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Material culture and social formation in ancient India
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This book is mainly the outcome of a two-year Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship (1970-72) awarded to the author in 1969 by the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund
All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, without permission
First published 1983 by
Delhi Bombay Calcutta Madras
Associated companies throughout the world
Published by S. G. Wasani for Macmillan India Limited,
4 Community Centre, Naraina Industrial Area, Phase I
New Delhi 110 028
Printed by T. K. Sengupta at Macmillan India Press,
Madras 600 041
Contents
ABBREVIATIONS ix
ROMAN EQUIVALENTS OF NAGARI LETTERS xi
PREFACE xiii
INTRODUCTION xv
I. Problems of Social Formations in Early India -- 1
'No theory no history' 1; Peasant phase 2; The problem of
status 4; Considerations of kinship 5; Marxist anthropology 6;
Notions of impurity 8; Caturvarga and religion 8;'Elitist'
The same locale of the later Vedic texts and the Painted Grey
Ware culture 56; Identical time-bracket for the PGW culture
and later Vedic texts 57; Advent of iron and its use mainly for
war and hunting 59; Ploughing, cereals and non-vegetarian
food 60; PGW level pots and hearths 62; Material equipment
of the PGW-iron phase 64
VI. Contents
V. Material Setting and Social Formations in the -- 69
Indo-Gangetic Divide and Upper Gangetic Basin
(c. 1000-500 B.C.)
Migration and spread of PGW sites 69; Agriculture and settle-
ments 70; Little use of iron for production 71; Overriding clan
rights in land 73; Vaisya kinsmen reduced to tribute payers by
chiefs and priests 74; Nature of collection from the peasants
76; Sudras, a small serving order 78; Value of rituals to priests
and warriors 79; Conflict for sharing the social surplus 80; Pre-
dominance of priests and the reasons for ritualism 82; The
class and the state not firmly established 83; Little gap between
the prince and the peasant 84; Notes 85
VI. Productive Forces and their Social Implications -- 89
in the Age of the Buddha in the Middle Gangetic
Basin
The extent and climate of the middle Gangetic plains 89;
The nature of the Pali and Sanskrit texts 90; North Black
Polished ware archaeology 91; Role of iron in social and
material life 92; Literary and archaeological evidence for
the iron ploughshare 93; Causes of the paucity of ancient iron
tools in eastern UP and Bihar 93; Paddy transplantation 96;
Forest clearance, and widespread settlements as shown by
NBP sites 99j Contrast between NBP and pre-NBP settlements
102; Number and spread of NBP sites 104; Mud and wooden
structures, and the advent of towns 106; More social surplus,
unequal distribution of land, dependent labour, and the varna
and the state mechanism 107; Remedies for social inequality
109; Nots 110
VII. Material Milieu of the Birth of Buddhism -- 117
Wide use of iron and plough agriculture in eastern UP
and Bihar 117; Pre-iron culture 188;Cattle killing in Vedic sac-
rifices 119; Cattle indispensable to new agriculture 120; Bud- dhist attack on sacrifices 121; Urbanism and trade 123; Atti-
tudes towards moneylending 124;Town life favoured by
Buddhism 126; The status of the brahmanas challenged by
the ksatriyas 127; Middle Gangetic material life and the socio-
economic nature of Buddhism 127;Renunciation helped and
hindered by the new socio-economic pattern 128; New elements
in material life and Buddhist teachings for lay followers 130;
MrvSria and ordinary people 131; Notes 131
Trends of Social Evolution in the Epics -- 135
Agriculture constricted by technology 161; Common use of
iron, clearance, cultivation and settlements in the middle Gan-
getic plains 162; Dependent labour, taxpaying peasants and the rise of the mahajanapadas 163; Political economy of the
varna mechanism 164; Buddhist boost to trade, urbanism and
field agriculture 164; Traces of tribal and of class/state socie-
ties in the epics 165.; Cattle herding and booty capture not suf-
ficient for creating varnas and janapadas 165; Food produc-
ing economy and rise of big chiefs and priests 166; State for-
mation and social stratification in post-Vedic times 166;
Notes 167
Appendices
I. DATING THE VEDIC TEXTS II. NOTES ON MAPS -- 168
II. NOTES OF MAPS -- 172
III. RADIOCARBON DATES FOR THE UPPER GANGETIG -- 178
PAINTED GREY WARE—IRON SITES
IV. RADIOCARBON DATES FOR SITES YIELDING IRON -- 182
OBJECTS IN THE MIDDLE GANGETIC PLAINS IN C. PRE-
300 B.C. TIMES
V. PRE-300 B.C. SITES WITH IRON ARTIFACTS, NBP AND -- 186
OTHER WARES IN THE MIDDLE GANGETIC PLAINS
BIBLIOGRAPHY -- 194
INDEX -- 205
Maps
THE UPPER GANGETIC PLAINS -- facing p. 56
MIDDLE GANGETIC ZONE -- facing p. 94
I. Anthony Giddens, Central Problems in Social Theory, London,
1979, pp. 162-3 (modified) quoted with approval in Gregor
McLennan, Marxism and the Methodologies of History, London, 1981,
p.56.
