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Review,V, 3, Winter1982,389-411
Ideologyand the
of
Interpretation
EarlyIndian History*
RomilaThapar
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390 Romila Thapar
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Ideologyand EarlyIndian History 391
oftheterm"arya",see Bailey
4. See Leopold (1974). For variousinterpretations
(1959). Thieme(1938) has arguedthatthe termrefersto "foreigner"or "stranger".
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392 Romila Thapar
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Ideologyand EarlyIndian History 393
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394 Romila Thapar
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Ideologyand EarlyIndianHistory 395
thelatenineteenth century inIndia,whoalso happenedto be
theadministrators, assumedthecorrectness ofthetheory as a
precondition to their understanding of the Indianpast. Even
Marx,despitehisconcernfordialectical movement, wasnot
averseto theideawithitsemphasis on a staticsocietyandan
absenceofchange,and workedthetheory intohismodelfor
Asiansociety-thatoftheAsiaticmodeofproduction.12
The absenceofprivateproperty inlandwascentral to this
modelofsocialandeconomic structure. The structure
was seen
in the formof a pyramid, withthe kingat theapex and
isolatedvillagecommunities
self-sufficient, at thebase. The
surplus was collectedfrom thecultivators bythebureaucracy,
andtheprocess of redistributionled to itsbeingappropriated,
bythekingand thecourt-hencethefabulous
substantially,
wealthof Orientalcourts.Controloverthe peasantcom-
munitieswas maintainedby the state monopolyof the
irrigationsystem-or the hydraulic machinery, as a more
recentauthor has called it13-the control over which was
crucialinaridlandsdependent onartificial The
irrigation. sub-
servienceofthepeasantcommunities wasensured, notonlyby
extractingthemaximum surplusfrom them, butalsobyinvest-
ingtheking with absolute and
powers divinity. Theisolation of
socialgroupswasmademorecomplete by the absenceof urban
centers and effectivenetworks oftrade.
Theidealization ofthevillagecommunity from onegroupof
scholarswas now juxtaposedwiththe starknessof those
supporting theotherinterpretation. This historical
kaleido-
scopewasreadjusted whena thirdperspective wasintroduced
at thebeginning ofthetwentieth century. The authorsofthis
perspectivewereIndianhistorians usingthecurrent method-
ology, butmotivated ideologicallyby the nationalmovement
forindependence, scholars whohavebeenreferred toinrecent
writings as the nationalist historians.14 Of the two major
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396 Romila Thapar
theories,theAryantheoryofracehad theirapproval,whereas
thatof Orientaldepostismwas opposed forobviousreasons.
The formerwas acceptablefor a numberof reasons.It was
believed to be based on the most up-to-datephilological
evidence.Its supposed "scientific"explanationforcaste was
in viewofthegeneralcondemnation
gratifying, ofcastesociety
fromthestalwartsofegalitarianism. Homo hierarchicus, ifone
may borrow the phrase,stood exonerated. The depictionof
in
Aryansociety glowing terms was soothing to thesensitivities
of Indian scholarship.There was also the appeal to some
middle-classIndians that the comingof the Englishrepre-
sented"a reunionof partedcousins,the descendentsof two
differentfamiliesof the ancientAryanrace."15
Nationalisthistoricalwritingtook up the theme,among
otherthings,of the importanceof religionin Indian society.
The bipolarityofthespiritualcontentofIndiancultureand the
materialistbasis ofwesternculturewas seenas an essentialand
inherentdifference. This was in parta reactionto theearlier
view that religionwas such a centralfactorin traditional
Indian societythat it obstructedprogress - the latterbeing
definedas social and economicchange.This view had been
eagerlytakenup byChristianmissionaries anxiousto prosely-
tizeamongthemoreenterprising Indian social groupsas well
as bythosewho werelookingfora singlefactorwhichwould
explainthe backwardnessof India as a colonial society.16
The nationalisthistoriansconcernedthemselveswiththose
ideas which were necessaryto nationalistpolemics. They
questionedindividualitemsof historicalinterpretation rather
than examiningthe validityof a theoryas a total patternof
interpretation.Nor did theyattemptto replace the existing
theorieswithnewones fundamentally different fromwhathad
gone before. In a sense, nationalistideologydelimitedthe
natureoftheirquestions.However,in spiteoftheseweaknes-
ses,theimpactofthenationalistschoolwas bothconsiderable
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Ideologyand EarlyIndian History 397
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398 Romila Thapar
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Ideologyand EarlyIndian History 399
guage.23It is significantthatsomeoftheProto-Dravidianloan
words in Vedic Sanskritreferto agriculturalprocesses.We
know fromarchaeological evidence that advanced plough
agriculturewas knownto the Indus settlements,24 and, from
the Rg Vedichymns,it is apparentthatpastoralism,notagri-
culture,was the moreprestigiousprofessionamongtheearly
Aryanspeakers.
