Review: A Landmark Study of Mauryan India

Reviewed Work(s): Mauryan India by Irfan Habib and Vivekanand Jha

Review by: S. C. Mishra
Source: Social Scientist , Nov. - Dec., 2005, Vol. 33, No. 11/12 (Nov. - Dec., 2005), pp. 76-
92
Published by: Social Scientist

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/3518067

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Review Article / A Landmark Study of Mauryan India

At a time when the paucity of standard books in most subjects, including

history, is a matter of wide concern and serious debate, the Aligarh
Historians Society under the able stewardship of Professor Irfan Habib
has done yeoman service to the cause of Indian history by sponsoring
the project, 'A People's History of India', with the avowed objective of
promoting the scientific method in history and resisting communal and
chauvinistic interpretations. The Society has already put the general
readers, students and teachers of history alike, under a heavy debt by
bringing out in quick succession concise standard monographs on (1)
Prehistory, (2) The Indus Valley Civilization, and (3) The Vedic Age. The
author of all these works is Professor Irfan Habib, whose profound
scholarship in medieval Indian history, his field of specialisation, has
over the years extended to the ancient period as well. These books on
different aspects and periods of ancient Indian history amply
demonstrate his erudition and skill in presenting the earliest phase of
Indian history in a down-to-earth and simple manner. In the opinion of
the present reviewer, Mauryan India, the fourth book in the series,
written by Professor Irfan Habib in association with another reputed
scholar of ancient Indian history, Dr Vivekanand Jha, is remarkable for
its comprehensive coverage and competent handling of contentious
issues on the basis of available epigraphic, textual and archaeological
material and the latest research.
The first impression that one gets from reading the monograph is
that it has been meticulously planned. It contains three chapters entitled
Alexander's invasion and the formation of the Empire, Ashoka and the
later years of the Mauryan Empire, and Economy, Society and Culture.
The first chapter contains six sections pertaining to the condition of the
people of northwestern India on the eve of Alexander's invasion, the
course and repercussions of this invasion, the Nandas and the rise of
Chandragupta Maurya, his reign (c.322- 298 BC), Bindusara and the
early years of Ashoka up to c. 262 BC, and the apparatus of the Mauryan
Empire. These are followed by four extracts from the Puranic passages
on the Nandas and the Mauryas, from Justin's narrative of the rise of
Chandragupta Maurya, from the account of Megasthenes on the
municipal government of Pataliputra, and from Ashoka's Rock Edict
76 XIII, and three incisive notes on the Mauryan chronology, Kautilya's

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 A Landmark Study of Mauryan India

Arthashastra and the bibliography. The second chapter encompasses five m

sections devoted to Ashoka's inscriptions, his dhamma, his reign, successor
the end of the Empire, and South India and Sri Lanka, followed by seven ext
on the dhamma formulary, measures of public welfare, appointment
dhamma-mahamatas, religious coexistence, conduct of government,
administration, judgement and punishment, a proclamation of achievement,
and two notes - one on epigraphy and the other on bibliography. The third
chapter also has five sections on economy, society, religion, writing, language,
learning and literature, and art and architecture, three extracts on the seven
castes of Megasthenes, caste dharma in the Arthashastra and Ashoka's
pilgrimage to the Buddha's birth-place as described in his Rummindei Pillar
Edict, and two notes on the dialects of Ashokan Prakrit and the bibliography. Six
tables relating to the chronology of important events (pp. 39, 97 and 168), the
constituents of dhamma and their occurrences in the edicts (p.64), the Ashokan
Brahmi alphabets (p.107), and the list of crops, stages of their sowing and
harvesting seasons (p.115), nine maps depicting the limits of Alexander's
conquests in northwestern India with meticulous mention of the Greek
equivalents of Indian place-names and rivers with their modern course (p.7), the
extent of the Mauryan Empire in c.260 BC with Prakritised names of places and
tribal people as mentioned in Ashokan edicts (p.25), the spread of the Mauryan
Empire in the east (p.55), north (p.56), south (p.57), and west (p.58), South
India and Sri Lanka in c. 300-100 BC (p.93), the Mauryan economy, showing
the find-spots of minerals, crafts and quarries (p. 120), and the linguistic zones
and territories, where the Ashokan Prakrit dialects were used (p. 152), and twenty
illustrations from different sources, duly acknowledged, enrich the content of the
book and make the historical narrative of the remote past quite realistic. They
also bear out the pains taken while giving shape to this scholarly monograph.
The portrayal of the conditions of the people of northwestern India
immediately before Alexander's invasion is evidently the appropriate starting-
point for a work dealing with Mauryan India. With the help of the details
preserved by a number of historians of Alexander-Diodorus, Quintus Curtius,
Aristobulus, Strabo, Plutarch, Onesicritus and Arrian (many of these are later
than the invader but preserve accounts retrieved from their predecessors)- the
authors point out that there was no trace of the earlier Achaemenid suzerainty
over the Indus basin, where tribal chiefs or kings such as Porus (Puru) and
Absares (Abhisara) ruled, and though a few communities on the margin of the
settled zone were still in the 'gathering' stage and primitive, the people generally
were by no means 'barbarians', lived in villages, fortified towns and cities,
practised flood-dependent agriculture and engaged in trade, owned numerous
and excellent cattle, produced rice, 'bosmoran' (probably bajra millet) and
sugarcane ('honey- yielding reeds' of Nearcus), used cotton for clothing, and 77

