AgriHistory1 PDF

A HISTORY OF
AGRICULTURE· IN INDIA
VOLUME I
BEGINNING TO 12TH CENTURY
M. S. RANDHAWA
D. St,) l. C.S. (Retd)
Fellow Indian National Science Academy
J
.. '~'
ICAR
INDIAN COUNCIL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH

NEW DELHI
FIRST PRINTED DEOEMBER 1980
All Rights Resel'ved

© 1980) Indian Council oj Agricultural Research
New Delhi
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Printed in lndia at the National Printing "\·ork.~. 10 Darya Ganj, New Delhi 110 002,
and published by P. J.Joseph, Under.Secretary, Indian Council of Agricultural Research,
New Delhi ltO 001
FOREWORD
THE history of agriculture is inextricably interwoven with the progress of
civilization because it was the taking up of agriculture that made it possi.
ble for primitive man to live in selected spots, fo,rming a society, and growing
a significant portion of his food nearby. In developing crop and animal
husbandry, man learned to supplement his own physical capability with that
of domesticated animals. This enabled human beings to find a certain
amount ofleisure to create the initial ingredients of what is known as civiliza-
tion. A thorough investigation of the history of agriculture is therefore a
most important though difficult task to execute. While in some other parts
of the world this has been attempted, no such endeavour has previously been
made in respect of agriculture in the Indian subcontinent, the home of
one of the greatest ancient civilizations. It is therefore gratifying that this
has at last been done by Dr M. S. Randhawa with the support of the Indian
Council of Agricultural Research. There could have been no better choice
for the assignment.
Scientist, educationist, litterateur, art connoisseur, historian, adminis-
trator and farmer, Dr Randhawa is a towering figure in many fields of human
endeavour but he does not flaunt his remarkable talents. The distinguished
American economist, Professor John Kenneth Galbraith, who came to
know Dr Randhawa personally during his stay in India as the Ambassador
of the United States, says: "He is, indeed, an extraordinary man. His
mind has ranged over nearly the whole sphere of knowledge of science and
art, from soil conservation to botany, to city management, history, religion,
architecture and art. And in none of these has he 'been content to be an
amateur. In every one he has manifested both the instinct and the diligence
of the pr.ofessional. I continue to be puzzled that one mild man could know
accurately so much and to such good purpose."
After taking a first class M. Sc. (HOllS) degree in Botany, M. S. Randhawa
joined the Indian Civil Service, but continued his botanical research on
Algae, ultimately earning a Doctorate of Science from the Panjab University.
The love of plants which drew him to the study of botany was perhaps the
foundation all 'which were huilt up his latcr in.terests and achievemcnts in
the field of floriculture, horticulture and eventually agriculture und all
aspects of farming. The scientific training stood him in good stead when
dealing with a range of problems whether these were in administration or
in handling materials for his outstanding studies on Indian art.
About the latter, Krishna Chaitanya, the well-known art critic, has
remarked, HTo the presentation of research material on art he has brought
iv A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
over from a scientific background a precision of analysis and a cogency of

argument that contrast sharply with the sprawling and incoherent narra-
tion that used to pass as art history in the old days. In scale and quality
of illustration and in standards of production, his oool<s have reached the
highest international standards." Thc noted British art critic and historian,
W. G. Archer, statcd that Dr Randhawa "is proving a cultural missionary
of the first order".
As a pragmatic administr?-tor, Dr Randhawa has rendered great service
to the country. Entrusted with the work·· of rehabilitating refugees in
Punjab in 1949 by the State Government, he realized that for these thousands
of unfortunate human beings, timeliness in settling them was of the utmost
urgency, and he completed this difficult task in record time. As Commis-
sioner of the Ambala Division from 1951 to 1953 and then Development
Commissioner of Punjab in 1955, his great work in the rural areas brought
him a tremendous amount ofpopulatity and renown;' WhCl'l accompanying
Dr Randhawa and Professor Galbraith on a. tour of the Kangl'a Valley when
they were making a joint study of the centres where some of the priceless
Kangl'a Valley paintings were clone, I had occasion to see for myself the very
high esteem and affection in which he was held by the people living in the
rural areas. As soon as word reached them that the now legendary Dr
Randhawa was going to pass through their area, they flocked in their hum!-
reds to the little towns that we passed on the way, and swarmed around Dr
Randhawa, whom they almost smothered with garlands of flowers.
In 1945 Dr Randhawa was appointed Secretary to the Indian Council
of Agricultural Research and 10 years later he became the Vice-President of
the Council with the status of Additional Secretary to the Government of
India. He was also Special Secretary in the Ministry of Food and Agricul~
ture of the Government of India from 1964 to 1966, being in charge ortlle
work of intensive agriculture throughout the country. ' He also held the
position of Adviser (Natural Resources) in 'the Plan:ning. 'Commission.
His duties, especiaily when he"wasVice~Presideht.bf"the leAR, took-him to
many parts of India, and· he' seized' the oppottul1ity to study with gl'eat
interest the agriculture and fai'niii1g systems of each region, the information
colleCted being used for an irilportant series of books on Farn'lers of India.
His tours were always ail~ericompassin:g, including in theil' sweep'visits
to botanical gardens, horticultural institutions; art galleries, libraries arid
museums of natural resources of aR kinds.
During his tenureof'the Vice-Presidentship of the leAR, many impor-
tant events in the field of agricultural research and education took place.
Mter Independence the Government of India was naturally anxious to.
improve agricultural research and education as the backbone for building
up a welfare State. Dr Randhawa was the Chairman of the Second Indo-
American Team, which was set up to study the organization for agricultural
FOREWORb
research and training in India and the USA, and to make recommendations
in this regard for the advancement of Indian agriculture. It was at this
time also that a rapid development of the Indian Agricultural Research
Institute took place, including the setting up of its now well~known post-
graduate school in 1958.
On retiring from Government service, Dr Randhawa became the Vice-
Chancellor of the Punjab Agricultural University. His service to the Univer-
sity climaxes 11is life-long service to his state and the country. He developed
the Punjab Agricultural University to a position in which it could provide a
firm basis for the modernization of agriculture in the state, leading to a break-
through in agricultural production. He also has stimulated to a considerable
extent the arts and crafts of Punjab, the revival of its folk songs and Punjabi
literature. He played a major role in the landscaping of the city of Chandi-
garh and in providing it with the largest and most beautiful rose garden in
Asia. But he also served the whole country in many ways and his promi-
nent part in promoting the Green Revolution cannot be forgotten.
I have taken a little more space than usual to write about the author
became rfelt it was important to indicate his special experience and back-
ground for writing a history of agriculture .. I have' referred only very
briefly, in passing, to his remarkable achievements in the field of art, culture
and literature because what is most relevant in connection with clio present
project, of which the history is the outcome, is his scientific training and deep
interest in botany and the evolution of life, his experience in agricultural
development since 1934, and his involvement with agricultural research and
education since 1949. His work with the Indian Council of Agricultural
Research, his administration of a premier agricultural university from
1968 to 1976, and his personal experience of farming in the last few years
have given him unique qualifications for the undertaking and completion of
this formidable task.
Dr Randhawa's book is staggering in the wide sweep of its subject-matter
and impressive in the depth of the detailed study which illuminates the pages.
This is no ordinary history of agriculture. He himself has said that a
history of agriculture "can only be properly understood in the light of the
evolution of life and the material culture of man." The book is therefore
really a history of the origin and development of man in which agriculture,
in its widest sense, has played a role which is inseparable from human life.
The author goes back in geologic time to trace the birth of the Indian sub~
continent. After giving an account of the soils, climate, vegetation and
agricultural regions of India, he goes back to the Tertiary period and deals
with the ancestors of man, tracing these from the great Apes, through the
earliest known Hominids to the arrival of Homo sapiens. After dealing with
the period of the hunters and the food-gatherers, the author refers to the
discovery of agriculture and the domestication of animals. From then
vi A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
onward is. presented a history of agriculture and man's civilization which

go hand in hand. The author looks far and wide for his sources of infor-
mation; apart from books and treatises, archaeological evidence and eviden-
ces from rock paintings, carvings, inscriptions, etc., are all used to build
up the history of agriculture. Throughout the book, though reference is made
to the world position, the emphasis is on the Indian subcontinent and India
in particular.
The later volumes would refer to the development of agriculture during
the more recent period, finally presenting the picture of modern sophisticat-
ed agriculture based on the many advances which science and technology
have made possible. The book will be of interest to a wide variety of per-
sons. including all those interested in agriculture, in history, in the early forms
of art, the origins of civilization and in the evolution oflife. It will, of course,
be of special interest to those who wish to understand Indian agriculture.
The book, containing an astonishing amount of detailed information, will
be a valuable work of reference to scholars and students as well as to the
common man who wishes to know more about the beginnings of life and
culture in the Indian subcontinent. Dr Randhawa is to be congratulated
on having completed a monumental task.
New Delhi B. P. P.AL

PREFACE
AGRICULTURE is the source of perpetual creation on which civilization de-

pends. It has a dominant role in the Indian economy. It contributes nearly
half of the national income and provides employment to about seventy per
cent of the working population in India. It provides raw materials for most
of our industry. It also accounts for sizable share of the country's foreign-
exchange earnings. Apart from these material considerations, it is a way
of life, unique and irreplaceable in human values. It is surprising that in
spite of such importance there is no book dealing with the history of agri-
culture in India.
In most European countries and the U. S. A. agricultural history has been
documented by scholars, and there arc societies and journals devoted to this
subject. In India, however, this subject has not received the recognition
it deserved. My association with agricultural development since 1934,
with agricultural research since 1945, and with the administration of a pre-
mier agricultural university from 1968 to 1976, has given me the necessary
background to prepare a work of this nature. When I wrote to Dr M. S.
Swaminathan, former Director-General of the Indian Council of Agricul-
tural Research, and a scientist and scholar of eminence who has played a
key role in promoting Green Revolution in India, he accepted the need foi·
writing a book on India's agricultural history. The Governing Body of the
ICAR at its meeting held on 2 September 1976 sanctioned the scheme,
which, for the purposes of funding and administration, was located at the
Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.
On 14 January 1977 the MinistlY of Agriculture and Irrigation of the
Government of India appointed me Chairman of a Committee to examine all
agricultural universities in India, so that their working is improved.' This
assignment enabled me to meet agricultural scientists and farmers all over
India and enabled me to fill gaps in my knowledge. On a visit to Bhopal,
I saw the newly discovered cave paintings at Bhimbetaka and also met Dr
V. S. Wakanker. On the way to ]abalpur, I saw the rock shelters and cave
paintings at Adamgarh. I also noticed that whereas in Punjab and Haryalla
modern agriculture with the use of inputs such as tractors, threshers, elec-
tric motors and fertilizers is being commonly practised, in some parts of
Madhya Pradesh the old wooden Persian wheel still persists, and threshing
of wheat is done by treading the harvested crop under the feet of teams of
bullocks tied with a rope to a wooden post, as in the Buddhist period. How
the past persists in many parts of India! At Deccan College, Pune, I met
Dr H. D. Sankalia, eminent archaeologist of India, who showed me his
viii A HtS't6RY OF AGRtbuLTuim IN INDiA
finds from Navdatoli and Nevasa, After seeing the new campus of the
Agricultural University at Rahuri, I crossed the Pravara River on my way
to Aurangabad. It was on the banks.of this river that the chalcolithic
farmers and hunters of Maharashtra lived. At Bombay I saw the coIIcc M
tion of Harappan finds from Mohenjo-daro which the Museum had recently
acquired, Apart from pots it also has the terracotta toy representing a
plough. On a visit to Hyderabad to see the Andhra Pradesh Agricultural
University, I saw the collection of Mughal miniatures in the Sular Jung
Museum and discovered some interesting paintings of wild sheep and markhor.
Agriculture can be properly understood only in the light of the evolution
of life and the material culture ofman. Man is part of an unbroken stream
of life. That stream in the dawn of life on earth manifested itself in the
form of single microscopic cells. Hundreds of millions of years later, after
transformation through forms of polyps, of worm-like croatures, oflancelets,
it flowed through thousands of generations in the form of fish. It emerged
on land as the amphibian. The amphibian evolved into the reptile. It
covered itself with hair, acquired warm blood and fed its young with milk,
and it transformed itself to become fully mammalian. Four-footed, tailed
and hairy, it took to the Eocene forests. It grew into lemur, into monkey,
into ape; and finally hominid. The hominid grew to the dignity of man.
Man learned to control and use fire. He fabricated st()ne.too]s for hunt-
ing wild animals and skinning them. He domesticated the dog, who became
his help-mate in hunting, as well as sheep, goat, pigs and cattle. He learnt
to cultivate crops. He invented the wooden plough and learnt the art of
ploughing and irrigation, He domesticated the horse, and with its aid
acquired command over vast areas. He discovered the· secret of smelting
iron are, invented the iron axe and plough-share, and with their aid cut the
jungles and conquered hard soil.
. Apart from discussing the evolution of man in the light of the most X'ecent
findings· of research; I have dealt with the evolution of his material culture
iil this book. This is necessary so that the evolution of man and his culture
is firmly linked with the evolution of his animal ancestors. Moreover, the
findings of modern archaeology, assisted by the Hearbon-dating method and
by palynology, about man's material progress, such as the domestication of
plants, are as spectacular as those of geology. Besides, I felt it necessary to
provide history with the perspective of geological time' so that historians
. realize how brief is the span of human history. When one considers the
vicissitudes through which living beings have passed.in the long geological
history of the earth, the troubles which the present generation is facing
seem insigriificant. The findings of geology provide.a new background to
human history and impel us to discard the old ideas of the golden age in the
past, for it has been proved beyond doubt that the material en,vironmen.t of
man has progressively improved through the ages', and the comforts which
ix
are now enjoyed by the common man wercn6t available even to the kings
in the past.
It is felt that this approach will provide the necessary corrective so that
history is not overladen with inconsequential details about kings and their
wars. No doubt some of the kings like Chandragupta Maurya, Asoka,
Chandragupta I and Harsha were outstanding leaders who gave a new lead
in the march of culture. Barring these exceptions many of the rulers were
insignificant men, who strutted about on the stage of history, and in due
course were lost in oblivion. Their only contributions were internecine
feuds and wars and they were constantly nibbling at each other's territory.
I t is the misdeeds, crimes and conspiracies of such monarchs which figure
prominently in traditional history books. What is important is an account
of the life of the common people, their crops and cattle, and their food and
dress. A culture is powered by the techniques of agriculture and industry.
The man who discovered the technique of transplanting rice has done more
good to humanity than all the kings put together.
Since man started cultivation of crops and intercourse among, people
living far apart began through trade, diffusion of cultivars also occurred.
Indigenous crops of India are few, viz. ricc, urd,. moong, kulthi, sarson, cotton
and sugarcane. As far back as Harappan times wheat, peas and chana came
from western Asia via Iran. Africa gave us jowari bajra and sesamum.
The best evidence of this statement is in the finds of foodgrains from archaeo-
logical sites and supported by cytogenetic. and phytogeographic research.
14Carbon-dating and pollen analysis have further helped in elucidation
of the facts concerning ancient plant economy.
Agriculture should not be considered in isolation from the life of the
people and the political scene. Emerging from a tribal society, the Hindu
kings had to knit together far-flung areas. In the absence of roads and means
of communication it was a difficult task. Only a large army, and a bureau-
cracy to support it, could accomplish this task. As such, large quantities
of surplus food had to be produced to feed the army and officials. At that
stage it could only be done by bringing larger area under the plough after
cutting jungles. This was what happened in Mauryan India. The govern-
ment had to be kind to the farmers in its own interest. This was no longer
the case when India came under the rule of aliens later on.
The history of ancient India has been slowly discovered due to the patient
work of scholars, Europeans and Indians. In the first phase Sanskrit classics
were translated into English. Sir Charles Wilkins translated the Bhaguad-
gila (A.D. 1785) and the fables of Hitopdesha (1787). Sir Willam Jones (A.D.
1964-94) translated the Code of Manu. Franz Bopp (A.D. 1790-1867), a
German scholar, founded the science of Comparative Philology.. In eady
forties of the nineteenth century, the French OrientalistJ Eugene Burnouf,
laid the foundations of Vedic scholarship in Europe. One of his pupils
x A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
was F. Max Mullet (A.D. 1823-1900), who produced the first edition of
the Rig-Veda in six volumes. Burnouf and Lassen, with the publication of
their Essay on Pali (1826), laid the foundation of the study of Pali. It was
thus that the secrets of Sanskrit and Pali texts were unlocked for the English-
reading people.
Between 1834 and 1838 James Prinsep deciphered the inscriptions
of Asoka. This laid the real foundations of the superstructure of Indian
chronology that has since been erected.
Sculptures and paintings also give us a glimpse of the life of the people
in the past. The Buddhist sculptures at Bharhut, Sanchi, Mathura and
Amaravati convey to us vividly how the Indians lived, what was their dress,
what were their favourite trees and domestic animals. In them we can
even identify breeds of cattle as well as flowering and fruit trees.
The records of foreigners who came to India also inform us about the
agriculture of ancient India. These authorities are the Greek Megasthenes
(t. 300 B.C.), the Chinese Buddhist pilgrims Fa Hian (A.D. 399-415),
and Hiuen-Tsang (A,D. 629-45), and the Central Asian Alberuni
(A,D. 1031).
Following the travel account of Hiuen-Tsang, Alexander Cunningham
discovered during 1861-1902 a number of Buddhist monuments in northern
and central India. From 1904 to 1939 Sir John Marshall, the first Director-
General of Archaeology in India, excavated the sites at Taxila, Nalanda,
Sanchi, Sarnath, and Bhita. He also paid attention to Mohenjo-daro and
Harappa. He .was followed by K. N. Dikshit, who excavated Harappa.
During the period since Independence valuable work in digging up the past
has been done by A. Ghosh, B. B. Lal, M. N. Deshpande, B. K. Thapar,
S. R. Rao, Y. D. Sharma and H. D. Sankalia.
It is for the first time that a synthetic picture of agriculture in ancient
India from the very beginning to the twelfth century is presented. It is
based on, evidence from archaeology, rock paintings, sculptures, coins,
ancient Pali and Sanskrit literature, and travel accounts of Greek, Chinese
and Central Asian traveller.> and scholars. Considering the magnitude and
complexity of the task, I am aware of the imperfection of this synthesis. At
the same time, I feel that it is the best which could be done in the present
state of our knowledge of India's past. I hope that in due course persons
who are better qualified than me will improve upon the text and fill the gaps
in our knowledge. It is better to make a modest start than to wait for
perfection.
Kharar (near Chandigarh) M. S. RANDHAWA

