourishing conditions of trade and affluence. The Kushanas were interested
in trade with the Roman empire. Their coins were fashioned after Roman gold
coins. One particular type of gold coin of Vima Kadphises was equal in weight
with the contemporary Roman gold coins.
In case of silver coins, those from the lower Indus were probably issued from the
royal mint but the silver coin called purana mentioned in the Mathura inscription
of Huvishka (106 CE) were probably issued by private moneyers. B.N. Mukherjee
suggests that the Kushanas took active interest in controlling the monetary system
of lower Indus since this region was commercially important for Indo-Roman
trade. On the other hand, copper coins were required for day-to-day transactions.
The Kushana copper coins followed the Drachm standard of the Greeks. The
Kushana coins are found not only in India but also outside, as for example, in
Ethiopia. This indicates the participation of Kushanas in international trade.
Thus, this period occupies a significant place in the history of Indian trade. For
the first time it gained an international character. The maritime trade in the Arabian
Sea and Bay of Bengal came to be interlinked with the trade in the Red Sea and
Mediterranean Sea.
86
Check Your Progress Exercise 2 Trade Networks and
Urbanization
1) Describe the commercial organization of this period in 10 lines.
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2) What were the main items of export and import?
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3) Write in detail about any three ports of this period
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4) Read the following statements and mark right ( ) or wrong ( x ).
a) Sisupalgarh was an urban centre in Andhra. ( )
b) Cast copper coins are found in the urban centres of this period. ( )
c) Satanikota was a Kushana urban centre. ( )
d) In ancient south India, Roman gold coins were used exclusively
as ornaments. ( )
e) There were no local coins in use in this period. ( )
f) Punch marked coins have been found both in north and south. ( )
g) The relationship between monasteries and traders was not ( )
friendly.
h) The kings of this period harassed prominent traders and merchants
for money. ( )
87
5.10 SUMMARY
Trade and commerce expanded in the period between 200 BCE to 300 CE. The
trade was carried in different ways. Small level exchange was not altogether
done away with. The rulers participated actively in local, regional and international
trade. Facilities like transportation, storage and shipping existed to facilitate trade.
Different types of coins were in use. The Indo-Roman trade was so profitable for
India that large quantities of Roman gold coins flowed into India. A large number
of centers of trade, towns, ports and cities emerged and nearly all of them were
connected with overland routes and even by river routes. The vibrant trade activity
makes this period one of the most prosperous in Indian history.
5.11 KEY WORDS

Punch-marked coins: in manufacturing these coins, the metal was beaten into
flat sheets and then cut into strips. The blank sheets were cut into desired weights.
The blank pieces were square or rectangular in the first instance. For getting the
actual weight the edges were clipped. So, most of the coins are irregular in shape.
Symbols were stamped over them with punches; each punch having one distinct
symbol.
Administered trade: this refers to trade in which existed centers of trade offering
facilities like those of anchorage, storage, civil and legal protection, and agreement
on the mode of payment.
Nigama: a guild of traders or artisans.
Potin: an alloy of copper and tin.
Numismatics: Scholars who are experts in the study of coins.

EXERCISES
1) See Section 5.5
2) a) × b) c) × d) × e) × f) g) ×
1) See Section 5.6
2) See Section 5.8
3) See section 5.7
4) a) × b) c) × d) × e) × f) g) × h) ×

Begley, V. and R. D. De Puma (eds.) (1991). Rome and India: The Ancient Sea
Route. Madison.
Chakravati, R. (ed.) (2001). Trade in Early India. New Delhi.
Chandra, M. (1977). Trade and Trade Routes in Ancient India. New Delhi.
88
Chattopadhyaya, B.D. (ed.) (1987). Essays in Ancient Indian Economic History. Trade Networks and
Urbanization
New Delhi.
Erdosy, G. (1988). Urbanization in Early Historic India. BAR International Series
430: Oxford.
Ghosh, A. (1973). The City in Early Historical India. Shimla.
Mukherjee, B.N. (2002). The Economic Factors in Kushana History (2nd edition).
Calcutta.
Romanis, F. De and Tchernia, A. (eds.) (1997). Crossings: Early Mediterranean
Contacts with India. New Delhi.
Thaplyal, K. (1996). Guilds in Ancient India. New Delhi.
89
BLOCK 2
GUPTAS AND POST-GUPTA STATE AND
SOCIETY
92
Trade Networks and
UNIT 6 THE RISE OF GUPTAS: ECONOMY, Urbanization
SOCIETY AND POLITY*
Structure
6.0 Objectives
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Antecedents
6.3 Political History of the Guptas
6.4 Administration
6.5 Army
6.6 Economy
6.7 Society
6.8 Culture under the Guptas
6.9 Decline of the Guptas
6.10 Summary
6.11 Key Words
6.0 OBJECTIVES
After reading this Unit, you will learn about,
political conditions in India at the beginning of the fourth century CE;
expansion and consolidation of the Gupta empire;
order of succession of the Gupta rulers and their military exploits;
administration, economy, society and culture under the Guptas; and
the decline of the Guptas.
6.1 INTRODUCTION
In this Unit, you will become familiar with the political history of the Gupta
period. Compared to the pre-Mauryan and Mauryan periods, the number of
ruling families had increased considerably in the post-Mauryan period. This means
that (i) more and more areas were experiencing the emergence of local states;
these states which may have been small were represented by local ruling families,
(ii) when large state structures arose these small local states either lost their
separate existence or they continued as subordinates within larger areas. One
such large state structure which began to emerge from the beginning of the fourth
century CE was that of the Guptas.
In this Unit, we will look at the political, social and economic aspects of the
Gupta period. We will focus on changes which were taking place in this period
and which greatly changed the character of post-Gupta polity and society.
* Dr. Vinayak, IP College for Women, University of Delhi, Delhi. 93
Guptas and Post-Gupta State
and Society 6.2 ANTECEDENTS
In the beginning of the fourth century CE, no large state structure existed in
India. However, there were minor powers and new families of rulers who were
emerging. In was in this context that the Guptas began to emerge on the political
scene. They were a family of uncertain origins. Let us look at the powers which
were ruling in different parts of the country before the Guptas appeared on the
scene.
Before the middle of the third century CE, the power of the Kushanas was
considerably reduced by the Sassanians of Iran. They subordinated the Kushanas
and the Sassanians’ rule extended to Sindh and other areas. However numismatic
evidence indicates that several branches of Kushanas continued to rule in
Afghanistan, Kashmir, western Panjab and it is possible that some of them were
contemporaries of early Guptas. Several republican states such as Madras (ruling
in Punjab; who have been mentioned in connection with the exploits of
Samudragupta), Yaudheyas (present-day Haryana), and Malavas (Rajasthan) and
many others which find mention in the Gupta records were ruling over small
principalities. Several branches of Nagas who were powerful in Mathura figure
also in the context of north India as rulers who were defeated by the Guptas.
The Kshatrapas were ruling in western India till they were defeated by the Gupta
ruler Chandragupta II towards the close of the fourth century CE. In ancient
Vidarbha, a powerful family known as Vakatakas had emerged by the middle of
the third century CE. Matrimonial alliances between the Vakatakas and Guptas
brought them into close contact with each other.
After the decline of the Satavahanas in Deccan, new royal families emerged in
different parts of the Deccan. In coastal Andhra, the Ikshvakus, the Salankayanas
and others made their presence felt. Kadambas emerged powerful in Karnataka.
The Pallavas in Tamilnadu ruled as a formidable power from the middle of the
third century CE till the 9th century CE.
The above discussion does not exhaust the list of powers that were emerging in
different parts of India. What are described are the most notable ones. It must
however be acknowledged that in many areas like Bengal, Odisha, forest regions
of Madhya Pradesh and elsewhere kingdoms were emerging for the first time.
This new trend was very significant for the later course of political history.
6.3 POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE GUPTAS

Very little is known about the early Gupta rulers. Whatever we know about them
generally comes from the records of later imperial rulers. As a result, there has
always been speculation among historians about the ancestry and family of early
Guptas. Some of the historians try to trace back their ancestry to any person
appearing in the historical records with the name ending with ‘gupta’, such as
Sivagupta who appeared in a Satavahana inscription.
The original core of the Gupta territory lay in eastern UP. This can be surmised
from the fact that Samudragupta’s Allahabad (now Prayagraj) pillar inscription
comes from this region. Besides the coin hoards of the Guptas have been found
from this region. Lastly, the Puranas describe the early Gupta territories in this
region.
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It is possible that in the closing decades of the 3rd century CE, the Guptas were Rise of Guptas : Economy,
Society and Polity
subordinates of a branch of later Kushanas ruling in north-west India. However
inscriptional and archaeological data suggests that they became independent in
the second decade of the fourth century CE.
Inscriptions tell us that Chandragupta was preceded by Srigupta and Ghatotkacha

before being mentioned as the first independent king with the title
maharajadhiraja. He started an Era in 319-20 CE known as Gupta Samvat.This
is also confirmed from the account of Al-Biruni,who had visited India in the first
part of 11th century CE. Historical records do not give us a clear picture about the
territories under his control. Though a passage of Vishnu Purana gives us some
details about the territories ruled by him. According to this passage the territories
of Prayagraj (present-day Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh), Saket (around present
day Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh) and Magadha were under the control of
Chandragupta I. But the authenticity of this passage is still not established, thus
it is not sure whether these areas were actually controlled by Chandragupta I.
The Chandragupta-Kumaradevi (king-queen type) type gold coins of
Chandragupta I inform us about the matrimonial alliance between the Gupta king
Chandragupta I and Lichchhavis princess Kumaradevi.These coins have
Chandragupta and his queen Kumaradevi engraved on the obverse and a seated
goddess on the reverse with the legend Lichchhavayah (i.e. the Lichchhavis).
The Lichchhavis were ruling in the region of Vaishali (Muzaffarpur in north
Bihar) since the 6th century BCE. This alliance not only enlarged his kingdom
but also legitimized his rule. The fragmentary information received about the
territorial expansion and marriage alliance with Lichchhavis indicate that
Chandragupta I might have come to have firm control over the middle Ganga
valley, in areas both to the north and south of the river.
Samudragupta (335-75 CE)

During Chandragupta I’s successor, Samudragupta’s reign, the kingdom grew
into an empire. The most important source which gives us information about his
accession and conquests is Prayagraj Prashasti (till now known as the Allahabad
Prashasti). It was composed by his court poet Harishena who composed 33 lines
which were engraved on a pillar. It is a possibility that there may have been a
war of succession to the throne before Samudragupta became the king. This is
largely due to the discovery of coins bearing the name of Kacha. These coins in
many respects are similar to Samudragupta’s coins. Many interpretations have
been given about these coins. Some historians considered Kacha as the elder
brother of Samudragupta, who might have been killed in the war of succession.
Other scholars maintain that these were the coins which were issued by
Samudragupta in the memory of his bother Kacha. The third interpretation
suggests that Kacha was the initial name of Samudragupta and latter name was
acquired by him after the conquest of the South. Except these coins not much is
known about Kacha from other sources; this name does not even appear in official
Gupta inscriptions. Prayagraj Prashasti depicts Samudragupta as an extraordinary
person and an ideal king.
Samudragupta adopted an aggressive policy of conquests. Regarding his

campaigns in Aryavarta, some scholars believe that he carried his conquests of
Aryavarta at one time only. However, some other historians believe that there
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Guptas and Post-Gupta State were two campaigns in Aryavarta. This is so because the Prashasti first mentions
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the subjugation of three Aryavarta kings, being followed by his southern
campaigns, and then again mentions the defeat of nine Aryavarta kings. The
kings of Aryavarta that were defeated by him were Achyuta (ruling over
Ahichchatra), Nagasena (ruling over Gwalior region) and Kota-Kulaja (the ruler
of the Kota family in east Punjab and Delhi). By defeating them Samudragupta
established firm control over the Ganga valley and some adjacent regions.
Regarding his campaigns in south India, twelve rulers were defeated by him
which included:
1) Mahendra of Kosala (Raipur, Durg, Sambalpur and Bilaspur districts)
2) Vyaghraraja of Mahakantara (Jeypore, forest region of Odisha)
3) Mantaraja of Kaurata (Sonpur area in Madhya Pradesh or Plain country to
the north-east of Mahendra hill)
4) Mahendragiri of Pishtapura (Pithasuram, East Godavari district)
5) Svamidatta of Kottura (Ganjam district)
6) Damana of Erandapalla (Chicacole or West Godavari district)
7) Vishnugopa of Kanchi (Chingelput district)
8) Nilaraja of Avamukta (Godavari valley)
9) Hasti-varman of Vengi (Cellor in the Krishna-Godavari delta)
10) Ugresena of Palakka (Nellore district)
11) Kubera of Devarastra (Yellamanchiti in Visakhapatnam district)
12) Dhananjaya of Kushthalpura (in North Arcot district in Tamilnadu)
Regarding the kings of south India or Dakshinapatha, Samudragupta first captured

them (grahana) and then released them (moksha). However, he followed a
completely different policy with regard to the kings of Aryavarta. He subjugated
them and annexed their territories. The north Indian kings defeated by
Samudragupta were: Rudradwa, Matila, Nagadatta, Chandravarma, Ganapatinaga.
Nagasena, Archyuta, Nandi, Balavarman, and others. The Prashasti further states
that Samudragupta reduced the states in the forest regions to servitude. The frontier
kings defeated by him included: Samatata (in southeast Bengal), Kamarupa
(Assam), Nepala (Nepal) and others; republican states of the Malavas, Yaudheyas,
Madrakas, Abhiras etc. All these rulers paid rich tributes to him and accepted
his suzerainty. The foreign rulers of north-western India like the later Kushanas
and the Saka chief and residents of different island countries including Sinhala
or Sri Lanka not only surrendered to him but also offered their daughters in
marriage.
At the end of his reign, most parts of north India were directly under the control
of Samudragupta, except Kashmir, western Punjab, Rajasthan, Sindh and Gujarat.
He also directly controlled the highland of central India to the east of Jabalpur,
Chhattisgarh, Odisha and the area on eastern coast at least up to Chingleput.
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Rise of Guptas : Economy,
Society and Polity
Allahabad Prashasti of Samudragupta. Source: Inscription of the Early Gupta Kings and
Their Successors, 1888. Text: John Fleet, CIE (1847-1917). Image: Thomas A. Rust, circa
1870. Wikimedia Commons.
Chandragupta II (375-414 CE)

Under Chandragupta II, the son and successor of Samudragupta, the growth and
spread of Gupta power reached its peak. Coins, inscriptions and some literary
sources give information about Chandragupta II’s reign. The Gupta inscriptions
mention Chandragupta II as the successor of Samudragupta. However, a 7th
century dramatist Vishakhadatta in his drama Devichandraguptam mentions that
Chandragupta II killed his elder brother, Ramagupta. This was so because
Ramagupta was facing defeat at the hands of the Sakas and in order to save the
kingdom, Ramagupta had agreed to surrender his wife to the Saka king.
Chandragupta opposed this and went to the Saka camp in the guise of queen
Dhruvadevi I, the wife of Ramagupta. He was successful against the Saka king.
However, in the ensuing hostility between Chandragupta II and his brother
Ramagupta, he killed the latter and married his widow Dhruvadevi. Certain other
texts like the Harshcharita and Kavyamimansa also refer to this episode.Thus,
Chandragupta II came to the throne to re-establish the supremacy of Guptas. He
established matrimonial relations with the Nagas by marrying princess Kubernaga
whose daughter Prabhavati was later married to Rudrasena II of the Vakataka
family. He established matrimonial alliance with Kadambas of Karnataka as well.
He defeated the Saka Kshatrapa king Rudrasimha-III and brought an end to their
rule in western India. As a result, the regions of Gujarat, Kathiawad and western
Malwa were added to the Gupta Empire. Mehrauli Iron Pillar Inscription is
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Guptas and Post-Gupta State identified by many scholars with Chandragupta-II. According to this inscription
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Chandra crossed the Sindhu region of seven rivers and defeated Valhikas (Balkh
in Afghanistan).This inscription also mentions about his victory over enemies
from Vanga (Bengal).
On the basis of these evidences it can be suggested that Chandragupta II was

able to extend the frontiers of Gupta Empire in western, north-western and eastern
India. Chandragupta II ruled till 415-16 CE.
Kumaragupta I (414-54)
At the time of the death of Chandragupta II, the Gupta empire extended from the
greater part of north India to the Kathiawad peninsula. As a result, there was no
one who could challenge their power. Hence, the reign of Kumaragupta I, son
and successor of Chandragupta II, was marked by only a few military campaigns.
From his inscriptions it seems that he certainly retained firm control over the
core area of the empire. His reign was also known for political consolidation and
prosperity. However, at the end of his reign, the Gupta empire faced Huna invasion
in north-west region which was checked by his son Skandagupta.
Skandagupta (454-467)
Skandagupta is generally considered the last important ruler of Gupta Empire,
who ruled over a vast territory. From the beginning of his reign he started facing
various troubles in his realm. The Bhitari inscription informs us that at the very
beginning of his reign Pushyamitras posed trouble. Though he was successful in
averting the onslaught of Hunas, these campaigns cost the kingdom dearly.
Scholars maintain that his gold coins were not only limited but also had less gold
in them as compared with the earlier rulers. He was the last Gupta ruler to mint
silver coins in western India.
1) Fill in the blanks:
a) At the beginning of the 4th century CE there were ............ (many/no)
small kingdoms in North India.
b) Chandragupta-I had a matrimonial alliance with ............ (Sakas/
Lichchhavis).
c) The Prayaga-prashasti refers to the victories of ........... (Pravarsena/
Samudragupta).
2) Discuss the efforts made by Samudragupta for the expansion of Gupta empire.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
98 .......................................................................................................................
3) List five minor powers in north India at the beginning of 4th century CE. Rise of Guptas : Economy,
Society and Polity
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
6.4 ADMINISTRATION
Guptas as a political power ruled in north India for about two and half century
and out of this period they functioned as an empire for almost 150 years. The
Gupta power at its peak extended from Kathiawar peninsula in Gujarat in the
west to Bengal in the east and from north-west India in the north to Madhya
pradesh in south. This however does not mean that the entire area was directly
ruled by the central authority; there were areas like Bengal, Bihar and Uttar
Pradesh which the Guptas administered through officials appointed by them;
even in far-flung Saurashtra in Gujarat, governors were appointed by the Gupta
rulers like Skandagupta. Elsewhere in the Malwa region, the Guptas maintained
their suzerainty through political and matrimonial alliances with various
autonomous powers.
In administration the Guptas borrowed various features from their predecessors

such as Mauryas, Kushanas and Satavahanas. King was the central figure of the
administrative system and it was reflected by the titles held by them, such as
maharajadhiraja, parama-bhattaraka, parmeshvara, samarat and
dharmmamaharaja. They were considered divine rulers on earth. The duties of
the king were the following:
1) Despite the supreme power vested in him, he was expected to follow a
righteous path.
2) He was supposed to decide the policy of the state during war and peace.
3) He should always protect his countrymen from any invasion.
4) He led the army in case of war.
5) He should support the brahmanas, Sramanas and others who needed his
protection.
6) He was supposed to venerate the learned and religious people and give them
every possible help.
7) As the Supreme judge he was to look after the administration of justice
according to religious precepts and customs.
8) He appointed his central and provincial ministers.
9) As a reigning king he appointed the successor to the throne.
The king was thus the focus of administration. He was assisted by princes,
ministers and advisors. The princes also held positions like viceroys of provinces.
The king used to issue written instructions to officials on all important matters.
In some cases, the office of the functionaries became hereditary. Inscriptions
suggest that Gupta administration was more decentralised as compared to that of 99
Guptas and Post-Gupta State the Mauryas. The Gupta administration made some efforts at restructuring the
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agrarian economy. This is indicated by land grants where the donees were expected
to augment agricultural potential of the region. It was in this way that cultivation
of fertile, irrigated lands was improved, and settlement of wasteland was
encouraged. The initial land grants were not in the centre but the areas beyond.
Thus, this initiative brought peripheral regions into the larger agrarian economy.
The high-ranking officers included the Mahadandanayaka (Chief Justice) who

assisted the king in the matters of justice. In the provinces this work was entrusted
to the Uparikas and in the districts to the vishayapatis. In the villages the headman
and the village elders used to decide upon petty cases. The other high officials
included the Mahapratihara (chief of the palace guards), Pratihara (regulated
ceremonies and granted necessary permits for admission to the royal presence),
Dutakas (implemented gifts when gifts of land were made to the brahmanas and
others). There existed an espionage system as well.
For facilitating the efficient functioning of administration, the kingdom was

generally divided into a number of regions or provinces, headed by governors
appointed by the king. These provinces were known as the deshas, rashtras or
bhuktis. Some of the provinces mentioned in Gupta inscriptions are Tirabhukti
(corresponded to north Bihar), Nagarabhukti, Magadhabhukti and
Pundravardhanabhukti (corresponded to north Bengal). The bhuktis were
governed by Uparikas directly appointed by the king. The territorial units under
the provinces (bhukti/desha) were known as vishaya (governed by vishayapati
or in some cases by Ayuktaka). He was appointed by provincial governor. The
inscriptions from Bengal indicate that the vishayapati associated himself with
Nagarsresthi (head of city merchants), Sarthavaha (caravan leader), Prathama-
Kulika (head of the artisan community) and Prathamakayastha (head of the
kayastha community). Apart from these Pustapalas were officials who managed
and kept records.
The administrative units below the district were referred differently in different
regions, such as — vithi, ashtakuladhikarana, bhumi, pathaka and petha. It seems
that these units were placed above several villages and were administrated by
different officials such as ayuktakas and vithi-mahattaras. The lowest unit of
administration was known as the grama which was headed by a gramika or
gramadhyaksha. It is not very clear whether these officials were appointed by
higher authorities or selected with the permission of villagers.
6.5 ARMY
Without any doubt, the army functioned as one of the important elements of the
state during this period. Normally divided in various divisions (chariots, infantry,
cavalry and elephants), it was headed by different chiefs and commanders. Though
in some contemporary texts (such as Kamandakiya Nitisara) the chariot division
was generally considered an integral part of the army, but, by this time their use
in warfare had become rare. It is not very clear whether the officer named
dandanayaka functioned as a military commander or a judicial officer. Officers
named asvapati and pilupati respectively commanded the cavalry and elephant
divisions. The senapati, mainly synonymous with the military commander, quite
frequently functioned as local administrator. Engaging in constant war might
have created some new designations such as sandhivigrahika (officer-in-charge
100
of war and peace). Chata-bhata were known as the regular and irregular troops Rise of Guptas : Economy,
Society and Polity
and most probably performed the task of local police.
One individual could hold multiple offices; for example the posts of kumaramatya,
sandhivigrahika and mahadandanayaka were held by Harishena, the court poet
of Samudragupta. The army was paid in cash and its needs were well looked
after by an officer-in-charge of stores called Ranabhandagarika. This officer
also looked after the supply of weapons such as battle-axes, bows and arrows,
spear pikes, swords, lances, javelins et.
6.6 ECONOMY
Though agriculture was the mainstay of economy, there were other occupations
as well such as commerce and production of crafts. Different social groups were
engaged in these occupations. It is important to realise that certain changes had
started taking place in the pattern of economic production and consequently in
relations between different social groups. We will be discussing these changes
below.
The revenue generated from agriculture was the main source of income for state.
For collecting this revenue, a large section of officials was appointed.
Contemporary sources (such as Amarakosha) give information about the diverse
type of crops produced in this period such as paddy, cotton, oil-seeds, indigo,
mustard seeds etc.The people of this period had good knowledge of agriculture
and they were aware about the different types of soils. In this regard Amarakosha
give us information about twelve types of soils — urvara (fertile), ushara (dry),
maru (desiccated), aprahata (untilled), sadbala (grassy land), pankila (covered
with mud), jalaprayamanupam (land located near a source of water), kachcha
(marshy), sarkara, sarkati, nadimatrika (well-watered by rivers) and devematrika
(area well fed by rain). The cultivated land was called as kshetra and uncultivated
land was called by various names such as khila or aprahata.
Land grants not merely give us information about different types of lands given
to different donees but also provide information about land measurement. The
Gupta land grant records from Bengal inform us about a unit known as vapa
which was used for measuring land in the region (adhavapa, dronvapa,
kulyavapa). It is derived from root vap (to sow).The exact size of this unit is not
clearly mentioned. Same grants mention a rod (nala), that might have been used
for linear measurement. Though evidence indicates that there was diversity in
land measurement, occasionally at some places we also find some standardization.
In addition to type and systems of land measurement, the land records from
Bengal also provide information about the price of plots. The price of agriculture
and non-agriculture plots varied according to the quality of soil, fertility, location,
region and so on.
Irrigation was considered important. Locally managed irrigation devices like the
ghati-yantra also called the araghatta were in vogue. Different irrigation practices
existed in the Gupta kingdom. Mention may be made of Sudarshana reservoir
(tadaga) in Saurashtra in Gujarat. Originally built in the Mauryan period, this
reservoir was thoroughly repaired when it was extensively damaged in the time
of Mahakshatrapa Rudradaman (middle of the second century CE). It was again
damaged in the time of Skandagupta; Purnadatta, his newly appointed governor
of Saurashtra and his son, Chakrapalita, undertook the repair of the reservoir at 101
Guptas and Post-Gupta State this time. Copper plates of this period clearly mention tanks and ponds (tadaga
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and pushkarini), marshy areas and ditches (jola, hajjika and khata) and
embankments along rivers (ali, brihadali) as mediums of irrigation. State was
not wholly responsible for providing irrigation facilities. Much of agriculture
was also rain dependent.
Certain changes can be witnessed in the agrarian society at this time. The land
system was becoming more complex. Grants of land were being made to religious
and ritual specialists or to officers. In those cases when the land granted to
brahmanas was a wet land or forest, the donees took on the role of a pioneer in
introducing agriculture. The brahmanas became proficient in supervising agrarian
activities, helped by manuals on agriculture, such as Krishiparashara, which
may be dated to this or the subsequent period. The textual records of earlier
period (like Arthashastra) talk only about tax-paying cultivators (karada) and
the ruler, but the textual records of Gupta period talk about three tiers, mahipati
(the king), svami (landowner) and karshaka (cultivator) which indicates that
landed intermediaries were starting to emerge in this period. By the end of Gupta
period donees were not only gifted with rights over land but also with some
important administrative and judicial rights. Not only the practice of gifting land
was becoming common but also remuneration was received in the form of land
by officials of different categories. Thus, instances of a class of people who
owned land but did not cultivate it increased. People who had superior rights
over land increased. Brahmanas by virtue of being the highest varna and as part
of the majority of landed beneficiaries, became powerful. The other village
landholders who also occupied an important place in rural society were the
Gramikas, Kutumbins and Mahattaras.
Conversely the position of cultivators declined. Ordinary cultivators known by

the names of Krishibala, Krashaka now came to acquire low economic and social
status. Slaves worked on the fields of their masters. Even domestic female slaves
were cruelly exploited as indicated by a text like Kamasutra. Inequalities in
society increased and thus burden on the actual tillers of the soil increased. The
number of taxes imposed by the state on the producers also went up in this period.
Further, the practice of vishti or unpaid labour made the position of ordinary
cultivators miserable.
Craft production covered a very wide range of items.There were items of ordinary
domestic use such as earthen pots, items of furniture, baskets, metal tools for
domestic use. Luxury items included jewellery made of gold and silver, precious
stones, objects made of ivory, fine silks and cotton cloth. Contemporary sources
refer to potters (kumbhakara), carpenters (sutradhara or vardhaki), textile dyers
(chimpaka), ivory-makers, distiller (kallara), brick manufactures (ishtakapalli),
salt-makers (lavanatailika) and oil millers etc.These sources also inform us about
the different categories of craftsmen. For example, different varieties of silk cloth,
called kshauma and pattavastra are mentioned in the texts of this period. The
craftsmen were generally organized into various guild-like professional groups
(sreni or nigamas). These guilds played a crucial role in craftsmen’s life. Texts
like Amarkosha and Brihat Samhita refer to different categories of craftsmen.
Sites like Taxila, Ahichchhatra, Mathura, Rajghat, Kaushambi and Pataliputra in
the Ganges valley have yielded many craft products like earthen wares, terracotta,
beads made from different stones, objects of glass, metal items etc. However, the
analysis of archaeological remains from various sites of this period indicates a
102 declining trend in craft production.
The items produced through crafts as well as raw material required for their Rise of Guptas : Economy,
Society and Polity
production was not easily available everywhere. They were made available
through trade. The term used for commercial transactions was known as kraya-
vikraya. For smooth function of this transaction various types of coins were
issued by different rulers. In ancient India, the Guptas were known for issuing
the largest number of gold coins, which were called dinaras in their inscriptions.
However, in gold content the Gupta coins are not as pure as the Kushana ones
and most probably not used by ordinary peoples in their daily transactions. Daily
transaction mostly was done in copper coins or other modes of currency. But in
contrast to those of the Kushanas, the Gupta copper coins are very few. Thus, it
seems that commercial activities in this period were not as flourishing as they
were in Kushana period. Moreover, in comparison to the earlier period, decline
was noticed in long-distance trade in this period. This happened because around
550 CE people of the eastern Roman (Byzantine) empire gained knowledge of
growing silk from the Chinese. This adversely affected India’s position as India
had played an important role in the earlier Silk trade. The archaeological remains
of the urban centres of this period also point towards decline.
6.7 SOCIETY
The position of brahmanas in the social order was already high before the Gupta
period. They came to be related to the royal power. The royal patronage and land
grants by individuals and institutions to brahmanas made them even more
powerful. Not only individual brahmanas but also a group of brahmanas were
encouraged through land grants to settle on virgin lands. Thus, the number of
brahmana settlements which were called agraharas or brahmadeyas increased.
The kings patronised the brahmanas irrespective of the former’s religious
affiliation. This was one of the main reasons for the economic prosperity and
prestige of the brahmanas.
The idea of the varna divided social order became the norm. Though the varna
system was the ideal social order there were many whose varna identity could
not be determined. Thus, the law books or Dharmashastras tried to determine
the status of various jatis or castes in society by giving fictitious explanations
about their origins. They suggested that various jatis or groups had originated
through varnasamkara or inter marriages between the various varnas.
The castes proliferated into numerous sub-castes or jatis. Many foreigners had
been assimilated into Indian society, and each group of foreigners was given a
semi-kshatriya status (vratyakshatriyas) because they could not be considered
to be of pure kshatriya origin. Due to the absorption of various tribal groups into
the Brahmanical society and due to the expansion of agriculture into forest
territories, fictitious titles were thought of for tribal groups. Various other groups
like the untouchables or antyajas were considered impure. Similarly, chandalas,
charmakaras and similar groups were considered as outcastes. Fa-hsien informs
us that the chandalas lived outside the village and dealt in meat and flesh. Thus,
such groups continued to be miserable in the Gupta period. The position of
shudras, however, improved slightly during this period. They were now permitted
to listen to recitations of the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Puranas but not the
Veda, which was still considered sacred.
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Guptas and Post-Gupta State The position of women of higher varna was low. The woman in a family was
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expected to function as an ideal wife and mother. In texts, women were even
considered to be of the same category as the shudras.
6.8 CULTURE UNDER THE GUPTAS1

The Gupta period has often been referred to as the “Golden Age” due to its
cultural heritage. This applies to great accomplishments in the field of art and
architecture, language and literature. The Gupta age, thus, stands out as a
significant and noteworthy departure from previous historical periods, particularly
in the cultural history of India due to impressive standards achieved by artistic
and literary expressions of this time.
It has been rightly commented that the Gupta art represents ancient Indian art at
its best. From the vantage point of architecture, the Gupta period reflects creative
enthusiasm and deep sense and awareness of beauty. These are evident in the
Dashavatara temple at Deogarh in Jhansi district (UP), Bhitargaon temple near
Kanpur (UP), Vishnu temple at Tigawa (Jabalpur district, MP), Shiva temple at
Bhumara (Satna district, MP), Parvati temple at Nachna-Kuthara (Panna district,
MP) etc. Some of them are adorned with beautiful sculptural panels. The Gupta
temple-building activity represents evolution from the earlier tradition of rock-
cut shrines which now reached a whole new level. However, the high and
elaborately carved sikharas (towers) on top of the temples were yet to register
their appearance. Therefore, Gupta period marks the formative phase of temple
construction in India, but it was a significant phase that continued to influence
temple-building activity right up to the medieval period.
What we now refer to as “Classical Sanskrit” developed during the Guptas.

Sanskrit was widely patronized by Gupta rulers, making it the official language
of their court. All their inscriptions are written in Sanskrit. Ignored earlier under
the influence of Buddhist and Jaina traditions that encouraged vernacular dialects
like Pali, Prakrit and Ardhamagadhi, Sanskrit saw its revival under the Guptas. It
became a widespread language in entire north India during the Gupta period.
Even Buddhist scholars, particularly those of Mahayana Buddhism, began
composing their scriptures in Sanskrit. Great poets, dramatists, grammarians and
playwrights of Sanskrit are known from this period.
The epics Ramayana and Mahabharata are believed to have been compiled and
given their final form around 4th-5th century CE. The great Sanskrit writer-poet
Kalidasa — one of the Navaratnas (nine gems) of the court of Gupta king
Chandragupta Vikramaditya — wrote dramas like Abhijnana-Shakuntalam,
Malavikagnimitram, Vikramorvashiyam and poetic works such as
Raghuvamsham, Kumarasambhavam and Meghadutam which show the excellent
literary standards achieved during the Gupta period. Besides these, Varahamihira
wrote Brihat Samhita that deals with scientific subjects like astronomy and botany.
Aryabhatta wrote Aryabhattiyam: a famous work on geometry, algebra, arithmetic
and trigonometry. The notable creations on medicine include Charaka Samhita
and Sushruta Samhita. An all-round progress in literature was manifest during
this time.
1
This section on Culture has been written by Dr Abhishek Anand
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Check Your Progress Exercise 2 Rise of Guptas : Economy,
Society and Polity
1) Which of the following statements are right ( ) or wrong (×)?
a) The king no more remained a central figure under the Guptas. ( )
b) The king was to lead the army in case of war. ( )
c) Mahadandanayaka was the minister of revenues. ( )
d) One-sixth of the produce was claimed as royal revenue. ( )
e) The highest unit of administration was the village. ( )
2) Write about the society and culture under the Guptas.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
3) Write about the duties of the Gupta king.
.......................................................................................................................
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.......................................................................................................................
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6.9 DECLINE OF THE GUPTAS

After Skandgupta’s reign the Gupta power weakened. Soon many subordinate
rulers became independent. The later Gupta kings ruled between 475-530 CE.
They ruled over small territories and functioned as petty rulers. The Gupta rule
finally came to end by the middle of the sixth century CE. There were various
reasons why the Gupta power weakened towards the end.
1) Huna Invasions
The successors of Chandragupta II had to face the Huna onslaught. Hunas
were from Central Asia. They were a branch of the White Huns, the
Hephthalites from Central Asia, known in the Indian sources as the Hunas.
Before attacking the north-western Indian frontier, they had occupied Bactria
and were threatening to cross the Hindu Kush mountains. Initially the Gupta
rulers were successful in fighting them back. However, the successors of
Kumaragupta could not defend their kingdom. Each wave of Huna invasions
made the Gupta rule weaker. A major blow came at the end of the fifth
century when the Hunas successfully broke through northern India. The
first Huna king in India was Toramana who claimed conquest over northern
India as far as Eran in central India. Thus, the Huna attacks caused a major
blow to Gupta authority particularly in northern and western regions of the
empire.
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Guptas and Post-Gupta State 2) Administrative Weaknesses
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Skandagupta was facing domestic problems also. This involved court
rivalries and the breaking away of the feudatories whose political integration
into the metropolitan area of the Gupta state was tenuous. This was because
the Guptas had always adopted the policy in the conquered areas to restore
the authority of local chiefs or kings once they had accepted Gupta suzerainty.
In fact, no efforts were made to impose a strict and effective control over
these regions. Hence, it was natural that whenever there was a crisis of
succession or a weak monarchy within the Gupta empire these local chiefs
would re-establish their independent authority. This created a problem for
almost every Gupta king who had to reinforce his authority. The Guptas lost
western India as after the reign of Skandagupta, in CE 467, hardly any Gupta
coin or inscription has been found in western Malwa and Saurashtra. This
must have deprived the Guptas of the rich revenues from trade and commerce
and crippled them economically. Secondly, the constant military campaigns
were a strain on the state treasury. Towards the end of the 5th century CE and
beginning of 6th century CE, taking advantage of the weak Gupta emperors,
many regional powers reasserted their authority, and in due course declared
their independence.
Besides these, there were many other reasons which contributed to the decline
of the Guptas. For example, it has been argued that the Guptas issued land-
grants to brahmana donees and in this process surrendered the revenue and
administrative rights in favour of the donees. This practice was bound to
reduce revenues. The migration of a guild of silk weavers from Gujarat to
Malwa in 473 CE and their adoption of non-productive professions show
that there was no great demand for the cloth produced by them (Sharma,
2005). The advantages from Gujarat trade gradually disappeared. Further, it
is believed that the samanta system in which the samantas (minor rulers),
who ruled as subordinates to the central authority, started to consolidate
itself in the Gupta period. This is also believed to be the reason why Gupta
administrative structure became so loose. There is diversity of opinion as to
how the system originated and regarding the details of the system, but the
presence of many Samantas within the empire does show that they wielded
power almost independently of the Gupta authority.
Towards the end of their rule, the Gupta kings made desperate attempts to
maintain their gold currency by reducing the content of pure gold in it, but
this was not very helpful. Although the Guptas continued to rule till the
sixth century, their imperial power had vanished a century earlier.
6.10 SUMMARY
In the beginning of the fourth century CE, north India was divided into many
small kingdoms and chieftaincies. It was in this political scenario that the Guptas
rose as a powerful family of rulers. Successful military campaigns, robust
administration, sound economic and social footing made them one of the strongest
in north India. However, from the later part of the Gupta period and in the post-
Gupta period certain changes began to accelerate which transformed the economic
and social set up. This is clearly seen from the practice of land grants which
became very common in the post-Gupta period. The position of outcastes and
106 slaves became very miserable though some improvement in the position of the
shudras could be seen. Craft activity delined though great achievements in the Rise of Guptas : Economy,
Society and Polity
realm of art and architecture could be seen.
6.11 KEY WORDS

Aryavarta: Literally meaning “abode of the Aryans”, it is the region where the
Vedic Aryans settled after their migration into the Indian subcontinent. It covers
parts of north-western and northern India.
Chandala: One of the lowest rungs of the Varna order of ancient times. They
were regarded as untouchables and supposedly engaged in disposal of corpses.
Dakshinapatha: Ancient south region of the Indian subcontinent below

Uttarapatha. It also connotes the great route linking Magadha and Pratishthana
(present-day Paithan in Maharashtra) in ancient times.
Charmakaras: Those involved in tanning leather.
Prashasti: Panegyric/Eulogy.
Puranas: Encyclopaedic Hindu texts on a variety of topics.
Sramanas: Literally meaning “one who toils, labours or exerts himself”, it refers
to the ascetics; those in pursuit of spiritual liberation.
Terracotta: The Italian word meaning “baked earth”. It is a type of ceramic

pottery made by baking terracotta clay. It was also widely used in ancient times
to make sculptures.

EXERCISES
1) (a) many (b) Lichchhavis (c) Samudragupta
2) Write your answer by reading Section 6.3, under the heading ‘Samudragupta’
3) Yaudheyas, Malavas, Nagas, Madras, Later Kushanas. See Section 6.2
1) (a) × (b) (c) × (d) (e) ×
3) See Section 6.4

Gupta, P.L. The Imperial Guptas. Varanasi.
Thapar, Romila (1983). A History of India. Penguin.
Thapar, Romila (2002). The Penguin History of Early India. From the Origins to
AD 1300. Penguin Books
Sharma, R.S. (2005). India’s Ancient Past. Oxford University Press.
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and Society UNIT 7 POST-GUPTA KINGDOMS IN
NORTH INDIA*
Structure
7.0 Objectives
7.1 Introduction
7.2 The Regional Powers
7.2.1 The Maitrakas of Valabhi
7.2.2 The Maukharis of Kanauj
7.2.3 Harshavardhana and his Reign
7.2.4 The Later Guptas of Magadha
7.2.5 Yasodharman of Kanauj
7.2.6 Kashmir
7.3 Nature of the Post-Gupta Period
7.4 Summary
7.5 Key Words
7.0 OBJECTIVES
the political developments and disintegration in the Post-Gupta period;
emergence of various political powers;
growth of the power of Maitrakas of Valabhi, Maukharis of Kanauj,
Harshavardhana, Later Guptas of Magadha, Yasodharman of Kanauj and
Kashmir; and
nature of society and economy of the period.
7.1 INTRODUCTION
In the post Gupta period, a number of new political powers emerged in different
parts of north India. Until the rise of Harsha in the early seventh century four
kingdoms effectively held power in northern India: the Guptas of Magadha; the
Maukharis of Kanauj; the Pushyabhutis of Thanesar; and the Maitrakas of Valabhi.
This may give the impression that political authority was very fragmented, and
this was the result of the weakening of central authority. But when you look at it
from a different angle you will realize that formation of new political powers
was a continuous process in early Indian history. These powers, representing
different dynasties, established their kingdoms and were often at war with each
other. This Unit attempts to give a brief history of these kingdoms.
* Dr. Oly Roy, Assistant Professor, Amity University, Noida.

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Post-Gupta Kingdoms in
7.2 THE REGIONAL POWERS North India
The prominent principalities which arose in the post-Gupta period were the
Maitrakas, Kalachuris, Gurjaras, Maukharis, and Later Guptas; and the kingdoms
of Nepal, Bengal, Assam, and Odisha. Outside the Gupta empire, the kingdoms
of Kashmir and Thaneswar and southern Kalinga were prominent. It was not
until the beginning of the seventh century C.E. that the ruler of Thaneswar
succeeded in establishing a powerful empire in northern India, though for a short
period.
Let us discuss these powers briefly.
7.2.1 The Maitrakas of Valabhi

Of all the states that grew out of debris of the Gupta Empire, the kingdom of
Valabhi is considered to be one of the ‘most durable’. They were one of the
subordinates of the Guptas. The earliest land-grant of the family was the one
issued by Maharaja Dronasimha in 502 CE. The extent of the kingdom of Valabhi
is uncertain. As all the royal grants were issued from Valabhi, it can be assumed
that Valabhi was their capital. A large number of records of this family have
come to light, however they are of little historical merit. Therefore not much is
known about the Maitrakas.
A record of sixteen grants by Dhruvasena exists, but it does not mention a single
event of historical importance. Maharaja Dharapatta, his younger son, succeeded
him. He was succeeded by his son, Guhasena. Around 556 CE or 559 CE i.e.,
during the time of Guhasena, Maitrakas were ruling as an independent power.
Hiuen Tsang refers to a particular ruler called Shiladitya. It can be assumed from
various references that he held an extensive kingdom. Hiuen Tsang pays tribute
to him. He is said to be a “monarch of great administrative ability and of rare
kindness and compassion.” He built a Buddhist temple which is considered to be
“extremely artistic in structure and ornament,” and held every year a “great
religious assembly” to which Buddhists were summoned from all corners.
7.2.2 The Maukharis of Kanauj

The Maukharis held the region of western Ganges plains around Kanauj.
Originally, they were tributary rulers who established an independent kingdom,
changing their title from maharaja to maharaja-adhiraja, thus imitating the earlier
Guptas. Maukhari is the name of a very ancient family or clan and we find
references to them in Patanjali’s work and in other early documents. They gained
political ascendency towards the end of 5th century CE as Harsha inscription of
554 CE mentions the rise of Yajnavarman from Gaya during this period. The
Maukharis after becoming powerful claimed to have descended from Asvapati,
referred to in the Mahabharata as king of Madras in central Punjab. Certain
archaeological sources indicate that the Maukharis were widely spread over
northern India from a very early period. In the sixth century CE a Maukhari
family ruled in the neighbourhood of Gaya. Three kings of this family are known
from inscriptions found in the Barabar and Nagarjuna Hills in Gaya District.
They are Yajna-varman, his son Sardula-varman and the latter’s son Ananta-
varman who were all feudatories of the Guptas. This is indicated by their title
‘samanta’ which they held. The Maukhari rulers used several titles which are
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Guptas and Post-Gupta State found in various seals and inscriptions which provide us with some information
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on their genealogy. The Asirgarh Copper seal gives the names of the following
rulers:
1) Maharaja Hari-varman – Jayasvamini
2) Maharaja Aditya-varman – Harshagupta
3) Maharaja Isvara-varman – Upagupta
4) Maharajadhiraja Isana-varman – Lakshmivati
5) Maharajadhiraja Sarva-varman – Indrabhattarika
6) Maharajadhiraja Avanti-varman
The modern province of U.P was the seat of their power. It also included portions
of Magadha. The theory that the Maukhari dominion extended up to Sutlej in the
west is based on insufficient evidence. Kanauj seems to have been the capital of
Maukhari kingdom at least during the reign of Avantivarman and his son. The
distinction between the titles given to the first three kings and the others indicates
that the reign of Isana-varman marked the beginning of the rise of the family to
power and prestige.
The Maukharis ruled as feudatory chiefs in south Bihar and U.P., since the time
of Budha-gupta. The disintegration of the Guptas in the early sixth century CE
gave them an opportunity to establish their independence. Isanavarman claims
to have defeated the Andhras, Gulikas and the Gaudas which indicate extensive
military campaigns and great power. He was the first in his family to assume the
imperial title of Maharajadhiraja and to issue coins.
The Later Guptas, who came into prominence about the same time, challenged
the power of Maukharis. It was an elongated war between the two. The Maukhari
king Isanavarman was defeated by Kumaragupta and probably also by
Damodaragupta. Sarvavarman, the second son of Isanavarman, is said to have
defeated Damodaragupta of the Later Gupta dynasty. Very less is known about
the Maukharis after Isana-varman. Banabhatta in Harshacharita has remarked
that the Maukharis stood at the head of all royal houses, and Avantivarman was
the pride of that race. This implies that the Maukharis enjoyed sovereignty till
the beginning of the seventh century CE.
Isanavarman, his son Sarvavarman and Avantivarman (Sarvavarman’s son) were

powerful kings and ruled over considerable territory. The chronology of the rulers
of Maukharis is constructed on very limited sources and the following chronology
can be accepted:
1) Isana-varman — c. CE 550-576
2) Sarva-varman — c. CE 576-580
3) Avanti-varman — c. CE 580-600
There is uncertainty regarding the successor of Avantivarman. Dated coins of
Isanavarman, Sarvavarman and Avantivarman have come to light but the readings
have been unclear. The last Maukhari king was Grahavarman who was married
to Rajyasri, the daughter of Prabhakaravardhana of Thanesar and sister of the
famous ruler Harshavardhana. The Malava king Devagupta attacked Kanauj and
killed Grahavarman bringing the Maukhari kingdom to an end.
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7.2.3 Harshavardhana and his Reign Post-Gupta Kingdoms in
North India
The Pushyabhutis ruled in Thanesar, north of Delhi. The Pushyabhuti family

became influential on the accession of Prabhakaravardhana. From Banabhatta’s
Harshacharita, we learn that Prabhakaravardhana was also known as Pratapasila
and that he had another son named Krishna and a daughter named Rajyasri.
Harshavardhana was the most powerful ruler of this dynasty. His rule and his
times will be dealt with in some detail in Unit 8.
7.2.4 The Later Guptas of Magadha

From around the middle of sixth century CE till about 675 CE the kings who
ruled Magadha were known as Magadha Guptas or Later Guptas. The Later
Guptas of Magadha were not part of the main Gupta dynasty, but were a minor
line having the same name. The Later Guptas were also feudatories of the Imperial
Guptas like the Maukharis. An inscription found at Aphsad, near Gaya gives the
following genealogy of the kings of this dynasty:
1) Krishnagupta
2) Harshagupta
3) Jivitagupta
4) Kumaragupta
5) Damodaragupta
6) Mahasenagupta
7) Madhavagupta
8) Adityasena
Aphsad inscription describes the military achievements of the first three kings.
It is not clear whether these rulers carried out such campaigns independently or
as feudatories. Harshagupta had to fight the Hunas; his son Jivagupta fought
against the Lichchhavis of Nepal and Gaudas of Bengal. Jivagupta’s successor
king Kumaragupta defeated Maukhari king Isanavarman. The next king
Damodargupta, son of Kumaragupta, was defeated and killed by Maukhari king
Sarvavarman and lost a portion of Magadha. For some time the successors of
Damodargupta retreated to Malwa because of the Maukharis but they again
established their supremacy in Magadha. The most powerful ruler was Adityasena,
who ruled in Magadha in 672 CE, a date which seems to occur in one of his
inscriptions. This sovereignty is further supported by the fact that Adityasena
assumed the title of Maharajadhiraja. His empire included Magadha, Anga and
Bengal. It is just possible that his kingdom included a portion of eastern Uttar
Pradesh. He was a Parama-Bhagvata and got a temple of Vishnu constructed.
An inscription which was engraved in a temple at Deoghar refers to his conquest
of the Chola country and also performance of several sacrifices, including three
Asvamedhas. But this record alone cannot establish the fact that Adityasena carried
out victorious campaigns against the Cholas. Names of three successors of
Adityasena – Devagupta, Vishnu-gupta and Jivita-gupta have come down to us.
All continued with the imperial title.
Vishnugupta ruled for at least 17 years. Jivita-gupta probably extended his

authority to some territory on the banks of Gomati which once formed part of the
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Guptas and Post-Gupta State Maukhari kingdom. No successor of Jivita-gupta is known, and the end of the
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Later Guptas is ambiguous. When Yasovarman of Kanauj went for his campaign
in the east in the second quarter of the eighth century CE, he found one king in
possession of Gauda and Magadha. It has been suggested that this ruler who was
defeated at the hands of Yasovarman described in the poem
Gaudavaho (killing of the king of Gauda), is none other than Jivitagupta. The
power of the Later Guptas came to an end in or shortly before the second quarter
of the eighth century CE when the last ruler Jivitagupta was defeated either by a
king of Gauda or king Yasovarman of Kanauj.
7.2.5 Yasodharman of Kanauj

During the reign of Kumaragupta I, his feudatory Bandhuvarman ruled over
Mandasor as it was a major centre of western Malwa. He belonged to the Aulikara
family which perhaps ruled there up to the beginning of the sixth century CE.
Two stone pillar inscriptions from Mandasor in Madhya Pradesh, one of which
is dated in 532 CE refer to a powerful king Yasodharman. His early history is
unknown. One of his court-poets, Vakpati, wrote a poetical work in Prakrit which
narrated his victorious campaign. His work forms the chief source of our
knowledge of his life and reign. The narration of Vakpati seems to be an
exaggeration when he says that Yasodharman conquered all the regions in south
and north. But there is evidence that corroborate his conquest in the east. An
inscription found at Nalanda indicates that his authority extended over Magadha.
It also implies that Yasodharman carried out his campaign as far as Bengal and
defeated the ruler of Gauda.
Though his campaigns in the south seem to be doubtful but there are references
that might form the basis of it. The inscriptions of the Chalukya king Vijayaditya,
great-grandson of the famous Pulakesin II refer to a fight with a king who is not
named but is described as the Lord of the North, or whole of Uttarapatha
(sakalottarapatha-natha). The battle most probably took place towards the close
of 695 CE. The Chalukya king defeated the enemy and is said to have obtained
from him ‘the symbols of the rivers Ganga and Yamuna’, the Palidhvaja banner
and other emblems of imperial power. The reference to Ganga and the Yamuna
shows that the battle probably took place in the Ganga-Yamuna doab. On the
basis of such information it can be assumed that the ruler referred to here as Lord
of the Uttarapatha is Yasodharman. At the same time the victory of the Chalukyan
king mentioned in Chalukya inscriptions should not be taken as a wholly true
fact. Many sources are available which lead to the conclusion that in the northern
campaign Vijayaditya, the Chalukya crown-prince, was taken captive by the
enemy. Yasodharman is generally identified with Yi-sha-fu-mo, king of Central
India, who sent his minister, the Buddhist monk Pu-ta-sin (Buddhasena), to the
court of China in 731 CE. Lalitaditya, the king of Kashmir, sent an embassy to
China in 736 CE, and probably referred to Yasodharman as an ally. It might be
assumed that both the kings asked for Chinese help and support against the Arabs
and Tibetans who were paving their way to India. If this theory is considered
then one can assume that he tried to extend his power to the west.
Yasodharman was victorious against the Arabs of Sindh. Yasodharman along

with Lalityaditya fought successfully against foreign powers. But soon their
alliance broke. Rajatarangini narrates the struggle between Yasodharman and
Lalityaditya. From the narration mentioned in Rajatarangini, it seems that
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Yasodharman was defeated at the hands of Lalityaditya. Yasodharman also lost Post-Gupta Kingdoms in
North India
his kingdoms to him. But it is not clear whether he was slain or not. The date of
Yasodharman is unclear; his reign may be placed between CE 700 and 740.

