Aryan Books

From the Mesolithic to the Mahajanapadas: THE MARCH TOWARDS URBANIZATION IN THE GANGA BASIN

By :- B.B. Lal

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Type: English

Pages: xx + 214

Format: Hard Bound

ISBN-13: 9788173056390

Place: New Delhi

Edition: 1st

Publisher: ARYAN BOOKS INTERNATIONAL

Size: 22 cm x 28 cm

Product Year: 2019

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The 6th—5th centuries before the Common Era witnessed an outburst of urbanization in the Ganga Basin. Cities sprang up with houses built of kiln-fired bricks and oriented along the cardinal directions. Sanitation was taken due care of, with soakage jars, ‘ring wells’ and public drains. Water-supply was ensured by constructing wells and reservoirs.

Surplus agricultural produce and storage thereof in granaries testified to basic economic health. Trade was in full swing and there were long-distance trade-routes, such as Uttarapatha and Daksinapatha. Systems of weights and coinage emerged and that of writing was not left behind.

All this coincided with the emergence of SodasaMahajanapadas (Sixteen Big States), which throws light on the contemporary political set-up. Matrimonial alliances on the one hand and wars on the other became common features.

A striking point about the Ganga Civilization is that whereas the Harappan Civilization was confined to the north-western part of India, this civilization covered the entire sub-continent —from Pakistan to Bangladesh and down south even to Sri Lanka.

But, as they say, ‘Rome was not built in a day’. It took four millennia for the Ganga Civilization to evolve from a Neolithic base in the 4th millennium BCE. On this foundation impinged a chalcolithic culture, followed by the emergence of iron. Signs of an incipient urbanization began to appear with the Painted Grey Ware Culture towards the end of 2nd millennium BCE.

The book deals with this ‘march towards urbanization’ in the Ganga basin.

