Ancient India NCERT Notes PDF

Telegram: https://t.me/odstueverydayupdate Website: https://odstu.com 1  CONTENT CHAPTER:-1 - THE IMPORTANCE OF ANCIENT INDIAN HISTORY 3 CHAPTER:-2 - MODERN HISTORIANS OF ANCIENT INDIA 4 CHAPTER:-3 – TYP...

Telegram: https://t.me/odstueverydayupdate Website: https://odstu.com 1  CONTENT CHAPTER:-1 - THE IMPORTANCE OF ANCIENT INDIAN HISTORY 3 CHAPTER:-2 - MODERN HISTORIANS OF ANCIENT INDIA 4 CHAPTER:-3 – TYPES OF SOURCES AND HISTORICAL CONSTRUCTION 5 CHAPTER:-4 – THE GEOGRAPHICAL SETTING 8 CHAPTER: 5 - THE STONE AGE: THE EARLY MAN 11 CHAPTER: 6 - CHALCOLITHIC FARMING CULTURES 14 CHAPTER: 7 – THE HARAPPAN CULTURE: BRONZE AGE CIVILIZATION 19 CHAPTER: 8 – ADVENT OF THE ARYAN AND THE AGE 0F THE RIG VEDA 26 CHAPTER: 9 - THE LATER VEDIC PHASE: TRANSITION TO STATE AND SOCIAL ORDERS 28 CHAPTER: 10 - JAINISM AND BUDDHISM 30 CHAPTER: 11 - TERRITORIAL STATES AND THE FIRST MAGADHAN EMPIRE 34 CHAPTER: 12 - IRANIAN AND MACEDONIAN INVASIONS 36 CHAPTER: 13 - STATE AND VARNA SOCIETY IN THE AGE OF THE BUDDHA 38 CHAPTER: 14 - THE AGE OF THE MAURYA AGE 41 CHAPTER: 15 - SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MAURYA RULE 45 CHAPTER: 16 - CENTRAL ASIAN CONTACT AND THEIR RESULT 49 CHAPTER: 17 - THE AGE OF SATAVAHANAS 54 CHAPTER: 18 - THE DAWN OF HISTORY IN THE DEEP SOUTH 57 CHAPTER: 19 - CRAFTS, TRADE AND TOWNS IN THE POST-MAURYA AGE 59 CHAPTER: 20 – THE RISE AND GROWTH OF THE GUPTA EMPIRE 62 CHAPTER: 21 - LIFE IN THE GUPTA AGE 65 CHAPTER: 22 - SPREAD OF CIVILIZATION IN EASTERN INDIA 69 CHAPTER: 23 - HARSHA AND HIS TIMES 72 CHAPTER: 24 – FORMATION OF NEW STATES AND RURAL EXPANSION IN THE PENINSULA 74 CHAPTER: 25 - DEVELOPMENTS IN PHILOSOPHY 78 CHAPTER: 26 – INDIA’S CULTURAL CONTACTS WITH THE ASIAN COUNTRIES 80 CHAPTER: 27 – TRANSFORMATION OF THE ANCIENT PHASE 82 CHAPTER: 28 - SEQUENCE OF SOCIAL CHANGES 85 CHAPTER: 29 - LEGACY IN SCIENCE AND CIVILIZATION 87 Telegram: https://t.me/odstueverydayupdate Website: https://odstu.com 2  CHAPTER: 1 - THE IMPORTANCE OF ANCIENT INDIAN HISTORY It tells us how, when, and where people occurs in the inscriptions of fifth–sixth developed the earliest cultures in India. It centuries BC. It is derived from the Sanskrit tell us how they began undertaking term Sindhu. Linguistically s becomes h in agriculture and stock raising which made Iranian. The Iranian inscriptions first life secure and settled. mention Hindu as a district on the Indus. It shows how the ancient Indians the term Hindu means a territorial unit. discovered and utilized natural resources, Kings who tried to establish their authority and how they created the means for their from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin and livelihood. We get an idea of how the from the valley of the Brahmputra in the ancient inhabitants made arrangements for east to the land beyond the Indus in the food, shelter, and transport, and learn how west were universally praised. They were they took to farming, spinning, weaving, called Chakravartis. This form of political metalworking, and the like, how they unity was attained at least twice in ancient cleared forests, founded villages, cities, and times. In the third century BC Ashoka eventually large kingdoms. extended his empire over the whole of India UNITY IN DIVERSITY barring the extreme south. His inscriptions are scattered across a major part of the Pre-Aryans, the Indo-Aryans, the Greeks, Indo-Pakistan subcontinent, and even in the Scythians, the Hunas, the Turks, and Afghanistan. Again, in the fourth century others made India their home. Aryan AD, Samudragupta carried his victorious elements are equated with the Vedic and arms from the Ganga to the borders of the Puranic culture of the north and the pre Tamil land. Aryan with the Dravidian and Tamil culture of the south. Many Munda, Dravidian and In the seventh century, the Chalukya king, other non-Sanskritic terms occur in the Pulakeshin defeated Harshavardhana who Vedic texts ascribed to 1500–500 BC. was called the lord of the whole of north India. Many Pali and Sanskrit terms, signifying ideas and institutions, developed in the Word Hind or Hindu is derived from the Gangetic plains, appear in the earliest Tamil Sanskrit term Sindhu, and on the same texts called the Sangam literature which is basis, the country became known as ‘India’ roughly used for the period 300 BC–AD which is very close to the Greek term for it. 600. India came to be called ‘Hind’ in the Persian and Arabic languages. In post- The people of eastern region inhabited by Kushan times, the Iranian rulers conquered the pre-Aryan tribals spoke the Munda or the Sindh area and named it Hindustan. Kolarian languages. Munda pockets in Chhotanagpur plateau, the remnants of In the third century BC Prakrit served as the Munda culture in the Indo-Aryan culture lingua franca across the major part of India. are fairly strong. States or territorial units, Ashoka’s inscriptions were inscribed in the called janapadas, were named after Prakrit language mainly in Brahmi script. different tribes. THE RELEVANCE OF THE PAST TO THE Aryavarta came to be named after the PRESENT dominant cultural community called the There is no doubt that Indians of old made Aryans. Aryavarta denoted northern and remarkable progress in a variety of fields, central India and extended from the eastern but these advances alone cannot enable