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 Social Scientist

O dug out rock salt in the Salt Range. The authors note the absence of an
? 4 reference to the caste system in the Greek narratives, but underline explicit
(1 references to the 'Brachmanes' (Brahmanas) as 'philosophers', who, as advisers
IJ to the local rulers, occasionally induced them to resist Alexander's troops, and
o perceive in the ruling tribal clans potential, if not actual, Kshatriyas. The
Z prevalence of slavery in some areas, especially in the kingdom of Musicanus, the
-' practice of widow-burning at Taxila and among the 'Cathei', located between the
- Ravi and the Beas, and the custom of exposing dead bodies to vultures at Taxila
Ln are referred to. The presence of Jain ascetics is attested, Calanus is held to be a
Z Jain or Ajivika monk, temples and image-worship are deemed to be
c' inconspicuous features of Brahmanism, and the bypassing of Buddhism is
~o regarded as 'curious'.
The ground for Alexander's successful ninteen-month military expedition in
northwestern India (Spring 326 BC-Autumn 325 BC), the authors emphasize,
was prepared by his father Philip II, who, as the ruler of Macedonia (359-336
BC), with his well-equipped, trained and disciplined army comprising a light
cavalry of skilled archers and an infantry fighting in phalanx formations with
protective shields, long pikes, large wooden catapults, mobile wooden towers
and battering rams, overran the city-states of Greece and became its master. We
have a graphic account of the successive battles and victories of Alexander (336-
323 BC) in Asia Minor and Afghanistan and the collapse of the mighty
Achaemenid Empire before he launched his Indian campaign with the sacking of
Peucelaotis (Pushkalavati), modern Charsadda, north of Peshawar. The
'Assakenoi' tribe was subdued next and their major town Massaga was
captured. After taking the town of Nysa, Alexander's army crossed the Indus to
reach Taxila, whose ruler 'Omphis' (Ambhi) had already offered allegiance.
Porus confronted Alexander after the latter's troops crossed the Jhelum, but was
defeated and retained as a subordinate ruler in his kingdom. Crossing the
Chenab and then the Ravi, the Greek forces defeated the tribe of the 'Cathei' and
seized the fort of Sangala. Alexander's wish to advance into the Gangetic basin
after crossing the Beas remained unfulfilled, as his army, tired and homesick,
refused to march further and obliged him to retreat, in September 325 BC. En
route, he accepted the final submission of Absares and of Sophytes (Saubhuti),
the ruler of the Salt Range. This was followed by the defeat and large-scale
massacre of the 'Malloi' (Mallas), and the subjugation of the 'Ambastanoi'
(Ambashthas), of Musicanus, the ruler of northern Sindh, of Oxycanes and of
Sambus, who surrendered his capital Sindamana. Reaching Patala in the Indus
delta, Alexander made arrangements for the administration of the conquered
territories. He left the northern portion of his territories with Philip and the
southern portion down to the sea jointly with Oxyartes and Peithon. After
78 Philip's murder at Taxila, the province was assigned to Eudemus. Gedrosia and

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 A Landmark Study of Mauryan India

Arachosia were placed in charge of Sibyrtius. Already gravely injured while ?

fighting against the 'Malloi', Alexander died in June 323 BC.
Historians differ widely in their assessment of the extent of Alexander's 3
success and the impact of his conquests in India. V.A. Smith, an imperialist
historian, does not see India being Hellenized: "She continued to live her life of
'splendid isolation' and soon forgot the passing of the Macedonian storm".'
R.K. Mookerji, a nationalist historian, refers to the evidence of resistance to
foreign invasion from many quarters: "There was in evidence all over this vast
area a general spirit of patriotism instigating resistance to foreign invasion".2 He
thinks that Alexander's invasion promoted political unification of the country,
helping in the rise of an empire to be shortly founded by Chandragupta.3
K.A. Nilakanta Sastri observes: "Though India was not Hellenized at any time in
the sense in which Western Asia was, there was much active contact between
India and the Hellenistic kingdoms, and in the realms of art, currency and
astronomy India became a debtor".4
The estimate of the authors of the present work is balanced and realistic.
They do not gloss over the "bouts of plunder and massacre"-"booty on an
immense scale in the form of treasure, goods and captives turned into slaves"-
and underscore the function of the regime Alexander set up to be "to extort
enough tribute to maintain foreign garrisons, and to provide wealth and
luxuries to Alexander's own courts, satraps and captains". They, however, stress
that these conquests resulted in the founding of many towns with a mixed
population of Indians, Greeks and others, greater communication and
commerce between India and the Hellenistic world, and 'intercultural
fertilization', which manifested itself in the use of eras, the efflorescence of
sculpture, the influx of Hellenized elements into the Mauryan bureaucracy, and
subsequently in the diffusion of scientific knowledge from the Greek world to
India (pp. 11-12).
Making a careful and critical use of all the available sources-Brahmanical,
Buddhist, Jain, Greek and others, which seriously differ from one another in
various details-the authors present a cogent account of the rise of
Chandragupta Maurya at the expense of the preceding Nanda dynasty. The
Nandas ruled over a vast kingdom extending from western Uttar Pradesh to
Orissa and had a large army and substantial resources at their command. But
they became very unpopular because of their harsh rule and oppressive taxation,
which made it possible for Chandragupta to supplant them and occupy the
throne of Magadha around 322 BC. He now started nibbling at the territories
under the Greek and Macedonian occupation, which had been considerably
weakened by continuous internecine conflicts among Alexander's many
ambitious successors. This alarmed Seleucus, who was in control of Babylon.
Seeing Antigonus preoccupied in Egypt and Greece after the defeat of his troops 79

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 Social Scientist

C) by the Ptolemy of Egypt in Gaza, Seleucus marched eastward. He s

?_^ Bactria and crossed the Hindukush, but before any battle with Chand
0) could be fought, a treaty was concluded with him. Seleucus ceded to
n Chandragupta the territories of Paropamisadae (Hindukush and the Kabul
o region), Arachosia (Kandahar) and Gedrosia (Baluchistan), despatched
Z Megasthenes as an envoy to his court at Pataliputra, and received 500 elephants
01-4