Anthropological studiesof Indian societyhave encouraged
a reappraisal of the social historyof early periods. The
insistenceon the precisemeaningof wordsrelatingto social
categoriesin the sourceshas been all to the good. The valid
distinction betweenvarnaas caste in thesenseof ritualstatus
andjâti as castein thesenseof actual statusis again a helpto
the social historian.The mostusefulcontribution, however,
has been in the studyof the formationof castes,whichhas
made it apparent that caste society does not require the
preconditionof different racial entities,nor the conquestof
one by the other.It does requirethe existenceof hereditary
groupsthatdetermine marriagerelations,thatare arrangedin
a hierarchical order, thatperform
and servicesforone another.
The hierarchy dependent occupation,on certainbeliefsof
is on
purityand pollution, and on continued settlementin a
particulargeographicallocation.The formation ofa newcaste
has, therefore, to be seen in termsof historicalchange in a
particularregion. Thus, a tribe incorporatedinto peasant
societycould be convertedintoa caste.25Occupationalgroups
oftenacquireda caste identity throughthecorporateentityof
the guild or throughhereditaryofficein administration.26
Religioussects,frequently protestingagainstthecaste hierar-
chy, often ended up as castes themselves.Possibilitiesofsocial
mobilityand variations in statuswere linked to thehistorical
contextof time and place. Social attitudeswere oftenset.
Nevertheless, opportunities forsocial changewereexploited,
23. See Emeneau(1967).
24. See Lai (1970-71,Iff.)
25. See Bose (1953) and Mandlebaum(1970).
26. See Sharma (n.d.).
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400 Romila Thapar
and thehistoriancan no longerdismissthesocialdimensionby
merelyreferring to theunchangingrigidity ofcastesociety.In
this contextthe theoryof Sanskritizationhas been a major
breakthrough in the studyof social history.27
The combinationof new evidenceand freshperspectives
fromall these sources raises a host of new questionswith
referenceto the Vedic period. Evidentlyit was not a purely
Indo-Aryancontribution to Indian cultureand has to be seen
as an amalgamoftheIndo-Europeanand theexistingculture,
which,in turn,requiresa clearerdefinintion ofeach. Sincethe
of
spread Sanskrit,certainly in the Gangesvalleyifnotin the
northwestas well,appears to have occurredmorethrougha
processofdiffusion thanthroughconquest,themotivation for
thediffusionwould have to be sought.One ofthepossibilities
suggestedis that it coincided with the arrival of a new
technologyat the startof the firstmillenniumB.C. This is
apparentin the use of iron in preference to copper and the
introduction of the horseand the spokedwheel,bothnewto
India.28The ambiguityof the word "ayas",copper or ironin
Sanskrit,createssome difficulties in an immediateacceptance
of thisidea. Vedic Sanskritis closelyconnectedwithpriestly
groups, and the belief in ritual may have acceleratedthe
diffusion, particularlyas it seemsthatVedicritualwas closely
associated withknowledgeof the solar calendar,providing,
amongotherthings,a moreeffective controloveragricultural
processes.The diffusionof a languagedoes not requirethe
physicalpresenceof largenumbersof nativespeakers.It can
oftenbe done moreeffectively byinfluential groupsamongthe
indigenouspopulationadapting the new languageand using
the traditionalnetworksof communication.The spread of
Sanskritmightbe moremeaningfully seenas markinga point
of social change,apart frommerelya changeof language.
The notion of historical change, other than changing
dynasties,was curiouslyunacceptableto nineteenth-century
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Ideologyand EarlyIndian History 401
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402 Romila Thapar
are mentioned,togetherwiththelocationofland,theauthor-
ityoftheofficialsunderwhomthetransfer was completed,and
theconsentofthevillagewithinwhosejurisdiction thelandlay.
