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39 views11 pagesIndus Valley
History
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
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/ 11
5
f Papamen of litdia has artip
being bx Seentttty.o :
egislate for any ter és Introduction
W: have read in the previous chapter
that during the Vedic Age people were
aligned to their jana (tribe). However, towards
the end of Vedic civilisation and from the
sixth century 8c onwards there was change
in the maierial life of the people. The Vedic
literature makes reference to a number of
janapadas of the period. The name Magadha
first appears in the-Atharva Veda and later
in the Yajur Veda. The Buddhist literature
of the time consisting of the three pitakas,
the Vinaya Pitaka, the Sutta Pitaka and the
Akhidhamma Pitaka throws considerable
light on the material life of people and
society. The archaeologists also contribute to
our understanding of this period. They have
dug out places like Hastinapur, Kausambi,
Ujjain, Sravasti and Vaishali which are
mentioned in the texts of this period. The
remains of houses, buildings, towns and
objects used by people have been discovered.
Findings also indicate the use of the Northern
Black Polish ware and a number of iron tools
and implements.
Two major developments in agriculture
were made during this period which had far
reaching impact. First was the use of iron
ploughshare which facilitated agricultural
operations in a big way. The second was
the wet rice cultivation and the technique
of paddy transplantation. This was very
important as rice was easier to grow than
wheat. The period also saw the development
of irrigation. The increased food production
could sustain the increasing population of
the mid-Gangetic plains. It also led to the
tise of towns and thus surplus food grain
could be used by people indulging in other
occupations like textile, carpentry, metal
working, ete.
Confederacy: an alliance
|
|
‘A lot of importance was associated with |
the kinship ties. For instance, Rama, whose |
legends are related to this period is often|
referred to as ‘raghukulara’ meaning the
king of ‘raghu’ clan. The tribal chiefs or rajan
received voluntary gifts in the form of ‘bali’
in lieu of protection which they provided to
the tribe or territory. The rajans encouraged
agricultural production in the area. The king,
was one among the people. He lived and
worked with them and kingship at this stage
was not necessarily hereditary.
Rise of Janapadas
Permanent settlement in one area gave a
geographical identity to a jana or clan or a
confederacy of clans. Subsequently, this
identity took a concrete shape, when the
clan claimed a particular territory to be its
own, and started naming the area after the
ruling clan. This led to the rise of janapadas,
the earliest kingdoms. The emergence of the
earliest state systems were seen in the sixth |
century 5c. Subsequently the janapadas grew
into mahajanapadas.
The Sixteen Mahajanapadas
Panini, the ancient grammarian mentioned
the existence of forty janapadas covering
Afghanistan and south-eastern Central Asia. |
Pali texts mention that janapadas grew into
mahajanapadas, which were larger states.
The Buddhist texts mention the existence |
of sixteen mahajanapadas during the time
of Buddha.
‘Thus we can see movement of people from
the north-west and Punjab to the plains
of Ganges, although the former area still
remained inhabited. aS as distinct from the earlier period is
t there was a proper system of taxation
a standing army. There was also a
e between the raja or king and
Praja or people. The king’s allegiance
now to territory and not cattle. The
e raids of earlier period was replaced
Jataka Tales the Buddha in his various
is reborn as an ascetic, a carpenter, a
ler, @ trader a king and even a chandala or
born. What does this indicate?
Dymastic: a line of hereditary rulers of a country: Unanimous: two or more people fully in agreement
by organised wars in which
territory was annexed. There
was a tendency of the rulers
to constantly expand their
kingdoms.
Mahajanapadas were not
hereditary states. The trend
started from the Nandas and
the Mauryas.
These mahajanapadas were
either monarchies or republics.
The republics were known as
ganasangias. In the ganasangha
system the heads of families
belonging to a clan, or clan
chiefs, governed the territory
through an assembly. The
ganasanghas consisted —_ of
either a single clan, such as
the Shakyas, Koliyas and
Mallas, or a confederacy of
clans, such as the Vrijjis and
the Vrishnis. The assemblies
were restricted to the heads
of clans or families. The
assembly was presided over
by the head of the clan. This position of the
chief of the assembly was not hereditary. In
the ganasanghas any matter was put up for
discussion before the assembly, where it was
discussed and debated. When a unanimous
decision could not be reached, it was voted
by the members of the assembly.
In contrast to the ganasanghas, kingdoms
had a centralised form of governance under
the supreme authority of the king. The king.
belonged to a ruling family which eventually
became dynastic in nature. The position
of the king was hereditary. The king was
advised and assisted by ministers from the
advisory council which had their origin in
the earlier parishad and sabha. The sabha was responsible for the assessment and collection
of revenue.
