History

Prehistory






The Importance of Ancient Indian History

THE STUDY of ancient Indian history is important for several reasons:

It tells us how, when and where people developed the earliest cultures in our country.

It indicates how they started agriculture, which made life secure and settled.

It shows how the ancient Indians discovered and utilized natural resources.

How they created the means for their livelihood.

We come to know how they took to farming, spinning, weaving, metalworking, and so on; how they cleared forests; and how they found villages, cities, and finally large kingdoms.

Prehistory

Introduction: The Name Bharatvarsha or the land of Bharata was given to the whole country, after the name of an ancient tribe called the Bharatas and the people were called Bharatasantati or the descendants of Bharata. Bharatavarsha was said to be the part of a larger unit ‘Jambu Dwipa’ which was considered to be the innermost of the seven concentric island continents into which the earth was supposed to be divided.

Ancient literature refers to a five-fold division of India. Madhyadesa stretching from River Sarasvati to the Rajmahal Hills in the mid-Indo-Gangetic plain. The western part of this area was known as the Brahmarshi-desa, and the entire region was roughly equivalent to Aryavarta as described in the Mahabhashya by Patanjali. Uttarapatha or Udichya (north-west India); 3. Aparanta or Pratichya (western India); 4. Dakshinapatha or the Deccan; 5. Purva-desa or Prachya (the Prasii of Alexander’s historians). The term India, and Dakshinapatha was, in some ancient works, restricted to the upper Deccan north of the river Krishna, the far south being termed as ‘Tamilakam’ or the Tamil country.

The name ‘India’ and ‘Hindustan’ we owe to the early invaders. The Greeks pronounced the word ‘Sindhu’ as ‘Indus’ and hence India. Persians the letter ‘S’ as ‘H’. So, they pronounced the word ‘Sindhu’ as ‘Hindu’, and ‘Hindustan.’

The Palaeolithic Period (Old Stone Age)

The Earth is nearly 4000 million years old. The evolution of its crust shows four stages. The fourth stage is called the Quaternary, which is divided into Pleistocene (most recent, between 1,000,000and 10,000years before the present) and Holocene (present, began about 10,000years ago).

Hunters and food gatherers:

Palaeo means ‘old’ and ‘lithic’ means stone (Old Stone Age). Palaeolithic age in India is divided into three phases according to the nature of the stone tools used by the people.

Lower Paleolithic: (2,50,000 to 1,00,000 B.C.) Lower Palaeolithic culture covers the greater part of the Ice Age and its characteristic feature is the use of hand-axe, cleavers and choppers. Sohan Valley in Mirzapur (Punjab), Didwana in Rajasthan, Narmada Valley and Bhimbetka in M.P. are some important sites. Man lived on hunting & food gathering. Stone tools were used mainly for chopping.

Middle Paleolithic: (1,00,000 to 40,000 B.C.) The middle Palaeolithic culture is characterised by flake tools. The principal tools are variety of blades, points and scrappers made of flakes.

Nevasa, Suregaon, and Nadur Madhmeshwar in Maharashtra, Malaprabha and Ghataprapha basin in Karnataka, Bankura and Purulia in West Bengal are important sites. Neanderthal man is said to have dominated this stage of human evolution.

Upper Palaeolithic: (40,000 to 10,000 B.C.) It marks the appearance of Homo sapiens and new flint industries. Widespread appearance of figurines and other artifacts reflecting art and rituals. The appearance of wide range of bone tools, including needles, fishing tools and harpoons, blades and burin tools. Similar tools been found in A.P., Karnataka, Maharashtra, Bhopal (Bhimbetka) and Chotanagpur plateau in Bihar. Caves and rock shetters used by human beings in the upper palaeolithic phases has been discovered at Bhimbetka.

The Plaeolithic culture of India developed in Pleistocene period or the Ice age. Tools serve a variety of purposes, such as skinning of dead animals, cutting their flesh and splitting bones etc. humans during this period were essentially food gatherers. The chipped stone tools and chopped pebbles were used for hunting, cutting and other purposes. In this period, man barely managed to gather his food and lived on hunting. He had no knowledge of cultivation and house building. This phase generally continued till 9000 B.C. They were almost very dependent on nature for their food supply requirement of game animals and edible pants. In course of time, they learnt to control fire which helped improve the kind of animals, barks of trees and large leaves as clothes. Humans organised themselves in small wandering groups consisting of a few men, women and children.

It was towards the end of the Palaeolithic period that the modern human being (Homosapiens), fire appeared, around 36,000 BC.

