The Penguin History of Early India

by Romila Thapar

  In an effort to ease the relations between the Satavahanas and the Shakas, a matrimonial alliance brought together the daughter of Rudradaman and the Satavahana king. It is interesting that the Satavahanas, who boasted of having stopped the contamination of the four varnas, were nevertheless anxious to take a bride from a Shaka family. The discrepancy between theory and practice was subordinated to the primacy of political expediency. That this effort at an alliance was not entirely successful is clear from Rudradaman’s statement that he twice defeated the Satavahana king in battle, but refrained from annihilating him because of a close relationship. After the death of Rudradaman, the Satavahanas were more successful in their attacks on Shaka territory. Towards the end of the second century the Satavahana domain stretched from western India to the Krishna delta and northern Tamil-nadu, but this extensive domain was not to survive long. The next century saw the weakening of the Satavahanas, with a corresponding increase in the power of local governors claiming independent status.

  The Satavahanas refrained from taking imperial titles, perhaps because they recognized that their control over local chiefs and kings was not of a nature to justify such titles. This fact was conceded even in their administrative system, where power was distributed throughout the hierarchy of officials and not concentrated at the centre. Satavahana territory was divided into small provinces, each under civil and military officers (amatya, maha-bhoja, mahasenapati, mahatalavara, maharathi). Some were permitted to marry into the royal family, suggestive of their being chiefs of the area, presumably in the hope that this would fortify their loyalty to the dynasty. Some were even allowed to mint their own coins. When the Satavahana power collapsed these governors followed the usual pattern of setting themselves up as independent rulers. Administration was left largely in local hands, though subject to the general control of royal officers, with the village remaining the administrative unit. There was some continuity from Mauryan times, as in the use of terms such as mahamatra for an officer or ahara for an administrative division. This was unchanged while the village was the source of taxes. There might also have been some obligation to provide soldiers in case of a war and this would tie down the village still further. Changes in political relationships were restricted to the higher level among provincial governors and their officers.

  Some Satavahana kings use matronymics, which has led to the controversy as to whether this was a method of identifying the ruler more precisely or the influence of a local matrilineal custom. The adoption of caste society in new areas would not have required the discarding of all local practices. Even practices that were alien to the Dharmashastras would have been permitted if they were necessary to local custom. Such texts may not have been quite as authoritative as is thought.

  The Abhiras and the Traikutakas of western India made the declining Satavahana power their target. The Vakatakas were the next to dominate the northern Deccan. The Kalachuri-Chedi dynasty asserted control over the northern part of the peninsula. They were among the earlier dynasties to establish an era, in AD 248-49, no doubt as one aspect of staking a claim to power. A number of small kingdoms came alive in the Ganges Plain. Their most important role was to restrain the powers of the north-west from overrunning the plain, but they have left few traces. Some kings have been identified as belonging to the dynasties of the Maghas, Bodhis and Nagas, while others have names ending in the suffix ‘mitra’, although this does not link them to the Shungas.

  Further south in the peninsula the kingdoms of the Shalankayanas, Brihatpalayanas and Ikshvakus arose in about the third-fourth centuries AD. The first two ruled in the west Godavari district and in the Masulipatam area. The Ikshvakus were located further south in the Krishna valley and were doubtless a local clan who took a lineage name from the Suryavamsha, the solar line, on coming to power. They built the magnificent city of Nagarjunakonda and are also remembered for their gender division of patronage: the kings performed Vedic sacrifices, while the women of the royal family were generous donors to the Buddhist Sangha. The two kinds of patronage would have had different functions. Setting apart the belief in either or both religions, the Vedic rituals were new to the area and were performed to claim legitimation as kings superseding earlier chiefships, whereas the Buddhist Sangha had a wide network that could perhaps be a more effective support to its royal patrons. The adoption of Vedic rituals sharply separated the chiefly families from the clansmen and others in an erstwhile clan society. On the conversion of the first generation to kshatriya status, other chiefs, such as the mahatalavara, also claimed gotra identity.