,- from Chandragupta. Chandragupta's conquest of Gujarat and Malwa is borne

= out by his governor (rashtriya) Pushyagupta constructing the Sudarshana lake
at Girinagara (Girnar) in Saurashtra. Though the authors are not sure about
Z Chandragupta's conquests further south, they rightly hail his success in bringing
m~ the whole of northern India and Afghanistan under his control as an
-5 "outstanding military achievement". They praise Megasthenes, among other
things, for his first-hand account of the Mauryan administration, for identifying
endogamy and hereditary occupations-two important features of caste-
among the Indian communities, and for projecting the 'Sarmanes' (Shramanas)
as a class of'philosophers' along with the 'Brachmanes', but criticize him for his
proneness to describe fantasies on hearsay including stories of tribes of men
without mouths, unicorns and gold-digging ants.
The section dealing with the administrative apparatus of the Mauryan
Empire with Pataliputra as the capital city is marked by the authors' originality
and novelty in interpreting the sources-Ashokan inscriptions, the Indica of
Megasthenes and the Arthashastra of Kautilya-on various issues. They draw
attention to a major change in the day-to-day functioning of the king when
Ashoka took over. He gave up hunting expeditions and pleasure trips, and kept
himself occupied with the affairs of the state without any interruption for
personal reasons. In the Mauryan set-up the king's family members were
appointed viceroys and governors in the provinces. For example, the princes
(kumara) held these positions at Ujjain and Tosali; Kumara Samva is mentioned
in the Panguraria edict and an ayaputa (aryaputra) (the lord's son) occurs in the
Brahmagiri inscription. The authors point out that the parisa (Sanskrit
parishad) or Council occurring in two epigraphs of Ashoka merely carried out
the king's orders and routed them to officers called the yutas (Sanskrit yuktas).
As such, it differed from the mantriparishad of the Arthashastra and was not an
advisory council of the king functioning in his presence. They rightly consider the
mahamatas to be the high officials of the state equivalent to the ministers, who
were sometimes attached to the governors and were stationed in all major towns
such as Shravasti, Kaushambi, Samapa and Isila. Besides, there were mahamatas
for the border, women and the capital township of Pataliputra. Of these, the
mahamata for women was concerned with grants or alms to them. Citing the
evidence from Megasthenes, the authors have shown that the capital city was
80 governed by six bodies, each comprising of five officials, who looked after (i) the

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 A Landmark Study of Mauryan India

industrial crafts, (ii) foreigners, (iii) births and deaths, (iv) trade, weights and ?
measures, (v) prevention of fraud in sale, and (vi) collection of tax on goods 0
sold. Z
The aut
the use of rammed earth in the fortification at Kaushambi and of mud at Taxila. r
On the basis of Megasthenes as cited by Strabo and Arrian, Pataliputra is shown
to be a large city spread over an area of 14.8 kilometres in length along the Ganga,
2.8 kilometres in width, the wooden wall protecting it having 570 towers and 64
gates and loopholes at intervals for use by the archers; the surrounding wall is
said to have been 600 feet wide and 30 cubits deep. In their opinion, the
governors at Ujjain and Taxila enjoyed substantial functional autonomy. They
also refer to a few autonomous territories, which had their own magistrates and
not the king's officials to govern them. Apart from these, they specify ten groups
of people, who occupied a position different from the regularly administered
areas of the Empire: (i) Yona, (ii) Kamboja, (iii) Gandhara, (iv) Rathika, (v)
Pitinika, (vi) Bhoja, (vii) Nabhaka, (viii) Nabhapanti, (ix) Andhra and (x)
Parinda.
The provincial administration is held to have been looked after by
functionaries called the yutas, rajukas (Sanskrit rajjukas) and the padesikas
(Sanskrit pradeshikas). Attention is also drawn to the strong network of
communications for the governance of the Empire, with officials looking after
the construction of roads and setting up of the pillars at the distance of ten
stadia. If one were to give credence to the two Aramaic inscriptions from
Laghrnan in Afghanistan, both give distance in bows from particular spots on
the krpty (karapathi), Old Persian for 'army highways'. Ashokan pillars
themselves marked the highways. Ashoka kept himself informed about the
affairs of the people through reporters (pativedakas) (Sanskrit prativedakas)
and officials who went on tours of inspection every three or five years. Both
Megasthenes and the Arthashastra of Kautilya refer to the vast network of spies
for gathering and transmitting news in the Arthashastra they appear as
conspirators and agents provocateur as well. One of the features of the
bureaucracy pointed out by the authors is the influx of people from the
northwestern area, where writing had been in vogue for a long time. The
appointment of Tushaspa and Chapada in the Mauryan administration is
mentioned as typical example; and important cultural and political
consequences of such a development are emphasized.
The authors dwell on the differences between Megasthenes and the
Arthashastra of Kautilya on the amount of taxation under the Mauryas. While
Megasthenes mentions one-fourth of the produce as tax to the king, the
Arthashastra indicates the amount to be one-sixth of the produce. The taxes were
primarily collected in kind and stored in state granaries (kothagala). This is 8