2- Ibid.
Rajput is born to consolidate an estate, and a Jat is born to
lose it. I owe this information to Dr I. S. Marwah.
Adi P. -- Adi Parva
Ait. Br. -- Aitareya Brdhmana
AN -- Anguttara Nikaya
Anu P. --Anusasana Parva
Ap. Dh. S.-- Apastamba Dharmasutra
(also Apas.)
APIIAI -- Aspects of Political Ideas and Institutions in
Ancient India, R. S. Sharma
AV -- Atharva Veda
Baudha. Dh. S. -- Baudhayana Dharmasutra
Baudha. Gr-. S.-- Baudhayana Grhyasutra
CDIAL -- A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan
Languages, R. L. Turner, London, Oxford
University Press, 1966
Cr. Edn.-- Critical Edition of the Mahabharata, ed.
various hands, Poona, Bhandarkar Oriental
Institute, 1927-66.
DN -- Digha Nikaya
Ed.-- Edited by
Edn.-- Edition
HOS -- Harvard Oriental Series
IAR -- Indian Archaeology—A Review, New Delhi
Fat -- Fdtaka
FS -- Faya-Sarnhita redacted by Keshavram
K. Shastree
Katya. Sr. S.-- Katyayana Srautasutra
KS (also Ka 5.)-- Kathaka Samhita
Khadira Gr. S.-- Khadira Grhyasutra
MN -- Majjhima Nikaya
NBP -- North Black Polished (Ware)
PED-- Pali-English Dictionary, T. W. Rhys Davids and
William Stede, London, Pali Text Society,
1921
PGW-- Painted Grey Ware
PHAI-- Political History of Ancient India, H. C. Ray-
chaudhuri, seventh edition, Calcutta, 1972
PTS -- Pali Text Society
RV -- Rg Veda
SN -- Samyutta Nikaya
Sankh. Gr. S. -- Sankhayana Grhyasutra
Roman Equivalents of Nagari Letters
a a i i
u u r c
ai o au
k kh g gh
n c ch j
jh n t th
d dh n t
th d dh n
p ph b bh
m y r l
v s’ s s
h m h
thank Professor D. N. Jha and Professor R. L. Shukla. Finally,
I would wish to thank my wife Malina for constant encourage-
ment.
Department of History
University of Delhi Delhi-l10 007
3 November 1982
Introduction
Depending on their social milieu, intellectual heritage and personal
experience social scientists have produced several abstractions to
comprehend historical developments. The real dispute is about
'the prime movers' of history. The present study is based on the, assumption that the mode of production involving the theory of
surplus leading to class formation continues to be the best working
hypothesis, notwithstanding countless assertions to the contrary.
The effort to eliminate class and surplus has introduced 'elite',
'status','hierarchy', 'decision-making', etc., in their place. The
theory of surplus is rejected on the ground that people do not
produce more on their own but are compelled to put in more work or more people are mobilized for work. Whatever motives
be assigned for producing more—and this will differ from society
to society—almost all types of serious investigators admit that
only extra produce can support wholetime administrators, pro-
fessional soldiers, full-time priests, craftsmen and other similar
specialists who do not produce their food themselves. The argu-