  South India

  Towards the end of the first millennium BC south India moved from prehistory into history, and literary records reflecting contemporary events are available. Ashoka in his inscriptions refers to the peoples of south India as the Cholas, Cheras, Pandyas and Satiyaputras – the crucible of the culture of Tamilakam – called thus from the predominant language of the Dravidian group at the time, Tamil. The use of the suffix putra in some of these names would suggest a system of clans and chiefs. The first three chiefdoms became almost generic to societies based on clans and lineages in the area and acquired the status of kingdoms in a later period. The Cholas and the Pandyas were located in the eastern area, with a Chola concentration in the lower Kaveri. Korkai and Alagankulam are recently excavated sites, thought to have been exchange centres in Pandyan territory. The first is linked to pearl fisheries and the second developed as a port. Karur on the banks of the Kaveri was an important inland centre, as was Kodumanal, with excavated evidence of working semi-precious stones. Gradually, over time, the Cheras were associated with the western coast. The Satiyaputras, with a more limited history, have been identified through being mentioned in a local inscription in Tamil-nadu.

  The history of this area of south India has been reconstructed from diverse sources: megalithic burials, inscriptions in Tamil brahmi (where the brahmi script was the earliest script used for writing Tamil) and the Tamil poems of the Shangam literature. Some comparative data comes from sources in Greek – the Periplus Maris Erythraei/The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, and Ptolemy’s Geography (in both of which, parts of south India are described) – as well as in Pliny’s Natural History in Latin. Megalithic burials are scattered across the peninsula as far north as the Vindhyas, with variations of frequency and form. Those of Tamilakam include menhirs, dolmens, urn burials and stone circles, while Kerala also has rock-cut chambers. A stone chamber, constructed from slabs of stone in a pit in the ground, was used for placing relics and grave goods; the chamber was then covered with earth and the small area demarcated by a circle of stones. Terracotta urns and legged sarcophagi also occur in the burials. Rock-cut chambers or passages occur in the hilly areas and urn burials in riverine areas. Societies using these forms of burials were not identical and were culturally heterogeneous. Yet there are some strands in their cultures, such as demarcating burial locations, that link them and make the cultures of the peninsula distinctive.

  Burials accompanied by grave goods point not only to respect for ancestors, but also to beliefs in life after death. The burials include complete or partial skeleton remains; some horse and cattle bones; metal objects, largely of iron, but some of copper, gold and silver; ornaments of chank and ivory; beads; charred rice or millet; and Black-and-Red pottery. It is likely that these were the burials of chiefly families.

  These burials date to the first millennium ac and, in a few cases, their terminal levels contain artefacts that date to the turn of the millennium, for example Roman Imperial coins. The structures are not arbitrary and required the quarrying of large blocks of stone laid in specific patterns. In all probability these were societies capable of organizing kinsmen as labour. Pottery placed in the burials is mainly the Black-and-Red Ware, which could have been made locally, suggesting craft specialization. Some of the potsherds have graffiti designs scratched on them, a few of which resemble the signs on Harappan seals. Iron artefacts – hoes, horse-trappings and implemen
ts – could have been obtained either from itinerant smiths working at the sites or through a network of exchange. A furnace for smelting metal has been excavated in the Deccan, and the site of Kodumanal in the south was a centre for the production of iron artefacts. Beads would also have been part of such an exchange. If these objects were not produced locally by craftsmen the networks of exchange must have been extensive.

  Despite the diversity in burial forms, grave goods tend to be fairly uniform. Few settlement sites have been found in the vicinity of the burials, one theory being that this was due to the nomadic lifestyle of the society, but this explanation seems inadequate. Agricultural implements, such as hoes, could have been used either in shifting cultivation or in settled agriculture. However, a burial site is sacred and needs to be tended, so it is unlikely that a group identified with such a site would wander far from it. Memorial menhirs, constituting what is called a sarna among certain central Indian tribes today, frequently form the focus of community and religious activities, as a symbol of identity.

