Extracted Pages From Romila Thapar-Ancient India -1300ad

7/26/2019 Extracted Pages From Romila Thapar-Ancient India -1300ad

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Neolithic and Chalcolithic Cultures

Other Th an in the N orth-W est

The evolution of an urban culture in the north-west did not envelop or

sweep away all othe r pre -ur ba n societies. Th ose in the vicinity were inco rpo r-

ated into the H ar ap pa n system . Th ere were sti ll , ho we ver, large num be rs of

hunter-gatherers, pastoralists and farmers whose l ives were ei ther

untouched or only marginally affected by the changes in north-western

India. The potential for change now lay with the chalcoli thic cultures,

using artefacts of stone and metal - primarily copper, unti l the early first

mil lennium when i ron was int ro duce d.

Chalcoli thic societies of the s ec on d- firs t millennium

C

emerged in many

parts of the subcontinent, sometimes incorporating an earl ier neoli thic

8 8



A N T E C E D E N T S

society. Th e si tes of Bu rzahom and G ufk ral Kashm ir), dat ing to the t h ir d -

second millennium

BC

, feature pit dwellings cut into the loess soil of the

plateau. Evidence of some carnelian beads, and the depiction of a horned

anim al on po ttery , have bo th been tak en as links w ith the Indus civilization.

Th is need no t imply a direct co nne ction , since the artefa cts could ha ve com e

through a chain of exchanges. A stone engraving depicts a hunting scene.

Stone implements for harvest ing grain and approximating a s ickle-shape

are thought to have similarities with such harvesters from central Asia, but

connections beyond this have not been established. Burials within the hut,

sometimes together with an animal - such as a dog - occur both at these

sites and elsewhere in India. Burzahom also has large upright stones or

menhirs. Sites with some similarities are located in the hills of Almora

Uttaranchal) . The more northern set t lements of the Gandhara Grave cul-

ture in the Swat Valley were familiar with the horse by the late second

millennium BC, an d s ho w evidence of the use of iron we ap on s in the early

first millennium. The Swat Valley was one of the routes linking north-west

India to Afgha nis tan and cen tral Asia.

One tends to look at the Ganges Plain for a larger spread of settlements,

since this was to be the location of the second urbanization. There is a

different sequence of cultures between the western and the eastern parts of

the plain. The earliest culture in the western plain is that of the Ochre

Co lour Pottery O C P ) also fou nd in the wa tershed, and this has been

excavated at s i tes such as Atranjikhera, Lai Qila and Hulas . This pottery

was ear l ier l inked to poor quali ty Harappan ware, but the l ink remains

ten uo us despite som e evidence of Late H ar ap p an rem ains in the early levels

at Hu las . At some s i tes in H ary an a and Pu nja b there is an overlap between

Late Harappan pottery and that of the people of the subsequent Painted

Grey W are P G W ). Th is w ould suggest an introdu ction of the Painted Grey

Ware somewhat ear l ier than the f irs t mil lennium. The later phase of the

Painted Grey Ware is associated with the use of iron. Perhaps the most

significant aspect of this evidence is th at i t reveals a m inim al con tinuity fro m

Harappan ideas in this area, al though the cultures of the western Ganges

Plain show l it tle s imilar ity with H ar ap pa n a r tefacts . Th e notion of u rba n

centres , however , remained unfamil iar to these cultures s ince the precon-

dit ions we re ab sent .

Yet there seems to be a fur ther connection eas twards as well . Copper

objec ts w ith an impressive technical proficiency - spea rhea ds, h arp oo ns ,

cel ts , anten nae sw ords and wh at are thou ght to be an thro po m orp hic f igures

- have been fou nd buried as ho ard s in this area . Oc casionally they occur in

a stratif ied co ntex t, bu t m ore frequ ently in caches in fields. A link has been

89

kashmir



E A R L Y I N D I A

suggested with s imilar objects found in Chhotanagpur and fur ther eas t ,

dat ing to the second m il lennium .