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 Social Scientist

5O borne out by the Mahasthan stone-plaque inscription from Bangladesh

?14 Sohagaura bronze-plaque inscription from northeastern Uttar Pradesh. Taxes
collected from artisans, traders and others varied a great deal in different parts of
n the Empire. Taxes were also collected in cash. A hoard of coins found at the Bhir
o mound at Taxila (c. 320 BC) and the Arthashastra statements regarding the
Z striking of punch-marked silver coins at the state mint and the debasement of
0-4
- currency through the mixing of a quarter alloy of copper in it indicate the nature
- of cash transactions during the period.
0 The authors have rightly taken Kautilya's Arthashastra to be a treatise
Z restricted to a special aspect of artha-the holding and enhancing of royal
c~ power, which is also the royal road to wealth. It contains counsels addressed to
~o a king of a small or moderate-sized kingdom about how to maintain power and
effectively overcome enemies. It deals with the science of polity in the broadest
sense. Everything that can fulfil the king's ambitions, or serve his interests, is
recommended, without any moral constraints. On the basis of the internal
evidence found in the opening of the book, the authors hold the text to be
compiled from certain earlier texts on the science of artha. They point out that its
authorship is ascribed in four passages to Kautilya, who is identified once as the
person who overthrew the Nandas and that it is in the later tradition that the
author is called Vishnugupta, while Chanakya never occurs in the text. They treat
Kautilya as a historical figure and a minister of Chandragupta, whose opinions
on various issues are cited along with those of others and sometimes alone, but
which invariably prevail, and are treated as final and definitive. It gives to the
authors further basis to treat Kautilya as the author of the text, a prose work in
the sutra form, where each sentence usually contains a separate counsel.
The compilation of the text is taken to cover a long period of time (p. 69),
and it is presumed to contain material from the pre-Mauryan, Mauryan and
post-Mauryan times, the text having undergone additions and deletions.
According to the authors, the process went on until the second or even the third
century AD, when the compiler finally arranged and edited the material. How
much he interfered with the earlier versions, cannot be determined, since these
are not extant. In trying to pinpoint the pre-Mauryan strata of the text, the
authors refer to the mention of Sanghas and coarse silver and copper coinage
with marks (lakshana), which can only refer to the punch-marked coins minted
in northern India from about the sixth century BC. References to the Shakyas,
Ajivikas and other heretical monks, divorce and women's remarriage, too, in
their opinion, belong to the earlier milieu. Although the core political unit in the
Arthashastra is a kingdom of moderate size, the sovereign's realm
(chakravartikshetram) envisaged for the future comprises the territory from the
Himalayas to the seashores. In brief, the authors' perception of the various
82 problems relating to the Arthashastra shows a mature understanding of the text.

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 A Landmark Study of Mauryan India

Another baffling, but important, question which has engaged the attention
of the authors is the beginning of writing in India. In this exercise they repeatedly 0
take recourse to the citations from indigenous and Greek sources. The Greek Z
sources, by and large, negate the evidence of writing in this country in the period v
of Alexander and Chandragupta, although Nearchus refers to writing on closely
woven cloth (p. 147). The authors identify the latter as Aramaic. Actually there
are three major viewpoints regarding the antiquity of writing in India. While
Georg Buhler assigns the introduction of the prototypes of Brahmi letters in
India to 800 BC, A.B. Keith traces the development of writing in India to the fifth
century BC, and K.R. Norman holds Brahmi writing as Ashoka's own invention
under the influence of the Achaemenids. While most of the Indian scholars even
today take Panini to belong to the fifth century BC, the authors of the present
work seem to be influenced by the views of George Caradona about the date of
Panini in assigning him to the middle of the fourth century BC.5 They maintain
that the use of the term 'Yavanani' and the mention of lipi for script by Panini
suggest a date later than Alexander's invasion, though they do not rule out the
possibility of these two words in Panini being later interpolations (p. 155), which
would keep the issue of Panini's date still open. They do not find the Pali Canon
of Sri Lanka of much help in resolving this issue, as these were put to writing in
the first century BC. They depend on the authority of Megasthenes (as cited by
Strabo), according to whom the Indians used only unwritten laws, for they were
ignorant of writing and relied in all matters on memory. Whereas Brahmi
characters of the fourth century BC have been found in Anuradhapuram, in
India no inscribed potsherd is available to this date. As such, Brahmi, originating
in Sri Lanka, may have come to India in the third century BC. In the light of
Brahmi originating in the fourth century BC, the theory that Brahmi was a
deliberate creation of the time of Ashoka, under the influence of Greek and
Kharoshthi, does not stand (p. 149), say the authors. They also allude to the use
of bhasha for Sanskrit as spoken language. According to Panini, it was the
language of the priestly elite of northern India; the common people used Prakrit
forms.
The chapter devoted to economy, society and culture is a significant
contribution of the authors. It covers a large variety of subjects, hardly ever
touched upon on this scale in a book of this period. For instance, in the section
on economy, the authors write about timber and ivory-yielding forests,
cultivation, irrigation, water-works and various crops under agricultural
produce. Under the non-agricultural produce, they dwell elaborately on pottery
from the different NBP sites, minerals, metals, textiles and crafts, and the
building industry based on stone pieces cut from Chunar and Mathura and
baked bricks from a number of sites. Trade, trade-routes and coins also receive
adequate treatment in this section. 83