  Other than the evidence of the megaliths, the earliest reasonably accurate sources for the history of this region are the short dedicatory inscriptions, dating to the period from about the second century BC to the mid-first millennium AD. The dedication is often a votive inscription to record the donation of a cave by a chief, or later by an artisan or merchant or even a Buddhist or Jaina monk. References to brahman settlements begin around the middle of the millennium. The language of the inscriptions is Tamil, although some Prakrit words are included. This provides clues to the process of the adaptation of the Ashokan brahmi script that was increasingly used, with emendations for Tamil. It is likely that the influence of Mauryan administration, together with the arrival in the south of itinerant Buddhist and Jaina monks, led to this adaptation. Such label inscriptions also occur as graffiti on potsherds, where names were inscribed on large pots. Where they are votive inscriptions, the later ones mention the occupations of the donors, many of whom were merchants dealing in cloth, toddy, grain and salt, or else craftsmen such as goldsmiths and lapidaries. The locations of the inscriptions provide evidence on links between routes. The inscriptions are invaluable, both in themselves for purposes of establishing chronology, and for providing cross-references to names of chiefs and clans mentioned in the Shangam literature, the earliest literary source.

  The Shangam corpus is a collection of anthologies of poetry on themes popular among these early societies. Tradition has it that many centuries ago three successive assemblies (shangams) were held, the last at Madurai, and the compositions of the poets and bards are included in the anthologies of the Shangam literature. The latter mainly consist of the earliest stratum, the Ettutogai, and the somewhat later Pattupattu dating to between 200 BC and AD 300. To these are added the Tamil grammar, the Tolkappiyam, and the somewhat later didactic text, the Tirukkural. The precise dating of these compositions is problematic, which complicates their use as historical sources.

  Many of the poems narrate episodes relating to raids and plunder. Some describe the capturing of brides. These are themes common to all heroic literature and there are close parallels with epic literature in other Indian languages. What is particularly remarkable in these poems is the awareness of the environment and the correlation of activities to ecological perceptions. Five ecological zones are listed, referred to as tinai, each supporting in turn hunter-gatherers, pastoralists, marauders, fishermen and rice cultivators. Because these were not sharply demarcated there were some overlaps. The gradual spread of agriculture can be observed through the association of wealth with cultivated land.

  Among the clans the heads of households were important, but a higher status was given to the velir, the chiefs, who might have been associated with the megalithic burials. A still higher status was that of the powerful chiefdoms of the ventar, a term used for the Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas. Exchange and the redistribution of produce would have interlocked the three levels. Some elements are similar to the earlier janapadas of the north, many of which retained a gana-sangha polity, although others evolved into kingdoms. The change from chiefdoms to kingdoms takes place in the subsequent period.

  The evolving of kingdoms may have been slower because the minimal craftsmanship did not require a concentration of craftsmen in towns, therefore the demand for agricultural produce to sustain such groups was limited. This in turn could have been related to items of exchange, probably raw materials and the produce from horticulture, with the exchange being carried out by itinerant traders. Initially, the major item bringing in wealth was pepper, a horticultural product intended for exchange. The exchange of pepper for items brought by the Roman trade – gold and silver coins, coral and wine – first took place in centres that only gradually developed into commercial towns. The cultivation of rice was sufficient for the society of the chiefdoms and the motivation to extend this cultivation is not apparent. Iron technology in the megalithic settlements was not the marker of full-fledged sedentary peasant farming, as has been argued for north India. Neither was the iron ploughshare necessary for a substantially increased yield, given that the lighter soil conditions of much of the south were different from the Ganges Plain. In this situation, the initial thrust towards urbanization and the formation of states may have resulted from the increasing demands of trade. The emergence of kingdoms was a gradual process.

