Cultures in Transition PDF

Cultures in transition
Subject: History
Lesson: Cultures in transition
Course Developers :
5.2: The archaeological picture: North India

Deeksha Bhardwaj
Assistant Professor, Gargi College, University of Delhi
5.3: Central India and the Deccan, c. 1000-300 BCE

5.4: The archaeological picture: South India
Dr. Supriya Verma
Associate Professor, Centre for Historical Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University
5.4: Early Tamil literature and society

Meera Visvanathan
Ph.D Scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Language Editors: Bharati Jagannathan and Naina Dayal
Production Editor: Ashutosh Kumar

Assistant Professor, Lady Shri Ram College, University of
Delhi
Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

NOTE:
The dates in modern historical writings are generally given according to the
Christian calendar. In recent years, the use of AD (Anno Domini) and BC (Before
Christ) has to some extent been replaced by BCE (Before Common Era) and CE
(Common Era). Both usages are acceptable, and both sets of abbreviations have
been used in these e-lessons.

Table of contents
Chapter 5: Cultures in transition

 5.1: North India, c. 1500-600 BCE
 5.2: The archaeological picture: North India
 5.3: Central India and the Deccan, c. 1000 – 300 BCE
 5.4: Early Tamil literature and society
 5.5: The archaeological picture: South India
 Summary
 Exercises
 Glossary
 Further readings

5.1: North India, c. 1500-600 BCE
Sources
Vedic culture is reflected in the Vedic texts, comprising of the four Vedas, Brahmanas,
Aranyakas and Upanishads. The date of the earliest of the Vedas, the Rig Veda (henceforth,
RV) is contentious and while some date it around 1500-1000 B.C.E, others have given it a
slightly earlier date, c. 1900-1200 B.C.E. An inscription dated to fourteenth century B.C.E
in Boghaz koy, North Eastern Syria, records a treaty between the Hittites and the Mitannis
and helps us in dating the RV to around the same time as the deities mentioned in the
inscription are similar to the RV deities. The language of the RV is often compared to the
Avesta. Recently there has been a revision in the dates of the Avesta and some suggest that
it can be dated to the middle of the second millennium B.C.E and its language, especially
the gatha section is considered to be more archaic than the RV.
Value addition: common misconceptions

The internal structure of the Rig Veda
The Rig Veda does not have obscure hymns in random order as is generally thought.
It has a very tightly organized internal structure which makes it easy to identify any
hymn or section in the entire text. The RV is divided into ten mandalas (books) of
which mandalas 2 to 7 (also called family books) are the earliest and mandalas 1, 8,
9 and 10 were added later. The hymns are arranged in a systematic and structured
manner, as one moves from books 2 to 8, the number of hymns per book increases.
Moreover, the family books have hymns arranged to gods in decreasing order of the
number of hymns to the deity and within these hymns dedicated to deities, the
longer hymns are arranged first and the shorter ones follow. This shows that
considerable thought went into the organization of the text. Books 1 and 10 were
added last and it is remarkable that both book 1 and 10 have exactly 191 hymns.
Source: Witzel, Michael. 1997. ‘The Vedic Canon and its Political Milieu’ in
Witzel, M. edited Inside the texts Beyond the texts, New approaches to the
study of the Vedas. Proceedings of the International Vedic Workshop
Harvard University, June 1989, Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora v.2.,
Cambridge, MA: Deptt of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, 263.
The Atharva, Yajur and Sama Vedas were compiled later and the four Vedas along with the
Brahmana texts are collectively called shruti, implying that they are texts which have been
‗revealed‘ by the gods and thus given a divine status. Each Veda has Brahmana texts
attached to it which have elaborate explanations of Vedic hymns and rituals. The Aranyakas
and the Upanishads deal with rituals and philosophical issues and represent changes in
Vedic religious ideology.


Vedic texts as sources of history
Is the information we get from the texts like the RV and the Vedas ‗historical‘?
Some kind of caution is essential when we deal with these texts as they have been
subject to editing and interpolations (additions, deletions and changes within the
text). These ‗Brahmanical‘ texts reflect mainly one elitist point of view. Moreover,
texts like the RV are compilations of hymns invoking gods for various purposes like
victory in battles and cattle plundering, discussions of socio-political conditions is not
their primary aim.
In spite of these problems, we still regard them valuable as sources as they give us a
rare insight into the minds of the authors who compiled these texts. We get to know
about their anxieties, how they divided society into different social categories and
their solutions for day to day survival. The texts are for the brahmanas and show us
what was expected to be practiced by the brahmanas, but they also expected the
practices to percolate to other members of the social order.
The problem of chronology also hampers our study of these texts. Some very early
dates for RV are suggested on the basis of astronomical calculations. References to
the saptarishi (Ursa Major) in the far North and the Krittikas (Pleiades) in the east,
does not necessarily suggest an early date like 3000 B.C.E for the RV. One must
remember that evidences from astronomy on the basis of hymns in rituals can be
problematic as the hymns may be containing memories of astronomical positions
which may go very far back in time, much before the actual compilation of the text.
Source: Thapar, Romila. 2008. The Aryan, Recasting Constructs. Gurgaon:
Three Essays Collective, 51.
Figure 5.1.1: A manuscript of Isa Upanishad

5

Source: http://www.indicethos.org/Archives/Upanishads.html
There has been considerable effort to identify the chalcolithic (copper and stone using) RV
culture archaeologically. While the later Vedic culture seems to be identifiable with iron
using Painted Grey Ware sites, there is less material evidence for the early Vedic culture
reflected in the RV. Some scholars identify RV with the BMAC cultures (Bactria Margiana
Archaeological Complex); others to the Copper Hoard cultures and the Gandhara Grave
cultures, all of which spread from Afghanistan and extended westwards towards Inner Asia
(Iran). The BMAC sites have revealed terracotta models of horses, seals, axes and adzes.
While some can identify the BMAC sites in Turkmenistan, Bactria, Seistan with the Indo
Iranian groups of Indo Europeans, there is not enough evidence to identify them with the
RV people as the geographical location of the RV is the region of the saptasindhavah, i.e.
the greater Punjab region. Moreover, these cis Hindukush and Seistan cultures were mainly
agricultural and used mud bricks and their seals show very different mythological figures
(Falk, 72).
Figure 5.1.2: BMAC cultures

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BMAC.png
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Indo-Iranian_origins.png
The RV culture has been linked to the Harappan one and while there are traces of an
overlap between late Harappan sites- like Cemetery H, the dissimilarities between the
Harappan and RV cultures overwhelm the apparent similarities. However, there may have
been some levels of interaction with the late Harappan cultures and most likely, Indo Aryan
linguistic groups were present around the area and the Harappans must have interacted
with them too. Studies of the Gaudar pastoralists in the Seistan area and in Southern
Afghanistan show how these cattle raising pastoralists lived in conjunction with agriculturists
(Falk, 72). They lived in reed huts which could be dismantled, and assembled alongside
rivers much like the RV people must have lived. It is therefore not surprising that the RV
settlements have left little archaeological evidence for posterity.

The Aryan question
The presence of the Indo European linguistic groups (commonly called Aryans) in the
subcontinent has been widely debated, not only because of the diversity of evidence that
one has to look into when dealing with their migration and movement, but also because it
involves historians, linguists and archaeologists, and those interested in ethnology, race,
national identity, indology and politics. One of the first to propound the theory of the
common origin of Aryans was Sir William Jones when he showed how Indian and European
languages have many common elements, a theory that had been around since the
eighteenth century. Scholars like Max Mueller, on the basis of the similarity of terms and
cultural traits depicted in these languages, suggested that all Indo- European languages
must have originated from a common language, called proto Indo European and a common
place, from where they split and moved to different places.
Value addition: did you know?

Some common terms in Indo-European languages
Trees: birch, beech, aspen, oak, pine, fir
Animals (domestic): dog, ox, sheep, horse, pig, goat
Animals (non domestic):wolf, bear, fox, stag, hare, mouse, serpent, turtle
Birds: eagle, heron, owl, crane
Aquatic birds: goose, duck, diver
Insects: fly, wasp, bee, louse
Source: Mehendale, M. Indo-Aryans, Indo-Iranians, Indo-Europeans, in
Trautmann edited., The Aryan Debate, 59.
Speculation on the ‗original‘ home of the Aryans became popular in the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries, primarily because Aryans were seen as a racial category. Aryans, rather
than being of a common racial stock, were actually a linguistic group with certain common
cultural traits. We must also remember that speculation of an ‗original‘ home can be
inconclusive as communities moved from place to place and across wide terrains, especially
if they practiced pastoralism. The Indo European language groups seem to have had some
common cultural traits -they were a society divided into tripartite groups comprising of
priests, warriors and pastoralists and they believed in the cult of the fire. They kept horses
and used spoke wheeled chariots and worshipped male deities.

Commonality between Sanskrit and Avestan
There are close affinities between Vedic Sanskrit and Avestan, so close that no other
two branches between Indo European family languages have so much in common.
Some common terms-
7

‗gold‘ Sk. Hiranya, Av. Zaranya

‗tree‘ Sk. Vrksha Av. Varesa
‗fish‘ Sk. Matsya Av, Masya
‗army‘ Sk. Sena Av, Haena
‗sacrifice‘ Sk. Yajna Av, yasna
‗priest‘ Sk. Hotar Av, Zaotar
Source: Mehendale, M. Indo-Aryans, Indo-Iranians, Indo-Europeans, in
Trautmann edited., The Aryan Debate, 52.
There are scholars who believe that the Aryans may have originated from the Indian
subcontinent as the RV does not refer to any migration and they believe that Sanskrit is the
mother language of Indo European languages and that the RV culture may have preceded
the Harappan or may even be the same as Harappan. The reference to Saraswati in the RV
and recent evidence to show that the Saraswati must have dried up by 1900 B.C.E also
seems to reveal a much earlier date for the RV. However, it is not easy to accept that the
Harappan and Vedic cultures may have been the same as there is hardly any linguistic or
archaeological evidence showing similarities between them. The Saraswati may be identified
with the Haraxati, a river in Afghanistan (although the RV refers to it as a mighty river
which flows into the ocean whereas this is not the case with the Haraxati). Linguists have
shown that Sanskrit is one of the daughter languages rather than the mother language of
Indo European languages. Moreover, Sanskrit has some characteristics that are unique to
the Indian subcontinent and these are not there in any other Indo European language, for
example, the use of retro-flexion (the l and r which is emphasized by rolling the tongue) is
particular to this region (Dravidian languages also have it). If the Indo European languages
had dispersed from here, they would have retro-flexion too. The absence of reference to
migration is also not very significant as many migrant groups forget or wipe out the
memory of the places that they originated from. The RV shows deep knowledge of its
geographical surroundings and has several loan words from non Indo Aryan language
groups which shows that considerable time had passed between their settlement into the
subcontinent and the compilation of the text.
There may have been interaction between the Harappan and Indo European speaking
groups; yet material evidence from Harappan sites show a culture very different from the
RV texts. The Harappan culture does not have any evidence of domestication of horse
(some controversial skeletal remains of the ‗horse‘ have been identified as the ‗wild ass‘).
Harappan seals and motifs are very different from Vedic lore, the tiger and rhinoceros are
not known in the RV and the elephant is depicted as a curiosity, whereas they are
commonly depicted in Harappan artifacts. The RV, based in the Saptasindhu region, shows
no knowledge of Lower Sindh, Kutch and Gujarat areas, where there were significant
Harappan areas. Thus, until further evidence is there, it is difficult to link the Harappan
culture with the Vedic.
Early Vedic society and culture

The RV is set in the region of the Saptasindhavah, the land of the seven rivers. RV 10.75
mentions a number of rivers - Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati, Shutudri, Parushni, Asikni,
Marudvrdha, Vitasta, Arjikiya, Sushoma, Trshtama, Susartu, Rasa, Shvetya, Sindhu, Kubha,
Gomati, Krumu and Mehatnu. There are numerous references to cattle rearing and cattle
raiding indicating that these were the primary activities of the RV people. Many of the
conflicts are with the dasas who are mentioned as being wealthy and having cattle.
Although earlier the differences between the dasas and Aryans was seen to be of varna, i.e.,
colour, and it was assumed that the dasas were dark skinned in comparison to the white
skinned Aryans, it is now largely argued that varna implied cultural differences rather than
racial ones. The Avesta also refers to daha and dahyus as ‗other people‘. Later, in the Vedic
texts, the term dasa came to mean one who did menial tasks or was enslaved. However,
the society was not divided into polar categories as we do find eminent dasas. The Panis
were the others with whom there is considerable hostility. They could have been caravan
traders who controlled certain exchange systems or routes.
Figure 5.1.3: Map showing Rig Vedic rivers

Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Rigvedic_geography.jpg
The RV refers to the pancajanah, the ‗Five peoples‘. These included the Yadu-Turvasha, the
Anu-Druhyu, and the Puru-Bharatas, who were mentioned most prominently. The word
rajan was in use. Sudas, was a rajan whose chief priests were Vishvamitra and Vashishta.
In the hymn referring to the ‗Battle of the ten kings‘, Sudas emerges victorious when he is
attacked by a confederacy of ten clans. This shows that the nebulous clans of the RV were
coming together into larger political units when the hymns were being composed. The rajan
led the clan in times of battle but was helped in decision making by assemblies like the
vidatha, sabha and samiti. The vidatha seems to have been a gathering in which raided
booty was distributed, wherein voluntarily gifts, tribute and booty were handed over to the
clan leaders who in turn redistributed them amongst the people. The sabha seems to have
been a council of select people and the samiti a general assembly of the clan.

Value addition: what the sources say

Hymn to Mitra-varuna (and in praise of Sudas)
The hymn seems to urge those opposing Sudas to refrain from doing so as he has
‗divine‘ protection. The hymn also seems to point at hereditary succession even in
this early period.
‗When Aditi and Varuna and Mitra, like guardians, give Sudas their friendly shelter,
Granting him sons and lineal succession, let us not, bold ones move the Gods to
anger.
May he with offerings purify the altar from any stains of Varuna‘s reviler.
(opponents of Sudas)
Aryaman save us from all those who hate us: give room and freedom to Sudas, all
mighty.
Hid from our eyes is their resplendent meeting, by their mysterious might they hold
dominion.
Heroes! We cry trembling in fear before you, even in the greatness of your power
have mercy.
He who gains favour for his prayer by worship, that he may gain him strength and
highest riches,
That good man‘s mind the Mighty Ones will follow: they have brought comfort to his
spacious dwelling.
This priestly task, Gods! Varuna and Mitra! Hath been performed for you at
sacrifices.
Convey us safely over every peril. Preserve us evermore, Gods, with blessings.‘
Source: Griffith, Ralph T. H. 1971. Ed. Hymns of the Rig Veda. Chowkhamba
Sanskrit Series, 61.
Large herds of cattle were the main form of wealth, along with horses, chariots, food items
like yava (barley), and dairy products. Hiranya and nishka are referred to as desirable gold
objects, the former were probably nuggets of gold and the latter neck ornaments of gold.
Gavishti, a term meaning search for cows also came to be a term for battle, indicating the
significance of cattle acquisition. Agriculture was also one of the activities, and terms like
vap and krish, to sow and cultivate, show that the RV people had knowledge of such
activities. It is interesting that some of the terms related to agriculture have non Aryan
origins. Kinship groups and clans derived sustenance from hordes of cattle and there are
numerous hymns devoted to cattle raiding and capture. Ownership was in the hands of the
clan, the references to the vish shows that it was an eponymous group which dwelled
together. The rajan was at the head, a leader of the clan and in the late hymns of the tenth
mandala, it became hereditary. Large gifts of movable wealth were made accessible to the
king and by the time of the later Vedas, to the priests as well, as is recorded in the RV
danastutis. The society was a status society where ranks existed on the basis of power,
authority and wealth. The vish were further divided into different kulas which comprised of
kinspersons. Gramas comprised of kula members living together.
10


Multiple terms to denote household unit in the Rig Veda
Durona, kshiti (to dwell, rule or destroy), okas, kshaya, nivesha (dwelling), dam or
dama (to build), pastya (accommodation of humans and beasts), asta, gaya
(household and contents including wealth), sadas, griha (92 references in Rig Veda)
Source: Kumkum Roy. 1994. The Emergence of Monarchy in North India,
244.
The RV society was essentially a patriarchal and patrilineal one as one can infer from
terms like pitrivitta, (wealth left by ancestors) and pitriyana, (ways of the fathers). The
gods were mainly male, worshipped for their prowess and military might. Some goddesses
like Ushas were venerated, more for their role as mothers and progenitors. The marriage
hymn in the tenth mandala shows an attempt to standardize marriage practices, although
there is evidence of multiplicity of sexual relationships and mating bonds in the RV. Thus,
there are references to ideal pati patni pairs like Dyaus and Prithvi; incestuous relationships,
for instance, between Pushan and his mother or the brother-sister Yama and Yami. In fact,
in the marriage hymn, it is companionship between the couple dampati which is emphasized
whereas in later dharmashastras there is more emphasis on the need for having progeny.
Polygamy, polygyny and polyandry are all mentioned in the RV. Hymns pleading for the
birth of sons show that the society was male-centric but unmarried daughters are also
mentioned with affection. However, the RV also shows anxiety about unmarried daughters
in their father‘s home.
The Purushasukta (RV X.90) refers to how the brahmana was the mouth of the creator
(Purusha), the rajanya, the arms, the vaishya, the thighs and the shudra was born from the
feet. This shows that the varna system with its four fold division had come into existence as
a hierarchical, hereditary and occupational institution towards the end of the RV period. In
the initial phases society was divided on the basis of rank and status, the varna mechanism
came later. Moreover, some of the taboos related to inter-dining and marriage, were still
not mentioned with regard to varna divisions and this shows that the varna system saw
different stages in its evolution and was not firmly in place from the beginning of the Vedic
culture. Some scholars have shown that the varna mechanism was an elaborate
taxonomical exercise carried out by the brahmanas, that is, it was an attempt to classify
everything around them into categories based on certain characteristics that they identified
with concepts like brahmana, kshatra, vish and shudra. Thus, these were not only human
categories but all plants, animals and even colours and such were classified on the basis of
similarities (homologies) that were seen in the world around them. Of course the
classification favoured those who undertook this elaborate exercise- the brahmanas were
always placed at the top of the social order (See Brian Smith).
In the later mandalas of the RV we can trace the emergence of the varna order and the
introduction of the Atharvan rites and also the elaboration of rites related to marriage and
death. In socio-political terms, there seems to be an ascendancy of lineages like the Kurus
11

who provided the patronage for the change that can be traced in the later Vedic texts with
their emphasis on rituals that underlined the role of the state and the division of the varnas.
Later Vedic society and culture
The later Vedic texts (henceforth, LV) reveal a perceptible shift in the geographical milieu.
The eastward movement seems to be represented in texts that reveal how Agni moved
eastward. The Brahmana texts refer to Videgha Mathava leading his people along the
Himalayan foothills towards the River Gandak. This could be referring to the clearing of the
Gangetic forests through burning. It could also indicate the rapid spread of the cult of fire
worship which distinguished Vedic culture from other existing non Aryan communities.
Whatever the mechanism of spread, we do know that the later Vedas and the Brahmanas
were composed, followed by the earliest Sutra literature.
Figure 5.1.4: Map of later Vedic settlements

Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/Map_of_Vedic_India.png/410
px-Map_of_Vedic_India.png
In the later Vedic period one can trace the emergence of monarchical states which came to
be associated with fixed territories. These states started levying taxes like bali and kara
which were initially voluntary gifts and tributes to the RV rajan but became compulsory in
the LV times. Politically, the texts suggest that the mighty Kurus replaced the fifty odd RV
sub tribes, first mentioned in RV 10.32.9 and 10.33.4 under their ruler, Parikshit. The Kurus
were followed by the rise of the Panchalas in the east. The importance of the monarchical
system of governance is underlined in complex rituals such as the the rajasuya,
ashvamedha and vajapeya which were devised to legitimize royal power and the terms that
are used for the raja were terms like shreshtha, adhipati and viraj (Kumkum Roy. 1994. 24-
12

27). The rajasuya was a rite for consecrating the king, the ashvamedha asserted his control
over his territories and populace as a chakravartin. These elaborate rituals involved large
resources and manpower and were meant to engage the entire community. The danastutis
record the large amounts of gifts in the form of dakshina and dana that were supposed to
be given to brahmanas during sacrifices. Brahmanas who specialized in Vedic rites
conducted the rituals for the royal yajamana, the patron of the sacrifice. Even if the
danastutis are gross exaggerations, the pressure on the royal patrons to part with wealth
for brahmanas and to conduct competitive sacrifices to enforce their power and gain
legitimacy must have been considerable. The transition of the role of the raja, from ritsya
gopa to a dharma raja i.e. from the tribal chief looking after the voluntary tribal system of
the RV times to the ideologically legitimized monarch of the later Vedic texts can be traced
in these texts (see Kumkum Roy, 1994).