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

List of Illustrations

1 Introductory

2 The Mesolithic Hunter-Gatherers: The First Occupants of the Ganga Basin

2.1. Introductory

2.2. SaraiNaharRai

2.3. Mahadaha

2.4. Damdama

2.5. Some General Observations

3 Immigrants from the Sarasvati Basin

3.1. Introductory

3.2. Alamgirpur

3.3. Hulas

3.4. Sanauli

3.5. Harinagar

3.6. Conclusion

4 The Enigmatic ‘Copper Hoards’

4.1. Introductory

4.2. Bahadrabad

4.3. Chronological Horizon of the ‘Copper Hoard’-OCP Culture

4.4. Nature of Deposits Met with at ‘Copper Hoard’-OCP Sites, and Its Implication – A Huge Flood

4.5. The Blocking of the Sarasvati and Diversion of Its Waters into the Yamuna-Ganga system

4.6. Conclusion

5. Cattle-breeders and Agriculturists Descend from Vindhyan-Kaimur Ranges

5.1. Introductory

5.2. Koldihwa

5.3. Tokwa

5.4. Mahagara

5.5. The Neolithic Folks Descend on the Ganga Plain

5.6. Jhusi

5.7. ImlidihKhurd

5.8. Lahuradewa

5.9. Chirand

6. The Chalcolithic Interlude; as well as the Advent of Iron

6.1. Introductory

6.2. Narhan

6.3. Lahuradewa

6.4. Jhusi

6.5. Dadupur

6.6. Agiabir

6.7. Malhar

6.8. Raja Nal-ka-Tila

6.9. Senuwar

7. From the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic: A Brief Recapitulation

8. On the Threshold of Civilization: The Painted Grey Ware Culture

8.1. An Apology

8.2. The Name of the Culture after Its Most Characteristic Pottery

8.3. Origin of the Painted Grey Ware

8.4. Spatial Distribution of the Painted Grey Ware

8.5. Some Noteworthy Painted Grey Ware Sites

8.5.1. Abhaipur

8.5.2. Ahichchhatra

8.5.3. Alamgirpur

8.5.4. Atranjikhera

8.5.5. Bhagwanpura

8.5.6. Chak 86

8.5.7. The Scenario along the Sarasvati in Pakistan

8.5.8. Settlement Pattern in Kanpur District, Uttar Pradesh

8.5.9. Hastinapura

8.5.10. Hulas

8.5.11. Jakhera

8.5.12. Jodhpura

8.5.13. Kampil

8.5.14. Kausambi

8.5.15. Mathura

8.5.16. Noh

8.5.17. Rupnagar

8.5.18. Saunphari

8.5.19. Sonkh

8.5.20. Sravasti

8.5.21. Sringaverapura

8.5.22. Thapli

8.5.23. Ujjain

8.6. Other Wares Associated with the Painted Grey Ware

8.7. Structural Activities during the PGW times

8.8. Agriculture

8.9. Domestication of Animals

8.10. Use of Metals

8.10.1. Copper

8.10.2. Iron

8.10.3. Gold

8.11. Glass

8.12. Bone and Ivory

8.13. Of Clay

8.14. Some Other Noteworthy Antiquities

8.15. Disposal of the Dead

8.16. Chronological Horizon of the Painted Grey Ware Culture

8.17. The Position of the PGW Culture in the Evolution of Civilization in the Ganga Basin

9. The Destination Reached: The Northern Black Polished Ware Culture

9.1. Introductory

9.2. NBPW Sites in the Ganga Basin

9.2.1. Agiabir

9.2.2. Atranjikhera

9.2.3. Ayodhya

9.2.4. Champa

9.2.5. Hastinapura

9.2.6. Jhusi

9.2.7. Juafardih

9.2.8. Kausambi

9.2.9. Mahasthanagarh

9.2.10. Mathura

9.2.11. Pataliputra

9.2.12. Piprahwa-Ganwaria

9.2.13. Rajghat

9.2.14. Ramnagar

9.2.15. Aktha

9.2.16. Rajgir

9.2.17. Sankisa

9.2.18. Sonpur

9.2.19. Sravasti

9.2.20. Tamluk

9.2.21. Vaisali

9.2.22. Wari-Bateshwar

10. Some Important NBPW Sites Outside the Ganga Basin

10.1. Adam

10.2. Amaravati

10.3. Anuradhapura

10.4. Charsadda

10.5. Rupnagar

10.6. Sisupalgarh

10.7. Taxila

10.8. Ujjain

11. The Bursting Forth of Features of Urbanization in the Ganga Basin: 6th to 3rd Centuries BCE

11.1. Two Sub-periods of the NBPW

11.2. Self-sufficiency in Food-production

11.3. Structural Activities

11.4. Town-planning and Defences

11.5. Metallurgy

11.6. Arts and Crafts

11.7. Coinage

11.8. Linear Measures

11.9. Weights

11.10. Writing

11.11. Trade and Trade-routes

12. Archaeology vis-à-vis History: The Mahajanapadas

12.1. A Glimpse of the Mahajanapadas and their Rulers

12.2. Asoka, the Great

Appendices

Appendix I: An Enigmatic Copper Hoard Anthropomorph

Appendix II: “PranayuhpravavrajatasyeteKuru-PanchalahKasi-videhaityetadpravrajam”

Appendix III: Shouldn’t Early Historical Period in the Ganga Basin be Deemed to have with the Mahabharata Times?

III.1. Arguments Supporting the Proposition that Historical Period Began with Mahabharata Times.

III.2. The Historicity of the Mahabharata

III.3. Excavation at Hastinapura

Appendix IV: Distribution of Northern Black Polished Ware Sites

— Contributed by Vishnu Kant

List of NBPW Sites

Appendix V: Distribution of Punch-marked Coins

— Contributed by Vishnu Kant

List of Sites with Punch-marked Coins

Colour Plates

Bibliography

Index

A world-renowned archaeologist, Prof. B.B. Lal was the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India from 1968 to 1972. In the latter year he took voluntary retirement to pursue his research programmes independently. First he joined Jiwaji University, Gwalior, as a Professor and later the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, of which he was also the Director.

Professor Lal’s excavations cover a very wide range —from palaeolithic times to early historical. At Kalibangan, Rajasthan, he unearthed a prosperous city of the Harappan Civilization. The excavations at Hastinapura, Indraprastha, etc. have established that there was a kernel of truth in the Mahabharata, even though the epic is full of interpolations. Likewise, his excavations at Ayodhya, Sringaverapura, etc. have indicated that the Ramayana too has a basis in history. In 1961, he conducted excavations in Egypt also, which threw welcome light on Egyptian prehistory.

His publications include over 150 seminal research papers, published in scientific journals, both in India and abroad: USA, UK, France, Italy, Russia, Egypt, Afghanistan, Japan, etc. Amongst his latest books are: Historicity of the Mahabharata: Evidence of Literature, Art and Archaeology (2013); The Rigvedic People: ‘Invaders’?/‘Immigrants’? or Indigenous (Evidence of Archaeology and Literature) (2015); Kausambi Revisited (2017).

In 1994, Prof. Lal was awarded D. Litt. (Honoriscausa) by Institute of Archaeology, St. Petersburg, Russia. The same year he presided over World Archaeological Congress. He has been Chairman and member of several committees of UNESCO. In 1982, MithilaVisvavidyalaya honoured him with the title of Mahamahopadhyaya. In 2014, the Deccan College, Postgraduate and Research Institute, Pune (Deemed to be University) conferred on him D. Litt. (Honoriscausa). In 2019, the Vice President of India honoured Prof Lal by releasing a three-volume set of a

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