class 12 NCERT History chapter 2

    Kings, Farmers and Towns

         Early States and Economies 

           (c. 600 BCE - 600 CE ) 

Prinsep and Piyadassi 

• Some of the momentous developments in India epigraphy took place in the 1830s .
• When James Prinsep , an officer in the mint of the East India Company , deciphered Brahmi and Khrosthi , two scripts used in the earliest inscriptions and coins .
• A king referred to as Piyadassi - Meaning " pleasant to behold "; there were a few inscriptions which also referred to the king as Asoka , one of the most famous rulers known from Buddhist texts .
• The broad contours of political history were in place by the early decades of the twentieth century .'

The earliest states 

The sixteen mahajanapadas 

• The sixth century BCE is often regarded as a major turning point in early India history .
• It is an era associated with early states , cities , the growing use of iron , the development of coinage , etc .
• It also witnessed the growth of diverse systems of thought , including Buddhism and Jainism .
• Early Buddhist and Jain texts mention, amongst other things , sixteen states known as mahajanapadas .
• Mahanapadas were ruled by kings , some , known as ganas or sanghas , were oligarchies , where power was shared by a number of men , often collectively called rajas .
• Both Mahavira and the Buddha belonged to such ganas .
• Each mahajanapada had a capital city, which was often fortified. maintaining these fortified cities as well as providing for incipient armies and bureaucracies required resources .
• From c. 6th century BCE onwards, Brahmanas began composing sanskrit texts known as the Dharmasutras .
• Rulers were advised to collect taxes and tribute from cultivators, traders and artisans .

First amongst the sixteen :Magadha 

• Between the 6th and the 4th centuries BCE, Magadha become the most powerful mahajanapada .
• Magadha was a region where agriculture was especially productive .
• Elephants , an important component of the army , were found in forest in the region . Also , the ganga and its tributaries provided a means of cheap and convenient communication .
• Initially , Rajagaha was the capital of Magadha.Interestingly , the old name means "house of the king".
• Rajagaha was a fortified settlement , located among hills . 
• Later , in the fourth century BCE, the capital was shifted to pataliputra, present - day patna , commanding routes of communication along the ganga .

An Early Empire 

• The growth of magadha culminated in the emergence of the mauryan Empire .
• Chandragupta Maurya , who founded the empire (c. 321 BCE), extended control as far northwest as Afghanistan and Baluchistan , and his grandson asoka , arguably the most famous ruler of early India , conquered kalinga .

Finding out about the Mauryas 

• The Mauryas are mentioned in later Buddhist , jaina and puranic literature , as well as in sanskrit literary works. 
• The inscriptions of Asoka (c. 272/268- 231 BCE) on rocks and pillars are often regarded as amongst the most valuable sources ./
• asoka was the first ruler who inscribed  his messages to his subjects and officials on stone surfaces - natural rocks as well as polished pillars. 
• He used the inscription to proclaim what he understood to be dhamma .

`Administering the empire 

• There were five major ;political centers in the empire - the capital pataliputra and the provincial centres of taxila, Ujjayini , Tosali and suvarnagiri , all mentioned in Asokan inscriptions.
• These regions included within the empire were just too diverse. Imagine the contrast between the hilly terrain of afghanistan and the coast of Orissa .
• The administrative control was strongest in areas around the capital and the provincial centres .
• Both taxila and ujjayini being situated on important long - distance trade routes , while suvarnagiri was possibly important for tapping the gold mines of karnataka .

How important was the empire ?

• The emergence of the Mauryan empire was regarded as a major landmark .
• India was then under colonial rule , and was part of the british empire .
• 19th and 20th century India historians found the possibility that there was an empire in early India both challenging and exciting .

New notions of kingship 

Chiefs and kings in the south 

• The new kingdoms that emerged in the Deccan and further south, including the chiefdoms of cholas , cheras and pandyas in tamilakam, proved to be stable and prosperous .
• many chiefs and kings , including the satavahanas who ruled over parts of western and central India and the shakas , a people of central Asian origin who established kingdoms in the north - western and western parts of the subcontinent , derived revenues from long - distance trade.

Divine kings 

• Colossal statues of Kushana rulers have been found installed in a shrine at mat near mathura . similar statues have been found in a shrine in Afghanistan as well .
• Many Kushana rulers also adopted the title devaputra , or "son of god ", possibly inspired by chinese rulers who called themselves sons of heaven .
• By the 4th century there is evidence of larger sates , including the gupta Empire .
• The gupta rulers have been reconstructed from literature , coins and inscriptions , including prashastis in general , by poets .
• The Prayaga prashasti as the Allahabad pillar composed in sanskrit by harshana , the court poet of samudragupta , arguably the most powerful of the gupta rulers.

A changing countryside 

popular perceptions of kings 

• The jatakas were written in pali around the middle of the first millennium CE.
• One story known as the Gandatindu Jataka describes the plight of the subjects of a wicked king these include elderly women and men , cultivators , herders, village boys and even animals .
• The relationship between a king and his subjects , especially the rural population , could often be strained - kings frequently tried to fill their coffers by demanding high taxes , and peasants particularly found such demands oppressive .