2 May 1980
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
FOR a work of this nature, in which a multi-disciplinary approach is involved,

co-operation from many quarters is necessary. I am particularly grate-
ful to Dr Vishnu-Mittre, of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany,
Lucknow, for providing reprints of his papers and photographs of food-
grains discovered from archaeological sites in India. I am also grateful to
Shri M. N. Deshpande, Director-General of the Archaeological Survery of
India i Shd B. K. Thapar, Additional Director-General, Archaeological
Survey of India; Dr B. B. Lal, Director of the Indian Institute of Advanced
Study, Simla; and Dr H. D. SankaIia, Deccan College, Pune, for advice on
various problems. Dr Sankalia has been generous enough to lend a
number of illustrations including reconstructions of chalcolithic villages in
Maharashtra. Shri Thapar permitted the use of maps showing the spread
of Neolithic cultures. Dr Y. D. Sharma and Sh1'i S. R. Rao generously
provided illustrations, and also rare reprints of their papers. I am parti-
cularly grateful to Dr V. S. Wakankar, Vikram University, Ujjain, a pioneer
in the study of rock paintings, who generously provided sketches of rock
paintings.
Out of the historians I am grateful to Dr Ram Sharan Sharma, Professor
of History, University of Delhi, for his advice. He is the first scholar in
India to provide an interpretation of the history of the country in the context
of its material culture.
I am grateful to Dr A. P. Khatri, Scientist, Council of Scientific and
Industrial Research, New Delhi, for providing illustrations of Neolithic
tools. For illustrations of crops and domcstic animals I have rclied on the
photo libraries of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi,
Indian Council of Agricultural Research and the Punjab Agricultural Uni-
versity, Ludhiana. These institutions have talented photographers, viz.
Had Kishan Gorkha, Gurcharan Singh and S. K. Rode. I am grateful to
the Directors of the National Museum, New Delhi, Prince of Wales Museum
of Western India, Bombay, Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad, and Chandi-
garh Museum for providing photographs of paintings. Miss R. Vanaja,
Keeper, Numismatics and Epigraphy, National Museum, New Delhi, was
kind enough to provide photographs of ancient coins and seals.
For Bcarbon dates of important archaeological sites I have relied on
the work of Dr O. P. Agrawal, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad.
Dr Gurdev S. Khush, Head of the Plant Breeding Department, Inter~
national Rice Research Institute, Philippines, was kind enough to provide
rate books not available in India. I am grateful to Mr Edward Wegman,
"
Xll A i-risTORY OF AGiUbULTURE IN rNbiA
the UNESCO Press, Paris, for permission to reproduce four maps from
History of Mankind: Cultural and Scientific Development, Vol. 1, "Prehis-
tory and the Beginnings of Civilization", and to Prof dr ir J. Doorenbos,
Chairman, Editorial Committee, Wageningen Redactiecommissie, Medede-
lingen van de Landbouwhogeschool, Netherlands, for permission to repro-
duce a map on the distribution of the species of Cicero
I wish to thank the following publishers for permission to quote from their
books: Cambridge University Press-The Indus Civilization by Sir Mortimer
Wheeler; Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd-The Culture and Civilization of
.Ancient India in Historical Outline by D. D. Kosambi; Cassell Ltd-Prehistoric
India by Stuart Piggot; Oxford University Press_;_Harsha: A Political Study
by D. Devahuti; Penguin Books Ltd-The Birth of Indian Civilization: India
and Pakistan Before 500 B. C. by Bridget and Raymond Allchin; Hutchinson
publishing Group Ltd-A History of Domesticated Animals by F. E. Zeuner;
the Dryden Press, rne., and Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York-Fossil
Men by M. Boule and H. V. Vallois; Allied Publishers Ptivate Ltd, New
Delhi-Advanced History of India by K. A. Nilakanta Sastri and G. Sril1.ivasa-
chari; M. S. Srinivas-Kautifya's Arthasastra by R. Shamasastry; Vikas
Publishing House Private Ltd, New Delhi-Essqy on South India by Burton
Stein; Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay-The History and Culture qflndian
f~op'le, Vols IV and V~ byR.n Majumdar and A. D. Pusalker; and. Massa-
chusetts University Press-Agricultural Origins and Dispersals by Carl Sauer.
For cartography I have relied on the services: of Mr D. S. Tiwana of the
Punjab Agricultural. University, Mr Mehar Singh of the Department of
Geography, Panjab University, Chandigarh, and the Surveyor-General
of India. .. .. .
. I have been generously assisted by Mr T. P. Saxena, Librarian of the
Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana; Dr J. S. Sharma, University
Librarian, Panjab University Library, Chandigarh; Mr Rama Tirth, Uni-
versity Librarian, Govil1.d Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Tech-
nology, Pantnagar; Mr S.· P. Phadnis, Head, Library Services, Indian Agri-
cultural Research Institute, New Delhi; MrL. Ramachandran, Librarian,
Haryana Agricultural University, Hissar; and the Librarian of the Universi-
ty of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore. Mr T. P. Saxena also prepared the
index. For typing the manuscript and for general assistance I record my
appreciation of the devoted work of Mr Ram Lal Sharma, my Personal
Assistant·cum-Research Fellow, who worked indefatigably. But for his
assistance it would not have been possible for me to handle an intricate
work of this nature. Dr Kishan Singh Bedi was kind enough to edit the
typescript. Mr M. K. Bardhan and Mr D. Hazra designed the title cover,
and Mr O. P. Gulhati prepared the layout of the illusti·ations. For editorial
work I am indebted to Messrs P.L. Jaiswal, S. N. Tata and R. S. Gupta.
Mr T. C. S. Sastry, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New
ACI<NQWLEDGEMENl'S xiii
Delhi, was of great heIp in standardizing botanical nomenclature. Mr
K. E. Sankaran gave many useful suggestions. Mr Krishan Kumar _looked
after the production of this book ably and saw it through the press with a
sense of dedication. In this work he was assisted by Shri ]. B. Mehra.
CONTENTS
FOREWORD iii
PREFACE vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xi
CHAPTER 1. BIRTH OF THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT

CHAPTER 2. SOILS 8
CHAPTER 3. CLIMATE AND AGRICULTURAJ~ REGIONS 21

CHAPTER 4. VEGETATION 25
CHAPTER 5. THE TERTIARY PERIOD: MIOCENE·PLIOCENE
EPOCHS 44
Apes, Ramapithecus, the Earliest-known Hominid,
and Australopithecines
CHAPTER 6. THE QUATERNARY PERIOD 56
The Pleistocene-The Ice Age; The Arrival of Homo
sapiens; Manufacture of Stone Tools and Conquest
of Fire
CHAPTER 7. THE HUNTERS AND FOOD-GATHERERS OF THE
MESOLITHIC PERIOD 78
CHAPTER 8. THE NEOLITHIC AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION
IN \NESTERN ASIA 101
Invention of Polished Stone Implements, Discovery
of Agriculture and Domestication of Animals,
7500 B.c.-6500 B.C.
CHAPTER 9. THE CHALCOLITHIC CULTURE IN MESOPOTAMIA III
Invention of the Plough, Wheel and Metallurgy,
3000 B.c.-1700 B.C.
CHAPTER 10. THE PRE-HARAPPAN PEASANT COMMUNITIES OF
BALUCHISTAN AND THE DOMESTICATION OF ANI-
MALS 115
CHAPTER 11. HARAPPAN CHALCO LITHIC CULTURE IN PAKISTAN 130
Sind and West Punjab, 2300 B.c.-1600 B.C.
CHAPTER 12. HARAPPAN CHALCOLITHIC CULTURE IN INDIA 139

Punjab, Haryana, Jammu, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh, c. 2200 D.C.-
1600 B.C.
xvi A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
CHAPTER 13. HARAPPAN AGRICULTURE 156

Cultivation of Wheat, Barley and Cotton
CHAPTER 14. DOMESTIC ANIMALS OF THE HARAPPANS AND POllL·
TRY AND FISH 183
CHAPTER 15. BURZAHOM - A NEOLITHIC RELICT CULTURE
IN A REFUGE AREA 216
c. 2375 B.C.
CHAPTER 16. NEOLITHIC AND CHALCOLITHIC SETTLEMENTS IN
SOUTH INDIA 233
2295 B.c.-1300 B.C. Cultivation of Millets and Pulses
and Discovery of Silk
CHAPTER 17. NEOLITHIC OULTURE OF EASTERN INDIA 262
2000 B.C. Cultivation of Rice, Bananas, Sugarcane
and Yams
CHAPTER 18. THE EARLY ARYANS-A BRONZE AGE PEOPLE 278
Domestication of the Horse, and Migration to India
CHAPTER 19. THE VEDIC AGE 290
1500 B.c.-IOOO B.C. Pastoralism, Hunting and Culti·
vation of Barley
CHAPTER 20. THE LATER VEDIC PERIOD 3Dl
1000 B.c.-600 B.C. Yajur-Veda, Samhitas, and
Brahmanas; The Age of Iron and Painted Grey Ware i
The Invention of the Iron Ploughshare and Axe;
Clearance of Jungles, Expansion of Oultivation
CHAPTER 21. ,THE BUDDHIST, J:lER~OD, 323
, Six~h C~n.tury ;13.Q., Birth of Buddhism. and Jainism;
Sacred Groves and Tree..,Worship;, Expansion of
,ClJ.I~iya#9n i,~ l3t4ar, aqq ~a~t~rn Uttar .Prad~sh
CHAPTER 22. THE MAGADHAN EMPIRE 340