us to the western sea coasts. The other name to compete with the achievements of by which India was better known was modern science and technology. One Bharatavarsha or the land of the Bharatas. cannot ignore the fact that ancient Indian Bharata, in the sense of tribe or family, society was marked by gross social figures in the Rig Veda and Mahabharata, injustice. but the name Bharatavarsha occurs in the India cannot develop rapidly unless such Mahabharata and post-Gupta Sanskrit texts. vestiges of the past are eradicated from its The term Bharati or an inhabitant of India society. occurs in post-Gupta texts. Iranian inscriptions are important for the origin of the term Hindu. The term Hindu Telegram: https://t.me/odstueverydayupdate Website: https://odstu.com 3  CHAPTER: 4 – THE GEOGRAPHICAL SETTING EMERGENCE OF INDIA In winter, the western disturbances bring Peninsular India, together with Antarctica, rains to northern India. The coastal areas of Africa, Arabia, and South America, is Tamil Nadu, gets its major rainfall from the considered to have been a part of the north-east monsoon from mid-October to southern super-continent called mid-December. Gondwanaland. THE NORTHERN BOUNDARIES Earlier, Gondwanaland, together with the India is bounded by the Himalayas on the northern super-continent Laurisia, north and seas on the other three sides. comprising North America, Greenland, Himalayas protect the country against the Europe, and most of Asia north of the cold arctic winds blowing from Siberia Himalayas, formed a single land mass through Central Asia. called Pangaea. Then Gondawanaland and laurisia became ODSTU.COM separate units. Due to tectonic movement different parts began to break away from Gondwanaland, giving rise to separate geographical units including peninsular India. The uplift of the Himalayas took place in four phases. The last and the final uplift took place in the Pleistocene epoch, that is, in c. 2 million–12000 BC. Indian subcontinent is as large in area as Europe without Russia, The subcontinent is divided into five countries: India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Pakistan. WWW.ODSTU.COM ODSTU.COM On the north-west, the Sulaiman mountain WWW.ODSTU.COM ranges, which are a southward continuation of the Himalayas, could be crossed through the Khyber, Bolan, and Gomal passes. Sulaiman ranges are joined southward in Baluchistan by the Kiarthar ranges which could be crossed through the Bolan pass. The Hindu Kush, the westward extension of the Himalayan system. RIVERS These consist of the plains of the Indus system, the Indo-Gangetic divide, the Gangetic basin, and the Brahmaputra basin. Indus and the western Gangetic plains principally produced wheat and barley, THE ROLE OF THE MONSOON while the middle and lower Gangetic plains largely produced rice, which also became South-west monsoon lasts between June the staple diet in Gujarat and south of the and October. The kharif crop in north India Vindhyas. depended on the south-west monsoon. Telegram: https://t.me/odstueverydayupdate Website: https://odstu.com 8  The large-scale use of iron made Avanti, with its capital at Ujjain, an important kingdom in the sixth and fifth ODSTU.COM centuries BC. Andhra possesses large lead resources, which explains the large numbers of lead coins in the kingdom of the Satavahanas, who ODSTU.COM ruled over Andhra and Maharashtra in the first two centuries of the Christian era. Lead may have also been obtained from towns in Rajasthan. The earliest coins, called punch marked coins, were made largely of silver, although this metal is rarely found in India. Silver mines existed in early times in the Kharagpur hills in Monghyr district, Large quantities of gold dust. These deposits are called placers. Gold is found in the Kolar goldfields of Karnataka. India also produced a variety of precious stones, including pearls, especially in central India, Orissa, and south India. Telegram: https://t.me/odstueverydayupdate Website: https://odstu.com 10  CHAPTER: 5 - THE STONE AGE: THE EARLY MAN THE PALAEOLITHIC PERIOD: HUNTERS in Africa around two million years ago, but AND FOOD GATHERERS in India it is not older than 600,000 years. THE EARTH is over 4000 million years This date is given to Bori in Maharashtra, old. The evolution of its crust shows four and this site is considered to be the earliest stages. The fourth stage is called the Lower Palaeolithic site. People use hand Quaternary, which is divided into axes, cleavers, and choppers. Pleistocene (most recent) and Holocene Axes found in India are more or less similar (present); the former lasted between to those of western Asia, Europe, and 2,000,000 and 10,000 years before the Africa. Stone tools were used largely for present and the latter began about 10,000 chopping, digging, and skinning. years ago. Man is said to have appeared on Early Old Stone Age sites have been found the earth in the early Pleistocene, when true in the valley of river Son or Sohan in ox, true elephant and true horse also Punjab, now in Pakistan. Several sites have originated. But now this event seems to been found in Kashmir and the Thar desert. have occurred in Africa about three million Lower Palaeolithic tools have also been years back. found in the Belan valley in UP and in the The fossils of the early men have not been desert area of Didwana in Rajasthan. found in India. A hint of the earliest human Didwana yielded not only Lower presence is indicated by stone tools Palaeolithic stone tools but also those of the obtained from the de- posits ascribable to Middle and Upper Palaeolithic ages. the Second Glaciation, which could be Chirki-Nevasa in Maharashtra has yielded dated around 250,000 B.C. as many as 2000 tools, and those have also Palaeolithic tools, which could be as old as been found at several places in the south. 