The Painted Grey Ware culture, of which some sites were located in the

Hakra P la in in a pos t -Harappan context , was predominant in the wes tern

Gan ges Plain in the first m illennium

BC

, spreading fr om the Indo-G angetic

watershed to the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna. Metal technology

in this culture includes the early use of iron , w hich w as m ore fully developed

prior to and during the urbanization in the Ganges Plain, generally dated to

the mid-millennium. Characteristic of many iron age cultures, the earlier

use for iron was in wea pon ry but this gradually extende d t o othe r objects ,

par t icular ly household ones . As agricultural communit ies they cult ivated

wheat and bar ley, al though some r ice was found and the domesticat ion

of cattle is attested. That cattle provided food other than milk products

is evident from the proximity of cattle bones near domestic hearths,

bearing m ark s of having been cut tha t indicate their f lesh w as eaten. Im po r-

tan t set tlements of the P G W include R opa r Punjab ) , Bh agw anpura Ha ry-

ana) and Atranj ikhera , H as t inap ur , Ahicchat ra , and Jakhera Ut tar

Pradesh).

Some sites of the second millennium in the middle Ganges Plain emerge

more definitively in the first millennium - such as Piprahwa and Ganwaria

associated s t i l l la ter with Buddhism), Sohgaura, Narhan and Khairadih.

The cluster of sites south of the Mirzapur area could be explained by

their access to the Son Valley and the route going southwards. Settlements

in the Belan Valley, south of Allahabad, have yielded rice grains and it

was claimed that the domestication of rice went back to the sixth

millennium

BC

. H ow eve r, this has been questione d a nd a later date is

preferred. Domestication of plants and animals is evident at Koldihva and

Chopani-mando. Set t lements in the Ganges Plain go back to about the

th i rd-second mil lennium

BC

, some having begun as neolithic sites, such as

Chirand at the confluence of the Ganges and the Sarayu, which remained

im porta nt unti l the ear ly Chris t ian era. H uts of w att le-and -dau b contained

functional artefacts, including polished stone axes and microliths, bone

implements , pes t les and querns for gr inding grain, and terracotta animal

f igurines , among which the bull was common. The later phase included

copper artefacts, and stil l later there is evidence of some iron objects.

Chirand provides useful information on the evolut ion of cul tures in the

Ganges Plain.

The Northern Black Polished Ware, characteristic of the urban centres of

the Ganges Plain, which was also the area of its provenance, is thought to

have developed fro m high -tem per ature fir ing techniq ues used in smelting

9 0




iron and from the use of local haematite soil . I ts extensive distribution as a

luxury w are helps the tracking of exchange an d trad e in var ious p ar ts of the

subcontinent .

Fu rthe r east in Bengal the chalcolithic sites seem to ha ve been co nce ntra ted

in the valleys to the w est of the Bh agirathi, particularly in the D am od ar an d

Ajay Valleys, perhaps because of access to the copper-producing areas in

Ch hotan agp ur . Some se t tlements, such as Pandu Ra jar Dh ib i , M ahisdal and

M an ga lk ot, beg an as neolithic sites bu t grad ually beg an to use m etal. Burials

occur in the habitation areas. Further to the east, the Assam neolithic

includes sites such as Daojali Hading and others in the Garo hills and the

Ca cha r area. Neoli thic set t lemen ts have also been foun d in Orissa at K uchai

and Go lbai Sasan, and in M an ip ur . Conne ctions with cultures in south-east

Asia and eastern Asia have been suggested, but await further investigation.

Similarities with neolithic cultures of these areas have been noticed in

arte fac ts such as axes and h arvesters, and in the stone used such as jadeite),

as well as in cord-im pressed po ttery .

There may have been a few indirect l inks between Harappan s i tes and

those in southern Rajas than, such as Ahar , Gilund and Balathal , where

H ar ap pa n beads have been fou nd . Th e proxim ity of cop per ore in the

Aravallis doubtless encouraged settlement and the links led to mining cop-

per . A wide dis tr ibution in G uja rat , R ajas tha n, the fr inges of the

doab

and

the middle Ganges Valley, extending to parts of Bengal, is recorded for a

pottery technique that resulted in double colours of black and red which

has been labelled the Black-and-Red Ware. This was not the pottery of a

single, un ifo rm cu lture, no r w as it the sole potte ry a t these sites, altho ug h it

of ten predominated. The ear l ies t dates for this pottery range, according to

region, from the second to the first millennium

BC.

Beads of carnelian and lapis lazuli som etimes occ ur at s ites of the M alw a

culture in Madhya Pradesh, again hint ing at l inks with the Late Harappan.

Both the major s i tes of Kayatha and Navdatol i , going back to an ear l ier

period, suggest a degree of complex living. Navdatoli faces Maheshwar

across the N ar m ad a, an d these could have been cross ing-points on the r iver.