Fourth Century B.C. Civic ,Life, Artisans, Merchants
, and MQn~y "
CHAPTER 23. RURAL ECONOMY AND ADMINISTRATION OF LAND
IN THE MAGADHAN EMPIRE 3~2
CHAPTER 24.· AGRICULWRE IN THE MAURYANAGE 360

322, .B.c.~232 'B.C.
CHAPTER 25. ANIMAL HUSBANDRY IN THE MAURYAN AGE 365

CHAPTER 26. ASOKA PROMOTES ARBORICULTURE AND HORTI.
CULTURE 379
274 B.a.-237 D.C.
CONTENTS xvii
CHAPTER 27. FROM SUNGAS TO THE SATAVAHANASAI\DKUSHAI\S SC7
200 B.C.-A.D. 300; Brick-wells and Improved Agri~
cultural Implements of Iron; Cultivation of Rice and
Coconut Palms
CHAPTER 28. THE KINGDOMS OF SOUTH INDIA 403
Pandyas, Cherag and .Cholas; First Century of the
Christian Era to .A.D. 300; Cultivation of Rice, Ragi
Sugarcane, Pepper and Turmeric, and Tank Irriga~
tion
CHAPTER 29. THE AGE OF THE GUlTAS 410
A.D. 300-A.D. 550; Renaissance in Art, Literature and
Science; High Level of Iron Technology and Pro-
gressive Agriculture
CHAPTER 30. THE KANAUJ EMPIRE OF HARSHAVARDHANA 420
A.D. 606-A.D. 647; Life of the People of India and
their Agriculture, as Described in Hiuen-Tsang's
Si·Yu·,Ki and Bana's Harshacharita
CHAPTER 31. THE KINGDOMS OF SOUTH INDIA 436
The Ghalukyas and Rashtrakutas of the Deccan;
The Pallavas, Pandyas, Hoysalas and Kakatiyas;
A.D. 535-A.D. 1300; People, Crops and Cattle
CHAPTER 32. TIlE KINCr:OMS OF SOUTH INDIA 457

The Cholas; A.D. 98S-A.D. 1205; their Irrigation Systems
CHAPTER 33. VILLAGES OF SOUTH INDIA DURING THE CHOLA
RULE 462
Tenth Century to Twelfth Century; Tenure, Land
Revenue and Rent; Economic Condition of the Rural
People
CHAPTER 34. RAJPUT KINGDOMS OF NORTHERN II\DJA 471
Pratiharas, Gahadvalas, Chauhans, Prainaras and
Chandellas; The Pala and Sena Dynasties of Bengal;
Eighth Century to Eleventh Century; Observations of
Alberuni on India and Indians; Industry, Trade and
Agriculture
«;''HAPTER 35. OBSERVATIONS OF MEI:HATl'fHI, rARASHARA AND 482
KASHYAPA ON AGRICULTURE
Ninth Century to Eleventh Century
xviii A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
APPENDICES
I. Landmarks in the Evolution of Man, his Culture 491

and Agriculture
II. Radiocarbon Dates of Important Archaeological 494-
Sites in India and Pakistan
III. Chronology-Ancient India-Development of 4!lS
Science, Technology and Agriculture, and
Important Personalities and Events
IV. Cultivated Plants in India, and their Places of 501
Origin
V. Select List of Plants Mentioned in Sanskrit 50G
Literature
VI. Principal Crops of India and their Sanskrit 510
Names
VII. Principal Domestic Animals of India and their 511
Sanskrit Names
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1. Palaeogeographic map of Gondwanaland in the middle and

upper Cretaceous (After Ahmad) 3
2. During the upper Cretaceous, stupendous volcanic outbursts
overwhelmed a vast area in what is now Gujarat, Maha-
rashtra and Madhya Pradesh. From the lava, the black
cotton soil. was formed over the ages 5
3. The occurrence of Archaean and Purana Rocks and the
Deccan Trap in India. 10
4. Soil map of India (After S. P. Raychaudhuri) 13
5. The Indo-Gangetic plain in the Punjab has a rich alluvial
soil, which produces bumper crops of wheat and rice 17
6. The deep black soils in the Pune District, Maharashtra, pro-
duce bumper crops of cotton, sugaracane and rice. The
fields are dotted with trees of mango and Acacia nilotica. In
the background are the flat-topped mountains of the Deccan
Trap . 17
7. The medium black cotton soil of trap and gneissic origin in
the Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu, yields rich crops of
cotton and sugarcane 1a
8. Barren Archaean granite is covered with a thin layer of soil
at Hampi, in the BcIlary District, Karnataka. Good soil is
found only in the low-lying areas 18
9. A forest of sal (SllOrea robusta), Dehra Dun. Sal forests are
found at the foothills of the HimaJayas from Uttar Pradesh
and Assam. They are also found in the forest belt compri-
sing southern Bihar, western Orissa and eastern Madhya
Pradesh (Courtesy: Forest Research Institute) 31
10. A young forest ofPinus roxburghii in the Siwaliks, Uttar Pradesh
(Courtesy: Forest Research Institute) 32
11. A forest of Cedrus deodara near Simla, 2,134 metres above sea-
level. Cedrus deodara is the most stately tree in the forests of
the western Himalayas (Courtesy: Forest Research Institute) 33
12. A dry deciduous forest containing Boswellia serrata and Acacia
catechu in Madhya Pradesh (Courtesy: Forest Research Insti-
tute) 34
13. A forest of teak (Tectonagrandis) in Madhya Pradesh (Cour-
tesy: Forest Research Institute) 35
14. A tropical wet evergreen forest in Kerala. Left to right: small
Dipterocarpus bourdillonii, Vitex altissima, large Dipterocarpus)
xx A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
large Kingiodendron pinnatum and Polyalthia sp. Shendurney

Coupe V, Shencottah Division, Kerala (Courtesy: Forest
Research Institute) 36
15. The Nilgiri sholas and grassland, Ootacamund, Tamil Naclu.
The slzola forests are a living fossil community limited to the
hollows, especially the heads of water-courses. Once destro-
yed, they do not regenerate (Courtesy: Forest Research Ins-
titute) 37
16. Pure slmdri forest (Heritierajomes), Sundcrbans, West Bengal,
showing dense pneumatophore growth and buttressing of
trees (Courtesy: Forest Research Institute) 38
17. Hominoid sites in the Siwaliks in India and Pakistan: Hari-
talynagar near Bilaspur (Himachal Pradesh), Kirmu and Dal
Sal' near Ramnagar (Jammu), and the Salt Range in the
Attock and Jhclum Districts, Pakistan (After A. P. Khatri) 48
18. Reconstruction of the skull of Ramapithecus (After Jelinek) 50
19. A group of rhesus monkeys, Mughal A.D. 1596 (Courtesy:
National Museum, New Delhi) 51
20. Principal deposits offossil man in Africa. (i) Transvaal Sites,
Australopithecus africanus and Austra{opithecus rohuslus, about 2
million years old; Dart, 1924, and Broom, 1936; (ii) Olduvai
Gorge; Australopithecus hoisei (1959) and Homo lzabilis (1961),
both 1.8 million years old; Louis and Mary Leakey; (iii) the
lower Orno River: early hominicis, ranging from 1 million to
4 million years old; Howell and Coppens, 1969; (iv) Lake
Turkana: Homo skull, 2 million to 3 million years old (1972),
and 1.5-millioll~year-old Homo erectus skull (1975); Richard
Leakey; (v) Laetolil; 3.35- to 3.75-million-year-old Homo
jaw-bones and teeth; Mary Leakey, 1974~75; and (vi)
Hadar: "Lucy", 3-million~year-old Australopithecus skeleton,
and Homo "family"; Johanson: and Taieu, 1974-75 52
2 I. The world in the middle part of the Quaternary period. Thc
darker areas were glaciated. The Himalayan glaciers descen-
ded into lower valleys 56
22. Discovery offire and fashioning of pebble tools were the major
achievements of Peking man, about half a million years ago
(Reconstruction from the Museum of Evolution of Life,
Chandigarh) 57
23. A comparison of the cranial sizes: chimpanzee 400 cc; Homo
erectus erectus 860 CCi Sinamhropus 1,075 cc; Homo sapiens jossi-
lis 1,300 CCi modern man 1,400 CCi Neanderthal man 1,500 cc 57
24. The most primitive Palaeolithic stone tools are choppers from
Soan, Pothohar Plateau, W est Panjab,~Pakistan. They were
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xxi
cutting-tools and were used for cutting chunks of meat and to
scrape hides. They are about half a million years old 58
25, Acheulian hand-axe complex from Attirampakkam, Chingle~
put District, Tamil Nadu, approximately 200,000 years old.
A cutting-tool edged on both sides, it was used for digging,
chopping and cutting 58
26. Primitve men fashioning Acheulian stone tools, about 200,000
years old. One of them is flaying a hunted animal with a
hand-axe (Reconstruction from the Museum of Evolution of
Life, Chandigarh) 59
27. Important sites from which Palaeolithic tools have been dis~
covered in India and Pakistan. Apart from the sites shown in
this map, stone tools have been discovered from numerous
other places (Courtesy: Archaeological Survey of India) 60
28. Major sites where the remains of Homo erectus have been found.
Skirting mountain barriers and deserts, Homo erectus spread
from the tropics of east Mrica, northern India,Java and China
to temper:ate lands of Asia and Europe over a period of a
million years 66
29. Skull of; I, modern chimpanzee: 2, modern man; 3, Neander-
thal man; 4, Peking man; 5, Australopithecus (hominid); 6, Pro-
'consul africanus; 7, Adapis parisiensis, an 'ancient lemur. An
increase in the size of brain and its complexity and a reduc-
tion in brow-ridges in man as compared with hominids is note-
worthy (Courtesy: UNESCO) 67
30. The comparative occurrence of chopper-chopping tools and
bifacial hand-axes. Chopper-chopping tools were more com-
mon in the Siwaliks of India and Pakistan. Bifacial hand-axes
predominated in the south (Oourtesy: Archaeological Survey
clh~ n
31. The Stone Age sites in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. A
number of such sites have been discovered in the Kangra
Valley in Himachal Pradesh and in the Valley of the Sirsa
River above Chandigarh (After H. D. Sankalia) 73
32. The distribution of Neanderthal man (After Oharles Singer
et al' J History if Technology) Vol. 1, 1954. The Olarendon
Press, Oxford) 75
33a. Adamgarh rock-shelters ncar Hoshangabad, Madhya
Pradesh. These cave-shelters were occupied by Palaeolithic
and Mesolithic hunters. The lower levels yielded palaeoliths
and the upper microliths 85
33b. Detail of a cave-shelter at Adamgarh. The overhanging
rock provided shelter to hunters against inclement weather,
xxii A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
The roof is painted with hunting-scenes. 85

34. Microliths from Birbhanpur, District Burdwan, near the
Damodar Valley, West Bengal, 4000 B.C. They include blades,
lunates, points and borers and burins (Courtesy: Archaeolo-
gical Survey of India) 86
35. A Mesolithic scene. A man is shooting an arrow tipped with
a sharp microlith at an antelope. The other is throwing
on a deer a spear tipped with a sharpencd stone (Rcconstruc-
tion from the Museum of Evolution of Life, Chandigarh) 87
36. Toys from Mohenjo-daro, depicting a variety of dogs (After
Mackay) 87
37. Cave-~helters at Bhimbetaka, near Bhopal, Raisen District,
Madhya Pradesh. The walls and roofs of cave-shelters have
paintings dating from the Mesolithic to the early historic
period 88
38. Interior of the cave at Bhimbetaka. This cave has been in
occupation since Palaeolithic times, as is evidenced by the dis-
covery of Acheulian tools [l'om the lowermost layer 89
39. Stone-tool types from the Palaeolithic to the Neolithic age 84
40. A rock-shelter at Bhimbetaka. The roof is painted with
figures of gaur, deer, sambhar, etc. (Courtesy: A. P. Khatri) 90
4·1. Mesolithic painting from a cave-shelter at Bhimbetaka.
Herds of cheetalJ wild buffaloes and cattle arc shown 90
42a. A gaur from a cave painting at Bhimbetaka 91
42b .. A buffalo-bull-a Mesolithic painting ii'om a cave-shelter at
Bhimbetaka 91
43. Chronological and stylistic development of rock-painth1g in
India (After V. S. Wakankar) 93
44. Life in the Mesolithic age atBhimbetaka:l, amorous couples;
2, pregnant women; 3, the birth of a child; 4, child-rearing;
5, children playing; 6, initiation of a child; 7, cure by magic;
8, ceremony for the dead; 9, the burial of a child, and a family
in mourning (After V. S. Wakankar) 94
45. A Mesolithic painting from Bhimbetaka. Hunters armed
with bows, arrows and spears are chasing game. Human
figures are elongated to show rhythmic action (After V. S.
VVakankar) 95
46. Animals depicted in Bhimbetaka rock-paintings: I, a wild
buffalo; 2, a gaur; 3, arhlnoceros; 4, aboar; 5, a chinkal'a; 6,
a spotted deer; 7, a sambhar; 8, a deer; 9, a blue bull (l1ilgai) ;
10, an elephant; 11, a tiger or panther; 12, a tiger (After
V. S. Wakankar) 98
47. African birds and animlas in Mesolithic cave-paintings fronl
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xxiii
Madhya Pradesh: top, a giraffe, Bhimbetaka; middle, ostriches,