100,000 B.C., have been found in the Nagarjunakonda in Andhra Pradesh is an Chotanagpur plateau. Such tools belonging important site, and the caves and rock to 20,000 B.C. 10,000B.C. have been found shelters of Bhimbetka near Bhopal also in Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh about show features of the Lower Palaeolithic 55 km from Kurnool. In association with age. them bone implements and animal remains Bhimbetka (in present day Madhya have also been discovered. Animal remains Pradesh)- This site is called habitation cum- found in the Belan Valley in Mirzapur factory sites. Each marks of the site from district in Uttar Pradesh show that goats where archaeologists have found evidence sheep and cattle were exploited. However, of early farmers and herders. Some of the in the earliest Palaeolithic phase man lived most important ones are in the north-west, on hunting and food gathering. in present-day Kashmir, and in east and PHASES IN THE PALAEOLITHIC AGE south India. Palaeolithic Age in India is divided into The earliest people were skilled gatherers three phases in accordance with the type of who lived along the banks of river stone tools used by the people and also Narmada. The Sulaiman and Kirthar hills to according to the nature of climatic change. the Northwest are the areas where women and men first began to grow crops such as First phase is called Early or Lower wheat and barley about 8000 years ago are Palaeolithic, the second Middle located here. The Garo hills to the north- Palaeolithic, and the third Upper east and the Vindhyas in central India. The Palaeolithic. places where rice was first grown are to the Bori artefacts-the first phase may be placed north of the Vindhyas. broadly between 600,000 and 150,000 BC, the second between 150,000 and 35,000 Hand axes have been found in a deposit of BC, and the third between 35,000 and the time of the second Himalayan inter- 10,000 BC. glaciation, when the climate became less humid. The people of the Lower Stone Age Lower Palaeolithic or the Early Old Stone seem to have principally been food Age covers the greater part of the ice age. gatherers. The Early Old Stone Age may have begun Telegram: https://t.me/odstueverydayupdate Website: https://odstu.com 11  The Middle Palaeolithic industries were Mesolithic people lived on hunting, fishing, largely based upon flakes or small pieces of and food gathering; at a later stage they also stone which have been found in different domesticated animals. The first three parts of India with regional variations. occupations continued the Palaeolithic Principal tools comprise blades, points, practice, whereas the last developed in the borers, and scrapers, all made of flakes. The Neolithic culture. geographical horizon of the Middle Thus the Mesolithic age marked a Palaeolithic sites coincides roughly with transitional phase in the mode of that of the Lower Palaeolithic sites. subsistence leading to animal husbandry. Artefacts of this age are found at several The characteristic tools of the Mesolithic places on the river Narmada, and also at age are microliths or tiny tools. several places, south of the Tungabhadra Mesolithic sites abound in Rajasthan, river. The Belan valley (UP), which lies at southern UP, central and eastern India, and the foothills of the Vindhyas, is rich in also south of the river Krishna. stone tools and animal fossils including Bagor in Rajasthan is very well excavated. cattle and deer. It had a distinctive microlithic industry, and These remains relate to both the Lower and its inhabitants subsisted on hunting and Middle Stone ages. pastoralism. The site remained occupied for 5000 years from the fifth millennium BC onwards. Adamgarh in MP and Bagor in Rajasthan provide the earliest evidence for the domestication of animals in the Indian part ODSTU.COM of the subcontinent; this could be around 5000 BC. The cultivation of plants around 7000–6000 BC is suggested in Rajasthan. Fig. Palaeolithic Tool THE MESOLITHIC AGE: HUNTERS AND HERDERS In the Upper Palaeolithic phase, we find 566 sites in India. The climate was less humid, coinciding with the last phase of the ice age when the climate became comparatively warm. In India, we notice the use of blades and ODSTU.COM burins, which have been found in AP, Karnataka, Maharashtra, central MP, southern UP, Jharkhand and adjoining Fig. Mesolithic Tool areas. PREHISTORIC ART Caves and rock shelters for use by human People of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic beings in the Upper Palaeolithic phase have ages practised painting. Prehistoric art been discovered at Bhimbetka, 45 km south appears at several places, but Bhimbetka in of Bhopal. An Upper Palaeolithic MP is a striking site. Situated in the assemblage, characterized by comparatively Vindhyan range, 45 km south of Bhopal, it large flakes, blades, burins, and scrapers has over 