Geographical location of authors of the Later Vedic texts
The authors of the later Vedic texts were located in the Upper and Middle Gangetic
valley, including areas identified as:
- the land of the Kurus ( where texts like Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, Atharva Veda, and
some early Brahmanas were compiled);
- land of Panchalas (Taittriya and Jaiminiya texts);
- the eastern territories of Kosala ( where texts like Shatapatha Brahmana and
Baudhayana Shrautasutra were compiled);
- Videha (where texts like Aitareya Brahmana, some Upanishads were compiled).
Source: Witzel, Michael. 1997. ‘The Vedic Canon and its Political Milieu’ in
Witzel, M. edited Inside the texts Beyond the texts, New approaches to the
study of the Vedas. Proceedings of the International Vedic Workshop
Harvard University, June 1989, Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora v.2.,
Cambridge, MA: Deptt of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, 257.
The intensive pastoralism of the RV cultures was replaced by settled agricultural practices.
Iron was known to the compilers of the Atharva Veda, and was referred to as krishna ayas
or shyam ayas. Rice became one of the main cereals and was used as sacrificial offering.
The forms of property include the movable forms in the RV but references to the desire for
villages (gramakama) indicate the desire for settlements near arable land. While kinship
linkages remained strong, notions of varna hierarchies and hereditary occupations got
crystallized. While brahmanas specialized in ritual activities, rajanya or kshatriyas were
supposed to exercise power or kshatra over the vish, the commoners. There are references
to artisanal activity, carpenters, leather workers, metal workers, weapon makers, chariot
makers. Some of these had a significant place in society and were incorporated in the rituals
of the state; the rathakaras had a special role in some rituals. Their production activities
were significant for state and society and this can be seen from the fact that the king is
referred to as a ‗devourer of the vish‘ i.e. one who eats the vish, suggesting that the king
and state drew their sustenance from the activities of this category of people. The shudra
were a small, marginal category involved in menial tasks, attached to households and small
13

production units. The dependence on non kin labour, or labour from outside the household
was significant as it meant that production activities were moving beyond small household
units and would soon involve more elaborate organization.

Gold as an amulet for long life
‗The gold which is born from fire, the immortal, they bestowed upon the mortals. He
who knows this deserves it; of old age dies he who wears it.
The gold, (endowed by) the sun with beautiful colour, which the men of yore, rich in
descendants did desire, may it gleaming envelop you in lustre! Long-lived becomes
he who wears it.
(May it envelop) you unto (long) life, unto lustre, unto force and unto strength, that
you shall by the brilliancy of the gold shine forth among the people.
(The gold) which King Varuna knows, which god Brihaspati knows, which Indra, the
slayer of Vritra knows, may that become for you a source of life, may that become
for you a source of lustre.‘
Source: Atharva Veda, Translated by Maurice Bloomfield. 1897. Sacred
Books of the East series, Max Muller ed. 1996 edition.
The complexity of rituals indicated the special role of the priesthood. The Hotr priests,
exclusively trained in RV; the Udgatr in the Sama Veda; the Adhvaryu in the Yajur Veda and
the Atharvan in the Atharva Veda were all involved in the pursuit of carrying out specialized
Vedic sacrifices. Some rites like the Soma, Darshapaurnamasa, Agnichayana rituals become
codified in this period, rituals which became part of the shrauta tradition. The Atharvan
priests consolidated the rites of marriage and death, showing concern for incorporating
grihya (household) rites and attempting to reach every aspect of human life. They
incorporated sorcery rites, some of which may have been archaic, and also began to
incorporate rites which embody the grihya tradition. There is evidence to show that there
was competition for patronage and resources between these different categories of priests.
In spite of the mutual encouragement and legitimacy that the brahmanas and kshatriya
gave to each other, their relationship was fraught with tensions and competition. Legends of
brahmanas like Parashurama who took up weapons to clear the earth of kshatriyas reflect
this.
The Brahmana texts reflect the fourfold varna divisions and reflect a growing tendency to
create social categories based on varna and gender categories. Thus the dvija were the
three upper varna males who had undergone the upanayana (rite of initiation) after which
young boys would be ‗reborn‘, to purify them from the pollution of natural birth. They
would then be placed under the tutelage of an acharya or a guru, who would give them
formal training for their future roles as brahmanas, royalty or householders. Women and
shudras were denied access to formal learning and were marginalized from ritual activity.
Women were allowed to participate in ritual activities only when accompanied by their
husbands. While the RV also offers prayers for sons, it is the Brahmana texts which project
the reasons why sons are essential- they give ritual immortality to the fathers, they are the
14

ones who look after the interests of the ancestors even when they are dead. The concept of
the tririna- the three debts to the gods, brahmanas and the fathers to be paid by making
oblations, performing sacrifices and having sons – is underlined in these male-centric texts.
Marriage and other rites of passage are mentioned in the Atharva Veda and the Brahmanas,
emphasizing the social and ritual significance of such practices. Some practices mentioned
are niyoga (levirate), wherein a girl whose husband had died could have a child, a son,
from the deceased husband‘s brother.
5.2: The archaeological picture: North India
Introduction
The archaeological picture that emerges for north India for the period under consideration
can be summed up in two unambiguous terms that have themselves been the subject of
endless debate – the advent of iron technology and the Aryan problem. In the scheme of
ages for studying material culture, this period belongs to the Iron Age which bridges the gap
between prehistory–protohistory and history, i.e., between the neolithic-chalcolithic age and
the early historic period. It denotes the period from the first appearance of iron as a
smelted metal to its widespread use that impacted all areas of human life. A large landmass
like the subcontinent expectedly throws up a lot of regional variations in the adoption and
adaptation of iron technology and its time span thus stretches from the last quarter of the
2nd millennium BC to around 600 BC. ‗The Iron Age in India, it is now generally agreed, was
a product of indigenous, polycentric growth and its beginnings have been pushed back to
the closing centuries of the second millennium BC‘ (Sahu 2006: 1).
15

Figure 5.2.1: Early Iron Age sites in India

Source: Misra, V. N. 2001. Journal of Bio Sciences, 26, No. 4, 520.
Significance of the Iron Age in world context and its characteristic

traits
Iron ore is abundantly available in the earth‘s crust and iron probably made humble
beginnings at different places and played a minor role alongside copper or bronze till its
more plentiful use. All over the world, the Iron Age follows the Bronze Age and is
characterized by the introduction and spread of iron tools and weapons. The earliest known
16

use of iron comes from the West Asian sites, Tel Asmar, Chagar Bazar and Mari in
Mesopotamia and Alaca Huyuk in Anatolia, dated to the first half of the third millennium BC.
Iron objects belonging to the second millennium BC were discovered at sites in
Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and by the mid-first millennium BC iron was used in most
parts of the Old World and finds resonance in epics from Greece–Asia Minor to China.

Iron Age in classical mythology
In classical mythology, the Iron Age is the last of the ages of the history of
the world, a very degenerate age and supposedly the one we are in now. It
follows the Golden Age, the first age of the world, which was an untroubled
and prosperous era during which humankind lived in ideal happiness and the
Silver Age when the awareness and practice of religion and morality got
diminished. Interestingly, both the Homeric epics and the Mahabharata are
said to be set in the Iron Age and manifest a clash and transition that
supposedly inaugurated a new world order.
Source: Original
If knowledge of iron can be presumed alongside that of copper and bronze, then why did its
use take such a long time coming? This can largely be explained by the metallurgy of the
elements concerned. While copper melts at 1083 C, iron melts at the much higher
temperature of 1534C. Moreover, the simple techniques of copper smelting in which molten
metal collects in the bottom of the furnace and the slag floats on top had to be replaced by
more advanced and multiple-step techniques required for iron extraction.
In iron smelting, at least at the temperature possible with ancient furnaces, the iron is
never completely liquefied. It forms instead a gray, spongy mass known technically as the
bloom. The discovery that wrought iron could be produced by hammering the red-hot
bloom was understandably slow in the coming. Furthermore the new metal was no
improvement over the copper and bronze already available. It was harder to work, required
more fuel, and lost its cutting edge more easily. Later it was discovered that iron could be
hardened by a process of repeated hammering, heating, plunging into cold water
(quenching) and contacting the metal to charcoal fuel (carburization). What had to be
discovered, then, was not merely a new metal but a radically new technique of metallurgy,
for the early smiths had no past experience to prepare them for the new methods‘
(Stavrianos 1982: 58).
Any technological innovation to be successful has to evolve in a germane socio-economic

environment and further have the ability to accompany and accelerate the change that its
use involves. This is clearly evident in the case of iron, a common commodity whose
production and processing incorporated great technical sophistication. Its easy availability
and use by the masses has given iron the tag of the ‗democratic metal‘.
17

It was believed that the relative scarcity of copper and bronze made them accessible only to
the rich and powerful and even in the Bronze Age civilizations, ordinary people had to
depend on stone tools for their daily needs. Also, copper being brittle lacked the strength
and hardness of iron. Thus, once the breakthroughs in iron technology were achieved, its
widespread occurrence was tapped by people in different parts of the world for clearing of
thick forests/ vegetation and extension of cultivation.

Diffusion of iron technology from Asia Minor
It was earlier believed that northeast Asia Minor was the centre where iron
technology was developed in the middle of the second millennium BC and
subsequently diffused from here to other parts of the world. The destruction
of the Hittite kingdom around 1200 BC was supposedly the key event that led
to the dissemination of this closely guarded secret to areas where the local
smiths scattered. Also, the movement of the tribal groups like the Indo-
Europeans, Mongols and Semitic people and their successfully attacking
centres of Bronze Age civilizations was attributed to their use of horse-driven
chariots in which iron played a vital role. The invention and use of iron
technology is today recognized as a more complex and often an indigenous
development, whose varying chronology and patterns cannot always be
explained within, and by a, diffusionist paradigm.
Source: Original
What also needs to be emphasized is that iron coexisted with copper-bronze for some time
and it has been found in chalcolithic contexts (for e.g., Ahar in Rajasthan and Brahmgiri in
Karnataka). Scholars agree that iron smelting may have been an accidental by-product of
copper metallurgy— when sufficiently high temperatures were maintained or if iron oxide
was present in the copper ore or haematite fluxes used. And that the beginning of iron
technology is not the same as widespread use of iron, which becomes evident when used
not for weapons and hunting alone, but for all the major production activities such as
agriculture, construction, transport etc.
Sources & analysis
The epoch 1500-500 BC, to which our period of study belongs, is also coeval with the
composition of the Vedic corpus. Later Vedic texts refer to iron and its use in agriculture in
the Indo-Gangetic divide and the Upper Ganga valley, c. 1000-500 BC. However, relating
literary evidence to material finds is fraught with complexities and can offer at the most
tenuous links and co-relations. Thus, trying to seek archaeological evidence for the
movement of the Indo-Aryans who composed the Vedic texts or co-relating pottery types
and the introduction of iron technology, especially to such a movement, is akin to opening
an archaeological Pandora‘s Box.
18


Aryans and iron technology
Indo-Aryan is a sub-group of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European
family of languages. The term Arya/ Aryan does not denote a race or racial
affiliation as was earlier believed. It derives from ar (to cultivate) and literally
means kinsman or companion. The speakers of Indo-Aryan cannot be credited
with having introduced iron technology in India, as is commonly believed.
Source: Singh, U. 2009. A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India.
New Delhi: Pearson Education, 186 & 241.
Iron lumps, pieces or artefacts have been reported from chalcolithic levels at sites such as
Ahar, Gufkral and Pirak. From c. 1200 BC onwards, iron tools find mention at sites like Noh,
Atranjikhera and Jakhera in different contexts – Black-and–Red ware yielding layers,
Painted Grey Ware strata etc. A survey of artefact finds and the listing of the artefacts
types makes evident the distribution of the metal. Sometimes evidence for iron-working or
iron-smelting also emerges in the form of remains of ancient furnaces or occurrence of slag.
Figure 5.2.2: Iron smelting furnace, Balathal

Source: Tripathi, V. 2001. The Age of Iron in South Asia: Legacy and Tradition. New Delhi:
Aryan Books International, Pl. IVC
19

Figure 5.2.3: Tap slag (Dhatwa)

Source: Tripathi, V. 2001. The Age of Iron in South Asia: Legacy and Tradition. New Delhi:
Aryan Books International, Pl. VA
Samples collected from different sites are subjected to archaeometallurgical analyses. The
growing field of archaeometallurgy involves the study of the material science of metals
and understanding how people in the past conducted the various steps leading to the
extraction of the metal and its production – identifying the likely sources of procuring ores;
reconstructing the design and shape of furnaces in use in antiquity; alloying; casting in
moulds or otherwise; and laboratory-based metallographic examination.

Metallographic examination
One of the most useful techniques for the study of early metallurgy is that of
metallographic examination. It involves the examination under a light microscope of
a polished section cut from the artefact, which has been chemically etched so as to
reveal the metal structure. This technique helps distinguish major phases in the
manufacturing history of the artefact and also detects more subtle processes. In the
case of iron, for e.g., wrought iron reveals crystals of iron and streaks of slag and
results of carburization can also be gleaned.
Source: Renfrew, C. & P. Bahn. 2006. Archaeology: Theories, Methods and
Practice. London: Thames & Hudson, 347.
20

Besides the finds of iron, there are several ceramic types that are associated with this
period and reflect the existence of a number of settlements across the country – their
material milieu hinting at the subsistence pattern, social stratification and their eventual
transformation or decline. Amongst the better known cultures are the Painted Grey Ware
culture (PGW), the Black-and-Red Ware culture, Gandhara Grave culture and the Megalithic
culture. Analyses of the archaeobotanical and archaeozoological remains are also conducted
to add to our knowledge of ancient dietary patterns, flora and fauna. Reports of horse
remains or animal sacrifice find special mention in the archaeological record and indicate the
growing complexities of early societies.
Advent of iron in north India
The issue of the advent of iron in north India demonstrates all the polemics that beset it in
other parts of the world, i.e., on aspects of origin and antiquity, its diffusion and the most
contentious one of the relationship between iron technology and social change.
The early occurrence of iron in India is reported from a number of sites in association with
different chronological and cultural phases. The earliest iron objects dated by radiocarbon to
the 11th and 9th centuries BC were reported from Atranjikhera and Hallur respectively. A
plethora of iron implements have subsequently been unearthed at other sites indicating its
widespread use from the middle of the 1st millennium BC. The important sites in north India
are Ahichchhatra in district Bareilly, Jakhera and Atranjikhera in district Etah, Hastinapura in
district Meerut and Kausambi in district Kausambi. At Jakhera, iron finds begin from the
proto-PGW phase onwards whereas at other sites, it is associated with the PGW complex
and dated between c. 1200 and 700 BC. The sites of Chirand, Mahisdal and Pandu Rajar
Dhibi situated in the Lower Gangetic valley have yielded iron tools from a Black-and-Red
Ware context dated to c. 700 BC. While Ahar has given evidence of iron from a chalcolithic
context, the other two early iron-bearing sites in Rajasthan, Jodhpura and Noh, have
revealed it from a PGW and Black-and-Red Ware level respectively.
21

Figure 5.2.4: Iron object, Jakhera, Period IIIA

Source: Sahi, M. D. N. 1994. Aspects of Indian Archaeology. Jaipur: Publication Scheme.
Illustration no. 14.
Much of the early discussion was not on the impact of iron but on its chronology, which on
closer examination, seems to have been somewhat related to the question of the social
impact of iron. Discussing the beginning of the Iron Age in India, D. H. Gordon dated it not
earlier than the fourth century BC and believed that it spread to the north from the south.
Mortimer Wheeler surmised that iron came into the Ganga valley towards the end of the
sixth century BC and the beginning of the fifth, as a consequence of Persian influence. In
1962 S.D. Singh, on essentially archaeological considerations pushed back the antiquity of
iron, if not the Iron Age in its economic sense, to 1000 BC. A year later, through a
combined use of literary and archaeological evidence, Kosambi suggested that agriculture
and iron ploughshare were in general use in the middle Gangetic plains before 500 BC. The
rejection of earlier conservative estimates and acceptance of the date 800-700 BC for the
beginning of the Iron Age in the Gangetic basin helped the formulation of the iron and social
change thesis‘ (Sahu 2006: 3).
More than the debate on the origins of iron, it is the debate surrounding its impact that has
captured the imagination of scholars. A causal connection suggested by Kosambi between
the adoption of iron technology and the expansion of agriculture-based settled life leading to
surplus production, trade, monetization, the second urbanization, new religious ideologies
and a complex state apparatus has as many opponents as proponents. While one group of
historians (R. S. Sharma, R. Thapar, D. N. Jha) and archaeologists (N. R. Banerjee, K.
Deva, M. C. Joshi) has consistently supported this hypothesis, others have questioned the
fundamental causative role assigned to iron technology.
22

Beginning with A. Ghosh who cautioned against over-playing the role of iron in historical
change, others like Niharranjan Ray, D. K. Chakrabarti, Makkhan Lal and George Erdosy
have critiqued this hypothesis. Niharranjan Ray pointed out the dearth of agricultural
equipment even in the early NBPW assemblages and ruled out the ‗prime mover‘ role
ascribed to iron. Similarly, D. K. Chakrabarti reminds us that the agricultural base was laid
down in the preceding neolithic-chalcolithic stage and that there was no dramatic break with
the coming of iron. Through his field survey of ancient sites in Kanpur district, population
estimates and calculations of annual food requirements, Makkhan Lal has established in
quantitative terms that large-scale use of iron was not required, most of the food demands
being met by the tilling of the rich alluvial stretches along rivers, lakes and open spaces in
forests. George Erdosy too has questioned the catalytic role of iron, reiterating that its
intensive use becomes evident in the archaeological record only from c. 500 BC onwards.
The iron debate will perhaps never be resolved for neither literary nor archaeological data is
self-evident. Besides, as older scholars refine their arguments and younger generations
come up with their own sets of questions and analyses, the debate will take on newer
dimensions till a paradigm shift occurs.
The archaeological picture
North Western zone
Baluchistan
In north-east Baluchistan, in the Zhob-Loralai region, forty five sites with thousands of cairn
burials were discovered by Stein and Mockler in the early twentieth century. Marked by the
use of a handmade pottery and arrowheads, sites such as Jiwanri and Moghul Ghundai
produced iron objects like hooks, arrowheads, daggers and knives. Since no radiocarbon
dates are available, dating remains problematic. On the basis of stylistic affinities with cairn
assemblages from Sialk Necropole B in Iran, Stuart Piggott had dated these sites to c.
1000-750 BC. D. K. Chakrabarti, on the other hand, vehemently opposes their inclusion
among early Iron Age cultures.
Pirak
Situated in the Kachchi plain on the banks of the Nari river, Pirak is a unique site that has
given evidence of continuous habitation in its three period history. ‗Casal and Jarrige
excavated the site, and found iron associated with the upper six levels in an eleven-level
sequence, the main tool type being a winged arrowhead of iron. There is no discontinuity
between the iron-free lower levels and the upper ones with iron. Most of the pottery is
23

handmade. It is a bichrome on cream or buff slip with motifs of multiple triangles, intricate
lattices etc‘ (Agrawal 1985: 250).
The Period III (Iron Age) people lived in multi-roomed structures with traces of niches and
evidence of extensive use of wood. Fireplaces and ovens have been found, some of which
may have been associated with smelting activity. Bone tools, as also copper and bronze
implements, terracotta figures of double-humped camel and horse, terracotta seals and
beads, remains of rice and millets comprise the remaining repertoire. On the basis of eight
consistent C 14 dates, Iron Age Pirak is dated to c. 800 BC.
North West Frontier Province
Gandhara Grave Culture
In the areas of Swat and Bajaur, located between Chitral in the northwest and Peshawar to
the east, are a number of cemeteries belonging to the Gandhara Grave Culture complex.
The radiocarbon dates range between c. 1700 and 200 BC, with iron-yielding layers being
dated to c. 1000 BC. The sites include Loebanr, Aligrama, Bir Kot Ghundai, Timargarha,
Lalbatai, Balambat and Zarif Karuna. Three types of burials – flexed, post-cremation and
fractional – were identified in the graves that are usually stone-walled oblong pits dug into
the base of a larger upper pit which was filled with soil and charcoal and was surrounded by
a circle of stones.
Iron objects appear from period VII onwards and consist of arrowheads, spearheads, nails,
finger rings and horse cheek-bars. There is a cultural continuity from the earlier chalcolithic
levels, new features being the introduction of fine wheel-made red ware and human
terracotta figurines.
Kashmir
Gufkral
From the iron-bearing megalithic level at Gufkral were recovered three identifiable iron
objects – pointed and long needles. A 10cm thick floor level was unearthed which indicated
continued occupation of the earlier wattle-and-daub dwellings. Bone tools, stone pounders,
harvesters and ringstones, carnelian beads and pottery –handmade grey and red wares
gradually outnumbered by wheel-made red ware –were all part of the archaeological
context. A c. 1000 BC date has been ascribed to this level.
Indo-Gangetic divide and the Upper Ganga valley
24