1) List the minor powers and the regions they ruled in north India in the sixth
century CE.
2) Which of the following statements are right ( ) or wrong (x):
a) The Maitrakas of Valabhi were one of the subordinates of ( )
the Guptas.
b) The Maukhari king Isanavarman was defeated by Budha-gupta. ( )
c) An inscription found at Aphsad, near Gaya gives the genealogy ( )
of the kings of the dynasty of the Later Guptas of Magadha.
d) Lalitaditya ascended the throne in about CE 752. ( )
7.2.6 Kashmir
To the east of Sindhu, Kashmir was the first important state. Kashmir has its
history written from the earliest times in a text called Rajatarangini. Rajatarangini
was written by Kalhana in the twelfth century CE. The chronology mentioned
by Kalhana indicates that nearly the whole of the Gupta age is covered by the
reign of a single king of the Gonanda dynasty who is said to have ruled for 300
years. This seems to be a fallacy. The next two reigns of two brothers covering a
period of 80 years is also doubtful. The subsequent period is comparatively
reliable. The new dynasty which Kalhana mentions is the Karkota or Naga dynasty,
founded by Durlabhavardhana. He married the daughter of the last king of the
Gonanda dynasty named Baladitya. As Baladitya had no son Durlabhavardhana
succeeded to the throne (CE 627).
Huien Tsang, the Chinese pilgrim gives a very long account of Kashmir. He
visited Kashmir during the reign of Durlabhavardhana. Five other states –
Takshasila (Rawalpindi district), Simhapura (Salt Range region), Urasa (Hazara
or Abbottabad district), Pan-nu-tso (Punch), and Rajapura (Rajaori) were under
Kashmir. Thus Durlabhavardhana ruled over not only Kashmir proper, but also a
part of western and north-western Punjab as well. He was succeeded by his son,
Durlabhaka. Durlabhavardhana and Durlabhaka reigned for 36 and 50 years
respectively. Durlabhaka was succeeded by his eldest son Chandrapida. During
his period Arab were encroaching upon the frontiers of Kashmir. In 713 CE he
sent an envoy to the Chinese emperor asking for aid against the Arabs. Though
he did not receive any support from the Chinese, he was able to protect his
kingdom from the Arabs. As mentioned by Kalhana, King Chandrapida was
known for his piety and justice. Kalhana mentions that when the king proposed
to build a temple, a tanner refused to give up his hut which was situated on the
site. When the matter was reported to the king, he considered his own officers to
be at fault and not the tanner. His reign is said to have been a period of humane
activities. After his death, his younger brother succeeded the throne. But his
ruling years are said to be full of ‘cruel’ and ‘bloody’ deeds. He was followed by
his younger brother Lalitaditya Muktapida, the ‘greatest’ king of the dynasty.
Lalitaditya ascended the throne about CE 724. He mainly concentrated on
expeditions during his reign. He entered into alliance with Yasodharman and
113
Guptas and Post-Gupta State defeated the Tibetans. Lalitaditya was also successful against the mountain tribes
and Society
on the north and north-western frontier of his kingdom, such as the Dards,
Kambojas and Turks. The most powerful expedition was against Yasodharman
as already mentioned. It made him the master of Kanauj. After defeating
Yasodharman, he proceeded towards the eastern ocean and reached Kalinga.
The king of Gauda probably acknowledged his suzerainty without a fight. After
reaching the bank of Kaveri he even conquered some of the islands. In the west
he overran the seven Konkanas and advanced as far as Dvaraka (in the western
extreme of Kathiawar Peninsula). He also conquered Avanti and many other
states till he reached the hilly regions and the northwest. Here he conquered the
Kambojas, Tukharas (Turks), Bhauttas (Tibetans), Daradas and also a king called
Mammuni. It might be a probable fact that Mammuni, whom he is said to have
defeated thrice, refers to an Arab ruler. His conquests made the kingdom of
Kashmir one of the greatest empire after the Gupta Empire in northern India.
Kashmirians chose to call him the ‘universal monarch’. He adorned his kingdom
with beautiful towns, and decorating the towns with fine buildings, monasteries,
temples and images of gods. Kalhana’s account implies that he was a celebrated
ruler. But at the same time Kalhana also mentions two accounts that reflect his
dark side. Once when he was drunk he ordered the town of Pravarapura to be
burnt down. Afterwards while he was sober, he repented it, and was glad to find
that the ministers had disobeyed his orders.
The second incident is gruesome. He summoned the king of Bengal (Gauda) to

Kashmir and promised him safe-conduct and made the image of Vishnu
Panhasakesava as the surety for his promise. But he got the same king assassinated.
It is difficult to find any motive behind this. A few devoted followers of the
murdered king undertook the long journey from Bengal to Kashmir, and endowed
the temple of the god who had been made the surety. The priests closed the gates,
but they were forced open. The Bengali heroes reached the statue of Vishnu
Ramasvamin mistaking it for that of Panhasakesava. They broke it into pieces.
They were all mercilessly cut to pieces by the Kashmir soldiers who had just
arrived from the capital. Kalhana recognizes the men from Bengal who came all
the way for revenge and their act of courage, love and determination for their
king. Kalhana says,
“What of the long journey which had to be accomplished and what of

the devotion for the dead temple of Ramasvamin is seen empty, whereas
the world is filled with the fame of the Gauda heroes.”
Lalitaditya died around CE 760. His successors were weak and were unable to
maintain the prestige and honour of the family. The dynasty, however, continued
to rule over Kashmir till about the middle of the ninth century CE.
7.3 NATURE OF THE POST-GUPTA PERIOD

The political powers which emerged in different regions of India in the post-
Gupta period, were more stable than the large state structure of Harsha. They
had their bases in the regions in which they emerged and in many cases they
marked the beginning of the political identity of a region or a sub-region. From
the perspective of colonial historiography this period was considered as a Dark
Age in comparison with the ‘Golden Age’ of the Gupta period as this period was
characterized by ‘small’, ‘unimportant’ kingdoms and ‘political confusion’ largely
114
because there were no large states. But as the study of regional history gained Post-Gupta Kingdoms in
North India
importance it was discovered that changes during this period were important.
The focus shifted from the Ganges plain to other parts of the subcontinent.
Impressive amount of work has been done on the period which historians call as
the early medieval period. This was the period of great regional kings and the
rise of regions. The constant wars between polities and the rise and fall of dynasties
point to the process of local state formation and the spread of state societies
across regions. Thus it was not a period of political fragmentation which the
decline of the Guptas led to; it was a continuous structural evolution within
regional polities. In this process chieftaincies changed to early kingdoms, to
regional kingdoms. A new balance of regional powers can be seen developing in
this period. Scholars have characterized this period as feudal, while some regard
it as dynamic and generative. The feudalism school regards the evidence of royal
land grants to brahmanas and officers as crucial. This created holdings of land
and villages where the recipients had the right to collect revenue but were not
required to pay tax. The landed intermediaries had immediate authority over the
peasant. There was decline of urban life and trans-regional trade. As there was
paucity of coins, officials had to be paid through revenue from land instead of by
cash. The number of feudatories increased with the increase in grant of lands.
Other scholars like Romila Thapar and B.D. Chattopadhyaya understand this
period differently. Romila Thapar explains it as a process where “Pre-state polities
were transformed into states, and the creating of a centre of power involved the
colonization of an area by settling subordinate branch lineages of the main dynasty
in new areas.” This is seen as the spread of monarchy into pre-state societies and
the workings of an ‘integrative polity’.
Brahmanism during this period was asserting itself. The granting of land to
brahmanas, which increased in the post-Gupta period, emphasized the pre-
eminence of the brahmana in society.
Distinctions between courtly high culture and popular culture became more
sharply defined. Elements of popular culture spoke other languages, their customs
and rituals were different. Sanskrit and elite courtly culture cemented its
relationship even more strongly.
Politically monarchy triumphed over the gana sanghas and the forest clans. Earlier
kings of non-kshatriya origin were not concerned with acquiring the kshatriya
status but from the post-Gupta period this became common to monarchy. In the
making of a kshatriya the role of the brahmana was crucial. It was the brahmana
which legitimized the king’s right to rule even if the king had low origins. The
brahmanas for their efforts were granted with grants of land. New settlements
were to become the nuclei of support for the king.
Due to the practice of landgrants, new, wealthy and powerful landholding groups,
either as owners or enjoyers of soil began to emerge as intermediaries between
the ruler and the actual tiller of the soil. The emergence of landed intermediaries
is considered as a typical symbol of Indian feudal economy.
The feudatories had to accept the suzerainty of the ruler who granted the land.
He had to give his daughter’s hand in marriage if the king asked for it. He had to
mention the king in his charters and inscriptions. His presence in the court on
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Guptas and Post-Gupta State certain occasions was mandatory. Sometimes when the feudatory was powerful
and Society
enough he could grant lands without taking permission of his suzerain. This was
called sub-infeudation leading to the formation of hierarchy in the power structure.
Many historians rather than calling it a feudal society preferred to call it an

integrative polity. “It is argued that the formation of states in the post-Gupta
period was in itself a different process from the earlier one and therefore created
a different kind of economy and society.” The changes can be noticed in the
following manner:
1) Territories emerged under new names and ruling lineages were associated
with territorial names rather than only with clan names;
2) As more areas were brought under cultivation, settled societies which were
stratified by caste came into close contact with forest societies. Gradually
diverse groups were brought into a definite system. Religious institutions
received grants and sacred centres played multiple roles. Local cults were
incorporated into the existing ‘Hindu’ sects. Temples acted as significant
political and religious institutions.
3) Links were established between the emerging kingdoms and the chiefdoms;
4) Monarchy was established in what had been pre-state societies;
5) Network of trade increased, thus there was increase in commercial taxes.
1) Comment on the nature of the political structure during the post-Gupta period.
Write in 10 lines.
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2) Discuss the history the Gupta and the post-Gupta period of Kashmir as written
by Kalhana.
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7.4 SUMMARY North India
In the post-Gupta period many kingdoms came into existence. These kingdoms
were small and not as large as the Gupta kingdom. Some of the powerful kings
like Harsha managed to bring almost the whole of northern India under their
control, but their kingdoms were short-lived. Though this period is marked by
the emergence of a large number of regional polities, this period saw the
beginnings of stable state structures. The case of Kashmir has been mentioned in
this Unit, where for the first time the functioning of a local state system came
into existence. Elsewhere too, many regional polities came to dominate the
political scene. Thus, the decline of the Gupta power and the collapse of Harsha’s
empire did not mean the beginning of political anarchy. After the end of these
empires, the regional powers consolidated themselves and played important roles
in the history of subsequent periods.
7.5 KEY WORDS

Maharaja-adhiraja: is a Sanskrit title implying paramount sovereignty
Samanta: the term ‘samanta’ originally meant ‘neighbour’ and referred to the
independent ruler of an adjacent territory. But by the end of Gupta rule and by
sixth century a new meaning of the term was adopted. ‘Samanta’ implied a
subjected but reinstated tributary prince of a realm. The rise of the ‘samantas’
was a distinctive feature of the growth of medieval realms.
Feudatories: a person under the protection of a feudal lord to whom he has

vowed homage.

EXERCISES
1) See Section 7.2 and its sub-sections.
2) a) b) × c) d) ×

1) See Section 7.3
2) See Section 7.2.6

Chattopadhyaya, B.D. (1998). The Making of Early Medieval India. Oxford
University Press.
Fox, R.G. (Ed.) (1977). Realm and Region in Traditional India. Duke University:
Programme in Comparative Studies on Southern Asia.
Gopal, L. (1989). The Economic Life of Northern India. Delhi: Motilal
Banarasidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
Kulke, H. (1998). The State in India (1000-1700). Oxford University Press.
117
Guptas and Post-Gupta State Puri. B.N. (1986). The History of the Gurjara Pratiharas. New Delhi: Munshiram
and Society
Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
Raychaudhuri, H.C. (1973). Dynastic History of Northern India. New Delhi:
Munshiram Manoharlal Publisher Pvt. Ltd.
Sharma, R.S. (2003). Early Medieval Indian Society: A Study in Feudalisation.
Kolkata: Orient Longman Pvt. Ltd.
Sharma, R.S. (2009). Indian Feudalism. New Delhi: Macmillan Publishers India
Ltd.
Sharma, R.S. (2016). Social Changes in Early Medieval India. New Delhi: PPH.
118
UNIT 8 HARSHA AND THE RISE OF North India
KANNAUJ*
Structure
8.0 Objectives
8.1 Introduction
8.2 The Changing Political Scenario in North India
8.2.1 Kanauj as the New Political Centre
8.2.2 Decline of Pataliputra
8.3 The Pushyabhutis
8.4 The Political Activities of Harsha
8.4.1 Sources
8.4.2 Political Activities of Harsha: An Overview
8.4.3 The Extent of Harsha’s Kingdom
8.4.4 Huien Tsang’s Account
8.4.5 The Harsha Era
8.4.7 End of Harsha’s Reign
8.5 Political Structure in the Early Medieval Period
8.6 Aftermath: The Tripartite Struggle for Kanauj
8.7 Summary
8.8 Key Words
8.0 OBJECTIVES
After reading this Unit, you will be able to learn:
how the political scenario of north India changed in the 5th-6th century CE;
the emergence of new types of political centres – the Jayaskandhavaras;
why Kanauj became the new political centre of north India;
Harsha’s political activities; and
impact of the rise of Kanauj: the Tripartite struggle.
8.1 INTRODUCTION
The political scenario in post-Gupta north India was characterized by the
emergence of numerous ruling families like the Maukharis of Kanyakubja, Later
Guptas of Magadha, Gaudas of West Bengal (Murshidabad Dist.), Maitrakas of
Valabhi (Saurashtra peninsula), Pushyabhutis of Thaneswar, etc. Many of them
were originally subordinates of the Guptas. But, with the decline of the political
authority of the Guptas, they assumed independence. North India in the 6th century
was, thus, an arena where multiple ruling powers, all rooted in their respective
* Dr. Sayantani Pal, Associate Professor, Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture,
University of Calcutta, Kolkata. 119
Guptas and Post-Gupta State regional contexts, were constantly fighting with each other. In such a political
and Society
scenario, the samantas (subordinates) emerged powerful. They kept control over
outlying areas or fought battles in areas far away from the political centres of
their overlords. The rise of local and regional powers has been regarded as the
hallmark of this period. In this Unit, we are introducing you to a brief history of
the Pushyabhutis and how Harsha became the most important ruler and succeeded
in establishing an empire.
8.2 THE CHANGING POLITICAL SCENARIO IN

NORTH INDIA
In this period, we see that some regions became more powerful than others. For
example, the places located in strategically sound areas, like those situated on
elevated regions or those surrounded by hills or rivers; regions which were well
connected by land and water routes for facilitating the movement of army or the
easy transportation of supplies and provisions for the army, assumed more
importance than the older rajadhanis (capitals). These new centres were called
Jayaskandhavaras (literally meaning ‘camp of victory’) in epigraphs. It was
from these Jayaskandhavaras that the ruling dynasties issued land-grants to
religious recipients like the brahmanas or the monasteries and temples.
Inscriptions of the early medieval polities are replete with references to various
Jayaskandhavaras under different kings. From such references, the political
conquests and the extent of the territories of the rulers may be inferred. As for
instance, the Banskhera and the Madhuban copper plates of Harsha were issued
from the Jayaskandhavaras of Vardhamanakoti and Kapitthika respectively. Both
were probably located somewhere in Uttar Pradesh.
8.2.1 Kanauj as the New Political Centre

Kanauj, earlier known as Kanyakubja or Mahodaya, situated in the Kannauj
district of present Uttar Pradesh assumed a lot of significance in the politics of
early medieval north India. Located in the fertile plains of the Ganga-Yamuna
doab, Kanauj stood on an elevated area that could be easily fortified. Thus, even
though it was situated in plains, due to its favourable location, it could be easily
fortified and was secure. Besides, Kanauj was rooted in a large agrarian expanse
in the western Ganges plains. Land-grants could be made in plenty from this
area. Naturally, the area attracted many brahmanas who settled here and for
subsequent centuries the brahmanas of Kanauj came to be widely esteemed in
the royal courts throughout the country. Kanauj was also well-connected by routes
going towards east into the Ganges plains as well as with those going to south.
Due to all these factors, it rose to power and became an important nodal point in
north. With this development we see a shift of focus from Pataliputra in south
Bihar to Kanauj. The latter also came to constitute a central theme in the politics
of post-Gupta north India.
As a political centre Kanyakubja first appears in Harshacharita as a seat of

power of the Maukharis under Grahavarman who was married to the Pushyabhuti
princess Rajyasri, the sister of Harshavardhana. When Harshvardhana became
king, he chose this city as his seat of power instead of Thaneswar in Haryana,
which was the capital of his predecessors. This choice of capital might have
been due to the threatening activities of the Hunas who were making inroads
into India from the north-west since the reign of Skandagupta in the middle of
120
the 5th century CE. Since Thaneswar was closer to the north-west, Harshavardhana Harsha and the Rise of
Kannauj
must have felt more secure at Kanyakubja as it was more centrally located to the
east.
8.2.2 Decline of Pataliputra

Historians like R. S. Sharma are of the opinion that Pataliputra in the post-Gupta
period was on decline due to decay of trade and commerce. This was part of the
process of feudalisation of the state polity and economy. Tolls used to be collected
from traders coming to this city from other places. Since trade declined, money
in the form of coins had become scarce. Thus, officers, soldiers and other royal
servants had to be given their salaries through the assignment of land. Therefore,
in the post-Gupta times the cities lost their importance and the Skandhavaras
acquired prominence. Thus, R.S. Sharma has remarked that Pataliputra largely
represents the pre-feudal order whereas the emergence of Kanyakubja under
Harsha typifies the advent of the feudal age in north India. However, this view
has its critics. A study of the economy of the various regions and localities does
not point to an overall decline of trade, urban centres, and money economy in the
period immediately following the Guptas. It was not a pan-Indian phenomenon.
Rather, in some areas like south-eastern Bengal, western India etc. trade
flourished, and there is an abundance of gold and pure silver coins. Besides,
inter and intra-regional trade used to be carried on a large scale.
Kanyakubja became powerful after Harsha chose it as his capital and Banabhatta,
his court poet, glorified it in his Harshacharita. This, on the other hand,
contributed to the theory of “Tripartite Struggle” by the historians like H. C.
Raychaudhuri and others. They believed that it was a struggle among three
dynasties: the Gurjara-Pratiharas of western India, the Palas of Bengal and Bihar
and the Rashtrakutas of Deccan. The aim was to capture Kanyakubja which
became the royal capital since it was chosen by Harshavardhana.
8.3 THE PUSHYABHUTIS1

A variety of sources inform us about the rise of the family of Pushyabhutis which
first ruled from Thaneshwar in Haryana and later from Kanauj in Uttar Pradesh.
These sources include the Harshacharita, accounts of Hiuen-tsang and some
inscriptions and coins. Banabhatta informs us that the founder king of this dynasty
at Thaneshwar was Pushyabhuti and that the family was known as Pushyabhuti
vamsha. However, the inscriptions of Harsha make no reference to him. The
Banskhera and Madhuvan plates and royal seals mention five earlier rulers among
whom the first three are given the title of Maharaja. This may indicate that they
were not sovereign monarchs. The fourth king Prabhakarvardhana has been
described as a Maharajadhiraja which makes us infer that he was an independent
monarch and had established matrimonial relations with the Maukharis by
marrying his daughter Rajyasri with Grahavarman.
Thaneshwar, during this time (about 604 CE) was threatened by the Hunas from
the western side. Banabhatta has described Prabhakarvardhana as “a lion to the
Huna Deer”. According to him an army under Rajyavardhana was sent to defeat
the Hunas but due to the sudden illness of his father he had to come back. With
Prabhakarvardhana’s death the family had to face troubled times for a while.
This section on Pushyabhutis has been borrowed from EHI-02, Block-8, Unit-34.
1 121
Guptas and Post-Gupta State The Malava king killed Grahavarman and took Rajyasri prisoner. It appears that
and Society
the Malava and the Gauda kings entered into alliance and even Thaneshwar was
threatened. Rajyavardhana defeated the Malavas but was killed through treachery
by Sasanka, the Gauda king. Now it was Harsha’s responsibility to seek revenge
and in due course he was able to establish a strong empire.
i) Thaneswar was the kingdom of the Maukharis.
ii) Kanyakubja was located in the Ganga-Yamuna doab.
iii) As the political centre of north India Kanauj replaced Ujjayini.
iv) Tripartite struggle was fought between two powers.
2) Why did Jayaskandhavaras become important in the post-sixth century CE
polity of north India?
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3) Write five sentences on the reasons for the decline of Pataliputra.
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4) Write in 100 words about the Pushyabhutis.
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8.4 THE POLITICAL ACTIVITIES OF HARSHA

The Pushyabhutis ruled from Thaneshwar in Haryana and later from Kanauj in
Uttar Pradesh. Let us have a look at the sources which give information about
122 Harsha’s reign and his career.
8.4.1 Sources Harsha and the Rise of
Kannauj
Epigraphs, mostly in the form of eulogies and copper plate charters of the dynasties
of this period make exaggerated claims of political conquests and other kingly
qualities. Such prashastis, however, present a stereotypical account of the political
conquests of the king. They claim that the king was a universal emperor
(chakravartin/sarvabhauma king) who had conquered all quarters and, thus,
accomplished digvijaya. The reference to political centres, the areas of land-
grants recorded in the inscriptions as well as the find spots of the records may
hint at the extent of territory under a dynasty. Apart from this, the charitakavyas
(biographical poems) composed by the court poets for their patron kings emerged
as a new source of historical information in this period. In such poems the patron
king of the court poet is the hero and he passes through many vicissitudes and
challenges which he finally overcomes. The earliest model of this kind is found
in Harshacharita (The Life of Harsha). It was the first formal charitakavya. In
this kavya, the poet Banabhatta relates the account of Harshavardhana’s rise to
power. We are told that when the Pushyabhuti king Prabhakaravardhana was
ruling, the formidable Hunas had attacked the north-western frontier of the
kingdom. Both of the princes Rajyavardhana and Harshavardhana went to resist
them. In the meantime, Prabhakaravardhana fell ill and died. The situation
worsened when the Maukhari king Grahavarman of Kanyakubja, their brother-
in-law and the husband of their sister Rajyasri, was killed by enemies. These
were Sasanka of Gauda and Devagupta of Malava. Rajyavardhana went to fight
the enemy and died at the enemy camp. Later, Harshavardhana rescued his sister
and since the Maukharis had no successor, the throne of Kanyakubja was offered
to him by the ministers of the Maukharis. He accepted it and, thus, he became
the joint ruler of the Pushyabhuti and Maukhari kingdoms. He made Kanyakubja
his capital. Thus, ends the poem. It may be noted that the aim of the poet was to
tell the tale of Harsha’s ascendancy to throne. By portraying him as an upright
and just person, by underlining the mutual love that both the brothers shared,
Bana justifies Harsha for having succeeded to the throne even though, by doing
this, he superseded his elder brother.
In the subsequent period, rulers like Ramapala of Bengal and Bihar, Vikramaditya
VI of the Western Chalukya dynasty, Kumarapala of the Chaulukya dynasty of
Gujarat appear as the central characters of the charitakavyas like Ramacharita,
Vikramankadevacharita and Kumarapalacharita respectively. This indicates how
Harshacharita had set up an example and initiated a genre of literature that
became widespread and was followed by rulers of different regions who wished
to appear as heroes of poems.
Other source for the period concerned comes from the well-known account of
the Chinese traveller Huien Tsang who travelled in India from 629-645 CE and
spent much time at the court of Harsha.
Interpretation of Sources
Harsha was a patron of both Banabhatta and Huien Tsang. Their accounts project
Harsha as the master of the whole of north India. By taking such accounts at face
value, earlier historians projected Harsha as the last great ‘Hindu’ empire-builder
of post-Gupta period. Again, such views were strengthened by the epithet of
sakalottarapathesvara (“the war-like lord of all the regions of the north”)
attributed to Harsha by the successors of his arch rival Chalukya king
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Guptas and Post-Gupta State Pulakesin II. Thus, in the scheme of periodization of Indian history, historians
and Society
used to mark the end of an era with the death of Harsha in 647 CE, verily the end
of the “Hindu” period. Thus, Vincent Smith, one of the earliest authors of a
comprehensive volume of Indian history (Early History of India), talks of the
‘medieval Hindu kingdoms from the death of Harsha’ in which the Rajputs come
to the forefront. The major criteria of this change was the break-up of a large
empire as they believed that Harsha was the last emperor of pre-medieval period
who had authority over vast portions of north India similar to that of the Mauryas
or the Guptas. The beginning of the medieval period, despite the presence of the
Rajputs, was perceived as largely a Muslim era.
8.4.2 Political Activities of Harsha: An Overview

Harsha ascended the throne in 606 CE. He belonged to the Pushyabhuti dynasty
based around Sthanvisvara (modern Thanesar in the Ambala district of Punjab).
The claims of conquests made in the records of Harsha can be judged from the
inscriptions of his contemporary kings like Sasanka, the king of Gauda
(Murshidabad district of West Bengal) or Chalukya Pulakesin II. Both were his
rivals. We shall discuss the political activities of Harsha in the following manner.
Early career
Prabhakaravardhana was Harsha’s father and the fourth king in line. His two
sons were Rajyavardhana and Harshavardhana. His daughter Rajyasri was married
to Grahavarman, the king of Maukhari dynasty of Kanyakubja. It was an important
marriage alliance which influenced the power balance in the 7th century north
India. Gauda, the archrival of the Maukharis (earlier the Maukhari king
Isanavarman claimed to have defeated the Gaudas) had formed an alliance with
Devagupta of Malava.
Eastern campaign
The Gauda king Sasanka and the Malava king Devagupta had created trouble by
killing Grahavarman: the Maukhari king and the brother-in-law of Harsha. They
captured Kanyakubja. Rajyavardhana, Harsha’s elder brother died in the enemy
camp. After rescuing his sister and Grahavarman’s widowed queen Rajyasri,
Harsha was offered the throne by the ministers of the Maukharis since they had
no successor. Harsha now occupied the throne of Kanyakubja and, thus, began
to rule over both the territories of the Pushyabhutis and the Maukharis. He now
took a vow to take revenge on Sasanka and invaded those kingdoms in the east
which had refused allegiance to him. However, neither Banabhatta nor Huien
Tsang give any information regarding the actual conflict between Sasanka and
Harsha. Besides, Huien Tsang mentions that some years before 637-638 CE,
Sasanka had cut down the Bodhi tree at Gaya. It was a sacred symbol of the
Buddhists and Sasanka could not have performed such an act unless he was in
occupation of Gaya region. He also indicated that Harsha conquered Odra and
Kongada (north, eastern and southern Odisha) by 643 CE. Thus, it appears that
Harsha could not achieve any success in eastern India before the death of Sasanka
in c. 637 CE.
Western India
The kingdom of Valabhi in Saurashtra was being ruled by the Maitrakas who
were the vassals of the Guptas. The relationship between Harsha and the Maitraka
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dynasty is a little complicated. In the inscription of the Gurjara kings of Broach Harsha and the Rise of
Kannauj
(Nausari grant of Jayabhata II, 726 CE) they claimed to have protected the Valabhi
ruler who was overpowered by Harsha. Originally the Latas (southern Gujarat),
Malavas and the Gurjaras occupied a strategic position in between the kingdoms
of Harsha and that of Chalukya Pulakesin II situated to the north and south of the
Narmada respectively. Thus, both Harsha and Pulakesin would attempt to bring
three of them under control. Pulakesin II claims these three rulers as his vassals
in his Aihole inscription. However, when Harsha occupied the Valabhi kingdom,
peace must have been settled due to a matrimonial alliance between the two.
Thus, Dhruvasena II Baladitya of the Maitraka dynasty married the daughter of
Harsha and became his ally. This alliance, thus, weaned away Dhruvasena II
from Pulakesin’s influence. This might have been the reason for the celebrated
conflict between Harsha and Pulakesin II.
Conflict with Pulakesin II

The kingdoms of Harsha and Pulakesin II touched on the border of the river
Narmada. In his Aihole inscription Pulakesin says that Harsha’s joy (harsha)
melted away through fear when his elephants fell in battle. From the account of
Huien Tsang it appears that Harsha took the initiative but could not achieve any
success against Pulakesin. Regarding the claim made by the successors of
Pulakesin that he acquired the title of Parameshvara by defeating
sakalottarapathesvara (Harsha), R. C. Majumdar suggests that the result of the
battle was magnified in favour of Pulakesin by his successors. This is a fine
example of the poet’s intention to speak highly of the rivals in royal prashastis
in order to glorify the achievements of their patrons.
8.4.3 The Extent of Harsha’s Kingdom

Harsha appears to have been in occupation of parts of present UP, south Bihar
and Odisha. He inherited Thanesar, parts of eastern Punjab and eastern Rajasthan.
Besides Bhaskaravarman, the ruler of Kamarupa was his subordinate ally and
Harsha also exercised influence on the kings of Jalandhar and perhaps Kashmir.
In the south Narmada was the boundary beyond which Pulakesin II was ruling.
The extent of Harsha’s empire was, thus, not as large as earlier historians had
thought. So, there is no reason to project him as “the last great Hindu emperor”
or to view his reign as marking the end of the ancient and the beginning of the
medieval era. In fact, contemporary historians question the view that any event
like the death of a king marks the end on an era. The transition of one era into
another should be based on historical processes which had a much greater impact
on all aspects of society.
8.4.4 Huien Tsang’s Account

Huien Tsang, the Chinese pilgrim travelled in India from 629 to 645 CE. He
speaks about the prosperity of Kanauj under Harsha. He says that the king travelled
frequently throughout his kingdom to understand the condition of his subjects.
He presents Harsha as a follower of Mahayana Buddhism and he has given a
grand description of the Buddhist assembly at Kanyakubja during his reign. He
also says that Harsha used to pay salary to his ministers and officials by land
grants. However, the actual evidence of such secular grants has not come down
to us. He also mentions that this patronage to the Mahayanas by Harsha was
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Guptas and Post-Gupta State resented by the Hinayanas and the brahmanas. Harsha almost exhausted the royal
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treasury by making lavish gifts to the Buddhists. How far this account is true is
difficult to ascertain. But it definitely brings out the religious tension among
different sects in this period who fought among themselves to secure royal
patronage.
On the other hand, Huien Tsang himself says that at the Prayaga Assembly Harsha
worshipped the Buddha, Shiva and the Sun and distributed charity to the followers
of all faiths. Besides, the Banskhera and Madhuban copper plates of Harsha
record his grant of land to Rigvedin and Samavedin brahmanas. Inscriptions also
suggest that the early Pusyabhuti kings worshipped Surya while Rajyavardhana
was a devotee of the Buddha. Harsha has been represented as a devotee of Shiva
in these inscriptions. Moreover, among the three plays attributed to Harsha -
namely, Priyadarshika, Ratnavali and Nagananda – the first two begin with an
invocation to Brahmanical gods. This data might indicate that the Chinese pilgrim
was actually biased in favour of Buddhism and wanted to present Harsha as its
great patron.
8.4.5 The Harsha Era

Alberuni who came to India in the 11th century records that the Harsha Era was
in use in Mathura and Kanauj. This Era commenced from 606 CE: the date of
Harsha’s ascendancy to throne. The Banskhera, Madhuban and the newly
discovered Kurukshetra Varanasi copper plates of Harsha as well as the Shahpur
image inscription of Adityasena are probably dated in this Era. Previously, the
Guptas who ruled a large part of north India had also introduced the Gupta Era.
This indicates that the rulers wished to commemorate themselves to posterity by
initiating an Era in their name.
Very little data is available regarding the administration in Harsha’s reign.
Unfortunately, the two main authorities – Bana and Huien Tsang – do not tell
us much about Harsha’s administration. The inscriptions of Harsha and
Pulakesin II and his successors and other contemporary kings do give us some
details of administration. The king was the supreme head of government. He
appointed the ministers and important officers of the state. He led the armies in
battle. He ruled according to the ideals laid down in the Dharmashastras. The
king was assisted in his administration by a council of ministers. In his council
were included feudatories, samantas, princes and high officials. There was special
staff of officers to manage the royal palace. There were departmental heads that
were directly under the control of king. In Harsha’s time civil and military
departments were not clearly separate. As a result, some of the top civil officers
functioned in the capacity of military officers also. The provincial and district
administration did not differ much from that of the Guptas. This is evident from
the names of the administrative divisions and those of the officers mentioned in
the inscriptions of Damodarapura of Kumaragupta I, Faridpur inscriptions of
Dharmaditya and Samachardeva and seals of Basadha are also found in the
inscriptions of Harsha and in the descriptions of Bana.
The various official designations seem to have continued from the days of the
Guptas. Huien Tsang says that taxes were not heavy, and the king took one-sixth
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of the farmer’s produce as his grain share. According to him there was no regular Harsha and the Rise of
Kannauj
corvee but then he goes on to say that it was moderate and that the taxes were
light. Devahuti feels that he is probably referring to labour in lieu of taxes. Harsha
was a strong ruler and inspired confidence and loyalty in his ministers. Huien
Tsang mentions that he was an industrious king. His day was divided into three
periods out of which one was devoted to the affairs of the kingdom and two to
religious affairs. While the affairs of the state may imply more secular aspects of
administration, religious affairs may point to opening of hospitals for the needy;
provision of free rest houses on highways; distribution of charity; arrangement
of philosophical debates; planting of fruit bearing or shady trees; establishment
of educational establishments etc. He also kept in close touch with the common
man through tours of inspection in which he travelled incognito. He was familiar
with his extensive empire and that added to his proficiency as an administrator.
For example, he knew the local geography and the temperament of the people
belonging to varied terrains and that helped him in choosing the right governors.
Harsha was in the habit of convening personal audiences with his tributary leaders
and this ensured seamless administration. In 643 CE there were about 20 such
tributary leaders. Harsha was on friendly terms with neighbouring countries who
he asked to extend facilities of travel and residence to Huien Tsang. He also had
diplomatic contacts with the Chinese emperor.
The highest title in Harsha’s reign was parambhattarakamaharajadhiraja,”the

noblest supreme king of kings”. The use of such high-sounding titles became a
norm from the Guptas onwards. As soon as the kings became universal conquerors
and achieved foremost position among the rivals, such titles became common.
Regarding the claim made by the successors of Pulakesin II that Pulakesin
acquired the title of Paramesvara by defeating sakalottarapathesvara (Harsha),
R.C. Majumdar suggests that the result of the battle was magnified in favour of
Pulakesin by his successors. This is a fine example of the poet’s intention to
speak highly of the rivals in royal prashastis in order to glorify the achievements
of their patrons.
The lesser kings were known as rajas or maharajas. They were independent in
their territories but owed allegiance to the sovereign.
8.4.7 End of Harsha’s Reign

From the Chinese sources we learn that the T’ang emperor Tai Tsung sent an
embassy to the court of Harsha in 643 and again in 647 CE. On the last occasion
they found Harsha was no longer alive and his throne had been usurped by
someone. With the help of forces from Nepal and Assam the usurper was defeated
and taken as a prisoner to China. This event shows the growing interest of the
Chinese in the politics of north India.
8.5 THE POLITICAL STRUCTURE IN THE EARLY

MEDIEVAL PERIOD
The above discussion on the political activities of a famous king like
Harshavardhana brings out difficulty in forming an idea about the innumerable
early medieval kingdoms and the extent of their respective areas on the basis of
available sources. The contours of their kingdoms were rather fluid. Matrimonial
alliances as well as conflicts were common among the lineages. B. D.
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Guptas and Post-Gupta State Chattopadhyaya has shown that in early medieval India lineage ties were central
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to political formations and there was actually no dichotomy between lineage and
states.
The prashastis (eulogies) of this period are indicative of a hierarchical political

structure. Inscriptions of the subordinate kings refer to their overlord. The phrase
commonly used in this connection is tatpadanudhyata literally meaning
“meditating at his feet”. This phrase is also used by kings in connection to their
fathers. However, when used by a subordinate in connection to his overlord, it
meant ‘favoured by his feet’, thereby claiming a sort of closer association with
him than others.
It is also an issue of how far the term ‘feudatory’ or ‘vassal’ is applicable to

subordinate rulers who were obliged to offer allegiance or military service? There
used to be no contract between the overlord and subordinates as was the case in
western European feudalism. The actual evidence of the ruler granting land to
his feudatory (secular or non-religious land grants) are very few. Therefore, the
increase in the number of land grants from the 6th century could not have been a
contributing factor to the emergence of ‘feudal polity’.
8.6 AFTERMATH: THE TRIPARTITE STRUGGLE

FOR KANAUJ
Harsha is credited to have established Kanyakubja as the symbol of royal power
in north India. In the subsequent period we see repeated attempts by rulers to
position themselves as kings of Kanyakubja. In the early 8th century Yasovarman,
the hero of a Prakrit poem Gaudavaho posed himself as the ruler of Kanyakubja.
The title of the poem Gaudavaho (in Sanskrit Gaudavadha means the defeat and
death of the king of Gauda) suggests rivalry between Gauda and Kanyakubja.
According to D. C. Sircar, it began as early as the reign of the Maukharis, when
in his Haraha inscription, dated 554 CE, Ishanavarman claimed to have defeated
the Gaudas. This legacy of the rivalry between these two powers continued with
Harsha representing Kanauj and Sasanka representing Gauda and ultimately ended
up with the conflict between the Palas of Bengal and Bihar (represented as
Gaudesvara in the north Indian sources) and the Gurjara-Pratiharas of Kanauj.
Even in the Rajatarangini Kalhana claims that Yasovarman was defeated by

Lalitaditya Muktapida of the Karkota dynasty of Kashmir. The veracity of the
varied claims of majestic conquests put forward by the respective court poets
can never be ascertained. However, such representations of heroes of poems
posing themselves as conquerors of Kanauj nevertheless indicates the growing
importance of Kanyakubja in the political scenario of 6th-8th/9th century north
India.
1) What are the characteristics of a charitakavya?
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
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2) Write five sentences on the conflict between Harsha and Pulakesin II. Harsha and the Rise of
Kannauj
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
i) Huien Tsang travelled in India from 629-645 CE.
ii) Harsha was a Buddhist according to his inscriptions.
iii) Harsha Era commenced from 606 CE.
iv) Sakalottarapathanatha was a title given to Harsha by his own family.
8.7 SUMMARY
The rise of Harsha amply reflects the rise to importance of the Ganga-Yamuna
doab. No doubt that it obtained much fame in the influential accounts of
Banabhatta and Huien Tsang. The epithet sakalottarapathanatha applied to him
by his rivals — the Chalukyas of Deccan – further emphasized its significance.
The above discussion, however, would indicate how this claim is grossly
exaggerated.
Even, putting aside such claims the emergence of Kanauj in the post-Gupta polity
cannot be denied. Kanauj commanded an impressive agrarian hinterland which
was important in the growth of a town. This also reflects the changing political
economy in which exploitation of agrarian resources became essential for the
innumerable local, supra-local and regional dynasties that were to dominate the
north Indian political arena for subsequent years to come.
8.8 KEY WORDS

Jayaskandhavara: literally “Camp of victory”, it implies a temporary camp
situated at a strategic location.
Tripartite struggle: the struggle among three powers, namely the Palas of Bihar
and Bengal, the Gurjara-Pratiharas of western India and the Rashtrakutas of
Deccan for capturing Kanyakubja in the 8th-9th century CE.
CharitaKavya: biographical poem.
Sakalottarapathesvara: the war-like lord of all the regions of the north, signifying
the sovereign ruler of Uttarapatha (north India).
Samantachakra: circle of feudatories.
Tatpadanudhyata/padanudhyata: literally meaning “meditating at his feet”, it

is often used to refer to the son and successor of the king or the favourite samanta
(subordinate).
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and Society 8.9 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
EXERCISES
1) i) ×, ii) , iii) ×, iv) ×
2) Your answer should explain the meaning of the word Jayaskandhavara, its
difference from the rajdhanis (capitals). You must highlight the changing
economic scenario in which religious land-grants became important and
also the strategic location and connectivity of the Jayaskandhavaras. See
Sub-section 8.2
3) See the explanation given by R.S. Sharma regarding post-Gupta economy
and state. The decline of Pataliputra, should, however, not to be seen as a
general phenomenon of the decline of urban centres in the 6th century. See
Sub-section 8.2.2
4) See Section 8.3
1) Your answer should begin with the meaning of the term Charitakavya. You
need to explain when and why did this particular genre of literature originate
and assume importance. See Sub-section 8.4.1
2) Your answer should begin with the identities of these two rulers. You need
to explain the factors leading to their conflict regarding the common
boundaries of their kingdoms, control over the powers occupying strategic
locations like the Latas, Malavas and Gurjaras. See Section 8.4.2
3) i) ii) × iii) iv) ×

Chakravarti, Ranabir (2010). Exploring Early India up to c. A.D. 1300. Delhi:
Macmillan Publishers India Ltd.
Cowell, E. B. and Thomas, F. W. (trans.) (1993). The Harsha-Charita of Bana.
Delhi: MotilalBanarssidas.
Devahuti, D. (1999). Harsha: A Political Study. Oxford University Press.
Sharma, R.S. (2005). India’s Ancient Past. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Singh, Upinder (2009). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India from the
Stone Age to the 12th Century. Delhi: Pearson Longman.
130
Harsha and the Rise of
UNIT 9 KINGDOMS IN THE DECCAN AND Kannauj
SOUTH*
Structure
9.0 Objectives
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Political Situation in Deccan till Mid-Sixth Century CE
9.2.1 Vidarbha (Maharashtra)
9.2.2 Karnataka
9.2.3 Eastern Deccan
9.2.4 South Karnataka
9.3 Political Situation in South India
9.4 The Rise of the Chalukyas, Pallavas and the Pandyas
9.4.1 The Chalukyas
9.4.2 The Pallavas
9.4.3 The Pandyas
9.4.4 Other Powers
9.5 Conflicts Between Different Powers
9.5.1 The Role of Minor Kings
9.5.2 Other Dimensions of Political Conflicts
9.5.3 Relations with other Countries
9.5.4 Kerala
9.6 Political Organization
9.6.1 The King and the Higher Stratum of Administration
9.6.2 Administrative Units
9.6.3 Local Associations
9.7 Relations between Different Categories of Rulers
9.8 Summary
9.9 Key Words
9.10 Answers to Self-Check Exercises
9.0 OBJECTIVES
the kingdoms that arose in Deccan and south India with special reference to
the Chalukyas of Badami and Pallavas of Kanchi;
the relations between these kingdoms;
the role of geography in understanding the political history of our period;
and
how people were governed in these kingdoms.
1
This Unit has been adopted from EHI-02, Block-8.
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and Society 9.1 INTRODUCTION
People often speak of India south of the Vindhyas as south India or Deccan. This
division has been made for a long time, indeed as early as ancient India when the
area south of the Vindhyas was called Dakshinapatha (Southern Territory).
Dakhina became Dakkan of medieval times, from which, in turn, the term Deccan
is derived. But historians and geographers have found it more useful to distinguish
the Deccan proper from the rest of south India. The Deccan consists of
Maharashtra and northern Karnataka, and as far as the double deltas of Godavari
and Krishna. Following this usage, we shall speak of Deccan and south India as
two regions south of the Vindhyas while the term ‘southern India’ will stand for
both the regions and as distinct from ‘northern India’. You will appreciate the
value of these distinctions more and more as you go deeper into the study of
history and society of this area.
You have already read about the political developments which took place in
Deccan and south India in Mauryan and post-Mauryan period. You have noticed
that while the Deccan was included in the Mauryan empire, the major chiefdoms
of south India i.e. those of the Cholas, Pandyas, Cheras and Satiyaputras were
friendly neighbours of the Mauryas. In the post-Mauryan period, initially minor
chiefs assuming the title of raja (king) appeared in Deccan and the Deccan was
politically integrated by Satavahanas who called themselves “Lords of the
Deccan”. In the south too, the chiefdoms were going through important changes
resulting in the emergence of state systems in the subsequent period. In this
Unit, you shall be reading about the political situation which developed in Deccan
from the post-Satavahana period (beginning of the 3rdcentury CE to the 8th century
CE).
9.2 POLITICAL SITUATION IN DECCAN TILL

MID-SIXTH CENTURY CE
After the decline of Satavahanas the political control of Deccan under one dynasty
came to an end. Several kingdoms arose in different regions as successors of the
Satavahanas. In northern Maharashtra we see the Abhiras, who for a time served
as army commanders in the Saka kingdoms, founding a kingdom in mid-3rdcentury
CE. The founder of this line was one Isvarasena who began an Era in 248-49 CE.
This Era became very important later and came to be known as Kalachuri-Chedi
Era.
9.2.1 Vidarbha (Maharashtra)

The Maharashtra plateau soon came to be dominated by the Vakatakas. They
began as minor kings from the last quarter of the 3rdcentury CE, but rapidly
gained power and extended their sway over most of Maharashtra and adjoining
parts of Madhya Pradesh. There were two lines of Vakataka kings ruling in
different areas. The main line ruled from eastern Maharashtra (the Vidarbha
region), while a collateral branch called the Basin branch of Vakatakas ruled in
southern Maharashtra. The most famous Vakataka king was Pravarasena-I of the
main line, who alone had the title of Samrat among the Vakatakas. He performed
several Vedic sacrifices and issued many land-grants to brahmanas. The Vakatakas
seem to have been a peace-loving people overall and had formed matrimonial
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and diplomatic ties with their powerful neighbours such as the Guptas in north, Kingdoms in the Deccan and
South
the Vishnukundins in eastern Deccan and the Kadambas in south. But the break-
up and weakening of the kingdom could not be prevented as the Kalachuris and
Kadambas carved out their territories at its cost in the first half of the 6th century
CE. By the mid-6thcentury they were supplanted by the Chalukyas of Badami as
the major power in Deccan.
9.2.2 Karnataka
In the coastal strip of northern Karnataka (North Kanara) and adjoining areas a
small kingdom was carved out by the Chutus. They ruled till about the mid-
4thcentury CE when they were supplanted by Kadambas. This kingdom was
founded by the famous Mayurasarman who was an expert in guerrilla warfare
and compelled the Pallavas of Kanchi to recognize his sovereignty. He, then,
performed horse sacrifices (ashvamedha) and became Mayuravarman from
Mayurasarman, that is, a kshatriya from a brahmana (Varman was a typical
kshatriya surname while Sarman was a brahmana surname). Early in its history
there was a division of Kadamba kingdom into two parts between the two lines
of the family, with Vaijayanti (Banavasi) and Palasika (Halsi) as capitals. The
two lines were never at peace with each other, and both were threatened by their
more powerful neighbours – the Pallavas, the Western Gangas, and, above all,
the Chalukyas of Badami. The Chalukyas gradually entered into their territory
and by about 575 CE completely vanquished them.
9.2.3 Eastern Deccan

Politically, the most disturbed region in the post-Satavahana Deccan was the
fertile Krishna-Godavari delta (Andhra delta) in the east. Here, the Satavahanas
were succeeded by the Ikshvakus who were in control of this region from 225
CE. There was a break in their rule by the coming of Abhiras from the west, but
it was a brief interregnum and the Ikshvakus came back and ruled for the next 50
years or so. Then, the area was apparently split up into several principalities.
From copper-plate inscriptions we come to know of the kings of Brihatphalayana
gotra followed by those of Salankayana gotra, while the Allahabad Pillar
Inscription (Prayagraj-prashasti) which praises Samudragupta, informs us about
half a dozen kingdoms in this area about 350 CE. These included kingdoms of
Vengi and Kurala, with capitals at Pishtapura and Avamukta of Devarashtra, and
so on.
Political stability returned to the Andhra delta from the mid-5thcentury with the
coming of the Vishnukundins. They had good relations with the Vakatakas, but
had prolonged, continued conflicts with the Western Gangas of south Karnataka.
Madhavarman-I (440-60 CE), the founder of the line who performed many horse
sacrifices, and Madhavavarman-II (556-616 CE) are among the famous rulers of
the line. The Vishnukundins ruled till about the first quarter of the 7thcentury CE
when the Chalukyas came in.
9.2.4 South Karnataka

In south Karnataka there arose a dynasty at the beginning of the 5thcentury CE.
The kings of this dynasty were called Gangas or Western Gangas to distinguish
them from the Eastern Ganges of Odisha. The Western Gangas ruled over south
Karnataka for the next 600 years. Because of such a long association the area
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Guptas and Post-Gupta State came to be called Gangavadi. Gangavadi is an isolated territory surrounded by
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mountains and is relatively less prosperous agriculturally. Both these factors
allowed the Gangas to rule without much interference from outsiders for such a
long time. They were, however, very advantageously situated from a military
point of view. They were to play a very important role in mutual conflicts between
the Pallavas and the Chalukyas of Badami, mostly as subordinate allies of the
latter, as well as in the conflict between Pallavas and Pandyas. They did not
generally have cordial relations with the Pallavas who were well placed to harass
them from their lofty mountain fortress of Nandidrug.
9.3 POLITICAL SITUATION IN SOUTH INDIA

The Sangam period in Tamilnadu and Kerala drew to a close about the end of the
3rdcentury CE. The history of this area from the 4th to the mid-6thcentury CE is
very obscure. The early history of Pallavas belongs to this period. We have their
copper-plate charters that were issued from Kanchi. Pallava rule was traditionally
associated with the Kanchi region (Palar river valley) or Tondaimandalam (Tondai
is Tamil for Pallava). But it seems that during this period the Kanchi region was
not under their effective control as they had been pushed north by mountainous
tribes called Kalabhras.
In fact, from the end of the Sangam period to the mid-6thcentury CE Tamilnadu
and Kerala were dominated by the Kalabhras. We do not know much about them,
but it has been inferred from the scanty evidence that they were against
Brahmanical institutions and favourably disposed towards Buddhism and Jainism,
that they put an end to the rule of the Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas of the Sangam
age, and that they were non-agricultural hill tribes who caused great havoc among
settled agricultural population. The Kalabhra threat seems to have extended to
the borders of Chalukyas kingdom which emerged in north Karnataka, for they
too claim to have defeated them. This period is known as the ‘Kalabhra
Interregnum’.
9.4 THE RISE OF THE CHALUKYAS, PALLAVAS

AND THE PANDYAS
From the mid-6th century CE the political scene in Deccan and south India was
dominated by the activities of three powers: the Chalukyas of Badami, the Pallavas
of Kanchi, and the Pandyas of Madurai.
9.4.1 The Chalukyas

The Chalukyas became the sovereign power with Pulakesin-I. He laid the
foundations of his kingdom by making the hill near Badami in Bijapur district of
Karnataka into a strong fortress in 543-44 CE and performed a horse sacrifice.
His successors overthrew the Kadambas and annexed their kingdom gradually,
and subjugated the Mauryas of Konkan (the coastal strip of Maharashtra). With
the expeditions of Pulakesin-II the Chalukyas became the paramount power in
Deccan as the Western Gangas and Alupas in the south and the Latas, Malavas
and Gurjaras in the north offered their submission to him. The army of
Pulakesin-II checked the forces of Harshavardhana on the banks of the Narmada.
Pulakesin-II also defeated the Vishnukundins of Andhra delta. But he was not
134 satisfied demanding just offers of submission as the Krishna-Godavari delta with
almost one million acres of rich arable land was too valuable a possession. So Kingdoms in the Deccan and
South
about 621 CE he sent his younger brother Vishnuvardhana to consolidate the
conquest and take over the area. In 631 CE Vishnuvardhana was allowed to form
his own kingdom. Thus, began the line of the Chalukyas of Vengi or Eastern
Chalukyas who remained in control of the area for more than 500 years.
9.4.2 The Pallavas

The rise of Pallavas began with Simhavishnu about the middle of the 6thcentury
CE. He put an end to the Kalabhra Interregnum in Tondaimandalam (Kanchi
region) and extended his kingdom southward up to the Kaveri delta. He was
succeeded by Mahendravarman-I who annexed territories in the north up to river
Krishna. The Pallava kings also secured submission from the neighbouring
chieftains and kings, and thus reached the zone of influence of the Chalukyas of
Badami, and of the Pandyas. Even the Pandyas had to accept their overlordship
briefly. Thus, by the middle of the 7thcentury CE, the Pallavas had set up a powerful
regional kingdom in south India. Their power began to weaken from the mid-8th
century when the Chalukyas were being replaced by the Rashtrakutas in Deccan.
By the early 10thcentury CE, the Pallava rule came to an end when Aparajata was
defeated by Aditya Chola-I.
9.4.3 The Pandyas

The Pandyas came to light with king Kadungon towards the close of the 6thcentury
CE when he suppressed the Kalabhras. The Pandyas ruled in the southernmost
districts of Tamilnadu, with the Vaigai river basin as the heartland of the kingdom.
They constantly tried to extend their sway over the Kaveri delta in north and
Chera country (Kerala) in south-west.
9.4.4 Other Powers

The Gangas continued to rule in Gangavadi in south Karnataka. Besides, there
were several other small kingdoms and chieftaincies in Deccan and south India
at this time, such as the Nolambas, the Banas, the Silaharas, etc. Unlike northern
India there are no continuous stretches of river valleys and plains here. The major
river valleys such as the Raichur Doab (between the Tungabhadra and Krishna),
the Krishna-Godavari delta, the lower Kaveri valley and the Vaigai valley are
separated from each other by rugged mountainous territories. Moreover, there
were vast expanses of forests that divided cultivated zones. All this encouraged
political fragmentation and allowed small political units to survive in isolated
pockets of habitation. The above-mentioned important river valleys could and
did support greater kingdoms such as the Chalukyas of Badami
(Raichur Doab), the Pallavas (Palar river valley), and so on. But it was a difficult
task for any one of the regional kingdoms to extend its sway over the rest, much
more difficult than in the case of northern India. This comes out very clearly in
the following account of mutual conflicts of the Chalukyas, Pallavas and the
Pandyas.
9.5 CONFLICTS BETWEEN DIFFERENT POWERS

The political history of this period is marked by frequent wars between the
Chalukyas of Badami and Pallavas, and between Pandyas and the Pallavas.
Hostilities began with the raid of Chalukya’s Pulakesin-II who defeated 135
Guptas and Post-Gupta State Mahendravarman and occupied the northern part of Pallava kingdom. In another
and Society
campaign he vanquished the Banas (the ‘feudatories’ of the Pallavas in
Rayalseema) and once again threatened Kanchi. But he was badly defeated in
several battles by Narasimhavarman-I who had succeeded Mahendravarman.
Narasimhavarman then attacked the Chalukyas, captured Badami and probably

killed Pulakesin-II. The situation was saved by the latter’s son Vikramaditya-I.
He drove out the Pallavas, formed an alliance with the Pandyas, and repeatedly
raided Pallava territory. The reign of one of his successors, Vikramaditya-II, is
especially marked in this connection, for he is said to have overrun and looted
Kanchi three times.
Without going into the details of particular wars and battles, we may note that
the Pallavas had to engage in battles with the Pandyas too. It is remarkable that
in these conflicts it was always the Pallavas who were the target of attack. This
was not just because they were situated between the Chalukyas and the Pandyas,
but mainly because they were the most prosperous of all. It is significant that it
was always the Chalukyas who attacked the Pallavas and that the Pallavas
concerned themselves mainly with driving them back into their territory. The
only exception was the raid of Narasimhavarman-I into Chalukyan kingdom
and his occupation of its capital. But this was a retaliatory move and was
made only once in the entire history of the conflict. Another time, Pallava
Paramesvaravarman-I launched an expedition into the Chalukyan kingdom as a
diversionary move. Paramesvaravarman wanted to get rid of the Chalukyan forces
occupying his kingdom by diverting their attention.
The same is true of the Pandyas who fought repeatedly with the Pallavas for the
control of the Kaveri delta. The Sangam literature as well as the account of Huien-
Tsang suggests that the Vaigai river valley – the core of Pandyan kingdom – was
relatively poor agriculturally. The Pandyas must have realised that if they wanted
to be rich and powerful, they would have to control the rich Kaveri delta. They
seemed to have fought the Pallavas with this purpose in mind, and by the early
9th century CE they eventually came to control this area.
9.5.1 The Role of Minor Kings

The lesser kings and chieftains took part in the conflict of regional kingdoms as
subordinate allies of one or the other of these powers. Pulakesin-II had to subdue
the Banas – allies of the Pallavas – before attacking Narasimhavarman-I. Similarly,
Pallava general Udayachandra engaged in battles with Sabara king Udayana and
Nishada chieftain Prithvivyaghra who probably sided with the Chalukyas. These
subordinate allies shared not only in the plunder but could add new areas to their
realm as well.
When we look at the smaller principalities individually, we do not find them

worthy of attention. That is because each small kingdom by itself was
insignificant, a non-entity. But taken together, they, no doubt, represent a political
force to reckon with in the affairs of the Deccan and south India. Equally striking
is the inability of any king from the 4thto the 9th century CE to establish his hold
over the Deccan and south India. For these six centuries political disunity was
the norm despite the energetic efforts and ambitions of a number of kings. As
already noted, the broken geography of southern India had a role to play here in
political disunity as well as in the importance of lesser kings and chieftains.
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9.5.2 Other Dimensions of Political Conflicts Kingdoms in the Deccan and
South
An important off-shoot of the Pallava-Chalukya conflict was the emergence of

the kingdom of Chalukyas of Lata or south Gujarat. As a result of
Narasimhavarman’s occupation of Badami and the death of Pulakesin-II there
was terrible confusion and political disorder in the Chalukyan kingdom. In the
task of restoring unity to it, suppressing the hostile forces, and of driving out the
Chalukyas, Vikramaditya-I had been greatly helped by his younger brother
Jayasimhavarman. In return, Vikramaditya rewarded his brother by giving away
south Gujarat to him.
9.5.3 Relations with other Countries

A noteworthy feature of south Indian politics at this time was an active interest
in the political affairs of Sri Lanka. In the battles with the Chalukyas we hear
that Narasimhavarman-1 had a Lankan prince Maravarma on his side. Maravarma
had been driven into exile and had sought refuge at the Pallavan court. After his
return from Badami Narasimhavarman helped Maravarma to gain the throne at
Anuradhapura by sending two naval expeditions. Later, when he had again been
dispossessed of his kingdom it was to the Pallava king that Maravarma looked
for help. The Pandyans, too, showed keen interest in Sri Lanka, the wealth of
which lured them into launching predatory raids into this area.
The Pallavas seem to have taken interest in and somehow influenced the politics
of Southeast Asia. It is possible that Nandivarman-II Pallavamalla came from
Southeast Asia to succeed to the Pallava throne in mid-8thcentury. We also hear
of the powerful fleet of Nandivarman-III and a Tamil record in Thailand
mentioning a Vishnu temple and a tank. A more direct interference in South
Asia, however, came only with the Cholas who put an end to Pallava dominance
in south India.
9.5.4 Kerala
Kerala seems to have continued under the rule of the Perumals in this period,
although the details of the political history of the period are lacking. A famous
ruler in this line was Cheraman Perumal (late 8th/early 9thcentury CE). He seems
to have pursued his religion and religious policy in some extraordinary manner,
so that the Jains, Christians, Shaivites and Muslims not just praise him as a
patron, but actually claimed him as a practitioner of their own religion. The
prosperity of Malabar constantly attracted invaders from outside. Not only the
Pandyas claimed to have vanquished Kerala; the same claim was also made by
Narasimhavarman, a number of Chalukyan kings and later, by the Rashtrakutas.