500 painted rock shelters has also been found the upper levels of the distributed in an area of 10 sq. km. At Gujarat sand dunes. Bhimbetka, the rock paintings extend from In 9000 BC began an intermediate stage in the Upper Palaeolithic to the Mesolithic age Stone-Age culture, which is called the Bands were formed for hunting, there could Mesolithic age. It intervened as a have been a form of alliance between transitional phase between the Palaeolithic various bands for mutual aid, Rituals could and the Neolithic or New Stone ages. have been conducted to ratify such an alliance. Eventually the band turned into an Telegram: https://t.me/odstueverydayupdate Website: https://odstu.com 12  CHAPTER: 7 – THE HARAPPAN CULTURE: BRONZE AGE CIVILIZATION GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT A third city lay at Chanhu-daro about 130 In 1853, A. Cunningham, the British km south of Mohenjo-daro in Sindh, and a engineer who became a great excavator and fourth at Lothal in Gujarat at the head of the explorer, noticed a Harappan seal. The seal Gulf of Cambay. A fifth city lay at showed a bull and six written letters. Kalibangan, which means black bangles, in In 1921, the potentiality of the site of northern Rajasthan. A sixth, called Harappa was appreciated when an Indian Banawali, is situated in Hissar district in archeologist, Daya Ram Sahni, started Haryana. excavating it. At about the same time, R.D. It saw two cultural phases, pre-Harappan Banerjee, a historian, excavated the site of and Harappan, similar to that of Mohenjo-daro in Sindh. Kalibangan. Large-scale excavations were carried out at The Harappan culture is traceable in its Mohenjo-daro under the general mature and flourishing stage to all these six supervision of Marshall in 1931. Mackay places, as also to the coastal cities of excavated the same site in 1938. Vats Sutkagendor and Surkotada, each of which excavated at Harappa in 1940. is marked by a citadel. In 1946 Mortimer Wheeler excavated The later Harappan phase is traceable to Harappa. Rangpur and Rojdi in the Kathiawar In Pakistan, Kot Diji in the central Indus peninsula in Gujarat. In addition, Dholavira, Valley was excavated by F.A. Khan, and lying in the Kutch area of Gujarat, has great attention was paid to the Hakra and Harappan fortification and all the three pre-Hakra cultures by M.R. Mughal. A.H. phases of the Harappan culture. Dani excavated the Gandhara graves in the These phases are also manifested in North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan. Rakhigarhi which is situated on the Harappan culture-It developed in the north- Ghaggar in Haryana and is much larger than western part of the Indian subcontinent. It is Dholavira. called Harappan because this civilization In comparative terms, Dholavira covers 50 was discovered first in 1921 at the modern ha but Harappa 150 ha and Rakhigarhi 250 site of Harappa situated in the province of ha. The largest site is Mohenjo-daro, which Punjab in Pakistan. Many sites in Sindh covers 500 ha. formed the central zone of pre-Harappan The Indus valley civilisation is also called culture. This culture developed and matured the Harappan culture. Archaeologists use into an urban civilization that developed in the term “culture” for a group of objects, Sindh and Punjab. distinctive in style, that are usually found The central zone of this mature Harappan together within a specific geographical area culture lay in Sindh and Punjab, principally and period of time. In the case of the in the Indus Valley. The Harappan culture Harappan culture, these distinctive objects covered parts of Punjab, Haryana, Sindh, include seals, beads, weights, stone blades Baluchistan, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and the and even baked bricks. These objects were fringes of western UP. It extended from the found from areas as far apart as Siwaliks in the north to the Arabian Sea in Afghanistan, Jammu, Baluchistan (Pakistan) the south, and from the Makran coast of and Gujarat. Named after Harappa, the first Baluchistan in the west to Meerut in the site where this unique culture was north-east. discovered the civilisation is dated between Nearly 2800 Harappan sites have so far c. 2600 and 1900 BCE. been identified in the subcontinent. They relate to the early, mature, and late phases of Harappan culture. Of the mature phase sites, two most important cities were Harappa in Punjab and Mohenjo-daro (literally, the mound of the dead) in Sindh, both forming parts of Pakistan. Situated at a distance of 483 km, they were linked by the Indus. Telegram: https://t.me/odstueverydayupdate Website: https://odstu.com 19  7.01 m and 2.43 m deep. Flights of steps at either end lead to the surface, and there are side rooms for changing clothes. The floor of the bath was made of burnt bricks. Water was drawn from a large well in an adjacent room, and an outlet from the corner of the bath led to a drain. The great bath was primarily intended for ritual bathing. The large tank found in Dholavira may be compared to the great bath. In Mohenjo-daro, the largest building is a ODSTU.COM granary, 45.71 m long and 15.23 m wide. In the citadel of Harappa, however, we find as Fig. Kalibangan: General view many as six granaries. A series of brick TOWN PLANNING AND STRUCTURES platforms formed the basis for two rows of Both Harappa and