The revenue was used for paying salaries
and other public expenditure, such as
maintenance of an army and administration.
mergence of Towns and Cities
Towns grew out of earlier agro-pastoral
settlements. The origin of towns was not
Working on your own, read about the
political system of the Mahajanapadas.
Here we see that for any important
decision a consensus was always taken.
How does consensus help in avoiding
fights and wars.
Now working in pairs, explain to your
partner how you came to your decisions.
Compare your answers with your partners,
and then with the pair next to you. How
different are other people's answers, and
how do you think they have reached their
conclusions.
=
Congregation: a group of people assembled for religious worship
uniform. Some grew out of administrativ
centres and were hub of political powers su
as Hastinapura, Magadha and Sravasti. Other
towns emerged out of markets. They catere
to the villages. Such towns were usuall
located where there was an agricultural
surplus which could result into barter-nexus,
Towns also grew out of pilgrim sites, sucl
as Vaishali. A large congregation of peopl
and the scope for variety of occupations an.
products led to the rise of towns.
In contemporary literature words such ai
pura, pattana, nigama, nagar, mahanagar,
during, etc, were used to denote an urbi
settlement. The people in towns pursue;
various economic activities. They lived i
wooden houses. Pataliputra and Rajgir hav
shown massive use of wood in constructior
of structures such as houses, defences a
fortifications, etc., Some of the major tow!
of this period were Champa, Rajgir, Saket
Kaushambi, Varanasi and Kushinara. Cities
of this time were never planned, where:
planning was the hallmark of Ind
urbanism.
settlement Pattern and Agriculture
Population in the Ganges Plain. starte
expanding gradually. At the outset peopl
stayed close to the banks of rivers. Graduall
they moved into the interiors where the;
Pottery Culture: Urban centres
emerged on the plains of Gangetic
Valley. The plains were associated
wit Painted Grey Ware or PGW.
Further east, the settlements
were associated with Black-and-
Red Ware or BRW and later with
lustrous Northern Black
Polished Ware. There also aml,
ext 0 Blak, Sippel
Ware. ed land for cultivation. This migration
probably to escape the floods. These
ements saw the cultivation of high
ding rice. Though sedentary cultivation
inated, however communities of
jer-gatherers, pastoralists and shifting-
ivators also co-existed.
despread Use of Iron
use of iron, particularly for weaponry
already prevalent. Nevertheless, a
atic use of better quality iron was
during the mahajanapada phase.
s a quantitative and qualitative increase
artefacts. Iron vessels and nails have
sn uncovered from these sites. The use of
changed agricultural production. Iron
helped in clearing the forests so that
could be cultivated. Iron hoe proved to
useful as an agricultural implement.
later the invention of iron ploughshare
in tilling heavy soil since it could
deeper than wooden share.
lily or the kula was the basic unit of
and was headed by a kulapa or the
male of the family. He was referred
different names in different texts. For
ple he is called gahapati or kutumbika,
ama system, which you have studied in
last chapter was well established and had
become very rigid. Apart from the four
castes, which were now rigidly based on
we hear of the rise of a number of jatis
period. These jatis owed their origin
ny causes, of which the most common
e occupation and intercaste marriages.
upper three castes, brahmins, kshatriyas
d vaishyas enjoyed a position of power
"Formative Assessment Task 2
Imagine you are a reporter for a radio
station. You have been asked to broadcast
a programme on how life changed for
people during the post Vedic period. In
pairs, conduct a short interview with a
historian about the difference between
the lifestyle in the Vedic Age and in the
later period
This should enable you to compare the
two lifestyles.
8 What questions might you ask?
% What responses might you get?
Conclude your programme by saying how
much you think life really changed for
people in the Mahajanapadas.
ee eel
and prestige. The shudras were considered fit
for manual work only and were expected to
serve the upper three. A new caste came up
during this period, that was of the chandalas,
who were considered to be outside the four-
fold varna society.
This age saw the rise of a new social system.
That was the rise of the ashrama system. It
was expected that a man would live for a
hundred years and his life was divided into
four stages or ashramas. The first was the bramacharya or the student life. In this phase
the students studied in the house of their
guru. The second was the grihastha, or the
life of a householder. In this stage a man was
expected to perform sacrifices, marry and
have children, The third stage was that of the
vanaprastha. This was the life of a hermit. In
this stage a man left his house to live in the
woods. The fourth and the last stage was
that of the sanyasa. In this stage the man
performed religious duties till the end.
Polygamy, that is a man having many wives,
was popular in this period, though it was
restricted to the upper castes.
Case Study: Magadha and Vajji
Coe ce Ce
Rise of Magadha
From the sixth century sc onwards India’s history was marked by struggles among the
mahajanapadas. Eventually the kingdom of Magadha emerged as the most powerful. It
came to prominence during the reign of Bimbisara who belonged to the Haryanka dynasty.