1) Which of the following statements are right ( ) or wrong (x).
a) The political control of the Deccan continued to remain
under one dynasty after the decline of the Satavahanas. ( )
b) The Vakatakas seem to have been a peace-loving people. ( )
c) Tamilnadu and Kerala were dominated by Kalabhras after the
decline of Sangam period. ( )
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Guptas and Post-Gupta State d) In the conflicts in south India the Pallavas were the target of ( )
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attack.
e) The prosperity of Malabar did not attract invaders. ( )
2) What do you know about the Chalukyas, Pallavas and Pandyas?
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3) Discuss the nature of conflicts amongst the powers of south India. What
role did the minor kings play in it?
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9.6 POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

Let us briefly discuss the political organization of these kingdoms.
9.6.1 The King and the Higher Stratum of Administration

We shall now proceed to discuss the patterns of administration that prevailed in
these kingdoms. In theory the king was the source of all authority. He assumed
high sounding titles such as maharaja, bhattaraka, dharmamaharajadhiraja,
etc. In the beginning, kingship was governed by the Vedic ideal. We find kings
proclaiming in their inscriptions that they performed horse sacrifices
(ashvamedha) and other Vedic sacrifices such as vajapeya, rajasuya, etc. During
this period these sacrifices did not have the social significance they had in the
Later Vedic period. But they had a special political meaning as they served to
underline the independence of a particular king and justified his right to rule.
Thus, Pulakesin-I – the founder of the Chalukya kingdom – performed a horse
sacrifice to mark the beginning of his dynastic rule. The same was done by many
other kings. Gradually, however, as the religious milieu changed, the ideal of
kingship changed too and the practice of performing royal Vedic sacrifices fell
into disuse.
The king was helped by his ministers at the court. Members of the royal family
including the crown prince (yuvaraja) took an important part in running the
government at higher levels. Then, there were a number of officials of various
ranks who discharged various administrative duties in the name of the King. An
important part of their job was to collect taxes. There was a principal tax on land
amounting to one-sixth or more of the produce, in addition to several
miscellaneous taxes such as those on weavers, draught cattle, marriage parties
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and so on. Besides collecting taxes, the state officials maintained law and order Kingdoms in the Deccan and
South
and adjudicated cases of crime and civil disputes that came before them.
9.6.2 Administrative Units

The kingdom was divided into a hierarchy of administrative units. In Deccan
these units were called vishaya, ahara, rashtra, etc. From the 8thcentury CE
there developed a trend in Deccan of dividing kingdoms into a hierarchy of the
multiples of 10 villages. Less often, a district consisted of 12 villages. In the
Pallava kingdom the nadu emerged as the main, lasting unit of administration.
The kings of this period realised the importance of agriculture, the revenue from
which was the main basis of their wealth and strength. It is significant that nadu
– the basic political unit in Pallava (and later in Chola) times – also meant arable
land in contrast to Kadu which meant non-cultivable waste land. Therefore, the
state made all attempts to encourage the extension of agriculture. King
Mayurasarman of Kadamba dynasty is said to have brought vast tracts of virgin
land to the plough by inviting brahmanas from afar. For probably the same purpose
a Pallava King gave away a thousand ploughs. Moreover, as agriculture depended
a great deal on irrigation in south India, the Pallavas took great interest in the
provision and maintenance of canals, tanks, lakes and large wells.
9.6.3 Local Associations

A characteristic feature of south Indian polity, especially Pallava, was the
importance of local corporate units in most important aspects of the lives of
people. There were innumerable local groups and associations based on caste,
craft, profession or religious persuasion. Thus, there were associations of
handicraftsmen like the weavers, oil pressers etc.; of merchants like the Nanadesis,
the Manigramam and the Five Hundred of Ayyavole (Ayyavole is the Tamil name
of Aihole); of students; of ascetics; of temple priests, etc. In addition, there were
three important territorial assemblies:
Ur,
Sabha, and
Nagaram.
Ur was a non-brahmanical village assembly. Sabha was a village assembly
consisting only of brahmanas, and nagaram was an assembly where mercantile
interests predominated (nagaram had some agricultural interests too). The
members of an assembly used to meet annually while the day-to-day tasks were
looked after by a smaller executive body. Each group functioned autonomously
in accordance with its own constitution based on custom and usage and took
care of the problems of its members at the local level. In matters affecting people
of more than one assembly or association, decision was taken by mutual
deliberation.
Local administration through corporate units greatly lightened the burden of the
government. It not only gave a chance to people to air their grievances and
problems, but also fixed responsibility on the people themselves for redressing
the grievances and solving problems. This strengthened the basis of state by
minimizing opposition to it as the people could not hold the government
responsible for these matters.
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Guptas and Post-Gupta State That is why we do not find Pallava kings trying to encroach upon the functioning
and Society
of local autonomous corporate groups. But they did seek to strengthen their own
base by bringing in brahmanas and creating privileged brahmana settlements by
making land-grants to brahmanas, either directly (called brahmadeya) or in the
name of a temple (called devadana). These brahmana settlements were created
all over the core areas of the Pallava kingdom. The “core areas” were the most
prosperous areas based on irrigated rice cultivation, on the prosperity of which
the strength of the Pallavas depended. As we have seen, the village assembly of
brahmanas was called sabha or mahasabha. During the late Pallava period the
sabha developed the system of governance through committees. This is known
as the committee or variyam system. It became a hallmark of self-government in
the brahmana settlements in south India. The sabha managed several tasks mostly
through these committees – maintenance of tanks and roads, management of
charitable donations and of temple affairs, and regulation of irrigation rights.
In Deccan, the role of local associations and assemblies was less conspicuous. In
place of corporate institutions, it was the local notables called mahajanas who
took part in local administration in villages and towns in Chalukyan times. In
villages the mahajanas had a leader called gavunda (headman). These notables
did not enjoy the same kind of autonomy as was the case with south Indian
assemblies but were closely supervised by state officials.
Brahmana settlements, however, were to be found all over Deccan as well as in

south India. We do not know precisely how the brahmanas in Deccan managed
their collective affairs. But since they were all a creation of kings and chiefs they
must have looked after the interests of the government in the locality.
9.7 RELATIONS BETWEEN DIFFERENT

CATEGORIES OF RULERS
The relation between big kings and their lesser allies is a matter of controversy.
Broadly, there are two views about the relations between powerful kings, and
minor kings and chieftains. First, it is said that smaller kings and chieftains
regarded a big king, especially the Pallavas, as their overlord on religious grounds.
The Pallava kings used to participate in elaborate religious ceremonies which
gave them a high ritual status. It was this high ritual status that was respected by
lesser kings and chiefs. This theory is not supported by historical evidence. It
cannot explain how these minor kings could shift their respect from the Pallavas
to Chalukyas, or why they should stop respecting any high ritual status king in
volatile political situations and declare their independence, or why they should
again be made to respect the ritual status by force.
The alternative view regards these smaller kings and chieftains as the ‘feudatories’
of major powers. But ‘feudatory’ is a technical term which stands for a special
kind of relationship that existed in medieval Western Europe. We are not sure
whether the same relation was there between the Pallavas or Chalukyas and
lesser kings and chiefs. That is why, we have preferred a neutral term “subordinate
ally” to describe the relation of minor political powers with the major ones.
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Check Your Progress Exercise 2 Kingdoms in the Deccan and
South
1) Discuss the role of local associations in administration.
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2) Highlight the relations between different categories of rulers.
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9.8 SUMMARY
In this Unit, you have learnt about the political situation in Deccan and south
India upto the mid-6thcentury CE. After this period, we find that the Chalukyas,
Pallavas and Pandyas were the major political powers in the region. There were
certain minor powers also, but their role was not very significant. The major
powers were constantly at conflict with each other and the minor powers did
side with one or other major power during these conflicts.
As far as the political organization is concerned, the king remained the central
figure of administration and was helped by other officials. A significant feature
was the role of local associations in the day-to-day administrative work.
9.9 KEY WORDS

Ashvamedha: horse sacrifice.
Brahmadeya: land-grant to brahmanas.
Devadana: land-grant to temple.
Nagaram: assembly where mercantile interests predominated.
Sabha: a village assembly which consisted of only brahmanas.
Ur: non-Brahmanical village assembly.
Yuvraja: crown prince.
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and Society 9.10 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
EXERCISES
1) a) × b) c) d) e) ×
2) Base your answer on Section 9.4.
3) Base your answer on Section 9.5 and its Sub-sections.

1) Base your answer on Sub-section 9.6.3.
2) Base your answer on Section 9.7.

Gupta, P.L. Imperial Guptas. Varanasi.
Nilakantha Sastry, K.A. (1974). A History of South India. New Delhi: Oxford.
Thapar, Romila (1983). History of India. Volume I. Pelican.
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Kingdoms in the Deccan and
South
BLOCK 3
TRANSITION TO EARLY MEDIEVAL INDIA
143
and Society
144
Kingdoms in the Deccan and
UNIT 10 TRADE AND URBANIZATION* South
Structure
10.0 Objectives
10.1 Introduction
10.2 What is Trade and Urbanization?
10.3 Trade Prior to 6th Century CE
10.4 The Economic Changes: Decline in Trade and Urbanization
10.5 A Critique
10.6 Revival of Trade and Commerce
10.7 Summary
10.8 Key Words
10.0 OBJECTIVES
After reading this Unit, you will learn about:
implications of land grants;
gradual decline of cities and other urban centres;
revival of trade from 1000 CE onwards; and
how urbanization in the early historical period was different from that of the
early medieval period.
10.1 INTRODUCTION
As we have read in the earlier Units, certain important changes had started taking
shape in the Gupta period. These changes, both in the Gupta and the post-Gupta
periods, mark the beginning of a new period in Indian history. Historians have
come to think that the ancient phase of Indian history has come to an end now
and the period, approximately between the sixth century and the eighth century,
may be considered to mark the beginning of the early medieval phase. This was
not simply a matter of change from one ruling family to another or even a change
from an imperial power like the Guptas to the rise of comparatively insignificant
local states. This was a change which gave new shape to various spheres of life:
economic, social, religious and so on. In this Unit, we will be discussing the
economic changes as they were manifested in fields of trade and urbanization.
We will be learning about the different dimensions of change in economy from
about the middle of the first millennium CE. We will be looking at how this
period has been seen as one of decay and desertion on the one hand and how the
other group of scholars characterize this period by immense dynamism.
* Dr. Sanghamitra Rai Verman, Assistant Professor of History, University of Delhi.

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Transition to Early Medieval
India 10.2 WHAT IS TRADE AND URBANIZATION?
Trade can be described as commercial exchange of buying and selling of goods
and services in domestic or international markets. This includes the production,
transportation, safety, security and pattern of exchanges. Many people such as
merchants, traders, peasants and artisans are engaged in this process. It is an
integral part of economic history and is intertwined with the process of
urbanization. Urbanization on the other hand is a process of urban growth leading
to the rise of cities and towns or social processes whereby societies become
more urban. In other words, urbanism is perceived as the product of societal
change, the manifestation of certain economic and social systems at work. Thus
two processes are mutually interdependent.
10.3 TRADE PRIOR TO 6TH CENTURY CE

Ancient international commercial traffic connecting China to the Mediterranean
via the Indian subcontinent through trans-Eurasian routes started much before
the Common Era. The Silk Road traversed the whole of Central Asia connecting
China with Byzantium and eventually Europe. It carried along with it not only
commodities but ideas, concept, beliefs which transformed the lives of people
and the socio-political face of the world. Merchants and traders travelled to India
not only to find safer roads and sea ports when Central Asia was in turmoil but
also to procure Indian products. But the decline of trade with the west became
evident from 4th century CE with the fall of the Byzantine empire. The volume of
Indo Roman trade was further reduced when Romans learned the process of silk
making from the Chinese.
By the 6thcentury Arabs gradually started to monopolize the trade routes in and
around the Red Sea and Arabian Sea. Between 650 to 750 CE, there emerged a
quadrangular struggle between the Turks, the Tibetans, the Arabs and the Chinese
for the occupation of CentralAsia (Lallanji Gopal, 1965). The chaotic conditions
on the route across north-western India and Central Asia led the merchants to
seek and develop other possible trade routes through Assam, Burma and Sikkim
(Ibid.). Nevertheless, foreign trade both inland and maritime suffered setback
during early medieval India. And there was obvious decline in the amount of
profit it used to reap before.
10.4 THE ECONOMIC CHANGES: DECLINE IN

TRADE AND URBANIZATION
Trade and urban settlements started declining from the Gupta period onward.
The economy became predominantly agrarian. The crucial element was the system
of land grants which grew in number in the Gupta and especially in the post-
Gupta period. Landgrants were made to the brahmanas, temples, and monasteries
on a large scale by kings, chiefs, members of the royal family and their feudatories.
These land grants were different from the earlier ones. During the Satavahana
times only the revenue of the land was alienated. But now, in the post-Gupta
period, not only the revenues from the donated land were transferred to the donee
but rights over mines and minerals were also granted. The donated villages or
the donated lands were exempted from the interference of soldiers and royal
officials. Gradually rights to punish all offenses against family, private property
146
and person were also transferred along with the privileges. Earlier in the Mauryan Trade and Urbanization
period the state officials were paid in cash. Now they were being paid by grants
of land or of revenue. The large number of grants enjoyed by landed
intermediaries, resulted in the emergence of a self-sufficient closed village
community. The condition of the actual tillers of the soil declined. Cultivators
were tied to the land and were made to the donee along with the land. This
practice began in Central India, Odisha and Gujarat in the sixth century. Moreover
artisans and merchants were too tied down to their habitations to serve the local
clientele and masters.
The rapid ruralization of economy is explained by scholars in terms of the decline

in craft, commerce and urban centres. One important feature of the economy of
the post-Gupta period was the decline in trade and urbanization. Both internal
and external trade suffered. The once flourishing Roman trade and the trade with
Central Asia and Southeast Asia received a massive set back and the decline
became more pronounced by the middle of the sixth century CE. The inflow of
Roman gold coins into India stopped after the early centuries of the Common
Era. The onslaught of the Hunas ushered in the death of remaining contacts with
Central Asia and Western Asia. Other factors, such as the decentralization of
political authority, dispersal of power among local chiefs and religious land-
grantees and rise of intermediary landlords who imposed high taxes, served to
dampen the enthusiasm of traders and merchants and led to a decline in trading
activities. Frequent political wars also discouraged commercial activities during
this phase.
The trade with Southeast Asia and China was also of not a very intense kind. Not
much evidence in the form of pottery, coins or other objects exist to indicate that
the trade with Southeast Asia was of a robust kind. Similarly trade with China
was also not very impressive and the Indian delegations to China registered a
declining trend from the sixth century onwards. Long distance internal trade too
suffered. The breakdown of the various linkages between coastal towns and
interior towns and also between villages and towns was an indication of the
weakening of the structure of trade and commerce. Besides there was a rise in
self-sufficient units dominated by landed intermediaries which had an adverse
effect on trade. However trade in basic necessities such as salt, iron implements
continued. Similarly trade in luxury products and precious stones, ivory and
horses continued. It seems that for some centuries, large scale, organized trade
was replaced by itinerant petty traders, pedlars and trickle trade. India’s long
distance maritime trade revived only after 1000 CE largely due to the role of
Arab merchants.
The decline of commerce from the 6th to the 9th century CE was evident in the
near absence of coins in both north and south India (Sharma, 1987). In the period
between 600-1000 CE, high quality coinage of precious metals was replaced by
cowry shells as the principal medium of exchange. There are repeated references
to kapardakas or cowry shells in copper plates and some have been discovered
in archaeological contexts as well. The powerful kingdoms of Rashtrakutas, Palas
and the Senas did not issue any coins. It may be mentioned that there was a
marked decline in the percentage of gold content in Gupta coins as compared to
the earlier Kushana coins. Metallic currency was absent in most parts of northern
India, Bengal, Odisha, Central India and Deccan. No coin moulds and commercial
seals were recovered in excavations in this period. The decline in the volume of
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Transition to Early Medieval coinage is linked to the fact that the authorities were forced to issue land grants
India
in lieu of cash payments leading to increasing ruralization of the economy.
Another aspect discussed by scholars was the overall decay in urban centres.
There is ample evidence to show that cities and towns flourished in the early
historical period. This however suffered a set-back in the period under discussion.
There was deurbanization and depopulation as indicated in Huien Tsang’s account
Si-Yu-Ki. Varahamihira’s Brihat Samhita (6th-century) prophesized about the
destruction of towns and cities and a few Puranas associated this period with the
onset of the Kali Yuga. Archaeological excavations reveal decay of some of the
important towns such as Pataliputra,Vaishali, Kashi. The towns which sustained
up to 8th century but started to decline thereafter were Kannauj, Atranjikhera and
Bhita (Uttar Pradesh), Eran (Madhya Pradesh), Prabhas Patan (Gujarat),
Maheswar (Maharashtra), and Kudavelli (Andhra Pradesh).
During the Gupta period, sites such as Sanghol, Hastinapura, Atranjikheda,

Mathura, Sonkh, Sravasthi, Kausambi, Khairadih, Chirand, Tamluk etc. in the
upper and middle Gangetic plains declined. Early towns such as Ujjain, Nagar,
Pauni, Ter, Bhokardan, Nasik, Paithan spread over Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,
Gujarat and Maharashtra suffered decay. Arikamedu in Tamil Nadu and the
Satavahana urban centres in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka too were affected.
The decline in long distance trade, the fall in the use of the metallic money, the
onslaught of Hunas all led to the decay of urban centres. The Huna invasions
affected the overland routes connecting northern India with the north- western
parts of India and western and Central Asia.
Impressive amount of archaeological data exists which supports the above

mentioned contention. The archaeological evidence can be summed up in the
following points:
1) The habitational deposits of the fourth-sixth centuries at many urban centers
are thinner compared to those of the earlier centuries.
2) The layers of the period under discussion exhibit poor remains and lesser
material remains.
3) The Gupta layers at many sites indicate the reuse of bricks, raw materials
from earlier deposits.
4) The spatial spread of the once flourishing sites witnessed contraction.
5) Objects like stone beads, shell objects, ivory and glass objects are very
scantily found in post-fifth century deposits.
6) The pottery of this phase is ordinary to coarse, with no or little ornamentation.
7) Many urban sites show a sterile layer in the habitation deposit belonging to
the 6th-8th century CE periods indicating desertion of urban centers in this
period hence large scale urban decay.
De-urbanization is also indicated by various changes in the concerned period.

Changes are noticed in the meaning of certain terms. The term Sreni which earlier
stood for guilds came to mean caste and nigama came to mean village. Post-
Gupta literature such as Kuttanimatam of Damodaragupta (7thcentury) is mainly
talking about the life in the countryside. Cities and towns were either turned into
148
politico-military centres or as pilgrim centers in contrast to centers of trade and Trade and Urbanization
commerce of the earlier period.
R.S. Sharma, in his book Indian Feudalism (1965), talks about the decline in the
volume of trade with the Roman Empire after 300 CE. He believes that the
feudalization of Indian economy was the result of the decline of long-distance
trade between the 4th and the 12th centuries CE. Commercial activities gradually
declined in two stages, first from 700 to 900 CE and then from 900 to 1300 CE.
At the same time he accepts the notion of a partial revival of trade in 11th and 12th
centuries CE. In the first phase, decline of internal trade was linked to paucity of
coins. From the 6th century CE onwards, India’s long-distance trade with Southeast
Asia, Central Asia and the Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire declined.
The consequent fall in the in-flow of precious metals from foreign countries led
to a severe scarcity of metallic currency in India. This, in turn, led to an increased
use of land grants as an alternative means of payment by kings (Sharma, 2001:27).
10.5 A CRITIQUE
The critics of R.S. Sharma’s feudalism theory have cited plenty of literary sources
to prove the existence of brisk commercial transactions during the Gupta times.
Gupta inscriptions from north Bengal in Pundravardhana and Gupta seals from
Vaishali in north Bihar frequently refer to caravan traders. There are references
to an active role played by merchants and also references to riverine trade in
deltaic Bengal during the 5th-6th centuries CE. The Chinese, Arab and Persian
travellers’ accounts describe the conditions of trade, both by land and by sea,
besides the details of economic life of different cities, ports and kingdoms.
Al-Beruni, the famous 11thcentury CE Arab traveller from Central Asia, describes
the existing trade-routes in northern India. Chinese- Buddhist pilgrim- travellers
Fa Hsien (who travelled in India from 399 to 415 CE) and Huien Tsang describe
the premier ports in the Gangetic delta, as also the direct sea-borne contacts
between Bengal and China through Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia and which
reflect regular mercantile cultural, political and military contacts between the
Indian sub continent and its neighbouring areas.
John S. Deyell arguing against Sharma’s thesis on the paucity of coins, opines
that in the period between 750-1000 CE there was a significant circulation of
coins in western, northern and north-western parts of India and between 1000
and 1200 CE there were also some qualitative changes in the metallic content of
coins (Deyell, 1990). The model of Indian feudalism has been challenged by
both B. D. Chattopadhyaya and Ranabir Chakravarti who find presence of trade,
market-places and traders during this period. They argue that Indian villages
always lacked two significant items of daily use, salt and iron which were procured
from outside through trade. Numismatic, epigraphic and to a certain extent
archaeological data adequately show the prevalence of different types of
merchants, various levels of market places and exchange centres. They argue
that the land grant economy aided in agricultural expansion and there by led
to a growth in rural economy. As a result, local and regional trade centres formed
vital linkages between the markets of urban centres. These trade centres were
called mandapikas in north India, penthas in Deccan and nagarams in extreme
south. Mandapika was probably derived from the word mandi in Hindi and mandai
in Marathi (Chattopadhyaya 1994). B D Chattopadhyaya, in his book The Making
149
Transition to Early Medieval of Early Medieval India (1994), criticises Sharma’s thesis that decline in foreign
India
trade led to a decline of urban centres on the ground that a decline in foreign
trade may not necessarily imply a decline in internal trade and consequently a
decline of urban centres. Further, he argues that after 1000 CE India did witness
the crystallization of new networks of exchange, the formation of trade guilds
and a new phase of money production and circulation.
Ranabir Chakravarti in Trade and Traders in Early Indian Society (2002) questions
the stereotyped image of early Indian commerce merely in terms of trade of
luxuries and draws the attention to transactions in daily necessities. V. K Jain in
Trade and Traders in Western India states that there was a change in the nature
of Indian products exported overseas. Before 11th century CE Indian exports
consisted mainly of luxury articles, such as textiles, silk and fine muslin but
later it also included sugar, buckram, flaxen, cotton fabrics, tanned leather, leather
goods, swords and spears and also cereals.
Chakravarti further cites the re-emergence of markets as reflected in the holding

of weekly hattas or rural fairs which became nodal exchange centres. The rural
markets or hattas closely correspond to the addas in eastern Deccan and santes
in western and central Deccan. They were periodically held on certain days of a
week. It can be presumed that they had a direct link with the rural hinterland that
supplied exchangeable agricultural and artisanal produce (Chakravarti, 2010).
This phase of urbanization, therefore, happened due to agrarian expansion and
increased craft production which went beyond the confines of temples or
monasteries. Deccan too witnessed the beginning of a new type of market centre
known as pentha, as suggested by epigraphic and literarysources.
Chakravarti argues, on the basis of Yashastilakachampu by Somadevasuri, that

pentha was divided into many well-laid out chambers, had large storage areas
for merchandise and was provided with drinking places, feeding house, assembly
hall with seats and streets or shops. Merchants from different areas flocked
there. It was marked by ditches, ramparts, fortification and moat (Chakravarti,
2010). These markets could reach out to both rural hinterland and large urban
market areas. Besides penthas, there were nagarams and mandapikas that
acted as middle-range commercial centres in their respective regions.
There are also several inscriptional and literary references to various kinds of
merchants, such as vaidehaka (petty traders), banjara (hawker), sarthavaha
(caravan merchant), shreshthin (very rich merchant), vadduvyavahari (senior
merchant) and nauvittaka (ship- owing merchants) (Chakravarti, 2010).
Thus it can be argued that between 300-900 CE, some towns did decline but this
urban decay was not manifested in the subcontinent as a whole. The role of long
distance trade as a prime mover of urban development and decay can be
emphasized only to some degree. The cities of the early medieval period were
different from those of early historical period. The key determinant factors were
decidedly different from the second urbanization of the Ganga valley.
1) What are the main features of the decline of trade and urbanization in the
post-Gupta period?
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150
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2) How have scholars critiqued the theory of the decline in the post-Gupta
period?
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10.6 REVIVAL OF TRADE AND COMMERCE

From the tenth centuries CE, urban centres saw a gradual revival in trade and
urbanization. This revival became almost a pan-Indian phenomenon. It is often
described as the “third urbanization” of the Indian sub-continent. The study of
urban settlements is important to understand the socio- economic history of the
early medieval period. It was integrally associated with agrarian economy. Local
agricultural organization gained more independence and political power. These
agricultural organizations and merchant guilds acted in an independent capacity
and held the rights of fixing tolls, commission, shares of the town, directing
temple building and transporting agricultural surplus and commercial goods.
Recent writings have particularly focused on the relative importance of
urbanization in the framework of feudal economic ethos.
There was increased agricultural production not only of cereals, pulses but of
cash crops too. Demand was not only restricted to the local and regional.
Expanding trading networks were coming up in place of closed village economy
of the earlier phase. Craft production was boosted and catered to the needs of
regional and inter regional demands. Here textile production deserves special
mention. Bengal was famous for fine cotton, Gujarat was known for dyed cotton
and Karnataka and Tamilnadu for silk production. Oil industry was also another
profit making venture during this period as substantiated by an inscription from
Karnataka. We find mention of both oil mills (ghanaka) and various types of oil
seeds. There was abundant sugarcane production and flourishing jaggery-making
indicate development in agro-based industry.
Metal craft reached new heights with excellence in the making of metal items
with iron, copper, brass, silver and gold. Arms and ammunition especially swords
were produced in Kalinga, Magadha, Saurashtra, etc.
There was penetration of currency in the market as exemplified by numerous

numismatic, epigraphic and literary evidences. Trade received considerable boost
from the re- emergence of metallic currency. Texts such as Prabandhachinamani,
Lilavati, Dravyapariksha, Lekhapaddhati, etc. mention bhagaka, rupaka, 151
Transition to Early Medieval vimshatika, karshapana, dinar, dramma, nishka, tanka and many other coins.
India
Siyadoni inscription alone refers to varieties of coins or drammas in the mid-10th
century. The Paramara, Chalukya, Chahamana, Pratihara, Pala, Candella and
Chola inscriptions corroborate most of the terms found in contemporary literature.
However the value of these coins, their metal content and their relationship with
the revival of market is still under scrutiny. Archaeological evidences indicate
presence of mints in different parts of Karnataka, Rajasthan but we are not sure
whether considerable money was in circulation or not. Moreover we have to also
take into account that there was debasement of the metallic content and poor
purchasing capacity of the early medieval coins. Most of the coins of the period
were highly debased and reduced in weight. The types and denominations of
coins remained not only extremely localised but could not penetrate deep into
the economic ethos. Barter was still an important means of exchange in local,
inter-regional and perhaps even in international commerce. There are references
which indicate that caravans of merchants exchanged their commodities with
those of other regions. Expensive imports were sometimes exchanged with
precious exports like silk, spices or ivory which were in perennial demand. Revival
of ‘partial monetization’ was contributing to economic growth along with parallel
development of credit instrument hundika by which debits and credits could be
transferred without the handling of cash money. Hundika or the bill of exchange
might have been used by merchants for commercial transactions. This credit
system helped the merchants to do away with the shortage of coined money.
Inland trade was carried out through numerous trade routes and in a large variety
of commodities. Numerous inscriptions refer to merchants trading in food grains,
oil, butter, salt, coconuts, areca nut, betel leaves, madder, indigo, sugar, jaggery,
thread, cotton fabrics, metals, spices, etc. and paying taxes and tolls on them.
There are ample references to brisk trade, existence of payment of tolls and
taxes indicate commercial activities. Many literary and epigraphic references
state that traders from one part of India regularly visited other parts for trading
and commercial activities. Scholars have analysed the internal and external trade
by land and sea, credit and banking, coinage, revenue system and guilds. A vast
network of roads connected different ports, markets and towns with one another
and served as channels of trade and commerce.
The merchants involved in inter-state trade generally travelled in groups for safety
and were termed as caravan traders. The carts drawn by bullocks, mules and
other animals helped in the transport and conveyance of merchants and their
merchandise. Rivers were always considered to be a better and safer mode of
travelling and transporting. Contemporary literature refers to different types of
boats which might have been used in river traffic whereas big ships plied on the
high seas.
Trade became an important source of revenue. We find keen interest shown by
rulers to keep the highways in their kingdoms safe for protection of traders and
merchants. Measures were taken to punish thieves and robbers and provided
military as well as monetary help to villagers to protect the traders and travellers
passing through their region. The Chalukya kings of Gujarat had a separate
department to look after highways. They also built roads to connect important
ports and markets in their state and excavated tanks and wells for the benefit of
travellers. Marco Polo refers to Cambay as a safe port and lndian kings took
steps to protect their ports against piracy which was a major threat all along the
sea routes from Persian Gulf south to China.
152
There were a number of ports on the Indian coasts which not only served the Trade and Urbanization
inland trade network but also acted as a link between the eastern and western
trade. Chief ports on the Gujarat coast were Somnatha, Bhrigukachha or Broach
and Cambay. Somnatha had links with China in the east and Zanzibar (in Africa)
in the west. Cambay was known as Khambayat in Arabic sources and
Stambhatirtha in Sanskrit sources. Its earliest reference goes back to the 9thcentury
CE. Sopara and Thana were other ports on the western coast of India. On the
Malabar coast, Quilon had emerged as the most important port. The most
important port in the Coromandel coast was a Nagapattinam. Puri and
Kalingapattam were important ports on the Odisha coast. Tamralipti was an
important port of Bengal.
India exported several articles such as musk, aloes, amber and camphor, pearls,
diamonds, corals, innumerable kind of medicinal herbs, aloe-wood, sandalwood,
nutmeg, clover, cotton textiles and ivory. Foreign accounts give details of exports
by different Indian ports such as Sindh exported costus, canes and bamboos;
Gujarat exported to Arabia a great quantity of indigo, myrobalan and cotton stuff
of all colours; the Rashtrakuta kingdom exported teak; several slaves were
exported to Persia from the Gujarat Coast. India also seems to have exported
varied kind of textiles, aloe wood, teak for ship-building, coconut coir, grains
specially rice of various types, spices both indigenous and those brought from
Southeast Asia. Items exported to China were horses, ivory, rhinoceros horn,
sandalwood, spices, camphor, frankincense. Cotton fabric from Bengal,
Coromandel and Malabar became one of the most prominent Indian exports to
Chinese markets. India imported several commodities in exchange for its
exports such as incense from the Middle East, copper and lead from the west,
dyes came from Persia and horses from Arabia; silk, gold, silver and some amount
of iron metal from China. Several commodities were imported from Southeast
Asia such as porcelain-ware, camphor, spices like cloves, spikenard and other
fine spices reached Malabar from Java and Sumatra. India received pearls, dry
ginger, tin and fine fabric from Ceylon. Many of these items were re- exported to
Arabia. The demand for war horses from Arabia, Persia and Syria was huge due
to proliferation of regional powers and their expanding military needs. Early
medieval Bengal was famous for trade in horses. Pala inscriptions from the 8thto
12thcentury CE also give references to best quality horses from the north.
From the period from 600 CE onwards, the urbanisation that characterized this
phase was different from the urbanization of the early historical phase. While in
the period between 600 BCE -300 CE the epicentre was the Ganga valley which
acted as the platform for the development of secondary urban centres also, in the
early medieval phase, no such Epi-centre could be traced. The early medieval
urban centers were strongly situated in their agrarian regional contexts and thus
it becomes imperative that their local developments and local formations must
be studied. The increase in agrarian resources as well as the demand for luxury
items by rulers and wealthy intermediaries would drive movement of products
within the region and beyond. In the religious sphere sectarian bhakti cults
emerged which encouraged brisk temple building activity. Merchant groups and
ruling magnates are seen giving donation to mathas and temples and that was
how mercantile communities, weekly fairs, sectarian leaders and ruling kings
and rich intermediaries were increasingly participating in the growing commercial
ethos.
153
Transition to Early Medieval Check Your Progress Exercise 2
India
1) Describe how trade and commerce revived in the early medieval period.
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2) Was the urbanization in the early medieval period different from that of the
early-historical period? Comment in five lines.
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10.7 SUMMARY
The different dimensions of change in economy from the middle of the first
millennium CE have been considered in this Unit. These changes were extremely
significant in so far as they brought the ancient period to an end and marked the
beginning of a new stage in Indian history. The Gupta and the post-Gupta times
were characterized by the emergence of a class of landed intermediaries which
lorded over an increasingly subject peasantry in an agrarian economy which was
predominantly rural. There was a conspicuous decline of trade, towns and paucity
of metallic money. However the period also witnessed some positive changes.
Agrarian economy expanded on an unprecedented scale, new crops were grown,
irrigation facilities expanded, and there were other improvements related to
agriculture. From the 9th/10th century CE, there is evidence of urban revival in
many parts of the subcontinent. New towns emerged and long-distance and
maritime trade flourished. There are increasing references to hattas, penthas,
local fairs and nodes which were becoming part of urbanization in the early
medieval period.
10.8 KEY WORDS

Barter: exchange of goods for other goods
Beneficiary: receiver of benefits
Charter: deed conveying grant of rights
Donee: recipient of gift
Exotic: introduced from abroad
Itinerant: travelling from place to place
Landed intermediary: wealthy land-owners who were between the king and
the actual tillers of the soil
154 Pedlar: travelling salesperson

Trade and Urbanization
EXERCISES
1) See Section 10.4
2) See Section 10.5
1) See Section 10.6
2) See last paragraph of Section 10.6
10. 10 SUGGESTED READINGS

Chakravarti, R. (2001). Trade in Early India. Delhi.
Chattopadhyaya, B.D. (1994). The Making of Early Medieval India. Delhi.
Deyell, John S. (1990). Living Without Silver. Delhi.
Jain, V.K. (1990). Trade and Traders in Western India. Munshiram Manoharlal
Publishers. First Edition.
Lallanji, Gopal (1965). The Economic Life of Northern India, c A.D. 700-1200.
Varanasi.
Sharma, R.S. (1980) Indian Feudalism. Delhi.
Sharma, R.S. (1987) Urban Decay in India (c.300–c.1000). Delhi.
the Stone Age to 12th Century. New Delhi.
155
India UNIT 11 STATUS OF WOMEN*
Structure
11.0 Objectives
11.1 Introduction
11.2 Marriages of State: Guptas and Pushyabhutis
11.2.1 Royal Harem
11.3 Ganika (Elite Courtesan)
11.4 Marriage, Widowhood and Remarriage
11.5 Education, Occupation and Proprietary Rights
11.6 The Deccan
11.7 Tamilaham: Sangam Age and Post-Sangam Age (Kalabhra Interregnum)
11.8 Resurgence of the Pandyas and Pallavas
11.9 Summary
11.10 Key Words
11.0 OBJECTIVES
the position of women in the period between 300 BCE-800 CE;
how through the study of marriage, widowhood, remarriage, education and
proprietary rights one can assess the position of women;
how ganikas were perceived in this period; and
how limited access to education, proprietary rights, widowhood and marriage
defined the status of women.
11.1 INTRODUCTION
One of the paradoxes of Indian history is that with the march of civilization
forward, the general status of women became more and more deplorable. The
post-Mauryan period was marked by the influx of many foreign rulers such as
the Indo-Greeks, Sakas, Parthians and Kushanas and their gradual assimilation
into the varna society. Consequently, by the Gupta period numerous castes got
proliferated into various sub-castes. There was an emphasis on the preservation
of caste hierarchy and purity. This ideology affected the position of women.
Also, with the Satavahanas in Deccan in the first century BCE, the system of
land grants became a common practice. It became very prolific by the Gupta
period. In South India after the Kalabhra interregnum, land grants by the Pallavas
and Pandyas came to be associated closely with the emerging state formation.
The rise of temple cult was an outcome of the symbiotic relationship between
the state’s patronage to the temple and the latter’s granting of legitimacy to its
1
Dr. Richa Singh, PhD from CHS, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
156
royal patron. It is in context of such changes in economy and society that women Status of Women
have to be situated. In order to understand their position, it is equally important
to look at the status of men and the corresponding developments in society, the
social structure in which they operated which placed men in a dominant and
privileged position, the notions of patriarchy, hierarchy, caste purity and how the
Dharmashastras constructed gender as a social category.
In this Unit, we will look at how women conducted themselves in the religious
and secular spheres in the period between circa 300 BCE to 800 CE. We will be
studying the Guptas, Pushyabhutis, Satavahanas, Vakatakas, and the Chalukyas
of Badami; Sangam and the post-Sangam Age, the Pandyas, and the Pallavas in
south with respect to women. The nature and functioning of various institutions
which defined her role and status in society such as patriarchy, caste system,
marriage, widowhood, concubinage, devadasi, etc. will also be investigated. Their
participation and non-participation in several ceremonies and rituals such as the
upanayana samskara, the ceremony of gift-giving, etc. through the process of
change and continuity will be a subject of study.
11.2 MARRIAGES OF STATE: GUPTAS AND

PUSHYABHUTIS
Marriages of state were political matrimonial alliances which aimed to elevate
the position of the king. These were closely related to state formation. This practice
was prevalent right from the early historic period. However they became more
meaningful in cases where the ruler belonged to a low origin and needed to
construct lofty genealogies by marrying into a higher family. Lofty genealogies
were desirable as they accorded a reasonable amount of legitimacy to the new
ruler.
It is believed that the Guptas belonged to the vaisya varna. Chandragupta I, the
first independent king with the title Maharahadhiraja entered into a matrimonial
alliance with the Lichchhavis. A special category of coins were minted to mark
the occasion. The Chandragupta I-Kumaradevi type of coins bear the names and
figures of the royal couple — Chandragupta I and Kumaradevi, the Lichchhavi
princess which highlighted the close association of the rising Gupta kingdom
with the powerful Lichchhavi ganasangha. This significant association was
underlined during the reign of Samudragupta too when the Gupta inscriptions
described him as “Lichchhavi-dauhitra” (son of the daughter of the Lichchhavis).
In a similar vein Prabhavatigupta, the daughter of Chandragupta II Vikramaditya
and Kubernaga, in Poona and Ridhapur copper plate inscriptions, describes herself
as belonging to the dharana gotra which was her mother’s gotra.
Prabhavatigupta was married to the Vakataka prince and heir apparent,
Rudrasena II. It is commonly accepted that through this matrimonial alliance
Chandragupta II aimed at securing political alliance against his political adversary,
the Saka Kshatrapa kingdom of Gujarat. Similarly, the daughter of
Kakusthavarman (435-455), Kadamba ruler of Banavasi (in present Karnataka),
was given in marriage to a Gupta prince, securing the political alliance between
the two dynasties.
The Allahabad (now Prayagraj) Prashasti of Samudragupta gives an account of

his victories and defeated rulers. The subjugated rulers offered kanyopayana or
kanyadana i.e. the gift of a virgin daughter among other gift items to their
157
Transition to Early Medieval respective overlords. In this case clearly women were perceived as commodity
India
or as tangible personal property and by offering her to one’s overlord, a
subordinated ruler or chief was demonstrating his loyalty or expecting some
favours in return. However, the gift of a maiden was not always offered willingly;
sometimes the subjugated ruler was compelled to make such an offering as mark
of their submission.
Samudragupta defeated the Naga king. Kubernaga, the daughter of the defeated
king was given in marriage to Chandragupta II, the son of Samudragupta.
Devichandraguptam of Vishakhadatta recounts that the Saka ruler of Mathura
after defeating Ramagupta, the eldest son of Samudragupta, who succeeded to
the throne of the Guptas, demanded from him his queen Dhruvadevi for his harem.
Since this was considered to be a matter of utter disgrace for the defeated side,
Chandragupta II is said to have disguised himself as the queen and killed the
enemy. The gift of women could be a subject of humiliation or reconciliation for
the vanquished ruler or as indicative of the power and supremacy of the victorious
king. As the victorious rulers’s harem abounded with queens and princesses from
different kingdoms, his power and wealth spread far.
Generally after war, a female member of the royal house of the defeated ruler
was added to the royal harem of the triumphant king. However, there are few
instances when the subjugated ruler married the daughter of his overlord. In
634 CE, Harshavardhana of the Pushyabhuti dynasty defeated Dhruvasena II
(Maitraka ruler of Valabhi). Peace was concluded with the defeated king marrying
the daughter of Harsha. In some cases, women of the vanquished side were taken
as captives. The captured princesses were sometimes employed as betel carriers
(tambulakaramkavahini) either in the royal court or harem.
Thus it seems that royal women did not enjoy a position of power during this
time. Their worth was measured in terms of what dominions she could bring
along with her in her marriage to a potentate; being relegated to the harem of the
victorious lord where she may have struggled to win the affections of the ruler
along with others; expected to commit sati upon the death of her husband or
being offered in kanyadana to the victorious ruler by the subjugated chiefs. No
references exist which give information about whether they had a say in such
matters.
The normative roles advocated for women in the dharmashastras were primarily
defined keeping in view the image of a faithful woman. These normative texts
often fail to provide a holistic picture of the complexities inherent in society.
There were contradictions and exceptions. The laws prescribed by the ideologues
and the societal norms were often not analogous to the ones practiced by the
royal members of the ruling dynasties. The laws pertaining to varna system,
marriage, etc. were not strictly observed. For instance, the Guptas who were
believed to be of the vaishya caste had matrimonial alliances with the Vakatakas
and Kadambas who were brahmanas. Also, the general condition of untouchables
was appalling as observed by Fa-hien. However this image was contradicted by
Banabhatta’s reference to Chandala women dwelling in the imperial palace and
how one of them supervised all religious rituals performed in the palace.
11.2.1 Royal Harem

Since marriages of state brought multifarious political gains, a ruler practiced
158 polygamy. Vatsyayana mentions that the royal harem of the reigning Gupta ruler
was an assortment of various kinds of women — wives, remarried widows, Status of Women
courtesans, concubines (abhyantarikah), actresses (natakiyah), etc. The
Natyashastra of Bharata delineates women who were associated with the royal
court and categorized them into three, viz., abhyantara or the homely type, bahya
or the public women and bahyabhyantara, the mixed kind. The first type i.e.
abhyantara were women who were from good families and were well-trained in
court protocols and rituals. This suggests that a woman who was from good
family was considered virtuous and deemed fit to receive the affections of the
king. The second category — the courtesans were generally not the class of
women who received royal favours. They were a part of the royal harem precisely
to satiate the carnal desires of the king. Bharata opines that a king should establish
a love relationship exclusively with the women belonging to the first category.
Nevertheless, a king was allowed to marry a courtesan and even enjoy the maids
of his queens since he could easily obtain women. As polygamy was a conspicuous
feature which marked the rank, wealth, and power of a king, polyandry was
characterized as promiscuous indulgence during this time. The hierarchy amongst
women in the royal household governed royal patronage, positions, privileges,
provisions, and perks. The manner in which the king visited the women of the
royal seraglio in the afternoon reflected their respective ranks and prominence
in the royal household. First he met his legally wedded wives, followed by the
remarried widows, courtesans, concubines, and actresses, and in that order. The
arrangement of their apartments was also done according to their stations. The
centre of the palace was reserved for the apartments of the royal wives, beyond
which were located the residences of remarried women. Thereafter the dwellings
of courtesans, concubines, and actresses were placed. The patriarchal virtues of
chastity, loyalty and fidelity governed all women in the royal household.
Patriarchy promoted and sharpened the notion of hierarchy. Therefore, a privileged

and resourceful woman did not enjoy the same status as the one enjoyed by her
male counterpart. The position of a monogamous queen was not on an equal
footing to that of a polygamous king; rather she was there to supplement his
royal status. She acted as a regent on behalf of her minor son, and in the absence
of a male heir, she relied on the assistance of her male relative.
11.3 GANIKA (ELITE COURTESAN)

By the Gupta period the institution of courtesan became well-established and
became an important aspect of the Gupta society. They are mentioned in detail in
some of the major contemporary works of the time such as in Kamasutra written
by Vatsayayana, the Mrichchkatika (the Little Clay Cart) by Shudraka, and the
Ritusamhara and the Meghaduttam by Kalidasa and also in a post-Gupta period
work, the Kuttanimata written by Damodara Gupta, a Kashmiri poet of the 8th
century. Ganikas or the elite courtesans were seen as accomplished women.
Vatsayayana provides a list of sixty-four kalas (art forms) such as nrityam (dance),
gitam (singing), lute-playing, etc. which they excelled in. The Charudattam
written by Bhasa points out that Vasantsena, a courtesan was proficient in theatrical
performances. Ganikas were not treated with contempt. The company of a
cultivated courtesan was greatly desirable among the elite class — from the
king, his nobles to religious acharyas, wealthy merchants and bankers and also,
the nagarakas who were well-educated, cultured, and wealthy men, dwelling in
cities. Besides, she received assistance from a wide range of people — police
officers, astrologers, wine-merchants, and others who had some connections with
159
Transition to Early Medieval potential clients. Clearly, she not only had patrons but also aides. However, the
India
dharamsastras looked at the profession as morally distasteful and prohibited
men of honour to eat food cooked by a ganika.
One of the important factors which contributed to the popularity of courtesans

was the practice of early marriage among women. After marriage, a woman’s
function was limited to daily household chores and exhibiting devotion to her
husband. This provided her with little scope for receiving education. In contrast
to this, a courtesan was renowned for her accomplishments in different arts and
she was financially an independent entity who contributed to the society. A wealthy
courtesan undertook public works and constructed temples, chaityas, tanks,
bridges, gardens, groves, etc. and donated cows to brahmanas. They often attended
religious festivities and social gatherings and also participated in literary
conferences. They paid taxes and contributed to generating royal revenue.
However, Banabhatta in Harshacharita highlights the exploitation of courtesans

by kings, nobles and also by ordinary men. Their service was put into use by the
imperial army on military campaigns. Once past their prime, they were allotted
menial jobs. Interestingly, on one hand there was a strict restriction imposed on
the movements of elite women while on the other hand, the prostitutes had limited
restrictions on their movements. Social restrictions imposed on her were not as
severe as with other classes of women.