Salvage archaeology in Madhya Pradesh pr ior to the complet ion of the

dam on the Narmada River has yielded evidence of sites with impressive

chacoli thic levels , such as Sabatpur , Peethanagar and Mandsaur . Some are

l inked to the M alw a culture and others app ear to have been on a route going

south through the Ho sha nga bad area , a route tha t comes in to prominence in

later times.

The curious and impress ive f ind of four bronze objects , thought to be

reminiscent of the Late Harappan s tyle, has surfaced at Daimabad in

9 1



E A R L Y I N D I A

north ern M ah ara sht ra. A r ider dr iving a yoke of oxe n, and three animals -

a rhinoceros , a buffalo and an elephan t , each on wheels - are u nusual

sculptures for a chalcolithic site. I t could point to Harappan contacts

through Gujarat, if the identity of the style is accepted. Such contacts have

also been suggested for the chalcolithic site of Jorw e M ah ara sht ra) , w hich

was actively involved in the smelting of copper and the making of copper

artefa cts. Equally interesting is the chalcolithic site at Ina m gao n M ah ara sh-

tra), dating to the second millennium

BC

, wh ich w as extensively exc avate d.

It is thought to have been the hub of a chiefdom.

The people of Inamgaon practised both farming and livestock breeding,

with barley and millet as commonly grown crops, in a system of crop

rotation. Cultivation was not dependent on rainfall alone for there is evi-

dence of em ba nk m en ts to hold wa ter. Villages of rou nd o r square hu ts, built

of watt le and daub, were surrounded by a mud wall . The nature of this

barrier may not have kept attacks by other villagers at bay but could have

acted as a defence against animal predators, of which there were plenty in

the adjacent forests . The presence of predators is depicted in a scene on a

jar. Female terracotta figurines were found, some curiously headless but

w ith prom inent b reas ts , em phasizing r itual and symbolic aspects, and som e

placed in clay containers. By comparison, male images are fewer. The

disposal of the dead was largely in the form of burial, often in a pit in the

floor of the hut acco m pan ied by som e grave goo ds. Childre n w ere buried in

urns . W ha t is puzzling is th at in some cases of adult b urial the feet had been

deliberately cut

off

V idarbh a M aha rashtra ) has provided evidence of cairn

burials with Black-and-Red pottery, horse bits and copper and iron objects

at places such as Jun apa ni a nd M ah ur jha r i . These have l inks with some

megali thic burials fur th er sou th.

The r iver val leys of the Godavari , Krishna, Tungabhadra, Pennar and

Kaveri w ere settled by farm ing com m unities as early as the third m illennium

BC

. The Raichur

doab

between the Krishna and the Tungabhadra Rivers

becomes a focus of at ten t ion. H allur , Ku pgal , M aski K arnatak a) an d

N aga r jun ako nda Andhra Pradesh) had farming com mun i t ies . The semi-

arid area s were suitable for cattle-keeping villages, an d it is tho ug ht tha t th e

large ash m oun ds at Piklihal K arnatak a) , U tnur An dhra Pradesh) and

Kup gal resulted from burn ing catt le dun g. Budihal Andh ra Pradesh) was a

cat t le-keeping vi l lage where an abattoir was unearthed. Sheep and goats

w ere also bred , w ith the later add ition of buff alo . M illet wa s widely culti-

vated and rice was grown later, being confined to wet, low-lying areas.

Initially, these cultures were not metal-using and were limited to a range of

stone artefacts, some used for polishing and grinding and some for more

Q 2




refined w ork throu gh sharp-edged tools . H an d-tu rne d p ottery was gradually

replaced by the technical ly m ore advanced wh eel- throw n pottery .

Towards the end of the second millennium there is some limited evidence

of copper and bronze artefacts. This is developed further at Paiyampalli

Tamil Nadu) , an ear l ier neoli thic s i te , Hallur and T. Nars ipur , with a

bigger array of bronze and copper objects, beads, terracotta figurines and

wheel-thrown pottery. A similar development is noticed at s ites such as

Sangankallu in Karnataka. Some among them are places for megali thic

burials . Hallur and Kumaranhalli provide an early date for the use of iron,

the sites going back to the late second m illennium

BC.

The study of chalcolithic cultures suggests certain common character-

istics. The close connection between a settlement and the environment is

no w an established perspective in archaeolog y. The interplay of locality an d

region that underlines some of these settlements becomes an important

feature of later historical change. The imprint of early settlements did not

continue unch ange d, bu t nevertheless this interplay remains a consequen tial

feature.