He adapted a policy of conquest and aggression. He also entered into marriage alliances.
Marital relationships with different princely families lent enormous diplomatic prestige and |
paved the way for expansion of Magadha. Bimbisara was succeeded by his son Ajatashatru |
who also followed a policy of expansion. The rise of Magadha is also attributed to able |
rulers like Bimbisara, Ajatashatru and Mahapadmananda |
Ajatashatru's stupa in Rajgit
‘The earliest capital of Magadha was at Rajgir, which was called Girivraja at the time. It wat
surrounded by five hills. The openings were closed by stone walls on all sides, which madk
it unconquerable. Later, in the fifth century sc, from these hills the capital was shifted t
Patalipatra. It was located on the confluence of Ganges, Gandak and Son. During these pr
industrial days armies could move north, west, south and east by following the courses of
tivers. This also means the people of Magadha had access to fertile agricultural lands. The
was also an abundance of timber. People lived in wooden houses.
Magadha was located in a geographically suitable position. It was situated near to the iro1
deposits. The ready availability of iron helped the Magadhan princes to equip themselves
with weapons. : ants in wars.
gadha was all along ruled by a dynasty. Not far from it was another mahajanapada called
ji with its capital at Vaishali. Vajji was located on the north of the Ganges river and extended
dha enjoyed a special position in military organisation. It was the first state to use
the Terai region of Nepal. On the west, the Gandak river formed the boundary. On the
its territory probably extended up to the forests along the banks of the rivers, Koshi
ghananda. Unlike Magadha, Vaji was a confederacy of the eight clans (atthakula) of
mm the Vajjis, the Lichchavis, the Jnatrikass and the Videhas were the most important. The
ies of the other four clans are not certain.
; was administered by a Vajji Sangha (Vajji confederation), which consisted of several
das, gramas (villages) and gosthas (grou
(districts) to represent them in the Vaji ganaparishad (people's council of Vi
The eminent people were chosen from each
i). These
tatives were called ganamukhyas. The chairman of the council was called ganapramukh
Of the state), but often he was addressed as the king, though his post was not dynastic.
xr executives were mahabaladhrikrit (equivalent to the minister of internal security),
Jichayamatya (chief justice), and dandadhikrit (other justices).
e from the times of Mahajanapadas
after reading this chapter we come
mderstand how the second phase of
isation strengthened the state system.
Period is important because ancient
Polity, economy and society took
e during this time. Agriculture based
on the use of iron tools led to paddy
transplantation which gave rise to advanced
food producing economy. Thus, conditions
were created for the rise of towns, based on
trade, craft and metal money. Also higher
levels of production caused the generation of
revenues. Regular taxes and tributes helped
in the foundation of large states. 6° Les RECAPITULATE
‘© Large scale use of iron weapons, implements * Movement of people from the north-west to the
‘and tools resulted in surplus agricultural _plains of Ganges took place around this time.
[Production © Republics were know as janasangas.
© Permanent settlement in one region gave ¢ @ This period marked the second phase of
geographical identity to a clan. a entoetea
© The act of setting down gave rise to © Painted Grey Ware, Black and Red Ware
sovereign political entities like janapadas and and lustrous Northern Black Polished Ware
mahajanapadas. characterised the pottery culture of this period
A. Tick (¥) on the correct option.
1. Vedic Age people were aligned to a
a. tribe. b. clan c. family, d. territory.
2. Iron implements and tools enabled the peasants to
a. produce surplus food grains. b. clear the river.
c. huntanimals. d. build houses.
3. Panini mention the existence of
a. forty janapadas. —_b. sixteen janapadas. c. twenty janapadas. d. ten janapadas.
4. Mahajanapadas means
a. larger states, b. smaller states. c._ states. d. territory.
5. Ganasangas were headed by
a. an assembly, b. aking.
a queen, d. nobody.
B, Fill in the blanks.
1. Urban centres emerged on the .......
2. The invention of «.«. helped in tilling heavy soil.
3. During this period a new caste emerged, which was of ho were
considered ........ .. the four-fold varna system.
4, While Magadha had a . form of a government, Vajji had a
government. swer the following questions very briefly.
‘Who headed the assembly?
‘Who was responsible for the assessment and collection of revenue?
Mention two major developments that led to the production of food surplus.
“How do the Jataka Tales throw light on this age?
at was the preferred metal for weaponry during the mahajanapadas?
the following questions briefly.
did the population in the Gangetic Plains increase?
fame at least five occupations that we come across during this period.
‘Name one primary source and one secondary source of this period.
‘Name at least three major towns of this period.
the following questions,
low do archaeologists help us in reconstructing the history of this period?
at were the causes behind the rise of janapadas?
jow did towns and cities emerge?