1) How did marriages of state affect the position of women?
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
2) What was the position of ganika in this period?
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
11.4 MARRIAGE, WIDOWHOOD AND

REMARRIAGE
Caste system continued to be a prominent feature of the socio-religious life of
this period. The status of sudras improved but the growth of untouchability
presented a grim picture. This was also highlighted by Fa-hien, a Chinese pilgrim
who visited the kingdom during the reign of Chandragupta II. On the other hand,
the members of higher castes with their disposition to acquire more and more
160
land became more property-oriented and polygamous. Simultaneously, there were Status of Women
forces of mobility and fluidity which influenced the society. Manusmriti mentions
eight forms of marriage, viz., Brahma, Daiva, Arsha, Prajapatya, Asura,
Gandharva, Rakshasa, and Paisacha. The first four types were considered
righteous because in these the father offers his daughter in marriage to the
bridegroom in accordance with the prescribed varna rules and rituals. The
ideologues advised savarna marriage and though the dharmashastras discouraged
inter-caste marriages, they was not entirely condemned. The Gupta inscriptions
inform us that inter-caste marriages were practiced in the form of anuloma
(hypergamy) and pratiloma (hypogamy) marriages though the latter type of
marriage was not widespread. Manu advocates against divorce. He considers
marriage as a sacrament and even when a man abandons or sells his wife, the
marital ties and duties of the wife cannot be annulled. The marriageable age for
a girl had been reduced. Smritis such as the Yajnavalkyasmriti prescribed the
marriage of a girl before she attained puberty. Dowry system was commonly
practiced.
The factor contributing to the prevalence of inter-caste marriages was the

acculturation of foreign elements as well as the incorporation of various tribal
groups into the Brahmanical society. They were absorbed into the prevailing
caste system. This brought changes in the notion of ritual purity during the Gupta
period and also gave rise to the varnasamkara theory. Since women were
considered as gateways to the caste system, in order to maintain the social
hierarchy, the sexuality and procreation of upper caste women was more rigorously
controlled. Restrictions were imposed on her movement. To rationalize the control,
many lawgivers and Buddhist literature produced a certain type of narrative on
the ‘innate’ nature of women—strisvabhava. Manu says that they were
seductresses. They should be brought under complete submission to men and be
dependent on male members of their families. As a child, she should be placed
under the protection of her father, her youth should be guarded by her husband,
and it is the duty of her son to protect her as she grows old. This way a man could
ensure that his chaste and compliant wife had begotten his progeny and that it
was his own son(s) who inherited his property or whatever resources he had
accumulated during his lifetime. Thus, her chastity was directly linked to
patriarchy, caste purity, and patrilineal succession. Women became a significant
form of resource, an item of property and a part of the gift economy. They began
to appear in inventories of material gifts as gifts offered to gods in Hindu temples,
to a victorious king by a subjugated ruler, and to a potential political ally in order
to liquidate the power of one’s political rival.
To uphold caste hierarchy and check caste pollution, the channelization of
woman’s sexuality and procreation became essential. To ensure patrilineal
succession, polyandry was discouraged and she was expected to abide by her
stridharma. To make her do so, a certain kind of imaginary narrative was created
about her inherent character, validating the need to control her sexuality.
Controlling her sexuality via the notion of chastity of women was one of the
central premises which preoccupied classical Tamil writers, the lawgivers of the
Gupta period, etc. Though such chaste women were an object of adulation and
worship, yet it was the unchaste ones whose company men sought because of
which concubinage and prostitution became institutionalized.
While a man of means and rank could have many women as wives and concubines,
his women were expected to remain dedicated to him even after his death 161
Transition to Early Medieval (stridharma or pativratadharma). Such a belief resulted in the emergence of
India
other kinds of beliefs and systems. Upagupta was killed in a battle against the
Hunas in 510 CE. In a stone-pillar inscription of Eran, his wife is recorded to
have performed sati. However, the custom of sati was not common during this
period. Kalidasa, Bhasa, and Sudraka referred to sati system but sporadically.
Many women after the death of their husbands lived as widows and observed
austerity, self-control, and celibacy. Widow-remarriage was not the norm. In a
few cases when she was remarried, she was placed in an inferior position
vis-a-vis the wife. The term used for remarried widows in the Amarkosha is
purnarbhu. One very noteworthy instance of a widow-remarriage is of a royal
wedding wherein Chandragupta II married Dhruvadevi who was the widow of
his elder brother, Ramagupta. The practice of niyoga (levirate) was not favoured
in the lawbooks, though the sudras could practice it.
11.5 EDUCATION, OCCUPATION AND

PROPRIETARY RIGHTS
In ancient India, the education system was a blend of formal and informal types
of education. The former was Vedic education and the latter included vocational
and practical training in various arts. During the Vedic period girls had access to
formal education after the upanayana ceremony. Knowledge of the Vedic literature
enabled her to perform the Vedic sacrifices and also compose Vedic hymns. We
have examples of women scholars, seers and composers. But in later period,
girls were barred from performing upanayana samskara or yagnopavita ceremony
and therefore, they could not pursue Vedic studies. Like the sudras, they came to
be regarded as unsuitable for reciting or listening to the Vedic hymns; although
by the Gupta period, women were permitted to listen to the Epics and the Puranas.
But formal education was not imparted to them; they were not entitled to
upanayana samskara. They were provided literary and cultural education.
However, they were married at an early age because of which there was no
possibility of pursuing higher education. There are some limited references to
women who contributed to society as writers, teachers, doctors and philosophers.
The elite women were often well-educated. Educated royal women participated
in administration. Kumaradevi and Dhruvadevi were allotted high positions in
Gupta administration but they are not known to have played any active part in it.
Prabhavatigupta governed the Vakataka kingdom for a span of twenty-five years.
The ordinary women were engaged in diverse economic activities. They were
present in the royal court, harem, military campaigns, in households and
agricultural areas. Slavery was prevalent in the Gupta and the post-Gupta society.
Both male and female slaves worked as domestic servants or personal attendants
and lived in the house of their masters. Female slaves like prostitutes were used
by the kings as spies and during military campaigns. During the period of the
Pushyabhuti dynasty, ordinary women were engaged in agricultural production
such as sowing seeds, threshing and winnowing, etc. and also in non-agricultural
activities. They were involved in dyeing cloths, polishing potteries, making
garlands, jewellery, clothes, baskets, cosmetics, etc. These services were required
at the royal court too. Women were also employed at the court as entertainers—
dancing girls (nartaki), musicians, story-tellers, actresses (nati), betel bearers,
etc. Even chandala women adorned with expensive clothes and jewellery served
the kings and enjoyed their confidence.
162
As far as proprietary rights are concerned, women could not inherit immovable Status of Women
forms of property — land, houses, etc. Women had no right to patrilineal
inheritance. But she was permitted to keep jewellery, clothes and other items
which she received on the eve of her marriage. This was called stridhana. In the
absence of a male scion, Manu opines that the paternal property should go to the
daughter. The Yajnavalkya Smriti allows the wife of a man to inherit his property
after the death of her husband; and sons and the daughter could inherit the paternal
property after the death of her father, brothers and mother.
11.6 THE DECCAN

In Deccan, in the first century BCE, The Satavahanas had to deal with the dynasties
of foreign origin, particularly the Sakas. The Kanheri inscription speaks of a
diplomatic marriage between the Satavahanas and Saka Kshatrapas of Ujjayini.
Vashisthaputra Satakarni in order to check the recurrent Saka aggressions married
the daughter of king Rudradaman who was recapturing the territories which were
earlier conquered by Gautamiputra Satakarni. However, according to the Junagadh
rock inscription, Rudradaman continued his military campaigns against the
Satavahanas and he defeated his son-in-law twice but he spared his life.
The social structure in the Aryanized north differed from that of Deccan in some
respects. For example, in the north as well as in Deccan, the social system was
patriarchal; the power remained in the hands of men. However, in Deccan,
principally in the case of Satavahanas (the successor of the Mauryas in Deccan),
matrilineage is traceable. Some of the significant Satavahana kings used
matronymics. Gautamiputra Satakarni was called Gautamiputra (son of Gautami).
Vasishthiputra Pulamavi, the son of Gautamiputra Satakarni was also known by
the name of his mother, Vasishthi. The Satavahana queens such as Naganika, the
wife of Satakarni I, looked after the administration as regents on the death of the
reigning ruler. The Gupta princess, Prabhavatigupta who was married to
Rudrasena II, the Vakataka king, on the demise of her husband took the reins of
the Vakataka administration in her hands as regent of her minor sons for a period
of nearly about two decades. Though during her regency, the Guptas had a
significant influence on the Vakataka court. The Satavahana royal women were
known to have issued some significant royal inscriptions. Naganika issued the
Nanaghat inscription. The Nasik inscription was issued by Gautami Balashri,
the mother of Gautamiputra Satakarni which draws attention to the military
exploits of her son. The royal women of the dynasty also commissioned the
construction of architectural buildings. Gautami Balashri is credited to have built
Cave no. 3 at Nasik which is one of the major caves of the Pandavleni caves
complex. Another unique facet of the Satavahana period was the issue of the
Naganika type coins, bearing the names of the queen, Naganika and the king,
Satakarni I on the obverse which though found in a very small numbers from
Junnar, are considered to be the first to have the name of a royal woman inscribed
on a coin in the Indian subcontinent.
After the political hegemony of the Vakatakas declined, the Chalukyas of Badami
emerged as a dominant political entity in the region. Speaking of royal women
of this period, Vijayabhattarika, the daughter-in-law of Pulekesin II (610-642
CE) was a renowned poetess and she ruled as a regent for some time in the
absence of her husband, Chandraditya (646-649 CE). Kumkumadavi, the sister
of Vijayaditya ordered the construction of a Jain basadi (Anesajjebasadi) at
163
Transition to Early Medieval Puligree. Vikramaditya II (733 – 744 CE) had married two daughters of a Haihaiya
India
king. The older daughter, Lokamahadevi built Lokeshvara temple (Virupaksha
temple) at Pattadakal (modern Kaladgi district, Karnataka). Trilokyamahadevi,
the younger sister of Lokamahadevi and the mother of the next Chalukyan ruler,
Kirtivarman built Trilokyeshvara temple. Both were dedicated to Lord Shiva.
The queen-consorts also accompanied the king on military campaigns. The
institutions of concubinage in the royal harem and devadasi in temples were
prevalent.
11.7 TAMILAHAM: SANGAM AGE AND POST-

SANGAM AGE (KALABHRA INTERREGNUM)
The Sangam age roughly lasted for about 600 years, from 300 BCE to 300 CE.
Tamilaham (ancient Tamil country) during this time was ruled by the Cheras,
Cholas and Pandyas. In the post-Sangam age, Kalabhras overthrew the three
dynasties and ruled from c. 3rd to 7th centuries. Tamilaham was classified into
five main physiographical divisions (tinai): kurinji (hilly and mountainous tracts),
mullai (pastoral lands), marudam (extremely fertile agricultural land), neytal
(coastal areas), and palai (desert region). Owing to the rise of distinct economic,
social and cultural configurations in different physiographical units, customs
and institutions which assisted in safeguarding their ways of living came into
existence. Accordingly, endogamy was practiced. In the agricultural regions, the
institution of prostitution (parattamai) was a common feature especially during
the time when the sowed crops were ripening in the farmlands and also during
the period when agricultural lands were left fallow after harvest. In the palai
tinai, the system of matriarchate prevailed for a long duration. The people of this
physiographical division worshipped Korravai, the goddess of war and victory.
A group of male devotees of the goddess called maravar offered her human and
animal sacrifices.
The Sangam age was an age of war. This had vital effects on the nature of their
politics, society, culture, religion, etc. More and more men were required on the
battlefields. Therefore, the birth of a male child was desirable. However, the
birth of a female child was not derided. The poet, Kapilar in Ainkurunooru
writes that in Kurinji, the chieftain worshipped the deity for a daughter. Also,
due to warring chieftains, women were extolled for demonstrating the virtue of
heroism. It was imperative to instill the spirit of heroism in them as well and
encourage them to send their menfolk on the battlefields. Okkur Masattiyar
(poetess) is said to have sent her only young son on the battlefield after she lost
her husband. Girls during this age learnt literature (iyal), music (isai), and drama
(nadagam). Many of them were skilled in music. From Sangam literature, we
find the names of 26 poetesses: Avvaiyar, Pottiyar, Uttiyar, Budappandiyan Devi,
Nannakaiyar, Okkur Masattiyar, etc., to name a few. Avvaiyar was the most
renowned poetess. She had written 58 poems and also ethical works such as
Niti-Venba, Niti-Neri-Vilakkam, Ulaka-Niti, Nanneri, etc.
Some of the important works belonging to the Sangam Age are Tolkapiyyam,
Tirukkural, Madurai Kanji and to the post-Sangam, Silapaddikaram,
Manimekalai, etc. They provide useful information on the position of women
during the time. The social and legal status of women was not equal to those of
men. The practice of self-immolation of widows was prevalent. The nature of
164 society was patriarchal. It was characterized by certain features. One such feature
was the emphasis on the ideal notion of womanhood. The authors of the Sangam Status of Women
literature emphasize on the virtues of a woman. Chastity (karpu) was viewed as
the highest virtue in a woman. This notion continued to be appreciated in the
post-Sangam age as well. Illango Adigal in the Silapadikaram (the earliest epic
poem written in Tamil) regards Kannagi, the wife of Kovalan (the male
protagonist) as the purest of all. The worship of Kannagi as the embodiment of
an ideal wife and womanhood led to the emergence of the cult of Goddess Kannagi
or Pattini (goddess of chastity). Senguttuvan (Red Chera), the greatest Chera
king is believed to have initiated this cult and built the first Pattini temple at his
capital Vanjimanagar.
Though society in the Sangam and the post-Sangam ages venerated chaste ideal
women, yet there was also the presence of prostitutes and the classification within
this profession signified their functionality, relevance and the existence of
dichotomy in society. The aham literature elaborately deals with the courtesans
of Sangam age. They are mentioned in the anthologies on love such as Narrinai,
Ainkurunuru, and Agananuru. They were known as parattaiyar or kanigaiyar.
There were two major categories of courtesans: katal parattai (concubine) and
ceriparattai (public woman). Classical Tamil works for example the
Silapaddikaram and Manimekalai address katal parattaiyar as kanikayar. These
two classes of women did not mingle and resided in separate dwellings. Katal
parattaiyai lived a virtuous life and thus, they were assigned a higher social
standing than ceriparattai.
The marriage rites also became a means of promoting stratification. The

Tolkappiyam elucidates that the rationale behind the emergence of marriage rites
was to ascertain the difference between a married woman and an unmarried one.
With the performance of marriage rites she was endowed with external symbolism
which made the distinction apparent. Of the ornaments which married women
wore, one variety i.e. izhai was very significant and auspicious. This was removed
at the time of the death of her husband as this ornament signified her marital
status. Another classic Tamil work, Tirukkural written by Thiruvalluvar speaks
of a class of women called varavin magalir who were placed outside the ambit
of marriage as they were prostitutes and they also wore the auspicious ornaments
which were specifically worn by married ones. He mentions them as varaivila
maniyizhaiyal (unmarried women wearing the auspicious ornaments).
11.8 RESURGENCE OF THE PANDYAS AND

PALLAVAS
The Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas of the Sangam period were not full-fledged
states but chiefdoms. With the resurfacing of the Pandyas and the emergence of
the Pallavas after the Kalabhra interregnum, a new political structure came into
being in south India. The Pallavas strengthened their position through diplomatic
marriages. Simhavishnu, the founder of the Pallavas of Kanchi through a
matrimonial alliance with the Vishnukundins established friendly relations with
them and thus, gained a political ally against the Chalukyas of Badami.
The rise of the Pallavas in the seventh century in the Tondaimandalam region of
the Tamilaham inaugurated the process of state formation. The reigns of the
Pallava rulers of Kanchi and of the Pandyas witnessed the granting of lands on a
large scale in lieu of cash salaries to a variety of political, military and religious
165
Transition to Early Medieval functionaries. The rise of this kind of economic order facilitated the emergence
India
of the temple cult and the bhakti movement centered on the worship of Siva and
Vishnu. The devotional songs and hymns of the Alvar and Nayanar saints enriched
the Bhakti literature. Andal or Godadevi was the only woman Alvar saint among
the 12 Alvars, while Karraikka Ammaiyar, Mangayarkkarasiyar (queen of a
Pandyan ruler, Koon Pandyan) and Isaignaniyaar (mother of Sundrar, a prominent
Nayanar saint) were the three woman saints among 63 Nayanars. Temples came
to play a significant role, permeating all spheres of human activities and became
an important religious, economic, cultural and political agency. Tirumular, one
of the prominent Nayanmar saints enjoined people to build new temples. Appar,
another Nayanmar saint proved instrumental in turning Mahendravarman I into
a worshipper of Siva. Many magnificent Brahmanical temples were constructed
by kings in different parts of their kingdom. Like the Pallava kings, the queens
also contributed to temple-building activities. A queen of Rajasimha named
Rangapataka built a small Siva temple in the Kailashnatha or Rajasimheshvara
temple complex. The Pallava temples also had sculptural panels depicting the
portraits of royal figures. In the Adivarahsvami temple at Mahabalipuram, there
is a relief of two Pallava rulers viz. Simhavishnu and Mahendravarman I with
their respective queens staring at their husbands with reverence. Gradually, with
royal patronage, the cult of temples led to the advent of a devadasi system.
Devadasis or temple women were women attendants who participated in daily
rituals and occasional ceremonies of the temples. They learnt dance and music
and sang and danced in several temple rituals. By the time of the Chola period,
the devadasi system was firmly established. The Chola kings as great temple
builders made elaborate arrangements for the upkeep of the temples. Raja Raja
Chola built Brihadishwara temple in 1010 CE and gifted 400 devadasis to it. The
patronage of a large number of devadasis by temples and kings reflected their
economic prosperity and social prestige. Also, some of the devadasis became so
wealthy that they donated lands and money to temples. However, over time the
system degenerated.

1) Comment on the factors which contributed to the general decline in the
status of women from 300 BCE to 800 CE.
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2) Examine the position of women through the institution of marriage,
proprietary rights and widowhood.
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166 .......................................................................................................................
Status of Women
11.9 SUMMARY
In this Unit, we learnt about the position of women in the period between 300
BCE-800 CE. Women on the whole suffered as far as their status and standing in
the society is concerned. Some women like the ganikas were resourceful and
were of considerable means, but the lawgivers did not treat them kindly. It was
stated in the Dharmashastras that a man of noble birth should not accept food
from a ganika. The ideal woman was perceived as one who was chaste, loyal and
fulfilled her stridharma and pativratadharma. She was devoted to her husband,
practiced monogamy even though her husband kept many wives or visited a
courtesan for pleasure. The period concerned was patriarchal and deeply ingrained
virtues of chastity, purity and loyalty applied to women more than men.
11.10 KEY WORDS

Aham: Classical Tamil poetry consists of two main genres viz. aham and puram.
Aham deals with themes related to love before and after marriage, while puram
discusses matters concerning wars, chivalry and glory of kings, poets, etc.
Dharmashastras: A corpus of Sanskrit theological treatises dealing with dharma
— the codes of conduct and moral principles for the adherents of Hinduism.
Epigraphy: The study of inscriptions
Savarna Marriage: A marriage between a man and a woman belonging to the
same varna
Upanayana Samskara or Yagnopavita Ceremony: A rite of passage in Hinduism
which officially begins the life of a student and the student receives Vedic
education
Varnasamkara: Miscegeny or the mixing of different races or castes through
marriage, etc.

EXERCISES
1) See Section 11.2
2) See Section 11.3

1) You should mention about the gradual constriction of access to formal
education, religious rituals, movements and the increasing tendency for early
marriage, polygamy, control over female sexuality and reproduction.

Ali, Daud (2006). Courtly Culture and Political Life in Early Medieval India.
New Delhi: Cambridge University Press.
167
Transition to Early Medieval Altekar, A. S. (1959). The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation. Delhi: Motilal
India
Banarsidass.
Bhattacharya, Shatarupa (2007). Perceiving Gender through Geneology: A Study
of the Vakataka Inscriptions. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 68,
127-135. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/44147824
Chakravarti, Uma (1993). Conceptualising Brahmanical Patriarchy in Early India:
Gender, Caste, Class and State. Economic and Political Weekly, 28 (14), 579-
585. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4399556
Chandra, Moti (1976). The World of Courtesans. Delhi: Hind Pocket Books (P)
Ltd.
Darshini, Priya (2014). Feminism: A Historical Interface between Literature and
History during Gupta Period, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 75,
107-115. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/44158368
Jais, Manju & Jais, Manu (2011). Women, Work and Household: Women in the
Sources of Harsha Period, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 72, 169-
178. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/44146709
Mukherjee, Soumyen (1996). Polygamy and Genealogy in the Gupta Age: A
Note on Feudalism from Above in Ancient India. Sydney Studies in Society and
Culture, 13.
Saxena, Monica (2006). Ganikas in Early India, Its Genesis and Dimensions.
Social Scientist, 34 (11/12), 2-17. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/
27644180
168
Status of Women
UNIT 12 CRAFTS AND CRAFTPERSONS*
Structure
12.0 Objectives
12.1 Introduction
12.2 Studies on Craft and Craft Production in Early Medieval India
12.3 Crafts Production in North India
12.4 Organization of Craft Production
12.5 Craft Production in South India
12.5.1 Land Rights
12.5.2 Andhra Pradesh
12.6 Summary
12.7 Key Words
12.0 OBJECTIVES
craft production in north and south India in the early medieval period;
how was craft production organized;
the jajmani system as that between the artisans and their rural clients; and
guilds and their status vis-à-vis craftsmen.
12.1 INTRODUCTION
The early medieval economy was in many major ways different from early
historical period. The change is attributed to the decline of trade and commercial
economy and absence of monetary transactions in the wake of the decline in
trade. The change led to an agrarian organization based on land grant system
(grants to brahmanas and religious institutions as also secular grants to royal
administrative functionaries), which is often believed to have brought into
existence a feudal society and polity. Although the theory of feudalism itself has
been borrowed from the medieval agrarian organization of Western Europe,
important differences from the west European model have been recognized and
this has resulted in the characterization of the Indian agrarian organization as
Indian feudalism. The theory of Indian feudalism has, however, been constantly
under debate and such a characterisation of the early medieval economy for the
whole of India has also been questioned.
The adherents of Feudalism theory maintain that there was a slump in crafts and
commerce in the post-Gupta period leading to stagnant and enclosed village
economy. In this Unit, we will be dealing with some important features of crafts
and crafts production which may not impress upon us the image of an economy
afflicted by crisis resulting from the issuance of land grants and the rise of closed
rural society.
* This Unit has been adopted from MHI-05, Block 3 169
India 12.2 STUDIES ON CRAFTS AND CRAFT
PRODUCTION IN EARLY MEDIEVAL INDIA
There has been not many studies which have dealt with crafts and craftpersons
in early medieval India. There are many reasons for this. Inscriptions have not
been tapped rigorously. There is a near complete domination of non-agrarian
economic history by the twin themes of urbanism and commerce. In fact, there
are a very few independent studies of extra-agrarian production, which is often
briefly treated as an adjunct to urban or trade history. One aspect of the problem
lies in the nature of epigraphic sources, which remain much the most important
basis of historical reconstruction. The inscriptions of the period, which are mostly
what are called ‘land-grant inscriptions’, contain very irregular and sporadic
references to craft production. A small but significant set of inscriptions relates
to distribution of produce in non-agrarian contexts, and these have been utilized
for urban and mercantile histories, wherein are found, brief discussions of mineral
and craft production. Additionally there has been an extreme poverty of
archaeological data, what with negligible interest shown by most professionals
in early medieval archaeology. Only a fraction of the vast corpus of early medieval
literary sources has been used in a systematic fashion for reconstructing socio-
economic history, such as the Rajatarangini, Marco Polo’s (13th century) itinerary,
the accounts of Arab geographers (851 CE onwards), etc. Even the much-used
account of Huien Tsang has remained untapped for the most part.
A good deal of the above trends in historical research may be understood in

terms of the historians’ preferences for certain themes, to the corresponding neglect
of others. This is easily seen in the example of an historian of medieval India,
professor Irfan Habib, whose keen interest in the technologies of craft production
in early medieval India is not really shared in a sustained manner by the specialist
historians.
As you go through the following survey of our current knowledge of craft and
craft production in early medieval India, you will do well to bear in mind the
above remarks and look upon the survey as providing but a few sign posts in an
uncharted, exciting field of enquiry.
12.3 CRAFTS PRODUCTION IN NORTH INDIA

We may begin our survey with the most basic of the Iron Age crafts, i.e. iron
smithy. As with so many other crafts, we get no more than fleeting glimpses of it
through the curtains of the sources. Sometimes it is in the form of the presence of
the blacksmith, whether in a west Indian village getting his due of the harvest as
in the Lekhapaddhati, or at the very limits of rural society, in a forest settlement
in north India, as in the Harshacharita. When craftsmen (karu) in general are
reported in land-grant inscriptions, e.g. Chandella charters, and those from early
medieval Kumaon-Garhwal (which allude also to karmanta-sthala, probably the
working place of the artisans), we can be reasonably certain of the presence of
blacksmiths among them. Large bulks of inscriptions may at times draw a near
total blank on them, as is probably the case with the inscriptions from early
medieval Odisha. But from Odisha comes the most solid evidence of the massive
scale and high skill of ferrous (i.e. relating to iron) metal-working, in the form of
iron beams in the temples, when at times wooden beams could be dispensed with
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altogether. Malwa, with its famous Dhar iron pillar, presents a parallel case. A Crafts and Craftpersons
good general index of the iron craftsmen’s excellence is seen in the fame of
Indian swords abroad, several centres for making which are recorded in the literary
sources at home. These swords with patterned blades were prized everywhere,
and came to be called ‘Damascus’ swords. There seems to have been a remarkable
technological affinity between India and Islamic lands to the west in this respect.
As Ahmed Y. al- Hassan and Donald R. Hill state in their book Islamic Technology:
‘In general it is no exaggeration to say that Islam and India formed one cultural
area as far as Damascus steel was concerned’. The areas which were mined for
iron ores in the earlier period and were in use in later times must obviously have
continued to be tapped during our period, e.g. Jharkhand. Talcher in Odisha is
believed to have supplied ores to the smelters of the region, as it does to this day.
But one also gets a reference to the production of iron and other metals, e.g.
silver and copper, in Western Punjab in the seventh century CE, to which no
reference has been traced in the later period. This has been explained, plausibly
in our view, in terms of the existence of small deposits of the ores of these metals
in the Lower Himalayas, Shivaliks, and Salt Range. They could be mined only
for a limited period, wherein after, they were not noticed in the later literature.
Their exhaustion would have led to prospecting in other areas. Likewise Kalhana
reports the massive mining of copper by the state in a hill in south Kashmir for
the eighth century, but not for the earlier or subsequent periods. Large scale
mineral production of non-ferrous metals included the famous Panjhir (later called
Panjshir) silver mines in north Afghanistan, where ten thousand miners are
reported to have been working in the tenth century CE. However, as our source
(Ibn Hauqal) makes it clear, the large number was an indicator less of the quantity
of the silver deposits than of a chaotic silver rush among the people. It is stated:
‘The people of Panjhir made the mountain and the market-place like a sieve
because of the many pits…. [In this business] you will see a man start his day
owning on million, and by nightfall he owns nothing. Or he may start poor in the
morning and by evening become the owner of unaccountable wealth’.
Cinnabar, the only important ore of mercury, was being mined at Broach in Gujarat
in the tenth century, according to Al-Masudi. A major source of gold in north
India was the gold-bearing sands of the rivers, the most important of them in this
respect being the Indus, as attested by Abul Fazl. A description of how gold was
obtained from the Indus in the eleventh century is seen in Alberuni’s work on
mineralogy, Al-Jamahir fi ma’rifat at Jawahir: ‘At its sources there are places in
which they dig small pits under the water, which flows over them. They fill the
pits with mercury and leave it for a while. Then they come back after the mercury
has become gold. This is because at its start the water is rapid and it carries with
it particles over the surface of mercury which picks up the gold, leaving the sand
to pass away.’ Nepal was an important source of copper, which was obtained
also from tribal areas and beyond. In general the existence of mines as well as
prospecting for metals may also be discerned in the inscriptions of the Kalachuris
and of the Gahadavalas. Actual finds as well as epigraphic and literary references
add up to an impressive account of the numerous types and expert execution of
the non-ferrous metal products.
Stone, earth, and wood provided material for a number of important crafts: stone
masonry, sculpture, lapidary, pot- making, brick-making, and carpentry. All these
are attested in varying degrees of scale and detail for different regions. Early
medieval India saw a new phase of art and architecture with distinct regional
styles: stone sculpture in black basalt during the Pala period in eastern India, for 171
Transition to Early Medieval instance, is so very different from the stone images in sandstone and marble
India
from western and central India, and together they make early medieval India
quite distinct from the preceding periods in Indian history. This new phase with
its extensive sweep not only bespeaks many a significant innovation on the
craftsmen’s part but also bears witness to the honing of their skills to classical
perfection.
A major sphere of the non-agrarian economy was production of salt. Salt was
made from sea water in the coastal areas on the west and the east. It was also
obtained from the Sambhar Lake in Rajasthan and the Salt Range. Salt pits,
where salt would be produced from nitrous soil, are also frequently attested,
especially in the inscriptions of the Kalachuris, Chandellas, and Gahadavalas. In
Sindh the Saran Delyar deposits were probably exploited for the purpose. The
significance of these local supplies may easily be appreciated in view of the high
costs of transporting salt over long distances on land. Then there were the crafts
that derived from primary production in the countryside: textiles, oil-pressing,
sugar-processing, liquor- making, and leather work. With their broad production
base in agriculture and animal husbandry, it is not surprising that all these crafts
should have been practised widely. Textiles were naturally far more important
than the other products, and happen also to be the most visible in the sources. A
significant development in cotton textile technology took place during our period.
The cotton gin came, between the sixth and the tenth centuries, to be fitted with
both crank handle and worm gear, so that separation of cotton fibre from seeds
and other waste material could be done far more efficiently. As to carding of
cotton, it used to be argued for several decades from 1969 that the carder’s bow
was introduced in India in the eleventh century. The older view has now been
confirmed that the bow had been in use in India from pre-Gupta period onwards.
Spinners, however, did not yet have the advantage of the spinning wheel, which
is first seen in India in 1350 CE.
The early medieval sources provide lists of a great variety of textiles, of cotton
as well as of wool, sann-hemp, silk, and Ranku deer’s hair. There have probably
been no systematic comparisons in detail of these with the types mentioned in
the earlier sources, as far as we know, but P.K.Gode showed mashakahari – bed-
curtain or ‘mosquito-net’ – to be one innovation of our period, and it is likely
that there were some more. The famous tie-and-die technique, of which Habib
finds the earliest reference in Banabhatta’s Harshacharita, was another early
medieval novelty. As the word chakra (wheel) for the oil-mill in the Manusmriti
and the Mahabharata shows, the oil-mill, employing rotary motion, had been in
use since early first millennium CE at least. An early medieval text, Bhagavata
Purana, gives it a fuller name taila-yantra-chakra.
Oil-mills came to be such a regular feature of common life that to speak of a
machine, yantra, was to speak of an oil-mill. Lexicons take words like yantra-
grha (machine-house) and yantra-sadman (sadman means grha or house) to mean
an oil-mill or oil manufactory, so that the term yantra-kuti in a late-sixth century
inscription from Gujarat has rightly been understood as an oil-mill or manufactory.
An inscription from Himachal Pradesh, dated CE 804, calls it tailotpida-yantra.
This process of utpidana (squeezing or pressing out of) was apparently different
from the ancient practice of grinding the seeds for oil-extraction as indicated by
the term taila-pesham in Panini’s grammar. However, the more common word
for oil-mill in early medieval Sanskrit inscriptions in not yantra or chakra but a
new term, apparently vernacular in origin: ghanaka, occasionally also called
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ghana or ghranaka. The term that is now popularly used for the oil-press is Crafts and Craftpersons
ghani, affiliated to ghanaka, rather than chakki, a derivative of chakra. The other
current term for the oil-mill, kolhu also has its counterpart kolhuka in a ninth
century Sanskrit inscription from Gwalior. The precise significance of this shift
in nomenclature – chakra or yantra to ghanaka or kolhuka – for the technological
history of the oil-press remains to be ascertained. All that is certain is that the
making of the ghani in its present form was a wholly Indian conception, for the
ghani of South Asia is very different from oil-presses elsewhere. In his dictionary
of Deshi works, called Deshinamamala, the famous twelfth century Jaina scholar
Hemachandra listed kolhuo as a term for sugar press, and also described the
process as one of nipidana i.e. squeezing. The similarity of terms suggests a
similarity in the mechanism of the oil-press and the sugar-press.
The flourishing state of the sugarcane-processing industry across north India is

shown of course by the combined weight of the numerous references to sugarcane
cultivation, its products, sugar-press, and the persons engaged in the processing
and the distribution of the products. But perhaps the more remarkable thing is
the impressive scale on which sugar industry, including sugarcane plantations,
spread out beyond the subcontinent, from Iran through West Asia and north Africa
to Spain and Sicily, all during our period. It is generally thought that the knowledge
of sugar-making was brought to China from India about mid-seventh century by
an envoy of the Tang emperor who was sent to India for this specific purpose. A
re-examination of the evidence suggests that it was the Indian Buddhist monks
and two artisans from Magadha who were really responsible for the technology
transfer to China about CE 647-648. The Chinese knew how to make a type of
sugar at a much earlier date, but what they learnt now was the processes of
making khanda and sharkara, the two coveted age-old Indian varieties. The details
of these processes, which had thus far remained unknown to historians of sugar-
industry, have happily been revealed by a recently found fragmentary document
in China, dated to ninth/tenth century CE, which refers among other things, to
the working of the sugar press by oxen, the device seemingly being kolhu.
References to several varieties of liquor as well as liquor-makers point to liquor

making to have been a widely practised craft. The seventh-century account of
Huien Tsang as well as the twelfth-century play Moharajaparajaya show liquor
to have been a major source of state revenue, which would suggest that liquor
was produced on a substantial scale. As to the details of production process, a
majority of the Indian historians have not been sensitive to, or even aware of, the
basic question whether these liquors, or any of them, were fermented only or
both fermented and distilled?. Through a review of the works of those few who
have pursued the question, and adding his own research to theirs, the great Joseph
Needham has argued that some form of distillation was practised in India from
very early times, and that, along with non-spirituous liquors, distilled ones too
were produced during the early medieval period.
Preparation of hides and their products is rather sparsely represented in our

sources. An inscription from central India refers to one shoe-maker (mochi) while
another is seen in the Rajatarangini. The tenth century Paschimbhag inscription
from eastern India mentions dozens of charmakaras (leather-workers) in
connection with a monastery, but they seem to have been attached to the
establishment as agricultural workers (karmakaras) rather than as leather workers,
to the caste of which they belonged. This phenomenon of the professional caste
of leather workers providing agrarian labour remains an important feature of 173
Transition to Early Medieval Indian countryside even now, as craft specialization, being inadequate for regular
India
livelihood, is not a full-time, all-season job. But the leather-workers who were
organized into associations, as seen in an early medieval law-digest, seem to
betray a higher level of status and (therefore) of professional skill and engagement.
A category apart were the famed leather workers of Gujarat, whose products,
rated as the best and the costliest in the world, drew the unstinting admiration of
foreign observers like Al-Masudi and Marco Polo. The hides were mostly those
of the domesticated animals in all probability. However, as some references (e.g.
the Harshacharita) suggest, skins of wild animals too must have been regularly
used in leather work. In this as well as in other respects, most notably carpentry
and basket-making, forests were an important source of the craftsmen’s raw
material.
The tuskers of Odisha’s forests were thus the basis of its ancient reputation in
ivory work, which continued in the early medieval period, as attested in the
Hudud-ul Alam; for central and western India, too, the agency of tribals (Pulindas)
in the procurement of ivory is seen in early medieval Jaina sources.
12.4 ORGANIZATION OF CRAFT PRODUCTION

The basic unit of craft production in the countryside was the individual craftsman
with his family, living amidst the agrarian communities, often in the company of
the families of other professionals, including other craft specialists. A scatter of
references, epigraphic and other, brings out the widespread dispersal of a number
of crafts over the countryside: that of the potter, the weaver, the ironsmith, the
carpenter, the jaggery-maker, the oil-miller, the leather-worker, the liquor-maker,
and so on. Some of these groups were treated as untouchables and suffered from
spatial segregation, living outside the village (even the town). The composition
of such groups, however, seems to have varied from region to region; thus weavers
were noticed by Alberuni as one such group of untouchable craftsmen who lived
at a distance from the main settlement, but in a Jaina text, they are listed among
a category of professional groups called narua, that is, not untouchable, distinct
from the category of karua groups, that is, untouchable ones. The binary division
of these professional groups as naru-karu has persisted down to modern times.
Similar contrasts in status for other groups too may be seen in the contemporary
sources, with probable exceptions such as the leather workers, who seem to have
been regarded as untouchables everywhere. In spite of the narua and karua
divisions among them, artisans in general continued to be known generally as
karus.
A typical arrangement between the artisans and their rural clients was worked
out, one that came to be known later as jajmani system. The artisan would
undertake to provide a fixed number of services to a peasant family in return for
a fixed share in the peasant’s harvest. A document in the Lekhapaddhati, a work
from western India, attests to the prevalence of this practice with reference to
five karuakas (a variant of karu). In addition, a few inscriptions refer to the
agricultural fields of artisans, e.g. the reference to a carpenter’s field in a Maitraka
charter. Going by latter-day practice, it is likely that the arrangement also included
allotting a small cultivable plot to the artisan; he would raise a crop and use up
all its produce, keeping nothing as seeds for the next season, which would be
provided by his peasant clients in the form of a tiny share of the produce ‘for
seed’ over and above the share for his consumption. There would have no doubt
174
been variations in the details of this arrangement over time and space, but it is Crafts and Craftpersons
plain that it covered neither the entire range of rural craftsmen nor the entire
range of the production (and repair) work of any single artisan. We have seen
above in the Lekhapaddhati the working of the system with reference to five
karuakas, only three of whom are named as the blacksmith, the carpenter, and
the potter. Whoever the other two might have been (it is often thought that they
were the barber and the washerman) the villagers’ requirements of professional
services (e.g. weaving, oil-pressing, liquor-making) certainly went far beyond
the services of the five karuakas. Similarly, going by considerable comparative
evidence, there would often be a demand for more pots, sickles, repair work, etc.
than those agreed upon in the jajmani system. All these extra demands would be
met outside the jajmani system, often through market exchange. At the same
time references to the fields of these artisans show – as does that to the leather-
workers as agricultural labourers – that craft work was not the full-time job of
these specialists. In fact, lack of sufficient demand for their skills (chronic under-
employment) was a major reason why such specialist families tended to settle
down only in larger villages and why even from there they would often be willing
to extend their jajmani ties to the neighbouring small settlements. This mix of
the jajmani and the market context of craft production in the countryside was
probably not seriously disturbed by the donation of some of these villages by the
state to religious functionaries or institutions. Theoretically, it generally meant
the transfer of the craftsmen’s obligations towards the state to the donees. On the
all-important question – what the donees did with their newly-won claims on the
craftsmen and their families (which too must have tended to grow in number
along with the rest of the village population) little direct or otherwise relevant
evidence unfortunately has yet come to light. In some religious establishments,
however, craft production came to be organized, by special measures, on a pattern
that resembled the jajmani system but could be more comprehensive than the
usual web of jajmani ties. A hint of this is seen in a twelfth- century inscription
of Odisha, when a potter was given two measures of land on condition of supplying
on a daily basis cooking pots to a temple for religious service. A detailed portrayal
of such an arrangement in tenth century for several temples in Sylhet region in
Bangladesh is provided by the Paschimbhag Copper Plate Inscription. In one of
these temples, for instance, two oil-millers, two potters, two carpenters, and two
masons figure among the dozens of other service-providers as recipients of
substantial plots each (at least 7.5 acres), apparently in lieu of their services.
These services are not specified; in view of the substantial holdings, it perhaps
means that their services were now at the temple’s disposal. That is to say, the
craftsmen (and others) would meet all the requirements (and not just some
stipulated part of them) of the establishment.
Quite distinct from the thin spread of the artisans over the countryside was their
concentration in varying degrees at certain places. Their larger presence was
evidently in virtue of a larger demand for their products, and these places would
generally be nodal points. That is to say, they would be points in networks of
settlements where lines of communication (land or water routes) met or, which
were lines along which food surpluses were mobilized, regions were interlinked
and authority was asserted. One type of such places was recognized as karvata
or kharvata. One contemporary defined it as ‘larger than a grama (village), but
smaller than a nagara (city)’ while another saw it as a village that ‘abounded in
artisans and agriculturists’. The kharvata was, then, distinguished as a settlement
from an average village by its greater size and prominence of craft production,
175
Transition to Early Medieval but was not necessarily recognized as an urban centre. In fact, as one of the two
India
definitions shows, it could continue to be recognized as a village only but as the
other definition shows, it could alternatively be recognized as a market town, a
place where regular markets or hattas were held. Indeed, it is in the sense of
market town that the terms karvataka and kharvada occur in inscriptions.
In an urban economy proper, a larger conglomerate of craftsmen would of course

be seen. During the tenth century, for instance, in the flourishing town (pattana)
of Siyadoni, located at the Lalitpur gap that joins north India to Malwa and
thence to west and south India, one witnesses a sizeable presence of artisans,
including potters, liquor-makers, weavers, sugar-boilers, braziers, oil-millers,
and stone-cutters. Here, as elsewhere (e.g. Arthuna in Rajasthan), these craftsmen
figure in the context of religious charity, and do not therefore represent all the
crafts that were plied in the town. For instance, in the late twelfth century, the
Jaina holy site of Sanderaka in Marwar comes into our view as a place where
royal and other benefactions were being made, where a donated house fetched
annual cash income from its rent-paying inmates, and where there also were
merchants numerous and important enough to have a goshthi organization of
their own. Seven cart-makers or rathakaras, who were residents of this place,
also figure as donors, and this is how we know that this was an important cart-
building site. This holy town must have had other craft activities – just as there
must have been other cash transactions than that mentioned in the inscription –
but we know nothing of them.
At times an urban economy was served by artisans living in neighbouring villages,

as ancient Varanasi had been. Thus while in the Chhattisgarh region during early
thirteenth century an engraver of inscriptions was a resident of a town called
Padi, the artisans (shilpins) who engraved Amgachi plates of the Pala rulers
Mahipala and Vigrahapala lived in a village called Poshali. The probable urban
connection of the village is suggested by its identification with the modern village
Posela, situated in the vicinity of the well-known medieval town Mangalkot. A
similar situation may have existed in the case of the settlement Shubankarapataka
in Assam with its two groups of weavers. It is in the context of these producers
outside the jajmani arrangement, temple establishment, and the like that craft
guilds are mentioned. The more common term for these guilds was shreni (e.g.
the shreni of oil-millers at Gopagiri in Gwalior region), but they were also known
by other names, such as deshi (e.g. the deshi of liquor-makers in the Karitalai
inscription from central India) and goshthi (e.g. the goshthi of the shilpins of
Varendra region in Bengal). When a number of professionals at a place are seen
as acting together in a religious context (liquor-makers and stone-cutters at
Siyadoni), or when they were being taxed as a unit (braziers and liquor makers at
the town of Utthapanaka or Arthuna in Rajasthan), one may legitimately infer
the existence of a guild-like organization of each such group, even though the
term as such does not occur in the records.
An idea of the character of these guilds may be formed through a critical analysis
of the combined testimony of law-digests, inscriptions, and other sources, which
were concerned in different ways with their working and composition. Members
of a craft guild tended to belong to one caste: Craft skills were handed down
from generation to generation within a family, and marriage ties brought such
families together as a caste. But there were varying levels of expertise where the
176
masters were identified as acharyas, to whom others would flock as apprentices. Crafts and Craftpersons
Four stages of reaching perfection in a craft were recognized, and the trainees
apparently learnt at the job while making a living out of it. The affairs of the
guilds were managed by a small group of its more influential members. At
Gopagiri or Gwalior, a shreni of oil-millers had ten chiefs called mahattakas
while a shreni of gardeners had seven chiefs called maharas. Thus the number
and titles of those who looked after the affairs of the guild could vary from guild
to guild, even at one place; the variations over regions would have been, if
anything, even greater. These guilds were mutual-help associations, membership
of which was meant to provide insurance against misfortune, natural calamity,
and oppression. The collective affairs of guilds could also perhaps include pursuit
of common economic interests, such as by excluding competition from within
and without. Their corporate character is again seen in collective acts of piety
and receipts of deposits, but there seems to be little clearly- analysed evidence
for the guild as a unit organizing production or undertaking an economic enterprise
during our period. In fact, an indication to the contrary is seen in the cases where
a guild received a deposit of a large sum from an outsider, in lieu of which
members of the guild agreed to make a regular contribution (in cash or kind) on
an individual basis. The deposit apparently went to the collective fund of the
guild, which, lacking its own corporate means, could only depend on the individual
contributions of its members. It is inherently probable that the guild sought to
augment its funds by lending some of it and gaining interest thereon, which
everyone did, for example the Sun temple of Jagatsvamin at Bhinmal in Rajasthan
in the thirteenth century (as shown by the Bhinmal Stone Inscription of
Udayasimhadeva Vikrama Samvat 1306/c. CE 1249). This was, however, quite
distinct from the guild (or the temple) functioning as a banker.
There is good evidence to show that a number of artisans in early medieval India
worked in conditions of dependence on merchants, even though no hint of any
such dependence is seen for the majority of the artisans and their groups. In his
commentary on the Naradasmrti in the eighth century, Asahaya explained shrenis
in the sense of artisans who were attached to, i.e. dependent on (pratibaddha) a
big merchant. At the end of our period, in the legal treatise Krtyakalpataru
composed in mid-north India, artisans are clearly stated to consist of two groups:
dependent ones (ashrita) and independent ones (anashrita). It also speaks of
‘artisans among merchants’ and matters are further clarified by Hemachandra
calling shreshthins or merchant financiers as governors of the forts (durgapalakas)
of eighteen guilds and sub-guilds. It is at this point that the state of affairs is seen
to find a striking corroboration in the numerous epigraphic references to merchant
settlements, called variously the grama, nagara or kotta (fort) of merchants,
from the late sixth century to early thirteenth century. In a sixth-century charter
of the Maitraka ruler Vishnusena from western India, for instance, a whole lot of
craftsmen is seen to be living among and under the authority of merchants: sugar-
boilers, indigo-dyers, liquor-makers, braziers, oil-press workers, producers of
vinegar or bitter wine, tailors, weavers, shoe-makers, blacksmiths, sawyers and
potters. The reference to a merchant chief (or alderman) subjecting ‘the
blacksmith, sawyer, barber, potter, and the like’ to forced labour is a clear statement
on the subordinate position of some of these artisan groups. Details of the nature
of the dependent status of the artisans, however, remain to be worked out.
177
India
1) Critically examine the various forms of organization of craft production in
north India during the 6-13th centuries.
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2) In what ways did the organization of craft production in rural areas differ
from that in urban centres during the 6-13th centuries?
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12.5 CRAFTS PRODUCTION IN SOUTH INDIA

South India here refers to the region south of the Vindhyas covering the areas
where the Dravidian languages are spoken and excludes the northern most region
which is now part of Maharashtra, i.e, not the whole of peninsular India. The
geography of this region makes an interesting study with two major divisions
i.e., the Deccan plateau and the plains. The Deccan plateau is now represented
by northern and southern Karnataka and parts of Andhra region i.e., Telengana
and Rayalasima marking the eastern edges of the plateau and the coastal plains
of Andhra, watered by the Godavari and Krishna valleys (deltas), where the
agrarian tracts are concentrated from early times.
The early Pallava grants in Prakrit and Sanskrit (4th to 6th centuries CE) refer to
villages in the Krishna and Guntur districts, and further south in the Nellore
district. Here the brahmadeya (revenue free land grants to brahmanas) seems to
make its first appearance till the establishment of Pallava territorial authority
over the northern region of Tamil country, with Kancipuram as their centre of
power. Henceforth the bilingual copper plates in Sanskrit and Tamil record grants
of brahmadeya land in new areas as well as pre-existing, cultivated areas in the
Palar-Cheyyar valley and further south into the Pennaiyar and Kaveri regions.
These records are remarkable documents for reconstructing the development of
agricutural economy and agrarian organization in different phases. The
brahmadeyas and temples may be seen as harbingers of advanced farming
methods such as irrigation technology and seasonal cultivation process. This is
clearly established by the Pallava-Pandya records, when they are considered in
the context of their geographical and ecological setting. They are also useful as
records providing the most detailed references to the nature of the organization,
both agriculture and craft production, which was generally complementary and
supplementary to agricultural activities.
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The brahmadeya villages were granted with certain immunities or pariharas. It Crafts and Craftpersons
would be useful to set out the earliest references to immunities based on the
Dharmasastric injunctions, the pariharas usually numbering 18. This would give
us an idea of how the management of cultivation and production of allied crafts
as well as non- agricultural activities, were placed under the new land controlling
grantees. It would also show how some kind of a dependency between the land
controllers and landless cultivators and craftsmen was built up within the village
due to the village craftsmen being paid in the form of land produce or assigned
land in lieu of such payment.
The land grants of the 4th-6th centuries CE in Prakrit and Sanskrit, provide details
of the pariharas, which were evidently based on the Dharmasastric rules. Thus
when a village was granted, all lands with the exception of devabhogahala (land
enjoyed by existing temples) were given. The term vasadbhogyamaryada points
to ‘enjoyment by residents (only) or tenants’ occupancy rights, which were
assured. Taxes payable by loha-charmakara (metal workers and leather workers),
apana-patta-kara (shop keeping cloth dealers), pravaranchara (licensed spies
or those going about in loose masks or garments), rajjupratihara (rope jugglars),
apana ajivikanahala – taxes payable by barbarians and outcastes, mukha dharakas
(mask actors or self-mortifying devotees), kupa darsakas (water diviners),
tantravaya (water diviners? Is it tantuvaya?=weaver), dyuta (gambler), napita
(barber) and on vivaha (marriage), taxes and tithes payable by artisans enjoying
privileges of sarva parihara would also indicate the nature and growing number
of crafts and professions in a settlement. In fact these immunities would also
indicate the kinds of crafts that were carried on in the village and how they were
part of a large number of service groups inhabiting the village with dependent
relationship with the grantees who had superior rights in land.
Their remuneration was often in the form of the assignment of land or its produce
within the village, which consisted of separate living quarters for them. The
village crafts groups included spinners, weavers, potters, cattle breeders,
goldsmiths, carpenters, artisans, owners of oil presses, middle-men and whole
sale merchants (Aruvai vanigar of Srikantapuram). Separate areas (ceris) existed
for most of these peasants and craftsmen in the rural areas while in bigger towns
and cities like Kanchipuram traders and merchants also had their quarters e.g.,
the residents of Videlvidugu-Kudiraicceriyar (traders in horse? or king’s
horsemen/ cavalry?).
12.5.1 Land Rights

The brahmadeya, devadana and palliccandam (grant to Jaina religious
institutions) represent the superimposition of superior rights in land and
institutional ownership with a corporate body of landholders. As organizers of
agriculture and not cultivators themselves, they got the land cultivated either by
original agrarian communities (or earlier settlers) or by settling new kudi or
occupants. Alienation of land by gift of a share or shares (panku/pangu) or by
purchase was possible, while leasing of land to tenants introduced further
intermediary strata between the owner and cultivator. Transfer of superior rights
over land in a brahmadeya was made by way of pratigraha – gift of the share
(panku), stridhana or dowry, etc. It did not mean absolute ownership but the
tendency was towards making the share and thereby the land inheritable.
Craftsmen like the carpenter; potter and weaver also received land for their service
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Transition to Early Medieval and were among the Kutis.The various artisans and craftsmen besides other
India
functionaries like washermen (vannattar), kollar (blacksmiths) were allocated
subordinate land- rights, mainly Kutimai by the Sabha so as to ensure their services
to the temple as well as the settlement of the brahmadeya and devadana villages.
Some of the more important crafts groups like the weaver (saliya and Kaikkola),
carpenter (taccar) and mason (acariyan) and even the potter (kusavan) were
also such kudi or occupants of land.
12.5.2 Andhra Pradesh

The early grants of agraharas in the Andhra region numbering about 27 and
belonging to the 4th-6th centuries are concentrated in the Krishna, Guntur and
Godavari districts (coastal Andhra). Agrahara, a technical term, applied to
endowment of villages which were in the exclusive and undisturbed enjoyment
of a brahmana or a group of brahmana beneficiaries. Exempted from all taxes
(sarva kara parihara), the grants were given immunities with revenue and
administrative rights as also a strong restriction against official interference.
Expansion of agriculture through reclamation of forest land and waste land as

well as population pressure occurred more regularly after the 10th century CE.
Grants in Telengana prior to 11th century were fewer than under the Kakatiyas.
New villages with temples and tanks emerged. Under Sarvamanya, the donee or
donees were entitled to the enjoyment of income from all taxes and other rights
as fines and fees of various kinds – nidhi, nidana, sulka, danda, dhana, upabhogya
and as tribhogyabhyantara siddhi. They also had control over other crafts
production like oil crushing (ganuga – oil crushing machine), karamba – waste
land.
Among the crafts groups were metal workers (panchalohadhipatulu); bangaramu

(gold), vendi (silver), raci (copper), tagaramu (tin), and sisamu (lead).); the
salivaru – weavers; vaddavaru – stone cutters; kase – masons; vadranki –
carpenter; and kammailu (blacksmiths), kummarilu (potter), musara varu
(manufacturers of small crucibles) and teliki varu (oil crushers) are prominently
mentioned. By 12th century CE most crafts groups were socially and economically
stabilised in Telengana. Not all artisan classes were present in every village.
Their grants were in the form of a share of the income from the sale of their items
of manufacture. Most of these crafts were in the form of manufacturing agricultural
implements and water devices, carts and boats, etc. They were all remunerated
for their services in the form of land which they usually cultivated themselves
1) What are the main features of craft production in south India in the early
medieval period?
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2) Write in five lines about the craft groups of Andhra Pradesh in early medieval Crafts and Craftpersons
period.
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12.6 SUMMARY
Our topic has been a relatively neglected field of study. Despite this, studies
have revealed that this period was of considerable dynamism in India. Agriculture
expanded in the centuries between 7-13 centuries CE. The improvement in
agriculture and the expansion of sedentary settlements through land grants of
villages resulted in the cultivation of cash crops which in turn created favourable
conditions for the development of agro-based crafts and industries. Examples of
these were making of sugar candy and molasses, textiles, salt, edible oil, iron
implements etc. A lot more effort is needed to clarify the nature of dynamism of
early medieval economy, but what is known is enough to belie the obstinate
image of an unchanging East or medieval stagnation. Any enquiry into an
economy’s dynamism would necessarily be concerned also with issues of
regression, constraint and crisis.
12.7 KEY WORDS

Agrahara: land or village gifted by king in Deccan and Karnataka region to
brahmanas.
Brahmadeya: land gifted to brahmanas, generally by kings
Communal Ownership: lands owned in common by peasant community, of
which some were brought under the control of the brahmadeya donees and some
gradually were brought under Urar and Nattar.
Dana: ritual giving
Escheat: King’s right/claim over the property/possessions of the deceased
officers.
Kani rights: rights over land in early medieval south India, sometimes also
associated with certain duties and obligations
Nadu: the locality, consisting of several settlements, in early medieval south
India
Pariharas: exemptions and privileges granted to donees in royal land grants

EXERCISES
1) See Section 12.3
2) See Section 12.4 181
India
1) See Section 12.5

Appadorai, A. (1936). Economic Conditions in Southern India, 1000-1500 AD.
2 Volumes, University of Madras
Chattopadhyaya, B.D. (1997). The Making of Early Medieval India.New Delhi:
Oxford University Press.
Ghoshal, U.N. (1955). Economic Condition. In Majumdar R.C., et al (eds.). The
Age of Imperial Kanauj. Bombay.
Habib, Irfan (1992). Pursuing the History of Indian Technology. Social Scientist,
nos. 226-27, pp. 1-21.
Karashima, Noboru (1984). South Indian History and Society. New Delhi: Oxford
University Press.
Sharma, R.S. (1987). Urban Decay in India. New Delhi.
Sharma, R.S. (ed.) (1980). Indian Feudalism. Delhi.
182
Crafts and Craftpersons
UNIT 13 RELIGIONS AND RELIGIOUS
PRACTICES*
Structure
13.0 Objectives
13.1 Introduction
13.2 Challenges to the Brahamanical Religion
13.3 Puranic Hinduism
13.3.1 Vaishnavism
13.3.2 Saivism
13.3.3 Shaktism
13.4 Some Important Features of Puranic Religion
13.5 The Bhakti Movement
13.5.1 Gender in the Bhakti Tradition
13.6 Tantrism
13.7 Summary
13.8 Key Words
13.0 OBJECTIVES
The main purpose of this Unit is to introduce the students to the changes in the
field of religion in India in the period between 200 BCE-1000 CE. After reading
this Unit, you should be able to understand:
the rise of Puranic Hinduism in various forms;
the conditions that gave rise to the Bhakti movement; and
the rise of Tantrism and its many features.
13.1 INTRODUCTION
In the earlier Units you have learnt that the Vedic religion was challenged by the
rise of heteroxical sects in the sixth century BCE. The central institution of the
Vedic texts — the yajna or sacrifice — gradually came under criticism. One
category of texts which were codified and which laid down who was and was not
entitled to participate in the ritual use of the Vedas were called Dharmasutras.
Another category of texts which were more inclusive and accommodating were
also composed, which were the Epics — the Mahabharata and the Ramayana;
along with the Puranas. Both the Epics and the Puranas were essential
components of Hindu religious thought and contributed towards many Hindu
beliefs. Like the Mahabharata and Ramayana, the Puranas claim a connection
with the Vedas. All three were regarded individually as the fifth Veda. They were
said to be the Veda for a new age, and for both kinds of devotees — those who
had access to the other Vedas as well as those who did not.
* Joeeta Pal, PhD Candidate, Centre for Historical Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal
183
Nehru University, New Delhi.
Transition to Early Medieval In this Unit, we will study the main features of Puranic religion. They entail
India
concessions which the Vedic specialists were willing to make to draw into their
fold people who for a variety of reasons did not have access to Vedic learning.
The other traditions we will be studying are the Bhakti traditions and Tantrism.
We will be tracing the variety of beliefs and practices that were encompassed by
the Bhakti movements. One can discern an element of protest against orthodox
religious attitudes in the Bhakti tradition. For example the tension between bhaktas
and the brahmana temple establishment was resolved by making it clear that
unswerving bhakti or devotion to one’s personal god overrides all other markers
of identity and is the supreme criterion of respect. However what began as a
critique of the status quo was absorbed, in great measure, bit by bit, into the
sponge like body of Puranic tradition. Tantrism, which neither presupposes the
infallibility of the Vedas nor the social supremacy of its brahmanical custodians,
was condemned by the Puranas initially. However gradually Tantric elements
become noticeable in those parts of the Puranic corpus that date from the ninth
century. Indeed, it is mentioned in one of the Puranas, that if tantra does not go
against the Veda, it should certainly be regarded as authoritative. The Tantras
too began to associate themselves with the Vedas, on occasion claiming to be the
fifth Veda. That was the beginning of its end.
13.2 CHALLENGES TO THE BRAHAMANICAL