Settlem ents occur in river valleys, alth ou gh sem i-arid a reas ma y have been

preferred for livestock breeding. Since stockbreeding and agriculture are

interdependent , the semi-ar id areas would have encouraged the cult ivat ion

of mil let , ap ar t f ro m the nor thern plain wh ere whe at and bar ley were m ore

co m m on , or in more eas tern areas wh ere r ice was grow n. I t has been argued

that areas given to the cultivation of wheat have different social patterns

from those primarily cultivating rice. The latter tend to be associated with

a more hierarchical authority and possibly greater stratif ication. This per-

spective has yet to be examined for the history of the subcontinent, but at

an impressionistic level there does seem to be a difference, for example,

between the north-west and the middle Ganges Plain in terms of social

pat terns . H ow ever , the difference need not have been caused by this one

factor .

The organization of a village, and subsequently a hierarchy of villages

within a cluster, required some form of authority and regulations of control.

This could have evolved from social stratif ication, with families coalescing

into clans which maintained a hierarchy or at least sustained the notion of

a semblance of authority by a chief or by elders. The political and social

s tructure wou ld have been far m ore com plex than tha t of bands. C hiefdom s

would presuppose not just surplus food but the control of a few families

over w ha t was prod uce d, dem arcat ing the chief f rom the clan. The handling

of what were thought of as luxury goods, such as beads and certain kinds

of symbolic daggers, would mark the status of such families. Their power

9 3



E A R L Y I N D I A

would draw on their access to weapons, to maintaining s trat i f icat ion and

allotment of resources, and on claims exercised through ritual.

The worship of female figurines is in some ways remarkable. I t not

only parallels the Harappan figurines, but almost anticipates the extensive

worship of female cult figures and goddesses in later history. But this need

not point to the prevalence of a matr iarchal sys tem. Matr iarchies would

have been unlikely to approve of headless female figures, even as objects of

worship. But it does point to a greater social presence of the female than in

later times, which m ay also hav e been a generally m ore assertive presence.

Burial within the hu t is in som e ways strange, althou gh it occu rs in m any

regions. W as this a sign of the status of the family, w hich tre ated the burial

as a claim to that status? Or was it an attempt to keep those who had died

close to the fam ily, a sentimen t kn ow n t o some oth er societies, and suggested

here by the cutting off of the feet? O r w as there also a fear th at w ild anim als

w ould ravage the pit graves since the dead w ere no t buried in coffins?

Megalithic Burials

The style of burial changed dramatically in the first millennium. Burials

moved out of the habitation huts to be located in specially demarcated

sanctua ries. These are the m egalithic sites w ith a large variety of m egalithic

m arkers , and are mo st com m only located in the peninsula providing it with

a distinctive cultural phase. Some sites go back to about iooo

BC

or even a

little earlier. Whether the megaliths are characteristic of a distinctively

differe nt cultural p atte rn, or are a burial fash ion ado pte d in the first millen-

nium as part of chalcolithic activity, had been a controversial question. The

paucity of settlement sites that can be correlated with the burials makes the

assessment less definitive. Nevertheless, attempts were made to identify

them as a distinctive culture. I t was even argued that because they were

associated with the horse they migh t have been Indo-A ryan speak ers settling

in the peninsula. But such identities have found lit t le support. Nevertheless

the extent and range of megalithic burials are striking.

The forms and styles of megalithic burials are diverse and range from the

single standing stone to rock-cut chambers. Simple cairns or a heaping up

of s tones were found in Baluchis tan and Makran, in the Vindhyan region

and par ts of the peninsula. Oth er ind icators were the ma rking of a locat ion

with a single, extremely large, stone marker or menhir. Such markers have

led to the name

mega lithos

, the large stone. The dolmen consisted of a

number of large s tones placed in formation. Or there could be a capstone

9 4




balan cing over up righ t stones, ma rkin g a pit . Pits ofte n have w ha t is referred

to as a cist burial. This was frequently a circle demarcated with stones,

enclosing a pit within which was constructed a cist , a rectangular box made

of stone slabs to contain bones and grave goods. Sometimes there is a

circular hole in one of the side slabs, referred to as a porthole. This would

suggest that the burial cha m ber w as used more than once. Th e mo re impress-

ive range and forms of these burials occur in the peninsula where they are

widely distributed. The cists occasionally contain pottery sarcophagi. Even

more elaborate are the rock-cut caves in the Western Ghats, such as those

in Kerala. The cutting of caves was difficult and required the softer laterite

rock. The heterogeneity in form would suggest that the megalithic burials

do no t con stitute a single cultu re, but settlements with cultura l ha bits ha ving

similarities in concepts even though they were not identical in form.