Painted Grey Ware Culture (PGW)
Figure 5.2.5: Distribution of Painted Grey Ware

Source: Agrawal, D. P. & J. S. Kharakwal. 2003. Bronze and Iron Ages in South Asia. New
Delhi: Aryan Books International, 22.
25

Figure 5.2.6: Hastinapura – Painted Grey Ware potsherds, Period II

Source: Lal, B. B. 1954 & 1955. Excavation at Hastinapura and other Explorations in the
Upper Ganga and Sutlej basins 1950-52. Ancient India, Nos. 10 & 11, Pl. XXVII
26

Figure 5.2.7: Painted Grey Ware dish, Ahichchhatra, Dist. Bareilly

Source: Agrawal, D. P. & J. S. Kharakwal. 2003. Bronze and Iron Ages in South Asia. New
Delhi: Aryan Books International, Pl 5-1.
The class of pottery which has given its name to a distinct culture- PGW- was first identified
at Ahichchhatra in Bareilly during the 1944 excavations. But it was only during the 1950-
1951 excavation at Hastinapura that its stratigraphic and chronological significance was fully
realised. Subsequent explorations and excavations have revealed PGW layers at sites like
Alamgirpur, Allahpur, Mathura, Kampil, Noh, Jodhpura, Bhagwanpura, Jakhera, Kausambi,
Sravasti and Lakhiyopir, giving the culture an extensive distribution, stretching from the
Himalayan foothills to Malwa in central India and from the Bahawalpur region of Pakistan in
the west to Kausambi in the east. Stray finds at Kashipur, Thapli and Purola in Garwhal-
Kumaon and sporadic occurrences at Vaishali and Ujjain mark the ware‘s periphery, its core
area being the Indo-Gangetic divide and the Upper Ganga plains.
During the Hastinapura excavations itself, PGW got a Mahabharata affiliation. A number of
sites yielding this ware – Bairat, Indrapat, Bhaghpat, Sonepat, Tilpat, Panipat, Kurukshetra,
Mathura, Kampil and Raja Karan ka Qila- figure prominently in the epic and this prompted
B. B. Lal to put forward the hypothesis that the PGW represents the Mahabharata culture, a
product of the second wave of Aryans. However, the humble PGW remains do not validate
the glorious depictions in the literature and what emerges from the archaeological record is
a proto-urban level that coincided with the beginning and effective use of iron in north
India. The dates for this culture range from c. 1000 to 500/400 BC and it shows regional
variations in form and associated remains.
The antecedents of the PGW culture remain shrouded in ambiguity. In M. D. N. Sahi‘s view,
the Malwa chalcolithic culture may have been an earlier manifestation of the PGW and both
might have had a genetic relationship. B. B. Lal equates the grey ware and PGW to sites on
the north-western borderland and an Aryan association. J. P. Joshi drew attention to the
interlocking of grey ware and Harappan elements at Manda in north Jammu as a potential
27

explanation for the origin of the PGW. The overlap between the Harappan and PGW phases
is also encountered at Bhagwanpura. The north and the northwest seem like more probable
areas of evolution and growth of the PGW with a subsequent eastward movement that
resulted in a localization of this ware.

Painted Grey Ware
The Painted Grey Ware, as the name itself suggests, is a smooth surfaced,
grey-coloured pottery, with the grey colour ranging from soft silvery grey to
battleship grey. There is black painting, generally consisting of simple
geometric designs decorating both surfaces of the pots. The clay used for this
ware was of a high quality, totally devoid of degraissants. The pots were
thrown on a fast rotating wheel for egg-shell thickness and returned to the
wheel for a second time when they attained a leather hard condition. The
walls of the vessels were trimmed and pared with the help of scrapers and a
smoothening emulsion was then applied. The virtually flawless finish with a
uniform texture and colour indicates highly evolved firing techniques. Since it
mostly constitutes only 3-10% of the total ceramic assemblage, it is
presumed that the PGW was the deluxe ware of its times.
Source: Tripathi, V. 2002. The Protohistoric Cultures of the Ganga
Valley in K. Paddayya, ed., Recent Studies in Indian Archaeology. New
Delhi: Indian Council of Historical Research & Munshiram Manoharlal
Publishers Pvt. Limited, 199-200.
Structural remains indicate that people largely lived in wattle-and-daub and mud houses.
Both baked and unbaked bricks were retrieved from Hastinapura; the large-sized baked
bricks found at Jakhera may have had a ritualistic use. Jakhera has also yielded evidence of
water resource management in the shape of a bund-like structure and a 60m long water
channel. Deep circular pits outside the habitation area at Atranjikhera may have served as
kachcha wells. Roads and lanes paved with potsherds and a mud brick platform with a fire
altar are the other remarkable features unearthed at Jakhera. Houses had multiple/
community hearths at Atranjikhera. The discovery of storage bins at Jakhera suggests
surplus production requiring storage of grains. The settlement pattern of the PGW culture
reveals a two-tier site hierarchy where many small, rural settlements surrounded a large
proto-urban base such as Jakhera.
Subsistence was based on agriculture, animal husbandry, hunting and fishing. Rice, wheat
and barley were the main crops and the animal bones discovered – cattle, sheep and pigs –
are charred and bear cut marks. Hastinapura yielded bones of domesticated horse and fish
hooks from Atranjikhera suggest fishing.
Iron objects were used by the PGW people and comprised both war or hunting equipment—
arrowheads, spearheads, blades, daggers and lances—and other tools such as chisels, axes,
adzes, borers, scrapers, rods and clamps. Beginning with the evidence of iron in its pre-
28

PGW level, Jakhera has also supplied the most ancient iron implements used in agriculture –
a sickle, ploughshare, and hoe. While iron occurs in pre-PGW contexts at Jakhera, Noh and
Kausambi, its use gained currency only in the PGW phase. According to Vibha Tripathi,
‗there is every reason to believe that the technology of iron was acquired in the passage
from the Indo-Gangetic divide to the Ganga-Yamuna doab‘ (Tripathi 2002: 210).
Other antiquities that make up the PGW assemblage are bone points, arrowheads, sockets;
stone blades, balls, grinders, pestles and querns; terracotta beads, discs, balls, bangles and
animal figurines; needles and pins. The noteworthy finds have been weights of chert and
jasper from Hastinapura and gold and copper ornaments, 106 beads of semi-precious
stones, copper and ivory objects and geometric appliances of stone from Jakhera.
Rajasthan
Ahar
The chalcolithic occupation at Ahar in southeast Rajasthan has been divided into three
phases and iron was found in Phases Ib and Ic. In phase Ib, it is represented by an
arrowhead, ring and slag and from phase Ic were found four arrowheads, two chisels, a peg,
a nail and a socket. Calibrated dates falling within the first quarter of the 2 nd millennium BC
have been put forward for this period. However, these are contested by some scholars who
feel the iron-bearing layers are disturbed.
Noh
The five-period occupation at the site of Noh in district Bharatpur begins with the OCP,
followed by the Black-and-Red Ware, PGW, NBPW and finally the Sunga–Kushan levels.
Some iron objects of indeterminate shape were discovered from Period II and the more
frequent occurrence of iron is reflected in the PGW deposit which yielded an arrow head, a
spear head and an axe.
Jodhpura
Jodhpura in northeast Rajasthan revealed a crucible-shaped furnace for the direct reduction
of ore from its PGW levels.
5.3: Central India and the Deccan, c. 1000 – 300 BCE
I am going to narrate an incident which took place at an archaeological excavation nearly 25

years ago when I was a student trainee. As another student and I were excavating a
29

circular pit which was full of ash and clay lumps, we noticed a clay cone in the centre. At
this point the senior archaeologists took over as clearly an important feature was being
exposed. They showed us how to excavate very carefully so as not to destroy this significant
find. We could see that the clay lining of the pit was fused in several sections, indicating
that this was some kind of a firing installation. Thereafter we heard the more experienced
archaeologists discussing its possible functions. While one interpreted it as a fire altar, the
other argued that it was a pottery kiln. Finally, when the excavation report was published, I
noticed that both these interpretations had been included. Thus, there are three issues for
us to think about: first, how do archaeologists make interpretations; second, how can there
be multiple interpretations; and finally, which one do we accept? All these issues have
already been discussed in Chapter 1.3.2, hence I will not elaborate further here except to
point out that archaeology by itself does not tell us anything; rather the very process of
excavation and thereby the generation of archaeological data involves interpretations at
several levels by archaeologists. Initially the excavator may attempt an interpretation, but
subsequently after publication other archaeologists too can suggest alternative
interpretations.
Malwa
While in terms of cultural geography, the western part of Madhya Pradesh, known as Malwa,
has often been seen as transitional between the Indo-Gangetic Plains and the Deccan, its
political geography in the words of Spate and Learmonth (1967, 611) ―still carries, in its
twisting boundaries, a reflection of its past as the marchland between the powers of the
Indo-Gangetic Plains and the Deccan‖. As was mentioned in Chapter 3, between 1600 BCE
and 1300 BCE, farming communities that shared a similar material assemblage (categorized
as belonging to a similar ‗archaeological culture‘ termed ‗Malwa Culture‘) inhabited not just
Malwa but also the contiguous areas of Bundelkhand in the north and Khandesh and
western Deccan in the south.
Archaeologically, the chalcolithic ‗Malwa Culture‘ is succeeded by the Iron Age. However
what remains controversial are the dates for the beginning of the Iron Age, with different
archaeologists placing it variously at 1300 BCE, 1100 BCE or even 750 BCE. The lack of an
adequate number of C14 dates is part of the problem. What compounds it further is that not
enough attention has been paid to the archaeology of this period and region.
Nagda: the problem of chronology
This site, located on the river Chambal, was excavated at a time (1955-57) when
radiocarbon dating was still not widely prevalent. There were other ways by which
archaeologists reconstructed the chronologies of excavated sites based on the similarity of
‗cultural material‘ and the depth of ‗cultural strata‘. At Nagda, the occupation was divided in
three cultural phases, termed Periods I, II and III. In the earliest period were found
30

microliths, copper objects, painted black-and-red and black-on-red pottery and houses of
mud or mud bricks. In Period II the ‗cultural material‘ of the earlier period continued, but at
the same time there was an introduction of new elements such as iron objects and ceramics
like the plain black-slipped ware, black-and-red ware without painting and unslipped red
ware. The presence of Northern Black Polished Ware and houses of baked bricks in Period
III was the basis for differentiating it from Period II. Of the total occupational depth of 9.75
m, the three cultural phases individually had deposits of 4.87m (Period I), 2.29m (Period II)
and 2.59m (Period III) respectively. The excavator, N. R. Banerjee, has noted in the report
that he found a similarity between the ‗cultural material‘ of Period I at Nagda with that of
Navdatoli. The latter site had been dated between 1500 and 700 BCE when it was excavated
between 1957 and 1959. As the deposit in Period I was 4.87 m it was suggested that on an
average it would have taken 100 years for a deposit of 70 cm to accumulate and in Periods
II and III it was a slightly different estimate of 90 cm deposit for 100 years. In between
Periods I and II there was a deposit of 45 cm of black sticky clay which was interpreted as a
short abandonment of the site for a period of 50 years. Thus, the chronology that was
suggested was 1500 – 800 BCE for Period I, 750 – 500 BCE for Period II and 500 - 200 BCE
for Period III.
31

Figure 5.3.1: A view of the mound at Nagda while it was being excavated
Source: Banerjee, N. R. 1986. Nagda, 1955-57. New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India,
42.
Even though this practice of assessing the number of years of occupation based on
thickness of deposit has been shown to be an unreliable indicator, it continues to persist in
some recent publications. What is also important to keep in mind is that this chronology
suggested by the excavator has been revised subsequently. By the time the Navdatoli
report was published in 1971, the chronology suggested was 1600-1300 BCE based on eight
radiocarbon dates. In the light of the revised chronology of Navdatoli, D.K. Chakrabarti had
initially suggested that Period II at Nagda began around 1100 BCE but more recently he has
pushed it back to 1300 BCE.
Thus the dates for the beginning of iron in Malwa remain uncertain. It is also important to
keep in mind that other than the use of iron and some new ceramics, there was not much
difference in the artefacts and architecture of this period (II) from that of the preceding
chalcolithic societies (Period I). You would remember reading about the debate on iron and
social change in Chapter 1.4.2. Here at Nagda too we find that the use of iron did not result
in any dramatic changes among these early farming communities.
Text and archaeology: the case of Maheshwar and Navdatoli
In 1952-53 excavations were carried out at Maheshwar ―to test the truth of the antiquity of
Mahishmati and its relation to the problem of colonization of the Narmada valley by the
Aryan, or better Puranic tribes‖ (Sankalia, Subbarao and Deo 1958, vii). While Maheshwar is
located on the northern bank of the Narmada, directly opposite on the southern bank is the
site of Navdatoli. The sequence of cultures that were identified spanned from the Early
Stone Age till the eighteenth century. Seven periods were identified and these were
classified as Prehistoric I (Early Stone Age), Prehistoric II (Middle Stone Age), Proto-Historic
(1000 – 400 BCE), Early Historic I (400 - 100 BCE), Early Historic II (100 BCE - 100 CE),
Early Historic III (100 – 500 CE) and Muslim-Maratha. H. D. Sankalia, B. Subbarao and S.
B. Deo who excavated the site admitted in the report that they found it difficult to correlate
the archaeological data with literary texts.

Why did these archaeologists initiate such a project?
This has to do with the way historical archaeology was conceptualized from the time
of its inception in the colonial period. When the Archaeological Survey of India was
established in 1861 with Sir Alexander Cunningham as its first director, his task as
laid out by him was to identify the places mentioned by Xuanzang, the Chinese
Buddhist pilgrim who travelled in India in the seventh century CE. The view which
was then held and which persists to an extent is that the role of historical
32

archaeology is to corroborate the texts. The other colonial legacy is that for historical
periods the archaeological investigations have focused primarily on religious
architecture and sculpture of standing monuments which are visible on the surface.
Source: Trautmann, T. R. and C. M. Sinopoli. 2002. In the Beginning was the
Word: Excavating the Relations between History and Archaeology in South
Asia. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 45, 4, 492-
523.
Once the ―antiquity of Mahishmati‖ was confirmed, the archaeologists did not consider it
important to further probe the material remains of the iron age/early historic communities.
Their attention shifted to the newly discovered protohistoric deposits which were eventually
designated as chalcolithic ‗Malwa Culture‘ after more extensive excavations at Navdatoli.
Elliptical structures at Besnagar and Dangwada
At Besnagar (now Vidisha) stands an inscribed pillar of Heliodorus, the Greek ambassador of
king Antialcidas of Taxila, dated to 125 BCE. Excavations were carried out near this pillar
between 1963 and 1966. Two rows (inner and outer separated by a distance of 2.5 m) of
grooves in an elliptical outline were exposed. The inner ellipse measured 8 x 3 m. Iron nails
and rings, two small sherds of Northern Black Polished Ware and six punch marked coins
were recovered from the mud floor of the elliptical structure. Although the excavators
mention that the outer row of grooves projected outward, this is not clear from the
published photograph. It has also been suggested that this structure, identified as one of
the earliest Vishnu temples, was destroyed sometime at the end of the third century BCE. In
the next phase was found a brick platform (measuring 30 X 30 m) on a raised mud plinth
which was retained by rubble walls. Stratigraphically the Heliodorus pillar belonged to this
phase. Six pits, which could possibly have had pillars in the ancient past, were excavated.
These six pits along with the one where the Heliodorus pillar is still standing are in the
alignment of the rubble retaining wall. Associated with this structure were plain red ware,
black-and-red ware, black painted red ware, Northern Black Polished Ware and punch
marked coins of the second century BCE. No cult object has been reported from either of
these structures (Indian Archaeology-A Review 1963-64, 16-17; 1964-65, 19-20; 1965-66,
23-24; 1975-76, 30-31).
Two elliptical structures have also been reported from the site of Dangwada, situated on the
right bank of river Chambal and 40 km southeast of Ujjain – one in the chalcolithic ‗Malwa
Culture‘ period and the other in the ‗Sunga-Kushana‘. In the earlier period post holes
forming an elliptical outline in an east-west direction and an opening in the western end of
the ellipse were partially excavated. Near the opening a mud platform was found. This has
been interpreted by one of the excavators as a shrine, even though the report does not
mention any associated artefacts. In the later period, an elliptical structure (11 X 5 m) with
foundations of roughly cut stones was exposed. ―This structure probably had a rectangular
enclosure built of small stones and platforms by its side, the remains of which have been
encountered. Part of this elliptical structure, which was possibly a temple, had tiled roof.
33

The objects associated with this complex are huge terracotta bulls, a small bowl of shell
provided with a thin copper handle and two terracotta seals bearing the legends Siri
rayogna agni tapas dayas and Jivamatangas in Brahmi of second century BCE‖ (Indian
Archaeology- A Review 1979-80, 54-55).
Elsewhere, it is mentioned that the legend on the seal was Siva Matangasa. There is also a
reference to a second elliptical structure of mud in the ‗Sunga-Kushana‘ period.
Unfortunately the photograph of this structure has not been published and in the sketch
plan (which is not even to scale) the mud structure is shown completely in a dotted line.
This is a little odd as usually the archaeologist finds at least a part of the outline and the
remaining is then shown hypothetically as dotted lines. One of the excavators has
interpreted the elliptical structure with roughly cut stone foundations as a Shiva apsidal
temple. The mud elliptical structure has been interpreted as a Vishnu apsidal temple based
on a sealing legend Damodaran jayate, although it is not clear as to where the sealing was
found (Wakankar 1983: 235). In the summary report, however, a terracotta seal with the
legend Damodaram yajayi has been reported from the archaeological deposits of the Gupta
period (Indian Archaeology-A Review 1978-79, 71).
It is interesting to note that at Dangwada too, another excavator has interpreted the
elliptical structures as ordinary houses (Kumar 1983, 238-44). There are other
archaeologists who have associated elliptical structures with dwellings of Buddhist monks.
Such buildings have been depicted on second and first centuries BCE reliefs at several
Buddhist sites like Bharhut and Amaravati. We also need to make a distinction between
elliptical and apsidal structures. The former is a long narrow building with rounded ends,
while the latter is oblong in shape with one apsidal end. An early example would be the
Buddhist chaitya hall which had a stupa at the apse end. In such chaitya halls the entrance
was always at the other end, thus contradicting the evidence from Dangwada. A kaolin
(fine soft, white clay) figure of a yakshi, and terracotta yaksha and Buddha figures have
been found in the Gupta period. Across the river lies a small mound, probably containing the
remains of a stupa. There is also the issue of the evidence of pieces of burnt wood of the
palasa (Butea frondosa) tree being interpreted from this site as ―an essential item in Vedic
yajna/or later Hindu rituals‖ or simply for constructing wattle and daub (twigs and branches
that are covered with mud) houses.
Whether these elliptical structures at Besnagar and Dangwada are Vishnu/ and Shiva/ or
Buddhist apsidal shrines or just ordinary houses is still open to further interpretations. It is
only a reanalysis of the excavated material that can allow an altogether different narrative
to emerge. However, since the data published so far is inadequate for such an exercise to
be undertaken, it is therefore all the more imperative that the excavation reports of these
two sites with complete documentation in the form of both photographs as well as plans are
published. The issue is not just about these two sites but as a general principle it needs to
be understood that the interpretation of archaeological data is not the sole prerogative of
the excavator of a site alone. A re-examination of older excavated data can be undertaken
by later archaeologists as has been done at many sites such as Mohenjodaro, Harappa,
Brahmagiri, Arikamedu, Sisupalgarh and so forth.
34