RELIGION
Vedic Brahmanism which was centred on yajna (sacrifice) came under criticism
by the sixth century BCE. The Buddhists, for instance denounced the sacrifice
as violent and destructive. As the Vedic yajna was increasingly deemed
inappropriate and its critics found supporters from a range of social groups, even
politically powerful patrons, the brahmanas were put on the defensive. Vedic
religion also suffered at the hands of rulers like the Mauryas who patronized
heterodox faiths. Ashoka was a Buddhist, and Chandragupta Maurya was a Jiana.
They were not the only rulers who showed an interest in doctrines that the
custodians of Vedic religion found unacceptable. The Puranas describe these
kings as sudras and the age they ruled in as the Kali Age-the age when adharma
is rampant. The foreign rulers who came to India like the Greeks, Sakas, Pahlavas,
Kushanas, Abhiras and others were patrons of un-orthodox religious customs.
Hinduism was thus forced to change itself in the face of new challenges. One
section of brahmanas reiterated the importance of sacrifice and detailed rules
regarding who within the social system were and were not entitled to participate
in the ritual use of the Vedas were codified in texts like the Dharmasutras. The
second section formulated texts and institutions that were meant for everyone,
for those who had access to the Vedas as well as the vast majority of people who
were not eligible to take part in the ritual use of the Vedas. These were the Epics,
the Mahabharata and the Ramayana and the Puranas. All of these were Smriti
texts. They represented a form of Hinduism which included rather than excluded.
The transition from the existing Vedic Brahmanism to Puranic Hinduism was
not sudden or quick, but rather it was a slow process of assimilation, negotiation
and incorporation of local cults. The transition to a new system did not mean that
all old ideas relating to Vedic Brahmanism were entirely abandoned. Since pre-
existing thought did not completely disappear, it may be said that Vedic
Brahmanism remained as one of the constituents of Puranic Hinduism.
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During the period of Gupta rule (fourth-sixth centuries CE), the majority of Religions and Religious
Practices
Puranas were codified and their sponsors were the Guptas. Temples were built,
deities were sculpted. By the middle of the first millennium CE, tantric practices
started to influence Vaishnavism and Saivism. Tantric practices so undermined
brahmanical orthodoxy that the authors of Puranas started incorporating sections
on popular religious customs making those a legitimate part of Puranic Hinduism.
What the Puranas were doing was to gradually assimilate unorthodox and
heterodox elements by becoming increasingly inclusive. The performance of
puja and collective rituals became central as the importance of performing
sacrifices decreased. Image worship and worship within temples also became
important. The inclusion of leaves and flowers of plants found in forest areas in
puja activities is a marker of the relationship between Brahmanism and the cults
it imbibed. Similarly, the act of making pilgrimages and pilgrimage places gained
prominence. The placement of such pilgrimage sites was also strategic in that
they were specifically located in areas away from the core Brahmanical zone.
This was a step towards the engagement of Brahmanism with local cults.
13.3 PURANIC HINDUISM

Puranic Hinduism is a belief system and formalized religion with multiple strands
that went on absorbing and synthesizing local religious cultic beliefs and practices.
This enabled it to bring people belonging to diverse groups under its fold over a
vast geographical area. You may ask the question: why was such incorporation
and assimilation necessary? One of the answers to this question is tied to the
economic conditions prevailing at the time. With the onset of the practice of
land grants and villages to brahmanas, it became relatively easier for the
brahmanas to recognise and incorporate local gods and goddesses, thereby
expanding Brahmanism in unchartered territories. Much of Hinduism that is
commonly practised today features in the Puranic tradition.
We will be discussing the major forms of Puranic tradition of Hinduism:

Vaishnavism, Saivism and Saktism below.
13.3.1 Vaishnavism
The early history of Vaishnavism is characterised by the evolution and merging
of three cults: Vishnu, Narayana and Krishna-Vasudeva. The initial merging of
Narayana with Vishnu ended with their identification with Krishna-Vasudeva.
Vishnu appears as one of the Sun gods in the Rigveda. Its predominance in
Vaishnavism was a late development probably dating to the 4th -5th centuries CE.
This is evident from the fact that the Mahabharata generally speaks of the supreme
deity as Narayana and very rarely as Vishnu. Narayana most likely was a non-
vedic deity. In the Shatapatha Brahamana he appears as a very powerful deity
who gained supremacy over all beings by performing the Pancharatra Sattra or
the five-day sacrifice. Pancharatra is the name by which the worshippers of
Narayana are called. The Mahabharata classifies the Pancharatra system as
distinct from the Vedic. Its adherents are mentioned along with Buddhists,
Digambaras, and the Pashupatas, and called anti-Vedic in texts like the Kurma
Purana.
Krishna appears in the Mahabharata as a chief of the Vrishni clan. In the

Bhagvadgita, particularly in the early sections, he is presented as a human ally
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Transition to Early Medieval of the Pandavas. It is believed by scholars that Krishna-Vasudeva’s cult
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amalgamated with that of Narayana-Vishnu over time.
The cult of Vishnu expanded with the incorporation of various tribal and non-
vedic gods into its fold. This was primarily done through the avatara doctrine.
The word avatara is commonly translated as ‘incarnation’. The deity descends
from the transcendental to the mundane world with a purpose. This incarnation
happens age after age whenever the wicked and adharma need to be destroyed
and righteousness and dharma needs to be reinstated. So was said by Krishna in
the Mahabharata. Here Krishna appears as the god who descends. Elsewhere he
is one individual that Vishnu descends as. There are ten incarnations of Vishnu.
They are: matsya (fish), kurma (tortoise), varaha (boar), Narasimha (man-lion),
Vamana (dwarf), Parashuram (Rama with battle axe), Rama (Rama of Ramayana),
Krishna, the Buddha and Kalki (future incarnation). Some of the avataras have
Vedic roots while others were tribal gods who were incorporated into Vaishnavism.
13.3.2 Saivism
Saivism gained prominence in several parts of the subcontinent, particularly in
Kashmir. The cult of Siva did not have avataras. The deities from diverse
traditions were incorporated into the Saiva cult by building Siva’s family. Siva
can be traced to Rudra who was not a very prominent deity in the Rigveda.
Rudra is described as living in the mountains, clothed in skins; his colour is
brown, his belly black and his back red. Siva’s son, Skanda, also known as
Kumara, is worshipped as Subrahmanya, Murugan and Kartikeya. Similarly, his
wife Parvati is said to have originally been a mountain goddess. His association
with snakes, cremation grounds, matted hair, army of ganas and bhutas, all point
to his being a paradoxical figure in the Hindu pantheon. He is unconventional
but at the same time creates, sustains and destroys the universe. His strong
association with fertility cults is exemplified by linga worship.
13.3.3 Shaktism
Unlike the other two sects, Shaktism did not begin by centering on a deity. It
originally began as the worship of the female principle, the Shakta – in
Brahmanism. Shakta is derived from Shakti (power, energy) denoting power as,
or of, the goddess. As a principle, she was the consort of the three chief gods.
Thus, she was Saraswati to Brahma, Lakshmi to Vishnu and Parvati or Durga to
Siva. It was only in the early centuries of the Common Era that Shakti became a
Devi and was worshipped as such in a cult dedicated solely to her worship. Since
the worship of the female principle as mother goddess is believed to have been
common among groups that were as yet untouched by Brahmanism, the Shakti
cult developed a large following and further was central to Tantrism. The prime
text of Shaktism is the Devi Bhagavata Purana.
There is no prominent female deity in the Vedas. While the idea of energy in the
form of the consort of Indra does exist, it does not come to completion till a later
time. The non-Brahmanical origins of the goddess figure from the fact that earlier
Brahmanical texts do not mention her. The goddess is named in several Puranas
and most notably in the Devi Mahatmya, a eulogy on the Goddess, which forms
a section of the Markandeya Purana. The multiple goddesses from various cults
gradually came to be identified as one main goddess. From the association of
goddesses with various elements like the mountains (Parvati), difficult terrain
186
(Durga), demons (Durga), tribal practices (Durga), death (Kali), one can clearly Religions and Religious
Practices
ascertain their less than Vedic character. They not only were worshipped
individually but also as the almighty Devi which again points to the Puranic
process of acculturation. While Shaktism employs the female principle as a
universal divine figure, whether this improved the condition of women is
debateable.
From the discussion of Vaishnavism, Saivism and Shaktism it is clear that these
cannot be seen as homogeneous, static entities. There was a constant merging
and evolving of several religious streams, of synthesis but not complete
integration. The Puranic tradition represents the religious shifts especially the
shift from an excluding religion to a much more inclusive one.
13.4 SOME IMPORTANT FEATURES OF PURANIC

RELIGION
Image and temple worship, pilgrimage, vrata, mantra, ritual specialists and bhakti
are some of the most important elements of Puranic tradition. Image worship
gradually became established as an alternative to the Vedic yajna. For most
devotees, the need to have an accessible focus to venerate their chosen deity was
instrumental to the fashioning of the icon. Though the divine was formless and
invisible, it was also believed that the chosen deity can take up residence in her/
his images — murti or pratima. It was seen as an act of graciousness on the part
of the deity to become visible as an icon. After ritual consecration that icon is
animated. He is treated like a living being and a whole repertoire of rituals
pertaining to awakening, ritual bathing, garlanding, offering of food, resting and
sleeping of the deity emerged. Worship in the temples became elaborate. Once
idols were brought into existence, ‘residences’ (mandira, devalaya) for them
became objects of veneration. Image worship became an important feature by
the last centuries BCE. Initially natural caves or shrines made with perishable
material were used. Stone temples began to be built in significant numbers from
the middle of the first millennium CE. Gradually, those in search of the
transcendental divine started journeying to a sacred place much larger than the
temple. Pilgrims began to take journey on foot or carts, living very simply, with
few material comforts. The centre of pilgrimage was called the tirtha. It comes
from the root tri which means to ‘cross over’. Tirtha can be translated as ‘crossing
place’ or ‘ford’, through which the devotee ‘crosses over’ from ‘this shore’ of the
mundane world, of ignorance of god, to the other shore — the ‘far shore’ of
liberation from individual existence. The stories of tirthas were recounted in
mahatmyas (hymns of praise). They laud particular places or deities and formed
part of the Puranic tradition.
Thus there were religious shifts that formed part of the development of Hindu
Puranic tradition. The shift from the yajna to puja (mostly image worship) by
nearly all is an example in this regard. The shift from rituals in which a plot of
land is temporarily cordoned off and made into a sacred spot by experts in a
consecration rite, to worship in permanent structures open to a far wider range of
devotees is another.
The vrata is another feature in which the right of participation was extended to
everyone, irrespective of caste or gender. The term vrata is derived from the root
‘vri’, which means ‘to surround, encompass’. The vrata was a practice that could
187
Transition to Early Medieval encompass all the members of the community. A vrata was a ‘vowed observance’,
India
a ‘religious act of devotion or austerity’ which one took for a certain period of
time. They were performed for the fulfilment of specific wishes. The Puranas
emphasize the austere, restrictive aspects of vratas and the observance of vrata
was similar to the accumulation of tapas (spiritual energy). In the Brahmanaial
religious tradition women and sudras were debarred from many religious
activities. However in the Puranic tradition, both men and women from all social
groups were allowed to practice vrata. The katha element of vrata which recounts
the purpose why a vrata came to be observed, became an effective medium for
the transmission of messages — particularly Brahamanical messages contained
in the Epic-Puranic tales — to a large and diverse gathering of people.
Check Your Progress Exercises

1) Describe how Brahamanism was facing challenges in the middle of the first
millennium BCE? What did Vedic ritualists do to meet this challenge?
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2) Discuss the three sects of Puranic Hinduism: Vaishnavism, Saivism and
Shaktism briefly.
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13.5 THE BHAKTI MOVEMENT

The Bhakti movement is of crucial importance in studying the history of Indian
religion because it was one of the most extensive and widespread religious
movements in the sub-continent. They never united into a single phenomenon at
a particular time and place.
Bhakti is generally translated as ‘devotion’. The Bhakti movement centred on

the relationship between the devotee and a personal god. The idea of bhakti in
the sense of devotion to a personal god is present in the Bhagvadgita. However
the relationship between the deity and the bhakta is very different from the much
more emotional bhakti of the cults which appeared in the mid-first millennium
CE. Even though Krishna and Arjuna are related to each other and are good
friends in the Mahabharata, it is mostly Krishna who speaks to Arjuna in the
Bhagvadgita as the supreme God and all-knowing guru. Arjun listens intently
and his attitude is that of subservience. On the other hand, the bhakti movement
which began later is characterised by a devotee who expresses his emotions,
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articulates what he desires. A. K Ramanujan puts it succinctly, “The emphasis Religions and Religious
Practices
has shifted from hearing to speaking, from watching to dancing, from passive to
an active role…”
In Bhakti, the relationship between a devotee and his or her god was not mediated
through a priest. In certain Bhakti traditions god was considered to be so close
that he became a part of the individual. Love and devotion to god is envisioned
in terms of several relationships. For the Warkaris the relationship is envisaged
as that of a child (the devotee) with that of its parents, primarily the mother.
Sometimes, it is separation from god or pain of that separation (viraha) that
drives devotee’s actions. In the Vaishnavite and Saivite traditions the desire of
the soul for god is viewed as a relationship of love. The concept of viraha provided
an avenue to incorporate folk songs pertaining to conjugal separation. Prior to
this, the stress had been on the ritual performances of the householder or the
abstention of ascetics. This new alternative focussed more on personal devotion
to a supreme deity. Bhakti marga involved deep devotion and love towards the
supreme. Similarly, modes of worship ranged from internal spiritualism to worship
and rituals in temples. So, while many bhakti traditions rejected externalised
religious practices, all did not. Some poet-saints, thus, advocate seeing god in all
human activities rather than in purely ritualized ones.
Bhakti movements spread from the south to the north. It was started by the Shaiva
Nayanars and the Vaishnava Alvars in present-day Tamil Nadu around the
6th century. Thus, the earliest Bhakti movements were led by the Alvars who
were devotees of Vishnu and the Nayanars who were devotees of Siva. In the
initial phase the Bhagavata movements of the south consisted of very few non-
brahmanas and women, but this changed later. These early movements were co-
terminus with the rise of early medieval kingdoms like those of the Pallavas,
Cholas, Pandyas and Cheras who supported it. In north India, on the other hand,
heterodox traditions did not receive political patronage at this time. .
However, bhakti cannot really be generalised upon. Each bhakti group was
different in the beliefs it espoused. The literature of each tradition bears a common
thread but each is different in style and tone of composition. The leaders of the
bhakti movement came from different groups and genders. Several of its leaders
were non-brahmanas. They were different from renunciants. While their
relationships with their families did not end, they were detached from all ties. In
this sense, they looked down upon the family and sometimes, upon women from
the point of view of conjugality. While they did not associate with the performance
of magic; miracles were a part of their hagiographies.
Some would argue that one of the connecting features between all movements
that make up the larger bhakti movement is the centrality of the saint-poets to
each of these traditions. The hallmark of the traditions is that their composers
were saint-poets who expressed themselves through spoken words and songs in
regional languages. Thus, they expressed themselves in the language of ordinary
people. Their poems and songs were compiled by followers after their demise.
As these traditions were formed, followers kept removing old ideas that were no
longer meaningful and adding new ones. Most of the sources came down through
an oral tradition, transmitted from one person to the other. These movements
opened up sacred space for the traditionally underprivileged in their respective
contexts. This space had traditionally been closed to them, since being illiterate
they had no access to written religious texts, and could thereby only access them 189
Transition to Early Medieval via mediators. Hence, an important contribution of the bhakti movements was
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providing spiritual knowledge in a vernacular medium and the strengthening of
oral traditions through musical and poetic compositions. The northern tradition
used short poems called pads that could be set to ragas. Therefore, some historians
argue that the aim was not to overturn the existing social order but to create new
sacred spaces within the existing social order.
Important Points
Bhakti practitioners espoused complete devotion to a supreme god.
Salvation was no longer restricted to upper caste men and was open to women
and men of lower castes.
The religious leader changed from brahmana officials to saint-poets.
Sanskrit was no longer the only language for religious texts and texts were
translated and composed in vernacular languages.
Both Brahmanical hegemony and patriarchy were challenged but not
overthrown.
The Bhakti movement emphasized lived experience over doctrine.
In terms of its expansion the Bhakti movement had a lot of success. It spread
over vast parts of the subcontinent and incorporated people from various sections
of society. In the process it succeeded in diminishing the influence of Buddhism
and Jainism in south. However, the movement ultimately ended as it gradually
got subsumed under the patriarchal, Brahmanical order it had arisen against.
Various reasons have been given to explain the lack of success of the Bhakti
movement in enabling large-scale social mobility. Some historians argue that it
may have been because the democratic values espoused by the movement were
far too alien for people to engage with. Some others argue that in a way bhakti
did not challenge the varna hierarchy strongly enough. Some strands allowed a
sudra to attain Brahmanical knowledge, but the problem remained since it did
not challenge Brahmanical supremacy and made Brahmanical learning the
ultimate aim.
Bhakti movement critiqued the oppression of the social order but never the social
order itself. The importance of the bhakti movement lies in its providing a powerful
ideology and the integration of various social groups into its fold. Transgression
and transcendence went hand in hand in the bhakti movement. Thus, Bhakti
offered a powerful critique of the social conditions that existed at that time. It
established that the importance of people lay in what they did and not what they
were born into. As has been discussed, the southern bhakti movements received
political patronage, unlike the northern ones. It is the political patronage extended
to the Nayanars and the Alvars that may have resulted in the movement losing
the values it espoused. Gradually, the hegemonic groups of brahmanas and the
landed class returned as ritual officiates. Thereby, the original intent of the
movement to remove the middle man between god and the devotee was lost.
The Nayanars and the Alvars

As has been previously mentioned, the bhakti movement began with the Nayanars
and Alvars. They espoused devotion to Vishnu and Siva respectively. As the
movement progressed local cults with tribal deities were assimilated into
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Vaishnavism and Saivism. Murugan, a tribal deity, was brought under the Religions and Religious
Practices
Brahmanical fold as part of this process. Mayon was the tribal deity incorporated
into Vaishnavism. Local chiefs from both traditions were recognised as lesser
brahmanas. Because of its ability to encompass more extreme sects, Saivism
developed a broader base. Some historians argue that those following Saivism
came from the lower rungs of society as compared to Vaishnavism.
These sects received political patronage which is reflected in the construction of

temples and the installing of idols. These sects vociferously opposed all other
traditions including the Buddhist and Jaina traditions. Some historians argue
that this may have been the case because all traditions were competing for political
patronage. The Chola rulers, for example, supported both Brahmanism and bhakti
by providing land-grants and constructing temples. The traditions of the Alvars
and the Nayanars were quite similar initially though later they became quite
hostile towards each other.
They received support from the peasant masses. The hymns of the Alvars and
Nayanars were written in the metre of folk songs and, hence, were part of the
more popular musical tradition. One of the direct consequences of these Bhakti
movements was the rise of Tamil linguistic consciousness cutting across various
divisions.
13.5.1 Gender in the Bhakti Tradition

Along with its objections to caste, bhakti also broke down prevailing notions of
gender. While it did challenge these notions, it never succeeded in overthrowing
patriarchal oppression. The various bhakti traditions dealt with gender in various
ways and the extent to which patriarchy was questioned and challenged, differed.
As per the Virashaivite tradition women bear no pollution since the Siva linga
removes all impurity. Yet, in practice women did not enjoy religious equality.
They could not conduct religious ceremonies and could not head the religious
institution of the matha. However, women saints did exist and came from all
caste groups. In fact, several women saints were sudras, including untouchables.
Some were unmarried while others were married with husbands equally devoted
to Virashaivism. It is important to note that Virashaivism had the largest women
following of all the traditions.
The trope of bridal mysticism in which the devotee envisioned themselves as

being married to god, was an important device. Andal was the only woman saint
of the Alvars. Her love for Krishna took on the form of bridal mysticism since
she imagined herself as the bride of her god in a spiritual marriage.
Another trope for posing an indirect challenge to patriarchy was by opting out of
the traditional roles in the household. Where the worldly husband was rejected,
Siva was declared as the spiritual husband.
13.6 TANTRISM
Tantrism influenced varied religious traditions in Asia from at least the middle
of the first millennium CE. It invariably involves a set of techniques for
worshipping the divine, and these can be appropriated by any form of religious
practice. So both Hinduism and Buddhism have been permeated by Tantrism.
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Transition to Early Medieval And within Hinduism, Vaishnavism, Saivism and Shaktism have all had Tantric
India
components.
The terms Tantric and Tantrism are derived from ‘tantra’. The tantras came to
designate a corpus of texts. The tantra texts codified pre-existing practices. The
word tantra is often translated as ‘a loom’. Just as a woven fabric is constituted
by the warf and the woof — two sorts of threads that we see uniting to form the
cloth on the loom, in a similar fashion the male and female principles can be
understood as the components of the divine and tantrism, the instruments for
understanding them.
Connections are often drawn between tribal rites and rituals and Tantrism,
particularly those relating to mother goddess cults. The origin of Tantrism is
often traced to these. Some historians trace Tantric rituals to Ajivika practices
that later got embedded in the Pashupata sect. Despite these murky origins, the
first strands of Tantrism began around 500 CE and the first texts called the Tantras
were composed around 800 CE. Prior to this, the earliest indirect textual evidence
comes from the 7th century in Sanskrit texts like Banabhatta’s Kadambari and
Harshacharita, Mahendravarman’s Mattavilasa and Dandin’s Dashakumaracharita.
The earliest epigraphical evidence is an inscription of Vishvavarman found at
Gangadhar in Rajasthan and dating to 423 CE.
The Tantric religion seems to have flourished between the 8th and 18th centuries.
The Tantric religion is derived from the Tantras, Agamas and Samhitas. Since
these texts are composed in Sanskrit, it is assumed that their main audience was
literate and urban and hence belonging to the upper castes. Yet Tantrism was
more than that. It included popular magic based practices, including those drawn
from the Shakta and Hatha Yoga traditions. The sources for these traditions are
also vernacular and, hence, gave access to a wider audience. Therefore, Tantric
religion would also have included members of lower castes and even people
from rural areas. It was mainly followed in the northern parts of the subcontinent,
with less evidence from the south. Its greatest following was in present-day Bihar,
Bengal, Assam, Kashmir, Nepal, Tibet, Punjab and Rajasthan.
Just as with bhakti it is important to trace the reasons for the rise of Tantrism.
Some scholars contend that mainstream religion had become incomprehensible.
It could no longer adequately satisfy the religious needs of the people. This paved
the way for the rise of Tantrism.
Tantrism involved the introduction of folk elements of religion into the
mainstream. This also included cultic and tribal practices. Thus, Tantrism saw
the introduction of tribal goddesses and practices into the mainstream. Another
reason particularly for the inclusion of goddesses is related to the Tantric focus
on the female principle.
Tantric Buddhist monasteries flourished in Bihar during the 7th century CE. The
cult of Tara is an important part of Tantrism. She is considered to be the female
counterpart of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. Various kinds of practices can
be included in Tantric religion. These include shamanic and yogic practices,
Shakta worship, worship of the Matrikas and Tantric forms of Brahmanical and
Buddhist goddesses, the Kapalikas and the Kaulas. The matrikas are a group of
seven goddesses considered to be mothers. The Tantric sect of the Saiva
Siddhantas was called Agamanta Saivism. It flourished in the 11th century and
had the Chola kings as patrons.
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As with Bhakti, Tantrism is an umbrella term for a variety of beliefs and practices. Religions and Religious
Practices
However, commonalities between the various strands of Tantrism are less nuanced
and far easier to identify. There are two basic principles that form the basis of all
Tantrism:
1) Firstly, Tantrism does not accept the authority of the Vedas.
2) Fertility rites form a major part of Tantrism.
In Tantrism, in general, the female principle of Prakriti is of greater importance
than the male one (Purusha). Each principle is conceived of as man or woman
and the union of the two leads to creation. The other principles that differed from
one tradition to the other may be briefly discussed. It began by rejecting the
caste system and patriarchy. Some of their most prominent teachers came from
the lower rungs of society. Liberation was to be attained by sincerity to work and
profession irrespective of what that was. Menstrual blood was not considered
polluting but instead considered sacred. Tantra did not believe in idol worship
because the body served as a microcosm of the universe. The human body contains
both the female and the male principle and it is the union of the two that is the
ultimate goal of Tantric practice. Hence, the maintenance of the body was crucial
and, ultimately, death was to be overcome.
Women could become spiritual leaders in Tantric cults. They were, thus,
conversant with the principles and beliefs in Tantrism. Caste lines were to be
transgressed. The Shakti in Tantrism has been identified as the consort of
mainstream gods, for example Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu; Radha, the consort
of Krishna; Devi, the consort of Siva and the different goddesses associated with
the Boddhisattvas.
The outreach of Tantrism cannot be gauged. It did have some success in enabling
Brahmanical expansion into new places, including tribal communities. Some
historians credit Tantrism with bringing women into the fold of Buddhism and
Jainism.
Important Points
The word Tantra was initially used to refer to a guiding principle, but it
later came to be used in a religious sense.
Deeksha (initiation) was an important part of Tantric belief, and it was looked
upon as a sort of rebirth.
Tantra treats the human body as the epitome of the universe. It was
extensively associated with medical, alchemical and other sciences closely
associated with the body.
Time was central in Tantrism.
It rejected Vedic asceticism.
Fertility cult was central to it and this extended to the fertility of the land.
In the course of time Tantrism began to discriminate devotees on the basis of
class. For them legitimate learning came from the texts and thus it started to
drive away the illiterate. In its later days it was mainly followed by more
economically privileged individuals. Tantrism ended as it gradually got
sanskritised and received royal and political patronage. So, whilst its legacy is
visible, its larger appearance has diminished and vanished.
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Transition to Early Medieval Check Your Progress 2
India
1) Discuss the main features of Bhakti Movements.
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2) Discuss the main features of Tantrism.
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13.7 SUMMARY
In this Unit we discussed the challenges that Brahamanical religion started facing
by the sixth century BCE. The Vedic ritual was only accessible to a few,
particularly the upper sections of the society. Sudras and women were adversely
affected. The Brahmanical religion struggled to meet the challenges posed by
the rise of heterodoxical sects by bringing into existence certain texts like the
Epics and the Puranas which were more inclusive and accommodating. We
discussed the major forms of Puranic tradition of Hinduism — Vaishnavism,
Saivism and Shaktism. The mediacy of the priest in the relationship between the
devotee and the god was eradicated with the emergence of the Bhakti movement.
By the middle of the first millennium CE, nearly all the major religious traditions
got permeated with Tantrism. However both Bhakti and Tantrism lost their flavour
as gradually the greater tradition reinforced itself.
13.8 KEY WORDS

Deeksha: initiation in Tantrism.
Prakriti: the female principle.
Purusha: the male principle.
Saivism: the cult of Siva and its regional manifestations.
Vaishnavism: the cult of Vishnu with its regional manifestations.

EXERCISES
1) See Section 13.2
194 2) See Section 13.3
Check Your Progress Exercise 2 Religions and Religious
Practices
1) See Section 13.5
2) See Section 13.6

Bhandarkar, R.G. (2014). Vaishnavism, Saivism and other Minor Cults. Routledge.
Bhattacharya, N. N. (2005). History of the Tantric Religion: An Historical,
Ritualistic, and Philosophical Study. Delhi.
Chakrabarti, Kunal (2018). Religious Process: The Puranas and the Making of a
Religious Tradition. 2nd Edition. Oxford University Press.
Ramaswamy, Vijaya (1997). Walking Naked: Women, Society, Spirituality in South
India. Shimla.
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BLOCK 4
CULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS
Cultural Developments
198
Languages and Literature
UNIT 14 LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE*
Structure
14.0 Objectives
14.1 Introduction
14.2 The Oral and Written in Ancient India
14.3 Languages
14.3.1 Sanskrit
14.3.2 Prakrits and Pali
14.3.3 Dravidian Languages
14.4 Literature
14.4.1 Significance of Indian Literature
14.4.2 Vedic Literature
14.4.3 The Epics and the Puranas
14.4.4 The Tantra Literature (Samhitas, Agamas, Tantras)
14.4.5 Classical Sanskrit Poetry
14.4.6 Narrative Poetry
14.4.7 The Drama
14.4.8 Sanskrit Prose Literature
14.4.9 Pali Literature
14.4.10 Prakrit Literature
14.4.11 Tamil Literature
14.4.12 Folk Poetry
14.5 Summary
14.6 Key Words
14.0 OBJECTIVES
the meaning of language and literature;
the significance of oral and written in early India;
the various languages current in early India; and
the kinds of literature that were written down in early India.
14.1 INTRODUCTION
Language is commonly considered as a means of communication. But, it is also
a reflection of the society it has evolved in. There are various factors that contribute
to the evolution of a language. These factors, in turn, help us in understanding
ideals, norms, practices and ways of thinking of the society. In this Unit, we will
be focusing on various languages that evolved in the ancient period — ‘elite’
and ‘popular’ languages — their importance, nature and various factors that
* Dr. Oly Roy, Assistant Professor in History, Amity University, Noida

199
Cultural Developments influenced their rise. Literature of the ancient Indian historical period is vast. An
attempt has also been made to include as many texts as possible that will help in
understanding the literature of this phase and its contributions.
14.2 THE ORAL AND WRITTEN IN ANCIENT

INDIA1
Oral tradition or oral culture refers to those traditions or cultures where human
knowledge is handed down and practiced by the words of mouth, from one
generation to the next. The written culture on the other hand is a literary tradition
based on language that has script. Which of these traditions was dominant in
India? Scholars believe that one cannot talk of rigid divisions between literary
and oral traditions. They were not mutually exclusive categories. Let us take the
example of the Vedas which are regarded as one of the earliest specimens of
Indian written literature. One term that was used to describe these sacred texts
was sruti which means ‘hearing’ or ‘listening’. The reason is that the texts of the
Vedas were circulated in oral traditions, recounted in oral-aural interactions, before
they were written on manuscripts. In such contexts one needs to “distinguish
between mode of origin (or composition) and the mode of transmission. For
instance, many texts of medieval Indian Bhakti saints (such as Basavanna), were
most probably composed orally, written down later by disciples and then
disseminated orally again. Obviously there was also a transmission through
writing. Thus the written form is only a part of the history of the texts, one phase
in the cycle of transmission” (Blackburn and Ramanujan 1986: 4). Thus, the
demarcation between oral and written tradition in the real cultural manifestations
is highly fragile which makes it complicated to label a particular phenomenon
as oral or written in absolute terms. Instead of a rigid line of segregation, there
exists a continuum between both the traditions. The oral-written continuum is
very much a part of Indian culture. In fact, the continued interaction between
oral and written lore and the striking cultural productions thereof, is a distinctive
feature of Indian culture. The well - known anthologies of stories, such as
Brihatkatha, Pancatantra, Vetalapanchavimsati, and the great Epics like the
Ramayana and Mahabharata etc. demonstrate how the narratives in oral
circulation later became written texts. The remarkable diffusion of these stories
within and outside the Indian territory was in fact the result of the many phased
transmissions from oral to written and written to oral discourses that took place
at different points of time.
14.3 LANGUAGES
India has a rich heritage of languages and literature. Through the centuries many
languages were born. Some of them might not be spoken today but have left a
rich literature and a lasting influence over almost all languages of India. Many
of the religious texts of the Hindus, the Buddhists and the Jainas are available in
these languages which include Sanskrit and Pali.
The languages of India are divided broadly into two families i.e. Indo-Aryan and
Dravidian. Most of the languages spoken in northern India belong to the former
and the languages of southern India to the latter.
1
This section has been taken from MFC-003, Block I, Unit 2
200
One should remember that these languages did not grow in isolation. Both families Languages and Literature
have influenced each other. Sanskrit was the language of the Indo-Aryans. It
was gradually standardized and given a highly scientific grammar by Panini in
the 4th century BCE. It was a language of the upper classes and castes. It was the
court language for centuries and was used extensively for literary purposes. The
common people used not only Sanskrit but also different dialects. They were
called Prakrits. Buddhist literature is in Pali, one of the Prakrits. In the course of
time many spoken forms called “apabhramsas” developed in different part of
the country. These apabhramsas developed into regional languages. Among the
Dravidian languages Tamil is the oldest. Other languages developed during the
first millennium of the Common Era.
14.3.1 Sanskrit
The oral sources in India were preserved meticulously; they were so carefully
memorized that the text almost came to be frozen, as was the case with Vedic
ritual compositions. The language of the Vedas was a more archaic form of Sanskrit
that is now called Old Indo-Aryan. This differentiated it from the later forms of
Sanskrit referred to as Classical Sanskrit. The Indo-Aryan is of the Indo-European
family of languages.
Old Sanskrit is known to us, strangely enough, from somewhat later documents.
The original composition of the oldest part of the Vedic collections of hymns,
our oldest texts, is placed conservatively at 1200 BCE. These hymns form the
basic part of the scriptures of the Brahamanical religion. A second, slightly
divergent type of Old Sanskrit is known to us from the Brahmanas, the prose
texts of the Brahmanical religion, and from the grammar of Panini and its ancillary
works. Sanskrit, was spoken round the fourth century BCE by the upper class
somewhere in north-western India. As a standard dialect and later as a literary
and scholastic language, it gradually came into official use all over Brahamanical
India; in the inscriptions it appears first round 150 BCE and a few centuries later
entirely supersedes the dialects of the Prakrit type; from that time to the present,
written according to the rules of Panini’s grammar, it has served as the medium
of an enormous body of artistic and scholarly literature.
Through a process of acculturation many‘non-Aryan’ words entered the Sanskrit

language. These texts were related to rituals and thus, wrong pronunciation would
have been catastrophic. This was considered impure and sinful. In order to
maintain the purity of language, there was a need to develop grammar and science
of phonetics. The oldest Indian linguistic text, Yaska’s Nirukta, explaining obsolete
Vedic words, dates from the 5th century BCE and Panini’s grammar, the
Ashtadhyayi (“Eight Chapters”), was probably composed towards the end of the
4th century BCE. According to many scholars, Panini’s work helped the language
to gain a ‘classic’ status except in its vocabulary.The great grammar of Panini,
which effectively stabilized the Sanskrit language, incorporated the work of many
earlier grammarians.
Panini’s grammar consists of over 4,000 grammatical rules. Later Indian grammars
are mostly commentaries on Panini, the chief being the “Great Commentary”
(Mahabhasya) of Patanjali (2nd century BCE) and the “Banaras Commentary”
(Kasika Vrtti) of Jayaditya and Vamana (7th century CE).
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Cultural Developments Panini’s grammar was widely accepted. With Panini the language was fixed, and
could only develop within the framework of his rules. It was from the time of
Panini onwards that the language began to be called Samskrita, “perfected” or
“refined”, as opposed to the Prakrtas (“natural”), the popular dialects which had
developed naturally. Panini’s work was most probably based on the language as
it was spoken in the north-west.
Sheldon Pollockin his book The Language of the Gods in the World of Men:
Sanskrit, Culture, and Power in Pre-modern India has divided the transformations
in culture and power in pre-modern India into two phases. The first occurred
around the beginning of the Common Era, when Sanskrit, a sacred language,
was restricted to religious practice, was reinvented for literary and political
expression. This development according to him marked the beginning of an
‘amazing career’ which made Sanskrit literary culture to spread across most of
southern Asia from Afghanistan to Java.The second phase occurred around the
beginning of the second millennium, when local speech forms were recognized
as literary languages and began to challenge Sanskrit for both poetry and polity,
and in the end replaced it.
While Sanskrit was the language of the upper class, the masses used Prakrit or
Pali.Popular languages which were recognized as ‘literary’ languages are
mentioned below:
1) The most important was the ecclesiastical language of the Buddhists of
Ceylon, Burma and Siam, the language in which the oldest preserved
collection of sacred writings of Buddhism was written.
2) Buddhist Sanskrit literature.
3) The Jainas did not use Sanskrit for their sacred writings; Middle Indian
dialects were divided into two different Prakrits :
a) The Jaina Prakrit (also called Ardhamagadhi or Arsa), the language of
the older works of the Jaina Canon.
b) The Jaina-Maharastri, the language in which the commentaries of the
Jaina Canon and the non-religious poetical works of the Jainas are
written. This was closely related to Prakrit, which has been used most
frequently as a literary language for secular writing.
4) The Maharastri, the language of Maharastra, the land of the Marathas.
5) The Sauraseni. Its foundation is the dialect of Surasena, the capital of which
is Mathura.
6) People of the lower classes spoke Magadhi in the dramas, the dialect of
Magadha.
7) Paisaci was spoken in the drama by the members of the lowest sections of
society. The word probably originally designated the dialect of a branch of
Pisacas, although the Indians declared it to be the language of the demons
called Pisacas. A famous book of narrative literature, Gunadhya’s Brhatkatha
was also composed in Paisaci dialect.
8) Lastly, the Apabhramsa which is used in popular poetry, in Jaina romances
and occasionally in drama, stands midway between the Prakrit and the
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modern Indian vernaculars: for “Apabhramsa” is a general term for literary Languages and Literature
idioms which, though based on the Prakrit, were more closely adapted to
certain popular dialects.
14.3.2 Prakrits and Pali

By the time of the Buddha the masses were speaking languages which were
much simpler than Sanskrit. These were the Prakrits.
Prakrit
Prakrit was the linguafranca of the masses. It was used in the production of
various literary texts across the subcontinent from about the second or third
century. It has been used in various inscriptions of ruling dynasties across South
Asia over the first four or five centuries.
Prakrit reflects regional subtypes. The scholarly developments in Sanskrit had

put Prakrit under pressure and grammars, dictionaries and various treatises came
to be written in Prakrit. Both Sanskrit and Prakrit coexisted, but they occupied
diverse spaces. Inscriptions of pre-Gupta times especially the Ashokan edicts
are in Prakrit. Various secular literatures were composed in Prakrit. Prakrits were
much simpler than Sanskrit both in sound and grammar.
One very important early popular dialect was Pali, which became the language
of the Sthaviravadin Buddhists. The Buddha probably taught in Magadhi, but
with time his doctrines were adapted to local dialects. The language chosen by
the Sthaviravadins was a Western one, probably spoken in the region of Sanchi
and Ujjayini.
Pali
This language contains within itself local variants and subscribing it to a particular
region is difficult. Jainas, like the Buddhists rejected Sanskrit and adopted
Ardhamagadhi for their texts. However, around the second century, Buddhist
treatises in north India and in much of South Asia excluding the peninsula were
written in Sanskrit. But it is not clear as to what made the Buddhists adopt Sanskrit
after half a millennium. Some scholars believe that the Buddhists realized that
they will not be able to influence the brahmanas unless they opted for a language
that the brahmanas favoured. It has also been argued that adoption of Sanskrit
language was the result of penetration of Buddhism westwards into Mathura and
the core region of Aryavarta which was the main region of vaidika culture.
Other important Prakrits were Saurasena, spoken originally in the western part
of modem Uttar Pradesh; and Maharastri, spoken in the north-western Deccan.
Saurasena was particularly used in drama, by women and respectable people of
the lower orders. Maharastri was a literary language, especially popular for lyric
songs. There were several other Prakrits of lesser importance. By the time of the
Guptas, the Prakrits were standardized and had lost their local character.
Apabhramsha
We also find literary productions in Apabhramsha. Dandin defines Apabhramsha
as, “What is called ‘Apabhramsha’ is the language of the Abhiras and others
when used in literary works; whereas in scholarly discourse anything that deviates
from correct Sanskrit is so named.” The word, ‘Apabhramsha’ implies deviation
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Cultural Developments from standard Sanskrit. By the middle of the second millennium, Apabhramsha
and to a lesser degree Prakrit had come to be used almost exclusively by the
Jainas, where as brahmanas monopolized Sanskrit. Literary texts in Apabhramsha
were produced increasingly according to Dandin in its birthplace i.e. in western
India.
Sinhalese
The development of Sinhalese can be traced in inscriptions and literature from
the 2nd century BCE down to the present day. It was influenced by the local
variants, and also by Tamil; Sinhalese developed rapidly and independently. By
the beginning of the Common Era, Sinhalese was no longer a Prakrit, but a distinct
language.
Bhutabhasha
Dandin refers to another language which was used for literature, Bhutabhasha,
elsewhere known as Paishachi (the speech of the Bhutas/Pisacas).
The question that arises here is that what made the above languages
(Apabhramsha, Sinhalese and Bhutabhasha/Paishachi) a tool for literary
expression? The one distinctive feature shared by them was their availability
across region, ethnicity, sect, and time. They were not rooted to any particular
place, people, creed, or era and social limitations. Some regions did continue,
historically, to show preference for one or the other language.
Neither language ever enjoyed the vast diffusion that Sanskrit received. Second,
neither Prakrit after the fourth century nor Apabhramsha at any time was used
for articulating political discourse of any kind.
14.3.3 Dravidian Languages

Dravidian is virtually an independent group of languages with a distinctive
character. Earlier Tamil literature had adopted Sanskrit words. This was mainly
due to the growing influence of ‘Aryan’ culture. Telegu and Canarese, which
were spoken further north, were naturally even more strongly influenced by
Sanskrit. Canarese first appears in inscriptions at the end of the 6th century, and
its earliest surviving literature goes back to the 9th century. Telegu did not become
a literary language until the 12th century and only became really important under
the Vijayanagara empire, and was the court language. Malayalam though closely
related to Tamil, was a separate language by the 11th century.
1) What is the significance of oral and written traditions in Early India?
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2) Discuss the main features of the of any two languages of ancient India. Languages and Literature
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14.4 LITERATURE
One of the noteworthy features of Indian literature is its vastness. It has embraced
within itself various cultural, socio-political traits and changes. According to
many, ancient Indian literature lacked historicity. This is not true. If one goes
through this vast ocean of knowledge, one can have a good understanding of
various transformations that took place in ancient Indian history. To understand
history, it is very important to be cognizant of the thinking of the period, which
the texts of the period reflect clearly.
14.4.1 Significance of Indian Literature

Maurice Winternitz rightly points out, “Indian literature embraces everything
which the word ‘literature’ comprises in its widest sense: religious and secular,
epic, lyric, dramatic and didactic poetry, as well as narrative and scientific prose.
The Indian collections of fairy-tales, fables and prose narratives have played no
insignificant part in the history of world literature.” Literature was instrumental
in the development of a culture.
In ancient India we not only find narrative and canonical literature, dramas, prose
and poetry, but in addition to that there was a strong inclination for scientific
subjects as well. Therefore we find in India not only an abundant literature on
politics, economics, medicine, astrology and astronomy, arithmetic and geometry;
but also music, singing, dancing and dramatic art, magic and divination; even
erotic are arranged in scientific systems and treated in special manuals of
instruction.
The literature of the period is not only unique for its vastness, but also how it
portrays the process of transculturation and acculturation thus making it important
for the study of society and civilization for historians. The literature in the ancient
Indian period had its own distinct features based on its content and structure. In
the section below we will be discussing various literatures of the period based
on content and structure.
14.4.2 Vedic Literature

The Rigveda covers a long period and has been composed following a strict
metrical pattern and convention.The collection is divided into ten “circles”
(mandalas) or books.The hymns contain many repetitions. Vedic literature consists
of three different classes of literary works; and to each of these three classes
belong a greater or a smaller number of separate works some of which have been
preserved, but also many have been lost. They are:
205
Cultural Developments i) Samhitas, i.e. “Collections,” namely collections of hymns, prayers,
incantations, benedictions, sacrificial formulas and litanies.
ii) Brahmanas – voluminous prose texts, which contain theological matter,
especially observations on sacrifice and the practical or mystical significance
of the separate sacrificial rites and ceremonies.
iii) Aranyakas (“forest texts”) and Upanishads (“secret doctrines”) – which
are partly included in the Brahmanas themselves, or attached to them, but
partly are also counted as an independent work. They contain the meditations
of forest hermits and ascetics on God, the world, and mankind, and there is
contained in them a good deal of the oldest Indian philosophy.
14.4.3 The Epics and the Puranas

There existed one or several collections of Itihasas and Puranas, made up of
myths and legends, legends of gods and tales of demons, snake deities, old sages
(Rsis) and kings of ancient times. They might not have existed in the form of
written literature from the beginning. There are references to story-tellers in
various literary works of the period. The authors, reciters and preservers of this
heroic poetry were the bards, usually called the Sutas, who lived at the courts of
kings and recited or sang their songs at great feasts glorifying the princes. They
also went to battlefields which would enable them to sing praises of the warriors.
Apart from them, there were also travelling singers, called Kusilavas, who
memorized the songs and publicly sang them.
Puranas
The Puranas were recited in popular gatherings and were generally considered
as the scripture of the masses. What is really intriguing is the fact that they
represent how brahmanas were compelled to give up their elitist style and take
cognizance of the lower stratum of the society. One of the major problems
regarding the Puranas is that they were not necessarily composed by a single
author or at any particular point of time. Dating the Puranas is a problematic
task. According to many scholars the Puranas received their final form during
the Gupta period. Ludo Rocher implies the same. R.C.Hazra’s work on Puranas
provides a close understanding of the Puranas. He traces the effect of changes
and developments on the Puranas. The various factors that influenced the literary
production were early religious movements, foreign invasions and emergence of
new occupations. There were eighteen major Puranas: the Markandeya, Vayu,
Brahmanda, Vishnu, Matsya, Bhagvata, Kurma, Vamana, Linga, Varaha, Padma,
Narada, Agni, Garuda, Brahma, Skanda, Brahmavaivarta and the Bhavisya
Purana.
Various narratives found in the Puranas are found in the Epics as well. The
Epics are an encyclopedia of historic accounts that makes them an undeniably
major primary source for historians.
Mahabharata
Truly, the Mahabharata is in itself a ‘whole literature’ which contains legends of
gods, mythological narratives of brahmanical origin, and to a great extent even
didactic sections for the propagation of brahmanical philosophy and doctrines
‘for the strengthening and consolidation of their influence.’ The Mahabharata
206 had a huge influence on South Asian culture. The Mahabharata embraced within
itself numerous local myths in ‘true Purana style’, Visnu and Siva myths, and Languages and Literature
Purana-like cosmologies, geographical lists and genealogies. The Mahabharata
also incorporated ‘ascetic poetry’ which implies the attempt of the Brahmanic
priestly class to influence the masses. This included the ascetics, forest hermits
and mendicants, the founders of sects and monastic orders.Thus, the Mahabharata
apart from being an epic, is also a work of poetic art (kavya), a manual (Sastra)
of morality, law and philosophy with reference to the oldest tradition (smrti) for
the purpose of legitimation.
Ramayana
The Ramayana is not as lengthy as the Mahabharata and is more uniform in
nature. The authorship is attributed to a sage named Valmiki. The original
Ramayana was most probably composed in the third century BCE by Valmiki on
the basis of ancient ballads. The Ramayana is said to be the ‘first ornate poetry’
of India. Till now the story of Rama, the protagonist of the text and Sita, his wife
(the ideal woman) and Hanuman, Rama’s most trusted ally, is still celebrated in
India. Like the Mahabharata, the Ramayana also suffers from interpolations.
Rama was later made an incarnation of Vishnu.
There has been a Tamil translation of the text dated to about 11th century. The
famous ‘Ramcaritmanas’ was based on Ramayana which was composed around
1571 CE by Tulsi Das. Popular scenes from the Ramayana are still performed in
northern India. This shows the great popularity of this Epic in the sub-continent.
14.4.4 The Tantra Literature (Samhitas, Agamas, Tantras)

Tantric influences have been noticed in several later Puranas, with respect to the
cult of Shakti, the female deities etc. The “Samhitas” are the sacred books of the
Vaishnavas, the “Agamas” those of the Saivas and the “Tantras” those of the
Shaktas. Though tantra literature was not against what the Vedas propounded,
they were of the view that what was mentioned in the Vedas was too difficult to
follow and for that reason it was necessary to introduce an easier cult and doctrine.
These texts were not only accessible to the people of higher caste, but also to
women and the lower stratum of the society. A complete Tantra (Samhita, Agama)
should consist of four parts:
i) Jnana, “knowledge”;
ii) Yoga, i.e. “meditation, concentration,” with a view to acquiring magic
powers, hence also “magic” (mayayoga);
iii) Kriya, “action,” i.e. instructions for the making of idols and the construction
and consecration of temples;
iv) Carya, “conduct,” i.e. rules regarding rites and festivals, and social duties.
According to Winternitz, “the Tantras and the curious excrescences and

degenerations of religion described in them, are not drawn from popular belief
or from popular traditions either of the aboriginal inhabitants or of the Aryan
immigrants, but they are the pseudo-scientific productions of theologians, in
which the practice and theory of Yoga and doctrines of the monist (advaita)
philosophy are seen mingled with the most extravagant symbolism and
occultism.”
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Cultural Developments 14.4.5 Classical Sanskrit Poetry
The earliest surviving Sanskrit poetry is that of the Buddhist writer Ashvaghosa,
who is believed to have lived around the end of the 1st century CE, and who
composed Buddhacarita in simple classical style. The Girnar Inscription of
Rudradaman, dated CE 150, is the earliest surviving example of courtly Sanskrit
prose.
The poetry in Sanskrit was written mainly for recitation or performance at court,
or for small circles of intellectuals.
The subjects covered by the Indian poets were love, nature, panegyric, moralizing
and storytelling. Though religious subjects were also included with regard to the
legends of gods but profound religious thoughts were comparatively rare in courtly
literature.
14.4.6 Narrative Poetry

There are various collections, popular stories, the Brhatkatha (“Great Story”).The
most famous one being Somadeva’s “Ocean of Story” (Katha-sarit-asagara),
written in the 11thcentury in ‘easy’ and‘polished’ verse. The stories are narrated
with simplicity including humour and tragedy. Other works include Kalhana’s
great chronicle of Kashmir “The River of Kings”, “The Deeds of Harsha”, by
Bana, written in ornate poetic prose; “The Deeds of Vikramanka”
(Vikramankadevacarita) of Bilhana, dealing with the life and adventures of the
great Chalukya emperor Vikramaditya VI (c. 1075-1125); Ramacarita, and the
work of a Jaina monk, Nayacandra Suri, the Hammira-mahakavya, which is
among the latest important works of Sanskrit literature.
14.4.7 The Drama

The origin of Indian theatre is still not clear. But dramatics was not new to ancient
India. There are references to dramatic performances during the Vedic period.
We find instances which point to the enactment at festivals. Some writers have
found elements in common between the Indian and the classical Greek theatre.
Sanskrit dramas are numerous. They range from one-act plays to very long plays
in ten acts. Dramas might have been performed privately or semi-privately in
palaces or the homes of the rich, or were given public showing in temple courts
on days of festival.
Kalidasa’s plays are celebrated even now. The three plays of Kalidasa which has
survived are:
i) Malavikagnimitram: that narrates the love of king Agnimitra for Malavika.
The play was set in the Sunga period;
ii) Vikramorvasiyam: the play tells the story of the love of Pururavas and Urvasi;
iii) Abhijnanasakuntalam: this is considered to be the ‘masterpiece’ of Kalidasa.
The earliest known dramas to have survived are fragments of plays by
Ashvaghosa. The oldest complete plays are attributed to Bhasa, which seem to
be earlier than those of Kalidasa. Bhasa’s thirteen surviving plays include several
works, notably “The Dream of Vasavadatta” (Svapnavasavadatta) and
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“Yaugandharayana’s Vows” (Pratijnayavgandharayana). Bhasa also wrote a Languages and Literature
number of short dramas based on epic stories.
There were many other dramatists of whom we can only mention a few. They
are:
i) Sudraka’s” The Little Clay Cart” (Mrcchakatika) – This narrates the love of
a poor brahmana Carudatta for the virtuous courtesan Vasantasena. It is said
to be rich in humour and pathos and action.
ii) Visakhadatta (6th century) who was a political dramatist. He has only one
complete surviving play, “The Minister’s Signet Ring” ( Mudraraksasa),
which deals with the schemes of Chanakya.
iii) Bhavabhuti who lived at Kanyakubja in the early 8th century has three
surviving plays — “Malati and Madhava”, “The Deeds of the Great Hero’’
(Mahaviracarita), and “The Later Deeds of Rama” (Uttarardmacarita).
After Bhavabhuti the quality of Sanskrit drama declined. Playwrights of some

merit, such as Bhattanarayana (? 8th century), Murari (early 9th century),
Rajasekhara (9th-10th centuries), and Krsnamisra (11th century), continued to write
dramas but their works were mostly composed more for reading rather than for
performance.
14.4.8 Sanskrit Prose Literature