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 Social Scientist

(D It is not understood how the authors have expressed reservation abo

cotton being an annual agricultural crop in the Arthashastra (pp. 115-16, 1
Though its production was limited and it was by no means the only source
n clothing, there is ample evidence to show that it was recognized as an agricultu
6 crop in the text, where the Director of Agriculture, assisted by the expe
Z agriculture and the science of plants, is advised to collect in the proper se
- seeds of all kinds of grains, fruits, vegetables, roots, flax and cotto
=^- (karpasabijani).6 The farmer is asked to collect and burn the seeds of cotton a
o slough of a serpent, because serpents do not remain where there is this smoke
Z variety of cotton, red cotton plant (araktakarpasa), is said to make a blind
smoke, when made into dough with many articles." The seeds of cotton, m
o0 with urine and excreta of certain birds and animals and various seeds and skin
too, are purported to make a smoke capable of killing people.9 Two varietie
cotton coming from the dog-rose plant and from the bush-like, plant may
been in use.
In the section on society, apart from the ruling elite, the overall state of
caste system, slavery, women's position, stridhana and marriage have be
analysed. On the nature of the caste system as gleaned from the study of
Ashokan inscriptions, the authors point out that Ashoka sidesteps the issu
caste and shows himself favourably disposed towards the lower classes,
including 'slaves and servants'. They observe that in general the Ashokan edicts
represent a counter-current to the evolving caste system. In their opinion Ashoka
undermined the significance of rituals, as to him one's status after rebirth
depended on the working of the law of karma and there is no place for God or
deities or divine intervention in the matter. The references to men mingling with
gods (devas) in Minor Rock Edict I and the exhibition of divine forms (deviya
rupani) in Rock Edict IV are dismissed as rhetorical or figurative. There is no
doubt that Ashoka's approach differs from that of the Arthashastra of Kautilya
and the Puranas.
In order to substantiate the lack of social mobility in the caste system, the
authors use the Majjhima Nikaya, a Buddhist text composed in the Mauryan
period, which refers to the two divisions of society into masters and slaves
among the Yona-Kambojas in the Graeco-Iranian borderland of the Mauryan
Empire; here a change of status was possible, with the free becoming slaves and
the slaves becoming free persons."' This was in sharp contrast to the practice in
India, where a person belonging to a varna remained tied to it for good, usually
leaving the legacy to his sons and their successors (p. 135). The authors argue
that the slaves, though not untouchables, were not Aryas and hence were not
assigned to any varna. They emphasize the importance of slavery in India and do
not find any substance in the statement of Megasthenes that there was no slavery

84 here. They also do not agree with the view expressed by Arrian that like the people

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 A Landmark Study of Mauryan India

of Sparta, Indians had only helotage or peasants bound to the land. The authors n
demonstrate with the help of the Arthashastra that the situation was different 0
here. They attribute the misconception of Megasthenes regarding the absence of 3
slavery in India to be the legal dictum invoked in the Arthashastra that no Arya
can be reduced to slavery (dasabhava). In their opinion the Ashokan inscriptions
and the Buddhist Pali texts of the period bear eloquent testimony to the harsh
treatment of the domestic slaves at the hands of their masters. The slaves could
be inherited, sold and gifted away at their master's will.
With regard to the place of women in Mauryan society, the authors do not
find a uniform picture of their condition. The womenfolk at the lowest rung of
the society, such as the dancers, fishermen, fowlers, cowherds and vintners
worked as equal partners with their husbands and other male members in
occupational activities. In their cases, restrictions on freedom did not apply,
whereas the movements of women of the upper strata were severely restricted.
Respectability required them to remain confined to the four walls of the house.
The section on religion deals with Brahmanism, Shaivism, Bhagavatism,
Buddhism, Jainism and other heretical sects. It also delineates the main trends in
the philosophical systems of the time-Sankhya, Yoga, Lokayata, etc. According
to the authors, in spite of being challenged, Brahmanism remained the
dominant and widespread religion in the period. However, its ideas were getting
transformed. The most notable change was the decline of the Vedic ritual
sacrifice. The notion of ahimsa had permeated Brahmanism. The authors see the
germ of bhakti in the Bhagavata cult of Vasudeva. Shiva, too, was being
worshipped and the Arthashastra refers to him as a god whose temples are to be
built in the city. Terms relating to the temple occurring in this text such as the
temple-cattle (devapashu), temple slave-girls (devadasi) and god's house
(devagriha) are mentioned by the authors. The prevalence of the worship of the
mother goddess and the Shakti cult is attested by the terracotta figurines found
from a large number of sites and analysed by the authors from the excavations
at Taxila, Ahichchatra, Sonkh, Kaushambi, Rajghat, Buxar and Patna.
The section on writing, language, learning and literature is incisive. The
works on medicine, mathematics, astronomy and other subjects are assessed
here. The importance of the science of medicine, which Patanjali refers to as
Vaidyaka, is noted. Jivaka was an outstanding representative of this science,
much before the Mauryas. Nearchus reports that on being told of the Indian
physicians' skill in curing snake-bite. Alexander had them collected to treat his
troops; and then they also treated other diseases and pains. This is not
surprising. The Mahabharata,' the Matsya Purana2 and the Vishnudharmottara
Purana' refer to the large-scale use of snakes, kept in innumerable earthen pots,
in armed encounters in ancient India. These are said to have been unleashed in
large numbers against the enemy ranks to inflict casualties and cause 85

