Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Post – Mauryan Period Indo Greeks, Sakas, Kushanas, Western Kshatrapas(1)
Post – Mauryan Period Indo Greeks, Sakas, Kushanas, Western Kshatrapas(1)
Post – Mauryan Period Indo Greeks, Sakas, Kushanas, Western Kshatrapas(1)
Villages
More is known about cities of c. 200 BCE–300 CE than about villages and agriculture.
The Kushans promoted agriculture. The earliest archaeological traces of large-scale irrigation in
Pakistan, Afghanistan, and western Central Asia date to the Kushan period.
The Jatakas speak of gamas ranging from 30–1,000 kulas (extended families).
There are references to gamas associated with particular occupational groups such as reed
workers (nalakaras) and salt makers (lonakaras).
There is also mention of villages of potters, carpenters, smiths, forest folk, hunters, fowlers, and
fishermen. Some of these villages seem to have been located close to cities.
Early Tamil–Brahmi inscriptions offer brief glimpses into aspects of village life in Tamilakam.
A 2nd century BCE inscription at Varichiyur records the gift of 100 kalams of rice.
A 1st century BCE inscription at Alagarmalai refers to a koluvanikan (trader in plough
shares). The kolu is the hard iron tip fixed to a wooden ploughshare.
A 2nd century BCE inscription found at Mudalaikulam refers to the construction of a tank
by the assembly (ur) of Vempil village.
This may be the earliest inscriptional reference to a village assembly in the Indian
subcontinent.
Growth of Urban Centers
During this period, there is seen a growth of urban centres because this phase registered a
distinct advance in building activities.
We find the use of burnt bricks for flooring and roofing, construction of brick kilns, use
of script files, and use of red pottery.
The period c. 200 BCE–300 CE was marked by urban prosperity all over the subcontinent.
Unfortunately, the archaeological details of most early historical sites are rather meagre
and tend to be confined to a few details about fortifications.
The flourishing trade and crafts and growing use of money was an incentive to the growth of
new towns.
In this period under the Satvahanas, the Kushans, the Indo- Parthians and the Saka rulers,
India’s trade with Rome, Central Asia, South-East Asia was at its zenith.
What was the impact and legacy of Maurya rule on the so-called ‘peripheral areas’, and to
what extent was interaction with the Maurya state an impetus to ‘secondary state formation’ in
these areas?
Secondary state formation is the emergence of states which have the model of already
existing states before them, and which emerge as a result of interaction with already
existent states.
While the Maurya impact cannot be discounted, neither should it be given undue emphasis.
The long-term development of urban centres required and involved an expansion in
agricultural production, developments in specialized crafts, and wider and more intensive
and extensive trade networks.
North India:
Vaishali, Pataliputra, Varanasi, Kausambi, Sravasti, Hastinapur, Mathura, Indraprastha etc.
were some of the prosperous towns of North India during the Kushan period. Kushan kings
ensured the security of the trade-routes which was one of the causes for the prosperity of
these towns.
These towns find mention in the old Chinese texts or records of Chinese pilgrims.
The town-sites of Sonpur, Buxur, and Ghazipur in Bihar also flourished during the Kushan
age.
Excavations have unearthed several Kushan towns in Meerut and Muzzaffarnagar districts.
Ludhiana, Ropar and Jalandhar in the Punjab were among the flourishing towns.
Ujjain was an important town of the Saka kingdom because it was nodal point of two
trade routes – one from Mathura and the other from Kausambi.
Deccan:
In the Deccan, the transition to the early historical urban phase has to be reconstructed on
the basis of archaeology alone, as textual evidence is unavailable.
During the reign of the Satvahana rulers, several towns flourished. Among them were
Paithan, Broach, Sopara, Amravati, Nagarjunakonda, Arikamedu and Kaveripattanam
which were highly prosperous centers of trade.
Historians often treat the Deccan as a passage between north and South India and explain
cultural developments in this region in terms of the diffusion of civilizational traits from
elsewhere.
The impact of Maurya rule and Indo-Roman trade on urbanization in the Deccan
have been overemphasized, and insufficient attention has been paid to the internal
processes of cultural change.
Further, within the Deccan, there has been an undue focus on certain areas, especially
places where Ashoka’s inscriptions or Buddhist structures have been found, and a neglect
of other areas that have been treated as marginal or peripheral.
South:
The first phase of urbanism in South India is generally associated with the period c. 300
BCE–300 CE, although recent evidence suggests the possibility of earlier beginnings.