The earliest surviving prose stories are a few references in the Brahmanas,
followed by the Pali Jatakas. Dandin’s “Tales of the Ten Princes” (Dasakumaracarita)
is a collectionof narrations, simple in style.
Subandhu, one of the great prose writers, is known only from one work, called
after its heroine Vasavadatta, which tells of her love for the prince Kandarpaketu.
Subandhu’s “merits lie in his ornate descriptions and his mastery of language,
and his work consists of a series of descriptive tableaux, linked by a thin thread
of narrative, each long description told in a single sentence which covers two or
more pages of type.”
Bana’s style is said to be similar to that of Subandhu. His works “Deeds of Harsha”
(Harshacharita) and Kadambari hold more importance. In the former work there
is a piece of autobiography that is considered ‘unparalleled’ in Sanskrit literature.
Bana is considered to be an unconventional man. His opinions and his attack on
the theory of royal divinity made him unpopular with his royal patron. What
made him an exclusive personality in ancient India was his empathy for the
‘poor and humble’ and he is considered to be ‘the master of exact observation’.
Prose romances and stories in mixed prose and verse (campu) were often written
after Bana, but none of them were of much literary importance.
Another celebrated literary work of the period is the Pancatantra (“Five

Treatises”) which is a book of instruction in niti, or the conduct of one’s affairs
intended for kings and statesmen. The stories are in the form of narrative and
exist in several versions with varying length and merit, mostly in prose, but
containing many verses of a gnomic type.
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Cultural Developments 14.4.9 Pali Literature
The Pali language was mostly the speech of the ordinary man as compared to
Sanskrit and its style was prosaic.
One of the noted works under Pali has been the Tripitika which is a part of the
Buddhist Canonical literature. The oldest literature of the Buddhists consists of
collections — of speeches or conversations, sayings, songs, narratives and rules
of the order. The Tripitaka is nothing but a great compendium of such collections.
The Tripitaka — the word means “three baskets” — consists of three so-called
pitakas or “baskets”. They are:
i) Vinayapitaka, “basket of the discipline of the order” — This section contains

all that refers to the monastic community (sangha), the rules of the discipline
of the order, precepts for the daily life of monks and nuns and so on.
ii) Suttapitaka, “basket of the Suttas” – The Pali word ‘sutta’ corresponds to
the Sanskrit sutra, but for the Buddhists it means “discourse,” or “sermon.”
Every long or short explanation, frequently in the form of a dialogue, on
one or more points of religion (dhamma) is called a sutta and often also
suttanta (Sanskrit sutranta). The Suttapitaka consists of five nikayas, i. e.
great collections of these suttas or suttantas.
iii) Abhidhammapitaka, “basket of the higher subtleties of the doctrine” — The

texts contained in this section deal with religion but more in the form of
instructions and enumerations.
The Jatakas have been one of the illustrious literary productions under Pali
literature. They were originally in a form different from that of the Pali Canon.
The stories were written down in the present form around fifth century CE. The
Jatakas or Buddhist stories are a collection of folklore that were composed for
the propagation of Buddhist ideas amongst the masses. The Jatakas are considered
to be as one of the ‘classified’ texts of Buddhism. The Jatakas had both a rural
and urban background. Regarding the authorship of the Jatakas, it is not the
work of a single author.
In Pali poetry we get a few verses from the “Songs of the Elder Monks and
Nuns” (Theragatha and Therigatha); a collection of poems ascribed to the great
disciples of the Buddha in the early days of the Order. The style of these poems
is simpler than that of courtly Sanskrit literature and suggests the impact of
‘popular’ songs. The first is attributed to Ambapali, the beautiful courtesan of
Vaishali who became a Buddhist nun.
In case of Pali descriptive poetry we have passages from the Ceylon chronicle,
the Mahavamsa, describing the capture of Vijayanagara, the capital of the Tamil
invader Elara, by the Sinhalese national hero, King Dutthagamani (161-137 BCE).
14.4.10 Prakrit Literature

Prakrit was a language that the Jainas opted for propagating their ideals, like the
Buddhist chose Pali. The Jainas kept in mind the fact that their propaganda should
reach out to the laymen, hence the canonical writings and the earliest
commentaries are written in Prakrit dialects (Magadhi and Maharastri). It was in
210 a later period that the Jainas — the Svetambaras from the 8th century, and the
Digambaras somewhat earlier — used Sanskrit for commentaries and learned Languages and Literature
works as well as for poetry. The term given to the sacred books of Janism, both
by Svetambaras and Digambaras is Siddhanta or Agama. They are unanimously
called the twelve Angas or limbs. There exists detailed knowledge of the Siddhanta
of the Svetambaras.The authority of the sacred texts does not go beyond fifth
century CE. The Jaina canon in Prakrit has similar ‘archaic’ features as the Pali
canon in Buddhism.
The language of this Canon is a Prakrit which is known as Arsa (i.e. “the language
of the Rsis”) or Ardha-Magadhi. Mahavira is said to have preached in this
language. But there is a difference between the language of prose and that of
verses.
There have been lengthy descriptions of the Tirthankaras, of pious monks, mighty
kings, wealthy merchants, prosperous cities etc. over and over again. The style
is more ornate than that of the Pali scriptures, and closer to courtly Sanskrit. The
poetry of the Jainas is better than their prose.
The most important literary work in Prakrit is the Gathasattasai compiled by
Hala. It is a collection of short poems. According to Jan Gonda they are examples
of ‘exceedingly sophisticated verbal art; they follow set patterns, obey strict
literary rules which are product of a long period of development, and show a
sure sense of taste.’ They were meant for an audience who were not the masses
but educated urban and aristocratic public. Assigning an exact date for the text is
difficult. Hala was a king of the south Indian Satavahana dynasty whose reign
can be placed around first century CE. This date is considered to be too early for
the text. It was most probably compiled between third and seventh century CE.
14.4.11 Tamil Literature

Tamil tradition tells of three literary schools (sangam) which met at Madurai.
The first of these was attended by gods and legendary sages, but all its works
have perished. Of the second, there survives only the early Tamil grammar,
Tolkappiyam. The poets of the third Sangam, on the other hand, wrote the “Eight
Anthologies” (Ettutogai), which are the greatest testament of ancient Tamil
literature. But again dating them is problematic as it is almost certain that the
grammar Tolkappiyam, attributed to the second Sangam, is later than many of
the poems of the Third. The poetry of the “Eight Anthologies” is little known
outside the land of its origin.
Poetry in Tamil literature was divided into two main groups: “internal” (agam),
that dealt with love, and “external” (puram), which dealt with the praise of
kings.
Traditionally there were five regions (tinai): the hills (kurinji), the dry lands
(palai), the jungle and woodland (mullai), the cultivated plains (marudam), and
the coast (neytal). Each was concomitant with some aspect of love or war; the
hills were the scene of poems on pre-nuptial love and on cattle-raiding; the dry
lands, of those on the long separation of lovers and on the laying waste of the
countryside; the jungle, on the brief parting of lovers and on raiding expeditions;
the valleys, on post-nuptial love or the deceits of courtesans and on siege; and
the sea coast, on the parting of fishermen’s wives from their partners and on
battle. Every poem of the “Eight Anthologies” was classified in one of the five
sections, but much of the poetry did not follow this formal classification. 211
Cultural Developments “The Eighteen Minor Works” (Padinenkilkanakku) are largely aphorisms and
moralizing in character, the two most famous being Tirukkural, and Naladiyar.
The latter is formal and literary in nature, and contains verses of merit and high
ethical content.
The indigenous style of poetry was getting modified under the influence of
Sanskrit, and Tamil poets took to writing long poems which they called by the
Sanskrit name kavya. The earliest and greatest of these is “The Jewelled Anklet”
(Silappadikaram), which is very different from Sanskrit poetry. Though written
for an educated audience it is near to the life of the people which also makes it
realistic in nature.The traditional author of the poem was Ilangovadigal, the
grandson of the great Chola king Karikalan, who lived around 1st or 2nd century
CE but the poem belongs to several centuries later. It throws light on political
ideas as well. The author though was a great poet, is not considered a great
storyteller who is said to have drawn together the themes of earlier Tamil poets.
But his work contains interesting descriptions which make this literary text and
Kamban’s Ramayanam ‘national epics’ of the Tamil people.
A little later than “The Jewelled Anklet”, its sequel Manimegalai was composed.
It is attributed to the poet Sattan of Madurai. “The Jewelled Anklet”, though
containing many religious and moral lessons was primarily written to tell a story,
while in Manimegalai the story is a mere framework for philosophical
analysis.The heroine, Manimegalai, is the daughter of Kovalan, the hero of “The
Jewelled Anklet”, who became a Buddhist nun on hearing of her former lover’s
death. The story tells of the love of prince Udayakumaran for Manimegalai, and
the miraculous preservation of her chastity. In the end she becomes a Buddhist
nun like her mother. The interesting section is where she holds discussions with
members of various sects, both Hindu and heterodox, and her successful refutation
of their doctrines. Thus this text is important for critically analyzing various
religious traditions and the position of women.
A third Tamil “epic” is the Sivaga-Sindamani which enumerates the exploits of

the hero Sivaga or Jivaka, who excelled in every art from archery to the curing of
snake-bite, and who wins a new bride only to become a Jaina monk after his
many victories. The author was a Jaina named Tiruttakkadevar. His work is
‘fantastic’ and lacks any contact with real life and is said to be influenced by
courtly Sanskrit.
14.4.12 Folk Poetry

One that can be mentioned here is that section of the Buddhist canon called
Samyvtta Nikaya which was first translated into Chinese about CE 440, from a
manuscript acquired in Ceylon by Fa-hsien in 411. Probably the verses here
quoted were sung in India between the time of the codification of the Pali canon
in the 1st century BCE and the beginning of the 5th century CE.

1) Discuss the significance of Ancient Indian literature.
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212
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2) Discuss any two types of literature of ancient India.
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14.5 SUMMARY
Indian civilization is unique and distinct in nature. This uniqueness is reflected
in every facet of Indian history. Language and literature is one of them. Language
and literature is a form of expression. It is a way of expressing an idea with a
purpose which might be transmitted from generation to generation. The study of
literature, language and expressions helps in forming perception and
understanding. Till present times, historians used to critically analyze the
expressions of literature of a particular period and put forward their perceptions
supported by various arguments. These perceptions help to form an in-depth
understanding of history. Indian literature has covered subjects including social,
economic and scientific advancements as well. Thus the critical study of language
and literature not only helps in forming an idea of the cultural history, but also
social, political and economic aspects as well.
14.6 KEY WORDS

Astadhyayi: means literally eight chapters. A text by Panini (end of the 4th century
BCE).
Samskrita: perfected or refined.
Prakrtas: natural; dialect which developed naturally.
Samhita: collection. There are four Samhitas apart from samhitas which are part
of Tantra Literature: Rig, Sam, Yajur and Atharva Veda.

EXERCISES
1) See Section 14.2
2) See Section 14.3 and its relevant Sub-sections
2) See Section 14.4 and its relevant Sub-sections
213
Blackburn, Stuart and Ramanujan, A.K. (1986) (Ed.). Another Harmony: New
Essays on the Folklore of India. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Ollett, Andrew (2017). Language of the Snakes. California: University Of

California Press.
Pollock, Sheldon (2006). The Language Of The Gods In The World Of Men.
California: University Of California Press.
Saloman, Richard (1998). Indian Epigraphy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Winternitz, Maurice (1993). A History of Indian Literature. Volume Two. Delhi:

Motilal Banarasidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
214
Languages and Literature
UNIT 15 SCULPTURE AND
ARCHITECTURE*
Structure
15.0 Objectives
15.1 Introduction
15.2 Post-Mauryan Phase (c.200 BCE-200 CE)
15.2.1 Architecture
15.2.2 Sculpture
15.3 Gupta Phase (c. 300-600 CE)
15.3.1 Architecture
15.3.2 Sculpture
15.4 Post-Gupta Phase
15.4.1 Pallava Architecture
15.4.2 Pallava Relief Sculpture
15.4.3 Architecture under the Chalukyas
15.5 Summary
15.6 Key Words
15.0 OBJECTIVES
stupa architecture in post-Mauryan period;
evolution of Buddhist rock-cut architecture;
temple architecture of the period under study in the context of both cave
temples and free-standing temples; and
various sculptural schools and their chief features.
15.1 INTRODUCTION
This Unit is a survey of art and architecture between the period c.200 BCE-
c. 750 CE. It is a vast period that can be divided into three phases: post-Mauryan,
Gupta and post-Gupta. Each period was marked by significant contributions to
art and architecture. We shall start with the post-Mauryan period: a time of great
prosperity. It was marked by refinement of Mauryan architecture whether it is
the stupa or cave-buildings. Accompanying this was the emergence of three
schools of sculpture: Gandhara, Mathura and Amravati. Gupta epoch set new
standards in rock cut architecture and sculpture. There was also the first emergence
of Hindu cave and structural temples. In post-Gupta era major contributions were
made by Pallava and Chalukya dynasties to temple architecture.
* Dr. Avantika Sharma, Assistant Professor, Indraprastha College for Women, University of
Delhi.
215
15.2 POST-MAURYAN PHASE (c. 200 BCE-200 CE)
The Mauryan period witnessed production of splendid specimens of art by the
state. With the emergence of social groups who could extend substantial patronage
for production of specimens of art, new trends in art activities came about. In the
post-Mauryan period, patronage by different social groups was the main reason
behind the fact that art activities became so widespread all over India and beyond;
it was no longer high art exclusively patronized by the state. There was also,
from the Mauryan period onwards, a shift toward using non-perishable material
i.e. stone as a medium of creative expression. There was also constant interaction
in this period with those art forms that flourished beyond the frontiers of the
Indian sub-continent. There emerged various schools of art. Let us discuss the
main features of post-Mauryan art.
15.2.1 Architecture
Architecture of the post-Mauryan period is mainly in the form of religious
buildings. We can divide them into four categories:
1) Stupas
2) Cave architecture for monks of different religions
3) Royal Shrines of Kushanas
4) Free-standing Sunga pillars.
Stupa
The word stupa is derived from the root stu which means to worship and praise.
In Buddhism it denotes a mound where the relics of the Buddha, his disciples
and famous monks are encased.
The Mauryan emperor Ashoka redistributed the Buddha’s relics and built several
stupas enshrining them. Initially, their building plan was very simple. It consisted
of a hemispherical mound made of bricks enshrining the relics. Its top had a
chhatri within a small railing known as harmika. The stupa was surrounded by a
railing known as vedica. The space enclosed by it was meant for
circumambulation.
The Great Stupa at Sanchi, Frontal View of South Torana. Credit: Photo Dharma. Source:
Wikimedia Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:001_Front_View_of_
South_Gate_(32969983444).jpg).
216
During this period several stupas were also enlarged and modified under the Sculpture and Architecture
patronage of different royal dynasties, traders and artisans. The hemi-spherical
dome was enlarged. On this dome an additional terrace medhi was built for an
additional round of circumambulation. It was provided with a lintel gateway
(torana/toranadvara) that was beautifully decorated with reliefs of Buddhist
motifs and iconography placed at cardinal positions of the vedica.The best
preserved examples are located at Bharhut, Bodhgaya, Sanchi and Amravati.
LEFT: Stupa no. 2, Sanchi. Credit: Kevin RIGHT: Sanchi Stupa no. 3, Front View. Credit:
Standage. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Photo Dharma. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
(https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ ( ht t p s : / / c o mmo n s .w i ki me di a .o rg / w i ki /
File:Sanchi_Stupa_No2.jpg). File:003_Front_View_ (33709016166). jpg).
Rock Cut Architecture

It involved converting a cave into a building. Artisans were often inspired by
contemporary buildings which meant adding elements like pillars (not required
in a cave). The oldest cave buildings were excavated under the Mauryas at Barabar
and Nagarjuni hills, mainly for the Ajivika mendicants. In this period, many
caves were excavated in the Western and Eastern Ghats for religious mendicants.
Those in the Western Deccan are mainly located in Maharashtra.These were
built for Buddhist monks and consisted of two kinds of buildings –
caityas (prayer halls), and
viharas (living quarters).
The caitya was generally designed as a large apse-shaped pillared hall. At its
centre, a stupa (in case of Hinayana sect) or an image of the Buddha (in case of
Mahayana sect) was placed. Its entrance was designed as pillared veranda/
porch.The general design of a vihara is quite simple. It consisted of a main hall
surrounded by small rooms/cells for monks. Its entrance may or may not have a
veranda.
The important cave buildings are at Bhaja, Kondane, Pitalhora, Ajanta caves 9
and 10, Bedsa, Nasik, Karli and Kanheri. Some of these contain inscriptions
which can be paleographically dated. Others can be dated on the similarity of the
architectural styles. Susan Huntington divides these caves into following three
sub-phases:
i) c.100-70 BCE – Bhaja, Kondave, Pitalkhora and Ajanta cave no. 10
ii) c. 100-200 CE– Bedsa
iii) c. 200-300 CE– Karli and Kanheri
217
Cultural Developments Royal Shrines of Kushanas
The Kushanas adopted certain peculiar customs to consolidate their rule. One
such custom was the cult involving the worship of dead rulers; the implication
being that any dissent and revolt against the emperor would mean revolt against
god. For this purpose special shrines were set up. Two of these have been
discovered in Mathura and Surukh Kotal in Afghanistan. The surviving figure in
the former is seated and wearing clothes associated with Scythians, high boots
and tunic. The throne has lions supporting it, possibly derived from the Mauryan
idea of royalty. Its inscription tells us that it was the statue of Vima Kadphises.
Another statue discovered is that of Kanishka. This figure is standing. It wears a
tunic and boots. He is carrying a sword in right hand and a mace in left. The idea
is to give the viewer an impression of his military prowess. Unfortunately, the
head of both the statues has not survived.
Headless Statue of Kanishka, Mathura Musuem. Credit: Biswarup Ganguly. Source:

Wikimedia Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kanishka_enhanced.jpg).
Sunga Pillars
Best specimen of a Sunga pillar is the Heliodorus pillar at Besnagar near Vidisha,
Madhya Pradesh. It was commissioned by Heliodorus, Greek ambassador to the
Sungas, around 113 BCE. He is one of the earliest recorded Greek converts
to Hinduism. The 7-line Brahmi inscription identifies the pillar as Garuda-dhvaja
installed to showcase his devotion to Bhagavata cult. This cult is considered a
predecessor of Vishnu cult. The inscription is the first known inscription in India
related to Vaishnavism.
218
In many ways the pillar is different from Mauryan lion-capitals. It is half their Sculpture and Architecture
size. The shaft does not have a smooth appearance and there is slight decoration
in the form of garland and geese motifs. The capital consists of a reverse lotus
with its leaves visible. Atop was perhaps a garuda sculpture as the name Garuda-
dhvaja suggests. The pillar was located near a Vasudeva shrine.
Heliodorus Pillar. Credit: Public. Resource.Org. Source: Wikimedia Commons. (https://

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Heliodorus_pillar_inscription.jpg).
A banyan tree-shaped capital has also been found. This indicates that many more
pillars may have been erected in and around the region of Vidisha but they have
not survived.
15.2.2 Sculpture
Sculptural art in this period developed on a large scale. It was largely associated
with the decoration of religious buildings. Initial samples belong to the Sungas
and their contemporaries. Later on, under the patronage of foreign and Indian
rulers there was emergence of three distinct schools:
1) Gandhara,
2) Mathura, and
3) Amravati.
These schools for the first time produced images of the Buddha, Jaina tirthankaras
and Brahmanical gods which, according to Ananda Coomarswamy, were inspired
from Yaksha images of the Mauryan period.
Sculpture under the Sungas

The samples dated from 2nd century BCE to 1st century BCE are credited to the
Sungas and their contemporaries. They consist of stone sculptures, small terracotta
figurines and bas-relief sculptures. Stone sculptures have been recovered from
Vidisha, Mathura, Ahichchhatra, Kausambi, Ayodhya, and Pataliputra. They
219
Cultural Developments mainly depict Yakshas and Yakshis/Yakshinis. Most famous among them is Kubera
Yaksha from Vidisha wearing a dhoti, belt, turban and heavy jewellery.
From the Sunga period onwards relief sculptures became an integral part of stupa
decoration. Such images are recovered from Sanchi stupa 2, Bharhut, Amaravati,
and Jaggayyapeta. At Sanchi stupa 2 they were carved on the vedica. These are
mainly floral motifs, elephants, people riding horses etc. Northern entrance of
the stupa has more significant elements like the Ashokan pillar, pipal tree
garlanded by vidyadharas and kalpavriksha. On vedica of the Bharhut stupa we
find carved the serpent king, yaksha, yakshini, lotus motif, dwarves, people riding
horses and even a Greek warrior. Some roundels also have depiction of Jatakas.
However, the Buddha during this time was never directly depicted. He was
represented through symbols like sacred ladder, sacred tree or sacred altar.
Amaravati also has reliefs depicting devotees worshiping the Bodhi tree. A relief
at Jaggayyapeta in Andhra Pradesh depicts a chakravartin (ideal king).
Terracotta images have also

been recovered from
Chandraketugarh, Mathura,
Kaushambi, Ahichchhatra and in
Deccan from Kondapur,
Nagarjunakonda, Yeleshwaram,
Sannati, Ter, Paithan and
Nevasa. They are mainly female
figurines. There are also few
animal figurines which could be
toys for children.
Gandhara School of Art

The Gandhara school of art
developed in the north-west
region of the subcontinent.
Various trade routes connecting
the subcontinent with the
Mediterranean and China passed
through this region.Also, in this
period it came under the control
of various foreign dynasties like
Indo-Greeks, Scythians,
Parthians and Kushanas. Thus,
this school represents an
amalgamation of Indian, Greek
and West Asian idioms.
The main theme is Buddhism.

Several sculptures of the
Buddha and Bodhisattvas have
been found. The Buddha is
Representation of tha Buddha in the Greco-Buddhist
depicted in both standing and art of Gandhara, 1st-2nd Century CE. Piece Preserved
seated pose. His iconography in Tokyo National Museum, Japan. Credit:World
has both Greek and Indian Imaging, 2004. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
elements. In the standing pose (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File: Gandhara_
220 he wears Greek drapery and Buddha_(tnm).jpeg).
stands barefoot. One leg is slightly bent, known as contrapposto. He has curly Sculpture and Architecture
hair and facial features based on the Mediterranean model. Indian element is
visible in the poses of hands (mudras) such as abhayamudra, dana mudra etc.
He has mahapurusha-lakshanas (signs of a great man) like ushnisha (three-
dimensional oval over the top of the Buddha’s head), circular symbol on forehead
and plain halo in the background. He does not wear any jewellery. He has
elongated ears indicating royal life in previous birth. The sculpture often stands
on a pedestal which at times is carved with a scene or auspicious symbol.
An Early Buddhist Triad. From Left to Right: a Kushana Devotee, Bodhisattva Maitreya,
the Buddha, Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara and a Buddhist Monk. 2nd-3rd Century, Gandhara.
Credit: No machine-readable uploader provided. World Imaging assumed (based on
copyright claims). Source: Wikimedia Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:BuddhistTriad.JPG).
Bodhisattvas (future Buddhas) are also depicted in seated and standing variety.
Most of them weara dhoti with shawl covering shoulders. They have elaborate
hairstyles and wear heavy jewellery. Different bodhisattvas are identified by
their mudra, head gear or objects they carry.The school also produced several
relief sculptures depicting the Buddha’s life.This emphasis in in sharp contrast
to other Indic schools in which there is emphasis on Jatakas (stories of previous
birth of the Buddha). The emphasis on the life of the Buddha may be because of
the fact that Buddhism here was a foreign religion.
221
Cultural Developments Mathura School
This school developed around the city of Mathura: an important city on the
uttarapatha as well as the second capital of the Kushanas. The images discovered
here belong to all the three religions: Buddhism, Brahmanism and Jainism.
Besides, there are also few royal sculptures from Mathura depicting Kushana
rulers.These were created using red spotted sandstone, easily available in the
nearby Aravalli region.
Jaina sculptures have been recovered from a ruined stupa at Kankali Tila. They
depict Jina in seated or standing pose. They look quite similar to Buddhist
sculptures with minor differences.They are generally nude. The standing Jina is
straight with hands long enough to reach the knee. The seated Jina is in padmasana
(lotus-position or cross-legged posture) with hands in dhyana mudra. Jainas
venerate 24 tirthankaras who are distinguished by different emblems on their
throne or chest: lion for Mahavira, bull for Rishabh etc.They also donated reliefs
to the stupa, known as ayagapatas, in the form of square slabs depicting Jina,
stupa, swastika, twin fish symbols, miscellaneous scenes etc.
Buddhist images, too, occur in both seated and standing variety.They are generally
shown wearing a dhoti and shawl, with no jewellery and footwear. Facial features
are inspired from yaksha images of the Mauryan era. Ears are elongated. Head is
shaved. Body is stout and husky. The standing Buddha has no bend anywhere in
the body. The seated Buddha is shown on a pedestal in padmasana with right
hand in abhaya (benediction or boon-giving) mudra while left hand rests near
left knee. Some additional features were added to the image: lightly decorated
halo, Bodhisattvas or Vidhyadharas as attendants and a parasol above the Buddha.
Buddha Seated in Abhaya-Mudra, Kushana Period (c. 1st-3rd Century CE), Mathura
Museum, Uttar Pradesh. Credit: Biswarup Ganguly. Source: Wikimedia Commons. (https:/
/commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Inscribed_Seated_Buddha_ Image_in_Abhaya_
Mudra_-_Kushan_Period_-_Katra_Keshav_Dev_-_ACCN_A-1_-_Government_ Museum_
-_Mathura_2013-02-24_5972.JPG).
222
Among Saivite deities a sculpture of Karttikeya (son of Siva) was discovered at Sculpture and Architecture
Kankali Tila. His appearance is quite similar to the images of Bodhisattvas, the
only distinction being the spear in his right hand. There is also a sculpture of
Surya shown in a crouching position as if seated on a chariot. Two horses are
depicted near his feet, possibly pulling the invisible chariot. There is also a relief
of Vishnu and Balarama but very few representations of Krishna have been
discovered belonging to this time.
Amravati School of Art

This school developed under the patronage of dynasties like the Satavahanas
and Iksavakus. Both bas-reliefs and free-standing sculptures were produced.
Satavahana reliefs have been found at Amaravati where they were used for
decorating the stupa. They show the stupa, Jataka tales, scenes from the life of
the Buddha and Buddhist symbols like chakra. Compared to the Sunga specimens
there was great improvement in technique.The figures are deeply carved and
have a natural appearance. According to Huntington, this may be because of the
influence of Roman art. The reliefs created under the Ikshavakus show even
further improvement.These have been recovered from their capital
Nagarjunkonda. They were, again, used for decorating stupas. Great advancement
is seen in the usage of space. The figures are well-placed. They have a slim
appearance and look very lively.
Free-standing sculptures emerged towards the end of Satavahanas’ reign of mainly

the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. They have been discovered from Goli, Amaravati
and Nagarjunakonda. The material used is marble or limestone. Although the
school is deeply influenced by Mathura, it has certain distinctive features. The
Buddha is shown wearing sanghati which resembles a toga-like garment. It only
covers the left shoulder. In origin, it could be a modification of Gandhara drapery
or could be an indigenous conception. His face is closely modelled on the Buddha
found on the reliefs.There is, however, a difference in the delineation of the
body. Instead of slimmer physique in the reliefs, he has a massive body. His hair
is in form of short ring-like curls. In iconography the right hand is in abhaya
mudra but the left hand holds the hem of the garment. He stands barefoot on a
plain pedestal. This image too has the mahapurusha-lakshanas. Images of
bodhisattvas, unlike in the Mathura and Gandhara school, are much rarer in the
Amravati school.

1) Explain the etymology and components of a stupa.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
2) Compare and contrast the Gandhara and Mathura school of art.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
223
15.3 GUPTA PHASE (c. 300-600 CE)
Art and architecture produced between c.300-600 CE has been celebrated by
nationalist historians and art-historians as the Golden Age or Classical period.
According to Coomaraswamy this period was marked by political stability and
prosperity that enabled the emergence of exquisite art forms that were largely
indigenous with no foreign influence from Greece and West Asia. The art of this
time, in his words, “is self-possessed, urbane, at once exuberant and formal”.
This new expression influenced the entire country and all the religions: Hinduism,
Buddhism, and Jainism.
15.3.1 Architecture
Temples
Temples of the Gupta period can be divided into:
i) Early Gupta style
ii) Late Gupta style
The early Gupta style is dated from 3rdcentury to 5th century CE. There are both
cave and free-standing temples made under this style. One such Cave complex
was discovered at Udayagiri in Madhya Pradesh. Around 20 caveswere excavated
in the low-lying sandstone hills. Three of them bear Gupta period inscriptions:
two issued during Chandragupta II’s reign and one during Kumaragupta’s reign.
In architectural plan all the temples here are single-roomed structures having a
pillared porch for entrance. Interiors are mainly plain. However, rich decoration
is visible on the doorways. The porch was not excavated but built separately
from stones.The pillars in it had a square base, an octagonal shaft and a vase-
shaped capital.
Temple no. 17 at Sanchi. Credit: Biswarup Ganguly. Source: Wikimedia Commons. (https:/
/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Temple_17_-_Buddhist_Monument_-_Sanchi_Hill_2013-02-
21_4494.JPG).
224
Free-standing structures had a similar architectural plan.The best example is the Sculpture and Architecture
Vishnu temple at Tigawa. It has two parts – a small square chamber and a pillared
porch.The porch stands on four octagonal pillars with square base and four lion
capitals.The whole structure has a flat roof. Walls are mostly plain. The only
decoration visible is near the doorway in the form of reliefs of river-goddesses
Ganga and Yamuna identified by their respective vahanas — crocodile and tortoise
(according to John Guy this is because the Ganges has a rich crocodile population
and Yamuna has a rich tortoise population). Another temple with a similar plan
is temple no. 17 at Sanchi.
The later Gupta style, dated between 5thand 6thcentury CE, is characterized by an
increase in the complexity of plan. The temples now were built on a plinth or
platform provided with staircase.The flat roof was replaced by a tower that could
be either pyramidal or curvilinear in shape. They were built with stone set together
with dowels or with bricks glued with mud mortar. Further, the doorways and
external walls were more elaborately decorated on which we find depiction of
gods and goddesses of the growing Hindu pantheon, floral patterns etc. Best
examples of this style are:
1) Vishnu temple at Deogarh and Bhitargaon
2) Parvati temple at Nachna-Kuthara
3) Shiva temple at Bhumara
Buddhist Cave Buildings
Buddhist cave buildings continued to be built in the Western Ghats under the
patronage of Guptas and Vakatakas. They have been found at Ajanta and Bagh,
of which Ajanta caves are best preserved. They consist of 30 caves of which
cave nos. 19 and 26 are caitya halls and the rest are viharas. About six of these
were excavated during the post-Mauryan period for the Hinayana sect. In the
Gupta age Mahayana monks largely occupied these caves. Since this sect believes
in image worship of the Buddha we see rich sculptural representations of the
Buddha and bodhisattvas decorating the caves.
The building plans of caityas of this period are not very different from the plans
found in the post-Mauryan period. Out of the two caitya halls, cave 19 is an
older building. It has an inscription of Harishena, a Vakataka ruler, inscribed in
the early part of his reign. The entrance is still designed as a pillared portico. It
contains a doorway, above which is an ogee-curved arch within which there is a
sun-window. What is innovative is the decoration. There are several sculptural
representations of the Buddha, each enclosed within pilasters. Style of the figures
is very similar to the Sarnath school.The interior of the cave is planned slightly
differently. The first thing greeting the visitor is a covered courtyard surrounded
with four cells. The purpose of the cells is not understood. After this we have an
apsidal hall divided into a nave and side aisle by a colonnade of pillars. The
pillars are thicker and are decorated with fluted patterns and a cushion capital.
At the centre of the hall is the object of worship, a stupa with harmika and
several chhatris. On its dome a standing Buddha has been carved. The harmika
has a carving of the seated Buddha.The roof is barrel vaulted in shape and covered
with beams. The spaces between these beams are covered with miniature paintings
of the seated Buddha. The side aisle has nothing significant and has plain walls.
225
Cultural Developments 15.3.2 Sculpture
Udayagiri and Eran Sculptures
The Udayagiri cave temples are not just the oldest Hindu cave temples in India
but also have the best preserved sculptural representations of Hindu deities. A
study of these indicates that the iconographic formula of Hindu deities had fully
matured in this period.
Siva is preserved in cave 4 in the ekamukhalingam (lingam with one face) form.
Unlike the Gudimallam specimen he has a fuller face, almond shaped eyes with
heavy lids and fleshy lips. Huntington says that this was inspired from the late-
Kushana Mathura art. Cave 3 has a sculpture of standing Karttikeya whose
facial features are similar to the above. His standing pose with feet apart and
knees slightly bent is very similar to the Mathura images. Outside this shrine
two dvarapalas (doorkeepers) are depicted. Ganesha (god of good luck) does
not have any separate shrine dedicated to him; he is carved on the left wall outside
cave 6.
Among the Vaishnavite deities the most impressive representation is in cave 5.

There is a colossal relief of Varaha (boar avatara of Vishnu) rescuing earth from
drowning in the ocean. The earth is represented as a maiden. Varaha stands with
his left leg resting on a rock and right leg straight. The body is husky, giving an
impression of a strong figure. Near the left leg nagas are shown paying respect.
In the upper portion rishis and celestial beings are praising the Varaha. This
Varaaha Panel at Udayagiri (Madhya Pradesh). Credit: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra. Source:

Wikimedia Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:375-415_CE,_
Udayagiri_Hindu_ Caves,_Varaha_rescuing_goddess_earth_ legend,_Les_grottes_
d%27Udayagiri_(Inde).jpg).
226
scene spreads on to adjacent walls. The right wall has reliefs of Ganga, Yamuna Sculpture and Architecture
and the ocean. The two river-goddesses are identified through their vahanas:
Ganga on makara (crocodile) and Yamuna on tortoise. Vishnu is also presented
in his anantashayana (literally meaning “sleeping on the serpent Ananta”) form
in cave 13. His head is not well preserved.
At another historical site, Eran in Madhya Pradesh also, there have been recovered
outstanding sculptures of Vaishnava deities in the form of Narasimha, two Varahas
and one free-standing pillar depicting Vishnu’s vahana Garuda.The first Varaha
was made during the time of Samudragupta. It is made of sandstone. The style is
quite similar to that of Udayagiri cave relief. A sash is tied around his waist. The
earth goddess hangs from his tusk. The Narasimha sculpture is another outstanding
piece. Like Varaha he has a strong physique with four arms, wide shoulders and
flat head. He too wears a sash.The second Varaha is executed and decorated very
differently. It belongs to the time of Huna invader Toramana. The boar stands on
his four feet with Prithivi hanging from his tusk. We have small panels of rishis
(saints) seeking shelter in him.
Varaha at Eran in zoological form. Credit: Arnold Betten. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
(https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eran,_Varaha_und_Garuda-S%C3%A4ule_
(1999).jpg).
A free-standing pillar has also been found. The inscription on it tells us that it
was commissioned in 485 CE by a local ruler. It has a square shaft, bell-shaped
capital, surmounted by a square abacus with a pair of lions on each side. At the
top we have a wheel and on either side we have two male figures. They represent
Garuda, identified by their holding a serpent. It perhaps stood opposite the Vishnu
temple. 227
Cultural Developments Sarnath School of Art
The earliest samples discovered at Sarnath were mainly of the Mathura school.
However, in the last quarter of 5th century the site developed its own unique
sculptural art. This is reflected in the standing Buddha image donated by a
Buddhist monk Abhayamitra in 473 CE. Three years later he donated two more
standing Buddha idols.
The statues made under the Sarnath school during the Gupta era have very different
characteristics from previous schools in the following respects:
1) First distinguishing trait is the execution of facial features. Eyes are cast
downwards, nose is sharp and lips are curved in a gentle smile. The
mahapurusha-lakshanas are not present: elongated ears, ushnisha and circle
on the forehead. The overall effect is of a delicate face that has achieved
great tranquillity and enlightenment.
2) The second distinguishing trait is the posture of the body. It stands in abhanga
pose in which the body is either tilted left or right. It is covered in drapery
but unlike the Gandhara ones, it does not have any folds. The drapery, in
fact, looks transparent and could be even missed by the viewer if not for the
crease near the waist and slight projection on right and left. Huntington
believes that these sculptures were originally painted. The hands are in pose
similar to the earlier schools: right in abhaya mudra and left in dana mudra.
3) The third unique

characteristic of this school
is its execution of halo. It
was executed in two forms:
Circular halo, covering
back of the head and
shoulders, or
Elongated halo that
covers the entire body.
At times these are plain but in
many examples they are covered
with intricate floral designs. In
some pieces we also see the
depiction of vidhyadharas on the
top left and right and attendants
near the feet of the Buddha.
The school also produced images

of the seated Buddha. They share
several features with their
standing variants: serene face,
mahapurusha-lakshanas and
halos. The difference is in
posture. He is mainly seated in
padmasana. In the earlier schools
the hands may be shown in
Preaching Buddha in Dharmachakra Mudra, Gupta
abhaya mudra, variants of Period. Source: EHI-02, Block-4, Unit-17.
228
dhyana mudra or dharmachakra mudra (gesture of teaching). In this school there Sculpture and Architecture
is a greater preference for dharmachakra mudra.
Gandhara and Mathura School of Art

Images of the Buddha continued to be produced during the Gupta epoch under
Gandhara and Mathura schools. Gandharan sculptures have been mainly
recovered from Hadda in Afghanistan. They were now increasingly made of
stucco (lime plaster) instead of blue schist or green phyllite. In style there is
continuity of the post-Mauryan period reflected in robe and hair style but the
facial features have a softness possibly inspired from the Sarnath school.
The Mathura school of art also saw the influence of Gupta sensibility. The best
specimen is a standing Buddha dated to 434 CE. It is made of red sandstone but
execution is completely different from the post-Mauryan Mathura art. The body
is slimmer and more graceful. Pose is more relaxed and we see a slight bent in
the right leg. It is wearing a drapery with folds, somewhat similar to the Gandhara
school. There is a round halo behind the head which is amply decorated.
15.4 POST-GUPTA PHASE

In the post-Gupta period significant contribution to the development of art and
architecture was made by two southern dynasties: Pallavas and their neighbours,
the Chalukyas of Badami. They mostly patronized Hindu temples. The Pallavas,
who emerged around 600 CE, controlled large parts of Tamil Nadu. At times
their empire even included parts of Deccan and Odisha. But, most of the
architectural marvels of this dynasty have been found at Tamil Nadu. Their temples
are mostly dedicated to Brahmanic deities, possibly under the influence of Bhakti
saints Alvars and Nayanars. A new artistic idiom developed under the patronage
of Pallavas. They were the first to encourage the usage of stone in buildings in
south India. Both cave-temples and free-standing structures were constructed.
This led to development of the Dravida architectural style.
They were frequently locked in conflict with the Chalukyas of Badami who rose
to power in 543 CE under Pulakesin I. While they initially controlled Karnataka,
under capable rulers like Kritivarman I and Pulakesin II they expanded their rule
over Maharashtra and Andhra. The Andhra region was handed over to
Pulakesin II’s brother Vishnuvardhana who founded the collateral branch of the
Chalukyas of Vengi, in 624 CE. Both the branches built significant architectural
structures which occupy a unique position in the evolution of Hindu temple
architecture. Like the Pallavas, they built caves as well as the free-standing
temples.These are both in nagara as well as dravida style. It was perhaps this that
led to an amalgamation of the two styles, leading to the development of a new
vesara style. Therefore, in Badami we find temples made in all these three styles.
15.4.1 Pallava Architecture

Cave Temples
Pallava cave-temples were mainly built under two monarchs Mahendravarman I
(590-630 CE) and his successor Narasimhavarman I (630-668 CE). In design
these are very simple consisting of a huge mandapam (hall/pavilion/porch) and
a cubical garbha-griha (sanctum sanctorum or innermost sanctuary wherein the
image of principal deity is housed). The mandapam also doubled up as an entrance
made of either pillars or pilasters. 229
Cultural Developments Two cave temples were constructed under Mahendravarman I:
1) Lakshitayatana at Mandagappattu
2) Lalitankura atTiruchrapalli
An inscription informs us that Lakshitayatana temple was dedicated to the Hindu
Trinity but the dedication of Lalitankura is not known. Compared to the later
temples, these are distinguished by having a very simple decoration scheme. On
the entrance there are two reliefs of dvarapalas. The pillars or pilasters are also
lightly decorated with motifs like medallions.
The cave temples built under Narasimhavarma I are located in the new city
founded by him – Mamallapuram (today’s Mahabalipuram). The Varaha cave
temple is outstanding and lavishly decorated. It consists of a rectangular
mandapam hall and a cubical shrine. The shrine is empty, making it difficult to
identify its dedication, but the hall has beautiful reliefs of Varaha, Trivikrama
(giant form of the Vamana avatara of Vishnu), Gaja-Lakshmi (Lakshmi seated
on lotus and flanked with an elephant on both sides) and Durga. The entrance
consists of two pillars and pilasters. Instead of plain pillars each pillar has a
seated lion as base, a round shaft and a cushion-shaped abacus. Outside, near the
entrance, we see for the first time a water-tank which became an essential feature
of the Dravida style.
Varaha lifting Bhudevi (earth-goddess), Varaha Cave Temple, Mamallapuram. Credit:

mountainamoeba. Source: Wikimedia Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Varaha-mahabalipuram.jpg).
230
Sculpture and Architecture
Facade of Varaha Cave-Temple. We can see lion motif at the base of the pillars. Credit:
Vsundar. Source: Wikimedia Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Vsvarahacave.jpg).
Another cave temple – Trimurti cave – is less spectacular. It only has three cubical
shrines built next to one another with no mandapam. The central shrine is
dedicated to Siva, left one to Vishnu and right one to Brahma. The doors of each
shrine has a relief of two dvarapalas. In addition, the wall next to the Brahma
shrine also has a relief of Durga.
A unique cave associated with his reign is the Yali (lion) cave. It is located about
5 km. from Mamallapuram in Saluvakuppam village.The cave is shaped as a
seated lion with face further decorated with mini-lions. In its entrance, too, there
is a pillared porch with base of the pillars shaped as seated lions. The purpose of
its creation is not understood.
Structural Temples
Free-standing temples built with stone blocks or bricks first emerged under
Narasimhavarman II (700-728 CE). Best examples are:
Shore temple at Mamallapuram
Kailashanatha temple at Kanchipuram.
These temples added a new element to the architectural plan. They were built
within a walled complex: a typical feature of the Dravida style.
The Shore temple at Mamallapuram derives its name from the fact that it
overlooked an ancient port. Today, only the western portion of the structure is
visible as the rest is buried under sand. The temple has three different shrines: 231
Cultural Developments two dedicated to Siva and one to Vishnu. The Vishnu shrine is considered to be
the oldest and at the front and back of it there is the Siva shrine.The roof of the
Vishnu shine is flat whereas the two Siva shrines have pyramidal roofs. Each
shrine is provided with a circumambulatory passage. From ruins in the vicinity it
is possible to argue that there existed other minor shrines, halls and a tank for
ritual ablution.The entire complex is surrounded by a huge rectangular enclosure
with a gopuram (gateway) on the west.
Frontal View of Shore Temple, Mamallapauram. Credit: mckaysavage. Source: Wikimedia

Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mamallapuram.jpg).
Shore Temple, Side View

Credit: Bernard Gagnon. Source: Wikimedia Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/
232 wiki/File:Shore_Temple_01.jpg).
The Rajasimheshavara or Kailashanatha temple is located at Kanchipuram. Like Sculpture and Architecture
the Shore temple it is located within a rectangular enclosure. The main shrine is
square in shape and houses a siva-linga. It has a circumambulatory passage. The
roof is pyramidal in shape topped with a stupika (top most part of a Hindu temple).
It is decorated with barrel-vaulted structures. The main shrine is surrounded by
nine small shrines. For the congregation of devotees a separate mandapam was
built on its east. In later period the two buildings were joined with help of another
pillared hall known as antarala.
One Side View of Kailashanatha Temple, Kanchipuram. Credit: Bikash Das. Source:
Wikimedia Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:7th_century_Sri_
Kailashnathar_ Temple_Kanchipuram_Tamil_Nadu_India_01_(5).jpg).
15.4.2 Pallava Relief Sculpture

The sculptural art that developed under the Pallavas is mainly in the form of
reliefs. Many of these reliefs were used in the decoration of temples depicting
deities and mythological stories associated with them. Supplementing them are
the representations of dvarapalas, seated lions and dwarves. Pallava style is
characterized by slenderness of the figures and their highly animated look.
Huntington traces this as influence of the post-Mauryan Amravati school of art.
The figures are deeply carved and adequately spaced, creating an impression of
a three dimensional image.What is innovative is the scale of these images. In
most of the Indian schools, in order to emphasize centrality of the main figure,
different scales were used for the characters. Thus, in the sculptures depicting
the Buddha, the figure of the Buddha was huge and other figures like dwarves,
attendants etc. were smaller. In Pallava reliefs, however, all figures have the
233
Cultural Developments same scale.The main figure was emphasized by being placed centrally and being
on a throne or pedestal.
Other than the temple reliefs an open-air relief was also discovered at
Mamallapuram. A natural fissure in the rock divides it into left and right portions.
The right portion on the lower side shows an elephant flock with two elephants
depicted larger than the rest, walking towards the fissure. Near the fissure there
is one figure with his left hand up as if he is lifting something. It is identified as
Krishna lifting Govardhana. In the middle, on the fissure, there is depiction of
nagas. The figures near the fissure are significant. In the lower half there is a
figure shown in two different poses: one doing penance and other bowing to the
naga deity. Above him there is a scene of rishis sitting on either sides of a mini
shrine. Above this is the most significant representation. There is a figure doing
a penance by standing on one leg and Siva in front of him bestowing a boon.
This scene is construed as Arjuna’s penance or Bhagiratha’s which led to the
descent of the Ganga. The latter interpretation has more weightage, given the
fact that this relief was built over a tank which is now lost. It is believed that the
rainwater flowed into the tank through the fissure. This relief, according to
scholars, has an allegory. The Bhagiratha penance scene may imply ending of
the drought and Krishna’s scene can mean ending of the flood. The two scenes
could be seen as glorifying the building of tanks, thus ending these extreme
conditions. In other words, it underlines irrigation works undertaken by the
Pallavas.
15.4.3 Architecture under the Chalukyas

Cave Temples
The cave temples built under Western Chalukyas are located at Badami and Aihole.
At Badami there are three cave temples: two dedicated to Vishnu and one to
Siva.They have similar plan. Unlike the Gupta and Pallava cave temples, the
entrance here is in the form of an open courtyard which leads to a closed veranda
after which there is mandapa which contains a cubical garbha-griha.The temples
are beautifully decorated. Pillars of the veranda are square-shaped and decorated
with medallions and garlands.The mandapa, however, has different set of pillars.
They are round in shape with cushion capitals. Several relief sculptures decorate
the walls and often depict stories related to the chief deity. Near the entrance
there are reliefs of dvarapalas and dwarves.
Structural Temples
The dynasty built beautiful structural temples. Clusters of temples have been
discovered at Pattadakal, Mahakuteshwar and Aihole. They were built with large
stone blocks, set together without the help of mortar. Both nagara and dravida
style temples were constructed. There are also specimens which are quite unique
and cannot be classified either as nagara or dravida. The Chalukyas introduced
new elements like open porch, use of balcony slabs and carving of auspicious
motifs and figures on pillars. These later became a regular feature of temple
architecture.
Aihole has some of their oldest temples like Gaudara Gudi, Chiki and Ladhkhan
temples. These temples have a unique plan. A square garbha-griha is located
within a pillared mandapa. The mandapa may be open as in Gaudara Gudi or
closed as in Chiki and Ladhkhan temples. The temples are built on a platform
234
provided with a staircase. The roof of the temples might be slightly slanted. The Sculpture and Architecture
Ladhkhan temple also has a small shrine on its roof accessed by a staircase below.
It is believed that these temples were originally assembly halls and were later
converted into temples.
Gaudara Gudi Temple, Aihole, Karnataka. Credit: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra. Source: Wikimedia
Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Le_temple_Gaudara_Gudi_(Aihole,_
Inde)_(14383019304).jpg).
The nagara style temples have been discovered at Aihole, Pattadakal, Alampur
and Mahakuteshwar. The temples at Alampur were built by their collateral branch,
the Chalukyas of Vengi. In terms of architecture, some of the temples show further
evolution of the nagara style. There is is the beginning of the cruciform ground
plan. The oldest temple in which this is visible is Huchchappayya temple at
Aihole. In this the three components – garbha-griha, mandapa and ardhamandapa
(entrance porch forming a transitional area between the outside and mandapa of
the temple) – are built one after another forming a cruciform ground plan. The
garbha-griha has the typical nagara-shikhara (curvilinear roof). Its
ardhamandapa is designed as an open-porch. Other nagara temples built by this
dynasty closely follow this plan. A slight variation is visible at Jambulinga temple
at Pattadakal which has a closed ardha-mandapa.

1) Write a note on Udayagiri and Eran sculptures.
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Cultural Developments 2) Discuss temple architecture under the Pallavas.
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15.5 SUMMARY
This Unit has been an attempt at surveying and analysing significant developments
in art and architecture between the period c. 200 BCE- c.750 CE. Being a very
broad chronological span, it is divided into post-Mauryan, Gupta and post-Gupta
periods, each characterized by novel contributions. We have thrown light on
these contributions. You also learnt about the elements of a stupa in post-Mauryan
age, emergence of Buddhist rock-cut architecture, temple architecture in terms
of both cave temples and free-standing temples and different sculptural schools
and their chief characteristics.
Changes in art styles and the emergence of architectural idioms is, no doubt, an
important subject of study. Stupas and viharas received extended patronage by
various groups in the society. The Gupta era is marked by the formative stage of
temple construction and post-Gupta age saw the flowering of different styles of
temple architecture: Nagara, Dravida and Vesara.
15.6 KEYWORDS
Abacus: Slab forming top of the capital of a column.
Bas Relief: A form of sculpture where instead of converting entire stone into an
image only a part of the stone is utilized to make an image. The resultant sculpture
looks embedded into the stone.
Bodhisattva: Any person who is on the path towards the Buddhahood (the
condition or rank of the Buddha/enlightenment/supreme state of life). It also
means the “awakened one”. In Mahayana Buddhism it means a sentient person
who is able to reach nirvana but delays it due to his compassionate heart for his
fellow suffering beings.
Capital: Top portion of the pillar.
Iconography: Study of rules for making an image. For instance, a Vishnu image
will have four hands, each carrying a kaumodaki/gada (mace), chakra, conch
and lotus.
Kalpavriksha: Mythical tree that can grant any wish.
Pilaster: Pillar carved onto a wall.
Porch: Covered entrance of a building.
Shaft: Middle portion of a pillar.
236 Vidyadharas: Bearers of knowledge.

Yaksha and Yakshi/Yakshini: Forest spirits known from the time of Rigveda. Sculpture and Architecture
They are seen as the cult of common folk. They could be good and evil. They
were generally invoked for attaining wealth, prosperity and beauty.

