Early states and economy (c.600 BCE-600 CE)

Chapter-2 Kings, Farmers and Towns

Kings, Farmers and TownsEarly states and economies(c.600 BCE-600 CE)

Overview Broad overview: Political and economic history from the Mauryan to the Gupta period.Story of discovery: Inscription and the decipherment of the script.Excerpt: Asokan inscription and Gupta period land grants.Discussion: interpretation of inscriptions by historians.

Main DevelopmentRigveda was compose along with the Indus and its tributaries.Agricultural settlement emerged in several parts of sub-continents.By the 6th century BCE growth of new cities and kingdoms was noticed.

Towns During this period the some developed towns were Rajgir, Pataliputra, Vaishali, Ujjayini, Phar, Mathura, Varanasi, Sarnath and Sopara etc..All major towns were located along routes of communication.The towns were use as a trade centre, of some crafts and small scale industry or as religious place.There were different types of people living in towns, such as washing folk,weavers, seribes, carpenters, potters, smiths,including goldsmiths and blacksmiths, artists, religious teachers, merchants and kings

TradeIndia use to export pepper, fine pearls, ivory, silk cloth, transparent stones of all kinds, diamonds and saphires and tortoise shell.The main item of import were coin, topaz-antimony, coral, crude glass, copper, tin and lead.Punched marked coin made of silver and copper were amongst he earliest to minted and used.

Some important kingdoms and towns

Ancient coins

CraftsThe major craft of this period were the metal work, mining of the coins, jewellery making, glass work, textile work, timber work, salt preparation, medicinal preparation.

The Earliest StatesSome of the more important states were Vajji, Magadha, Kuru, Panchala, Gandhaa and Avanti.Some of these know as Janapadas, became very powerful and were known as the Mahajanpadas.Many were ruled by the kings.Some known as ganas and sanghas, were oligarchies, where power was shared by a number of men, after collectively called Rajas.

An Early EmpireThe growth of Magadha culminated in the emergence of the Mauryan Empire.Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the empire (C-321 BCE) extended the control as far north-west as Afganistan and Baluchistan, and his Grandson Ashoka, the most famous ruler of early India, conqured Kalinga.There were five major political centres in the empire- Pataliputra, the capital, and the provincial centres of Taxila, Ujjayini, Tosali and Suvargini, mentioned in ashokan inscription.

New Notions of KingshipThe new kingdoms that emerged in the Deccan and further south, including the cheifdoms of the Cholas, Cheras and Pandayas in tamilakam proved to be stable and prosperous.The Tamil Sangam Texts contain Poems describing chief and the ways in which they acquired and distributed resources.Inscriptions and coins provide us with information about the Shakas and Satvahanas.Samantas, men who maintained themselves through local resources including control over land. They offered homeage and provided military supports to rulers.The histories of the Gupta rulers have been reconstructed from literature, coins and inscriptions, including prashastis, composed in praise of kings in particular, and patrons in general, by poets.

The Limits of Inscriptional EvidenceSometimes there are technical limitations, letters are very faintly engraved, and reconstructions are uncertain, and also they be damaged and letters missing.Many more inscriptions most have existed, which have not survived the revages of time.There is another, perhaps more fundamental problem-not everything that we may consider politically or economically significant was necessarily recorded in inscriptions.

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