Vidarbha
The region of Vidarbha corresponds with much of eastern Maharashtra, with the Tapti and
the Penganga rivers marking the northern and southern limits respectively. Till about two
decades ago, archaeologists believed that chalcolithic settlements were largely absent in
this region. However with the excavations at Adam, the category of ‗Vidarbha Chalcolithic‘
has since been introduced.
Social continuity and transformation at Adam
Five different cultural periods have been identified by the excavators of Adam, a site located
on the river Waghor, a tributary of the Wainganga. The earliest period (I), where only
microliths were found has been dated between the third and second millennium BCE. Period
II termed as ‗Vidarbha Chalcolithic‘ has been dated to the last quarter of the second
millennium BCE. The range of pottery types included red wares with chocolate or red slips
and white or black paintings, unslipped red wares with paintings in white or black, and black
and red wares with red slip and black paintings. Among the structures were post holes and
mud floors. The small finds included microliths, a copper ring, crucible, and two objects of
bone - a stylus and an engraver. Period III which marked the beginning of iron, but largely
with much continuity in the ceramics as well as architecture, is dated between 1000 BCE
and 500 BCE. An interesting discovery was that of a secondary pot burial within the
habitation. Period IV has been dated between 500 BCE and 150 BCE and Period V between
150 BCE and 200 CE. There was a dramatic change in domestic architecture in Period IV,
with square or rectangular pucca houses being now constructed of stone and brick and with
tiled roofs; and these continued in the succeeding period as well. An earthen stupa ascribed
to Period V has also been excavated. Another significant structure that has been reported
from Period V is an elliptical shaped stone wall enclosing at least four circular structures
interpreted by the excavators as being memorial or votive in nature. Further to the east of
this enclosure several different secondary burials have been reported, which include pot
burials, terracotta ring burials and pit burials. Among the small finds was a sealing with the
legend ‗Asaka Janapada’ (Indian Archaeology- A Review 1988-89,50-62).
What is significant about the excavations at Adam is that it provides us with evidence of
continuity from the chalcolithic to the Iron Age. This may suggest that the latter may not
have been the result of migrations of ‗megalithic‘ people from South India as has often been
suggested by archaeologists working on the Deccan.
Diversity in economic activities: Naikund and Mahurjhari
35

Due to their obvious visibility, early research tended to focus primarily on the burial sites,
commonly referred to as ‗megaliths‘. Often no habitation sites could be located in the
immediate vicinity of the burials; thus Deo (1985) concluded that out of the 72 ‗megalithic‘
sites in Vidarbha, 68 were burial sites and only four – Takalghat, Naikund, Khairwada and
Bhagimahari – were ‗habitation cum burial‘ sites. We have substantial information from the
site of Naikund which has been excavated and for which a report is available. Unlike the
case of excavated sites in Malwa, sixteen C 14 dates are available from both the burial and
habitation sites of Naikund. There is a remarkable internal consistency in the dates from the
habitation areas as well as those obtained from the burials. These dates suggest that this
site was inhabited between the eighth/seventh and fourth/third centuries BCE. The site is
important also because there was clear evidence of the dwellings of these communities,
which comprised of circular huts with lime plastered floors and wooden postholes. Inside
these huts several clay hearths, stone querns, burnt seeds (of wheat, lentil, black gram, pea
and jujube) and bones of both domesticated (dog, horse, pig, humped cattle, sheep, goat,
buffalo) and wild (sheep, goat, pig, sambar, gaur, chital and black buck) animals have also
been identified. Agricultural implements such as iron adzes and hoes have been found in the
burials.
Initially several archaeologists suggested that these communities were largely mobile
herders, although they did not preclude farming and hunting. One reason for this view has
been the general absence of habitation sites in the archaeological record. Currently the
same evidence has been reinterpreted to put forth the idea that perhaps there was a more
complex economy involving multiple activities like farming, herding, hunting, foraging and
fishing.
There is also the evidence of small-scale craft activities - iron working (Naikund) and stone
bead production (Mahurjhari). The evidence for iron smelting comprises a furnace at some
distance away from the habitation areas (Deo and Jamkhedkar 1982, 11). For lapidary the
evidence cited includes a few stone chips and flakes along with two unfinished beads
(Mohanty 2008, 461).
Burial sites with multiple practices
Once again, earlier there was a tendency among archaeologists to speak of the uniformity of
burials in Vidarbha. As remarked by Deo (1985, 89) there was only one type – stone circle
with cairn filling – in this region. The only exception cited was a dolmen (a stone table-like
structure) at the site of Pimpalgaon. However now it is being increasingly recognized that
there are differences in construction of the stone circles at various sites as at Bhagimahari
and Boregaon. Further, dolmens have been found at several other sites like Chamorsi and
Kelzar.
There is also a great deal of variation in burial practices from site to site as at Adam, Khapa,
Mahurjhari, Junapani and Raipur. For example at Khapa, the bones were placed in a pot,
whereas at Mahurjhari excavations revealed primary extended burials. The funerary
36

goods have been interred differently at Junapani (in the rubble packing) and Raipur (in the
black clay filling). The burials within the same site also display a diverse range of grave
goods (Suvrathan 2009, 128-31).
Southern Deccan
When the ‗megaliths‘ were first noticed by British officers in the nineteenth century,
sometimes quite literally in their own back yard, they were immediately dug to recover
buried ‗treasure‘. Eventually some of these investigations resulted in the early studies such
as that of Meadows Taylor who associated them with the Shakas. What is much more
important, and has been little emphasized by most archaeologists, about Taylor‘s
excavations and documentation is that they demonstrate an understanding of stratigraphy
within ‗megalithic‘ burials, something that was not followed in subsequent work. It was a
century later, in 1947, when Mortimer Wheeler, Director General of the Archaeological
Survey of India, excavated the site of Brahmagiri in Southern Deccan (the area drained by
the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers) ―as a part of a co-ordinated plan for ‗opening up‘ the
archaeology of South India‖ (Wheeler 1947, 181). The box or grid method of excavation
introduced by Wheeler continues to be a model even today for most archaeologists in the
subcontinent, although in most parts of the world newer methods based on the single-
context recording system and the stratigraphic or Harris matrix are being used. On the basis
of the stratigraphic profile a sequence of three cultural periods was suggested which also
still holds to an extent for the Deccan. The earliest ‗Brahmagiri Stone Axe culture‘ (1000 –
200 BCE) was characterized by the presence of stone axes, microliths, copper tools, hand
made grey pottery, urn burials of infants and extended burials of children and adults. This
was succeeded by the ‗Megalithic culture‘ (200 BCE – 50 CE) represented by iron tools and
weapons, black and red ware (made on a slow wheel) and ‗megalithic‘ burials. Stone axes
and microliths continued from the previous period. The ‗Andhra culture‘ (50 – 300 CE) had
russet-coloured and rouletted wares made on the fast wheel, coins and glass bangles. Since
then the chronology and the descriptive categories have been revised as the Neolithic -
Chalcolithic (3000-1200/1000 BCE), Iron Age (1200/1000 – 500/300 BCE) and Early
Historic (500/300 BCE – 500 CE). Some archaeologists now prefer to use the term ‗Iron
Age‘ rather than ‗megalithic‘ for South India because it has been observed that ‗megaliths‘
can be found both in the ‗megalithic‘/Iron Age and the Early Historic. More work also needs
to be done to work out chronologies for individual burials wherever possible to arrive at
more nuanced interpretations.
37

Figure 5.3.2: A north east view from the slopes of Brahmagiri hill
Source: http://avocadoadvocate.blogspot.in/2009/03/brahmagiri.html
Value addition: new interpretations

Revised chronology of Brahmagiri
Based on a reanalysis of the ceramics along with an AMS date, it is now being
proposed that the period interpreted by Wheeler as the Andhra / Early Historic could
actually be medieval and dated between the 12 th and 14th centuries CE. We can thus
see how archaeological data can not only be re-analysed subsequently but that
chronologies too can be substantially revised.
Source: Morrison, K. D. 2005. Brahmagiri Revisited: A Re-analysis of the
South Indian Sequence. In South Asian Archaeology 2001, ed. C. Jarrige
and V. LeFevre, 257-61. Paris: ADPF.
The burials at Brahmagiri
Among the several hundred burials at Brahmagiri, ten were excavated by Wheeler. While
the large majority was categorized as cist-circles, a few among them were of a different
type called pit-circles.
38

Value addition: interesting details

Cist burial at Brahmagiri
―Megalith X included a cist 5 feet 1 ½ inches by 3 feet 11 inches at the top, 5 feet 2
inches by 4 feet 1 inch at the base, and 5 feet 11 inches high above the floor/slab,
the major axis being 90°30‘ magnetic. It was built on a clockwise svastika plan. In
the eastern orthostat was a port-hole, 1 foot 7 inches in diameter, approached by a
passage flanked on either side by a vertical slab. The cist was surrounded by a dry-
built stone wall still surviving to a height of 11 courses. The wall had been slightly
battered – a feature emphasized by the inward collapse of the upper courses.
Between this wall and the northern, western and southern orthostats of the cist was
a roughly built supplementary wall. When the tomb was finally closed, the entrance
was sealed by a door-slab and walled up. There was no boulder/circle around the
tomb. The capstone was missing.
The tomb contained no less than sixty-two pots, all of which were placed on the
floor-slab, except one which was isolated and five in a group, which lay 4-6 inches
above the level of the bones and were evidently placed along with these. Inside one
of the pots was found a small indeterminate iron object. The bones, which lay at a
height of 6 inches above the primary deposit of pots, comprised three human skulls
and some other disarticulated bones. The earthen filling above these deposits
showed the usual change at the level of the port-hole.
A feature of this cist was the close association of three small cists built alongside the
main cist and structurally later than it. Each of these small cists contained a few
pots, but only in one of them were found some small fragments of human bone,
apparently of an adult.‖
Source: Wheeler, R. E. M. 1947. Brahmagiri and Chandravalli 1947:
Megalithic and Other Cultures in Mysore State. Ancient India 4, 194.
39

Figure 5.3.3: Megalith X before excavation

Source: Wheeler, R. E. M. 1947. Brahmagiri and Chandravalli 1947: Megalithic and
Other Cultures in Mysore State. Ancient India 4: Plate LXXXIV.B.
Figure 5.3.4: Megalith X showing adjacent small cists
40


Other Cultures in Mysore State. Ancient India 4: Plate LXXXV.A.
41

Figure 5.3.5: A close up of the cist of Megalith X

Other Cultures in Mysore State. Ancient India 4: Plate LXXXVII.

Pit burial at Brahmagiri
―Megalith II consisted of a single circle of untrimmed granite blocks with three
outliers which may or may not belong to the plan, the average external diameter of
the circle being 26-27 feet. Between and around the boulders was a considerable
mass of rubble packing which did not extend to the centre and apparently
represented a low stone bank or very rough wall.
Excavations revealed a central pit roughly circular in plan with an average diameter
of 10 feet and a depth of 6 feet from the ancient level…At the eastern end a shallow
ramp led down to the brim of the pit and contained a large flat slab of granite, which
may be assumed to represent a displaced ‗door-slab‘. East of the ‗door-slab‘ the
ramp had been filled with earth and chunam…
On the floor of the pit were four small stone slabs, laid out symmetrically to form the
corners of an oblong space 4 feet by 2 ½ feet. These slabs, it is presumed,
supported the legs of a bier upon which a human body or bodies were exposed. No
bones, however, were found, and it has been inferred…that they had all been
removed for final interment in some neighbouring cist. To a height of 20 inches
above the floor the pit had been filled with earth, mostly collapsed from the sides, on
and under which lay pots and iron objects. It is conjectured that the top of this layer
represents approximately the top of the former bier. Of 20 pots, 5 lay at the 20-inch
level while the rest lay below it. The following iron and other objects were also within
the primary filling:- a tanged iron sword; an iron object of indeterminate shape, 5
inches long and 2 inches broad; a socketed and barbed iron arrow-head; an iron bar,
9 inches long and 1 ½ inches broad; small fragments of iron; an iron instrument of
uncertain use; a tanged iron dagger; three iron chisels; an iron object of indefinite
shape, over 4 ½ inches long; two iron wedges; an iron bar; an iron sickle; a granite
pestle; and two terracotta spindle-whorls.
The upper filling of the pit consisted of black alluvial mud imported to the site‖.
Source: Wheeler, R. E. M. 1947. Brahmagiri and Chandravalli 1947:
Megalithic and Other Cultures in Mysore State. Ancient India 4, 197-98.
42

Figure 5.3.6: Megalith II before excavation

Source: Wheeler, R. E. M. 1947. Brahmagiri and Chandravalli 1947: Megalithic and Other
Cultures in Mysore State. Ancient India 4: Plate XC.A.
Wheeler‘s interpretation is that the pit-circles were ―macerating pits‖, in which bodies were
added to and exposed on a bier from time to time. Offerings were also probably made at the
time of placing the bodies as evident from the pots. Eventually certain bones were selected
out of these and interred in a cist. As far as the cists are concerned, Wheeler suggests that
these were initially built with primary offerings of pots, and other items of personal use like
iron tools and weapons, ornaments and tools of other materials. After a gap of a few weeks,
the bones which had been taken from the pit-circles were inserted along with fewer
secondary offerings into the cists through the port-holes.
Wheeler‘s work is important because it provided us with a cultural sequence for early South
India, one that was not known till then. After Meadows Taylor‘s early work, it was Wheeler
who attempted to understand the meaning of these burials through their internal
stratigraphy.
43

Figure 5.3.7: Megalith II after excavation

Source: Wheeler, R. E. M. 1947. Brahmagiri and Chandravalli 1947: Megalithic and Other
Cultures in Mysore State. Ancient India 4: Plate XC.B.
Situating burials in their landscapes
While Wheeler developed an interpretation of specific burial forms solely through

excavations, more recently there have been studies to understand burials by situating them
within their landscapes. S. B. Darsana in her study of ‗megaliths‘ in the Upper Palar Basin,
in northern Tamil Nadu, identifies two categories: dolmens and stone circles. The dolmens
are above-ground structures made of four flat stone slabs with three of them supporting a
capstone. These are not associated with funerary remains and may have been
commemorative or memorial in nature. These are largely found on hill-tops. The stone
circles, the same as Wheeler‘s cist-circles, on the other hand, are located in the foot-hills.
These stone circles can have either an enclosed cist or a terracotta sarcophagus which
contained human remains and funerary offerings. Based on the difference in form and
location of these two types of monuments, she identifies them with two different
communities – the dolmens associated with a ―small-scale segmented society‖ and the
circles with ―large-scale hierarchy based chiefdoms‖. She also interprets the dolmens as
territorial markers which were constructed mainly ―to convey the presence of the past‖. The
visibility of the dolmens is seen as an indicator of ―symbolic reference points loaded with
ancestral meaning, to guide the movement of human and animal populations from one
significant point to another‖ (Darsana 1998, 60, 62). On the other hand, the stone circles
are seen as remnants of practices that enabled links of past societies with their ancestors.
44

Clearly the theoretical approach used by Darsana for her interpretation has largely been
drawn from the work of Colin Renfrew, Julian Thomas and Christopher Tilley who have
worked on the ‗megaliths‘ of Europe.
5.4: Early Tamil literature and society
Early Tamil literature: the legend of the three sangams
The Tamil tradition speaks of three ancient ‗sangams‘ or gatherings of poets. The first
sangam was held at Madurai and is said to have lasted 4040 years. The second sangam,
held at Kapatapuram, lasted for 3700 years. The third sangam, convened once again at
Madurai, lasted for 1800 years. To this third gathering is attributed the composition of the
Ettutokai or ‗the Eight Anthologies‘ which form the bulk of early Tamil literature. After
each sangam, the legend tells us, the city was submerged by the sea, the tide taking over
sacred spots where saints and poets had once assembled.
This legend of the sangams is usually where most accounts of Tamil literature begin.
Despite the improbable time frame and the mythical details, many scholars hold that the
third sangam, at least, possessed a historical kernel. Hence the tendency to refer to
‗Sangam literature‘ and to this period as the ‗Sangam age‘.
But this is an argument that is no longer accepted by many scholars. As George Hart points
out, none of the poems that survive make any reference to the legend of the sangams. This
is strange, for such a gathering would have been an event of great importance (Hart 1987,
9). Furthermore, the poems appear to have been composed not at one large gathering, but
at many different settings and over time. So, even if the legend of the sangams possesses
any basis, it has been so distorted that it is problematic to label either these texts or the
historical period to which they refer in terms of these gatherings. Hence, we will refer to
these poems not as ‗Sangam literature‘ but as ‗early Tamil poetry‘.
Understanding the conventions of early Tamil poetry
The ancient Tamil poems are collected into eight anthologies. These are -- the Narrinai,
Kuruntokai, Ainkurunuru, Padirrupattu, Paripadal, Kalittogai, Ahananuru, and Purananuru --
consisting of a total of 2381 songs. The Pattupattu consisting of ten longer poems in a
similar style belongs to a slightly later period.
Value addition: life stories

The discovery of the poetic anthologies
45

That the early Tamil poems exist at all for us to study is entirely due to the efforts of
19th century Indologists. Foremost amongst them stands the figure of U.V.
Swaminatha Aiyer (1855-1942). In his autobiography, En Charittram (My Story),
Aiyer recounts how on Thursday, 21 st October 1880, he met Ramasami Mudalier, a
munsif at Kumbakonam. Mudalier asked the young scholar whom he had studied
under and what he had read. As Aiyer listed the many texts that he knew, the munsif
seemed unimpressed. ―Is that all?‖ he said, ―What use is all that? Have you studied
any of the old texts?‖ Stunned, Aiyer admitted that he was unaware of their
existence.
From then on, he spent many years of his life ferreting out and preserving ancient
Tamil texts. Returning one day to the monastery where he had studied, he found a
bundle of palm leaf manuscripts lying in a corner: these were the Eight Anthologies
of early Tamil poetry. Hundreds of manuscripts collected by Aiyer were stored after
his death in the U.V. Swaminatha Aiyer library in Chennai.
Source: Ramanujan, A. K. 1999. Classics Lost and Found. The Collected
Essays of A.K. Ramanujan, ed. Vinay Dharwadker. Delhi: Oxford University
Press, 186-188.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2205/stories/20050311002109800.ht
m
Dating the poetic texts
The dating of the poems is still a matter of dispute, but we can be reasonably certain that
they were composed in the centuries before the emergence of the Pallavas of Kanchi
(around 350 CE). Most historians assign their composition to c. 300 BCE to 300 CE, which is
the beginning of the early historic period in South India. The compilation of the poems into
the anthologies and the super-anthologies came much later, beginning in the seventh
century and continuing for another five centuries.
46

A number of transitions were underway in the time when these poems were being
composed. These included the spread of a script, the use of coins, the expansion of trade
routes, the diversification of settlements, and the rise of new groups to political power. But
to understand this period, it is not enough to study the poems alone. Rather, they must be
correlated with other sources such as the archaeological record from megalithic sites,
inscriptions in the Tamil—Brahmi script, local and foreign coins, as well as Greek and Roman
accounts describing the region‘s involvement in international trade. These many sources
must be correlated so that this period can be understood in its totality.
Value addition: new leads

Exceptional discoveries at Adichanallur
At the iron age burial site of Adichanallur, recent excavations have uncovered
exceptional new material that is helping archaeologists and historians redefine the
ways in which we understand the megalithic-early historic transition in South India.
Among the discoveries is the potsherd shown above with its depiction of a woman, a
stalk of paddy, a crane, a deer and crocodile. While only the burial site (marked by
urn burials) had been known before, the excavations uncovered the remains of the
habitation area as well marked by the presence of a rampart wall, a potter‘s kiln,
craft areas etc.
47

Iron knives unearthed in the excavations
A twin-pot urn burial, with skeletons inside. An individual was buried in one urn,
which was then covered with another on top, indicating the tremendous care and
effort that was involved in such burial practices.
Source:
http://www.thehindu.com/fline/fl2213/stories/20050701000106500.htm
48

The authors of the anthologies
Who composed the poems of the anthologies? The colophon that accompanies each poem
usually gives the name of the poet but little by way of biographical detail. By and large, the
tradition is an anonymous one. A poet was identified by his skill, by his distinctive voice.
Even the names that exist are often epithets: for instance, there is a poet called
Cempulappeyanirar or ‗The Poet of the Red Earth and Pouring Rain‘; another goes by the
name of Netuvennilavinar, ‗The Poet of the Long White Moonlight‘ (Ramanujan 1970, 99).
A larger debate exists over whether the poems are oral or literate compositions. The debate
is a complex one. In a pioneering study K. Kailasapathy ([1968] 2002) argued that the early
Tamil poems were oral compositions, marked by themes and formulae common to oral
poetry across the world. In fact, the poems refer to an assortment of poets and bards --
kinaiyans, tutiyans and panans -- who wandered across the Tamil land seeking the
patronage of chieftains and kings.
In contrast, George Hart (Hart 1987, 156-158) argues that the line between oral and
written is often blurred in these texts. He argues that the structures of the poems indicate
that they were ―far too complex to be extemporized.‖ Rather, they were written down by
pulavans, poets who belonged to literate, privileged groups. But their authors drew upon
the models and themes that preceded them -- the oral compositions of the wandering, tribal
bards. They also copied the lifestyle of these bards, wandering from place to place in search
of patronage and support. Thus, these poems are the products of a society where writing
was known.
The literary devices used in early Tamil poetry
The early Tamil poems are marked by a number of literary conventions and devices. Within
the poems, the most basic division is between ‗akam‘ and ‗puram‘, where akam refers to the
‗interior‘ and puram to the ‗exterior‘. Where the akam poems are concerned with love in all
its varieties, the puram poems possess a more public character. The akam poems lack
names or specific references. In contrast, the puram poems provide more historic detail,
alongside meditations on patronage, statecraft and martial heroism. Despite these
distinctions both kinds of poems are marked by similar landscapes and references. And the
poets of the age composed both kinds of poetry.