Mohenjo-daro had a six granaries. Each granary measured 15.23 citadel or acropolis, occupied by members × 6.09 m and lay within a few metres of the of the ruling class. Below the citadel in river bank. The combined floor space of the each city lay a lower town with brick twelve units would be about 838 sq. m. houses, that were inhabited by the common To the south of the granaries at Harappa lay people. working floors consisting of the rows of The arrangement of the houses in the cities circular brick platforms. Wheat and barley is that they followed a grid system, with were found in the crevices of the floors. roads cutting across one another virtually at Harappa also had two-roomed barracks right angles. Mohenjo-daro scored over which possibly accommodated labourers. In Harappa in terms of structures. the southern part of Kalibangan too, there are brick platforms, which may have been used for granaries. The drainage system of Mohenjo-daro was very impressive. In almost all the cities, every house, large or small, had its own courtyard and bathroom. In Kalibangan ODSTU.COM many houses had their own wells. Water flowed from the house to the streets which had drains. Sometimes these drains were covered with bricks and sometimes with stone slabs. The remains of streets and drains have also been found at Banawali. ODSTU.COM Fig. Harapa – Plan of the city Fig. Great Bath, Mohenjo-daro Harappa – Plan of the City Kalibangan and Lothal had fire altars, The most important public place of where sacrifices may have been performed. Mohenjo-daro seems to have been the great It is on the Citadel that the evidence of bath, comprising the tank which is situated structures that were probably used for in the citadel mound, and is a fine example special public purposes were found- This of beautiful brickwork. It measures 11.88 × include the warehouse – a massive structure Telegram: https://t.me/odstueverydayupdate Website: https://odstu.com 20  CHAPTER: 15 - SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MAURYA RULE STATE CONTROL Peshawar. Roads also linked Patna with Kautilya advises the king to promulgate Sasaram, and from there they ran to dharma when the social order based on the Mirzapur and central India. varnas and ashramas (stages in life) The capital was also connected with collapses. He calls the king Kalinga via a route through eastern MP, and dharmapravartaka or promulgator of the Kalinga in turn was linked with Andhra and social order Ashoka promulgated dharma Karnataka. All this facilitated transport in and appointed officials to inculcate and which horses may have played an important enforce its essentials throughout India. part. The administrative mechanism was backed The Ashokan inscriptions appear on by an elaborate system of espionage. important highways. The stone pillars were Various types of spies collected intelligence made in Chunar near Varanasi from where about foreign enemies and kept an eye on they were transported to north and south numerous officers. India. Important functionaries were called tirthas. Pataliputra was the chief centre of royal It appears that most functionaries were paid power, but Tosali, Suvarnagiri, Ujjain, and in cash, the highest among whom, the Taxila were seats of provincial power. Each minister (mantrin), high priest (purohita), of them was governed by a governor called commanderinchief (senapati) and crown kumara or prince, and thus every governor prince (yuvaraja), were paid generously. hailed from the royal family. They received as much as 48,000 panas The princely governor of Tosali (pana was a silver coin equal to three- administrated Kalinga and also parts of fourths of a tola). In sharp contrast to them, Andhra, and that of Suvarnagiri ruled the the lowest officers were given 60 panas in Deccan area. Similarly, the princely consolidated pay although some employees governor of Ujjain ruled the Avanti area were paid as little as 10 or 20 panas. while that of Taxila the frontier area. ECONOMIC REGULATIONS Ashokan inscriptions show that royal writ The state appointed twenty-seven ran throughout the country except the superintendents (adhyakshas), principally to extreme east and south. Nineteen Ashokan regulate its economic activities. inscriptions have been found in AP and They controlled and regulated agriculture, Karnataka. trade and commerce, weights and measures, The Maurya period constitutes a landmark crafts such as weaving and spinning, in the system of taxation in ancient India. mining, and the like. The state also Kautilya names many taxes which were provided irrigation facilities and regulated collected from peasants, artisans, and water supply for the benefit of traders. This required a strong and efficient agriculturists. machinery for assessment, collection, and According to the Arthashastra of Kautilya, a storage. striking social development of the Maurya The Mauryas attached greater importance to period was the employment of slaves in assessment than to storage and deposit. The agricultural operations. royal control was samaharta was the highest officer in charge exercised over a very large area, at least in of assessment and collection, and the the core of the empire. sannidhata was the chief custodian of the This was because of the strategic position of state treasury and storehouse. The assessor- Pataliputra, from where royal