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 Social Scientist

Ln consternation and chaos. The Arthashastra, too, refers to the storage of

and poisonous snakes in jars, along with their antidotes, in royal forts
0j recommends the use of snakes and poisons against the enemies.4 D
? Siculus reports that a large number of Alexander's troops and his
o Ptolemy were wounded by weapons of steel, anointed with deadly tinc
Z which was prepared from snakes of certain kinds, by the natives in the
!- Harmatelia city near Brahmanabad or Mansura.5 Ashoka's concern for the
= treatment of human beings and cattle, and also for the supply of medicinal
un herbs, roots and fruits throughout his dominions and in the neighbouring
Z kingdoms, is borne out by Rock Edict II.
c~ In mathematics, the authors have referred to the Shulbasutras, which they
~o have assigned to 350-150 BC (these are usually dated in the fifth-sixth century
BC), their oldest text, the Baudhayana Sutra, and the Zhou Bi, a Chinese text of
the late fourth century BC, which has similarity with some of the details of the
Baudhayana Sutra. In astronomy the Vedanga Jyotisha represents to them the
state of knowledge or belief in the period. The authors treat part of the
Mahabharata as composition of Mauryan times, whereas the Ramayana is
assigned to the post-Mauryan period, when the use of new metres in poetry
started. In their opinion the compilation of the Buddhist Pali Canon made
substantial progress in Ashoka's time and the Jatakas had become a part of the
Buddhist sacred lore by the end of the Mauryan period.
The authors take note of the dialectical variations in Prakrit used in the edicts
of Ashoka because of the linguistic peculiarities of the provinces and identify four
main dialects: (i) Magadhi, (ii) Ujjaini (iii) Western and (iv) Gandhari, with three
sub-dialects Kalsi, Kalinga and Southern. On the basis of these variations, they
identify five linguistic zones: (i) the erstwhile Achaemenian territories in India
where Aramaic was being used, (ii) Taxila and Afghanistan, where Irano-
Aramaic, based on the Avestan language, was in use, (iii) parts of Afghanistan,
where Greek written in Koine and Attic (Athenian variety) was employed, (iv)
south India outside the Ashokan dominion, where Tamil was in use, and (v) Sri
Lanka, where Old Simhalese or Tamil-Brahmi was used. It is well known that
the Ashokan inscriptions offer the earliest evidence of the presence of regional
dialects in Prakrit and that Magadhi is the official standard dialect in which the
original edicts were issued from Pataliputra. By pointing out the variations in the
texts, the authors demonstrate the depth of their understanding of grammar in
the formation of words. Their comparison of the dialects used in different
versions speaks well of their understanding of the subtle nuances of the
inscriptions.
The authors have made good use of the archaeological data in scrutinizing
the spread of Brahmi in India. They discern the influence of early Tamil or
86 Dravidian orthography on the Ashokan inscriptions of the South (p. 92). They

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 A Landmark Study of Mauryan India

point out that the archaeological potsherds bearing Tamil-Brahmi writing, u

dated to the second century BC, are found from a large number of sites such as (
Arikamedu (Pondicherry), Kodumanal (Erode district) and Alagankulam (near Z
Rameshwaram). According to them, this area witnessed the influx of D-
Brahmanical influence earlier. Excavations at Anuradhapuram have brought to
light the evidence that confirms early Indo-Aryan presence in Sri Lanka (p. 95).
The evidence comes as early Brahmi graffiti on potsherds from excavated sites
assigned to c. 450-275 BC. Trade from Afghanistan or Baluchistan with this
region (p. 95) in such items as lapis lazuli, carnelian, etc., is borne out by
archaeological data. It is significant that the graffiti from Anuradhapuram is in
Prakrit. The authors draw attention to the Prakrit that prevailed in Sri Lanka and
its affinity with the Prakrit of northwestern India, as carried by Ashoka's
Kharoshthi. They are of the opinion that the original Prakrit of Sri Lanka was
derived from the northwestern Prakrit dialect and that the Brahmi script of Sri
Lanka was created under the Aramaic influence. On the grounds that there is no
predecessor of the pre-Ashokan Brahmi anywhere, except in Sri Lanka, they hold
that Mauryan India received that script from Sri Lanka. If one gives credence to
Arrian's account, owing to the marriage of his daughter, Pandia, in the Pandya
country in the fourth century BC, Herakles had relations with this part cf the
country.
The authors prefer Ashokan inscriptions to the Buddhist tradition recorded
in the Dipavansa and the Mahavansa. On the stone slab from the Kandahar
Greek version of the Ashokan edict, followed by the initial portion of Rock Edict
XIII of Ashoka, they express the possibility that it could be a part of the panel of
slabs on which the entire series of the 14 Rock Edicts of Ashoka was prescribed in
Greek.
The authors rightly maintain that the history of fine arts in India begins with
Ashoka and his use of stone for monumental art and architecture. They
minutely examine all the 25 pillars of Ashoka on the basis of their physical
presence, content, features and artistic dexterity displayed in them. They do not
agree with J. Irwin, who held that two or more hands were involved in
envisioning and installing them. According to them, all the pillars conform to a
uniform design to such a great extent that it is not possible to think of several
authors of these pillars (p.161). On the basis of their usual locations near the
sacred sites of the Buddhists, stupas and pilgrim routes, they rightly argue that
the Ashokan pillars might have been set up even in towns and places on the
highway as symbols of both royal majesty and dhamma. That explains their
being called dhamma pillars in Pillar Edict VII by Ashoka. On account of the
pinkish colour of the Delhi-Topra Pillar, they regard it a product of the quarries
near Mathura, whereas most of the other Ashokan pillars are made of sandstone
quarried from Chunar near Varanasi. The difficulties faced and the technique 37