Examples of akam and puram poetry
Below, the first poem is an akam poem, the second is a puram composition:
Kuruntokai 40
49

What could my mother be

to yours? What kin is my father
to yours anyway? And how
did you and I ever meet?
But in love our hearts are as red
earth and pouring rain:
mingled beyond parting.
Purananuru 357
Though this world linked together by mountains joined with hills
Is thought to be shared in common by the three kings,
There have been those who alone held power and yet their years
Have passed until all their wealth could not help them
But only the righteous actions they had sown could be
Of any aid to them at all. As Death seizes lives
And the relatives assemble and weep, such help is hard
To gather for those who have given up
The raft which carries one from this to the other shore!
What differences, if any, do you notice between the two poems?

Source: Ramanujan, A. K. (trans.). 1970. The Interior Landscape: Love
Poems from a Classical Tamil Anthology. London: Peter Owen, 37; Hart,
George L. and Hank Heifetz (trans.). 2002. The Purananuru. Delhi: Penguin,
202-203.
Another literary device which informs the poems is the system of tinais, where tinai is
defined as ‗place, region or site‘. These are not only the settings of the poems, but also
elaborate modes of classifying landscapes and behaviour. Each tinai is used by the poets to
describe a particular action or a particular mode of love.

The akam aintinai (the five tinais of akam poetry)
TINAI BEHAVIOR
Kurinji Mountains Punartal The sudden meeting of lovers, falling in
love, the immediate union
Palai Arid desert Pirital Anxiety before marriage, the symptoms of
love, elopement and possible marriage
Marutam Riverine Utal Infidelity and then reconciliation
country
Neytal Seashore Irankal The lover leaves in search of wealth and
fame, the wife or beloved pines away
Mullai Pastoral Iruttal Patient waiting and the hero‘s return
Source: Ramanujan, A. K. (trans.). 1970. The Interior Landscape: Love
50

Poems from a Classical Anthology. London: Peter Owen, 107.
Historians in turn have used the tinais to understand how people viewed the landscapes that
they lived in. They often seek to correlate different landscapes with economic activity and
occupations. Thus, the kurinji is associated with hunting-gathering; the mullai with stock-
rearing and shifting-cultivation; palai with plundering and cattle-lifting; marutam with
plough-cultivation; and neytal with fishing and the sale of salt (Gurukkal 1989). This
diversity of landscapes is also mirrored in the complexity of the archaeological record. While
the earlier focus was mainly on the riverine tracts where agriculture and warring chieftains
first arose, historians and archaeologists have now begun to show how people living in
different regions exploited the resources that were available to them and participated in the
political and economic networks of the period.

When the Kurinji flowers
The Kurinji flower grows only in Tamil Nadu, in the belt of the Annamalai, Nilgiri and
Palni Hills. While biologists have identified 50 varieties of this flower, the blue
coloured variety blooms only once in 12 years. The flowering of the Kurinji is used in
the early Tamil anthologies as a metaphor for love‘s first flowering, as can be seen in
this poem from the Kuruntokai:
51

Bigger than earth, certainly,

higher than the sky,
more unfathomable than the waters
is the love for this man
of the mountain slopes

where the bees make rich honey
from the flowers of the kurinji
that has such black stalks.
Source:
http://www.thehindu.com/2006/03/18/stories/2006031811480600.htm;
Ramanujan, A. K. (trans.). 1970. The Interior Landscape: Love Poems from
a Classical Tamil Anthology. London: Peter Owen, 19.
Creating the Tamil land: using language to define identity
The poets speak of ‗Tamilagam‘ or ‗the Tamil land‘, a region which comprises not only
modern Tamil Nadu but the region of Kerala as well. It extended from Venkatam in the
north to Kanyakumari in the south and was bound on the east and west by the sea.
The ‘three crowned kings’
The Tamil region is said to have been ―held in common‖ by the ―three crowned kings‖
(muventar): these were the Chola, Chera and Pandya dynasties who ruled from their
capitals at Vanchi, Uraiyur and Madurai respectively. The edicts of the Mauryan emperor
Ashoka refer to these three lineages as rulers over the territories bordering his lands,
indicating that they had acquired political preeminence in these regions at a very early time.
Located in the rice-producing tracts of the Kaveri, Periyar, Vaigai and Tamraparni valleys,
the muventar fought each other for dominion over the Tamil land. Each lineage had its own
emblem, festival and flower. These emblems also appear on their coins -- the Chola coins
are marked by a tiger, the Pandyas‘ by a fish, and the Cheras with a bow. Beneath the
muventar, the political hierarchy comprised a number of lesser chieftains known as velir and
kilar.
The uses of old Tamil
From the outset, the use of Tamil was an important cultural marker for this region. But the
Tamil used in the poetic texts is old Tamil, considerably different from the Tamil spoken
today.
52

Although trade, travel and imperial rule facilitated contact between the north and south, the
Tamil poems are remarkably free of Sanskrit and Prakrit words. An analysis of the
Tirumarkarruppadai, a poem belonging to the Pattupattu, shows that less than 2% of its
words can be considered of Sanskritic origin. Even when there was cultural contact and
borrowing, Tamil equivalents were used for most words: thus, shruti becomes kelvi and
veda becomes marai. Even Brahmanical deities could not be named in Sanskrit; instead,
they are referred to by Tamil epithets and names (Hart 1999, 11-12). Evidence of old Tamil
occurs not only in the poetic texts but also in the wealth of inscriptions found across the
region.
Inscriptions in Tamil-Brahmi
In 1903, Venkoba Rao discovered the first Tamil-Brahmi inscription in a cave at Kilavalavu
in the Madurai District. Until then, historians had been perplexed by the absence of
inscriptions in the Tamil region until the apparently sudden emergence of the Vatteluttu
script around the seventh century CE. But even after this discovery, confusion persisted
over these inscriptions with some scholars holding that they were similar to Ashokan Brahmi
and that their language was Pali. Subsequently it has been shown that the contents of these
inscriptions are definitely in Tamil, and their script is Tamil-Brahmi (Mahadevan 1995, 174-
175).
The Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions in the caves of the Madurai District are records of gifts,
mainly to Jaina monks. They record the names and occupations of the donors, as well as
specific endowments made such as the gift of a stone bed, a seat or caves for monks to
reside in. A recent estimate states that 83 short cave inscriptions have been found from 26
sites.
But the usage of this script is not confined to votive inscriptions in religious contexts alone.
Rather, it occurs on a wide range of materials in a diversity of sites in the Tamil country.
These include inscriptions on different kinds of pottery, rings, seals, coins, metals, and most
recently, memorial stones.

Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions on memorial stones
Among the many funerary rituals described in the early Tamil poems is the erection
of nadukals or herostones. A poem in the Purananuru (264) describes this ritual:
Now they have raised a memorial stone and set it up on a mound

erected on stony ground and they have circled it with a garland
of red flowers strung on split hemp and they have placed a feather
from a lovely peacock there and inscribed his name on the stone.
Ignorant of the death of that noble man who brought in
53

cows and calves and drove off

his enemies, will the families of bards come here still?
While herostones are found in the archaeological record, it was difficult to date any
of these specimens to the early historic period. But in March 2006, from the village
of Pulimankombai in Teni district, on the southern bank of the river Vaigai,
excavators found herostones inscribed in the Tamil-Brahmi script of the 3rd century
BCE. These were found in association with a number of urn burials of the site.
The inscription on one of the herostones reads:

kal pedu tiyan antavan kudal ur akol.
"This herostone was raised to a man called Tiyan Antavan of Pedu village who died in
a cattle raid that happened at Kudal ur.‖
This is the first inscriptional reference to a cattle raid, an event which is commonly
referred to in inscriptions of later periods.
Source: Hart, George L. and Hank Heifetz (trans.). 2002. The Purananuru.
Delhi: Penguin, 160; Rajan, K., V. P. Yatheeskumar and S. Selvakumar.
2007. The Earliest Hero stones of India. International Journal of Dravidian
Linguistics, XXXVI [1], 51-62;
http://www.hindu.com/2006/04/05/stories/2006040518340600.htm
The origin and date of Tamil-Brahmi
A debate has been unfolding over the origin and date of Tamil-Brahmi. So far, it was
generally accepted that ―the Brahmi script spread to Sri Lanka and South India during the
Mauryan period, largely due to the labors of the Jaina and Buddhist monks‖ (Mahadevan
1995, 176). On this basis, Iravatham Mahadevan argued that the origin of Tamil-Brahmi can
be dated to the end of the 3rd century BCE or the beginning of the 2nd century BCE.
54

Value addition: life stories

The work of Iravatham Mahadevan
The photograph shows Iravatham Mahadevan copying a Tamil-Brahmi inscription at

Tiruvadavur. A bureaucrat turned scholar, Mahadevan pioneered the decipherment
and study of Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions with his work which began in the 1960s and
continues till today.
Source:
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2013/stories/20030704000207100.ht
m
But recently K. Rajan has put forward a different set of arguments. Rajan argues that
Mahadevan‘s dating of Tamil-Brahmi is based entirely on palaeography and does not
consider the evidence of stratigraphy and archaeology. Rajan argues that by taking the
Ashokan inscriptions as a base-mark, scholars have so far provided a uniform date of the 3 rd
century BCE for the introduction of the Brahmi script into the region. Their analyses make it
appear as if the script was uniformly introduced, at a single stroke! Rajan argues that if
Brahmi was introduced from the north, then surely inscriptions from sites in northern
Tamilagam should have an earlier date, but this is not the case (Rajan 2008, 63).
In his excavations of the site of Kodumanal in the Kongu region, Rajan has argued for the
need to study the Tamil-Brahmi script not only in terms of its stratigraphic positioning, but
along with associated cultural material. At Kodumanal, from the habitation and burial areas,
graffiti marks and Brahmi letters on pottery have been uncovered, along with beads made
55

of carnelian and agate, iron objects such as swords and arrowheads, as well as different
kinds of pottery. The earliest inscribed potsherds are found at the lowest levels of the site,
which Rajan dates to the 4th century BCE, much before the commonly accepted date for the
introduction of the script in this region.
Where both Rajan and Mahadevan concur is in the argument that the widespread
occurrence of Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions indicates the prevalence of literacy in this region.
Almost all recently excavated early historic sites have yielded potsherds inscribed with
Tamil-Brahmi. These include not only capital cities, port towns and trade centres (such as
Uraiyur, Karur, Korkai, Mangadi and Kodumanal) but also more remote village sites like
Mayiladumprai, Pulumankombai, Thathapatti and Teriruveli (Rajan 2008, 57-61). Thus, the
script was being used by a wide range of people and was not confined merely to a restricted
elite.

The many contexts of Tamil-Brahmi
Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions have been found from many different contexts and on
many different materials as can be seen below.
Tamil-Brahmi rock bed inscription, 2nd century CE, from the site of Arunattarmalai.
A silver ring inscribed with the personal name ‗Peravatan‘, 1st century BCE, Karur.
56

Black-and-Red ware inscribed with Tamil-Brahmi letters, 1st century CE, Teriruveli,
Ramanathapuram District.
Source: http://www.tnarch.gov.in/epi/ins1.htm
The use of a script allowed for many things. It made possible the writing of poems and texts
composed by the bardic tradition. With the spread of Buddhism and Jainism, monks and
nuns learnt the local language and script, and used it to communicate their teachings and
develop scripture in the local language. The expanding networks of trade required forms of
recording to control and document transactions. They also brought this region into contact
with other literate cultures and societies.
Networks of exchange in early Tamil society
The Tamil country, with its long coastline, was involved in a series of trading networks
which linked it with the Mediterranean in the west and Southeast Asia in the east. Historians
have attempted to study these networks through archaeology, epigraphy and the evidence
from literature. These networks expanded with time and need to be understood in all their
complexity.
57

Figure 5.4.1 & 5.4.2: A wharf structure with the remains of a canoe from the early historic
site of Pattanam in Kerala
Source: http://pattanam-muziris-pattanam.blogspot.in/2011/11/pattanam-pjcherian-dupes-
current.html
In this regard, we can speak of ‗different levels of exchange‘ in early Tamil society. These
range from day-to-day barter, hawking and peddling to larger transactions in luxury and
high-value goods undertaken for long-distance or maritime trade. While exchange led to
interaction between regions and sub-regions, at the same time, differences in the
availability and utilization of resources also bred differentiation, competition and war.
58

A warrior in difficulty
After he gave what he owed to the creditors who besieged him,
whatever was left to him of his small-low yielding harvest
of millet that required only the stamping feet of boys
rather than buffalos for its threshing was eaten up
by hungry bards. Then, since no one came to his gate,
in order to soothe the poverty of his family he told
low men what he needed and borrowed millet --
that man of worth has the strength to repel advancing kings!
What kinds of economic transactions are indicated by this poem?

Source: Purananuru 327, from Hart, George L. and Hank Heifetz (trans.).
2002. The Purananuru. Delhi: Penguin, 187.
Regular local exchange would have been based on barter, both within and between sub-
regions. Thus, hill produce such as honey and pepper, the dairy products of the woodlands,
the salt of the coast and the paddy of the plains would all have circulated through the
region. Terms such as vilainar (seller), pakarnar (hawker), vanikar (trader) and umanar
(salt merchant) occur in the Tamil texts. Caravans (cattu) of itinerant traders also traversed
the region, with exchanges taking place at exchange centres or nodal points.
Cave sites with donative inscriptions also tell us of the existence of internal networks of
trade. These cave sites are found in the Tirunelveli, Ramanathapuram, Tiruchirapalli,
Coimbatore, North Arcot and Chingleput districts, with a concentration in the Madurai
district. The inscriptions record merchants with many different specializations making gifts
to these sites. The many kinds of merchants include: panitavanikan (toddy merchant),
koluvanikan (iron ploughshare merchant), ponvanikan (gold merchant), aruvaivanikan
(textile merchant), and uppuvanikan (salt merchant). Not only traders, but monks, pilgrims
and travellers would also have frequented these routes.
Gift giving and receiving transactions were also a means of exchange. The gift (kodai)
included subsistence goods as well as booty obtained through plunder. The king or chieftain
received tribute from his kinsmen and subjects; this signified his dominance and called on
him to act as a protector. He also obtained goods through plundering raids carried out on
neighbouring kings and chieftains. These were then redistributed through various pathways
of exchange, often determined through political or kinship relations. On festive occasions,
the king distributed food and subsistence goods amongst his subjects.
The coins of this period occur in negligible quantities in trade centres and megalithic sites.
But they do occur as hoards found along trade routes. It follows that their use must have
been restricted to larger transactions and long-distance trade. The texts refer to kasu, pon
and kanam as currency units but no indication is given of their metallic content and weight.
Increasingly, archaeology has provided evidence of the dynastic issues of the Chola, Chera
and Pandya dynasties. In addition, even lesser chiefs like the Malaiyaman and Nannan
59

seem to have issued coins. The relationship between these local issues and Roman coins is
not easy to understand. The earliest known Roman coins, dating to the 1 st century BCE, are
confined to the Kerala region. Roman coins occur in Tamil Nadu and Andhra by the early
centuries CE. Byzantine coins of the 4 th century CE have been found in coastal Tamil Nadu
and Sri Lanka.
Figure 5.4.3: Coin issued by the Chera dynasty is dated to the 3rd century CE
Source: http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2013/stories/20030704000207100.htm
There is no doubt that these coins were in limited circulation, a fact that is underlined by the
use of Roman coins as jewellery. Arguably, there need not be a single explanation for the
occurrence and use of coins. Thus, they could have served as deposits or sureties, as
protection money for the safe passage of goods, as ‗primitive valuables‘ or as items in gift
exchange.
The emphasis in foreign trade was on luxuries and exotic goods. Semi-precious stones,
precious gems, iron and steel, textiles, ivory, spices, forest goods like teak, sandalwood and
pepper were exported from the Tamil region. In return, western merchants brought Roman
wine, gold, horses and gems. Two kinds of markets are spoken of -- the nalangadi or day
market and the allangadi or evening market. Merchants from near and far would have
engaged in commercial transactions in these markets.
The pattern of the monsoon winds was such that western traders had to stay in the Indian
ports for a couple of months. The Tamil texts refer to westerners as yavanas and describe
them as staying in the cities in separate settlements or enclaves of the cities.
60

For long, historians spoke of western merchants coming to the subcontinent, trading in
cargoes of spices and precious metals. But now it is clear that Tamil merchants too travelled
to other lands and engaged in complex commercial transactions. The knowledge of the
monsoon winds made it possible to cross the Arabian Sea in a span of 40 days from Muziris.