Not only do these inscriptionsprovide evidence of the
categoriesofownershipofland,butwheretheyreferto waste-
land, it is possible to indicatethe gradual extensionof the
agrarianeconomyintonewareas.This information is ofsome
not
consequence, merely to economic history,butalso to those
concernedwiththe historyof religion.The extensionof the
agrarianeconomywas generallyaccompaniedeitherby Bud-
dhistmissionsor by nucleiiof Brahmansettlements through
whichSanskriticculturewas introducedintothenewareasand
the local culture of these areas was assimilatedinto the
Sanskritictradition.33 ofthesetwolevelsofbelief
The interplay
systemswas a necessaryprocessin the delineationof Indian
culture.The stressso farhas been on the highcultureof the
Sanskritictradition,whichis inadequate forunderstanding
the historicalrole of culturalforms.
Many of these recordsprovideinformation on the riseof
familiesof relativelyobscure origin to high social status,
usuallythroughthe channelsof land ownershipand admini-
strativeoffice.34Those who becamepowerfulhad genealogies
fabricatedfor themselves,bestowingon the familyksatriya
statusand, ifrequired,linkswithroyallineagesas well.Such
periods of historical change demanded new professions,
professionswhichfinallyevolved into castes. For example,
administrative complexitiesrelatingto grantsof land on a
large scale needed professionalscribes.Not surprisingly, the
preeminent casteofscribes,thekayastha,arefirstreferred to in
the sourcesof thisperiod.
The importancegivento a centralizedbureaucracyin the
model was perhapsa reflection, among otherthings,of the
nineteenth-century faithintheadministratoras thepivotofthe
33. This is clearlyreflected
in theoriginmythsofrulingfamilies,
forinstance,even
in areas as seeminglyremoteas Chota Nagpur.The originmythoftheNagabansisis
clearlyderivedfromPuranicsources.
34. As, forexample,theMaitrakasof Vallabhiduringthefifth
and sixthcenturies
A.D.
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Ideologyand EarlyIndian History 403
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404 Romila Thapar
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Ideologyand EarlyIndian History 405
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406 Romila Thapar
seminalchange.The pernnialsearchfor"theAryans"contin-
ues apace, witharchaeologistsstillattempting to identify a
of
variety archaeological cultures as Aryan.37
Orientaldespotismwas reviveda couple of decades ago in
Wittfogel's assessmentofbureaucraticsystemsand in associa-
tion with an oblique critique of the Soviet system.The
reincarnation of thetheoryas theAsiaticmodeofproduction
has had, I believe,an even fullertransfusion in recentSoviet
assessmentsof theChinesepast,as it has fromtimeto timeat
the academic level in more general economic analyses of
historicalchangein Asia.
That the interpretation of ancient Indian Historywas
subject to the of
polemics politicalideologywas inevitable.
Colonial situationstend to play on the politicalcontentof
historicalinterpretation. The sanctity ofancientcultureas seen
througha nationalistvision made it sensitiveto historical
analysis.This is not to deny,however,thatoverthelast two
centuries,at the level of the discoveryof evidence, the
scholarshiphas been both meticulousand extensive.Earlier
theoriesof interpretation have not been replacedas thereis
nowa concernwiththeneedforclearerdefinitions ofhistorical
concepts based on a of
largerbody precise evidence. This is
most apparentin the currentdebate on the periodizationof
Indianhistory.Nevertheless, fora whiletherewas a disinclina-
tion to move away fromthe subjectof polemics.
Symbolicofthisdisinclination was theconsistentoverlook-
ing of one significant aspect of historicalinterest:the tradi-
tional Indian understanding of its own past. It has long been
maintainedthatthe Indians werean ahistoricalpeople,since
therewas no recognizablehistoricalwritingfromthe Indian
traditionsimilarto thatfromGreeceand China. This was in
part because the Indian historicaltradition-the itihâsa-
purâna, as it is called- was in a formnoteasilyrecognizable
to thosefamiliarwithGreekhistoricalwriting. Anotherreason
mayhavebeentheinabilityofmodernscholarsto perceiveand
concede the awarenessof change,so necessaryto a sense of
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Ideologyand EarlyIndian History 407
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408 Romila Thapar
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Ideologyand EarlyIndian History 41 1
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