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 Social Scientist

O adopted in carrying these long cylindrical stone pillars to their respective sites
?4 and the engagement of stone-cutters and polishers at these sites in order to make
<, these pillars look glossy and fresh are correctly visualized. The authors also
justifiably do not agree with the view that the 84-pillared hall built by Ashoka at
o Kumrahar, with the pillars measuring 9.3 meters in length, was meant to hold
Z the Third Buddhist Council in the light of the inconclusiveness of the evidence for
,- holding the Council itself (p. 163). Their treatment of Ashoka as the patron and
- precursor of the rock-cut cave architecture (he built and gifted three caves in the
0 Barabar hills to the Ajivikas), which endured for long, is also correct.
Z The authors see the emergence of a new tradition initiated by Ashoka in
mn stone sculpture. They take into account the exquisite craftsmanship shown by
-o the artists in the treatment of the capital of Ashokan pillars and the relief in
abacus, which includes various species of animals and birds. They underline the
realism of the artists, whose portrayal of contours and proportions conforms to
the natural form of the animal. They also endorse Niharanjan Ray's view
regarding steady progress in the modelling of the lion at each stage from Kolhua
to Lauria Nandangarh and, finally, Rampurwa, and John Marshall's praise of
the design and skill shown in the Sarnath lions and the bell-shaped base on which
they stand as "unsurpassed by anything of their kind in the ancient world". They
praise the aesthetic tastes of the executors of the Ashokan pillars, who left them
free from ornamentation, recapitulate the inspiration received from the
Achaemenian and Greek art, specify the innovations carried out by the Mauryan
sculptors, and underscore Buddhism as the impelling force behind the lively and
sympathetic depiction of the animals in it. The authors surmise that the
Maurvan sculptor may have drawn on the Indian wood-carver's art and lament
the loss of the exquisite specimens of the timber architecture (p.167). The
grandeur and glamour of the art and architecture of the royal court have not
deterred the authors from appreciating the subtleties of the folk art which has
remained neglected hitherto. They criticize the archaeologist, who in the 1870s
glossed over the workmanship of the drawer of geometrical, human and bird
designs in the Jogimara cave in the Ramgarh hills (p.167). This shows the
keenness of the authors to go to the main source and place a piece of historical
information in its proper context.
The vignette of the book adorned by the designs of the lion capital from
Sarnath, the Ashokan pillar from Lauria Nandangarh, the Brahmi letters from
the Rummindei Pillar inscription and the terracotta toy-cart with two oxen on its
panel, indicated yoked by a rope, from Atranjikhera, contributes to its elegant
composition. As regards the illustrations, the first is 'Alexander's medallion' of c.
323 BC from Babylon (p.9). Its obverse shows the assault by a Macedonian
warrior, riding a galloping horse and holding a spear-like weapon, on two
88 enemy warriors seated on the back of an elephant. The enemy warriors on

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 A Landmark Study of Mauryan India

elephant-back, suffering pangs from the spear piercing from behind, react to the L
attack in defence, and the pillion-rider is shown aiming his javelin at the horse 0
rider. The reverse of the medallion depicts Alexander clad in armoured dress, Z
with a high rising helmet on the top of his head covering his figure up to his
cheeks. The shield on his chest seems to have a weapon fastened to it, showing its o
handle coming out. He is shown holding in one hand the middle of the two-sided
six-pronged thunderbolt and in the other hand a big iron rod exceeding his
height in length. On the top facing his front is displayed a winged nymph,
holding a circle in her hands. The authors took this picture from A.B. Bosworth.
They point out the absence of the saddle and the stirrup on the horse. The second
illustration shows two silver coins of Sophytes (p. 17). The obverse shows his
bust with helmet extending down to the cheek, whereas the reverse shows the
cock and the Greek legend, written as Sophytou. The picture is taken from A.
Cunningham.
The third illustration shows a prince on horseback from the panel of the
north gateway of the Sanchi Stupa (first century BC) (p. 28), appended to which
is the figure of a horse-bridle from the west gateway of the Sanchi Stupa.
Although late in time, the illustration presents the spectacle of princely grandeur
along with the retinue, human dwellings of the time and the way the people
dressed themselves for participation. The prince is shown under the parasol,
held high by an attendant; he is guarded by spearmen; people have turbans on
their heads; the procession has, among others, drummers in it; and the horses
are harnessed. The authors again note the absence of the saddle and the stirrup.
The illustration is from F.C. Maisey.
The fourth illustration, depicting the North gateway of the Sanchi Stupa (p.
29), is also after F. C. Maisey. It focuses on the portrayal of the horse-driven
chariot which formed an important part of the Mauryan army. The fifth
illustration shows the engraving on the Sohagaura copper plate and the two
granaries depicted on it (p. 37). The engraved inscription contains the official
instruction to keep the granaries in readiness to meet any eventuality-scarcity
or famine. The authors have taken the facsimile of the Rummindei Pillar

inscription from V.A. Smith, with transliteration by Hultzsch, as another

illustration (p.60). Yet another illustration showing Ashoka's visit to the stupa of
Ramagrama is from the South gateway of the Sanchi Stupa 1 (p.73). According
to J. Marshall and A. Faucher, the identification of Ashoka is based on the story
in the Ashokavadana. The internal details of the panel show king Ashoka being
taken to the stupa by the Nagaraja, who succeeded in persuading him not to take
away the relics of the Buddha deposited therein.6 The Nagaraja appears as the
tallest figure standing erect in a corner, haloed by several hoods of serpents.
Ashoka is shown with his entourage. Besides establishing Ashoka's personal
faith as Buddhism and his concern for warding off schism in the Order, the