Bazar Cave, Pachmarhi; bottom, giraffes, Adamgarh cave-
shelter, near Hoshangabad 92
48. A Neolithic rural scene, depicting the harvesting of wheat
and barely with stone sickles, with clusters of huts in the back~
ground (Reconstruction from the Museum of Evolution of
Life, Chandigarh) 105
49. The distribution of the wild ancestors of domestic plants and
animals in the Old World (Based on a map in Sonia Cole, The
Neolithic Revolution; by permission of the trustees of the British
Museum, Natural History; courtesy: UNESCO) 106
50. The diffusion of farming into Asia and Europe (Based on a
map in Sonia Cole, Tlte Neolithic Revolution; by permission of
the Trustees of the British Museum, Natural History; courtesy:.
UNESCO) 106
51. Neolithic sites in South-West Asia and eastern Europe (After
J. Braidwood, Oriental Institute, University of Chicag'o: cour-
tesy: UNESCO) 108
52. Ancestry of common wheat (After P. C. Mangelsdorf) 108
53a. Neolithic cultures of Indian subcontinent 116
53b. Neolithic cultures of Indian subcontinent and relative chro-
nology based on 14C dating (After B. K. Thapar) 117
54. Zebu bulls painted On pottery, and bull figurines, Kulli Culture,
from a site in Kolwa, in sou thern Baluchistan (After S. Piggot) 119
55. A Brahmani bull, Mughal, eighteenth century (Courtesy:
National Museum, New Delhi) 123
56. The wild goat (Capra Itircus) is still found in the barren hills of
Baluchistan and western Sind. It is the chief ancestral stock
from which the various breeds of domestic goat have been
derived 124
57. Domestication of sheep and goats. Toys and seals from
Mohenjo-daro: top, a ram; middle, lift, a wild goat (Capra
hircus); middle, right, a domesticated goat: bottom, a dome-
sticated goat (After Mackay and Vats) 125
58. The nayan (Ovis amon hodgsoni), the largest wild sheep with
curled horns, is found in northern Ladakh, Spiti, Sikkim,
Kumaon, Nepal and Tibet. The legend is that it eats
snakes. Mughal, early eighteenth century (Courtesy: Salar
Jung Museum, Hyderabad) 126
59. Dumba, a breed of sheep with a fat tail. Mughal, early eigh-
teenth century (Courtesy: Prince of Wales Museum of
Western India, Bombay) 127
60. Markhor (Caprajalconeri), a wild goat with horns spirally twis~
xxiv A HISTORY OF AGRICUL'tURE IN INDIA
ted like a cork-screw, is found in Afghanistan and from Hazara

to the Pir Panjal mountain range in Kashmir. Mughal,
seventeenth century (Courtesy: Salar Jung Museum, Hydera-
bad) 128
61. Harappan and pre-Harappan sites (After Y. D. Shar111a) 131
62. Systematic town-planning with rectangular blocks separatcd by
broad main streets as seen is excavated remains at Mohenjo-
daro, Sind, Pakistan, 2300 to 1750 B.C. (Courtesy: Archaeolo-
gical Survey of India) 133
63. Head of a bearded man wearing a shawl with trefoil mOlif.
The shawl was possibly of cotton. Mohenjo-daro, 2300 D.C.
(Courtesy: Archaeological Survey of India) 134-
64. A bronze figure of a nude dancing-girl wearing bracelets
(Courtesy: National Museum, New Delhi) 135
65. A paint.ed dish on stand. This type of pottery is typical of
Hal'appan Civilization. Harappa, 2300 B.C. 135
66. Bronze objects, axes, knife, a chisel, etc., from Sind and
Harappa (Courtesy: Archaeological Survey of India) 136
67. A schematic section across the Nalagarh mound at Rupar,
1953, showing strata, 2000 B.C. to A.D. 600. In the lowest
stratum, Harappan wares with bronze implements were dis-
covered. These were overlain by Painted Grey Ware 140
68. Sequence of Rupar culture from sections of the Nalagarh
mound; Rupar, Purijab (After Y. D. Sharma) 141
69. Ringed soak-wells for draining waste water from houses in the
Nalagarhmound (Courtesy: Archaeological Survey of India) 143
70. A burial from Rupar. A number of pots, some contaznmg
foodgrains, were burkd along with the corpse (Courtcsy:
Archaeological Survey of India) 143
71. A reconstruction of the Harappan town near Chandigarh, c.
2000 B.C. (Courtesy: Museum of Evolution of Life, Chancli~
garh) 144
72. A- reconstruction of the proto-historic village of Ahar (Aftcr
H. D. Sankalia) 144
73. Excavation at Ahar near Udaipur, in Rajasthan. Corn bins
and chulahs are shown. Rice grains were found along with
pottery, 1800 B.C. (Courtesy: Archaeological Survey of India) 145
74. A well and a public drain at Lothal, a Harappan site in
Saurashtra, 2300 B.O (Courtesy: Archaeological Survey of
fuili~ 1~
.75. Geographical distribution of wheat and barley, together with
dates, in the Indian subcontinent (After Vishnu-Mittrc) 164
76. Wheat cultivation in the Neolithic period and in the present
LIS1' OF ILLUSTRAtIONS XXV
age (After (Vishnu-Mittre) 165

77. Distribution of the genus Cicer and the main areas of cultiva-
tion of C. arietinum in the Old World. The dotted line encloses
the areas where the species of genus Cicer are found. The
continuous line encloses the areas where C. arietinum is .culti~
vated (After L. J. G. van der Maesen) 167
78. Plough, terracotta, 7 X 19.7 cm. Mohenjo-daro, c, 2300 D.C.
(Courtesy: Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay) 169
79. A seal from Lothal with a picture of a seed-drill (After
S. R. Rae) 169
80. Furrow marks of ploughed land on the southern side ofKLB
2, Kalibangan, Rajasthan (toP) (Courtesy: Archaeological
Survey of India)
The present-day method of ploughing (bottom) very much
resembles the ancient one 170
81. Terracotta toy-carts from Lothal (After S. R. Rao) 171
82. A toy-cart from Harappa, with solid wheels (lqft, toP), and
frame of the toy-curt (lift, bottom) (Courtesy: Archaeological
Survey of India)
The bullock-cart in the present-day Sind (right) is not far
removed from the Harappan cart 172
83. A toy-cart from Mohenjo-daro. It was possibly used for
carting manure (Courtesy: National Museum, New Delhi) 172
84. Toys modelled on wild animals, depicting hare, tiger,
pangolin, monkey, crocodile and wild boar (After Mackay) 173
85. Women pounding barley with wooden pestles in a village
home in Haryana. The stone mortar is embedded in the floor.
In the fore-ground is a clzhaJ for winnowing husk (Courtesy:
H. K. Gorkha, Indian Agricultural Research Institute) 174
86. Isometric projections of the great granary, Harappa
(Courtesy: Archaeological Survey of India) 174
87. Carbonized grains of Cicer arietinum from a Harappan site,
Kalibangan, Rajasthan (toP). Carbonized grains of Triticum
sphaerococcum from a Harappan site, Mohenjo-daro, Sind
(bottom, lift). Carbonized grains of Hordeum sp., from a
Harappan site, Kalibangan, Rajasthan (bottom, right) (After
Vishnu-Mittre) 175
88, A saddle-quern recovered from a Hal'appan settlement,
Sector 17, Ohandigarh, c. 2200 D.C. (Courtesy: Museum of
Rural Life of the Punjab, Punjab Agricultural University,
Ludhiana) 175
89. A terracotta from Mohenjo-daro, showing a woman kneading
flour (Courtesy: National Museum, New Delhi) 175
xxvi A HISTORY OF A.CRICULTURE IN INblA
90. Carbonized wheat grains from Mohenjo-daro dated to 1755

B.C. by 1<1C method. They compare with those of Triticum
sphaerococcum (Courtesy: Genetics Museum, Indian Agricul-
tural Research Institute, New Delhi) 176
91. Seeds of mustard from Chanhu-daro, Sind (Courtesy: Gene-
tics Museum, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New
Delhi) 177
92. A plant of Gossypium arboreum with open bolls. This cotton
plant was known to the Harappans (Courtesy: Indian Agricul-
tural Research Institute, New Delhi) 178
93. Distribution of zebu cattle in the world. The home of the
zebu cattle is the Indian sub-continent. It has been recently
introduced into Brazil and the southern USA 187
94. Seals and toys depicting domesticated animals. Top row,
lift and centre, humpless bulls; right, a buffalo. Middle row,
lift, a humped bull of a breed close to Kankrcj of Gujarat;
centre and right, bulls with forward-projecting horns, resembling
urus (Bos primigenius) of Europe. Bottom row, lift, a humpless
bull; middle, a humped bull (all from Mohenjo-daro; after
Mackay and Vats). Bottom row, right, a humped bull from
Sector 17, Chandigarh 195
95. Top, a humped bull depicted in seals from Mohenjo-daro.
Bottom,.a Kankrej bull fi-om Kutch, which resembles the bull
depicted on the seal above. This breed is also common in the
Tharparkar District of Sind (Pakistan). !t is the heaviest
preed with curved horns and well-developed dewlap. 196
96. A Kal'krej bull and cow from Kathiawar 197
97. The horned humpless bull depicted on a seal from Mohcnjo-
daro (top) resembles the gaur, Bos gaurus (below) 198
98. Top} a bull of Bos promigenius or aurochs of the late Pleistocene,
depicted in the cave of Lascaux, south-west France. Middle,
the so-called unicorn from Mohenjo-daro also depicts a bull
of Bos promigenius. It has a manger in front of it) indicating
domestication. Bottom, the last surviving specimen of aurochs
depicted in a picture published in 1827. The aurochs be-
came extinct in Europe in the middle of the nineteenth
century (After Zeuner) 199
99. Breeds of cattle from Sind. Top, a Red Sindhi bull; bottom,
a Tharparkar bull 200
100. Top, the Surti buffalo has long and thick horns. Bottom,
the Murrah buffalo has curled horns and has a high milk
yield 201
101. The wild buffalo from the Brahmaputra Valley in Assam 202
LIST OF lLLUS'tRA'trONS xxvii
102. Nagpuri buffalo, with its long horns, is very close to the
ancestral buffalo 202
103. A buffalo, bronzc, Chalcolithic pcriod, c. 1300 B.C. Diamabad,
Ahmadnagar District, Maharashtru. In the shape of its
horns it resembles the wild buffalo below 203
104-. The Indian wild buffalo is found in Assam. It lives in reeds
and rushes close to ponds 203
105. Seals from Mohenjo-daro showing elephants. They have a
covering of cloth on the back, indicating domestication
106. A herd of hemiones (wild asses) in the Rann of Kutch in
Glljarat. In the photo below they are galloping to escape
human intruders (Courtesy: Chief Conservator of Forests,
Gujarat) 204-
107. Top, a camel working a Persian wheel. Blindfolded camels
work tirelessly for hours. Bottom, camels are also used for
threshing sorghum in the desert areas of the Hissar District,
Haryana (Courtesy: Indian Agricultural Research Institute,
New Delhi) 205
108. Fish and fishing in the Harappan period. Top, a fisherman
with net. Middle, a :fish~toy from Harappa (both after Vats).
Bottom, a painting on a pot from Nal, showing Nemachilus-
like fish (After Hora) 206
109. Copper fish~hooks from Mohenjo-daro (Courtesy: Archaeo-
logical Survey of India) 207
110. Birds on a cage-a terracotta from Mohenjo-daro (Cour-
tesy: National Museum, New Delhi) 207
111. Domesticated birds from the Harappan period, showing a
flying pigeon, a parakeet, a domestic fowl and a chick, a duck,
a pigeon, and a woman holding a cluck .208
112. The red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus) is the ancestor ofmoclern
poultry 209
113. The Indian wild boar (Sus scroja cristatus) in different moods.
Kangra drawing, early eighteenth centUl'Y (Courtesy:
Museum of Evolution of Life, Chandigarh) 210
114. Schematic section ofBurzahom, Kashmir Valley. The lower-
most layer has pit dwellings, c. 1800 H.C. The menhir marks
a burial spot (Courtesy: Archaeological Survey ofIndia) 218
115. The megalith at Burzahom, Kashmir Valley 2.23
116. Hunters of Burzahom holding a stag at bay. The man with
a bow is shooting an arrow) and the one behind is flinging a
spear. A dog with tail uplifted is chasing the stag (Courtesy:
xxviii A H1STORY 011 AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
117. Bone-tools discovered from Burzahom. The second and