Has ancient Muziris been found?
Greek and Roman accounts speak of the ancient port of Muziris on the west coast of
India which played a central role in the Indian Ocean trade. The Tamil texts also
refer to Muchiri, where the boats of the yavanas raised the foam on the Periyar, as
they came with gold and left with pepper.
Historians and archaeologists have long been preoccupied with finding the site of
Muziris. Recent excavations in the lower Periyar basin have made a claim for
identifying the settlement of Pattanam in the Ernakulam District of Kerala with
Muziris of yore. Pattanam is also the first early historic urban site on the Kerala coast
which has provided evidence for the Indo-Roman trade.
Finds of Roman amphorae clearly indicate that trading activity went on at this site.
Other finds from the excavation include ring wells, spindle whorls, architectural
remains, potsherds inscribed with the Brahmi script as well as iron age occupation
below the early historic levels. The image shows a brick structure dated by
excavators to this period.
Source: Shajan, K. P., V. Selvakumar and Roberta Tomber. 2005. Was

Pattanam Ancient Muziris? Man and Environment, XXX (2): 66-73;
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2009/05/03/stories/2009050356481800.ht
m
61

Indications of such contact have come to light with the finds of inscribed potsherds in Tamil-
Brahmi during excavations of ports on the Red Sea coast in Egypt. Excavations at the
Roman town of Quseir-al-Qadim in Egypt brought to light potsherds inscribed with the
names ‗Catan‘ and ‗Kanan‘ in the Tamil-Brahmi script, dating to the first century CE. From
Berenike comes a Tamil-Brahmi potsherd inscribed with the name 'Korpuman'. These are
clearly names of traders who travelled to these regions.
Figure 5.4.4: A potsherd inscribed in Tamil-Brahmi bearing the name ‗Catan‘ which was
found at the site of Quseir-al-Qadim on the Red Sea coast of Egypt
Source: http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2007/stories/20030411001208100.htm
Figure 5.4.5: A pottery inscription in Tamil-Brahmi found in Thailand by a team of Thai and
French archaeologists
Source: http://www.hindu.com/2006/07/16/stories/2006071603952000.htm
Equally fascinating is the discovery of a papyrus in the collections of a museum in Vienna,

which is dated to the mid-2nd century CE. The document, in Greek, is a trade contract
between two merchants, one of whom undertakes to be an agent for the other‘s cargo and
62

ensure its shipment from Muchiri to Alexandria. While the names of these merchants are
lost, what is fascinating is that the Tamil country was witness to and engaging in cultural
and commercial transactions of such a complex and expanded scale.
In this regard, it is also necessary to examine the role played by political entities with
regard to control over this trade. The velir chieftains were often located in fertile or raw
material producing areas, or along trade routes, or at central points that developed into
relatively large exchange centres, indicating a conscious attempt to bring local resources
and networks under their control. With regard to the Mediterranean trade, the chieftains
wished to have a stake in it since it provided them with luxury goods which served to
increase their status. They took to consciously developing ports of trade by levying tolls and
customs duties and issuing coins. There was also the emergence of dual centres of political
and commercial power in the case of the muventar such as Uraiyur and Kaveripattinam for
the Cholas, Madurai and Korkai for the Pandyas, and Vanchi and Muchiri for the Cheras.
Clearly, in the fertile agrarian tracts, the surplus produced was enough to sustain artisans,
craftsmen and traders as well as poets, dancers, magicians and astrologers.
While various groups are referred to in the texts of this time, they seem to have been
divided on a regional and professional, rather than a caste or class, basis. Hunter-gatherers,
pastoralists, fisher people, farmers, sailors, soldiers, warriors, bards and brahmanas are
some of the groups which find mention.
Brahmanas find mention, performing certain sacrifices, but they do not seem to have had
ideological hegemony in this period. The varna-jati system had not been put in place. While
certain groups like the panans, tutiyans and paraiyans are spoken of as being a source of
polluting power, there is nothing to indicate that they were treated like the untouchables of
later times. Rather, the evidence seems to show that groups later treated as untouchables
by brahmanical society had positions of dignity and status in this early period. Thus, the
paratavas, a fishing group, were later treated as untouchables, but in this period are
described as possessing considerable wealth and status. Evidently, social conditions of this
period, while unequal, were not rigid, being flexible enough to allow marriage and inter-
dining between different groups.
5.5: The archaeological picture – South India
Port-towns, craft centres and trade in South India (300 BCE – 300
CE)
The Periplus Maris Erythreai, an account by an Egyptian Greek merchant during the mid-
first century CE, is perhaps the best source for information on the Indian Ocean trade with
the Mediterranean region. This text, surviving in fragments, mentions several ports on the
western and eastern coasts of the Indian subcontinent, products being traded at these
ports, and also cities and other centres in the hinterlands. Important ports on the
63

southwestern coast are Muziris and Nelkynda. ―Mouziris…is a flourishing [place] with ships
from Ariake [the country behind Barygaza and Gujarat] coming to it, and also Greeks. It
stands on a river, and is…20 stades from the mouth of the river…Among the marts and
harbours in this region [southeastern coast] to which come those who sail from Limurike
[Tamilakam] and the north, the more important, in the order in which they occur, are the
marts of Kamara and Podouke and Sopatma, where are local ships which sail along the
coast as far as Limurike…‖ (Huntingford 1980, 50, 54). In the Sangam text, Patirruppattu
(300 BCE- 300 CE), reference is made to Kodumanam as a bead-making centre. Thus, there
are several textual references to Muziris (identified first with Kodungallur and now with
Pattanam), Poduca (Arikamedu) and Kodumanam (Kodumanal). However, it is
archaeological evidence that has really provided us with tangible information about the
Mediterranean trade and goods that were manufactured for this trade.
Arikamedu: a port-town on the southeastern coast
History of archaeological work at Arikamedu
The French astronomer, Guillaume Le Gentile who stayed at Pondicherry from 1768-71 first
noticed ruins that on digging revealed walls of burnt bricks as large as a foot long, as well
as wells made of several earthen vessels placed one on top of another. He described the
ruins as belonging to an ancient town or large village which the local inhabitants identified
as Virapatnam. The historical significance of this site was first recognized in 1937 by G.
Jouveau-Dubreuil who collected artefacts such as beads and gems from the surface, as well
as from local children. In 1940, a local farmer digging his land recovered numerous
artefacts including sherds of amphorae (a tall earthen vessel used for transporting liquids
such as olive oil, wine or fish sauce from the Mediterranean) which were given to Jouveau-
Dubreuil. These and a carnelian signet ring with the portrait of the Roman emperor
Augustus suggested to Jouveau-Dubreuil the connections of this site with the Roman
empire.
Several small-scale excavations were undertaken, first in 1940 by A. Aiyyappan of the

Government Museum of Madras and then between 1941-44 by the French scholars, L.
Faucheux and R. Sarleau. The site was also declared a protected one by the French
government which had control over Pondicherry at that time.

From antiquarianism to archaeology
―To appreciate [the importance of Arikamedu in the history of archaeology in the
subcontinent], it is necessary to recall two things: first, the remarkable extent of the
archaeological material recovered during the past century in a variety of ways from a
variety of pre-medieval sites in South India; and secondly, our abysmal ignorance of
the context, cultural and chronological, of the greater part of the material in
64

question. There have been a few industrial pioneers and collectors – notably
[Alexander] Rea and [Robert Bruce] Foote – who have dug from time to time from
an honest curiosity or as a mode of collection. But the value still attached to the
collectors‘ catalogues (where catalogues exist) is a measure no less of a lack of basic
knowledge than of an invincible zest for it. For these catalogues, however well
intentioned, do not contain, save in the broadest and vaguest sense even the raw
stuff of constructive science. Their contribution to knowledge – a contribution to
which a proper gratitude is due – is restricted to the presentation of disjected
phenomena which they neither explain nor correlate. It is a matter for regret, not for
congratulation, that the Arikamedu excavation of 1945 was almost the first occasion
on which the normal principles of modern archaeological field-technique have been
applied in South India.‖
Source: Wheeler, R. E. M, A. Ghosh and Krishna Deva. 1946. Arikamedu: An
Indo-Roman Trading Station on the East Coast of India. Ancient India 2: 1.
Thus, R.E.M. Wheeler, the Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India had to
approach the French government through the British Consulate at Pondicherry for
permission to excavate at the site in the summer of 1945. Wheeler noted that the local
residents called the mound Arikamedu.

The importance of Arikamedu
―The special value of the site lies in the fact that, in addition to being an Indian town
and port, it was also a centre of trade with the Graeco-Roman world, and the relics
recovered from it include pottery and other objects of known origin and date from
the much-studied Mediterranean area. The associated Indian culture is thus dated
with precision, and thereby achieves the distinction of being the first ancient Indian
culture to be dated archaeologically in the Indian peninsula. In effect the site is
culturally a ‗bilingual‘ one; the unknown local culture is dated from the known foreign
culture, just as Egyptian hieroglyphs were partly deciphered from the parallel Greek
version on the Rosetta Stone or Kharoshthi from the bilingual inscriptions on the
Indo-Bactrian coins…
For the first time it provides a firm datum-line from which the classification of pre-
medieval South Indian cultures can begin.‖
Source: Wheeler, R. E. M, A. Ghosh and Krishna Deva. 1946. Arikamedu: An
Indo-Roman Trading Station on the East Coast of India. Ancient India 2: 2.
From 1947 to 1950, Jean-Marie Casal excavated at the site, digging a far larger area than
previous investigators. Unfortunately, because he published selectively and that too in
French, his work was not much referred to. However, Casal‘s findings are significant as he
was the first to note the Iron Age (‗megalithic‘) occupation in the southern part of the site
65

(the Southern Sector). Wheeler‘s work, thus, remains the most cited amongst the early
investigations.
Nearly forty years later, Vimala Begley excavated once again at the site for three field
seasons between 1989 and 1992. The importance of her work lies in the fact that she was
able to collate and study all the archaeological material recovered earlier. This included
material excavated by the French archaeologists which is kept in both the Pondicherry
Museum as well as in the Musee Guimet in Paris, and Wheeler‘s finds kept in the
Archaeological Survey of India‘s Central Antiquities Collection at Purana Qila. There are also
a large number of private collections of objects from Arikamedu of which she was able to
study a few.
Location, layout and chronology of the settlement
The site is located four km south of Pondicherry on the right bank of the Ariyankuppam river
just before it reaches the Bay of Bengal. While Arikamedu has been understood to have
been a port, its location remains an enigma. For one, it is too far north on the Coromandel
coast to have been useful for Mediterranean trade and second, it appears to have no
hinterland. Further, there are no natural harbours on the Coromandel coast and it is
believed that most ancient ports would have been short-lived due to high siltation. Yet,
Arikamedu was clearly used as a port for at least two centuries.
The settlement grew along the river, and at the peak of the trade with the Mediterranean
world (50 BCE – 50 CE) it measured 480 m from north to south. On the west, the
settlement was flanked by the river and its eastern edges are not clear due to present fields
and occupation. Because of its linear orientation, Wheeler divided the settlement for
excavation into two sections, called the Northern and the Southern Sectors. While Wheeler
thought that the settlement began in the northern part and extended to the south, Casal‘s
excavations revealed that the earliest occupation was in the southern sector and was
‗megalithic‘ in nature. As mentioned in Chapter 5.3, the ‗megalithic‘ period is now referred
to as the Iron Age. The Northern Sector was occupied later by traders. Casal‘s view was
corroborated by Begley.
Wheeler identified a brick structure in the Northern Sector as a warehouse and several
enclosures in the Southern Sector as tanks, possibly for the dyeing of cloth. Based on this,
he felt that the Northern Sector was the port area while the Southern Sector was ‗industrial‘
in nature. Begley, however, argues that drains were added at a later stage to several of
these enclosures. Further, these enclosures have ―no traces of paved floors or drainage
outlets, nor any discolouration of the sand/soil remaining to indicate organic discharge.
From the evidence they could not have been intended for dyeing of textiles…Their function
was probably not related to ‗industrial‘ production, at least none can be recognized, but
more likely to storage of ‗industrial‘ or agricultural products. In any event the purpose of
these enclosures would appear to be related to commerce rather than identifiable domestic
or residential use‖ (Begley 1996, 17). Casal in his excavations had found a cluster of small
66

‗workshops‘ with evidence of working in glass, semi-precious stones, ivory and shell, but the
information was not published in detail. However, the Pondicherry Museum does have a
large quantity of debitage as well as chunks of raw glass and mica sheets which indicate a
measure of ancient production. While neither Wheeler nor Casal found any evidence for
craftworking in the Northern Sector, Begley in her excavations recovered a furnace-like
feature along with wastes of semi-precious stones and shell as well as a dump of amphora
sherds, all suggesting craft waste.
Even though Wheeler had recovered sherds of black-and-red ware (a pottery type
associated with the Iron Age in South India), yet he dated Arikamedu on the basis of finds
of Arretine Ware and amphorae to the first two centuries CE. As mentioned earlier, Casal
recognized the ‗megalithic‘ occupation at the site. Begley calling the earliest occupation as
late Iron Age, dated it to around the third/second centuries BCE. The settlement expanded
northwards due to trade. On the basis of the study of the amphorae, it has been suggested
that long-distance trade could have begun as early as the second century BCE itself. The
occupation was continuous till the early first century CE. Thereafter the site was occupied
intermittently till the eleventh century CE and ―there is some evidence for commerce with
the Mediterranean, and perhaps with other ports on the Coromandel coast as well, in the
third to seventh century time period and with the east later from the tenth-eleventh century
on‖ (Begley 1996, 21). She points out that the excavated material and structures from the
upper levels of Wheeler‘s trenches need to be re-evaluated.
Ceramics and trade
Arikamedu would have been part of multiple networks of trade - maritime, coastal and
inland. Different types of ceramics are the best indicators to plot the lines of different
networks. Evidence for long-distance maritime trade includes fragments of shipping
amphorae, cups and plates of terra sigillata, Roman clay lamps, Mediterranean clay
unguent (some kind of ointment or lubricant) containers, Egyptian blue glazed faience (see
Chapter 4 for an explanation of faience) bowls, bowls of glass, and perhaps gems. Shipping
amphora jars are the single most important category of ceramics for studying trade with the
Mediterranean world because these ceramics have been so well studied by archaeologists
working on ancient Greece and Rome. Thus, it is possible to pinpoint the place of origin,
date and contents of individual types of amphorae. For example, Elizabeth L. Will who has
studied the amphorae from Arikamedu has ―identified pieces of containers for wine from
Kos, Knidos and Rhodes, datable to the first or perhaps as early as the second century BC;
Roman Campanian imitations of Koan products…fragments of Spanish jars for garum sauce
and olive oil; olive oil jars from the Istrian peninsula in the northern Adriatic Sea; flat-
bottomed containers from southern France, the latter dating from the first through the
second century AD‖ (Begley 1996, 22). A small number of sherds are from jars of even the
medieval period.
67

Figure 5.5.1: A. Campanian wine amphora B. Broken sherd C. Thin section

Source: www.antiquity.ac.uk/Projgall/tomber/index.htm l

Consumers of imports
―Imports contained in the amphoras, in part, may have been for the consumption of
Westerners. Garum sauce and olive oil have rather strong and distinctive flavours
and may not have been in great demand, but wine had a wider appeal, and no doubt
a more varied clientele. The Periplus mentions that wine was exported for the Indian
market. One of the earliest references to yavanas (Westerners) in Tamil literature
concerns consumption of wine brought by them: ‗…having increased the joy by
giving to the girls of shining bangles, who every day have taken in hands vessels
beautified by gold, to drink the cool fragrant wine brought by the yavanas in
beautiful bowls.‘‖
Source: Begley, V. Changing Perceptions of Arikamedu. In The Ancient Port
of Arikamedu: New Excavations and Researches, 1989-1992. Volume I, V.
Begley, et. al., 23. Pondicherry: Centre d’Histoire et d’Archeologie.
The significance of terra sigillata lies in the fact that it can be precisely identified and dated.
Unlike Wheeler who thought that this ceramic was a product of the potters from Arezzo,
Howard Comfort has suggested that these could have been manufactured in different
workshops and can be dated between 10 BCE and 30 CE.
68

There is some uncertainty regarding what was exported from Arikamedu, but based on
evidence of production, the possible items could have been beads and intaglio (incised or
engraved) ring stones of semi-precious stones and glass, shell objects and textiles.
The movement of goods between the Mediterranean world and South Asia would have also
been accompanied by people. There is some evidence for the presence of yavanas as can
also be seen from the Sangam texts, just as there is evidence of Tamil speakers at Quseir
al-Qadim on the Red Sea coast of Egypt. This is indicated through Tamil names inscribed on
potsherds found there in Tamil-Brahmi script. Ceramics similar to those at Arikamedu were
also found at Ras Hafun in Somalia. On the basis of the evidence from the Periplus, Lionel
Casson has suggested that the ships of the yavanas may not have come all the way to the
east coast. Instead, local sailors would have used boats to transport goods from the
southwestern coast ports such as Muziris and Nelkynda to the ports on the east coast.
Therefore, the suggestion is that the yavanas at Arikamedu would have been more like
middlemen sending goods to the Malabar coast and not all the way to the Red Sea ports.
Figure 5.5.2: Rouletted ware from Pattanam (left) and Arikamedu (right)
Source: www.antiquity.ac.uk/Projgall/tomber/index.html
The evidence for coastal and inland trade largely rests on finds of fine dishes with rouletted
designs, called ‗rouletted ware‘. This ware has been found at many sites on the eastern
coast from Chandraketugarh and Tamluk in the north to Alagankulam and Periyapatinam to
Mantai and Kantarodai on the Sri Lanka coast. It has also been found at inland sites in Sri
Lanka such as Anuradhapura and in India from the plains of the Krishna and Kaveri rivers.
Occasionally sherds have been found at sites in the northern Deccan and the Ganga valley
which traveled via routes along the Godavari and Ganga rivers. Another type of fine ware
bowl with stamped figurative designs was also found in limited numbers at a few coastal
sites. This bowl form has been found at Chandraketugarh in West Bengal, Karaikadu and
Alagankulam in Tamil Nadu, Kantarodai and Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka and at Sembiran in
Bali. This may also have been produced at the same ‗workshops‘ where ‗rouletted ware‘ was
produced.
69

Certain coarse wares like perforated jars and paddle-impressed jars/bowls found at
Arikamedu occur at both inland and coastal sites and thus may give an idea about such
networks if a detailed study is undertaken. Some work has been done on another aspect of
coarse wares. Iravathi Mahadevan worked on the graffiti on Arikamedu pottery and found
that they consist of Northern Brahmi, Tamil-Brahmi and ‗Ceylon Brahmi‘ scripts in Tamil and
Prakrit languages. This suggests the presence of traders coming from different areas, who
may not have been permanently settled at Arikamedu.
There is evidence for the craft of gem engraving at Arikamedu. This consists of an
untrimmed quartz intaglio depicting Cupid and a bird, cut and undecorated gem stones as
well as unfinished stone objects. Some gems must have been imported from the
Mediterranean, such as a carnelian gem with the head of Augustus, and may have been
used as models for local craftworkers. There is also a possibility, as suggested by Wheeler,
that there may have been craftworkers from the Mediterranean as well residing at this
settlement. Inland networks would have been used for bringing in semi-precious stones for
the lapidary work at Arikamedu. Possibly these utilized the same routes which were used for
transporting fine ceramics along the Krishna and Godavari.