Graeco-Roman sources mention many towns and cities and use the term emporium for
coastal towns associated with foreign trade.
The Tamil word pattinam means port, as in Kaverippumpattinam (also known as
Puhar).
Sangam poems describe the urban centres of early historical South India.
However, archaeological evidence does not match the literary descriptions of cities. This
is partly due to inadequate excavations.
Kodumanal gives important evidence of the transition to the early historical phase in South
India, especially with reference to the beginnings of literacy and the development of
centres of craft production.
Champakalakshmi argues that the early historical urbanism of the far south was not
induced by deep-rooted socio-economic change, but was stimulated by Indo-Roman
trade, interregional trade (largely coastal trade between the Ganga valley, Andhra, and
the Tamil regions), and later, by trade with Southeast Asia.
She argues that trade activity led to the emergence of a few urban enclaves, which
declined in the 3rd century along with the trade.
This hypothesis is difficult to accept as trade cannot be considered an independent
variable unrelated to deeper social and economic processes.
In fact, following things suggest certain fundamental transformations in social and
economic life were going on in South India:
The literary and archaeological evidence of specialized crafts such as metal working,
bead making, and weaving;
the descriptions in the poems of the markets of Puhar and Madurai;
the references to wealthy traders and their lavish gifts;
the beginnings of the use of money.
CRAFTS AND GUILDS
Crafts
The archaeological evidence gives very specific information on craft activity in the various
regions of the subcontinent.
Kodumanal gives important evidence of the beginnings of literacy and the development of
centres of craft production.
Several inscribed pieces of pottery were found dated c. 300 BCE to 200 CE.
Most of these were in the Tamil language and Tamil–Brahmi script.
A few inscriptions are in the Prakrit language and Brahmi script.
The writing on the pots includes the names of people, some Tamil, others Sanskritic.
One of the words in the inscriptions was nikama or nigama, which means guild.
Literary sources:
North India:
In the context of north India, Buddhist texts such as the Angavijja, Lalitavistara,
Milindapanha, and Mahavastu refer to many professions, crafts, and guilds of
craftspersons and traders.
The Milindapanha alone mentions some 60 types of crafts.
The localization of crafts is evident from Jataka stories.
Jataka stories mention villages named after the main profession of their
inhabitants—e.g., potters, carpenters, metal smiths, foresters, hunters, fowlers,
fishermen, and salt makers.
Within towns, houses of specific types of craftspersons were often concentrated in
certain streets and quarters.
South India:
In the context of South India, Sangam literature indicates the existence of many
specialized crafts such as weaving, gem working, shell working, and metal working.
Hereditary principles in occupations:
Kula and Putta:
The Jataka stories often attach the suffix kula (family) or putta (son of) to various craft
terms, indicating that sons tended to follow their father’s profession.
Thus, there are references to:
satthavahakula (family of caravan traders),
kumbhakarakula (potters’ family),
setthikula (family of merchant-cum-bankers),
kammarakula (metal smiths’ family),
atavirakkhikakula (family of forest guards),
dhannavanijakula (grain merchants’ family),
pannikakula (greengrocers’ family), and
pasanakottakakula (stone grinders’ family).
Terms ending in putta include
satthavahaputta (son of a caravan trader),
nisadaputta (son of a hunter), and
vaddhakiputta (son of a carpenter).
An inscription in Mathura records the setting up of a stone slab, part of a naga shrine, by
the Chhandaka brothers, all of whom were stone masons (shailalakas), following in their
father’s footsteps.
Although the hereditary principle operated in occupations, there must also have been a
certain amount of flexibility and social mobility.
Inscriptions:
The variety of craft specialization is also evident from inscriptions from different parts of
the subcontinent.
Tamil–Brahmi inscriptions mention a mason, master mason, carpenter, and goldsmith.
Donative inscriptions from sites such as Sanchi, Bharhut, and Mathura record the pious
gifts of various kinds of artisans—potters, weavers, masons, goldsmiths, carpenters,
sculptors, and ivory workers.
Those from the western Deccan mention occupational groups such as:
jewellers (manikara),
goldsmiths (suvanakara),
blacksmiths (kamara),
ironmongers (loha-vanij),
perfumers (gadhika), and
stone masons (selavadhaki).
Such inscriptions reflect the prosperity of craftspersons, their social standing, and their
connections with burgeoning religious centres.
GUILDS