fourth from left are needles, and the sixth is a harpoon (Cour-
tesy: Archaeological Survey of India) 225
118. Polished. stone-tools (neoliths) from Burzahom, Kashmir
Valley, 1800 B.C. On the top are stone-axes. In the centre
is a ring stone and below are a stone-axe and a chopper
119. The Neolithic axe (also called celt or adze), made by the
combined teclmiqucs of chipping, grinding and polishing,
as a sharp convex cutting edge, and the butt end is pointed.
These neolithic axes are from different parts of India. The
top two are from the villages of Lodhwara; Chakla and
Bankat, Karwai Tehsil, Banda District, Uttar Pradesh,
collected by A. P. Khatri; the left one in the second row is
from a village near Pinjore, Himachal Pradesh; the central
axe and the right one on the second row are surface finds
from the Raichur District, Karnataka; at the bottom is a
chisel from the Raichur District. 227
120. Seeds of weeds associated with cultivation; from Neolithic of
Burzahom, Kashmir. Left to right: top row, Lithospermum
arvanse and Ipomoea sp; bottom row, Trifolium sp.) Lotus comi-
culatus and Medicago sp. (After Vishnu~Mittre) 228
121. A stone-axe was reconstructed by mounting the Neolithic
flint head' on a copy of a Neolithic haft preserved at the
bottom of a bog in Denmark. It was found that the full swing
of i:h.e modern. woodsman often chipped or broke the head.
Using short, rapid strokes, the experimenters learnt to fell
trees having a diameter of more than 30 cm in 30 minutes.
To fell small trees, they chopped all the way round the trunk
(After Johannes Iversen) 229
122. Tap: Trees were burnt by covering them with brushwood
and igniting a 9-metre strip. When the strip was almost
burnt out, the larger logs were used to light the next one.
Middle: The seed was s.own (lift) by hand in the warm ash,
and the seedbed was raked with a forked stick (right). The
plants sown were barley and two primitive varieties of wheat.
Bottom: Barley had grown to this height six weeks after it
had been sown in the ash of the burnt brushwood and trees.
Barley sown in pots not covered with ash grew very poorly
(After Johannes Iversen) 230
123. Geographical distribution of records or millets together
with dates in the Indian subcontinent. The earliest record
of sorghum is from Inamgaon (Maharashtra), 1370 B.a.,
LIST Oli' ILLUSTRATIONS xxix
that of finger-millet (ragi) from Hallur (Karnataka), 1800 B.O.,
and of pearl-millet (bajra) from Ahar, 1720 B.C (After Vishnu-
M~~ 2M
124. Two cultural periods at Paiyampalli, District North Arcot
(Tamil Nadu). (i) The Neolithic ground stone-axes, short
blades of jasper, agate and chert. (ii) Megalithic iron
objects, black and red pottery, tripod burial urn and terra-
cotta lamp with light wicks (Courtesy: Archaeological
Survey of India) 236
125. Foodgrains and timber discovered from Hallur (Kamataka),
1800 B.C. to 870 B.C. (After Vishnu-Mittre) 237
126. Foodgrains, fruit and timber discovered from Navdatoli-
Maheswar (After Vishnu-Mittre) 242
127. Lens culinaris (lentil) 244
128. Seeds of crops, fruits and timber recovered from Inamgaon
(Maharashtra), 1600 B.C. to 1000 B.C. (After Vishnu-Mittre) 246
129. Seeds of sorghum, gram and other crops from prehistoric sites.
Top row, lift: Eleusine coracana, Hallur, Karnataka, 1800 B.C.;
right, impressions of Sorghum spikelets on a pots-herd from
Ahar, Rajasthan. Middle row, left: Sorghum sp., carbonized
grains from a charred mass, Bhatkuli, Mahal'ashtra, fifth
century B.C.; right, Dolichos biflorus, Tekkalakota, Karnataka,
1780 B.C. Bottom row, lift: Gicer arietinum, Bhatkuli, Maha-
rashtra, fifth century B.C.; right, carbonized fruits of Zizipflus
nummularia from Malva-Jorwe site, Inamgaon, Maharashtra
(After Vishnu-Mittre) 247
130. Finger-millet, or ragi (Eleusine coracana), is grown in Karnataka
as a food crop (Courtesy: Indian Agricultural Research
Institute) 248
131. Seeds of crops from early historical site of Tel', Osmanabad,
Maharashtra. First row, lift: Hordeum sp.; right, Triticum
sphaerococcum. Second row, left.' carbonized spikc1ets of rice
from a charred mass; right, spikclets of O,yza sativa. Third
row, left: Paspalum scrobiculatum; right, Pisum sativum. Fourtll
row, lift: Lens culinaris j right, Ricinus communis 249
132. Reconstruction of thc Chalcolithic village ofNavdatoli, 0.1550
B.C. The inhabitants of Navdatoli lived in rounded huts
raised on thick wooden posts. Around the framework were
bamboo screens coated with clay and lime (After H. D.
Sanka1ia) 250
133. Life and death at Nevasa, Chalcolithic, c. 1300 B.C. In the
foreground is a potter's hut. Spouted pot and vessel with
flaring mouth are his pl'Oducts. The corpse of a child is
A l-IISTORY OJ." AGRICUt.'l'URE IN INDIA
being buried enclosed in a pitcher. On a slab are polished

stone-axes (Reconstruction by H. D. Sankalia) 251
134. Antheraea mylitta> the tussor silk moth (fcmale). Below arc
the cocoons from which silk is spun out (Courtesy: Indian
Silk Board) 252
135. Copper implements from Navdatoli (Madhya Pradesh),
1400 B.C., Nevasa (Maharashtra) and Jorwe (Maharashtra)
136. Seeds of pulses. First row.' Lens culinaris and Vigna radiata.
Second row: Vigna mungo and Cajanus cajan. Third raw: La thyrus
sativus and Cieer arietinum 254
137. Seeds of crops from Navdatoli-Mahcswar. First row: Triticum
aestivum and Vigna mungo. Second row: Vigna radiata and Lens
culinaris. Third row .. Lathyrus sativus and Linum usitatissimum.
Bottom: Pisum salivum (After Vishnu-Mittre) 255
138. Isometric reconstruction of Chalcolithic village, Inamgaon,
District Pune, c. 700 B.C. Houses were rounded and had
straw roofs supported by wooden poles (After H. D. SankaHa) 256
139. Sorghum bieolor 257
140. A bronze chariot with a cult figure, possibly Pasupati, Shiva,
from Daimabad, Ahmadnagar District, Maharashtra, of the
Chalcolithic period, c. 1300 B.C. (Courtesy: National Museum,
New Delhi; Archaeological Survey of India) 258
141. A pot from Inamgaon with engraving of a cart drawn by zebu
cattle (After H. D. Sankalia) 258
142. Panicle of sorghum 260
143. Centres of diversity and origin of cultivated plants (general
assignment after Vavilov 1935, and Darlington and Janaki
Amma!, 1945) 270
144. Geographical distribution of records of rice, together with
dates in the Indian subcontinent (After Vishnu-Mittre) 272
145. Polished Neolithic axes from Deojali Hading, North Cachar
Hills, Assam. The uppper row contains shouldered ground
stone-axes, with rectangular tank. These axeS served as hoes
for digging the soil (Courtesy: Archaeological Survey of
India) 275
146. Palaeolithic and Neolithic tools from the Lohit District. In
the last row at left is fully ground sandstone Neolithic axe.
In the middle is a shouldered axe, with a rounded rectangular
section (Courtesy; Archaeological Survey of India) 275
147. Spikelets, husks and grains of rice found in an excavation at
Hastinapur, ]VIeerut District, Uttar Pradesh (Courtesy:
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS XXXi
148. Foodgrains discovered in the excavation at Atranjikhera and

Ahar and their age (After Vishnu-Mittre) 274
149. The home of the Aryans is southern Russia-the land around
the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. From that area they spread
to Iran and Asia Minor. From Iran some hordes migrated to
India (Courtesy: UNESCO) 279
150. Late Pleistocene distribution of the members of the genus
Equus (horse). The asses and zebras were confined to Africa
and hemiones or half-assess to the Middle East and northern
India. There are no overlaps (After Zeuner) 284
ISla. A terracotta horse, Lothal (Gujarat), c. 2000 to 1800 D.C.
(Courtesy: Archaeological Survey ofInclia) 285
151 b. Clay figure of a horse from Kaiyatha, District Ujjuin,
Madhya Pradesh, c 1700 B.C. (Courtesy: H. D. Sankalia) 285
152. Bronze axes with shaft holes recovered from upper layers of
Mohenjo-daro, dated to about 1800 B.C. to 1600 B.C., which
probably belonged to Aryan invaders from Iran (Courtesy:
153. Chariots drawn by horses were commonly used by the nobles
in the Buddhist period. Houses were multi-storeyed with
wooden balconies. The dress of the people was a dhoti and
a turban. Pillar details of East Gate Stupa I, Sanchi, first
century (Courtesy: Archaeological Survey of India) 286
154. Important Painted Grey Ware sites in northern India. In
the Punjab, Haryana and western districts of Uttar Pradesh
a large number of Painted Grey Ware sites have been disco-
vered. Now'the northernmost limit of Painted Grey Ware
is Jammu 302
155. Painted Grey Ware pots and dish from Hastinapur, 1000 D.C.
to 800 D.O. (Courtesy: National Museum, New Delhi) 309
156. Young Hariana bulls at the Hissar cattle farm. The Hariana
breed of cattle is associated with the Aryans. It is confined to
the Punjab, Hal'yana, Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh
where the Aryans settled 309
157. Smelting of iron was a m~or achievement, Iron provided
a hard metal £r'om which axes, ploughshares and sickles
were fabricated. This led to great progress in agriculture
(Reconstruction from the Museum of Evolution of Life,
Chandigarh) 310
158. The girl is scaring away birds from a pear1~mil1et fze1d with
a sling (Courtesy: Indian Agricultural Research Institute,
New Delhi) 311
159. Black Polished Ware from Yellcswaram, an Iron Age site
xxxii A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
in Tamil Nadu (Courtesy; ArChaeological Survey of India) 312

160. Iron objects from Megaliths in South India. At the right is a
sickle and at the left is a sword. In the middle is an axe with
a ring~fastener. At the top is an arrow-head. c. 300 B.C.
CCourtesy; Archaeological Survey of India) 312
161. A pearl-millet (hajra) crop in Rajasthan. The earliest
record of pearl-millet in India is from Rangpur, Gujarat,
1100 B.C. to 800 B.C. (Courtesy: Indian Agricultural Research
Institute, New Delhi) 319
162. Barley was a favourite crop of Vedic Aryans, and they called
it )Iava. The largest area under this drought-resistant crop is
in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan (Courtesy: Punjab Agricul-
tural University) 320
163. India in the sixth century B.C. was divided into sixteen states
called Mahajanapadas 324-
164. The great departure. In the background are several-storeyed
buildings. Women seated in wooden balconies watch the
procession. North Gate, Stupa r, Sanchi, first century D.C.
165a. An illustration to a Jataka story, showing, among others,
banana plants (Musa paradisiaca) 330
165b. Sacred trees of the Buddhists. A, Asoka-tree (Saraca
asoca; syn. S. indlca); 2, Banyan (Ficus henghalensis); 3, Cluster~
fig (Ficus glomorata) , Bharhut; 4, Lebbeck-tree or sin's (Albit.:ia
lcbbeck), Bharhut; 5, Sal (Shorea robusta), Bharhut; 6, Iron-
wool or Nagkesar (Mesua jerrea), Bhathut; 7, Pipal (Ficus
religiosa), Sanchi; and 8, Foliage of pip aI, Bharhut (After R. V.
Sitholey) 331
166. The Buddha subjugates the mad elephant Nalagiri. Women,
nude above the waist, watch from the balconies of houses.
Amaravati, late second century, Madras Museum (Courtesy:
167. Buffaloes mUddying a pool. The circular hut in the back-
ground resembles the Navdatoli h.uts. On the left are
archers carrying bows . .An illustration to a Jataka story,
West Gate, Sanchi (Courtesy: Archaeological Survey of
India) 334
16B. A bullock-cart, with a pail' of bullocks in the foreground. A
medallion from Bharhut, 200 B.O. Calcutta Museum (Cout-
tesy: Archaeological Survey of India) 343
169. Punch-marked silver coins of the Buddhist period. Top row,
left, Bent bar variety, silver, sixth century B.C.; right, Puneh-
marked cup-shaped variety, silver, fourth century D.C.;
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xxxiii
Bottom row, left, Punch-marked, silver, third century B.C.;

right, Silver coin of Sophytes, a prince of the Punjab,· the
obverse of the coin showing a cock with large spurs. c. 300
B.C. (Courtesy: National Museum, New Delhi) 343
170. The threshing of wheat near Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.
Seven bullocks are tied with a rope to a wooden post (met/Ii).
They walk around it for hours and thresh out the grain. This
is a practice as ancient as the Buddhist period 344
171. The winnowing of wheat in Madhya Pradesh 344
172. An Aseel cock, a fighting breed of poultry, with large spurs.
Deccani, latc seventeenth century. Compare with the figure
on obverse of silver coin of Sophytes (Fig. 169) (Courtesy:
Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, Bombay) 367
173. Bull capital, Rampurva, Tirhut, Maurya, 240 B.C. Calcutta
Museum. The bull represents the Hariana breed. It is sym-
bolic of the importance of cattle in the economy of Mauryan
India (Courtesy: Archaeological Survey of India) 368
174. Top, Fragment of a torana architrave showing Gajalakshmi
and a Nagori bull, Kausambi, Allahabad District, Uttar
Pradesh, first century B.C.; Allahabad Museum Bottom,
A Nagori bull (Courtesy: Archaeological Survey of India) 369
175. An illustration to a Jataka story. Keeping the pots hanging
from the roof is a custom still followed in India. In front of
the hut are two aSSes (Courtesy: Archaeological Survey
of India) 370
176. Life in an Indian village in the Buddhist period, about
200 B,C. In the foreground are buffaloes, zebu bulls, goats
and sheep. In front of the hut women arc busy with
domestic chores, such as grinding spices, dehusking padely,
and winnowing with a c!IOOj. Sanchi, 200 B.C. (Courtesy:
Archaeological Survey of India) . 375
177. A replica of the Girnar edict of Asoka, in froni of the Nation-
al Museum, New Delhi. In the edict Asoka states that he
planted trees along roadsides (Courtesy: National Museum,
New Delhi) 376
178. A map showing Asoka's Empire, 250 B.C. 380
179. Fruit-plants shown in sculptures from Bharhut, second cen-
tury B.C. and Sanchi, first century B.C. 1, Plantain (Muia
paradisiaca), Sanchi; 2, Mango (Mangijera, indica), Sanchi;
3, Mango bunch with leaves, Sanchi; 4, Mango fruits and
leaves, Bharhut; 5, A parrot carrying a bunch of grapes
(Vitis vinifera), Sanchi; 6, A grapcvine bearing bunches,
Bharhut; 7, Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterop'D'Uus), Bharhut
xxxiv A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
(After R. V. Sitholey) 382