Robert Bruce foot, of Geological survey of India, was the first to discover a palaeolithic stone tool from a leterite pit at pallavaram near Madras in India in May 1863. The palaeolithic research in India started only with the coming of Yale Cambridge Expedition in 1935 led by De-terra and Patterson.

The tools were usually made of hard rock ‘quartzite’ and therefore palaeolithic man in India is also called ‘quartzite Man.’They had no knowledge of agriculture; they could not make potteries, had no knowledge of lighting fire, could not make houses and were ignorant of metals.

The Mesolithic Age (Middle Stone Age)

It is the transitional period between Palaeolithic and Neolithic age. It began around 9000 B.C. and continued until 4000B.C.The Mesolithic people lived on hunting fishing and food gathering. At a later stage, they also domesticated animals.

The characteristic tools of Mesolithic Age are ‘microliths’ i.e., blades and scrapers, all made of stone (flint, jasper, chert, chaleedony etc.). Quart zite tools are found at kurnool & madras.

The ‘microliths’ were first discovered by Carlyle in 1867 from Vindhyan Rock Shelters.

The most important excavated sites of this period are: Birbhanapur in West Bengal, Tinnevelly in Tamil Nadu, Bagor in Rajasthan, Langhraj in M.P. , Sarai Nahar Rai in U.P., etc.

Adamgarh in M.P. and Bagor in Rajasthan provide the earliest evidence for the domestication of animals.



The Neolithic Age (New Stone Age)

Humans began to domesticate animals and cultivate plants. The dog, goat and sheep were probably the first to be domesticated. Wheat and barley were the earliest cereals grown. Man began to settle down in certain selected areas. This led to the growth of villages and farming communities.

The tools that they needed also changed, a heavy digging stick used for digging the ground; a sickle used for harvesting; an axe, used for cutting grain, and various types of pottery to store surplus grain and to hold liquids. The people used ochre-coloured pottery. The wheel was an important discovery.

The stone implements of Neolithic were more skillfully made, varied in form and often polished.

Following are the main characteristic traits of Neolithic culture: (a) Practice of agriculture (b) Domestication of animals (c) Grinding and polishing of pottery.

The new Stone age began in 9000 B.C. the Neolithic sites in India are not older than 5000 B.C. The only Neolithic settlements attributed to 7000 B.C. lies in Mehergarh, which is situated in Baluchistan.

Neolithic settlements: Three important areas of neolithic settlements –north-western, north-eastern and southern. The north-western group of neolithic tools represents rectangular axes with curved cutting edge. The north-eastern group shows polished stone axes with rectangular butt and has occasional shouldered hoes. The southern groups is distinguished by axes with oval sides and pointed butt.

The South Indian Neolithic people lived in south of the Godavari river. They usually settle on the tops of granite hills or on plateaus near the river banks. They used stone axes and also some kind of stone blades. Fire baked earthen figurines suggest that they kept a large number of cattle. They possessed cattle, sheep and goats. They used rubbing stone querns, which shows that they were acquainted with the art of producing cereals.

The north-eastern Neolithic people lived in the hills of Assam. Neolithic tools are also found in the Garo hills in Meghalaya on the found in the Garo hills in Meghalaya on the north-eastern frontier of India.

Important sites: Burzahom and Gufkral in Kasmir (Kashmir Neolithic culture was distinguished by the dwelling pits, the range of ceramics, the variety of stone and bone tools, dog burials and absence of microliths.), Deojali Handing, Maski, Brahmagir, Hallur, Kodekal, T. Narsipur (Karnataka), piklihal and Utnur (A.P.), Paiyampalli (T.N.) Belan Valley in Mirzapur. Morahana pahar and Bhaghai khor (near Bhainsaur), Kekhani (65 km from mirzapur) Yielded first non-geometric microliths and later geometric ones with an ill baked ochre- red pottery.

Pottery types known to Neolithic people-Black Burnished ware, Gray ware, Mat-impressed ware.

The Dolmans or Magalithic Tombs are characteristic features of Neolithic age in India. One human skeleton was found in Bhaghaikhor, 14 human skeleton was found in Lekhania. The orientation of the body was west east.

The neolithic settlers were the earliest farming communities. They broke the ground with stone hoes and digging sticks at the end of which ring stones weighing one to half a kilogram were fixed. Besides polished tools of stone, they used microlithic blades. They lived in circular or rectangular houses made of mud and reed. They produced ragi and horsegram (kulathi). The Hand-made pottery is found in the early stage. Later the neolithic people used footwheels to trun up pots. Their pottery included black burnished were, grey ware, and mat-impressed ware. Neolithic celts, axes, adzes, chisels, etc., have also been found in the Orissa and Chotanagpur hill areas.

