Ancient India by RS Agarwal(notes)

pre-aryans, indo-aryans, greeks, scythians, hunas, turks made india

their home
stone temples in south india
brick monasteries in eastern india
vertically dug sites- provide good chronological sequence of material
culture
dry climate of westrn up, NW india and rajastahnantiquities found in
better state of preservation.in moist and humid gangetic basin
and in deltaic regionsuffer corrosion.
Megaliths
Radio carbon method, examination of plant residue especially pollen
analysis,,animal bones examined, metals examined
Numismatics- study of coins
Kushan period- coin moulds made of burnt clay
Coins preserved in indian museums at Calcutta,patna , lucknow,delhi,
jaipuir, Bombay, madras
Largest no of coins in post mauryan tines. Made of lead,potin, copper,
bronze,silver,gold.
Guptas issued largest no of gold coins
But few coins in post-gupta period.thus decline of trade
Epigraphy-study of inscriptions
Palaeography- study of old writings used in inscriptions and other old
records
Earliest inscriptions written in prakrit language in third century bc
Sanskrit used as epigraphic medium in 2nd century ad and became
widespread in 4th 5th centuries
Inscriptions in regional languages in 9th 10th centuaries
corpus inscription indicarum- many inscriptions of maurya, gupta,
post-gupta period published in it
Harappan inscriptionsawaiting deciphermentation, seems to be in
pictographic script
Ashokan inscriptions in brahmi script(left to right). Some also in
Kharosthi script(right to left)
Brahmi script prevailed in whole cpuntry excedpt NW india.
Brahmi main script till end oof gupta period
Greek and Aramaic scripts for ashokan inscriptions in afganistan
Earliest inscription on seals of Harappa- abt 2500bc
Oldest inscription deciphered so farissued by ashoka in 3 rd century
bc.. first deciphered in 1837 by james prinsep, civil servant I employ of
east india company, Bengal
Manuscript in indiawritten on palm leaf or birch bark..but in central
asia also written on sheep leather and wooden tablets
Rig veda 1500-100bc

Atharva,yajur,brahmanas,Upanishad1000-500bc
Rig vedamainly contains prayers
Other vedas- not only prayers but also rituals ,magic, mythological
stories
Upanishad-contain philosophical speculations
Mahabharata- possibly reflects state of affairs from 10 th century bc to
4th ad..originally 8800 versus (called jaya samhita or collection dealing
with victory)..then raised to 24000(and came to be known as
bharata,named after one of earliest vedic tribe)then
100,000(Mahabharata or satasahasri samhita)contains narrative,
descriptive and didactic material..narrative(related to kaurava-pandava
conflict may belong to later vedic period.) ..descriptive(for postvedic times)..didactive(post-mauryan and gupta period)..
Ramayana12000verser..then 24000..as a whole composed later than
Mahabharata..
Earliest Buddhist text in pali language..
Each birth story of Buddha is called jataka which is folk tale
Jaina text in prakrit..then finally compiled in 6 th century AD in valabh in
gujarat.
Dharmasutras(compiled in 500-200bc), smriti(codified in first 6
centuries of christian era)..together with commentaries known as
dharmasatras..
Lowbook- arthasatra by kautilya/chanakyadivided into 15 books..2,3
of earlier date
Works of bhasa,kalidasa,banabhatta
Kalidasa works comprise kavya and
dramas(abhijnanasakuntalam..most famous)
Earlier tamil texts found in corpus of sangam literature..sangam
literature is major source of our info for social,economic and political
life of people living in deltaic tamil nadu in early Christian centuries.
Indika of megasthenes(came to court of Chandragupta maurya)
preserved in fragmentsinfo abt system of maurya
administration..social classes and conomic activities in maurya period..
The periplus of the erythrean sea and ptolemys geographyin
greek..provide data for ancient geo and commerce..
Two Buddhist chinese travellers.presents account of
social,religious,economic cond of indiafa-hsien(came in beginning of
5th ad, ) during guptashsuan tsang(second quarter of 7 th ad) in age of
harsha..
Puranas speak of 4 ages- krita,treat,dvapara,kalias one age passes
moral values degrade.
Vikram samvatbegan in 58bc
Saka samvatbegan in 78ad
Gupta era.319ad

Inscriptionsrecord events in context of time and place..

Puranas and biographical worksdiscuss causes and effects of event
Harshacharita by banabhatta in 7th century..semi-biographical work
in ornate styleearly carrer of harshavardhannagives idea of court
life under harsha and social and religious life in his age..
Charita or biography
Sandhyakara nandis ramacharitanarrates story of conflict b/w
kaivaria peasant and pala prince ramapala
Bilhanas vikramankadevacharitaachievements of vikramaditya 6..
(1076-1127)..chalukya king of kalyan
Rajatarangini or the stream of kings.by kalhana in 12 th centuryit is
string of biographies of kings of Kashmir

Chapter-3..geographical setting
On the NW sulaiman mountain ranges which are in southward
continuation in Himalayas ..could be crossed through Khyber and
gomal passes..sulaiman ranges are connected in southward in
Baluchistan by kirthar ranges which could be crossed by bolan pass..