EXERCISES

Guy, J. (2017). Indian Temple Sculpture. Ahmedabad: Mapin Publishing Private
Limited.
Harle, J. C. (1994). The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent. Yale
University Press.
Harle, J. C. (1996). Gupta Sculpture: Indian Sculpture of the Fourth to the Sixth
Centuries AD. Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal.
Huntington, Susan L. (1985). The Art of Ancient India: Buddhist, Hindu, Jain.
Weatherhill.
Michell, G. (1988). The Hindu Temple: An Introduction to Its Meaning and Forms.
University of Chicago Press.
237
UNIT 16 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY*
Structure
16.0 Objectives
16.1 Introduction
16.2 Hydraulic Engineering
16.3 Astronomy
16.4 Architecture
16.5 Metallurgy
16.6 Scientists of Ancient India
16.7 Summary
16.8 Key Words
16.0 OBJECTIVES
the contribution of ancient Indian scientists to the fields of metallurgy,
architectural engineering, hydraulic engineering, astronomy, mathematics
etc.;
the life, times and achievements of ancient Indian scientists; and
how the western and the Arab world learnt a great deal from Indian
achievements in science and technology.
16.1 INTRODUCTION
Formal education was available in brahmana ashramas, hermitages and in
Buddhist and Jaina monasteries. Apart from Vedic and Dharmasastric teaching,
subjects like grammar, rhetoric, prose and verse compositions, logic, mathematics,
astronomy, medicine and astrology were taught to the students. Actual
professionals handled distinctive forms of education. The writing of a manual in
Sanskrit on a particular subject was an indicator of its importance. In this Unit,
we will be studying various achievements of ancient India in the fields of
metallurgy, architectural engineering, hydraulic engineering, astronomy,
mathematics, astrology, medicine etc. in the period between 200 BCE-1200 CE.
We will also be studying the life and contributions of various ancient Indian
scientists who made a mark in the field of science through their acumen and
genius.
16.2 HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING

Kalhana’s Rajatarangini gives details of some of the finest examples of hydraulic
engineering. This is a 12th century text which tells us about the most well-
conceived irrigation networks. These functioned through various canals, irrigation
238 * Dr. Suchi Dayal, Academic Consultant, Faculty of History, SOSS, IGNOU, New Delhi
channels, embankments, aqueducts, circular dykes, barrages, wells and Science and Technology
waterwheels. An example of a vast embankment is Guddasetu, built by king
Damodara II and the construction of a series of Arghat or waterwheels, by the 8th
century CE king Lalitaditya Muktapida of the Karkota dynasty. The text also
mentions the hydraulic feats of an irrigation engineer called Suyya. He is credited
with draining the waters of the Vitasta river and controlling it by constructing a
stone dam, and clearing its bed. Suyya also displaced the confluence of the rivers
Sindhu and Vitasta, and constructed stone embankments for seven yojans along
the Vitasta in order to dam the vast Mahapadma lake (now famous as the Wular
lake). In fact, Suyya is credited with having made, “…the streams of Indus and
Jhelum flow according to his will, like a snake-charmer his snakes”.The system
of irrigation established by Suyya was designed in such a way that everyone was
supplied with a fair share of water (Pandey, 2016).
The prominent dynasties of the South and the Deccan such as the Pallavas, Cholas,
Chalukyas, Kakatiyas, Pandya, Chera and the Vakatakas constructed many
irrigation devices and water bodies. The famous Kaveri Anicut was built by the
Pallavas. In the subsequent period, the Cholas innovated with an irrigation device
called the chain-tank. In this method the tanks were constructed along the slopes
and were connected with water channels. Apart from these other devices like the
wells, depressions excavated in sheet rock, cisterns, ponds, tanks were also built.
In dry regions like Gujarat, tanks, kunds, step-wells or baolis, wells, ponds etc.
were built. This led to systems like johadhs, anicuts, check-dams, khadins, tankas,
adlaz, jhalara, modhera, vapi, medhbandhi (earthen structure on fields to prevent
water from flowing out).
Tanks, reservoirs, ponds and step wells also had deep ritual significance. Most
temples in the Deccan and south India were constructed in the vicinity of seep
springs which were dammed up in the form of a step tank or some other water
body. Gujarat and Rajasthan are known for Step wells. They were made into
beautiful architectural structures. Most were fed by deep aquifers. Water was
drawn by a rope from balconies and corridors, to lower levels, and subterranean
chambers, to keep it cool. An elaborate network of copper pipes was constructed
within the palaces of rulers for cooling terrace pavilions; channels flowed through
royal chambers, fountains and water-gardens, and even filled under-ground tanks.
16.3 ASTRONOMY
The early expositions of Indian astronomy were designed to organize large
sacrifices. These were recorded in the Jyotishavedanga. With the coming of the
Hellenistic Greeks, a variety of new systems were introduced. Some of these
were incorporated in Indian astronomy. There was shift from astronomy based
on the lunar mansions and constellations to astronomy that placed greater
emphasis on the planets (Thapar, 2002). The new astronomy was a departure
that gave direction to the new theories influencing astronomy and mathematics
in the Eurasian world. Ujjain, which was on the Indian prime meridian, became
a centre for studies in astronomy.
Aryabhata I (476 CE) was the first astronomer who tackled the problems of new
astronomy. He invented a system of expressing numbers with the help of
consonants and vowels, based again on the decimal place value principle. The
system was used by Bhaskara I (574 CE) and Aryabhata II (950 CE), and applied
239
Cultural Developments in the astronomical Jaimini-sutras of unknown date. Aryabhata I of Kusumapura
(Pataliputra or Patna) laid the foundations of scientific Indian astronomy in 499
CE. He taught astronomy to his pupils who included Pandurangasvamin,
Latadeva, and Nihsanka. One of his successors, Bhaskara I was the author of the
Laghubhaskariya and the Mahabhaskariya which follow Aryabhata’s system of
astronomy. He also wrote a commentary on the Aryabhatiya.
Aryabhata I was the author of two distinct systems of astronomy, the audayika
and the ardharatrika. In the first, the astronomical day begins at the mean sunrise
at Lanka, and in the other, it begins at the mean midnight. Aryabhata I was the
first Indian astronomer who referred to the rotation of the earth to explain the
apparent diurnal motions of the fixed stars.
Varahamihira’s redaction of the old surya-siddhanta heavily borrows from the

ardharatrika system of astronomy of Aryabhata I. But, his work is valuable from
the viewpoint of the historyof Indian astronomy. Brahmagupta (b. 598 CE) wrote
his Brahmasphuta-siddhanta in c. 628 CE and his Khandakhadyaka in 665 CE.
The second work gives easier methods of computation of the longitude of planets
according to Aryabhata’s ardharatrika system of astronomy. In his first work he
has corrected all the erroneous methods of Aryabhata I and has in more than one
place corrected the longitude of the nodes, apogees, and other astronomical
elements of planets. Indeed, after Aryabhata I, the next name of significance is
undoubtedly Brahmagupta.
There was an increasing exchange of ideas between the Indian and Arab
astronomers and mathematicians. Earlier there was a similar interaction between
Hellenistic and Indian astronomers. Indian works on mathematics, astronomy
and medicine were very much prized in the scholarly centres that arose under the
Caliphate at Baghdad. The Indian methods were of the most elementary character,
while those of Ptolemy were much advanced and more elegant. Yet the Indian
astronomers could solve some problems where Ptolemy failed. For instance,
they could find the time of day by altitude from the sun’s azimuth. Thus, although
scientific Indian astronomy is dated much later than the time of Ptolemy, barring
the mere idea of an Epi-cyclic theory coming from outside India, its constants
and methods were all original.
16.4 ARCHITECTURE
All forms of civil engineering from drainage system to huge temples, both rock
cut and structural were conceived and build by ancient India; all those still extant
shows the engineering skill of our ancestors. During the Gupta period, structural
principles of constructing small and large temples were put to work. The art of
building temples was so developed that separate temple idioms came into
existence such as Nagara, Dravida and Vesara. Treaties such as Silpratnakosa,
Silpapradipa, Silpasastra, Bhubanapradipa, Mayamatam, Visnudharmottara
Purana, Silpasarani etc. were codified by Silpin; these treatises throw ample
light on the ancient Indian architecture and archaeometry.
In the construction of religious edifices like Stupas and Caitya-grhas the Buddhists
showed their engineering skill. Construction of stupas and caityas was an
important aspect of Buddhist religious life. The word stupa is derived from the
root stup, meaning ‘to heap‘, and suggests the mound-like shape and method of
240
construction of these edifices, while the word caitya is derived from citi (altar). Science and Technology
Constructing stupas was an ancient practice. The earliest stupas were simply
mound of earth piled up in the form of a mound. Gradually with time, they became
elaborate and acquired more height. Ashokan stupas are the earliest which were
made of bricks and mud mortar. In the Sunga period some stupas were made
even more elaborate with the encasing of the mound within a veneer of dressed
stone slabs. The stupa was provided with a railing, harmika, chhatra and gateways.
The gateways were embellished with sculptures mostly from Jataka stories.
Gradually the advantage of filling the core with rubble or other material was
recognized. And the outward thrust of the fill material on the facing wall was
minimized by dividing the inner space into compartments in the form of boxes
or radiating spokes like those of the wheel of a cart (Satpathy, n.d.).
With the growth of the Sangha, monasteries and caitya grhas were also built.
They were constructed to meet the needs of the monks who lived in abodes far
from habitation. The early Buddhist cave monasteries were quadrangular in shape,
a typical example of which has been found at Nasik. The basic pattern for such
viharas must have been evolved by the second century BCE as seen from some
of the specimens at Ajanta. The vihara had later a covered mandapa (courtyard)
in the centre and with the installation of the Buddha’s image inside the cell in the
back wall, it became a chaitya-cum vihara, serving the purpose of a shrine as
well. At Nagarjunjakonda separate chaitya halls were provided in the vihara
enclosures. Later specimens of stupas became ornate with base-terraces, umbrellas
being multiplied as at Nalanda (Bihar), Ratnagiri (Odisha), and other places.
Initially, the stupa was the object of worship. Later, an image of the Buddha was
either placed on it as at Ajanta and Ellora, or worshipped singly as at
Nagarjunakonda. The chaitya-grha usually had an apsidal ground plan with the
stupa in the apsidal end and a central nave separated from the side aisles by a
row of pillars. Unfortunately no structural chaitya-grha survives, but the rock-
cut examples depict them with gabled wooden roofs, initially simple in form,
and with wooden pillars arranged with an inward rake to counter the outward
thrust of the gabled roof
Temple Architecture
The Gupta period (300-600 CE) saw the beginnings of systematic construction
on the basis of structural principles in temple architecture. The basic elements
are a square sanctum (garbhagrha) for the image, a small pillared portico
(mukhamandapa), and sometimes a covered circumambulatory passage
(pradakshinapatha) around the sanctum. There was a tendency during this period
in stone construction to use stones larger than what the size of the building
warranted. This was because the relationship between the strength and stability
of construction and the economy of materials was yet to be understood (Satpathy,
n.d.). The stone was usually prepared at the site of the quarry. Fragments of
carvings found at some quarries suggest that the sculpturing of the stones was
also usually done at the quarry site, although sometimes this was done after the
stone had been set in its place on the temple itself. All of this entailed accurate
measurements.
Models to scale were perhaps sometimes employed. From about the fifth century
CE brick-built religious structures, both Buddhist and Brahmanical, gradually
became common in the alluvial plains. These included Buddhist caitya halls,
monasteries, and stupas as well as Brahmanical temples. Bricks were easy to
241
Cultural Developments procure in the plains, whereas stone was not always readily available. And bricks
also afforded the advantage of convenient handling and flexibility in construction
technique because of their small size. One difficulty encountered in the use of
bricks was the bridging of spaces as in the case of doorways, windows, and other
openings. The craftsmen attempted to overcome this problem by using
exceptionally large bricks, some early examples being more than 50 cm. long.
But even this was not always sufficient to surmount the difficulty, and so lintels
of wood were resorted to. Stone lintels were subsequently found to be preferable
to wooden ones (Satpathy, n.d.). At one period brick structures with stone dressings
became a rather common type of construction.
The post-Gupta period witnessed brisk building activity with experiments in

various temple forms. Interesting results of such experimentations are seen at
the principal centres at Aihole, Badami, Mahakuteswar, Pattadakal, and Alampur.
The south Indian temples of the vimana (lit. well-proportioned) type with a
pyramidal sikhara made their earliest appearance at Badami in the simple form
of the temple known as Maleguti-Sivalaya (garlandmaker‘s temple). Later variants
and developed forms of vimana with karna-kutas (miniature square shrine at the
corner of the roof), and nasikas (arched opening above the superstructure wall),
projecting from the façade became common. Equally interesting are the Hoysala
(twelfth-thirteenth century) temples at Halebid and Belur, famous for their
intricately carved sculptured decorations, a kind of which is also seen in some of
the Vijayanagara (fourteenth century) temples noted for large-sized mandapas.
Though essentially linear in elevation, the north Indian Sikharas have some
variations. While at Bhubaneswar itself the typical Odishan form is represented
by the Muktesvara temples (tenth century), the Rajarani temple (eleventh century)
shows an interesting experiment with miniature sikharas clustered around the
jangha (bottom portion of the spire) as in the temples of western and central
India including those at Khajuraho. The Lingaraja temple (eleventh century)
shows the culmination and grandeur of this type of temple, but the Surya temple
(thirteenth century) at Konarak (Puri district) in its original form with bold and
lively sculptural decorations must have been a magnificent work. At Khajuraho,
again, a beginning was made with a plain sikhara without any embellishment of
the miniature spires (uru-srngas) which became the characteristics of the later
examples. The temple components were ardha-mandapa (entrance porch),
mandapa (hall), antarala (vestibule), and garbhagrha (sanctum), the entire
structure being placed on a high platform and the walls decorated with beautiful
carvings. The result of these experiments was the emergence of two broad temple
architectural styles, one predominating in the north called nagara and the other
common in the south called dravida or vimana.
The main structural component during the post-Gupta period continued to be

stone. One wonders how the big slabs of stone used in the temple structures were
transported and set up in position to make the temples. From reliefs carved on
temples and from a manuscript describing the building operations of the temple
at Konark one gets an idea of the methods employed in transporting large stones
to the construction site and hoisting them into place. They were transported on
barges along rivers and streams or pulled by elephants over wooden rollers. They
were lifted into place by means of rope pulleys on scaffolding. Ramps of timber
or sand were built on which to haul up exceptionally large stone slabs.
242
Rock-Cut Architecture Science and Technology
The rock-cut temples, both cut in and out of the rock, mostly followed the
contemporary architectural styles. The Kailasa temple at Ellora (800 CE) stands
unparalleled as a monument to the artistry and craftsmanship of Indian rock-cut
architecture. The temple of Kailasa was executed by cutting away more than
fifty million tonnes of rock from the sloping hill by means of hammer and chisel,
a process which took some 100 years. The first step was to cut three trenches at
right angles into the hill, thereby isolating a massive block of stone over 60 m.
long, 30 m. wide, and 30 m. high. Next, this block was carved from the top
downwards and hollowed out into the form of the temple with its intricate carvings.
In order to highlight the shape of the temple against the grey stone of the mountain
surrounding it, the entire edifice was coated with a white gesso, imparting to it a
brilliant sheen (Satpathy, n.d.). The Jainas too carved out retreats in the hills of
Udayagiri and Khandagiri near Bhubaneswar in the first century BCE and shrines
later at Ellora, Badami, and elsewhere.

1) Discuss the skill of ancient Indians in hydraulic engineering.
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2) Describe how various types of architecture in ancient India exhibit the genius
of Indian engineering skill.
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16.5 METALLURGY
Ancient Indians excelled in metallurgical sciences. A type of iron manufactured
in the ancient period in India was the one that was used to manufacture the
famous Iron Pillar at Delhi. It is a 1600 year old pillar with a height of 7.67 m
and weighs six tons. It was initially erected by Chandra as a standard of Vishnu
at Vishnupadagiri, according to a six- line Sanskrit inscription on its surface.
Vishnupadagiri has been identified with modern Udayagiri near Sanchi in Madhya
Pradesh, and Chandra with the Gupta emperor, Chandragupta II Vikramaditya
(375- 414 CE). In 1233, the pillar was brought to its current location in the New
Delhi’s Qutub complex. It is rust resistant due to the addition of phosphorus.
This element together with the oxygen from air contributes to the formation of a
protective veneer on the surface which forms again if damaged by scratching.
The pillar is still a wonder and millions come to see it. There are a few more such
243
Cultural Developments pillars in India, for instance at Dhar (Madhya Pradesh) and Kodachadri hill
(coastal Karnataka). Besides, the same technology was used to manufacture huge
iron beams used in some temples of Odisha, such as Jagannath of Puri (12th
century). The iron beams at Konarak’s famous Sun temple are of even larger
dimensions. Chemical analysis of one of the beams confirmed that it was wrought
iron of a phosphoric nature.
16.6 SCIENTISTS OF ANCIENT INDIA

In ancient India not only great accomplishments were achieved in the field of art
and architecture, literature, philosophy etc., many natural and pure sciences also
flourished and registered remarkable growth and development. In the realm of
astronomy, mathematics, biological and medical science ancient Indians made
various breakthroughs. Among the intellectual and scholastic luminaries
Baudhayana, Aryabhatta, Brahmagupta, Bhaskaracharya, Varahamihira and
Nagarjuna deserve special mention. One of the best analyses of the lives and
careers of ancient Indian scientists has been undertaken by B.B. Satpathy.
Presented below are the details about them, based on his book Science and
Technology in Ancient India (n.d.).
1) Baudhayana (c.500 CE): His Baudhayana sutras is a work on a wide range
of subjects including philosophical discussions on dharma (righteous
conduct), rituals etc. as well as scientific discussions on mathematics etc.
He adhered to the Yajurveda school. He is credited with the writing of the
earliest Sulba2 sutras (appendices to the Vedas performing the role of manuals
enunciating rules for the construction of Vedic altars, preparation of the site
where Vedic sacrifices were to be carried out etc.) known as the Baudhayana
Sulbasutra. It specifically deals with the dimensions of Vedic brick fire-
altars. The rules of construction are noteworthy from the viewpoint of
mathematics. They throw light on various significant mathematical formulae,
including the value of pi to a considerable degree of precision and giving a
version of the Pythagoras Theorem. The sequences associated with primitive
Pythagorean triples were named Baudhayana sequences.
Baudhayana’s dharmasutra, like that of Apastamba, also constitutes a portion
of the larger Kalpasutra (a compendium of the Jaina tradition that contains
the biographies of Jain tirthankaras, particularly Parshvanatha and
Mahavira). It is composed in the form of prashnas which literally means
questions or books. These prashnas comprise the Shrautasutra and other
ritual texts, the Shulvasutras, which elucidate Vedic geometry and the
Grihyasutras which throw light on domestic rituals. Therein we find an
explication of rectangles and squares which is deemed as the earliest recorded
statement of the Pythagoras Theorem. The sulbasutras also suggest how to
square a circle i.e. how to construct, using only a ruler and compass, a
square the area of which is equal to that of a given circle. It is interesting to
note that Indians learnt and knew of the Pythagorean Theorem before the
Greeks.
2) Aryabhata I (c.476-550 CE): He was the first among eminent astronomer-
mathematicians of ancient India. He composed the Aryabhatiya/
Aryabhatiyam (in 499 CE at the age of 23) and the Arya-siddhanta(a lost
literary piece on astronomical computations).
244
1
Sulba/Shulva means measurement.
He received his education in Pataliputra (Kusumapura). It is stated that he Science and Technology
was the head of an institution (kulapa) at Kusumapura and because the
Nalanda University was in Pataliputra and was equipped with an
astronomical observatory at that time it is conjectured that he might have
been the head of the University of Nalanda too. He is also known to have
established an observatory at the Sun temple, Taregana/Taregna (near Patna
in present-day Bihar). He authored several works on astronomy and
mathematics, some of which could not be recovered and are considered
lost. His major composition Aryabhatiya – a book on mathematics and
astronomy – was extensively consulted and quoted in the subsequent
mathematical literature across India and has survived to present times. The
sections on mathematics encompass algebra, arithmetic, plane and spherical
trigonometry. They also explain complex mathematical formulae on
continued and quadratic equations, sums-of-power series etc. and provide a
useful table of sines. We get glimpses of the Arya-siddhanta in the writings
of his contemporary Varahamihira and later mathematicians and
commentators like Brahmagupta and Bhaskara I. This text, it seems, was
based on the older Surya Siddhanta and used the midnight-day reckoning,
in contrast to the sunrise in the Aryabhatiya. It also described numerous
astronomical instruments:
1) the gnomon (shanku-yantra),
2) a shadow instrument (chhaya-yantra),
3) both semicircular and circular angle-measuring devices (dhanur-yantra/
chakra-yantra),
4) a cylindrical stick called the yastiyantra,
5) an umbrella-shaped device (chhatra-yantra),
6) bow-shaped as well as cylindrical water-clocks.
A third text to his credit that has survived in its Arabic translation is Al-nanf.
It states that it is adopted from the Sanskrit work by him but the Sanskrit
name of the original composition is not known. It is referred to by the Persian
scholar Abu Rayhan al-Biruni in his chronicles.
Aryabhata had huge influence on Indian astronomical tradition and our

neighbouring cultures which translated his writings. The Arabic translation
during the Islamic Golden Age (c. 820 CE) was particularly significant.
Some of his explanations are cited by Al-Khwarizmi and in 10thcentury CE
AlBiruni mentioned that Aryabhata’s followers believed that the Earth
rotated on its axis. His definitions of sine (jya), cosine (kojya), versine
(utkrama-jya) and inverse sine (otkram jya) influenced the birth of
trigonometry. As a matter of fact, the modern terms “sine” and “cosine” are
adaptations of the words jya and kojya introduced by Aryabhata. As just
stated, they were translated as jiba and kojiba in Arabic and then
misunderstood by Gerard of Cremona while translating an Arabic monograph
on geometry to Latin. He assumed that jiba was the Arabic word jaib which
means “fold in a garment”, L. sinus (c. 1150).
Aryabhata’s astronomical calculation methods had same weight. Along with

the trigonometric tables they came to be widely used in Islamic adaptations
to figure out several Arabic astronomical tables (zijes). In particular, the
245
Cultural Developments astronomical tables formulated by Al-Zarqali (11th century) – the instrument-
maker and most important astronomer/astrologer in western part of
the Islamic world – on the basis of Aryabhata’s legacy were translated into
Latin as the Tables of Toledo (12thcentury) and remained the most accurate
ephemeris used for centuries in Europe. The calendrical calculations
introduced by Aryabhata and his followers have been in continuous use in
India for the practical purposes of preparing the Panchangam (Hindu
calendar). In Islamic cultures they formed the basis of Jalali calendar devised
in 1073 CE by a group of astronomers such as Omar Khayyam. The modified
versions of Jalali are the national calendars used in Afghanistan and Iran
today. Dates of the Jalali calendar are based on actual solar transit, just like
in Aryabhatiya and earlier Siddhanta calendars.This kind of calendar needs
an ephemeris for calculating dates. Although the dates were difficult to
decipher, seasonal errors were much lesser in Jalali calendar than in the
Gregorian calendar.
India’s first satellite Aryabhata and the lunar crater Aryabhata were named
to honour this great Indian scientist. Further, the Aryabhatta Research
Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) as a centre for research and
training in astrophysics, astronomy and atmospheric sciences was set up
near Nainital (Uttarakhand) in his name. The inter-school Aryabhata Maths
Competition is also named after him, so is Bacillus aryabhattai, a bacterial
species discovered in 2009 by the ISRO scientists.
3) Brahmagupta: His contribution holds a unique position in the history of
Indian mathematics. His pioneering interpretations on Geometry and Number
Theory make today’s mathematicians marvel at their originality. His
theorems that resulted in the calculation of circum-radius of a triangle and
lengths of the diagonals of a cyclic quadrilateral, construction of a rational
cyclic quadrilateral and integer solutions to a single second degree equation
were ground breaking. After the Greeks ascended to supremacy in
mathematics (especially geometry) during the time from 7thcentury BCE to
2nd century CE there was a sudden dip in mathematical and scientific
enquiries and investigations during the next millennium till the age of
Renaissance in Europe. But, mathematics and astronomy continued to
flourish in Asia, specifically in India and the Arab world. A continued
exchange of information was visible between the two cultures and later
between Europe and the Arabs who had gained a lot from Indian scientific
temper. An unparalleled contribution of Indian intellect was the decimal
representation of positive integers along with zero that eventually travelled
to the Western world despite the fact that there was some initial resistance
and reluctance to accept it.
Brahmagupta is said to have spent his early days as court-astronomer to
emperor Vyaghramukha. He is best remembered for his seminal composition:
the Bahmasphutasiddhanta (theory of “the opening of the universe”) or
simply the Siddhanta. He is credited with another work by the name
Khandakhadyaka which he wrote later. The Siddhanta comprises of 1008
shlokas (verses) constituting 25 chapters that contain theorizations and
inferences on algebra, arithmetic, geometry and number theory. He was the
first to introduce zero as a digit. The Siddhanta was translated into Arabic
and titled Sind hind. The Khandakhadyaka contains 194 verses arranged in
9 chapters that throw light on astronomical calculations. He was definitely
246
a prominent mathematician of his times who also had the audacity of Science and Technology
critiquing his predecessors for their faults and omissions and rectifying them
as much as he could. He authored a sequel to the Khandakhadyaka with
some rectifications to some concepts elucidated in the Khandakhadyaka.
He was the head of Ujjain observatory. He passed away in 668 CE.
4) Bhaskaracharya: The time-span between c.500 and 1200 CE was the best
for Indian astronomy mainly because of genius astronomers such as
Aryabhata, Lallacharya,Varahamihira, Brahmagupta, Bhaskaracharya and
others. The Siddhanta Shiromani written by Bhaskaracharya is regarded as
the prime-point of all astronomical treatises composed in those 700 years
or so. It contains the essence of ancient Indian astronomy and mathematics.
He resided in Vijjadveed (surrounded by Sahyadri hills; it was an important
centre of learning during his time). His father Maheshwar taught him
mathematics and astronomy. Unfortunately, today we have no clue as to
where was Vijjadveed located. Bhaskaracharya composed the Siddhanta
Shiromani in 1150 CE at the age of 36. It is a mammoth text of close to
1450 verses and is divided into four parts:
1) Lilawati,
2) Beejaganit,
3) Ganitadhyaya, and
4) Goladhyaya.
As a matter of fact, each of these sections can be deemed as separate books.
One of the most important features of Siddhanta Shiromani is that it contains
simple methods of arithmetic and astronomical calculations. A basic and
crucial knowledge of ancient Indian astronomy can be had by only perusing
this compendium. As such, it surpasses all the ancient Indian treatises on
astronomy. Its segment Lilawati is an excellent example of how a difficult
subject like mathematics can be laid bare in poetic language. Lilawati has
been translated into several languages across the world.
Bhaskaracharya’s inferences include the following:
Earth is not flat, doesn’t have any support and has a power of attraction.
North and South poles of the earth experience six months of day and
six months of night.
Both one day and one night of Moon are equivalent to 15 earth-days.
Earth’s atmosphere extends to 96 kms. and is composed of seven
sections.
Beyond the earth’s atmosphere there is a vacuum.
He was aware of the precession of equinoxes.
He accurately calculated apparent orbital periods of the Sun and orbital
periods of Mercury, Venus and Mars. There is a slight difference between
the orbital periods he calculated for Jupiter and Saturn and the corresponding
modern values. The methods and concepts developed by him are relevant
to this day.
5) Varahamihira (505–587 CE): He was among the band of Indian scientists

such as Aryabhata, Dhanvantari, Sushruta, Charaka and Bhaskaracharya 247
Cultural Developments whose areas of expertise varied from mathematics, surgery, medicine, to
meteorology. He had acquired astonishing knowledge of a whole range of
technical subjects like hydrology, meteorology, astrology, astronomy and
seismology. His magnum opus – the Brihat Samhita – throws light on all of
these. The Arab scholar Alberuni translated into Arabic his another
composition: the Brihat Jataka. He also lavished praise on Varahamihira
for the richness in detail in the Brihat Samhita.
Varahamihira was a resident of Ujjayini. He respected learning wherever it

was found and was thoroughly familiar with astrological works of the Greeks
and he refers to these in his texts. His other compositions include Pancha
Siddhantika, Vivahapatala, Laghujataka, Yatra. They were possibly written
in that order stated. He was born in Avanti (roughly corresponding to modern-
day Malwa) to Adityadasa who was himself an astronomer. It is mentioned
in one of his own works that he was educated at Kapitthaka. He was one of
the nine jewels (Navaratnas) of the court of legendary king Yashodharman
Vikramaditya of Malwa who belonged to the Aulikara dynasty and held
sway over much of the Indian subcontinent between c. 530-540 CE as
mentioned in the Mandsaur pillar inscription.
Varahamihira was the first to state in his chief composition the

Panchasiddhantika dated c. 575 CE that the ayanamsa/ayanabhaga
(precession of the equinoxes) lasted for 50.32 seconds. It is a book on
mathematical astronomy. It delineates the five astronomical canons prevalent
around that time and provides useful information on older Indian texts on
the topic which are now lost. It presents a summary of five earlier
astronomical texts, namely:
1) Surya Siddhanta,
2) Romaka Siddhanta,
3) Paulisa Siddhanta,
4) Vasishtha Siddhanta, and
5) Paitamaha Siddhanta.
It is a significant work on Vedanga Jyotisha as well as Hellenistic astronomy
that includes Greek, Roman and Egyptian elements. Alberuni explicated
the five astronomical traditions on the basis of Varahmihira’s theory.
Varahamihira’s another influential contribution is the encyclopaedic Brihat-
Samhita that encapsulates a vast array of topics of interest like astronomy
and astrology; planetary movements, eclipses and their effects; other natural
phenomena; geography and botany; clouds, rainfall and growth of crops;
manufacture of perfume and cosmetics; domestic relations and matrimony;
architecture and iconography; gems and pearls; characteristics of Khadga
(sword), Angavidya (knowledge of the limbs); auspicious and inauspicious
characteristics of people and animals, good and bad omens and the science
of precious stones (gemmology).
It elucidates gemstone evaluation criterion expounded in the Garuda Purana
and provides information on the sacred Nine Pearls borrowed from the same
treatise. It has 106 chapters binding nearly 4000 shlokas and is eulogized as
the “great compilation”. Chapters XXI-XXXIX are geophysical in nature
and primarily deal with meteorology that includes appropriate planetary
248
conjunctions, cloud formation, rainfall and its volume, signs of immediate Science and Technology
rain, hurricanes etc.
He was an astrologer as well. He wrote about all three chief aspects of
Jyotisha (astrology) like horoscopy. His Brihat Jataka is revered as among
the five main compositions on Hindu astrology. It is said that the two texts
of the West – the Romaka Siddhanta (“Doctrine of the Romans”) and the
Paulisa Siddhanta (“Doctrine of Paul”) – influenced his mind and intellect.
However, this view is debatable and contestable because we have much
evidence to show that it was the indigenous Vedic thought that first motivated
and impacted deductions of the astrologers of Western origin that
subsequently returned to Indian land after being reformulated.
6) Nagarjuna: He was a chemist and an alchemist. The growth and
development of the scientific discipline of Chemistry in India, particularly
alchemy, entered an exciting phase during the age of tantrism. Initially
centred on the worship of Siva and Parvati, it was an amalgamation of
alchemical processes, on the one hand, and grotesque rites, on the other.
There was also a class of Tantras which was a mixture of Buddhist and
Saiva cults. Nagarjuna’s Rasaratnakara – a momentous literary piece on
alchemy composed around 7th-8th century CE – belongs to this category. It
deals with the preparation of rasa (liquids, mainly mercury). As per a tantric
sect a person ought to preserve his body by means of mercury and
medicaments. As per the tantrics mercury was produced through the creative
conjunction of Siva and Parvati and mica was produced from Parvati. The
combination of mercury and mica was believed to be symbolic of death and
poverty. The Rasaratnakara describes alchemical processes and preparations
of mercurial compounds. It also gives noteworthy information on the
extraction of zinc, mercury and copper. He explains the preparation of
crystalline red sulphide of mercury (swarnasindura or makaradhwaja) which
was effectively and efficiently used as medicine for many diseases and
disorders. He was an eminent scientist who, for the first time, not only
enunciated cementation processes but also propounded zinc production by
a distillation technique. In the Rasaratnakara he also provides a list of the
apparatus used by earlier alchemists. The process of distillation, liquefaction,
sublimation and roasting are also enunciated.
Alberuni states that Nagarjuna was a native of Daihak fort near Somnath
who lived about a century before his time and he has eulogized Nagarjuna
as being adept in Rasayana. Nagarjuna’s efforts were focussed on
transforming base metals into gold. We are told that due to his commendable
chemist activities he had acquired such a reputation that the people believed
that he was in communion with gods and goddesses who had blessed him
with the power of converting base metals into gold and extracting the “elixir
of life”. The Rasaratnakara is in the form of a dialogue between him and
gods.
He has discussed various combinations of liquids in this treatise. It also
surveys the status of alchemy and metallurgy in India during those times.
Methods for the extraction of metals like gold, silver, copper and tin from
their ores and their purification are also being elaborated upon.To prepare
the “elixir of life” from mercury, apart from minerals and alkalis he also
249
Cultural Developments used vegetable and animal products. He highlighted the usage of vegetable
acids like sour gruel and juices of fruits and bark for the dissolution of
diamonds, pearls and metals. Historians look up to him as an alchemist,
metallurgist, chemist and medicineman. His texts include:
Rasaratnakara,
Rashrudaya,
Rasendramangal,
Arogyamanjari,
Kakshaputatantra,
Yogasara,
Yogasataka,and
Uttaratantra.
Mahmud of Ghazni attacked India and is said to have destroyed some of
these manuscripts and taken some with him. Arabs learnt the transmutation
of base-metals to gold from Nagarjuna. They termed it Al Kimia. Medieval
Europeans learnt it from them and called it Alchemy. Although Nagarjuna
could not produce gold through the transmutation of base-metals, these
methods did result in metals with gold like yellow lustre and yellowish
brilliance. These techniques are deployed to manufacture imitation jewellery
to this day.
During the latter part of his career he seems to have shifted towards organic
chemistry and medicine. He wrote Uttaratantra which is considered to be a
supplement to an earlier compendium on surgery and medicine – the Shusruta
Samahita by Sushruta who lived long before him. The Uttaratantra throws
light mainly on the preparation of medicinal drugs. The writing of four
Ayurvedic compositions – Arogyamanjari, Kakshaputatantra, Yogasara and
Yogasatak – are also ascribed to him. Many of his ideas on medicine were
incorporated into the Yunani system of medicine of the Arabs. His
contribution could not have escaped their attention. The methodology of
alchemy was also, quite possibly, borrowed by them from India because
their homeland was not rich in metals; thus alchemy and the knowledge of
smelting of metals could not have been indigenous to them. Apart from
India there is no reference to alchemy in the ancient world. There is first
mention of it in medieval Europe.
They seem to have borrowed from India the technique of transmuting base-
metals into gold-like metals. The Arabs called the technique Al Kimia which
according to the Oxford Dictionary literally means the ‘transformation of
metals’. Al means ‘The’ and Khimia which is derived from the Greek term
Khemia means ‘to transmute metals’. But westerners were unaware of the
technique of alchemy. This is borne out by the fact that the term Alchemy
which the westerners use for describing this technique was borrowed from
the Arabs. The word Alchemy is obviously a corruption of the term Al Kimia
which the Arabs gave to the technique of converting base metals into gold
like substances which they culled out from Indian texts on the subject
250
Check Your Progress Exercise 2 Science and Technology
1) Discuss the achievements in metallurgy in ancient India.

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2) Discuss any two scientists of ancient India.
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16.7 SUMMARY
Science and Mathematics were highly developed during the ancient period in
India. Ancient Indians contributed immensely to the knowledge in Mathematics
as well as various branches of science. Scientists flourished in India and cultivated
astronomy and mathematics and took both the subjects to their height. Baudhayana
was the first one ever to arrive at several concepts in Mathematics, which were
later rediscovered by the western world. The value of pi was first calculated by
him. What is known as Pythagoras theorem today is already found in Baudhayan’s
Sulva Sutra, which was written several years before the age of Pythagoras.
Aryabhatta was a fifth century mathematician, astronomer, astrologer and
physicist. He was a pioneer in the field of mathematics. Aryabhatta showed that
zero was not only a numeral but also a symbol and a concept. Discovery of zero
enabled Aryabhatta to find out the exact distance between the earth and the moon.
He also gave a scientific explanation for solar and lunar eclipse clarifying that
the eclipse were not because of Rahu and/or Ketu. In 7th century, Brahmagupta
took mathematics to heights far beyond others. In his methods of multiplication,
he used place value in almost the same way as it is used today.
Bhaskaracharya was the leading light of 12th Century. He is famous for his book
Siddanta Shiromani. Bhaskara introduced Chakrawal method or the Cyclic
method to solve algebraic equations. Varahamihira was another well-known
scientist of the ancient period in India. He lived in the Gupta period. Varahamihira
made great contributions in the fields of hydrology, geology and ecology.
Nagarjuna was an eighth century alchemist. In his treaties Rasaratnakara, he
has discussed methods for the extraction of metals like gold, silver, tin and copper.
251
16.8 KEY WORDS
Stupa: a mound of earth; a tumuli. Originally meant to enshrine the relics of the
Buddha.
Caitya: a stupa-cum-sanctuary
Vihara: monastery; living quarters of monks
Shikhara: curvilinear spire of a north Indian temple
Vimana: structure over the garbhagrha of a temple
Nagara: north Indian temple style
Dravida: south Indian temple style
Vesara: Mixed variety, combining nagara and dravida features in a temple.

EXERCISES
1) See Section 16.2
2) See Section 16.4
1) See Section 16.5
2) See Section 16.6

Pandey, Archana (2016). Society and Environment in Ancient India (Study of
Hydrology). International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention.
Volume 5(2), 26-31. ISSN (online) 2319-7722. www.ijhssi.org/
Satpathy, B.B. (not dated). History of Science and Technology in Ancient India.
DDCE/History (M.A)/SLM/Paper.
Thapar, Romila (2002). The Penguin History of Early India. From the Origins to
AD 1300. Penguin Books.
252
Science and Technology
UNIT 17 ECONOMY AND TRADE*
Structure
17.0 Objectives
17.1 Introduction
17.2 Post-Mauryan Period
17.2.1 Trade
17.2.2 Coinage
17.2.3 Crafts and Craft Production
17.2.4 Agriculture
17.2.5 Urbanization
17.3 Gupta and Post-Gupta Period
17.3.1 Land Grants
17.3.2 Trade
17.3.3 Coinage
17.3.4 Urban Processes
17.3.5 Craft Production
17.4 Summary
17.5 Key Words
17.0 OBJECTIVES
In this Unit we shall study economic trends in the period between c.200 BCE to
750 CE. After reading this Unit, you will be able to learn about:
changing patterns of agricultural ownership;
the process of urbanization;
nature of external and internal trade;
coinage system; and
the debates on economic processes.
17.1 INTRODUCTION
The period between c.200 BCE to 750 CE can be divided into two parts from the
viewpoint of economic processes and trade activities:
1) Post-Mauryan
2) Gupta & post-Gupta
In terms of economic trends the post-Mauryan phase was completely different
from the Gupta and post-Gupta era. It was characterized by a high degree of
urbanization achieved through intensification of various economic processes like
* Dr. Avantika Sharma, Assistant Professor of History, Indraprastha College for Women,
University of Delhi. 253
Cultural Developments trade, crafts, monetization and agriculture. The Gupta and post-Gupta epoch, on
the other hand, was distinguished by agrarian economy based on land-grants.
However, according to the Feudalism school, accompanying this agrarian
expansion was the decline of urban centres, trade and coinage. This led to the
localization of economy characterized by self-sufficient units.These developments
first started during the Gupta period and reached their zenith under post-Gupta
time. However, the absence of urbanization, trade and coinage in this period has
become extremely debatable. We will study the two periods and debates on them
in greater detail below.
17.2 POST-MAURYAN PERIOD

In order to reconstruct the history of the post-Mauryan period between c.200
BCE to 200 CE a variety of sources are available, including both foreign as well
as indigenous sources. Among the former, the most important is the Periplus of
the Erythraean Sea which gives rich data on sea trade between India and Rome.
Some aspects of this trade can be understood from works by Classical writers
like Pliny and Tiberius. Among indigenous sources Jataka stories are considered
to be a rich source on understanding the trade and lives of traders. Other than
this, some important information can be gleaned from other Buddhist texts like
Milindapanho, Divyavadana, Mahavastu, Avandanashataka and Lalita vistara.
Texts like Manusmriti and Mahabhasya are also significant. But, donor
inscriptions are the most noteworthy in this regard. They record donations made
by the merchant and artisan class. Though most archaeological sites have been
excavated vertically, some important information about the nature of urban
settlements can still be gathered from them. Besides, rich hoards of coins of
various dynasties have also been discovered that throw light on commercial
activities during this period.
17.2.1 Trade
The most significant development of this period in the economic sphere was
increase in the volume of international trade. India had trade links with the Western
world as well as Southeast Asia. In the western world most of the trade was with
the Roman empire. This is attested by both classical sources as well as
archaeological data.
Trade was conducted through both land and sea routes. Sea route was possibly
more important.Trade started from the ports in Egypt and ended on the ports
located on the eastern coast of India. An account of this journey is preserved in
the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. It has been suggested that India was a major
contributor to this trade and exported items like:
pepper,
sapphire,
turquoise,
lapis lazuli,
diamond,
onyx,
textiles of cotton, muslin and silk acquired through China,
254 ivory,
pearls, Economy and Trade
tortoise shells etc.

Some of these goods like grains, oils, iron and steel, teak, ebony were also exported
to ports in Iran, Arabia and Africa. Trade was also conducted on land, with north
India participating in the famous Silk Route trade between China and Rome. In
return, India acquired huge quantities of Roman gold (aurei) and silver (denarius)
coins causing significant drain of wealth from Rome. This has been lamented by
Classical writers like Pliny and Tiberius. The process of drain is further confirmed
by the discovery of Roman coin hoards in south India.
India imported the following goods:
tin,
lead,
copper,
antimony,
realgar (ruby sulphur or ruby of arsenic),
orpiment,
storax (also known as styrax),
silverware,
glassware,
coral,
linen,
topaz,
slaves, and
wine.
Wine was carried in Roman amphorae ware, rouletted ware and terra sigillata
recovered from several parts of India. Southern and eastern part of the Indian
subcontinent also acted as an intermediary between Rome and Southeast Asia.The
Periplus informs us of traders from Southeast Asia bringing goods like spices,
ivory, tortoise shell, sandalwood, cinnamon and cassia which were further
acquired by Romans.
In facilitating this trade an important role was played by Buddhism and its
monasteries. D.D. Kosambi was the first to comment on this link. According to
him, the monasteries were important consumers of items like cloth and materials
required in rituals; hence they created demand for these goods. At times, if
required, they could also provide merchants with the required capital or loans. It
is important to note that the monasteries were located on important trade routes.
Some archaeological finds even indicate the involvement of monks in trade. In
one monastery at Devnimori in Gujarat, Roman amphorae sherds with traces of
wine were discovered. A monastery located in Pushkalavati even had a room full
of distillation apparatus. Scholars believe that it could have been a storehouse or
even a workshop for liquor manufacture. H.P. Ray, in addition, argues that
compared to Brahmanism, Buddhism was more liberal towards trade. It did not
have strict dietary taboos and also did not ban inter-dining which was suited to
the requirements of trade.
255
Cultural Developments India also had a significant amount of internal trade. It was conducted along two
routes:
1) the great northern route (uttarapatha)
2) the great southern route (dakshinapatha)
Uttarapatha started from Pushkalavati (modern Peshawar) in the north-west and
ended up at Tamralipti (Tamluk in Bengal), connecting various important cities
in the present-day Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. One
arterial route connected Kaushambi with Ujjaini in the Deccan. From Ujjaini
another route went to the south called dakshinapatha. Several products were
exchanged along these routes. A variety of textiles were traded. Jatakas praise
the silk, muslin and cotton cloth produced at Varanasi, woolen textiles from Punjab
and blankets from Gandhara. The Arthashastra speaks highly of the fine cloth of
Madurai and Kanchi. War animals like horses and camels were acquired from
north-western region, while elephants were acquired from eastern and southern
India. The western portion of the subcontinent was also known for steel weapons.
South India was known for gemstones like diamond and pearls and the presence
of gold mines.
17.2.2 Coinage
An increase in trading activity also led to widespread usage of metallic currency.
A wide range of coins of different dynasties have been recovered across the
subcontinent. Some of these are of punch-marked variety issued by the
ganasanghas in modern Rajasthan and Punjab and by kingdoms in the far south
– Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas. But, a vast majority of them were created according
to a new technique – “die-struck” – introduced by the Indo-Greeks ruling in the
north-west. Die-struck coins were issued by the nigamas at Taxila, Varanasi,
Kaushambi and Vidisha. In north, the Kushanas, for the first time in Indian history,
issued a large number of gold coins. The weight of these coins was based on
Roman gold coins. They also issued few copper coins. In Deccan the Satavahanas
issued a variety of coins made of:
silver,
copper,
lead, and
potin.
Besides these, large hoards of Roman coins, as evidence of brisk trade, have also
been found in south India. It is believed that these were mainly used as bullion in
India.
17.2.3 Crafts and Craft Production

Another significant development in post-Mauryan period was an increase in the
number of crafts. The contemporary Buddhist treatise Milandapanho mentions
the presenceof 75 different occupations, of which almost 60 were crafts. This is
in sharp contrast to only 12 crafts mentioned in a 6thcentury BCE Buddhist
compendium Digha Nikaya. The list in Milandapanho enumerates crafts like:
potters,
basket-makers,
256
salt-gatherers, Economy and Trade
tanners,
ivory-workers,
rope-makers,
comb-makers,
cotton thread spinners,
bow manufacturers,
bow string makers,
arrow fletchers,
painters,
dyers,
dye-manufacturers,
tailors,
weavers,
grass cutters,
hewers of wood
smiths of gold, silver, iron, lead, tin, copper, brass and ivory.
It also indicates that within a craft each task was specialized. This proliferation
is also supported by donor inscriptions of this time recovered from Buddhist
stupas and monasteries. In the treatise we find mention of craftsmen like:
carpenters (vaddhaki),
bamboo-workers (vasakara),
reed-workers (konacika),
perfumers (gandhika),
cloth-makers (pravarika),
oilmen (tilapisaka),
garland-makers (malakara),
jewelers (manikara),
ivory-workers (dantakara),
goldsmiths (suvarnakara), and
blacksmiths (lohikakaruka).
One factor for such proliferation was the specialization of specific tasks within a
craft, as mentioned earlier. For example, in textile sector there were separate
people performing the task of spinning, weaving and dying.
These crafts were organized into guilds, identified in the inscriptions as:
shreni,
nigama, and
goshthi.
Their presence is also known from the Jatakas. Compared to the Mauryan period
they now played a far greater role in economy. In the Mauryan period the state 257
Cultural Developments regulated guilds through special officers who ensured quality of goods and also
determined their prices. In this period, these tasks were now performed by guilds.
In addition, we also find that guilds acted as banks. Inscriptions in Nasik record
money deposited with a weavers’ guild, the interest of which was paid for the
upkeep of a nearby monastery.
However, one sphere where the state still maintained its monopoly was the mines.
This is known from Classical accounts like Periplus, from which we know that
pearl fisheries under the Pandyas were worked upon by prisoners. Similarly,
Ptolemy informs us that diamond mines were under the control of Kushanas.
Besides the mining of precious stones we also know that the state controlled the
mining of salt. However, Ranabir Chakravarti also points out the instances of
salt tax. This meant that along with the state there was also some private initiative
involved in its production. Further, from the Jatakas we also come to know that
the state still fixed prices for the goods important to it, like horses and jewels.
17.2.4 Agriculture
Supporting this massive expansion in craft and trade activity was agriculture.
This sector, too, saw rise of private initiative. In Mauryan period we know that
the state encouraged expansion of agricultural land through policies like
janapadanivesha. It provided tax relief, tools and seeds for cultivation. In this
period we hardly hear of janapadanivesha. Instead, we know from Manusmriti
that land belonged to those who cleared it. Milindapanho, too, refers to individuals
clearing the forest and making the land cultivable. Under the Satavahanas there
are inscriptions recording individuals donating land to the sangha. The rise in
private ownership did not mean decline in royal ownership. There are references
to raja-khettam (crown land). And we also have instances of rulers donating
land to religious establishments.
17.2.5 Urbanization
From the above discussion you can understand and discern that this period was
marked by the rise of private initiative in agriculture and craft production. Also,
there was an increase in the quantity of craft production as well as the volume of
external and internal trade.The intensification of these economic processes led
to massive urbanization throughout the subcontinent. For the first time in the
archaeological data we notice the development of cities outside the Gangetic
plain. These new cities were:
Chandraketugarh, Tamralipti or Tamralipta and Mangalkot in Bengal,
Sisulpalgarh in Odisha,
Satanikota, Nagarjunakonda in Andhra Pradesh,
Kaveripattinam, Kanchipuram, Madurai in Tamil Nadu etc.
Some scholars like R. S. Sharma and B. D. Chattopadhayaya have credited
Mauryan expansion with the increase in urbanization. Sharma argues that
Mauryans introduced urban infrastructure like fire-baked bricks and ring wells
(for supplying water as well acting as soakage pits) in new regions which
facilitated new settlements. Chattopadhayaya has used the concept of secondary
urbanization to explain this process in Bengal.This means urbanization that occurs
in the periphery through regular interaction with an already developed urban
258
centre, which in this case was the Gangetic valley.The development of Economy and Trade
urbanization in this period is often seen as acme of the second urbanization which
dates to 6thcentury BCE.