agents could cum-collector was far more important than sail up and down the Ganges, Son, Punpun, the chief treasurer. and Gandak rivers. Besides this, the royal It seems that the punch-marked silver coins, road ran from Pataliputra to Nepal through which carry the symbols of the peacock and Vaishali and Champaran. crescented hill, formed the imperial A road at the foothills of the Himalayas currency of the Mauryas. which passed from Vaishali through ART AND ARCHITECTURE Champaran to Kapilavastu, Kalsi (in Dehra Fragments of stone pillars and stumps, Dun district), Hazra, and eventually to indicating the existence of an 84-pillared Telegram: https://t.me/odstueverydayupdate Website: https://odstu.com 45  The Pandyas were known to Megasthenes who visited the Maurya capital. The existence of inscriptions, occasional NBPW sherds, and punch-marked coins in parts of Bangladesh, Orissa, Andhra, and Karnataka from about the third century BC shows that during the Maurya period attempts were made to spread elements of the mid- Gangetic basin culture in distant areas. The process seems to be in accord with the instructions of Kautilya. ODSTU.COM ODSTU.COM Fig. Ringed Soak wells found at Ropar CAUSES OF THE FALL OF THE MAURYA EMPIRE Several causes seem to have brought about the Fig. Terracotta Figurine of the Maurya Period decline and fall of the Maurya empire. 1. Brahmanical Reaction The brahmanical reaction began as a result of Ashoka’s policy. The anti- sacrifice attitude of Buddhism adopted by Ashoka adversely affected the incomes of brahmanas. Further, Ashoka appointed rajukas to govern the countryside and introduce vyavaharasamata and dandasamata. This meant the same civil and criminal law for all varnas. ODSTU.COM The Shungas and the Kanvas, who ruled in MP and further east on the remnants Fig. Lomasrishi Caves, Barabar Hills of the Maurya empire, were brahmanas. Similarly, the Satavahanas, who founded kingdom in the western Deccan and Andhra, claimed to be brahmanas. These brahmana dynasties performed Vedic sacrifices that were discarded by Ashoka. 2. Financial Crisis The enormous expenditure on the army and payment to the bureaucracy created a financial crisis for the Maurya empire. It seems that Ashoka made large donations to the Buddhist monks which left the royal treasury empty. 3. Oppressive Rule Telegram: https://t.me/odstueverydayupdate Website: https://odstu.com 47  CHAPTER: 16 - CENTRAL ASIAN CONTACT AND THEIR RESULT In the eastern and central parts of India and Nagasena’s answers were recorded in the in the Deccan, the Mauryas were succeeded form of a book known as Milinda Panho or by several native rulers such as the the Questions of Milinda. Shungas, the Kanvas, and the Satavahanas. Indo-Greek rule is important in the history In north-western India they were succeeded of India because of the large number of by a number of ruling dynasties from coins that the Greeks issued. The Indo- Central Asia. Greeks were the first rulers in India to issue THE INDO-GREEKS coins. The first to cross the Hindu Kush were the The Indo-Greeks were also the first to issue gold coins in India, and these increased in Greeks, who ruled Bactria, or Bahlika, number under the Kushans. Greek rule situated south of the Oxus river in the area introduced features of Hellenistic art in the covered by north Afghanistan. north-west frontier of India, The best One important cause of the invasions was example of this was Gandhara art. the weakness of the Seleucid empire that had been established in Bactria and the adjoining areas of Iran called Parthia. Pushed by the Scythian tribes, the Bactrian Greeks were forced to invade India. The successors of Ashoka were too weak to stem the tide of foreign invasions that ODSTU.COM began during this period. The first to invade India were the Greeks, who are called the Indo-Greeks or Indo- Bactrians. In the beginning of the second century BC, the Indo-Greeks occupied a large part of north-western India. Fig. Copper Plate Inscription THE SHAKAS The Greeks were followed by the Shakas. The Shakas or the Scythians destroyed Greek power in both Bactria and India, and controlled a much larger part of India than had the Greeks. There were five branches of the Shakas with their seats of power in different parts of India and Afghanistan. One branch of the Shakas settled in Afghanistan; the second in ODSTU.COM the Punjab with Taxila as their capital; the third in Mathura where they ruled for about two centuries; the fourth branch established Two Greek dynasties simultaneously ruled its hold over western India, where the north western India on parallel lines. The Shakas continued to rule until the fourth most famous Indo-Greek ruler was century; the fifth branch established its Menander (165–45 BC), also known as power in the upper Deccan. Milinda. He had his capital at Sakala The king of Ujjain who effectively fought (modern Sialkot) in the Punjab; and against the Shakas and succeeded in driving invaded the Ganga–Yamuna doab. He had a them out during his reign. He called himself great many cities in his dominions Vikramaditya, and an era called Vikrama including Sakala and Mathura. Samvat is reckoned from his victory over Menander asked Nagasena many questions the Shakas in 57 BC. relating to Buddhism. These questions and Page | 49 Telegram: https://t.me/odstueverydayupdate Website: https://odstu.com  (headquarters of Vidisa district) in MP The influence of Gandhara art also spread around the middle of the second century to Mathura, which was primarily a centre of BC. indigenous art. Mathura produced beautiful THE ORIGIN OF MAHAYANA BUDDHISM images of the Buddha, but it is also famous for the headless erect statue of Kanishka whose name is inscribed at its lower end. ODSTU.COM Fig. Aerial View of taxila Discipline became so lax that some renunciates even deserted the religious order or the samgha and resumed the ODSTU.COM householder’s life. This new form of Buddhism came to be called Mahayana or the Great Vehicle. In the old puritan Buddhism, certain things Fig. Buddha Gandhara associated with the Buddha were worshipped as his symbols. With the rise of LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND Mahayana the old puritan school of LEARNING Buddhism came to be known as the The Kushans were conscious of the fact Hinayana or the Lesser Vehicle. that the people used various scripts and Fortunately for the Mahayana school, languages in their dominions, and therefore Kanishka became its great patron. He issued their coins and inscriptions in the convened in Kashmir a council, whose Greek, Kharoshthi, and Brahmi scripts. members composed 300,000 words, The earliest specimen of the kavya style is thoroughly elucidating the three pitakas or found in the Junagadh inscription of collections of Buddhist literature. Rudradaman in Kathiawar in about AD GANDHARA AND MATHURA SCHOOLS OF 150. Ashvaghosha wrote the Buddhcharita, ART which is a biography of the Buddha, and The Kushan empire brought together also composed Saundarananda, a fine masons and other artisans trained in example of Sanskrit kavya. different schools and countries. This gave The development of Mahayana Buddhism rise to several schools of art: Central Asian, led to the composition of numerous Gandhara, and Mathura. avadanas (life history and teachings). Pieces of sculpture from Central Asia show Examples of important books of this genre a synthesis of both local and Indian were Mahavastu and Divyavadana. elements influenced by Buddhism. It is suggested that Indian theatre owed Indian craftsmen came into contact with the much to Greek influence. Both outdoor and Central Asians, Greeks, and Romans, indoor theatres appear in the caves of especially in the north-western frontier of Ramgarh hill, 160 miles south of Banaras, India in Gandhara. and there is also a rest house for an actress. This gave rise to a new form of art in which As it was borrowed from the Greeks, it images of the Buddha were made in the came to be known as yavanika, a word Greco Roman style, and his hair fashioned derived from the term yavana, a in the Graeco-Roman style. Sanskritized form of Ionian, a branch of the Page | 52 Telegram: https://t.me/odstueverydayupdate Website: https://odstu.com  Greeks known to the ancient Indians. Initially, the term yavana referred to the Greeks, but subsequently it began to be used for all foreigners. Bharata’s Natyasastra was an important work on rhetoric and dramaturgy, and marked the entry of full-fledged theatre into India. The best example of secular literature is the Kamasutra of Vatsyayana. ODSTU.COM ODSTU.COM Fig. Sanchi Stupa SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Indian astrology was influenced by Greek ideas, and from the Greek term horoscope was derived the term horashastra that denotes astrology in Sanskrit. Fig. A Panel from Bharhut The Greek term drachma came to be known as drama. In return, the Greek rulers used the Brahmi script and represented some Indian motifs on their coins. The Charakasamhita contains names of numerous plants and herbs from which drugs were prepared. For the cure of ailments, the ancient Indian physician relied chiefly on plants, for which the Sanskrit word is oshadhi, and as a result medicine itself came to be known as aushadhi. The introduction of the stirrup is also attributed to the Kushans. Possibly the practice of making leather shoes began in India during their period. Page | 53 Telegram: https://t.me/odstueverydayupdate Website: https://odstu.com  CHAPTER: 21 - LIFE IN THE GUPTA AGE SYSTEM OF ADMINISTRATION who lived on the edge of the empire had In contrast to the Maurya rulers, the Gupta three obligations to fulfil. The second kings adopted pompous titles such as important feudal development that surfaced parameshvara, maharajadhiraja, and under the Guptas was the grant of fiscal and paramabhattaraka which signify that they administrative concessions to priests and ruled over many lesser kings in their administrators. empire. Kingship was hereditary, but royal Started in the Deccan by the Satavahanas, power was limited by the want of a firm the practice became a regular affair in adherence to primogeniture. Gupta times, particularly in MP. During the Gupta period land taxes TRENDS IN TRADE AND THE AGRARIAN increased in number, and those on trade and ECONOMY commerce decreased. Probably the king In ancient India, the Guptas issued the collected taxes varying from one fourth to largest number of gold coins, which were one-sixth of the produce. called dinaras in their inscriptions. Regular In central and western India, the villagers in size and weight, they appear in many were also subjected to forced labour called types and sub-types. They