Strategies for increasing production 

• One such strategy was the shift to plough agriculture , which spread in fertile alluvial river valleys such as those of the ganga and the kaveri from c. 6th century BCE.
• The iron - tipped ploughshare was used to turn the alluvial soil in areas which had high rainfall.
• The iron ploughshare led to a growth in agricultural productivity , it use was restricted certain parts of the subcontinent - cultivators in areas which were semi - arid , such as parts of punjab and Rajasthan .
• Another strategy adopted to increase agricultural production was the use of irrigation , through wells and tanks , and the use less commonly , canals .
• Communities as well as individuals organised the construction of irrigation works . the latter, usually powerful men including kings, often recorded such activities in inscriptions .

Differences in rural society 

• The term gahapati was often used in pali texts to designate the second and third categories .
• The large landholders , as well as the village headman , emerged as powerful figures , and often exercised control over other cultivators .
• Tamil literature also mention different categories of people living in the village - large landowners or vellalar , ploughmen or uzhavar and slaves or adimai .

Land grants and new elites 

• The records that have survived are generally about grants to religious institutions or to Brahmanas . Most inscription were in sanskrit .
• Prabhavati gupta was the daughter of one of the most important rulers in early India history Chandragupta II (c.375 - 415 CE ). 
• The inscription indicates that prabhavati had access to land , which she then granted .
• The inscription also gives us an idea about rural populations - these included Brahmanas and peasants , as well as others who were expected to provide a range of produce to the king or his representatives .
• Land grants such as this one have been found in several parts of the country . 
• The impact of land grants is a subject of heated debate among historians .
• Land grants provide some insight into the relationship between cultivators and the state .

Towns and Trade 

New cities 

• The urban centers that emerged in several parts of the subcontinent from c. sixth century BCE.
• All major towns were located along routes of communication . some such as pataliputra were on riverine routes .

Urban populations:
Elites and craftspersons 

• The kings and ruling elites lived in fortified cities .
• These include fine pottery bowls and dishes with a glossy finish , known as northern Black polished ware , probably used by rich people , and ornaments , tools , weapons , vessels , figurines , made of a wide range of materials - gold , silver , copper , bronze, ivory, glass , shell and terracotta .
• by the second century BCE, we find short votive inscriptions in a number of cities .
• The people who lived in towns : washing folk , weavers , scribes , carpenters , potters , goldsmiths , blacksmiths , officials , religious teachers, merchants and kings .

Trade in the subcontinent and beyond 

• from the sixth century BCE , land and river routes criss - crossed the subcontinent and extended in various directions - overseas , form ports that dotted the coastline - extending across the Arabian sea to east and north Africa and west Asia , and through the bay of Bengal to southeast Asia and china  
• Successful merchants , designated as masattuvan in tamil and setthis and sattacahas in prakrit , could become  enormously rich .

Coins and kings 

• Punch - marked coins made of silver and copper were amongst the earliest to be minted and used.
• These have been recovered from excavations at a number of sites throughout the subcontinent .
• The first coins to bear the names and images of rulers were issued by the Indo - Greeks , who established control over the north - western part of the subcontinent c. second century BCE.
• The first gold coins were issued c. first century CE by the Kushanas .
• The widespread use of gold coins indicates the enormous value of the transactions that were taking place .
• Coins were also issued by tribal republics such as that of Punjab and Haryana .Several thousand copper coins issued by the Yaudheyas .
• some of the most spectacular gold coins were issued by the Gupta rulers. 
• From c. 6th century CE onwards , find of gold coins taper off .

Back to Basics 
How are Inscriptions Deciphered ?

Deciphering Brahmi 

• Most scripts used to write modern Indian Languages are derived from brahmi, the script used in most Asokan inscriptions .
• Prakrit wa only after decades of painstaking investigations by several epigraphists that james prinsep was able to decipher Asokan Brahmi in 1838.

How Kharosthi was read 

• The story of the decipherment of Kharosthi , the script used in inscriptions in the northwest , is different .
• The Coins of Indo - Greek kings contain the names of kings written in greek and Kharosthi scripts .
• The symbol for a could be found in both scripts for writing names such as Apollodotus .

Historical evidence from inscriptions 

• The ruler - devanampiya , often translated as " beloved of the gods " and piyadassi , or "pleasant to behold ".
• The name Asoka is mentioned in some other inscriptions , which also contain these titles .
• The inscription has not been found in the region that was the conquered .

The limitation of inscriptional evidence 

• There are technical limitations : letters are very faintly engraved, and thus reconstructions are uncertain .
• The inscriptions may be damaged or letters missing .
• Several thousand inscriptions have been discovered , not all have been deciphered , published and translated .
• There is another , perhaps more fundamental , problem: not everything that we may consider politically or economically significant was necessarily recorded in inscriptions .