180. Palms depicted in Buddhist sculptures. 1, Palmyra~palm
(Borassiisflabellifer), Bharhut, second century B.C.; 2, A palm,
with a man standing below, Besnagar; 3, Wild datepalm
(Phoenix sylvestris), Sanchi (After R. V. Sitholey) 384
181. A Yakshi under a mango-tree. Stupa I, Sanchi, first century
B.C. (Courtesy; Archaeological Survey ofIndia) 385
182. A grapevine carved on a fragment of a railing post, Bharhut,
Satna District, Madhya Pradesh, second century B.C.
(Courtesy; Allahabad Museum) 386
183. Coins and seals with animal and bird motifs from the second
century to the tenth century; Top row, left, Vasudeva, Kushan,
gold, second century; right, Chandragupta I, Gupta, gold,
fourth century; Second row, left, Kumaragupta I, Gupta,
peacock type, gold, fifth Cell tury; centre, a bull, seal, fourth
century, Sanghol, Punjab; right, Samudragupta, Gupta, gold,
fourth century; Third row, left, a bull, seal, Gupta period,
fifth century, Sanghol; right, an elephant trampling a lion,
seal, Gupta, sixth century; Bottom row, left, Sashanka, King of
Gauda (central Bengal), gold, seventh century; riglzt, a horse
and a bull, Shahi dynasty, Kabul, tenth century (Courtesy:
National Museum, New Delhi, and Department of Archaeo~
logy, Punjab Government). 389
184. A man and a woman feeding a parrot. Below is a blossom~
ing asoka (Saraca asoca). Kushan, first century (Courtesy:
Mathura Museum) 390
185. Iron agricultural implements excavated from the Bhir mound,
Taxila, 300 B.C. to A.D. 100; 182-190 are hoes with chisel-
like blades; 191-197 are spuds with broad blades like that of
khurpa; 198, a true spade; 200-202 are weeding forks; 203-206
are sickles (From Taxila, Vol. III, by Sir John Marshall) 393
186. Pivot stones, querns and mullers, pestles and mortars, grind~
ing mills from the Bhir mound and Sirkap, 300 B.C. to A.D.
100 (From Taxila, Vol. III, by Sir John Marshall) 394
187. A farmer ploughing. The bullocks are of the Hariana breed,
and the type of plough is still in use in Maharashtra. Gandhara
relief, 200 A.D. (Courtesy; Lahore Museum) 395
188. Plough from Solan, Himachal Pradesh. It resembles the
plough shown in the Gandhara relief above 395
189. Iron sickles, diameter 29.2 em, the iron bhakhar, 54 cm in
length, 88.9 em in width, and iron trowels, used as khurpis,
200 A.D. (Courtesy: Sartchi Museum) 396
190. Top, Bhakhar a scraper in common use in the black-cotton-
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xxxv
soil areas of Madhya Pradesh; Bottom, A closer view of the
bhakhar 399
191. Black-pepper (Piper nigrttm) was the favourite spice ofIndians
till the Portuguese introduced red~pepper (Capsicumfrutescens)
from Peru, South America, in the sixteenth century. Black-
pepper is grown in Kerala, trained on posts of Erythrina varie-
gata val'. orientalis 400
192. Women drying berries of black-pepper in Kerala 400
193, Map showing the Gupta Empire at the close of the fourth
century 411
194,. Mango, a favourite fruit of the Indians. The couples shown
standing below the branches of fruit-bearing mangoes are
(right) from Badami (A.D. 578) and (left) from Pattadakal,
Bijapur District, Karnataka, seventh century 447
195. Relief showing the descent of Ganga, Mah,abalipuram, Tamil
Nadu, Pallava, seventh century. A number of animals,
including deer and lions, are shown 448
196. A ship with sails. South Indians sailed in such vessels fi'om
India to Java during the Chola period. Borobuddur, Java,
eighth century (Courtesy: Archaeological Survey ofIndia) 448
197. Krishna milking a cow. Mahabalipuram, Pallava, seventh
century. The cow is of the Hallikar breed 449
198. A herd ofHallikar cattle in Karnataka 450
199. Krishna holding the mountain Govardhana. Hoysaleshwara
Temple, Halebid, Karnataka. Roysala, twelfth century.
The cattle sheltering under the mountain are of the Hallikar
breed 451
200. Sculpture of the Nandi Bull, Mysore. It is based on the
Ongole breed of Andhra Pradesh 452
201. An Ongole bull from the Guntur District of Andhra Pradesh,
with energetic body, white skin, large dewlap and stumpy
horns. 453
202. A panel depicting a Persian wheel from Mandor, Rajasthan,
eleventh century. This is the earliest record of a Persian
Wheel in India. It is pre-Islamic and proves that it is an
Indian wheel and not an import from Iran (Courtesy: Jodh M
pur Museum) 453

203. Top, A ploughman. The plough is similar to the Indian
desi plough. Borobuddur, Java, eighth century; Bottom, The
plough from Jorhat, Assam resembles the plough shown in
the Borobuddur sculpture above 454
204. Map showing the Chola Empire under Kulottunga I, c.IIOQ 458
CHAPTER 1
BIRTH OF THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT
THE most outstanding fact about the physical geography of India is the
natural division of the country with three distinct segments of totally dissi-
milar character: (i) the Himalayas, the great mountain system to the north,
(ii) the Indo-Gangetic alluvial plain of northern India extending from the
Punjab to Assam, and (iii) the Peninsula of the Deccan to the south of the
Vindhyas--a solid stable block of the earth's crust, largely composed of
some of the most ancient rocks, which the denudation of ages has carved into
a number of mountain ranges, plateaus, valleys and plains.
Ever since the Oambrian Period, the dawn of geological history, the
peninsula has been a land area that has never been submerged under the
sea. The mountains are not true mountains of upheaval, but are outstanding
portions of the old plateau which have escaped weathering. The Western
Ghats form the western edge, and the Eastern Ghats the eastern edge of the
plateau, which slopes towards the east.
Whereas the Himalayas and the Indo-Gangetic plain are comparatively
young, the peninsula has a long geological history behind it. During the
Triassic Period, there were three continents. Of these the North Atlantic
continent comprising most of North America, and Angaraland comprising
Russia, Siberia and China were in the north. To the south was the large
continent of Gondwanaland, which comprised Peninsular India, Africa,
South America, Australia and Antarctica. Separating the northern
continents from the Gondwanaland was the Tethys Ocean, which covered
northern India, Iran, Middle East and northern Africa.
In the Jurassic Period, the Gondwanaland split into two land masses,
the eastern comprising Peninsular India, Malagasy (Madagascar) and
Australia and the western comprising Africa and South America.
The Cretaceous Period began 110 million years ago and lasted for
50 million years. It was the age of armoured dinosaurs, birds, early
mammals and primitive angiosperms.
During the early part of the OretaceouS Perio~, the Tethys Ocean
extended over wide areas. It spread over a great part of Europe. The south-
ward extension of the Tethys flooded much of northern Afdca with a series
of embayments from Algeria to Egypt. A connection was established with
the South Atlantic Ocean aCl'OSS the Gulf of Guinea through Algeria,
Libya, the Sudan and Nigeria, converting the Sahara into a great island.
In the eastern region, an arm of the Tethys spread over Iran, Pakistan,
western India, and lower parts of the Narmada and the Tapti valleys;
another arm invaded Assam, whereas embayments spreading northward
2 A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
from the Bay of Bengal merged with the arm of the Tethys ill Assam. The
sea at this time washed the east coast of India where the upper Gondwana
deposits are locally associated with the marine fauna of the lower Cretaceous
Age. The middle and the upper Cretaceous, especially in the Pondichcrry-
Tiruchirapalli sector, are mainly littoral. The fauna of this sector is similar
to that of Malagasy (Madagascar) and South Africa and to that of the
southern flank of the Assam range. Along the Narmada Valley on the west
coast are some marine fossiliferous beds with fossils showing greater affinity
with those of the Cretaceous of southern Arabia and Europe than with those
of Assam and Tiruchirapalli regions. The dissimilarity indicates that there
was still a sort of land barrier that separated the Bay of Bengal from the
Arabian Sea. This land barrier has been called Lemuria, which included
Peninlmlar India and Malagasy. The sea surrounding this long Indo-
Malagasy island, with its dinosaur-infested forests, was in free communica-
tion with the Tethys to the north, as is shown by the presence of European
species, or species with European relationships, in both the Narmada Valley
and the Cretaceous of the east coast of India.
The middle and the upper Cretaceous Were periods of great marine
transgression. A palaeogeographic map of the Gondwanaland during
the middle and upper Cretaceous is shown in Fig. 1. While the uppermost
Cretaceous beds were being deposited along the south-eastern coast of India,
stupendous volcanic outbursts overwhelmed a vast area, comprising the pre-
sent Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, the like of which are not
known anywhere else in the world (Fig. 2). Several hundred thousand
square kilometres Were flooded by the outpourings of extremely mobile lava
from fissures. The' hills formed by the lava are in some places over 1,200
metres high and are known as the Deccan traps. They are peculiar in
appearance, being frequently flat on the top and with steep sides so that
they appear from a distance as gigantic steps and, therefore, are called
traps, a name derived from the Swedish word, meaning a stair 01' step. The
individual lava flows that make 'up the Deccan trap plateau vary greatly
from a fraction of a metre to 36 metres in thickness. During the periods of
quiescence that intervened between successive outbursts, lakes were formed,
probably because the lava streams had blocked the rivers. In these lakes,
fishes, frogs, small crustaceans, etc., flourished, whereas the flowering planls,
including palms and other vegetation, grew on the adjoining land. In the
marshy areas dinosaurs thrived, and on the beaches tortoises crawled. As
time Went on, the lakes were filled up with sediments washed down from
the land: Then came another period of volcanic outbursts and lava flows
when lakes Were for:rp.ed again, and plants and animals reappeared. Thus,
volcanism and sedimentation were repeated many times until a great thick-
ness of lavas and interbedded sediments, called the Intel'trappeans} had
accumulated, containing the petrified remains of organisms which bear
DIRTH OF THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENt' 3
.. -*.., ... _ ..... ~ .. ..... - ........
~ Cratonic areas
G) Freshwater facies
om Mixed facies
[:.J Marine facias
1,000"'_""""-1 Isopach form lines in feet
5,OoO~5 1 Il)ot'" 0,3048 melra
10,OOO~10
Fig. 1. PalaeogeogL'aphic map of Gondwanaland in the middle and upper Cretaceous