1) Discuss India’s internal and external trade in the post-Mauryan period and
what role did Buddhism play in it?
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
2) Analyze Milindapanho as an important source of information on crafts and
craft-specialization during the post-Mauryan times.
.......................................................................................................................
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.......................................................................................................................
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17.3 GUPTA AND POST-GUPTA PERIOD

For information about the economy during this period we have Sanskrit sources:
i) law-books (smritis) of Narada, Vishnu, Brihaspati and Katyayana
ii) technical works like Amarakosha/Namalinganushasanam (a dictionary-cum-
thesaurus), Krishi Parashara (a literary composition on agriculture)
iii) kavya literature such as Abhijnana Shankuntalam, Devichandraguptam and
others.
Since this period saw the final composition of the Mahabharata, Ramayana and
Puranic literature we can use these, too, to understand this period. It also witnessed
composition of Tamil epics like Silappadikaram and Manimekalai. Along with
them we also have travelogues of several foreign visitors; most significant being
Chinese Buddhist monks like Fa-hsien who visited during the Gupta period and
Huien Tsang who visited India during Harsha’s reign. From 9-10th century CE
there were several Arab travellers like Sulaiman, Al-Masudi, and Al-Biruni who
have left important accounts.
In addition, historians are also aided by ample epigraphic data recording grants
of land to religious establishments and officials. Majority of these are in form of
copper plates. We also have some excellent numismatic data.
17.3.1 Land Grants

The Gupta and post-Gupta phases are marked by expansion of agriculture and
changes in its organization. The chief factor for this was the large number of 259
Cultural Developments land-grants given to religious establishments and officials. This practice was
first recorded under the Satavahanas who gave a few grants to the Buddhists. In
this period it became more widespread. Under the Guptas land-grants first became
popular in peripheral areas like Madhya Pradesh and Bengal. The grants in Bengal
were mainly given by individuals with the approval of central authority.
Interestingly, the recipients were granted exemption from royal taxation.The
grants made in Madhya Pradesh were by Vakatakas, the feudatories of Guptas.
Compared to the Guptas the conditions of these grants were even more generous.
Along with taxes the state also gave up the rights to mines, pastures on land
along with the right to govern the inhabitants. Under the post-Gupta polities
land-grants were also given to officials. The law-book of Brihaspati recommends
grant of land to capable, brave officials. Huien Tsang informs us that under Harsha
high officials had land assigned to them. We also have epigraphic data regarding
land-grants to officials under the Gurjara-Pratiharas and their successors. Such
inscriptions were also issued under the Palas and Rashtrakutas.
The impact of land-grants has generally been thought to be beneficial to

agriculture. The epigraphs inform us that lands like khila, aprahata,
bhumicchidranyaya and avanirandhranyaya were granted. These terms mean
uncultivated land and this implies extension of land under cultivation. Further,
these grants also mention names of several non-Sankritic villages which indicates
that these villages were on the periphery. The grants to brahmanas proved to be
advantageous in many ways: they helped in integration of tribes into the society
as peasants. Primarily of north Indian background, they brought advanced
agricultural practices of the Gangetic plains to new areas. From texts like Krishi
Parashara, Brihat Samhita of Varahamira, Agni Purana, Vishnudharmottara
Purana we know of the usage of better quality seeds, fertilizers and ploughs. We
also know of the undertaking of irrigational activities like building of dams,
tanks, ponds, embankments and step wells. There was also an increase in the
number of crops cultivated. From Amarakosha we come to know of a variety of
lentils, rice, wheat, fruits and vegetables that were cultivated. So, the result of all
this was agrarian expansion on a massive scale.
17.3.2 Trade
This time-span was marked by important changes in the pattern of external and
internal trade.The flourishing Indo-Roman trade declined due to the decline of
the Roman empire. From 6th century CE trade links were established with its
eastern successor – the Byzantine empire. Coins of this empire have been
recovered from Coimbatore. This trade, instead of Red sea, was now carried
along the Persian Gulf. This also led to the involvement of Sassanid empire in
this trade. From Christian topography we come to know of important ports on
western coastline like:
Kalliena (Kalyan in Mumbai), and
Sibor (Chaul in Mumbai).
India during this period mainly exported silk and spices. On the east coast it
continued to have flourishing trade links with Southeast Asia. The two ports –
Kaveripattinam in Tamil Nadu and Tamralipti in Bengal – played a major role.
The flourishing trade is testified by contemporary Tamil epics Silappadikaram
and Manimekalai which mention large number of craftsmen and foreign merchants
260 living in Kaveripattinam.
The brief revival of trade with Byzantine, according to the feudal school of Economy and Trade
thought, declined due to these factors:
1) Firstly, in 6th century CE Byzantine empire learnt the art of rearing silk
worms from China which reduced its dependence on foreign trade.
2) Secondly, the expansion of Arabs under Islamic banner to Egypt, Syria,
Iraq and Iran further disrupted the trade. It revived only from 10th century
CE onwards.
However, K.N. Chaudhari has noted the positive impact of Islamic expansion
and subsequent uniting of regions in Egypt, north Africa, Syria, Iraq and Iran
under Umayyads and Abbasids. He sees this entire region being united under
Arabic language which facilitated exchange. Also, the expansion of Islam led to
rapid urbanization in these areas. The new urban centres significantly increased
the demand for luxury goods. On the other end, from 7th century CE onwards
China, under dynasties like T’ang and Sung, also encouraged western trade
through land and sea routes. The Arab world demanded:
Chinese goods like porcelain, silk, jade, paper;
Indian goods like pepper, teak, coconut coir, rice grain, iron, cotton textiles,
muslin; and
Southeast Asian goods like sandalwood, spices.
In return, the Arabs provided:

incense,
horses,
tin,
silver, and
gold.
Indian ports, on the western and eastern coast, acted as intermediaries between
the Arabs and Chinese and also facilitated exchange with Southeast Asia.
One important information comes from charters which were given to the traders
by different dynasties in this period. On the basis of these charters the feudal
school has argued for the feudalisation of trade. It was now oriented towards
serving local economic units. It means that the trade largely catered to local
needs, leading to the rise of self-sufficient units. Merchant charters dated from
6th century CE onwards in western India forbade them from competing with one
another. This meant that a merchant guild monopolized trade in a particular area.
They were also given privileges like exemption from dues, freedom to deal with
labourers and control over artisans. The state, however, still determined the price
of the merchandise bought by it. The 8thcentury charters from south India even
appointed merchants as managers of town and villages. This meant decline in
trade, as merchants were increasingly playing the role of landlords than traders.
The theory of localization of trade has not got support from other scholars.
According to Ranabir Chakravarti epigraphic data indicates emergence of
mandapikas in northern and western India which were centres of internal
exchange. These have been mentioned in epigraphic records recovered from
Kangra, Gwailor, Bharatpur, Jabalpur, Nadol, Jalore, Kathiawad. Some of these
261
Cultural Developments were associated with large urban centres at Siyadoni, Bilhari and Anhilwara.
The most significant exchange consisted of essential commodities like oil, salt,
liquor, fish, crops and luxurious items like horses, camel, elephants, spices, gems
and textiles. Their commercial significance is highlighted by the collection of
tolls and taxes in these areas. In the Deccan and far south such centres were
known as pentha and nagaram.
17.3.3 Coinage
Linked with the decline of trade is the thesis of decline of coinage. Most of the
coins discovered from the Gupta period are gold and silver coins. The quantity
of gold in these coins was, in fact, higher than that of Kushana gold coins. It was
raised to 144 grains from 124 grains. However, very few copper issues of the
dynasty have been discovered. R. S. Sharma points out that gold coins are more
likely to have been used for large transactions like buying land. For everyday
transactions copper coins were more suitable.This implies that everyday exchange
might have been carried out through barter or cowry-shells. But, by the post-
Gupta period there is a complete decline in the use of coins. We hardly find any
issues of Harsha, Palas, Gujara-Prathiharas and other post-Gupta dynasties.
The lack of currency has drawn attention of several other scholars. It has been
argued by R. C. Wick that even after the decline of Gupta dynasty its coinage
was still used in north, east and central India. Few 7thcentury coins issued by
Harsha, Jayanaga, Shashanka have also been reported. In southern Bengal
numismatist B. N. Mukherjee also discovered excellent silver coins used between
the 7thto 13th centuries. Some of the coins of this period were introduced by
Hunas which, in turn, were influenced by the Sassanids. Several Indo-Sassanid
coins have been discovered. One such series – “Gadhaiya coins” – were circulated
in north and western India. These were initially made of silver but in the later
period we have debased silver, copper and billon (alloy of a precious metal –
most commonly silver but sometimes also mercury – with a majority base metal
content such as copper).They were issued by private merchants as well as the
state. Another series were probably in use under Gurjara-Prathiharas. Some of
their inscriptions mention coins like:
vigrahapala,
dramma, and
adivaraha dramma.
According to numismatists these are billon coins with varied silver content. John
S. Deyell has reported nearly 46 such hoards. In south India, however, we have
not discovered any coins of Pallavas, Pandyas, Chalukyas of Badami and Cholas.
We have discovered coins for Eastern Chalukyas from 7th century CE. Most of
the finds of the other dynasties date between 10 th-13 th centuries. But,
Chattopadhyaya has drawn attention to many southern inscriptions mentioning
different denominations of coins.
It is very difficult, indeed, to decide on whether there was a decline of coinage in

this period or there is lack of archaeological work. It may be possible that more
coin hoards will be discovered in future. Meanwhile, we cannot deny the
increasing usage of barter and cowry shells for the purpose of trade. These are
testified by the accounts of Chinese and Arab travellers.
262
17.3.4 Urban Processes Economy and Trade
The nature of urban processes in this period is debatable. According to Sharma

this period was characterized by decline of urban centres and de-urbanization.This
occurred gradually in two phases. The first phase, between c.350-400 CE,
coincides with the rise of Gupta empire. Archaeological study records the desertion
of sites or decay in the standard of early historic settlements. Some sites like
Bara, Hastinapura, Sohgaura, Kapilavastu, Kusinagara, Chirand, Sisupalgarh,
Tamralipti, Brahmagiri and others were completely deserted. Some of these
desertions were also noted by Huien Tsang. Other sites like Purana Qila, Mathura,
Taxila, Varanasi, Sringaverapura, Vaishali also show signs of decay. Sharma
assesses this through various ways. Most common among them is assessing the
decline in the quality of building material used. In Mathura, for instance, houses
were now built with brick-bats and mud. At Purana Qila the inhabitants reused
bricks from older structures.
Sharma has attributed this to two factors:
1) Decline of Indo-Roman trade
2) Kali Age crisis.
The decline of Indo-Roman trade lessened the inflow of bullion into the
subcontinent. This naturally lessened the income of artisans, traders and the
state.This may explain the decay and desertion of urban centres. It forced the
state to tap into agriculture for extra income. This is supported in the epigraphic
data where a large number of taxes like bhaga, bhoga, kara, bali and halivakara
were collected. Further, the state also followed the policy of expansion of
agriculture into the hinterland through land-grants. But, the rise of taxation led
to revolts in the rural areas, as recorded in the historical sources as the Kali Age
crisis. The lower castes refused to pay taxes. As a result, income of the state
declined further and the state couldn’t pay salaries to priests, soldiers, officials.
This decreased the purchasing power which, again, negatively affected the income
of artisans and traders.
The twin crisis fully matured in the post-Gupta period. By this time there was a
complete decline of foreign trade. We do not have trade links with either Byzantine
empire or Southeast Asia. Also, the Kali Age crisis had progressed significantly,
leading to large-scale land- grants to monasteries, temples and brahmanas. So,
as opposed to the post-Mauryan times when there were donations by traders and
artisans maintaining religious establishments, now there were agricultural grants
maintaining them. This shift also reflects the decline of crafts and trade and
increasing importance of agriculture.
Sharma’s theory of urban decline has attracted criticism of other scholars. Upinder
Singh argues that for the Gupta age it is hard to imagine a picture of urban
decline.The contemporary Sanskrit and Tamil literature is full of descriptions of
urban life. In Mrichchhakatika (meaning the “Little Clay Cart”, a Sanskrit drama
attributed to Sudraka of 5th century CE that revolves around the story of rich
courtesan Vasantsena and poor brahmana Charudatta) the heroine lives in a
beautiful, lavish house in Ujjain. Tamil epics like Silappadikaram describe the
markets in Puhar and Madurai. However, Singh points out to the paucity of
archaeological evidence regarding the decay of cities.
263
Cultural Developments There is another set of scholars who believe that the post-Gupta period was
marked by the revival of urban centres (third urbanization). According to
Chattopadhyaya the epigraphic data from Gurjara-Pratihara kingdom has brought
to light urbanization in upper Ganga basin, Indo-Gangetic divide and the periphery
of Malwa plateau. In Indo-Gangetic divide the inscriptions identify Prithudaka
or modern Pehoa near Karnal as a site where a regular fair for trading horses was
organized. It was probably a nigama (market town). In upper Ganga basin he
identified Tattanandapura (modern-day Ahar) as an urban centre from the use of
suffix pura. Inscriptions at the site are dated between c. 867-904 CE. They give
us valuable information about the layout of the settlement which consisted of a
number of big and small roads, some leading to market areas (hattamargas).
Most prominent of the markets was the eastern market (purvahattapradesha)
which implies the presence of other market areas.The records also describe various
kinds of buildings like shops, residences and temples built of bricks. Excavations
at the site have confirmed the usage of burnt bricks, along with iron and copper
objects and early medieval coins.
A similar town identified in the records is Siyadoni in the Jhansi district, Uttar
Pradesh. It was a commercial centre, bigger than Ahar, consisting of several
hattas (market places) where there were shops owned by traders and different
craftsmen. One area of the town was exclusive to the merchants identified as
vanijonijarathya. Another important town was Gopagiri which was an important
political as well as commercial centre. It was a fort town looked after by
Kottapalas (superintendants of forts) and Baladhikritas (commanders of army).
It was also a residence for merchants, some of whom were part of the local
administrative council. In manufacture the town was known for oil-making. It
had residential areas and two market places reserved for oil-millers.
Similarly, in south India there was revival of urban centres under the Cholas
from 9th century CE. A majority of them were centered around temples built
either by the Cholas or their subordinates to legitimize their power. These could
be a single temple or a complex of multiple temples. Many of these received
land-grants, monetary grants and gold for their maintenance. Some of this was
reinvested in land and trade.The involvement in such activities led to the
emergence of urban complexes in the premises of these temples. The temples
became grand structures, incorporating within them smaller shrines, hospitals,
buildings for educational and cultural purposes. Further, the demand made by
these establishments for grain, luxury goods and local items led to the emergence
of these as centres of trade and even encouraged settling down of craftsmen in
their vicinity. Apart from temple towns, few towns also owed their origin to the
revival of trade. Some of older towns like Korkai, Kaveripattinam retained their
significance but there was also the rise of new port-towns like Nagapattinam and
Mamallapuram developed by Cholas and Pallavas respectively. In addition to
them, there were also centres facilitating internal trade that were known as
nagarams. Few of these also evolved as cities like Kanchi. Some of them became
areas of craft activity and craft specialization.
However, a critique of this theory has been given by D.N. Jha. He states that the
urban centres such as Pehoa/Prthudaka, Tattanandapura (Ahar), Siyadoni (Jhansi),
Gopagiri etc. as pointed out by Chattopadhyaya date to 9th and 10th centuries. So,
this dating does not contradict the decline of towns during Gupta epoch. Sharma
264
postulates the collapse of urban centres between c. 400-1000 CE and argues for Economy and Trade
their revival from 10th century CE onwards.
17.3.5 Craft Production

The presence of several crafts in the Gupta and post-Gupta times can be discerned
from archaeology, epigraphy as well as texts like Amarakosha. The most important
craft was pottery as indicated by large number of finds from Rajghat, Ahichchhatra
and Bhita. Another important craft was iron-smelting. The advancement in this
metallurgy is visible from the fine specimen – the Mehrauli iron pillar in Delhi.
Amarakosha also mentions others craftsmen like goldsmiths, garland-makers,
potters, brick-layers, washermen, weavers, tailors, painters, shell-cutters,
carpenters etc. In terms of organization there existed guilds as well as specialized
settlements as names of places like Lohanagara indicate. In post-Gupta period
we see the emergence of sugar-making and oil milling as important industries.
Some of the sugar products like molasses and candy were even exported to West
Asia and China. A record, dated 930 CE, preserved in Bangladesh tells us about
expert craftsmen like leatherworkers, carpenter, washermen, florists and
blacksmiths. Just like the previous period, iron-smelting and textiles continued
to be significant industries.
In the opinion of the feudal school, the position of artisans declined in this period.
The collapse of trade and subsequent urban decay encouraged their migration to
rural areas. One often cited example is the migration of silk weavers from Gujarat
to Malwa in search for better livelihood. This may have happened due to the
decline of external trade. Another factor that worsened their condition was the
restriction on their mobility. The land-grants to temples, priests, officials and
merchants often transferred to the beneficiary the right to extract labour from
artisans. In fact, the beginning of jajmani system could be traced back to this
period.

1) What role did land-grants play in the expansion of agriculture during Gupta
and post-Gupta era?
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.......................................................................................................................
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2) How different are the Gupta and post-Gupta centuries from the post-Mauryan
period in the context of economy and trade?
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.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
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17.4 SUMMARY
There is no doubt among scholars that the post-Mauryan period from c.200 BCE
to c. 200 CE registered huge economic growth marked by flourishing external as
well as internal trade. There was ample growth in craft production and
specialization leading to massive urbanization throughout the subcontinent.
However, economic processes of Gupta and post-Gupta times are still debatable.
While there was expansion of agriculture through land-grants in this period, the
decline of trade, coinage and urban centres is a matter of contestation and
disagreement.
17.5 KEY WORDS

Billon: alloy of copper with either silver or gold.
Bullion: gold, silver or any other precious metal in bulk before coining or valued
by weight.
Guild: an economic organization of people following the same craft. Such an
association gives an artisan/trader greater bargaining power and security.
Potin: alloy of copper, tin and lead.
Topography: study of the shape and features of land surfaces; arrangement of
physical features of a geographical zone.

EXERCISES

2) Consult Section 17.3 comprehensively.

Champakalakshmi, R. (1999). Trade, Ideology and Urbanization: South India
300 BC to AD 1300. Oxford University Press.
Chattopadhyaya, B .D. (1994). The Making of Early Medieval India. Oxford

University Press.
Chaudhuri, K. N. (1985). Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean: An

Economic History from the Rise of Islam to 1750. Cambridge University Press.
Deyell, John (2002). The Gurjara-Pratiharas. In Chakravarti, R. (Ed.) Trade and

Traders in Early Indian Society. Manohar Publishers accessed online [7/09/19]
https://bit.ly/2mbpfEf
266
Deyell, John (2006). Harsha’s Coinage: Hidden in Plain Sight? In Numismatic Economy and Trade
Digest, Volume 40. Accessed online [7/09/19]https://www.academia.edu/
37695796/Harshas_coinage_hidden_in_plain_sight?auto=download
Jha, D. N. (2002). The Feudal Order: State, Society, and Ideology in Early
Medieval India. Manohar.
Sharma, R. S. (1965). Indian Feudalism, c. AD 300-1200. University of Calcutta.
Sharma, R. S. (1987). Urban Decay in India, c. 300-c. 1000. Munshiram

Manoharlal.
the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd.
267
UNIT 18 ENVIRONMENT, FORESTS AND
WATER RESOURCES*
Structure
18.0 Objectives
18.1 Introduction
18.2 Environment
18.3 Forests
18.4 Water Resources
18.5 Summary
18.6 Key Words
18.0 OBJECTIVES
After reading this Unit, you will know:
the perspectives on environment through the study of a few historical sources
pertaining to both north and south India;
how forests have been envisioned and perceived in our ancient historical
tradition;
the significance of rivers and management of water resources through
irrigational activities; and
Indian model of eco-friendly living of people of the past.
18.1 INTRODUCTION
This Unit covers the time-frame between c. 200 BCE and c. 750 CE. The lives
and activities of people of early India were greatly impacted by their environment.
They were very close to nature and natural resources. It can be gleaned from
textual sources like Arthashastra, Manusmriti, Brihat Samhita, the Epics
Ramayana and Mahabharata and many others. These works highlight notions
about environmental conservation, interaction with diverse biological entities,
forest ecology, agricultural produce, water management etc. It is quite apparent
that people strove towards developing effective measures to safeguard their
ecosystems and engage in sustainable development. In this Unit, we will try to
analyze how they had a sound understanding of ecology through a study of
environment, forests and water resources.
18.2 ENVIRONMENT
Conceptualizing Environment:
It is relevant here to understand how societies, cultures and communities in ancient
period visualized and identified their environment. What were the popular ideas
* Dr. Abhishek Anand, Academic Consultant, Faculty of History, School of Social Sciences,
268 IGNOU, New Delhi.
concerning environment which helped them to deal with adverse situations? We Environment, Forests and
Water Resources
can convincingly postulate that everything related to nature, such as ecology,
landscape, water, winds, vegetation, bio-diversity etc., should be an object of
study while studying environment. It is significant to remember that researches
into the environmental history of ancient India have taken stock of environment
and its multifarious aspects. These include close linkages between history and
geography; impact of historical developments on natural environment and
environmental practices and vice-versa; relationship of the process of state
formation; state and societal interventions in natural environment and topography;
settlement patterns; botanical and zoological knowledge; interaction between
civilizations and natural resources; control over such resources and its nature
and purpose; policies and regulations for resource use; demand for forest products
and its impact on forest inhabitants and their livelihood; tribal relationships and
notions of the ownership of forest and its resources; incorporation of forests into
the state ambit for political, economic, administrative, military and strategic
reasons; royal hunts in the forests; stable and dynamic facets of land use; agrarian
production and extension of agriculture to virgin tracts of land; land reclamation;
possible changes in the tribal habitat and “peasantization” of the tribes of
peripheral zones; peasant economy; water-control; harvesting of water resources
and irrigational works; their ownership, management of and association with
increasing agrarian output; irrigation technology; importance of pastures or
grasslands as a source of revenue; pastoralist culture, pastoralist specialization,
pastoralist activity, pastoral nomadism and agro-pastoralism; influence of
ecological settings on the distribution of land-grants; damage to environment in
the form of deforestation; its causes, extent and pace; denudation of native tree
cover; resource depletion; soil degradation; forest clearance for agriculture;
environmental preservation in the form of conservation of depleting natural
reserves, forests, flora and fauna etc. Even seemingly disparate historical processes
like emergence and proliferation of castes, rise of religious and philosophical
sects and evolution of regional art styles have been studied in the context of
environment. Covering all these aspects in this Unit would be well neigh
impossible. We will limit our analysis to the study of the perspectives the ancient
Indians had towards environment as reflected in a few prominent historical sources
of the period under study.
Arthashastra
The Arthashastra is a treatise written in the form of Sanskrit prose on statecraft,
governance, economic policy and military strategy. Its authorship is attributed to
Kautilya (Chanakya in common parlance) and it is believed to have been
composed, compiled, redacted and codified between 2nd century BCE and 3rd
century CE. It is used extensively to reconstruct Mauryan history. However, it
may also be used to study the state of affairs in the post-Mauryan times, when it
was given its final shape and form. There is a debate whether it describes the
actual functioning of the state or an ideal state. However, even if it points to an
ideal order, the vast mine of information on environment supplied by it indicates
that people of those times must have inculcated and developed such knowledge.
Kautilya informs us that people were aware of rainfall patterns, soil types as
well as appropriate irrigation techniques. He divides the landmass between the
Himalayan range in the north and oceans in the south, south-west and south-east
into the following geological regions:
269
Cultural Developments 1) Village areas (grama/gramya),
2) Mountains (parvata),
3) Forests (aranya),
4) Dry lands (bhauma),
5) Humid or wet lands (audaka),
6) Plains (sama), and
7) Uneven lands (visawa).
The text displays knowledge and concern about various living creatures – plants
and vegetation, wild and domestic animals – and both punishments and penalties
are prescribed for causing harm to them. It ordains appointing supervisors of
cattle, elephants, horses and pastures to perform duties like protecting wildlife
and preventing poaching of wild animals, ensuring adequate rationing to domestic
animals and their proper care, compliance to norms regarding dealing with pet
animals by their owners, regulating grazing by cattle etc. One of the
responsibilities of the village-headman (gramika) was to prevent cruelty to
animals.
It also advocates using non-agrarian lands as sanctuaries/animal parks where

animals were to be given complete protection and their killing or capture was
forbidden. It enlists a wide range of protected birds, animals and fish. It
meticulously gives details of training, care and treatment of cows, elephants and
horses1. The king is advised to safeguard forests (particularly elephant forests),
mines and irrigation works as well as to establish new ones.
Manusmriti
The Manusmriti (2nd century BCE-3rd century CE), also known as Manava
Dharmashastra, is one of the numerous dharmashastras2. It is believed to be a
discourse by brahmana thinkers, ideologues and jurists like Manu and Bhrigu on
laws, rights, duties, conduct, virtues and various other topics. Critiqued otherwise
for its patriarchal tone and caste discrimination, the text has good deal of material
on environment. It defines biodiversity as all living forms classified as chara
(movable living organisms) and achara (immovable plant world). It highlights
the importance and value of underground stems and tuberous roots, fragrant
flowers, nourishing and tasteful fruits, leafy vegetables, trees yielding timber,
various crops etc. Like the Arthashastra, it too lays down punishments of different
kinds for causing harm to plants and trees. It mentions birds of various kinds:
village habitat birds,
diving birds that feed on fishes,
web-footed birds,
birds with striking beaks etc.
It also refers to a range of animals including solitary moving animals and one-
hoofed animals. It states that killing of particularly horse (ashva), goat (aja/
ajaa), buffalo (maha), elephant (ibha), deer (mriga), ass (khara) and camel
1
Kangle, R. P. (1986). The Kautilya Arthasastra: Part I and II. Second Edition. University of
Bombay.
2
Ancient Indian compendiums of moral laws and principles for religious duty and righteous
270 conduct to be followed by a Hindu.
(ushtra) is a crime. It, thus, pays adequate attention to the protection of flora and Environment, Forests and
Water Resources
fauna. It attaches importance to biodiversity conservation in general, protection
of both domestic and wild animals and vegetarian food habits.
Epics and Puranas

The two great Epics (c. 500 BCE-500 CE) – Ramayana and Mahabharata – are
used by historians to cull significant information on polity, social structure, social
practices and norms current at the time, philosophy, cultural characteristics like
customs and traditions, religious sects, aspects of economic and environmental
history etc. that cannot be dubbed and sidelined as “non-history”. They are
believed to have been compiled and given their final form around 4th-5th centuries
CE. Krishna in Bhagvad Gita3 compares the world to a Banyan tree with endless
branches in which all demigods, humans and animals reside. It underlines the
idea of community ecology. Vrindavana was known for its groves of Aamlaki
(Indian gooseberry), Peepal, Kadamba, Tamal and Vata (Banyan). He refers to
the Banyan and Pipal trees as keystone resources.
He is said to have been an ardent appreciator of nature. He says, “The environment
is your concern, it is your duty to be responsible for it.” His life and activities in
Braj 4 and Vrindavana demonstrate supreme level of compassion towards
environment and environmental restoration.There seems to be a notion that
environment could be polluted or harmed through human action and the same
could be reversed. He is depicted as having defeated Kaliya naga and purified
Yamuna of its poison, protected forest by swallowing destructive fires, restored
air by crushing tornadoes etc. In the tale of child Krishna eating mud and foster-
mother Yashoda seeing entire universe in his mouth, he remarks, “… I have to
play in these grounds, I will make these grounds so pure that anybody can pick
up a little piece of earth and taste it.”5 Implied in this statement is the fact that the
earth may have suffered contamination which needed purification.There are also
stories of Bala-gopala stealing butter due to his extreme liking for it and Krishna’s
intimate association with cows is emphasized numerous times.
The Notion of Beauty and Environment: Ajanta Paintings

It seems that people of those times also viewed their environment as something
that was beautiful, pure and serene. This is evidenced in the Ajanta murals. The
caves of Ajanta are located in Aurangabad district, Maharashtra. They are 29 in
number, out of which cave no. 1, 2, 16, 17 and 19 have survived. Although they
are dated to a vast time-range of 1st-7th centuries CE, most of them belong to the
Gupta period. It looks like this site was chosen by great visionaries who
appreciated nature and its scenic beauty. The caves are located in a long horse-
shaped hill overlooking a deep valley. Depictions of nature and its opulence
constitute one of the subject-matter of the murals in these caves. Although the
central theme is religious, almost all aspects of secular domain find painted which
look so life-like and natural. Flora and fauna have been painted freely in a masterly
fashion and these frescoes are replete with floral themes. High mountains, lush
vegetation, forests and gardens, blooming flowers, luxuriant creepers, flowering
trees, flowing streams, soaring birds, fighting or springing animals, roaming
3
Discourse between Krishna and Arjuna on the battlefield in the form of 700 verses constituting
chapters 23-40 of the Bhishma Parva of Mahabharata.
4
Also known as Brij or Brijbhoomi.
5
Haberman, David L. (2006). River of Love in an Age of Pollution: the Yamuna River of Northern
India. University of California Press. 271
Cultural Developments predators, monkeys jumping from branch to branch, naïve beings like deer and
elephants have been painted, which show how closely the painter has observed,
grasped, perceived and understood the world and environment around him.
LEFT Depiction of Elephants and Horses, Ajanta RIGHT: Depiction of Elephants and Flora, Colour
Mural titled “The Coming of Sinhala” in Cave no. Illustration/Creative Reproduction of Ajanta
17. Source: Wikimedia Commons. (https:// Fresco titled “Adoration of the Buddha” in Cave
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: Coming_ no. 17. Source: Wikimedia Commons. (https://
Of_Sinhala_(Mural_At_ Ajanta_ In_Cave_No_ commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ajanta_ Cave_
17).jpg). 17,_antechamber_ to_ the_ shrine,_ Adoration_
of_the_Buddha_ (color_illustration). jpg).
Inscriptions
The Gupta period demonstrates changes in political economy in which
exploitation of agricultural resources became necessary. Agriculture became
significant to support the growing population and to produce surplus to sustain a
considerable part of the population not directly engaged in food-production. A
major part of state revenue also came from agriculture. Inscriptions of this period
mention various types of land: the term used for land under cultivation is Kshetra.
The tracts not under cultivation are referred to as Aprahata and Khila. Epigraphs
give the impression that uncultivated land was regularly brought under cultivation.
Classification of land also as per soil, fertility and the use to which it was put
was not unknown. Different land measures were known in different regions. It is
not possible to segregate regions precisely as per the crops grown, but all the
main varieties of crops – cereals like paddy, wheat and barley, different kinds of
vegetables, pulses and grams as well as cash crops like sugarcane and cotton
were known long before this period and continued to be widely cultivated.
Hsuan Tsang’s Travelogue

Xuan Zang/Huien Tsang, the Chinese pilgrim, visited India between 629-645
CE. He has left behind fairly detailed travel accounts and has described political,
social, religious and economic conditions during Harshavardhana’s times. He
mentions Harsha as an industrious king who undertook many charitable tasks6 –
6
Such as establishment of hospitals for the needy, opening of educational establishments,
272 distribution of charity, provision of free rest-houses on highways etc.
planting of fruit-bearing and shady trees was one of them. He was familiar with Environment, Forests and
Water Resources
his extensive empire which added to his proficiency as an administrator. He was
aware of the topography of his region and temperament of the populace of varied
terrains that helped him choose right governors of provinces.
Sangam Poems
The geographical tract between the hills of Venkatam and Kanyakumari is referred
to as Tamilaham. It includes the whole of present-day Tamilnadu and Kerala.
With forested highlands, undulated terrains, pastures, wet lands, arid zones and
long sea coast, it exhibits a combination of distinct and diverse landscapes/eco-
zones as elucidated in Sangam literature7 in the form of aintinai (five eco-zones):
1) Kurinji/Kurinchi (hilly backwoods),
2) Palai (arid zone),
3) Mullai (pastoral tracts with low hills and thin forests),
4) Marutam (river valleys and fertile agrarian plains particularly suitable for
wetland cultivation of paddy and sugarcane), and
5) Neytal (sea coast).
Credit: Praveenp. Source: Wikimedia Commons(https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/

File:Thinai_en.svg).
There were areas in which one or the other tinai was dominant. But, most of the
tinais were generally fragmented and mixed up all over the region. The mode of
7
The earliest Tamil texts are found in the Sangam corpus/collection (c. 300 BCE-300 CE). It is
close to 30,000 lines of poetry on the themes of love and war. Their authors assembled in
literary gatherings/academies of scholars, patronized by chiefs and kings, called the Sangams
and the literature produced was, thus, called the Sangam literature. Three sangams are believed
to have taken place: first and last at Madurai and second at Kapatapuram. It is believed that
compositions of the last Sangam alone have survived. They are a mine of information on
everyday lives of the people of those times and on many occasions it is corroborated by
archaeology and foreigners’ accounts. The mention of some kings and events is supported by
inscriptions also.
273
Cultural Developments human adaptation differed from tinai to tinai depending on its ecology. Socio-
economic groups also varied. The forest-tribes of kurinji (variously termed as
Kuravars and Vetars) pursued hunting and gathering of forest produce. Being
dry land, the inhabitants of Palai (called Maravars and Eyinars) could not produce
anything due to scarcity of water. They engaged in cattle lifting, wayside robbery
and plundering.8 Those of mullai (known as Itaiyars/Idaiyars meaning cowherds/
shepherds) were engaged in cattle rearing and shifting cultivation. Dwellers of
marutam (labeled as Uzhavars meaning ploughmen) practiced plough agriculture
and those of neytal (called Parathavars meaning fishermen) did fishing, pearl
diving and salt making. Uzhavars produced considerable surplus of paddy and
the inhabitants of other tinais relied on them for rice which was their stable food.
Thus, Tamilaham demonstrates different forms of subsistence as determined by
ecological conditions of the five tinais and ecological differences between them.
Occupants of each tinai entered into barter with those of other tinais. For example,
the residents of hilly backwoods came down to other zones to exchange their
resources like honey, bamboo, meat, fruits, rice, roots and other wild products.
They also practiced “slash and burn” cultivation on hill slopes and produced
millets and pulses. Such hilly zones also facilitated abundant production of pepper
and other spices. We find literary descriptions of the production of pepper and
facilities for watering the gardens.
The populace of pastoral tracts exchanged their dairy products and the coastal
denizens – fish, salt and pearl. Agricultural zones attracted all of them. The small,
self-sustaining tinais grew into larger eco-zones through such interaction and
interdependence. The terrains of better productivity had a relatively developed
social division of labour. Society in the eco-zones of lesser productivity was
simple and consisted of clans ruled by chiefs. All in all, Tamilaham represented
a complex society of unevenly developed components which shared a common
culture and the state was yet to emerge.

1) Discuss the perspectives towards environment with reference to any two
historical sources of the period between c. 200 BCE and c. 700 CE.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
2) Mark the following statements as right ( ) or wrong (×):
a) Kautilya classifies the landmass between Himalayas and oceans into
eight zones.
b) The Manusmriti states that killing of animals like horse, elephant, deer,
camel etc. was a sin.
c) Sangam literature enunciates the concept of Aintinai.
d) Huien Tsang mentions that Harsha ordered planting of shady and fruit-
bearing trees.
8
Salt merchants and dealers of other goods often traversed through Palai tracts in caravans and
274 Sangam literature refers to their plunder by Maravar robbers.
Environment, Forests and
18.3 FORESTS Water Resources
In many ancient Indian literary sources the settlement (kshetra) – village (grama)
or city (nagara) – reflected an organized and systematized social order. On the
one hand, the forest (vana/aranya) was the abode of ascetics and renouncers as
well as a terrain that included desert and semi-pastoral tracts of land. These are
differentiated from each other and presented as polar opposites. However, they
are also viewed as being closely linked in the form of a continuum. Thus, there is
both dichotomy and complementarity between the two and the texts often try to
understand and comment upon the influence of kshetra on aranya and vice-
versa. It also needs to be kept in mind that with the rise of urban centres and
particularly in the early centuries of Common Era there was also a growing
demarcation between grama and nagara. The former was not static and could
also be a mobile village of migrating cattle-keepers. Grama also subsequently
became an intermediary zone between nagara and vana.
Now let us delve into a few historical sources to get an idea of how forests were
perceived by ancient Indians.
Arthashastra
Kautilya devises a detailed way of demarcating and classifying ecological spaces
with the intent to harness their resource potential and forests figure prominently
in his scheme. The terms used in the Arthashastra for a forest are:
vana,
aranya/aaranya,
atavi, and
kantara.
Inhabitants of the forest are referred to as:
vanacharas,
aranyavasins, and
atavikas.
Kautilya ascribes importance to the management and protection of forests as
well as gardens, groves and orchards. They were not only recreational venues
but also potential sources of revenue. Aranyas supplied honey, timber, oblation
material for sacrifices, herbs of various kinds, flowers, fruits, roots, vegetables,
wild grains etc. He classifies the forests into material forests, elephant forests
(hastivanas) etc. based on their resource potential and use. Kautilya visualizes
forest as a terrain to be controlled, exploited, protected and expanded9, and a
terrain into which the state must aggressively extend its administrative and fiscal
activity. He instructs the appointment of superintendents of forests and directors
of forest-produce (kupyadhyakshas) to promote forest resources. All forests are
said to be owned by the government. He recommends rewards to the person who
brings a pair of tusks of an elephant which died naturally. He instructs setting up
of factories/manufactories (karmantaham) for goods obtained from forests and
9
Interestingly, he prescribes “creation” of a forest, thus going against and beyond the notion
that wilderness can only occur “naturally”. He states that a vana can be altered, manipulated,
modified and even created for economic purposes.
275
Cultural Developments raise income of the state.10 But, he cautions that forest-products should be used
in a sustainable manner. He lays stress on the protection of specifically those
trees which yield flowers and fruits and those that provide shade. Fines of varying
amounts are said to be imposed for cutting a tree or any part of it, depending on
the kind of harm afflicted. He emphasizes on safeguarding particularly those
forests that were watered by a river as those could be used as a shelter during
rebellion, invasion or other kinds of trouble.11
Kautilya’s Attitude towards Aranyavasins

Kautilya does not speak very highly of the forest-dwellers. He says that
wilderness is an abode of robbers, fowlers and enemies. Forest people are
clubbed with chandalas (untouchables). He advises that secret agents should
win the trust of forest thieves, instigate them to raid cattle caravans, cattle
camps and villages, and then have them killed. He warns that they can be a
threat when kings are campaigning or hunting in their region and should,
therefore, be treated with caution and suspicion. They are frequently
associated with rebellion and plunder. He states that atavikas who try to
loot or ravage a settlement should be scattered into many groups and
destroyed. The term atavika is used in the Arthashastra to connote politically
problematic forest chieftains or people, though not always. Forest chieftains
are not considered friends of kings but they are acknowledged and reckoned
as a political force that kings have to deal with. For example, brahmana
sages who lived in the ashramas in the forest needed peace and harmony
with the forest tribes as well as protection and security from them. Kshatriya
warriors could have occasions of hostility with them. Vaishyas could use
them as farmers and animal herders.
The king is, therefore, asked to subjugate the vanacharas. They are
mentioned not only as cultural others but also as political adversaries, yet
at the same time, as potential allies, although usually of an inferior kind.
Though maintaining a distance, the Arthashastra instructs the presence and
attendance of forest chiefs at the coronation-ceremony of a king. Kautilya
proposes to use them to create trouble for neighbouring kingdoms or as
spies and poisoners in the guise of recluses, householders, merchants,
ascetics, students, mendicants, prostitutes etc. Inversely, spies should also
move around disguised as forest-dwellers.
According to the Arthashastra, Vanavasins must offer a sixth part of their

grains to the king, saying, “This is the share for him who protects us”.12 A
benevolent attitude towards them comes to fore when it says that they should
be made to pay less than the residents of settlements for certain offenses
such as theft or killing of cocks, mangoose, cats, dogs or pigs. Elsewhere it
mentions that an officer called the vivetashyaksha must ensure the livelihood
of the residents of material forests and elephant forests. Hence, it can be
safely concluded that it does not exhibit just one attitude towards them.
Different perceptions seemed to coexist.
10
Raj Kumar, Sen and Basu, Ratan Lal (Eds.) (2006). Economics in Arthasastra. New Delhi:
Deep and Deep Publications.
11
Rangarajan, L. N. (2016). Kautilya: The Arthashastra. Reprint. Penguin Classics.
12
Chande, M. B. (2004). Kautilyan Arthasastra. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers and Distributers.
276
In many other treatises also, the forest is visualized as a site of conflict and they Environment, Forests and
Water Resources
refer to clashes between forest tribes and state armies. They also state that vast
forest terrains were spaces where writ of the state did not run smoothly or didn’t
run at all. Forest hunters who, over the centuries, supplied wild game to feed the
residents of settlements are generally portrayed in them as violent, uncultured,
barbaric, uncouth etc. Violence or the threat of violence against them was
necessary for the spread of agriculture and geographical expansion of cities and
states and this is brought to fore in various ancient Indian literary compositions.
Epics and Puranas

When Rama leaves for exile to the forest lying south of the Gangetic plains,
mother Kaushalya is worrisome about his safety. She exclaims, “May the huge
elephants not harm you my dear son, nor the lions, tigers, bears, boars or ferocious
horned buffalo”. However, forests were a source of pleasure to Sita. Arjuna,
Karnikara/Kanaka Champa and Japa Pushpa (Hibiscus) have been outlined as
her favourite trees. Sandalwood (chandana) tree was particularly popular around
that time. Ravana’s Ashoka-vatika in Lanka is said to be full of Ashoka, Champa,
and Shala/Sala trees. Poet Valmiki gives vivid descriptions of honey-scented
groves, lotus-ponds, herds of deer, geese and ducks in the forest. He defines
Aryavarta – land of the Aryans/abode of the Aryans – as the region where black
antelope wandered, precisely the landmass to the north of Vindhyan mountain
range.13
The Mahabharata tells us that the capital of Kurus – Hastinapura – was located
in a forest zone. Pollen remains from the excavations at Hastinapura (Meerut
district, Uttar Pradesh) show the evidence of Dalbergiasissoo (a kind of timber),
Pinus (pine) and other varieties of vegetation.14 The Bhagavata Purana describes
the forests of Vrindavana as “full of bees, flowers, fruits, vegetation and pasturing
grass”; “as sanctified as the clear mind of a devotee”; “there were chirping birds
and clear-water lakes, with waters that could relieve one of all fatigue. Sweet-
smelling breezes blew always, refreshing the body and mind”; “Krishna saw all
the trees, overloaded with fruits and fresh twigs, bending down to touch the
ground as if welcoming him by touching his lotus feet”. He lavishes praise to the
trees of Vrindavana, “… they have dedicated their lives to the welfare of others.
Individually, they are tolerating all kinds of natural disturbances … They supply
various kinds of facilities to human society, such as leaves, flowers, fruits, shade,
roots, bark, flavour extracts and fuels.”15
Abhijnana Shakuntalam
It is a drama by the greatest Sanskrit poet Kalidasa: one of the “nine luminaries/
gems” (navratnas) of the court of Gupta ruler Changragupta II. It makes references
to beautiful tapovanas (sacred groves) where sages/saints/ascetics meditated and
did penance. It amply highlights the closeness of rishi Kanva and her daughter
Shakuntala to the forest. The forest is projected as a peaceful and quiet place.
Shakuntala held plants and deer of the forest very dear to her.
13
Rangarajan, Mahesh (2007). The Forest and the Field in Ancient India. In Mahesh Rangarajan
(Ed.), Environmental Issues in India: A Reader. New Delhi: Pearson Education.
14
Chaudhary, K. A., Saraswat, K. S. and Buth, G. M. (1977). Ancient Agriculture and Forestry
in North India. New Delhi: Asia Publishing House.
15
Prabhupada, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami (1997). Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead:
A Summary Study of Srimad Bhagavatam’s Tenth Canto. Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
277
Cultural Developments On the other hand, vana in ancient India is also viewed as a space that was bereft
of the cohesion of the kshetra, as the abode of those like thieves and brigands
who did not live by dharma (courteousness), as “strange, remote, wild and
different and teeming with creatures whose appearance and behavior was
unpredictable”16. It was the backdrop of three kinds of human action: the hunt,
the hermitage and the place of exile. The Shakuntala narrative opens with
Dushyanta hunting in the forest with a large entourage of hundreds of elephants
and horses and heavily-armed soldiers as if heading towards a battle. This was
because the aranya was an unknown territory, inhabited by rakshasas.
18.4 WATER RESOURCES

Water resources have been an indispensable part of the agrarian economy. We
will study this from the vantage point of irrigation and significance of rivers.
Irrigation
In this section we will discuss the means of irrigation which were practiced in
the past as evident in the written records.
Inscriptions
Society’s concern with agricultural production is also reflected in the importance
given to irrigation. State promoted irrigational measures and activities since it
derived its revenue mostly from agrarian produce. Irrigation through wells, tanks,
ponds owned and maintained by local populace individually as well as collectively
was widespread during this period. State enterprise entailed construction of
reservoirs as well as settlement of disputes regarding distribution of water, building
of a tank etc. The Junagadh/Girnar rock inscription informs us about the
Sudarshana lake (tadaga), an artificial reservoir. It was originally built during
the Mauryan period by Pushyagupta, the provincial governor of Chandragupta
Maurya. It was thoroughly repaired in the time of Mahakshatrapa Rudradaman
by his provincial governor (amatya) Suvishakha (c.150 CE). It was again severely
and extensively damaged due to excessive rains and Parnadatta, the newly
appointed governor of Saurashtra by Skandagupta, who was perhaps the last
powerful Gupta monarch, and Parnadatta’s son Chakrapalita undertook its
restoration this time (c. 460 CE). There is special mention of the “enormous
money” spent by Rudradaman. The Hathigumpha (“Elephant Cave”) inscription
(2nd century BCE-1st century CE) of Kharavela, the third and greatest emperor of
Mahameghavahana dynasty of Kalinga (present-day Odisha and surrounding
regions), refers to great expenditure done by him on extending a water-channel
to his capital. Similarly, the Nasik inscription of Ushavadata (c. 121 CE), son-in-
law and viceroy of the Western Kshatrapa king Nahapana, gives Ushavadata the
credit of constructing many reservoirs and tanks. Another epigraph from Mathura
(c. 50 CE) eulogizes a brahmana who built a tank.
Arthashastra
Kautilya frequently mentions small-scale irrigation works privately owned and
maintained. It delineates following chief means of irrigation:
16
Thapar, Romila (2012). Perceiving the Forest: Early India. In Mahesh Rangarajan and K.
Sivaramakrishnan (Eds.). India’s Environmental History: from Ancient Times to the Colonial
278 Period.
1) River (nadi) Environment, Forests and
Water Resources
2) Lake (sara)
3) Fountain (utsa)
4) Spring (jalakoopi)
5) Well (kupa)
6) Tank (tadaga)
7) Reservoir (adhara/udkadhara).
He also refers to the construction of dams on streams (setu/setubandha) and
classifies them into two categories:
a) That could be fed by natural sources like springs.
b) Where water was artificially stored.
He elaborates on water-tax (udakabhaga) and enumerates following kinds of
irrigated land:
1) irrigated by manual labour,
2) irrigated by carrying and transporting water on shoulder,
3) irrigated by water lifts,
4) irrigated by raising water from rivers, lakes, ponds etc.
Some scholars point out that a clear reference to the use of canals or channels for
irrigation occurs in the Arthashastra when it is stated that water was set in motion
by digging (khatapravrittim) from a river-dam or tank. Kautilya also gives details
of the officials associated with creation and upkeep of water resources. He outlines
constant inspection of the places of water-supply (udakasthana), water-courses
and roads as one of the duties and responsibilities of the head of city administration
(nagarika). The head of crown lands (sitadhyaksha) was expected, among other
things, to have the knowledge of “water divining”. The collector of revenue
(samaharta/samahartri) was supposed to document the number of setubandhas
(bridges/dams) and sheds for drinking water in his area. And the superintendent
of pasture lands (vivetadhyaksha) was to sink wells and make other provisions
for drinking of water by livestock. He also was entrusted to establish sources of
water in waterless or water-scarce pastoral regions.
It is interesting to note that Kautilya duly recognizes the property rights of an
individual on wells, tanks, reservoirs etc. and allows one to sell or mortgage the
same. He also acknowledges the right to sell water from one’s water-work and
the owner may also give water to the cultivators in lieu of their agricultural
produce or to anyone “as it may be advantageous to him”. He cautions that an
owner shall lose the possession of his tank or any other irrigation-work if he
does not use it for five years, except in cases of distress. He also bestows the
benefits of constructing irrigation-works by stating that such a person shall be
exempted from water-cess for five years, those who repair the ruined or abandoned
ones shall be exempted for four years and so on. He underlines the idea of
establishing irrigation-works as a joint or communal activity by advising that all
local residents should cooperate in building dams etc. and strictly remarks that
only those who do so were entitled to claim water from such hydel projects.
Also, those who walked out of such joint ventures were to share the expenses but
were not allowed the benefits. 279
Irrigation during Gupta and Post-Gupta Times: A Case-Study
A popular means of irrigation was drawing water from wells and supplying
it to the fields through carefully dug channels. A mechanism that was
perhaps known before the Gupta epoch entailed tying several pots to a
chain which reached down to the water of the hull and by making the chain
with the pots rotate; it was ensured that the pots would continuously fill
with water and empty it. This apparatus was called ghati-yantra (ghata
means pot) or araghatta. Banabhatta’s Harshacharita (meaning Biography
of Harsha) written in 7th century CE contains very charming description of
how the agricultural fields that produced crops such as sugarcane were
irrigated by means of ghati-yantra.
Rainwater was accumulated in ponds and other types of reservoirs in regions

like Bengal and then used for irrigation; tank irrigation became the norm
in peninsular India. There were, thus, different systems of irrigation
methods. The farmers, of course, depended mainly on rainfall, the
importance of which is highlighted in the Arthashastra as well as in many
texts of the Gupta age.
Importance of Rivers
Ancient civilizations all over the world flourished on river-banks and this is true
for the Indian subcontinent too. Rivers
bring bounty and prosperity. They
provided water for agriculture. They were
used for navigation. Fish constituted part
of human diet and was also profitable in
trade and commerce. The socio-
economic, cultural and religious
importance of rivers is time and again
demonstrated in ancient Indian historical
tradition. The auspiciousness and
sacredness ascribed to them has been a
major focus of our religious awareness.
Large rivers like Ganga and Yamuna were
personified as deities. In the Udayagiri
cave complex near Vidisha (Madhya
Pradesh), securely dated to the reign of
Gupta monarch Chandragupta II, we find
sculptural representation of the river
goddesses Ganga-Yamuna flanking the
doorway. There are numerous such
examples found elsewhere.
Ganga is also associated with lord Siva –

one of the primary gods (trinity or River goddess Ganga riding a Makara
trideva) of Puranic Hindu pantheon. The (alligator), 5 th century CE. Statue
recovered from Ahichchhatra (Bareilly
story of the descent of Ganga on Siva’s district, Uttar Pradesh) and preserved in
hair and then let out in small streams is National Museum, New Delhi. Credit:
found in the Bhagavata Purana. Rabe!. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
(https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Nationalmuseum_Neu-Delhi_2017-
280 12-27y.jpg).
Environment, Forests and
Water Resources
Sculptural panel of the Pallava period (c. 275-897 CE): “Descent of the Ganga”/ “Arjuna’s
Penance” at Mamallapuram or Mahabalipuram, Tamilnadu. Penance of sage Bhagiratha,
or sometimes believed to be Arjuna, brought it to earth. Siva is shown controlling fury of
the descending river through his hair locks. ASI Monument No. N-TN-C32. Credit:
Vairam1976. Source: Wikimedia Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Arjuna%E2%80%99s_Penance_4.jpg).
Likewise, Yamuna is linked with Krishna. As stated earlier, he is said to have rid
it from Kaliya serpent. Kaveri/Cauvery is associated with Vishnu. The Vishnu
temple at Terazhundur (Nagapattinam district, Tamilnadu)17 has an image of
personified Kaveri and the 8th century Vishnu temple at Thirucherai (Thanjavur/
Tanjore district, Tamilnadu) shows her in a maternal pose with a child in her lap.
The Puranas also state that a person can attain salvation by bathing in the Ganges
which is regarded as a sacred bridge to the divine.18 As per a legend, an ancient
17
Original structure of the temple is said to have been commissioned by Karikala Chola (1st
century CE) and later additions made by later Cholas during 11th century.
18
Flood, Gavin (1966). An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge University Press.
281
Cultural Developments king was resting along the bank of Ganges. Around midnight he saw several
women covered in dirt taking bath in Ganga; they were the incarnations of all
rivers across the length and breadth of Indian subcontinent who cleansed
themselves of the filth left behind by countless pilgrims who bathed in them by
bathing in Ganga. Hence, Ganga is projected here as the grand purifier.19
One can achieve the same goal of emancipation (nirvana/moksha) merely by

looking at the sacred Narmada which is also said to have sprung from the body
of Siva. According to a local proverb, “As wood is cut with a saw, so at the sight
of the holy Narmada do a man’s sins fall flat”.20 Puranic literature emphasizes on
visiting pilgrimage-places (tirthas) on the banks of such holy rivers at least once
in a lifetime. The Kumbha Mela at Prayagraj (confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and
mythical Saraswati), Haridwar (Ganga), Nasik/Nashik (Godavari) and Ujjain/
Ujjayini (Shipra) is revered as a great religious and cultural congregation. Huien
Tsang refers to a grand bathing conglomeration at the ancient river-bank
pilgrimage-site of Prayaga (present-day Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh) in c. 644 CE
during emperor Harsha’s reign. This is held by many as the earliest surviving
historical account of the Kumbha festival.

1) Examine the approach in the Arthashastra towards forests and foresters.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
18.5 SUMMARY
The ancient Indians possessed a great deal of environmental awareness. They
took pride in biodiversity and ecological wealth around them, such as the
appreciation of nature’s beauty and bounty by Krishna in Bhagavad Gita. There
are also umpteen references in several other texts underlining the ecological
awareness which formed a crucial and integral part of the traditional knowledge-
system of ancient India. They reflect perspectives and concern of the people
towards environmental, forestry and wildlife conservation. Even though its chief
aim is to harness resource potential, the Arthashastra exhibits a holistic knowledge
of biodiversity and prescribes ways and measures to avert and punish injury
caused to it.You also learnt about the eco-zones constituting ancient south India
as described in the Sangam poetry.
It is important to note that forests are an ambiguous category in historical sources

of the period under study. As we have seen, on one hand Kaushalya expresses
her fear regarding Rama’s safety in the forests and on the other Sita finds delight
in her forest abode, Shakuntala held plants and deer of the forest very dear to her
19
Sharma, Mahesh (2006). Tales from the Vedas and Other Scriptures. Delhi: Diamond Pocket
Books.
20
Vegad, Amritlal (2008). Narmada: River of Beauty. Delhi: Penguin.
282
and the Bhagavata Purana elaborates on the close relation of Krishna with the Environment, Forests and
Water Resources
forest of Vrindavana.
You are also made familiar with the attitude towards water resources. There was
considerable concern towards agricultural production and this is reflected from
the way irrigation got priority during Gupta period. You learnt about a novel
mechanism known as ghati-yantra. We have also acquainted you with the organic
association of the people of those times with rivers. The socio-economic, cultural
and religious significance of rivers in ancient Indian culture is also highlighted
in this Unit.
18.6 KEY WORDS

Aryavarta: region where the Vedic Aryans settled after their migration into the
Indian subcontinent. It covers parts of north-western and northern India.
Eco-zone: area with its own ecological characteristics such as climate, soil
conditions, organisms etc.
Frescoe: the technique of painting on a moist plaster surface with colours mixed
in water or a limewater mixture; a picture painted in this way.
Mural: a large picture painted or affixed directly on a wall or ceiling.
Puranas: a category of Hindu texts attributed to Vyasa. They are dated to the
Gupta and post-Gupta period. There are 18 Mahapuranas and numerous
Upapuranas (supplements or appendices to the Puranas). Their content indicates
that these were heterogeneous, encyclopedic works of various hands
encompassing multifarious topics. For example, the range of topics covered by
the Agni Purana include ritual worship, cosmology and astrology, mythology,
genealogy, law, politics, education system, iconography, taxation theories, warfare
and organization of army, theories on proper causes for war, martial
arts, diplomacy, local laws, building public projects, water distribution methods,
trees and plants, medicine, design and architecture, gemology, grammar, metrics,
poetry, food and agriculture, rituals, geography and travel guide to Mithila (Bihar
and neighboring states), cultural history etc.
Slash and Burn Cultivation: primitive type of agriculture in which trees and
bushes on the hill-slopes are cut down and burnt. Thus, the ground is prepared
and seeds are sown.
Shifting Cultlvation: mode of agriculture in which the plot of cultivation is

shifted periodically. This is to avoid exhaustion of land caused by continuous
use of the same plot.
Smritis: law-books in which social and religious norms were written in verse.
They contain and prescribe rules, regulations and duties for general public as
well as for the kings and their officials. These were composed between c. 200
BCE and c. 900 CE. They set out rules for marriage and property. They also
prescribe punishments for persons guilty of theft, assault, murder, adultery etc.
Tinai: physiographic division of land in early Tamilaham characterized by its

own special ecological factors, social groups and their subsistence pattern.
283
EXERCISES
1) See Section 18.2
2) a) ×, b) , c) , d)
1) See Section 18.3

Chattopadhyaya, B. D. (2017). The State’s Perception of the ‘Forest’ and the
‘Forest’ as State in Early India. In The Concept of Bharatavarsha and Other
Essays. Permanent Black in association with Ashoka University.
Rangarajan, Mahesh and Sivaramakrishnan, K. (Eds.) (2012). India’s

Environmental History: From Ancient Times to the Colonial Period. Permanent
Black.
Sinha Kapur, Nandini (Ed.) (2011). Environmental History of Early India: A

Reader. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
284

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BHIC-103

School of Social Sciences

CONTENT, FORMAT AND LANGUAGE EDITING

Course Introduction Page Nos.

BLOCK 2 GUPTAS AND POST-GUPTA STATE AND SOCIETY 91

BLOCK 3 TRANSITION TO EARLY MEDIEVAL INDIA 143

BLOCK 4 CULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS 197

* Professor Suchandra Ghosh, Department of History, University of Calcutta, Kolkata.

1.2 THE EMERGING SIGNIFICANCE OF

The geophysical characteristics of the Indo-Iranian borderlands allowed for the

1.4 THE SUNGAS

1.4.1 Territorial Control of the Sungas

1.4.2 Administrative Structure

Kalidasa and Patanjali mention a mantriparishad. It may have been an important

1.4.3 Sunga Art

1.5 THE INDO-GREEKS

The Indo-Parthians or the Pahlavas succeeded the Indo-Scythians in the Indo-

1.7 THE KUSHANAS

1.7.2 Territorial Expansion

1.7.3 Successors of Kanishka

1.7.4 Religious Policy of the Kushanas

While Kanishka’s religious inclination was based on Bactrian creeds, Huvishka

The depiction of a bewildering variety of deities on the coins of the Kushanas,

1.7.5 Dynastic Sanctuaries of the Kushanas

1.8 NEW ELEMENTS IN INDIAN SOCIETY

1.9 NON-MONARCHICAL POWERS

1.11 KEY WORDS

1.12 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1.13 SUGGESTED READINGS

Raychaudhuri, H.C. (1996). Political History of Ancient India, Commentary by

* Professor Suchandra Ghosh, Department of History, University of Calcutta, Kolkata.

Let us discuss the Indo-Greeks first.

The history of Indo-Greeks is largely reconstructed on the basis of their coins.

2.4 THE SAKA-KSHATRAPAS OF WESTERN

Chashtana was ruling in western India conjointly with his grandson,

2.5 THE SATAVAHANAS

2.5.3 Political History of the Satavahanas

Satavahana Settlements. Source: EHI-02, Block 7. 39

The Nasik prasasti describes Gautamiputra Satakarni as the ruler of Asika

2.7 KEY WORDS

Mahakshatrapa: viceroy, subordinate ruler; a title assumed by some kings of

Brahmi: an ancient Indian script

2.9 SUGGESTED READINGS

DECCAN AND TAMILAHAM*

* This Unit has been adopted from EHI-02, Block 7. 45

3.3 ABOUT STATE FORMATION

Scholars generally agree that a state is a more efficient method of controlling

3.5 GEOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND

3.6 OUTLINE HISTORY OF SATAVAHANA

Approximate Extent of the Satavahana Empire under Gautamiputra Satakarni. Source:

3.7 SETTLEMENT PATTERN

Nanaghat/Naneghat Cave Inscription of Queen Nayanika/Naganika in Sanskrit, c. 2nd

Satavahana Settlements. Source: EHI-02, Block-7.

Another interesting feature of the inscriptions is that the Satavahanas refer to

3.10 SOUTH INDIA (TAMILAHAM): THE REGION

Ancient Tamilaham Ports. Source: http://www2.demis.nl/mapserver/mapper.asp. Credit:

3.11 THE FIVE ECO-ZONES AND SUBSISTENCE

Credit: Praveenp. Source: Wikimedia Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/

3.12 EVOLUTION OF POLITICAL SOCIETY

Plunder and Booty Redistribution

Muvendar and Other Levels of Political Control

3.14 KEY WORDS

60 Manram or Podiyil: A raised seating around the foot of a tree.

3.16 SUGGESTED READINGS