The first discovery of Nolithic Objects was made in Uttar pradesh by Le Mesurier in 1860 & in 1872 at Bellary (Karnataka) by Fraser.

Prehistoric Art: The people of palaeolithic and mesolithic ages practised painting. Prehistoric art appears at several places, but Bhimbetka in madhya Pradesh is a striking site. It has more than 500 painted rock shelters, distributed in an area of 10 sq km. Many birds, animals and human beings are painted. Perching birds, which live upon grain, are absent in the earliest group of paintings, the northern spurs of the Vindhyas in the Belan valley all the three phases of the Palaeolithic followed by the Mesolithic and then by the Neolithic have been found in sequence.



The Chalcolithic Culture

The End of the neolithic period saw the used of metals. The metal to be used first was copper, and several cultures were based on the used of stone and copper implements. Such a culture is called chalcolithic, which means the stone-copper phase. Chalcolithic stage applied to the pre-Harappans. The chalcolithic people mostly used stone and copper objects, but they also occasionally used low-grade bronze They did not practice cultivation on any intensive hoe nor plough has been found at any Chalcolithic sites. They parcticed Slash burn or Jhum cultivation. The earliest settlement belonging to this phase are found in south eastern Rajasthan, the western part of M.P., western Maharashtra and also in southern and eastern India. Several chalcolithic sites have found in the Vindhyan region of Allahabad district. In eastern India, besides Chirand on the Ganga, Pandu Rajar Dhibi in Burdwan district and Mahishdal in Birbhum district in West Bengal. Senwar, Sonpur, and Taradih in Bihar, and Khairadih and Narhan in eastern Uttar Pradesh. There are several series of chalcolithic settlements in India. Some are pre-Harappan, other are contemporaries of the Harappan culture and still others are post-Harappan culture and still others are post-Harappan. Pre-harappan strata on some sites in the Harppan zone are also called early Harappan the pre-Harappan phase at Kalibangan in Rajasthan and Banawali in haryana is distinctly chalcolithic. Kot Diji in Sindh in Pakistan. The Malwa culture (1700-1200 B.C.) found in Navdatoli, Eran and Nagda is considered to be non-harappan. So it the case with the Jorwe culture (1400-700 B.C.) covers the whole of Maharashtra except parts of Vidarbha and konkan. The chalcolithic settlement of the Vindhya regions, Bihar and West Bengal are also not related to the harappan culture. Various types of per-harappan chalcolithic cultures pormoted the spread of farming communities in Sindh, Baluchistan, Rajastahn, etc. and created conditions for the rise of the urban civilization of harappa. Amri and Kot Diji is Sindh, Kalibangan and even Ganeshwar in Rajastan.

Chalcolithic caltures in central and western India disappeared by 1200 B.C. or so; only the Jorwe culture continued until 700 B.C.

The people belonging to this culture used tiny tools and weapons made of stone in which the stone-blades and bladelets occupied an important position. In south India, the stone-blade industry flourished and stone axes continued to be used. They used microlithis and other stone tools supplemented by some used of copper tools. The chalcolithic people seem to have been colonisers. Their earliest settlements appear in Malwa and central India, such as those in Kayatha and Eran; those in western Maharashtra appeared later; and those in west Bengal emerged much later. The settlements at Kayatha and Eran in madhya Pradesh and at Inamgaon in Western Maharashtra were fortified. The remains of structures in Chirand and Pandu Rajar Dhibi in eastern India were poor, indicating post-holes and round houses. The burial practices in Maharashtra the dead body was placed in the north-south position, but in south India in the east-west position. Almost complete extended burial obtained in western India, but fractional burial prevailed in eastern India.

The Chalcolithic people were not acquainted with burnt bricks but Gilund dated around 1500 B.C. Houses were made of mud bricks but mostly these of mud bricks were constructed with wattle and daub and seem to be thatched houses. In Ahar (Rajasthan) stone built houses have been found.

Pottery: Malwa Pottery is most distinguished. The people of Chalcolithic phase used different types of pottery of which black red seem to be widely prevalent (2000 B.C.). It was wheel turned and occasionally painted with white linear design. People living in maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar produced channel-spouted pots, dishes-on-stand and bowls-on-stand. All chalcolithic communities used wheel turned black-and-red pots. They were the first to use painted pottery. Their pots were meant for cooking, eating, drinking and storing.