(After Ahmad)
. witness to the fauna and flora that existed during that period.
The continent of Gondwanaland had split up into its integral parts
towards the latter part of the upper Cretaceous. The drifting apart of the
continents was facilitated by the great overflow of lavas, such as the Strom-
berg lavas of South Africa, the Serra Geral volcanics of South America
and the .Decean traps of India. As a result of these earth movements,
considerable parts of the marginal areas of the Gondwanaland hroke off and
sank into the oceans. The Tethys had already been shallowed in the upper
Ol'etaceous. The intermittent mountain building continued throughout
the Tertiary, as a consequence of which the great mountain systems, such
as the Atlas, the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Caucasus, the Himalayas and the
Malay Are, Were formed.
The formation of the Deccan trap, to which reference has been mado
earlier, continued in the Tertiary Period. By far the greater part of western
India is made up of the Deccan trap covering an area of 322,900 square
kilometres. Originally it had a much greater area, probably covering
800,000 square kilometres; outlying patches of the trap occur in Sind,
Kutch, Bihar, and the coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh. The formation
of t1Ie Deccan trap began in the uppermost part of the middle Cretaceous
and continued into the Eocene or even later.
The crustal movements that gave birth to the Alps have also been
responsible for the formation of the Himalayas. The movement that first
outlined the belt along which the Himalayas were uplifted may have begun
in the Cretaceous times, but such pre-Tertiary movement was probably
mild, producing an incipient island arc, and there is little evidence to show
that there was any real mountain-building movement before the middle
of the Tertiary Period. The gigantic masses of sediments that had been
accumulating upon the gradually sinking floor of the Tethys, since the
upper Carboniferous, disturbed the gravitative equilibrium of the cru')t
towards the end of the Eocene, when a series of intense mountain-building
movements, separated by periods of some quiescence, started, resulting in
the uplift of the Himalayas.
The process was begun by the outpouring of the Deccan trap lava
through numerouS fissures during the late Cretacebus and the early Eocene.
The abnormal tension of the earth's crust caused by the extraordinary
sinking of the Tethys thoroughly upset the internal equilibrium of the earth.
The equilibrium was adjusted only by the most violent changes starting
with great outbursts of volcanism at many centres and ending in gigantic
convulsions that forced up the deposits of the Tethys into a great mountain
system. It is estimated that about 1,666.000 cubic kilometres of lava,
which exceeds in bulk the entire Himalayas, was poured out from the
bowels of the earth.
The continued sinking of the Tethys is presumed to have been caused
by crustal weakness. During the sinking of the sea t, there was a lateral thrust
which narrowed the basin. The narrowing of the basin upheaved the
sediments, and surplus sedimentary materials were forced up into folds
above the basin to form the Himalayan chain. The margin of the up-
heaved mass also yielded under strain, developing fractures in many places.
As the sinking sea floor reached deep into the region of higher temperature
and pressure, the lower layers of sediments were melted into "magma",
which invaded the crumpled and crushed the overlying sediments as intru-
sions or as lava flows. These now form the central axis of the Himalayas.
Some of the rocks have been squeezed up and out by the lateral forces from
two sides and thrust into overturned folds and faults. Many of the over-
turned limbs are displaced as flat-lying folds known as nappes.
BIRTH OF THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT 5
INDIA
AREA COVERED BY DECCAN TRAP
CHINA
AHABIAN SEA
eAY OF BeNGA~
(Pj
~ DECCAN 1RAP
"&\
~
INDIAN OCEAN
Fig. 2. During the upper Cretaceous, stupendous volcanic outbursts overwhelmed a vast
area in what is now Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. From the lava, the black
cotton soil was fotmed over the ages
A RIS'rORY OF AG1UaULTURE IN lND1A
The upheaval of the Himalayas has taken place in three major phases.
The earliest phase was at the close of the Eocene, when the Eocene nummuli·
tic limestone and the underlying older strata that had been accumulating on
the floor of the Tethys since the upper Carboniferous were uplifted into
ranges of considerable altitude (4,500-6,000 metres), found in Kashmir,
Hundesh and in parts of eastern Tibet. With this uplift, all traces of the
Tethys in the Himalayan region vanished. The next upheaval took place
towards the close of the Miocene when the sediments deposited by rivers in
estuaries along the flanks of the infant Himalayas were upraised. The~e
now constitute the middle 01' lesser Himalayas. The last upheaval started
after the Tertiary and continued into the sub-Recent through the Pleisto-
cene. The movements involved the uppermost Siwalik fi'eshwater sediments.
I t is now generally believed ·that the uplift of the Himalayan system of
mountain ranges was due to movements of two solid continental masses all
two sides of the Tethys, directed towards one another. The Central Asian
continental mass, Angaraland, slowly moved from the north to the south
under pressure from the floor of the Arctic Ocean, and the northern edge of
the Indian continental :mass, the Gondwanaland, became downwarped by
the nOl'thward compressive force from the Indian Ocean. The Himalayan
portion of the Tethys gradually shifted southward and became narrower,
assuming its present trend in the early Eocene time. The presence of tongue-
like projections of the Gondwanaland-one in the Kashmir-Hazara region
(the Punjab wedge) and the other in the north-eastern extremity of Assam
(the Assam wedge)-have moulded the pattern of the Himalayan chain.
The effects of these two wedges can be clearly seen in any reIiefmap ofIndia.
It will be seen that the Himalayan chain occurs as a huge arc between Nanga
Parbat in the west and Namcha Barwa in the east. The convexity of the
arc points south towards the Indian peninsula. Though geographically the
Himalayas are considered to be limited between these two points, the Nanga
.Parbat and the Namcha Barwa, the rock formations seem to be suddenly
folded round at these points and to turn southward in rather parallel ranges.
Below the Himalayas are the Siwalik Hills, extending from Jammu in
the west to Assam in the east. The Siwalik Hills are mainly river deposits
of the middle Miocene to the lower Pleistocene Age, folded into arches
(anticlines) and troughs (synclines). Many· of the anticlines have been
broken by faults-dislocations due to the slipping of the rocks along a plane
of fracture (fault plane). The fault planes steeply sloping into the hills
have given rise to steep scarps facing the plains.
Immediately adjacent to and on the north of the Siwalik Hills lies the
sub-Himalayan zone or lesser Himalayas, 65 to 80 kilometres wide and of an
average altitude of about 3,000 metres. The rocks here are mostly non-
fossiliferous.
Farther north is the central Himalayan zone (the Great Himalayas) of
DIRTH OF THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT 7
high range5 with snow-clad peaks. It consists mainly of metamorphosed
sedimentary rocks.
The Indo-Gangetic plains, which lie at the foot of the Himalayas from
Hazara to Assam, mark the side of a deep basin of estimated depth of
1,050 to 6,000 metres which resulted from the compression exerted on the
peninsular margin against the advancing crustal waves from the north.
The basin has been filled up with the river alluvium derived from the rising
Himalayas as well as from the plateau on the south.
Alberuni (Abu Raihan Muhammed bin Ahmed), a Central Asian
scholar, with keen perception, came to northern India early in the eleventh
century, and made a remar1<able observation on the structure and formation
of the Indo-Gangetic alluvium. "If you have seen the soil of India with
your own eyes and meditate on its nature," wrote Alberuni, "if you consider
the rounded stoneS found in the earth, however deeply you dig, stones that
are of smaller size at greater distance from the mountains, and where the
streams flow more slowly, stones that appear pulverized in the shape of sand
where the streams begin to stagnate near their mouths and near the sea, if
you consider all this, you could scarcely help thinking that India has once
been a sea which by degrees has been filled up by the alluvium of the
streams. " l
REFERENCES
Ahmad, F. Palaeogeography of the Gondwana Period in Gondwanaland, with special
reference to India and Australia, and its bearing on the theory of Continental Drift.
Mtm. geol. Surv. Illdia, 90: 1·142. 1961
Burrard, 8.G., Hayden, H.H. and Heron, A.M. Geogropllyand Geology tif tilt Himalaya and
Tib6/. 2nd edn. Dthra Dun, 1934
Krishnan, M.S. Evolution of the Desert-Geographical History of Rajasthan al1d it,
R.elation to Present-day Conditions. Bull. nalll. Inst. Sci. Illdia, No.1: 19-31, 1952
Krishnan, M.S. G~ology of India and Burma. Higginbothams Ltd, Madras, 1956
Pascoe, E.H. A Manual of tile Geology of India and Burma. Srd cdn. 1. Manager of Publica-
tions, Delhi, 1950
Randhawa, M.S. and others, Evolution of Life. New Delhi, 1969
Sachau, E.C. Alheruni's India, Vol. I, p. ~98, Indian Reprint
Sahni, B. Recent Aduances in Indiall Palaeobotany. Presidential Address, Botany Section,
25th Indian Science Congress, Jubilee Session, Calcutta, 1938
Wadia, D.N. The Tertiary geosyncline of north· west Punjab and the history of Quaternary
earth-movements and drainage of the Gangetic trollgh. (blart. J. geol. Suc. India,
4(3) .. 69-96, 1932
Wadia, D.N. GIO/og)1 of India. 3rd edn (Revised). Macmillan & Co., Ltd, Londoll, 1957
Wadia, D.N. Tfte HimalaJI(j .klountains-Tfteir Age, Origill ami Sllbcruslal Relatiolls. Meghnad
Saha Lecture, 1964. National Institute of Sciences of India, New DellIi
Wegener, A. The Origin rif the COlllilletils and Oeealls. Bnglish trami;llioll by J .G,A. Skcrl.
E.P Dutton & Co., New York, 1924
Zeuner, F.E. The P/eistocem Period. Royal Society, London, 1915
lSach!lu, E,C. Albemni's India, Vol. 1, p. 198.

CHAPTER 2
SOILS
SOIL from the agricultural point of view may be defined as the material
comprising weathered rock minerals which, together with organic matter,
,Yater and air, provides a medium for the growth of plants, This medium
is the basic source of all human and animal food as well as of many indus-
trial raw materials.
The agriculture of a country is dependent to a large extent on the
nature of its soils, which, in turn, is influenced materially by climatic
factors. Thus the soils of India, which extend from the temperate
regions through the subtropical into the torrid regions, display marked
differences in character, again reflected in the vegetation pattern of
the country.
Although soils undergo important secondary modifications through
climate, topography, organic agencies, etc., their fundamental cha.racter is
determined by their general nature. Certain well*marked rock types give
rise to certain definite types of soils; and variations in the rocks cause wide
differences in the overlying soils in regard to their consistency, depth and
composition.
The foundations of the soils of India have been classified into :
1. Ancient c'rystaltine and metamorplzic rocks: The oldest rocks consti-
tuting the basement of Peninsular India which occur as granites) gneisses,
crystalline schists and subordinate rocks rich in ferromanganesian minerals.
These rocks have given rise to red soils.
2. Cuddapahs and Vindhyans: Being an ancient formation) the soils
derived are all highly matured.
3~ Gondwana: It occurs in the c11ains of basin-like depressions in
the table lan.d of the peninsula filled with old river deposits, sands and silts.
The Gondwana rocks have produced comparatively immature soils of
less variety and fertility.
4. The Deccan Trap: It comprises volcanic lava rich in ferromanga-
nesian and alumina compounds. The typical soil derived from the Trap is
the regur type Or the black cotton soil.
5. Tertiary and Muo.<;oic sedimentary rocks oj Extra-Peninsular India,
oci:up)ling small areas oj the hilly and mountainous ground in depressions alld valley
basins: (i) Mesozoic and Eocene calcareous rocks; and (ii) Tertiary
sandy rocks.
6. Recent and sub-recent rocks, which have given rise to a drift soil, entirely
different in origin from the soils of southern India, whiclt are largely residual soils
produced from the decomposition products of rocks: Old Indo-Gangetic allu-
SOILS 9
viurn, new Indo-Gangetic alluvium; deltaic alluvium, lateritic rocks, and
desert deposits.
Meteorological conditions in India, with their wide diversity, have
given rise to major secondary modifications in the basic character of soils.
The climates are manifold. The conditions in the north are very different
from those in the south; the coasts present a marked contrast to the interior;
the climate of the West Coast region is different from that of the East
Coast tract, and the Himalayan. zone is a class by itself. The normal annual
rainfall varies {i'om about 11,685 millimetres (460 inches) in the Assam hills
to less than 76 millimetres (3 inches) in Rajasthan. During some months
of the year, vast areas are deluged; during others, drought prevails. Under
the influence of such climatic variations, geological differences have ceased
to be of predominant importance, and soils of similar properties cover the
most varied rock systems. The more extreme the climate, the more gene-
rally will the climatic type of soils predominate. Examples are the black
soils derived from different types of rocks.
FORMATION OF SOILS
A mature soil is the handiwork of geoclimatic and geobiological forces
operating jointly. How do these fOl'ces operate? Soils are formed by the
weathering and disintegration of rocks. Soils are either sedentary, i.e.
those formed out or the underlying rock, or are transported, i.e. those
formed out of the disintegrated parts of rocks, brought down by the action
of rivers from a distance. The process of breaking down of rock masses
and their gradual development into soil is called weathering. The agencies
ofweathedng are physical, i.e. those that break the rock into smaller pieces,
and chemical, Le. those that change the composition of the minerals forming
the rock and, in so doing, exert a marked influence upon its physical
character. The work of the physical agencies is called decomposition. Both
these proceSses are complementary to each other.
The agencies operating in the disintegration of soils are: aqueous, atmos-
pheric, physical and organic.
The aqueous agency operating in the disintegration of rocks and soils
is the most potent of all. What enormous quantities of solid matter are
dislocated by rain and brought down by streams and rivers may be judged
from Everest's calculation of silt carried down by the Ganges alone. Everest
has calculated that 355,361,461 tonlles of solid matter are carried down
annually to the sea by the Ganges. The erosive action of running water is
due to sandI pebbles and rocks carried by it. The hardest and heaviest
rocks become converted into rounded boulders and pebbles by the action
of the moving water containing sand in motion. Water acls not only mecha-
nically in denuding rocks, but it is also a solvent. Potash, soda, silica and
lime get dissolved in water, and the rocks are denuded by the solvent action
10 A HISTORY 0).1 AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
Fig. 3, The occurrence of Archaean lind Pumna Rocks Md the Deccan Trap in India
SOILS 11
of water. The solvent action of water and minerals is increased by salts
in solution and gases in suspension. Sea waves beating against cliffs also
help in the formation of soils. The action of glaciers in tearing down rocks
and in the formation of moraines and erratic boulders may be also included
under this head. The hydration of rocks in the presence of water may also
be mentioned.
The atmospheric agency acts on rocks as follows: The carbon dioxide
gas in the atmosphere renders the calcium carbonate soluble. Limestones,
chalk and kankar thus get dissolved and become available as plant food,
and the rain-water from calcareous rocks charged with calcium carbonate
flows into the sea, where shell-fish, corals and foraminifera utilize the lime
in building up their own bodies, which in time settle in the form of dead
shells and form new rocks. The dew and water-vapour of the atmosphere
which get into the interstices of rocks in cold regions are frozen and the
resulting expansion disintegrates the particles of roc]cs. When water
freezes, it expands, and the volume of ice formed is increased by nine per
cent. This increase in volume exerts a force of 1,640 tonnes per square
metre. The oxygen of the atmosphere is a very potent agent in oxidizing and
disintegrating the surfaces of hard rocks. Strong currents of wind carry sand
and finer particles of matter (such as comlnon salt) from the sea-shore and
the dry beds of rivers into the interior.
Physical agencies operate in disintegrating soils chiefly in the form of
heat. Rocks are poor conductors and hence the effects of heat and cold
extend only to a slight depth from the surface. The greater expansion or
contraction of the surface produces a strain which causes a layer of rock to
break off. Earthquakes, hot springs and volcanoes alter even the super-
ficial layers of the earth's surface.
AOTION OF PLANTS
Disintegration of rocks takes place by hydration, oxidation and physical

action. Nitrification then proceeds with the help of bacteria. Lichens
and blue-green algae appear. Gradually, the quantity of soil on the hard
surface of the rock increases, and the growth of vegetation becomes more
vigorous, mosses) liverworts, ferns and grasses gradually taking the place of
lichens. When visible soil accumulates, and fissures and cracks appear on
the rock, herbs and shrubs multiply and by their root-action further help to
disintegrate the rock to some depth. The formation of soils now goes on
apace. Lichens and bacteria are able to draw nourishment from the most
insoluble rocks, not only from basalts, granites and schists, but also from
quartz. Even quartz gets covered with lichens when exposed long enough
to the air. The action of higher vegetation on rocks is partly mechanical
ancI partly chemical. Roots get into the clefts of rocks and tear them as-
under. Chemical action is concerned in the solution of SOlne of the ingre-
dients of the rock. The solvent action of roots is partly due to the formation
of acids in them which act on the particles of soil.
ACTION' OF ANIMALS
The larger rodents, like rats, squirrels and rabbits, burrow into the
ground and thus large quantities of partially decomposed rocks are exposed
to the agencies of weathering. Earthworms and ants also help to decom-
pose and disintegrate the rocks. They carry down vegetable matter, which
on decomposition helps to break down the minerals. Earthworms pass large
quantities of soil through their bodies. This passage of soil through their
bodies amounts to more than 22 tonnes of soil per hectare. This process
greatly helps to mix the soil with the subsoil. Worm-casts are particularly
useful to the farmer, as they help to loosen and perforate the soil to facilitate
the penetration of roots, water and air. These worms also drag down leaves,
pieces of straw, etc., into their holes, thus incorporating organic matter into
the soil, and making heavy soils lighter and ~ight soils heavier.
As the soil particles become smaller, their water-holding capacity in-
creases, as each soil particle is surrounded by a film of capillary water.
This water is very effective in the decomposition of the soil particles.
Hydration, oxidation and carbonation work simultaneously. These de-
composition processes are always accompanied with increases in bulk and
these tend to disrupt the rock and further assist to disintegrate it.
SOIL TYPES
The investigations of Voelcker in 1893, and those of Leather in 1898, led
to a classification of Indian soils into four major types: (i) the Indo-Gangetic
alluvium; (ii) the black cotton or regur soils; (iii) the red soils lying on meta-
morphic rocks; and (iv) the lateritic soils. Various types of soils, according
to the findings of the Soil Survey of India, are shown in Fig. 4.
INDO·GANGETIC ALLUVIUM
The Indo-Gangetic alluvium is by far the largest and most important

of the soil groups of India. The soils of this group cover about 777,000
square kilometres. They are distributed mainly in the northern, north-
western and north-eastern parts, including the Punjab, Haryana, Vttal"
Pradesh, Bihar, Bengal, and parts of Assam and Orissa. They produce
bumper crops of wheat and rice (Fig. 5).
In spite of numerous subordinate variations, the main features of these
soils result from their having been deposited as silts by the numerous tribu-
taries of the Indus, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra river systems, which
drain the Himalayas, bringing with them the products formed by the Wea-
thering of rocks.
Geologically the alluvium is divided into (i) khadar, or new alluvium of
INDIA
SOil MAP
CHI"JA
SAY OF BiNGAL
...
~ I •
~ .',
~
0,
.
"So
iill1 I Alfu\-'at E§J II. Mcdiwll bfat;k