  As in all heroic societies, the poet or bard was held in high esteem even if his authority was not tangible. He composed and communicated the poems in praise of the hero, thus bestowing on him fame and immortality. Depending on the wealth of his patron his reward could be anything from a meal to a golden lotus. Gift-giving was taken for granted in such societies and the economy was tied into kinship. Lesser kinsmen provided for the chiefs who carried out raids, and the booty from these was distributed to the kinsmen as reward. The use of non-kin labour is again a later development. Where labour is regulated by kinship, customary practices tend to be observed. On the other hand, non-kin labour, the source of which is frequently coercion based on enslavement or impoverishment, is more impersonal. The Shangam poems refer to various occupations, but not directly to the social ordering of varna.

  The settlement of the chief as the hub of the redistribution of wealth would gradually grow into an administrative centre and this, together with the coming of trade, prepared it for a move towards urbanism, as was the case in Uraiyur, Madurai and Karur. Items of daily necessity, such as salt and paddy, would have been available at more local levels and subject to barter. The shift to luxuries, as with the Roman trade, where pepper, semi-precious stones (particularly beryl) and textiles were exchanged for gold and silver coins, wine and coral, could take place at port settlements where the traders gathered: hence the importance of Muziris, Arikamedu and Puhar (Kaveripattinam). Puhar was later to become the focus of trade from many directions.

  The Roman conquest of Egypt linked Alexandria to Rome and this probably spurred Egyptian interest into exploration of the Arabian Sea, their former interest having been hesitant. The range of ports increased from those linked to the Indus delta, and began to include ports further south. By the time that the Yavana traders became active in south India, at the turn of the Christian era, the votive inscriptions mention various craft specialists and merchants such as those handling gold, semi-precious stones, textiles, iron and suchlike. This would have marked a change in the chiefdoms.

  There was frequent conflict between the Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas, which gave ample scope for compositions on war and love by the poets. Some chiefs are even said to have participated in the battle at Kurukshetra, described in the Mahabharata, an obvious attempt to give them antiquity and underline their claims to the status of heroes. The Tamils, under Elara, attacked and occupied a part of northern Sri Lanka, but only for a short while. They were expelled by King Dutthugamini, which has made of the latter something of a Sinhala hero in later times. Pottery pieces with graffiti in Sinhala brahmi, surfacing at subcontinental coa
stal sites, point to early contacts. The Chera chief, Neduncheral Adan, is said to have conquered all the land as far as the Himalaya, clearly a poetic conceit. He is also said to have defeated a Yavana fleet, which may have been an attack on Roman trading ships since Yavana initially referred to those coming with the maritime trade from the west. Among the early Chola heroes Karikala, the ‘man with the charred leg’, is credited with having fought and defeated the combined forces of the Pandyas, the Cheras and eleven minor chieftains.

  For the far south, this was the period of transition from chiefdoms to kingdoms, with the formation of states. The catalysts in this region were not the same as those of the Ganges Plain. There is little evidence of the clearing of forests for cultivation although the cultivation of wet rice associated with the megalithic settlements would have provided some surplus. The use of iron extends over a long period yet it does not seem to have been a crucial factor in the change to urbanisrn. The ending of the chiefdoms is attributed to hostilities with the Kalabhras, who had upset the existing system. But other changes may have been more effective.

  Migrants such as Buddhist and Jaina monks used the avenues opened by Mauryan administration. Somewhat later, further pointers to trade and the introduction of new agricultural settlements are provided by the brahman settlers, who probably came from the Deccan. The monks would have sought the patronage of the chiefs to establish monasteries, and later the patronage of merchants and wealthy craftsmen when towns were established. Some megalithic networks of exchange were doubtless extended by involvement in the trade with the eastern Mediterranean, which stimulated the accumulation of wealth. There were many likely reasons for change: the mutation of barter into trade; or clan-based agriculture becoming peasant cultivation, which was taxed; the use of non-kin labour organized by the chiefs; and the chiefs acquiring wealth through means other than raids.