Trial and learning in gem engraving
―…indications that an Indianized industry of gem engraving existed at Arikamedu
come from an unusual source, the secondary use of pottery. Pictorial graffiti on
sherds of Fine Ware 1 have been found at Arikamedu, which may have been practice
pieces for gem engraving, as suggested by Casal. Pictorial graffiti at Arikamedu fall
into two categories: those which are sketches in outline form, and those which are in
intaglio. Three sherds come from Wheeler‘s excavations, one of which is in intaglio.
Two examples were published by Casal…One sherd with outline figurative graffiti on
both surfaces was found in our excavations in 1991. Outside of Arikamedu, the only
sherd from a South Indian site known to me is from Alagankulam, with the figure of
a horseman in intaglio. The two pieces from Casal‘s excavations are of special
interest because of the oval frames in which the figures are contained and the
imagery itself. The oval frames are suggestive of finger-ring tops either in lapidary
works or metal engraving, for example gold rings from Karur and Vellalore. The
imagery of human and animal figures on the practice pottery pieces from Arikamedu
and on the finished products – the gold rings from Karur and Vellalore –bear some
likeness; the depiction, especially of the human figures, is certainly Indian in style.
Where the rings from Karur and Vellalore were made we do not know, but ideas and
technology, if not the finished products, could have travelled between the inland and
the coasts.‖
Source: Begley, V. Changing Perceptions of Arikamedu. In The Ancient Port
of Arikamedu: New Excavations and Researches, 1989-1992. Volume I, V.
Begley, et. al. 29-30. Pondicherry: Centre d’Histoire et d’Archeologie.
70

Kodumanal
Kodumanal is located on the north bank of the east-flowing Noyyal river and was first
discovered in 1961 as an ancient site by V.N. Srinivasa Desikan of the Archaeological
Survey of India. He found a particular type of pottery called ‗Russet-coated Painted‘ ware on
the surface, which had earlier been noticed by Wheeler at Brahmagiri as mentioned in
Chapter 5.3.3. Material found on the surface included numerous beads of semi-precious
stones, iron objects, iron slag, potsherds with Brahmi script, a Roman silver coin and a
terracotta figurine of Roman origin along with rouletted ware, black-and-red ware and
russet-coated painted ware which prompted further interest in the site. The site was then
intermittently excavated by the Department of Archaeology, Tamil University in 1985, 1986,
1989, 1990 and 1997. As was the case with Brahmagiri, Kodumanal is a burial-cum-
habitation site. Two periods of occupation have been identified at the site: the first,
‗megalithic‘, is dated between 300 BCE – 100 CE and the second, ‗early historic‘, between
100 CE and 300 CE.
K. Rajan, the principal excavator at Kodumanal, notes that there is a cemetery area
belonging to Period I which lies to the east and northeast of the habitation area. The
cemetery area has 150 burials in an area of 40 hectares and covers a much larger area than
the habitation (10 hectares). The range of ceramics in both periods is much the same and
includes the russet-coated painted ware, plain black-and-red ware, and red ware of dull and
polished varieties. The only difference is that the quantity of russet-coated painted ware
decreases over time, with the maximum found in the lowest levels. The architecture and
plans of houses are also similar; square or rectangular in shape, these had walls apparently
made of mud or gravel. Floors were made of gravel with lime plaster. Storage facilities differ
in the two periods. In Period I, circular raised platforms were found on which it is
conjectured round storage bins were placed. In Period II, on the other hand, small circular
pits lined with bricks were dug into the soil, which are thought to have been used for
storage.
Craft activities between 300 BCE and 100 CE
Several craft activities such as lapidary, iron working and weaving are associated with
Period I. The evidence for bead working lies in the number of undrilled and unpolished
specimens found along with finished stone beads. The range of stones being worked
included quartz, carnelian, sapphire, agate, jasper, beryl, garnet, lapis lazuli and steatite. Of
these, quartz, beryl and sapphire are available within 15 km of the site while the others
must have been brought in from further away. The indicators for iron working include lumps
of iron slag near the southern part of the habitation as well as the base of a furnace and
terracotta tuyeres (used for blowing air into the furnace). From the northern part of the
settlement were recovered a large oval-shaped furnace surrounded by a number of smaller
furnaces along with vitrified crucibles. Spindle whorls along with a piece of preserved cotton
are cited as evidence for weaving.
71

Graffiti marks and Brahmi script are found incised on pots and bowls. However, in later
levels graffiti marks seem to disappear. Brahmi script is used mainly to record personal
names such as Kannan Atan, Pannan Atan, Antavan Atan. North Indian names like Varuni,
Kuvirian, Visaki and Nikama (understood to refer to a merchant guild) suggest to the
excavator the existence of trade networks with other parts of India. The use of Brahmi
script seems largely confined to Period I.
Changing burial practices
The burials of Period I are ‗megalithic‘ in form and largely comprise cairn circles with cists
and more rarely, urn burials. Among the cairn circles, three are accompanied by a menhir (a
tall monolithic slab vertically placed). In earlier burials, offerings are inside the cist, while in
later ones they are outside the cist. The range of grave goods includes etched (designs
achieved by painting an organic solution on the surface which when heated is incised into
the stone) carnelian beads ranging from a few to several hundreds, with one burial yielding
two thousand; banded agate beads; copper utensils such as spoon, bowl and strainer; silver
spiral bangles and rings; gold spiral rings and beads; a gold-covered copper ring; iron
objects such as swords, arrowheads, battleaxe, horse-bits and stirrups; as well as an
exceptional object in the form of a copper tiger inlaid with alternating triangular pieces of
carnelian and sapphire. The ceramics that were interred were black-and-red ware and black
polished ware with far fewer red polished ware and red ware, as well as a few sherds of
russet-coated painted ware. Different forms were made in different wares: bowls, plates and
miniature pots in black-and-red ware; lids and ring-stands in black polished ware; four-
legged jars of red polished ware; and storage jars and occasional ring-stands of red ware. It
is suggested that the funerary accompaniments, such as pottery, iron objects and beads,
were specially made for the burials.
72

Figure 5.5.3: Menhir at Kodumanal

Source: www.tnarch.gov.in/excavation/kod.htm
Figure 5.5.4: Cairn circle at Kodumanal

Source: http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3615/3842/1600/IMG_0531.jpg
73

Figure 5.5.5: Excavated burial at Kodumanal

Source: www.tnarch.gov.in/excavation/kod.htm
None of these burials have evidence of pots inscribed with Brahmi script, except for a single
piece of russet-coated painted pottery with Visaki inscribed on it. However, graffiti symbols,
similar to those in the habitation, are found on burial pottery. The excavator (Rajan 1990,
102) thus notes: ―these symbols may therefore be considered to have been clan marks.‖
It appears that in Period II the separate cemetery was no longer used and instead burials
shifted to the habitation area. Three pit burials have been excavated next to houses. These
are extended (where the body is laid out flat) burials. Of the three, one is an adult with legs
tucked up in ‗padmasana‘ posture, another is of a child in a crouched position and the third
has two adults and a child within the same burial.

Urn burial of a deer
―An interesting feature observed in this burial [Megalith XIV] is of an urn placed on
the northern side of the main cist near the pit wall…The 5 cm thick urn was closed
with the lid of a Black and Red Ware. This lid was crumbled due to the weight of a
capstone placed over it…The pot contains deer bones probably sacrificed for the
dead, a sword, an axe and 785 etched carnelian beads. It seems the deer was
sacrificed and cut into pieces so that it could be pushed through the mouth of the
pot. Though the main body of the deer is an articulated form, the head and legs were
placed on the body of the animal. After placing the deer, a sword…was placed in a
slanting position with tip pointing upwards with hilt touching the bottom portion of
the pot. Along with the sword, a double edged axe is placed in the centre. A necklace
consisting of 430 disc shaped and 355 barrel shaped etched carnelian beads was
placed on the northern side of the sword touching the wall of the pot. While animal
bones were recovered from earlier excavated burials none of them were found placed
in a separate pot.‖
Source: Rajan, K. 1998. Further Excavations at Kodumanal, Tamil Nadu. Man
and Environment XXIII, 2: 75.
74

Problems of interpretation
Although the excavator has divided the occupation at Kodumanal into two periods, nowhere
is the rationale for the division made clear. There seems to be hardly any difference, either
in domestic architecture, ceramics or other artefacts, between the two periods. Usually at
sites in South India it has been the practice to associate ceramics such as russet-coated
painted ware and pottery with Brahmi inscriptions with the ‗early historic‘. In fact, the same
excavator, in the context of excavations at Mayiladumparai and other sites, terms the ‗early
historic‘ as from 300 BCE to 300 CE, with which are associated russet-coated painted ware
and Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions on potsherds. The continuance of ‗megalithic‘ burials into the
‗early historic‘ period is also suggested at several sites such as Navalai and Sulur, based on
the evidence of Tamil-Brahmi inscribed potsherds and punch marked coins from graves.
Moreover, Rajan‘s chronology for Kodumanal falls squarely within the time frame for the
‗early historic‘ in South India (300 BCE – 300 CE). The excavator seems to be guided by a
notion that the ‗megalithic‘ form of burial predates the ‗early historic‘, while actually it is
well known that such burial forms continued even up till about 1000 CE.
Similarly, it is not very clear as to how the excavator has interpreted the site as an
agricultural one in Period II. To make such an interpretation it would have been convincing
if the excavator had compared the botanical and faunal remains of Periods I and II to see if
there was a difference. Considering the location of the site in a semi-arid zone, we would
also expect some component of pastoralism along with other strategies such as fishing,
hunting and gathering.
The site is supposed to have functioned as an ‗industrial‘ centre in Period I. Perhaps a more
appropriate term would have been craft centre. While there clearly is evidence for stone
bead making and iron working it would have been useful if the excavator had provided
quantifiable details for the debitage. Was the evidence for craftworking found within houses
in rooms or in courtyards? Or did production take place in non-domestic contexts such as
‗workshops‘?
Interpretations regarding social identities such as clan groups in the context of Kodumanal
are also problematic. This has been done on the basis of graffiti marks on pottery. We need
to have a more detailed distribution pattern of such pottery within the settlement or the
cemetery to be able to make such an attribution. In other words, are certain marks or
symbols associated with some houses and some burials or are they widespread? In other
contexts, graffiti marks have been interpreted as potters‘ marks. Thus, there can be other
ways of interpreting such marks and we need to explore these further.
What is perhaps more probable is that the occupation at Kodumanal be considered as

belonging to a single period -- the ‗early historic‘ -- where the residents of the site largely
practiced the ‗megalithic‘ form of burials. Within this period there may have been some
changes taking place. For instance, it appears that the evidence for craft working is confined
75

to the early phase alone. It is possible that in this phase Kodumanal became linked with the
more extensive networks of trade -- inland, coastal and maritime. Located in the Kongu
region, Kodumanal lies on the major route linking the western and eastern coasts through
the Palghat Gap. Along this route are sites like Karur and Vellalore which have been
mentioned earlier in the context of Arikamedu. Once the Mediterranean trade declined in the
first century CE, this could have impacted on Kodumanal, resulting in an absence of bead
making evidence in the later levels of the site.
Figure 5.5.6: A view of a branch of the Periyar river, the Paravar thodu – 1 km from
Pattanam
Inset: Trench 1, Pattanam excavations
Source: www.antiquity.ac.uk/Projgall/tomber/index.html

Pattanam as ancient Muziris?
Recent archaeological investigations in Kerala are proposing the identification of
Muziris with a site, Pattanam, on the southern bank of the Periyar instead of
Kodungallur on the mouth of the river as suggested in Periplus. Earlier,
archaeologists had focused their investigations on the present course of the Periyar
without realizing that the river had shifted its course in the past. Excavations
revealed the presence of ―Italian wine amphora produced in the Bay of Naples region
between the late first century B.C. and c. A.D. 79‖, storage jars from Yemen dated
between the first and fourth centuries CE and finally blue/green glazed ceramic
fragments ―West Asian in origin and date to the Sassanian/Islamic period. They
provide strong evidence for the continuation of the site beyond the Early Historic
period.‖ There is also coarse ware with red and brown surfaces, black-and-red ware
and rouletted ware. Also found were ring-wells, stone and glass beads, spindle
whorls, bricks and brick fragments as well as triple grooved roof tiles. On the basis of
76

this material, Pattanam has been dated to the ‗early historic‘ and later.
Source: Shajan, K. P., V. Selvakumar and R. Tomber. 2005. Was Pattanam
Ancient Muziris? Man and Environment XXX, 2: 70.
Summary
 Rig Vedic culture was pastoralist with some knowledge of agriculture.
 It was patriarchal and society was divided into jana, vish and kulas.
 Cattle were the main form of wealth. Cattle raiding and booty capture along with
intertribal warfare were some of main activities mentioned in the texts.
 The later Vedic texts refer to elaborate rituals, an enhanced role of the king, and the
beginnings of the varna system.
 Worship of deities continued in the later Vedic period, but some deities lost their
status while others had their status enhanced.
Summary
 The archaeological picture for north India, for the period under consideration,
revolves around two key issues – the advent of iron technology and the Aryan
hypothesis.
 This age is termed as the Iron Age, linking the prehistoric to the early historic period
and spans c. 1500-500 BC.
 All over the world, the Iron Age follows the Bronze Age and is characterized by the
use of iron— artefacts, slag, furnaces being evidence— and associated pottery and
other material culture remains.
 Iron technology may have been an accidental by-product of copper-bronze smelting

but soon the abundance of its ores and the remarkable strength of the metal assured
its common everyday use for all spheres of activity.
 The advent and production of iron is no longer viewed as having diffused from Asia
Minor after the collapse of the Hittite kingdom c. 1200 BC but as a local, independent
development in different parts of the world, displaying variability in both techno-
cultural and chronological terms.
 The introduction and widespread use of iron technology in north India cannot be
attributed to the Indo-Aryans. The early use of iron and its social impact are both
subjects of ongoing debates in academic circles.
77

 In the north-western zone, most of the iron finds have been reported from burial
contexts, Pirak in Baluchistan being the only habitation site having yielded iron
artefacts.
 The Painted Grey Ware, deriving its name from the typical pottery, is the most
important and widespread ware in protohistoric north India after the Harappan,
ranging in time-span from c. 1100 to 500/400 BC.
 Attempts have been made to link the PGW to the Mahabharata but available
archaeological data reflects a simple subsistence based two-tier settlement hierarchy
culture and not the grandeur associated with the epic.
 Ahar in Rajasthan has given evidence of iron remains from a chalcolithic level. While
this remains debatable, iron from a Red-and-Black Ware context in Noh and a
crucible-shaped furnace from Jodhpura reveal the many-layered issues that
permeate iron technology and PGW in India.
Summary
 The beginning of the Iron Age in Malwa remains uncertain due to a paucity of
radiocarbon dates.
 Interest in the archaeology of historical periods in Malwa has largely remained

confined to identifying sites mentioned in texts as is the case with Maheshwar.
 The issue of multiple interpretations in archaeology is dealt with in the case of the
elliptical structures at Besnagar and Dangwada.
 Although not enough is known about the transition from the chalcolithic to the Iron
Age in both Malwa and Vidarbha, the excavations at Adam suggest that there may
have been social continuity from one period to the other.
 In the Iron Age, small scale communities probably practiced multiple subsistence
activities and crafts limited in scale and range.
 In the early studies on ‗megaliths‘, the tendency was to homogenize burial types and
practices. More recent research is now unpacking such ideas and moving towards a
notion of multiple burial practices even within the same site.
 It was Wheeler‘s excavations at Brahmagiri that first provided us with a cultural

sequence for early South India. More importantly, he showed us how the burials
could be interpreted through their internal stratigraphy.
 New theoretical approaches have focused on studying burials within their landscapes.
Summary
78

 Based on a legend of three ‗sangams‘ or gatherings of gods, saints and poets, the
early Tamil poems used to be referred to as ‗Sangam literature‘. But this legend is
now considered to have little historical basis. A major collection of these poems is
known as the Ettutokai or Eight Anthologies.
 Historians assign the composition of these poems to the period 300 BCE to 300 CE,
which is the beginning of the early historic period in South India. However, the
details provided by the poems must be correlated with other sources -- such as the
archaeological record, Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions, coins and foreign accounts -- which
also tell us about this period.
 These poems are marked by a number of literary conventions and devices, the most
basic division being between akam and puram, referring to the ‗interior‘ and
‗exterior‘ domains. Another literary device is the system of tinais, which provide not
only the settings of the poems, but also elaborate modes of classifying landscapes
and behaviour.
 The Tamil region is said to have been ―held in common‖ by the ―three crowned
kings‖ (muventar): these were the Chola, Chera and Pandya dynasties. Beneath the
muventar, the political hierarchy comprised a number of lesser chieftains known as
velir and kilar.
 The Tamil land was involved in a series of trading networks that linked it with the
Mediterranean in the west and Southeast Asia in the east. We can speak of ‗different
levels of exchange‘ in early Tamil society. These range from day-to-day barter,
hawking and peddling to larger transactions in luxury and high-value goods
undertaken for long-distance or maritime trade.
 While various groups are referred to in the texts of this time, they seem to have
been divided on a regional and professional, rather than a caste or class, basis.
Summary
 The site of Arikamedu has been investigated several times over the last 250 years
with the early attempts being largely antiquarian in nature.
 The significance of Wheeler‘s excavations at Arikamedu lies in the fact that

archaeological material in South India could be relatively dated through comparison
with artefacts from the Mediterranean.
 Excavations at Arikamedu have provided us with the internal morphology of the

settlement as well as distinct craft working and storage areas.
 Ceramics have been used as indicators of inland, coastal and maritime trade
networks.
79

 The identity of traders at Arikamedu has been worked out through names inscribed
on pots in Brahmi and Tamil-Brahmi scripts.
 Kodumanal is one of the important burial-cum-habitation sites in the Kongu region of

South India.
 Both archaeological and textual sources indicate that Kodumanal was a bead working
centre in the ‗early historic‘ period.
 Graffiti marks on pots have been interpreted as clan names. Inscribed names in
Brahmi and Tamil-Brahmi scripts suggest the presence of merchants/traders from
different parts of the subcontinent.
 There are several problems regarding the periodization and function of Kodumanal. A
more detailed study of the distribution pattern of different craft activities, pots with
graffiti marks and inscriptions would have enabled more nuanced interpretations.
 Recent archaeological work has focused on identifying ancient Muziris with the site of
Pattanam located south of the Periyar river.
5.1: Exercises
Essay questions
1) What were the main features of the Rig Vedic culture?
2) What were the changes in society and economy in the Later Vedic texts as compared
to the Rig Veda?
3) Discuss the references that are made to the varna system in the Vedic texts.
4) Would you regard the Vedic culture as a patriarchal one? Elucidate with suitable
examples.
Objective questions
Question Number Type of question LOD
1 True or False 1
80

Question
a) The Sama Veda is the oldest Veda.
b) There is material evidence of urban centers in the Rig Vedic period.
c) The Later Vedic period witnessed an upswing in rituals related to

legitimizing the role of the raja, the king.
d) Brahmana Texts involve philosophical speculation on Vedic concepts.
Correct Answer /
a) False b) False c) True d) True
Option(s)
Justification/ Feedback for the correct answer

a) The Rig Veda is the oldest Veda.
b) There is no material evidence of urban centers in the Rig Vedic society;

in fact there are hardly any sites which one can associate with the Rig
Vedic culture. There are hardly any textual references to urban centers.
Rig Vedic society was a pastoralist one with some evidence of agriculture.
c) There are a number of rites like the rajasuya, ashvamedha and

vajapeya which show that the king is most powerful and has the ritual
authority to rule.
d) The Brahmana texts elaborate on aspects of Vedic hymns. Each Veda

has some Brahmana texts attached to it.
Resource/Hints/Feedback for the wrong answer
Reviewer‘s Comment:
81

2 Match the following 2
Question
Match the following:
a) vidatha 1) a council of select people.
b) sabha 2) a general assembly of the clan.
c) samiti 3) a gathering in which raided booty was

distributed, wherein voluntarily gifts, tribute and
booty were handed over to the clan leaders who in
turn redistributed them amongst the people.
Correct Answer /
a) and 3), b) and 1), c) and 2)
Option(s)
Question
82

a) Rajasuya 1) a rite of consecration for the king.
b) Ashvamedha 2) king aspiring to rule over large territories,

emperor.
c) Chakravartin 3) horse sacrifice for extended control over

territories.
Correct Answer /
a) and 1), b) and 3), c) and 2).
Option(s)

These elaborate rituals involved several brahmanas who specialized in
Vedic rites and conducted the rituals for the royalty.
4 Multiple choice question 3
Question
The full form of BMAC cultures is:
a) Bactria Magan Archaeological cultures
83

b) Baluchistan Arabia Architectural complex
c) Bactria Margiana Archaeological Complex
d) Baluchistan Magan Archaeological cultures
Correct Answer /
c)
Option(s)

Bactria Margiana Archaeological Complex are cultures that show evidence
of groups living in the Seistan region. The BMAC sites have revealed
terracotta models of horses, seals, axes and adzes. While some can
identify the BMAC sites in Turkmenistan, Bactria, Seistan with the Indo
Iranian groups of Indo Europeans.
Question
An inscription dated to_________ in__________, records a treaty
between the Hittites and the Mittanis and helps us in dating the RV to
around the same time as the deities mentioned in the inscription are
similar to the RV deities.
a) twelfth century B.C.E, Damascus
84

b) fourteenth century B.C.E, Boghaz Koy
c) sixth century B.C.E, Boghaz Koy
d) eighth century B.C.E, Damascus
Correct Answer /
b)
Option(s)

The Boghaz Koy inscription of fourteenth century B.C.E refers to Indo-
Aryan deities and is significant for dating the Rig Veda. None of the other
answers could be right because either the dates are wrong or the place is
wrongly given.
Question
The RV reference to the pancajanah, the ‗Five peoples‘ refers to the:
a) Yadu-Turvasha, Anu-Druhyu, the Puru-Bharatas.
b) Anu Druhyu, Gotamas, Puru Bharatas.
85

c). Yadu-Turvasa, Gotama, Kurus and Purus.
d) Puru-Bharatas, Kurus, Gotama and the Anus
Correct Answer /
a)
Option(s)

The Yadu-Turvasha, Anu-Druhyu and the Puru-Bharatas are the Five
tribes mentioned in the Rig Veda. The other options are wrong, Gotama
was the name of a Rishi and Kurus are part of the Puru-Bharatas.
5.2: Exercises
Essay questions
1) Do you think the nomenclature, Iron Age, is justified? How did the introduction of
iron alter the course of human history?
2) Discuss the various strands of the Iron and Social Change hypothesis. Evaluate the
available archaeological evidence in its light and give your own verdict on the issue.
3) Taking any district in Haryana or western Uttar Pradesh, try to understand the
settlement pattern and site hierarchy evidence of PGW sites.
Objective questions
86

Question
a) Terracotta figures of humped camel & horse i) Jakhera
b) PGW site in Bahawalpur ii) Hastinapura
c) Horse remains iii) Jodhpura
d) A large proto-urban PGW settlement iv) Pirak
e) Crucible-shaped furnace v) Lakhiyopir
Correct Answer /
a) and iv), b) and v), c) and ii), d) and i), e) and iii)
Option(s)

a) Terracotta figures of double-humped camel and horse, and terracotta
seals etc were found at the site of Pirak.
b) Lakhiyopir is a PGW site discovered in the Bahawalpur area of

Pakistan.
c) Hastinapura yielded bones of domesticated horse.
d) Jakhera in Uttar Pradesh revealed a proto-urban PGW phase.
e) Jodhpura in northeast Rajasthan revealed a crucible-shaped furnace.
87

2 Fill in the blanks 2
Question
Fill in the blanks:
1) The earliest known use of iron comes from the West Asian sites of _______,
________ and _____________.
2) Copper melts at ___ and iron at ____.
3) Indo-Aryan is a sub-group of the _______________ family of languages.
4) Iron was found in the ______________ level at the sites of Ahar and Gufkral.
5) _______________ are the core area of the PGW distribution zone.
Correct Answer / 1) Tel Asmar, Chagar Bazar and Alaca Huyuk

Option(s)
2) 1083C and 1534C
3) Indo-European
4) Chalcolithic
5) Indo-Gangetic Divide and the Upper Ganga plains

1) The earliest known use of iron comes from the West Asian sites, Tel
Asmar, Chagar Bazar and Mari in Mesopotamia, and Alaca Huyuk in
Anatolia, dated to the first half of the third millennium BC.
2) Copper melts at 1083 C, iron melts at 1534C.
3) Indo-Aryan is a sub-group of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-

European family of languages.
4) The chalcolithic levels at Ahar and Gufkral have yielded iron.
88

5) The Indo-Gangetic divide and the Upper Ganga plains are recognized
as the core area of the PGW distribution zone.
5.3: Exercises
Essay questions
1) Discuss the different interpretations of the elliptical structures at Besnagar and

Dangwada.
2) Write an outline of the changing approaches for studying burials in Vidarbha and
southern Deccan.
Objective questions
1 True or False 1
Question
The excavations at Maheshwar have provided us with evidence for ―Puranic tribes‖.
Correct Answer /
False
Option(s)

The answer is false as the excavations at Maheshwar did not provide us
with evidence for ―Puranic tribes‖.