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 Social Scientist

O5 illustration shows the shape, size and elegance of the stupa and corrobo
story of the Ashokavadana.
a) Among the illustrations pertaining to the day-to-day domestic and
C] agricultural use, the authors have picked up the specimens of iron sickles fou
o from the NBP phase of the Mauryan levels (p.112) from the Atranjikhera
Z excavation reports of R. C. Gaur. Another illustration is the Mandor frieze of the
cN
- twelfth century, depicting the late form of the noria, an irrigation mechanism in
- which several pots are transferred from the tops of rimless spokes to the rim of
0 the wheel (p.
, 113). Installed at any source of water, it was operated by the
Z pressure of human shoulders. The illustration is based on T. Schioler. The
mc! mechanism, its operation and use become evident from seeing the figures of men
-o handling the machine and the two camels waiting for their turn to drink water.
Another illustration shows a variety of tools, such as axes, adzes, knife,
tongs, anvil, nails and hoes from the Taxila excavation report of John Marshall
(p. 123). These indicate the high level of technology attained under the Mauryas.
By giving the figure of one of the diagrams, out of ten, from the Sirat-i-
Firozshahi manuscript in the Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library, Patna, showing
how the Ashokan pillars were handled by means of ropes and capstan from the
ground on to a ten-wheeled cart for their transportation to Delhi (p. 133), the
authors draw our attention to an important aspect of Ashoka's reign. In their
opinion the engineers of Ashoka may have learnt the technique from the reports
of Alexander's ballistic machines or from their contact with such Greek and
Macedonian officials as took service with the Mauryas (p.124). The illustration
showing the specimens of the Mauryan punch-marked coins of 'series VI b'
from P. L. Gupta and T. R. Hardaker (p. 129) is equally illuminating and gives
some insight into the economy of those days. In yet another illustration are given
two terracotta figurines, called 'mother goddess', reported from stratum II of
the Bhir Mound at Taxila from the excavation report of John Marshall (p.141).
By reproducing the inscription from the Jogimara cave of Ramgarh hills,
after A. Cunningham (p. 150), in which the artist Devadina from Varanasi
expresses his love for devadasi Sutanuka, the authors show the extent to which
the art of writing in Ashokan Brahmi was in vogue among the people. This
variety of Brahmi writing did not continue later, we are told. Whereas many of
the Ashokan pillars have lost their capitals with reproductions of animals, the
Lauriya Nandangarh pillar with its lion capital, associated with the Buddhist
sacred site and pilgrim route, stands intact in northern Bihar (p.160). The
precursor of the rock-cut caves in India, the Lomasha Rishi cave in the Barabar
hills, situated north of Bodh Gaya (p. 164), named probably after the great
exponent of the merits accruing from visiting the ancient tirthas, was intended as
a retreat for the Buddhist monks. Three cave inscriptions in the hills record the

90 gift of the caves to the Ajivikas by a king Piyadasi, who is Ashoka himself.

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 A Landmark Study of Mauryan India

Among the other exquisite figures of the Mauryan art are the two elephants, ?
one cut into rock at Dhauli and the other engraved on the rock at Kalsi (p. 165), 0
and the famous lion capital at Sarnath (ibid). The winsome figure of the 3
Didarganj Yakshi, though belonging to the first century BC, illustrates with its
polish and proportion of the torso the excellence which the artists of the >
Mauryan period may have attained in an earlier period, had they not been
prevented from making human sculptures. The apparent folds in the drapery,
the locket in the neck, the necklace hanging down to the navel, the earring in the
ear, the chowry (fly-whisk) held in the right hand, the jhanjha (sound making
ornament) above the ankle-all add to the beauty of the sculpture (p.166). Two
terracotta figurines in a plaque, showing a man and a woman, and the matrix
from which the plaque was cast, taken from stratum II of the Bhir mound at
Taxila (p. 168), reproduced from John Marshall, show how much popular the
folk art was during the Mauryan period, as a large number of its pieces may have
been produced with the help of the matrix.
Keeping in view the depth of research that has gone into the book, the wide
coverage of themes and freshness of interpretations, Mauryan India is an
outstanding publication by two distinguished historians. More elaborate than
the earlier three monographs in the series, it is immensely readable and well-
produced, though a few misprints have crept in especially in the index.
Specialists, students and general readers alike will find it extremely useful.

S.C. Mishra is at the Department of History at Satyawati College, University of Delhi,

Delhi

Notes

Based on Irfan Habib and Vivekanand jha, Mauryan India (Aligarh Historians Society/
Tulika Books, New Delhi, 2004). Pp.x + 189; 9 maps, 6 tables, 20 illustrations. Rs 350.00.

1. V.A. Smith, The Early History of India from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest
(Oxford, 1924), p. 118.

2. R.K. Mookerji, Hindu Civilization from the Earliest Times up to the Establishment
of the Maurya Empire (Bombay, 1950), p. 293.

3. Ibid., p. 295.

4. The Age of the Nandas and Mauryas, ed, K.A. Nilakanta Sastri (Benaras, 1952), pp.
79-80.

5. George Caradona, Panini: A Survey of Research (Mouton, The Hague/Delhi, 1976),

91

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 Social Scientist

Ln p. 268, cited in Richard Solomon, Indian Epigraphy (Delhi, 1998), pp. 11,
o

0~4 6. The Kautilya Arthashastra, Part I, ed, R.P. Kangle (University of Bombay, 1960),
u 2.24.1.

I 7. Ibid., 2.24.26.

z 8. Ibid., 14.1.11.

9. Ibid., 14.1.13.

- 10. Assalayana Sutta (2.5.3) of the Majjhima Nikaya (yonakambojesu annesu ca

0
~ paccantiyesu janapadesu dveva vanna ayyo ca daso ca, ayyo hutva daso hoti, daso
7z hutva ayyo hoti), where Buddha, engaged in a dialogue with Ashvalayan
,?n 'In Greece (Yona) and Kamboja and other frontier countries [of Ind
only two varnas-Arya and Dasa. Here the Arya can become dasa and th
o become Arya'.

11. Mahabharata, 3.268.14.

12. Matsya Purana, 215.86-87; 270.40.

13. Vishnudharmottara Purana, 2.26, 35, 40.

14. Arthashastra, 2.17.12; 12.4. 16-17; 12.5.48, etc.

15. J.W. McCrindle, The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great, reprint (Delhi,
1992), pp. 294-95.

16. The Ashokavadana (Sanskrit text compared with the Chinese version), edited,
annotated and partly translated by Sujit Kumar Mukhopadhyaya, reprint (Delhi,
1982), pp. 52-53.

92

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