The megalithic burials of the peninsula south of the Narmada, at s ites

such as H al lur , P ik lihal , Brahmagir i , M aski Karnataka) , N ag ar ju nak on da

An dhra Pradesh) and A dichann allur Tamil N ad u) , have character is tic

forms similar to those of non-Indian megalithic cultures, but their origins

remain somewhat unclear. I t is feasible that they evolved from the earlier

neolithic and chalcolithic cultures of the peninsula w ith som e small intrusion

of forms from elsewhere. Brahmagiri has a habitation site with megalithic

objects. Parallels have also been drawn with practices among forest tr ibes,

many of which have

sarnas

, sanctuaries, where large upright stones are

erected to com m em orate people, a pract ice which continue s to the present .

Similar megalithic burials also occu r in Sri Lan ka a t ap pro xim ate ly th e sam e

date, which would suggest l inks with south India.

Grave furnishings w ere pr im ari ly Black-and-Red pottery and impress ive

iron artefacts, such as hoes and sickles, small weapons and horse trappings.

Were these ritual objects deliberately buried with the dead, or were they

objects of daily use th ou gh t to be help ful to the de ad in the after-life? Co uld

this have been a cult of ances tor w orsh ip if the bu rial s ites w ere the focu s of

rituals? Some of the graffiti on the po ttery resembles the signs of th e

H ara pp a scr ipt , w hich provides yet ano ther dim ension to identif icat ion. Th e

communit ies involved in these memorials appear to have depended on the

cultivation of millet and rice, with some regional variation, and to have

domesticated cattle, sheep and goats.

The categories of objects from megalithic burials are also often typologi-

cally similar, for instance artefacts of iron, and the question therefore

is whether blacksmiths originating in a particular location traversed the

peninsula, or whether there was an extensive network of exchange. The

blacksmith clear ly had an important function in the production of i ron

9 5



E A R L Y I N D I A

artefacts and, judging by the quality of the objects, could well have been a

specialized cra fts m an . Th e presence of the horse w ou ld suggest an extensive

network, drawing in suppliers of horses f rom northern and western India.

This would endorse the idea that the control over the exchange would l ie

with heads of clans, who were most l ikely the ones buried under these stone

markers . There appears to have been a continuing connection between

burial and status.

The association of iron artefacts and the range of forms are striking.

These m ark ers are generally fou nd in the vicinity of fertile land , which m ay

have been irrigated from tanks specially built for storing water. This would

suggest co-operative effort on the part of the builders, an effort that would

have been required even for the setting up of the burial m on um en ts. Yet there

are few settlements linked archaeologically to the megalithic memorials . If

the area designated for burials was associated with both status and conti-

nuity it could well be at some distance from the settlement. The status is

further underlined by the fact that at some sites the top levels have early

R om an imperial coins , thus providing a term inal date of aro un d the turn of

the Christian era. The presence of a coin links the archaeological evidence

to the historical. It is also suggestive of the range of exchange networks in

w hich the local societies were involved.

Th is all-too-brief survey of the archaeolog ical evidence, prior to the textu al,

makes apparent the presence of multiple vibrant cultures in various parts of

the sub con tinen t, particula rly in the second an d early first millennia

C

The

nature of these cultures es tablishes that , whatever contemporary records

there may be of a textual kind in later periods, the archaeological data has

to be kept within historical vision. I t also contradicts the idea of scattered

primitive cultures th at w ere easily edged ou t to the periphe ry w hen a supe rior

culture came to establish itself . The history of the subsequent predominant

cultures is modulated by both the continuit ies and the dis junctures under-

lined by the excavated evidence. The location of what is sometimes called

the second u rban izat ion shif ts f ro m the Indus Plain to the Gang es Plain. Th e

process leading up to the formation of states and the emergence of towns

can be observed in some depth for the Ganges Plain, where there is l i terary

evidence marking the process. However, the more detailed li terary evidence

relates to the mature period of urbanism, and here the archaeological

evidence has to be teased out by the textual. One hopes there will be more

.excavation of sites in the G ange s Plain, particularly ho rizo nta l exc ava tions,

as this will provide the necessary evidence for observing the process of

change. The nature and the formal plan of the cities in the Ganges Plain

96




differed substantially from those of the Indus civilization. This was partly

due to e nvironm ental differences , but also to the econom ic fun ctions of the

cities and their political roles.

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Extracted Pages From Romila Thapar-Ancient India -1300ad