89

2 True or False 1
Question
The burial practices at Adam, Khapa and Mahurjhari are similar.
Correct Answer /
False
Option(s)

The answer is false as there is actually a great deal of variation in the
burial practices at Adam, Khapa and Mahurjhari. At Adam several
different secondary burials have been reported, which include pot burials,
terracotta ring burials and pit burials. On the other hand, at Khapa, bones
were placed in pots and at Mahurjhari, excavations revealed primary
extended burials.
Question
90

a) Dolmen i) a tall monolithic stone slab placed vertically
b) Menhir ii) a circular formation rubble stone or boulders
c) Stone circles iii) above ground structures made of four flat stone slabs
with three of them supporting a capstone
Correct Answer /
a) and iii), b) and i), c) and ii)
Option(s)

The term dolmen is used to describe a stone formation made of four flat
stone slabs with three of them supporting the fourth one.
The term menhir is used for a tall single stone slab placed vertically.
Stone circles are circular formations of stone boulders.
Question
The box or grid method of excavation was introduced by:
a) Meadows Taylor
b) Robert Bruce Foote
91

c) Mortimer Wheeler
d) John Marshall
Correct Answer /
Mortimer Wheeler
Option(s)

The box or grid method of excavation was introduced by Mortimer
Wheeler at the site of Maiden Castle in 1943. Here he subdivided the area
that was to be excavated into a series of squares on a grid but leaving
baulks along the axes of the grid so that the open area is subdivided into
a series boxes within which excavation is carried out.
5.4: Exercises
Essay questions
1) How does the study of inscriptions mediate the boundaries between texts and
archaeology? Discuss with reference to the early history of the Tamil region.
2) What are the various conventions that mark early Tamil poetry? What kinds of issues
have historians discussed with regard to these texts?
3) Why is it important to write regional histories? How can the developments in early
historical Tamilagam be placed in relation to changes occurring in the rest of the
subcontinent in this period?
Objective questions
92

Question
a) Kurinji i) Riverine country
b) Mullai ii) Seashore
c) Palai iii) Arid desert
d) Neytal iv) Mountains
e) Marutam v) Pastoral
Correct Answer /
a) and iv), b) and v), c) and iii), d) and ii), e) and i)
Option(s)

The correct linking of the tinais represents a matching of landscapes and moods that
form the poetic conventions of early Tamil poetry.
Question
Which of the following texts can be numbered among the Eight Anthologies of early
Tamil poetry?
a) Purananuru
b) Periya Puranam
c) Kuruntokai
d) Ainkurunuru
e) Shilappadikaram
93

Correct Answer /
a), c) and d)
Option(s)

The Purananuru, Kuruntokai and Ainkurunuru are included in the Eight Anthologies
of early Tamil poetry.
5.5: Exercises
Essay questions
1) To what extent have the excavations at Arikamedu provided us with information

about the Mediterranean trade and goods that were manufactured for this trade?
2) How far can the evidence from Kodumanal be reinterpreted?
Objective questions
1 True or False 1
Question
It was A. Aiyyappan who first excavated the site of Arikamedu.
Correct Answer /
True
Option(s)

While Guillaume Le Gentile first noticed the ruins as early as in 1768-71
and made some scrapings that revealed burnt brick walls and wells; G.
Jouveau-Debreuil collected artefacts in 1937 which showed connection
with the Roman empire, but it was A. Aiyyappan who first excavated the
94

site of Arikamedu in 1940.
2 True or False 1
Question
There is evidence for pottery production at the site of Kodumanal.
Correct Answer /
False
Option(s)

While there is evidence for bead production, iron working and weaving at
Kodumanal, excavations at this site have not revealed any evidence for
pottery production.
Question
95

a) Muziris i) Kodumanal
b) Poduca ii) Pattanam
c) Kodumanam iii) Arikamedu
Correct Answer /
a) and ii), b) and iii), c) and i)
Option(s)

a) There is a reference in the Periplus to Mouziris as a flourishing port on the
southwestern coast. Recent archaeological work has focused on identifying ancient
Muziris with the site of Pattanam located south of the Periyar river.
b) In the same text, Podouke is referred to as a mart or harbour on the southeastern

coast. Podouke, perhaps derives from Tamil Puducheri, meaning new hamlet. It has
been suggested that the name Puducheri was given when the settlement
transformed from a small village to a commercial center. Arikamedu is the local
name of the mound.
c) In a Sangam text, there is a reference to Kodumanam as a bead making centre. It

is possible the Kodumanam may be the same as Kodumanal, where excavations
have revealed evidence for bead production.
Question
96

Which among these is not located on the southeastern coast of the Indian
subcontinent?
a) Kamara
b) Podouke
c) Barygaza
d) Sopatma
Correct Answer /
Barygaza
Option(s)

Barygaza, identified with the modern place of Bharuch in south Gujarat, is
located on the western coast of the Indian subcontinent.
Question
Which among these was not found at Kodumanal?
a) Russet-coated painted ware
b) Black-and-red ware
97

c) Black Polished ware
d) Rouletted ware
Correct Answer /
Rouletted ware
Option(s)

Excavations have revealed Rouletted ware at Arikamedu and Pattanam
but not Kodumanal. Other sites from where Rouletted ware has been
reported are those on the eastern coast and include Chandraketugarh,
Tamluk, Alagankulam and Peryapatinam to Mantai and Kantarodai on the
Sri Lankan coast. Although Rouletted ware was reported from the surface,
excavations at Kodumanal did not corroborate this. Usually it is the finds
from excavations which are considered to be more reliable than surface
finds.
Glossary
Eponymous clans: clans named after a mythical or historical founder‘s name

Levirate: practice of widow marrying the deceased husband‘s brother
Patriarchal: male dominance
Patrilineal: lineages that are perpetuated through males
Taxonomical: system of classification
Glossary
Archaeolometallurgy: the study of ancient procedures related to the extraction of metals

from their ores, purification and creation of useful objects
Black-and-Red Ware (BRW): Pottery whose surface is partly black and partly red, found
in different chronological and cultural contexts. At Noh and Jakhera, the earliest iron finds
are reported from a BRW level.
98

Bloom: a grey, spongy mass obtained on smelting iron ore and whose further working
produces wrought iron
Carburization: to treat with/ expose to carbon fuel
Flexed burial: burial in which body is kept in a bent position
Fractional burial: the burial of disaggregated bones
OCP: ochre coloured pottery
Painted Grey Ware (PGW): a distinctive type of fine, grey pottery with designs painted on
in black, made and used in parts of north India between c. 1100-500 BC
Post-cremation burial: the practice where the remains after cremation are buried
Quenching: to cool hot metal by thrusting into water or other liquid
Slag: the vitreous mass left as a residue by the smelting of metallic ore
Glossary
cairn: rubble stone packing

lapidary: relates to the engraving, cutting or polishing of stones and gems
sarcophagus: a container of stone or terracotta for a human corpse
primary extended burials: have undisturbed human skeletons laid out straight
yaksha and yakshi: semi divine beings
Glossary
anthologies: collections of literary works, most often poems or songs

bards: poets of the oral tradition, who usually sing their compositions and travel from place
to place seeking patronage from kings and officials
lineage: a marker of descent; a group claiming descent from a single ancestor
wharf: an area lying alongside a river or sea, to which boats and ships may be moored so
as to load or unload commodities and people
Glossary
terra sigillata: a type of fine, glossy, reddish-brown pottery widely used in the Roman
Empire
thin section analysis: a technique in which microscopic thin sections are cut from a stone
object or potsherd and examined by a petrological microscope to figure out the source of
the stone or clay
Further readings
99

Falk, Harry. 1997. The Purpose of Rig Vedic Ritual in Witzel edited, Inside the texts Beyond
the texts, New approaches to the study of the Vedas. Proceedings of the International Vedic
Workshop Harvard University, June 1989, Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora v.2.,
Cambridge, MA: Deptt of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, 69-88.
Roy, Kumkum. 1994. The emergence of Monarchy in North India, Eighth to Fourth centuries
B.C. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Sharma, R. S. 1983. Material Culture and Social Formations in Ancient India. Delhi:
Macmillan India Ltd.
Smith, Brian. K. 1994. Classifying the Universe: The Ancient Indian Varna System and the
Origins of Caste, New York: Oxford University Press.
Thapar, Romila. 2002. Early India From the Origins to A D 1300. London: Allen Lane.
Thapar, Romila. 2008. The Aryan, Recasting Constructs. Gurgaon: Three Essays Collective.
Trautmann, Thomas T. R. 2005. The Aryan Debate, New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Witzel, Michael. 1997. ‗The Vedic Canon and its Political Milieu‘ in Witzel, M. edited Inside
the texts Beyond the texts, New approaches to the study of the Vedas. Proceedings of the
International Vedic Workshop Harvard University, June 1989, Harvard Oriental Series,
Opera Minora v.2., Cambridge, MA: Deptt of Sanskrit and Indian Studies.
Further readings
Agrawal, D. P. 1985. The Archaeology of India. London: Curzon Press.
Agrawal, D. P. & J. S. Kharakwal. 2003. Bronze and Iron Ages in South Asia. New Delhi:
Aryan Books International.
Allchin, B. & R. Allchin. 1982. The Rise of Civilization in India and Pakistan. Cambridge: The
University Press.
------------------------. 1997. Origins of a Civilization: The Prehistory and Early Archaeology

of South Asia. New Delhi: Viking, Penguin Books.
Chakrabarti, D. K. 1999. India: An Archaeological History. New Delhi: Oxford University

Press.
---------------------. 2006. The Oxford Companion to Indian Archaeology. New Delhi: Oxford
University Press.
100

Ghosh, A. (ed.). 1989. An Encyclopaedia Of Indian Archaeology.2 Vols. New Delhi: Indian
Council of Historical Research & Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
Misra, V. N. 2001. ‗Prehistoric human colonization of India‘ in Journal of Bio sciences, 26:4,
pp 491-531.
Thapar, B. K. 1985. Recent Archaeological Discoveries in India. Paris: UNESCO.
Tripathi, V. 2001. The Age of Iron in South Asia. New Delhi: Aryan Books International.
-------------. 2002. The Protohistoric Cultures of the Ganga Valley. in K. Paddayya (ed.)
Recent Studies in Indian Archaeology. pp 189-215. New Delhi: Indian Council of Historical
Research & Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
Sahu, B. P. (ed.). 2006. Iron and Social Change in Early India. New Delhi: Oxford University
Press.
Singh, U. 2009. A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India. New Delhi: Pearson
Education.
Further readings
Banerjee, N. R. 1986. Nagda, 1955-57. New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India.
Darsana, S. B. 1998. Megaliths in the Upper Palar Basin, Tamil Nadu – A New Perspective.
Man and Environment XXIII, 2: 51-64.
Deo, S. B. 1985. The Megaliths: Their Culture, Ecology, Economy and Technology. In Recent
Advances in Indian Archaeology, ed. S. B Deo and K. Paddayya, 89-99. Poona: Deccan
College.
Deo, S. B. and A. P. 1982. Jamkhedkar. Naikund Excavations 1979-80. Bombay:

Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Maharashtra.
Kumar, G. 1982. House-planning in the Chalcolithic Malwa. In Indian Archaeology: New

Perspectives, ed. R.K. Sharma, 238-44. Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan.
Mohanty, R. K. 2008. Mahurjhari: A Bead Manufacturing Centre in Central India. In

Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia, ed. G. Sengupta and S. Chakraborty, 459-75.
New Delhi and Kolkata: Pragati and CASTEI.
Morrison, K. D. 2005. Brahmagiri Revisited: A Re-analysis of the South Indian Sequence. In

South Asian Archaeology 2001, ed. C. Jarrige and V. LeFevre, 257-61. Paris: ADPF.
Sankalia, H. D., B. Subbarao and S. B. Deo. 1958. The Excavations at Maheshwar and
Navdatoli 1952-53. Pune-Baroda: Deccan College and M.S. University of Baroda.
101

Sankalia, H. D., S. B. Deo and Z. D. Ansari. 1971. Chalcolithic Navdatoli. Pune-Baroda:

Deccan College and M.S. University of Baroda.
Spate, O. H. K. and A. T. A. Learmonth. 1967. India and Pakistan. A General and Regional
Geography. Suffolk: The Chaucer Press.
Suvrathan, U. 2009. Landscapes of Life and Death: Considering the Region of Vidarbha. In
Ancient India - New Research, ed. U. Singh and N. Lahiri, 124-73. New Delhi: OUP.
Trautmann, T. R. and C. M. Sinopoli. 2002. In the Beginning was the Word: Excavating the
Relations between History and Archaeology in South Asia. Journal of the Economic and
Social History of the Orient 45,4: 492-523.
Wakankar, V. S. 1982. Chalcolithic Malwa. In Indian Archaeology: New Perspectives, ed. R.

K. Sharma, 224-37. Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan.
Wheeler, R. E. M. 1947. Brahmagiri and Chandravalli 1947: Megalithic and Other Cultures in
Mysore State. Ancient India 4: 180-310.
Further readings
Champakalakshmi, R. 1999. Trade, Ideology and Urbanization: South India 300 BC to AD

1300. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Hart, George L. 1987. The Poems of Ancient Tamil: Their Milieu and Their Sanskritic
Counterparts. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Hart, George L. (trans.). 1979. Poets of the Tamil Anthologies. New Jersey: Princeton
University Press.
Gurukkal, Rajan. 1989. Forms of Production and Forces of Change in Ancient Tamil Society.
Studies in History, 5 [2]: 159-175.
Kailasapathy, K. 2002 . Tamil Heroic Poetry. Chennai: Kumaran Book House.
Mahadevan, Iravatham. 1995. From Orality to Literacy: The Case of Early Tamil Society.
Studies in History, 11[2]: 173-188.
Rajan, K. 2008. Situating the Beginning of Early Historic Times in Tamil Nadu: Some Issues
and Reflections. Social Scientist, 36 [1-2]:40-78.
Rajan, K. 2002. Maritime Trade in Early Historic Tamil Nadu. Man and Environment, XXVII
[1]: 83-98.
102

Ramanujan, A. K. (trans.). 1970. The Interior Landscape: Love Poems from a Classical
Anthology. London: Peter Owen.
Further readings
Begley, V. Changing Perceptions of Arikamedu. In The Ancient Port of Arikamedu: New

Excavations and Researches, 1989-1992. Volume I, V. Begley, et. al. 1-40. Pondicherry:
Centre d‘Histoire et d‘Archeologie.
Comfort, H. 1992.Terra sigillata at Arikamedu. In Rome and India: The Ancient Sea Trade,
ed. V. Begley and R. D. de Puma, 134-50. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Huntingford, G. W. B. tr. and ed. 1980. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. London: The
Hakluyt Society.
Mahadevan, I. 1996. Pottery Inscriptions in Brahmi and Tamil-Brahmi. In The Ancient Port
of Arikamedu: New Excavations and Researches, 1989-1992. Volume I, V. Begley, et. al.,
287-315. Pondicherry: Centre d‘Histoire et d‘Archeologie.
Rajan, K. 1990. New Light on the Megalithic Culture of the Kongu Region, Tamil Nadu. Man
and Environment XV, 1: 93-102.
Rajan, K. 1998. Further Excavations at Kodumanal, Tamil Nadu. Man and Environment
XXIII, 2: 65-76.
Rajan, K., N. Athiyaman, and P. Jayakumar. 2004. Excavations at Mayiladumparai, Tamil

Nadu. Man and Environment XXIX, 2: 74-89.
Shajan, K. P., V. Selvakumar and R. Tomber. 2005. Was Pattanam Ancient Muziris? Man
and Environment XXX, 2: 66-73.
Wheeler, R. E. M, A. Ghosh and Krishna Deva. 1946. Arikamedu: An Indo-Roman Trading

Station on the East Coast of India. Ancient India 2: 17-124.
Will, E. L. 1996. Mediterranean Shipping Amphoras at Arikamedu, 1941-50 Excavations.In

The Ancient Port of Arikamedu: New Excavations and Researches, 1989-1992. Volume I, V.
Begley,et.al., 317-49. Pondicherry: Centre d‘Histoire et d‘Archeologie.
103

Cultures in Transition PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Cultures in Transition PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Cultures in Transition PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Cultures in transition

Lesson: Cultures in transition

5.2: The archaeological picture: North India

5.3: Central India and the Deccan, c. 1000-300 BCE

5.4: Early Tamil literature and society

Language Editors: Bharati Jagannathan and Naina Dayal

Production Editor: Ashutosh Kumar

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Chapter 5: Cultures in transition

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

5.1: North India, c. 1500-600 BCE

Value addition: common misconceptions

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Value addition: common misconceptions

Figure 5.1.1: A manuscript of Isa Upanishad

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Figure 5.1.2: BMAC cultures

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

The Aryan question

Value addition: did you know?

Value addition: did you know?

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

‗gold‘ Sk. Hiranya, Av. Zaranya

Early Vedic society and culture

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Figure 5.1.3: Map showing Rig Vedic rivers

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Value addition: what the sources say

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Value addition: did you know?

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Later Vedic society and culture

Figure 5.1.4: Map of later Vedic settlements

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Value addition: did you know?

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Value addition: what the sources say

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

5.2: The archaeological picture: North India

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Figure 5.2.1: Early Iron Age sites in India

Significance of the Iron Age in world context and its characteristic

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Value addition: did you know?

Any technological innovation to be successful has to evolve in a germane socio-economic

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Value addition: common misconceptions

Sources & analysis

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Value addition: common misconceptions

Figure 5.2.2: Iron smelting furnace, Balathal

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Figure 5.2.3: Tap slag (Dhatwa)

Value addition: did you know?

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Advent of iron in north India

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

Figure 5.2.4: Iron object, Jakhera, Period IIIA