vividly portray vishti by the royal army and officials. The Gupta kings, indicating the latter’s love for Gupta bureaucracy was not as elaborate as war and art. that of the Mauryas. The most important After the conquest of Gujarat, the Guptas officers in the Gupta empire were the issued a large number of silver coins kumaramatyas. mainly for local exchange, in which silver They were appointed by the king in the occupied an important position under the home provinces and possibly paid in cash. Western Kshatrapas. The Guptas organized a system of Till AD 550 India carried on some trade provincial and local administration. The with the eastern Roman or Byzantine empire was divided into divisions called empire, to which it exported silk. Around bhuktis, and each bhukti was placed under AD 550, the people of the eastern Roman the charge of an uparika. empire learnt from the Chinese the art of The bhuktis were divided into districts growing silk, which adversely affected (vishayas), which were placed under the India’s export trade. charge of a vishayapati. In eastern India, the Even before the mid-sixth century, the vishayas were divided into vithis, which demand for Indian silk abroad had again were subdivided into villages. The slackened. In the midfifth century, a guild sealings from Vaishali show that artisans, of silk weavers left their original home in merchants, and the head of the guild served western India in the state of Lata in Gujarat on the same corporate body, and in this and migrated to Mandasor in Malwa where capacity they obviously conducted the they abandoned their original occupation affairs of the town. and adopted other professions. The administrative board of the district of The striking development of the Gupta Kotivarsha in north Bengal (Bangladesh) period, especially in eastern and central included the chief merchant, the chief MP, was the emergence of priestly trader, and the chief artisan. Their consent landlords at the cost of local peasants. to land transactions was considered SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTS necessary. Artisans and bankers were organized into their own separate guilds. The brahmanas accumulated wealth on account of the numerous land grants made At Mandasor in Malwa and at Indore, silk to them and therefore claimed many weavers maintained their own guilds. In the privileges, which are listed in the Narada district of Bulandshahar in western UP, the Smriti, the lawbook of Narada, a work of oil-pressers were organized into guilds. It about the fifth century. seems that these guilds, especially those of merchants, enjoyed certain immunities. The Hunas, who came to India towards the close of the fifth century, eventually came The major part of the empire was held by to be recognized as one of the thirty-six feudatory chiefs, many of whom had been subjugated by Samudragupta. The vassals Page | 65 Telegram: https://t.me/odstueverydayupdate Website: https://odstu.com  Vishnu or Bhagavata. Vishnu was a minor god in Vedic times. He represented the sun and also the fertility cult. By the second century BC he was merged with a god called Narayana, and came to be known as Narayana–Vishnu. Originally Narayana was a non-Vedic tribal god called bhagavata, and his worshippers were called bhagavatas. Vishnu came to be identified with a legendary hero of the Vrishni tribe living in western India who was known as Krishna–Vasudeva. By 200 BC the three streams of gods and their worshippers merged into one and ODSTU.COM resulted in the creation of Bhagavatism or Vaishnavism. Bhagavatism was marked by Fig. Buddha in Sarnath bhakti and ahimsa. Bhakti meant the offer of loving devotion. It was a kind of loyalty offered by a tribal ODSTU.COM to his chief or by a subject to his king. Ahimsa, or the doctrine of non-killing of animals, suited the agricultural society and was in keeping with the old cult of life giving fertility associated with Vishnu. Bhagavatism or Vaishnavism overshadowed Mahayana Buddhism by Gupta times. It preached the doctrine of incarnation, or avatar. History was presented as a cycle of the ten incarnations of Vishnu. ART The Gupta period is called the Golden Age of ancient India. Both Samudragupta and Chandragupta II were patrons of art and Fig. Buddha In Mathura literature. Samudragupta is represented on his coins playing the lute (vina), and Chandragupta II is credited with maintaining in his court nine luminaries. During the Gupta period a life-size copper image of the Buddha of more than 6 feet was made. It was discovered at Sultanganj near Bhagalpur, and is now displayed in Birmingham. During the Gupta period beautiful images of the Buddha were fashioned at Sarnath and Mathura, but the finest specimens of ODSTU.COM Buddhist art in Gupta times are the Ajanta paintings. They depict various events in the life of Gautama Buddha and the previous Buddhas whose birth stories are related in Fig. Ajanta Painting From Apsara the Jatakas. THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF These paintings are lifelike and natural, and BHAGAVATISM the brilliance of their colours has not faded Bhagavatism originated in post-Maurya even after fourteen centuries. The Gupta times and centred around the worship of period was poor in terms of architecture. Page | 67 Telegram: https://t.me/odstueverydayupdate Website: https://odstu.com