Agriculture: The people living in the chalcolithic age in south-eastern Rajasthan, western Madhya Pradesh, western Maharashtra and elsewhere domesticated animals and practiced agriculture. They kept cows, sheep, goats, pigs and buffaloes, and hunted deer. Remains of the camel have also been found. It is not clear whether they were acquainted with the horse. People certainly ate beef, but they did not take pork on any considerable scale. People produced wheat and rice. They also cultivated bajra. They produced several pulses such as the lentil, black gram, green gram, and grass pea. Almost all these food grains have been found at Navdatoli situated on the bank of the Narmada in Maharashtra. The people of Navdatoli also produced ber and linseed. Cotton was produced in the black cotton soil of the Deccan, and ragi, bajara and several millets were cultivated in the lower Deccan. The chalcolithic people domesticated cattle –sheep, goats –which were tethered in the courtyard. Probably the domesticated animals were slaughtered for food and not milked for drink and dairy products. The chalcolithic people living on the black cotton soil area of central and western India did not practise cultivation on any intensive or extersive scale. Neither plough nor hoe has been found at chalcolithic sites. Only perforated stone discs were tied as weights to the digging sticks which could be used in the slash-burn or jhum cultivation. The rate of infant mortality was very high.

Art and Craft: They were expert copper smith and good worker in stone. The people of Ahar practiced smelting and metallurgy. The old name of Ahar is Tambavati or a ‘place possesing copper’. Tools, weapons and bangles made of copper appear at Ahar. People know the art of spinning and weaving because spinning spindle whorls have been discovered at Malwa. Cotton, flax and silk threads made of cotton silk of semal, silk have been found in Maharashtra. We find potters, smiths, ivory carvers, lime makers and terracotta artisans at Inamgaon. People did not known the art of mixing tin with copper and thus forging the much stronger and useful metal called bronze. Bronze tools facilitated the rise of earliest civilizations in Crete, Egypt and Mesopotamia and also in the Indus valley.

The people of the Stone-Copper Age did not know the art of writing; nor did they live in cities as the people of the Bronze Age did. The largest hoard comes from Gungeria in Madhya Pradesh; it contains 424 copper tools and weapons and 102 thin sheets of silver objects. Most ochre-coloured pottery sites are found in the upper portion of the doab, but stray copper hoards are found in the plateau areas of Bihar and the other regions.

The period covered by the ochre-coloured pottery culture may roughly be placed between 2000 B.C. and 1500 B.C. on the basis of a series of eight scientific datings. Jodhpura on the border of Harvana and Rajasthan shows the thickest OCP deposits accounting for 1.1 metre.

Religious Life: Terracota figurines of women suggest that Chalcolithic people venerated mother goddess. Some unbaked nude clay figurines were also used for worship.In Malwa and Rajasthan bull was a symbol of religious cult.

Burial Practices: In Maharashtra people buried their dead in urns under the floor of their house in the north-to-south position. They did not use separate cemeteries for this purpose, pots and some copper objects were deposited in the graves.



The Iron Age

The use of iron came after the Use of stone in southern india.

Our only evidence of the transition from copper-bronze age to the iron age is the monuments like dolmens, cairns, cromlechs etc. these have been found in wide areas all over India, such as Assam, Bihar, Orissa, Central India, Gujarat and Kashmir.



Points To Remember:

Animal remains found in the Belan Valley in Mirzapur district in Uttar Pradesh show that goats, sheep and cattle were exploited in Palaeolithic age.

The axes found in Palaeolithic India are more or less similar to those of western Asia, Europe and Africa.

Palaeolithic sites are found in many hilly slopes and river valleys of the country; they are absent in the alluvial plains of the Indus and the Ganga.

Adamgarh (Madhya Pradesh) and Bagor (Rajasthan) provide the earliest evidence for the domestication of animals; this could be around 5000 B.C.

The cultivation of plants around 7000-6000 B.C. is suggested in Rajasthan from a study of the deposits of the former Salt Lake, Sambhar.

The northern spurs of the Vindhyas in the Belan valley all the three phases of the Palaeolithic followed by the Mesolithic and then by the Neolithic have been found in sequence.

Kashmiri neolithic culture was distinguished by its dwelling pits, the range of ceramics, the variety of stone and bone tools, and the complete absence of the microliths.

Neolithic sites in Allahabad district are noted for the cultivation of rice in the sixth millennium B.C.

The neolithic settlers in Piklihal were cattle-herders. They domesticated cattle, sheep, goats, etc. They set up seasonal camps surrounded by cowpens made with posts and stakes.

The neolithic people of Mehrgarh were more advanced. They produced wheat, cotton, and lived in mud-brick house.

Neolithic celts, axes, adzes, chisels, etc., have also been found in the Orissa and Chotanagpur hill areas.

Fishhooks have been found in Bihar and West Bengal, where we also find rice. This suggests that the chalcolithic people in the eastern regions lived on fish and rice, which is still a popular diet in that part of the country.