~ 21. e,ow1"l501l
lIill. 2, Alluvi.11Ihigh:y l!ij1C811:l0U5) IIllID 12 s!\~rJiJvl b1atJr, IlB3 22, Forost soil
rn AliuvllJl on r,':II;~tel alluvIum

~ 13 ~lack '!'iQ~J saline and atkalln(l IffiIil 23, POd:gOlrC sOil
m 4, Allu .... 'lll (lfl U(·/tllic alluvium ~, 1,1. Slack SCJ;llll1dif{erfll'1l~lllea' EEl ~4, FOOltrill ,art
•
~
,
IlliI
5, AIILIViu/ and ,111<.<1'"10
0, Pcdocal !;ierO,cnl
Pcdoc,,' QJov.'fJ r·{'I11

[ill]
~
15
IG.
nod and bIn,"
rellll~il:a~.
m
[[]]
GTIl.
25 Mounwln and hilt eoil
25, MQl,lnta:rn meade ..... 50il

21. Peat
ml 17 fCff .. tFrr~J(J~ alUI/illl"
1m!! GIIW Md Brown

m IB, RC'd and YQl10vl m 28, Glaciers
rn1l 9 OIlScrl SI)lI

~ 19, latC'r/le B 29, So It boundary
• 10 Or.r.p bl.1d ~I'II

~ 20, Lalol/le ilmJ l.llf'Ii\l, :a 30 Stolte- boundary
14 A HISTORY OF AGRIOULTURE IN INDIA
sandy composition, generally light in colour, about 10,000 years old, and
(ii) Mangar, Dr the older alluvium of Pleistocene date, of more clayey com~
position, generally of dark colour, and full of pebbles or kankar. The soils
differ in consistency from drift sand to loams, and from fine silts to stiff clays.
A few pebble beds are also occasionally met with. The presence of imper·
vious clays obstructs the drainage, and also promotes the accumulation of
irtiurious salts of sodium and magnesium, which make the soils sterile.
The formation of hard pans at certain levels in the soil profile as a
result of the binding of soil grains by the infiltrating silica or calcareous
matter is often observed in these alluvial soils. Layers of kankarin the Indo~
Gangetic alluvium of Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, and those composed of
impure iron oxides are instances of these hard pans.
The soiIs of the Punjab and Haryana plains belong to the alluvial class
typical of the Indo-Gangetic plains. A majority of the soils are loams or
sandy loams, with a soil crust of varying depth. Hardly any profile charac~
teristics are observed. Soluble salts are present in considerable quantities.
The lower layers contain kankar nodules. The soil character is generally
alkaline· due to the presence of sodium in the clay complex. The soils are
rich in phosphorus and potash, but are deficient in organic matter and
nitrogen.
Two broad divisions are distinguished inBihar: (i) the alluvium found
north of· the Ganges, and (ii) the alluvium found south of the Ganges. The
soils in the first group are clayey, loam to sandy loam, neutral to alkaline,
rich in potash, and deficient in P 20 5, while those in the second group are
heavier and finer in texture, with higher K.O and P II0 5 contents, and of
acidic pH in the southernmost parts.
In West Bengal, the Rarh tract consists mainly of old alluvium.
There is hardly any regularity in the manner of deposition of river~borne
materials. Some of the early deposits display considerable diversity on
account of their long subjection to climatic and other influences.
The alluvial soils of Tamil Nadu are transported soils, found mainly
in the deltaic areas and on the coastal line. A section of the profile shows
alternate layers of sand and silt, The composition of the strata varies with
the nature of the silt brought by the rivers which, in turn, varies with the
catchment areas and the tracts through which the streams flow.
The light sandy red and yellow soils found in the Mahanadi basin are
of alluvlal origin. The formations in the north and on the west coast of
Kerala consist mostly of'the sands deposited from the sea. They are of low
fertility.
BLAOK COTTON SOILS
The typical soil of the Deccan Trap is the reguror black cotton soil. It is
common in Maharashtra, in the western parts of Madhya Pradesh, Karna-
SOILS 15
taka, and somc parts of Tamil Nadu, including the districts of Ramnad
and Tinnevelly in the extreme south. It is comparable with the chcrnozems
of Russia and with the prairie soil of the cotton-growing tracts of the United
States of America, especially the black adobe of California. It is derived
from two types of rocks: the Deccan and Rajmahal Trap, and the ferrugi~
nouS gneisses and schists occurring in Tamil Nadu under semi-arid concli-
tions. The formcr attains sometimes considerable depths; whereas the latter
arc generally shallow.
The black soil areas have, generally, a high degree of fertility, though
some, mainly in the uplands, are ofIow productivity. The soils on the slopes
and the uplands are somewhat sandy, but those in the broken country
between the hills and the plains are darker, deeper and richer, and are conS-
tantly enriched by deposits washed down from the hills.
Black soils are highly argillaceous, fine-grained, and dark with a high
proportion of calcium and magnesium carbonates. They are very tenacious
of moisture, and are exceedingly sticky when wet. Owing to considerable
contraction on drying, large and deep cracks are formed. They contain
much iron and fairly high quantities oflime, magnesia, alumina, and potash.
However, they are poor in phosphorus, nitrogen and organic matter. In
all regur soils, in general, and in those derived from ferromangancsian schists,
in particular, there is a layer rich in kankar nodules formed by the segregation
of calcium carbonate at some depth below the surface and above the wea-
thered rocks. The soils are generally rich in montmorillonitic and bcidclli-
tic. groups of minerals.
In Maharashtra, the soils derived from the Deccan Trap occupy quite a
large Mea (Fig. 6). On the uplands and on the slopes, the soils are light.
coloured, thin and poor. On the lowlands and in the valleys, relatively
clayey black soi1~ arc found. Along the Ghats, the soils are very coarse and
gravelly. The soil is often some 6 metres deep in the valleys of the Tapti,
the Narmada, the Godavari and the Krishna rivers. The subsoil contains a
good deal of lime. Outside the Deccan Trap are~, the black cotton soil
predominates in the Surat and Broach districts of Gujarat.
In Madhya Pradesh, two distinct kinds of black soils are found : (i)
deep heavy black soil covering the Narmada valley, and (E) shallow black
soil. The cotton-growing areas generally have deep and heavy black soils,
though soils of lighter texture are also found.
The black soils of Karnataka are fairly heavy, with a high salt con·
centration. They are generally rich in lime and magnesia.
RED SOILS
Red soils extend practically over the Whole Archaean basement of
Peninsular India, from Bundelkhand to the extreme south, covering
2,072,000 square kilometres, embracing south Bengal, Orissa, parts of
16 A HISTORY Ol~ AGRICULTURT£ IN INDIA
Madhya Pradesh, eastern Andhra Pradesh, Karnatalm, amI a m<jor part of

Tamil Nadu. These soils also occur in Santhal Parganas in Bihar, and in
the Mirzapur, Jhansi and Hamirpur districts ofUttul' Pradesh. They were
produced as a rcsult of meteoric wcathcl'ing of ancient crystalline and mcta~
morphic rocks. These soils started developing around the 11cso7-oic and
Tertiary ages.
The colour ofthcse soils is generally red, grading sometimes into brown,
chocolate, yellow, grey and even black. The redness is due more to a general
diffusion than to a high proportion of i ron content.
The soils grade fro111 the poor, thin, grav~iIy and light-coloured val"ictics
of the uplands to the much mOre fertile, d cp, <.lark varieties of the plains
and the valleys. They are generally poor in nitrogen, phosphorus an I
hU111us. Compared with ?'egur, they arc pOOl' in lime, potash and iron
oxide, and are also uniformly low in phosphorus. The clay fraction of the
soils is rieh in kaolinite.
Reel soils can be divided into two Lroad subgroups: (i) red loams of
argillaceous character with a cloddy structure and possessing a few COll-
cretions, and (ii) red earths with loose and friable top soil, rich in secondary
concretions and scsquioxWe type of clay.
More than two-thirds of the cultivated area in Tamil Nadu is 'overed
by red soils. They are in-situ formations, produced from the rock below
under the inUuencc of climatic conditions. The rocks arc acidic, consisting
of mica or red granites. The soils are shallow and open jn texture. Thcy
have a low exchange capacity and are deficient in organic matter and plant
nutrients.
The predominant type in the eastern tract of Karnataka is the reel soil
overlying granite. It is rich in potash, iron and alumina.
The acidic soils in the south of Bihar are red soils. In West Bengal,
the red soils, sometimes misrepresentcd as laterites, arc the transported
soi ls from the hills of the Chhota Nagpur plateau. A patt of the Jhansi
District in Uttar Pradesh also has red soils. A broad strip of area running
between eastern and western parts of Coorg is rcc1loam, easily drain d , and
having fairly dense vegetation.
LATERITES
Laterite is a soil type peculiar to India and some other tropical countries,
characterized by the intermittent occurrence of moist climate. In formation
it varies from compact to vesicular rock composed essentially of a mixture of
hydrated oxides of aluminium and iron, with sma]} quantities of manganese
oxides, titania, etc. It is produced by the atmospheric weathering of
several types of rocks.
Laterites may break and be carried to lower levels by streams. When
redeposited, they become a compact mass by the segregative action of the
SI)l1 .S 17
Fi"" ;), 'I'll" 11If1". (; :llIgl'lic J.]aill III 11 11' j' IIl Jj ,dJ h:" :1 I'il'" al hl v i ;t1 ~ lIil, Wllldl jll'lldllrc's
hlllllJ)I'J' CI'IIl' ll.i'wlll'al :1l ld l'i('i'
Fig. Ii. 'I'hc' dn 'p:hlad, soi ls ill rhc ' Plill" lli~ l rid , 1\la!t ;p', I, l!lr;I, )ll'odl1('" lnuJI}ll' l' ('ml'~ "I
1'0ItOll , sllga l',': IIJ(' :lIld I'ic,', 'i'i1(' lif>i(j,; ;11'1' d"lli 'd willi II'i'C" 01 Ill'lilgo illul : Im't(( lIilol;(II,
I II IIii' h:Ii'kgf'OlIlId :11'" !.III' Jlal - lnpllI'r! Hlllllllt:till ~ "I' thi ' 1)('('<': 111 'J' l'ap
18 A HISTO}{Y 01" M>JHI:UT:I'IlRE IN INIlIA
Fig, 7, Till' 11 Il'dilll 11 bl:l('k ('()(10l1 ~() illJJ'lrap :llId ~llI'i,~i(' urigill ill ll ll' C(lilllitaltll'l' llj, Ilirl ,
Tamil Nadll, yil' kls rich crops llf ('o lt on alld sugal'C:lm'
Fig, B, n"'lTCIl Ardlflcan granite is covercd with n t!1inl"yn' of ~(')i1 :J.t rr,"npi . ill tilt' 111'11:'11')'
District, Kal'l1alaka, (,oorl soi l is 1(IUlld llllly i1l thl' low.lyi ng a J 'I' a ~
ROILS 19
hydrates. Thus there arc high~levcllal.edte~ l'csting on the rocks, and low-
level laterites formed in the u~\lal W[\y of detrital deposits.
Laterites arc specially wi'll developed on the summits of the hills of
Kal'llutaka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh the coastal region of Orissa, south
rvraharashtra, Malabar and part of Assam. All lateritic soils arc generally
very poor in. lil'llC and mo.gncsia, and deficient in nitrogen. Occa.sionally,
the PI01) cont 'nt may be high, but there is deficiency of Kla0.
In To.mil Nadu, there arc both high-level and Iow~levcllatcritcs which
arc fbrmccl from a variety of rock materials under certain climatic and
weat.})C"r conditions. TJlC!Y arc both ithfitu and SCIHll1CIltary fhrmntions,
an 1'1,1'0 IOlUlcl along the coastal region where rainfall is heavy and the climate
hmnid. The laledt('s at lower elevations grow rice, whereas those at
highC"l' elevations grow tea, cinchona, rubber and caffe. The soils arc
rich in nutrients and contain 10 to 20 pCI' c nt org;trdc matter.
In Coorg, the laterite appears sporadically almost all over the tlislri(~L
In Maharashtra it is foun<.l only in Ratnagiri. In the soils of Ratnagiri,
coarse material is fonllLl in. la rge quantities.
In Kernla, in between the hrond sea belt consi!)ting of sandy soil <1.nu
sandy lQnms and the eastern regions comprising forest and plantation soils,
the mainland contain.. residuallateril'c. It is poor in total and available"
PaOli' available KllO and CaO.
The latedtc soils of Knrnataka are comparable with the latedtcs fonnd
in IV[alabar, the Nilgit'is d... The soils have very low lime content on
j
account of severe leaching and erosion.

III "Vest Bengal, the area between the Dntlwclar and the Dhagirathi is
interspersed with sorne basaltic and granitic hills with a laterite capping.
In Bihar) the laterite occurs prineipally as 0. cap on the higher plat au,
Lut is also found in fair thickness in some valleys.
The laterites of Orissa arc largely found capping hills and plateaus,
occasionally in considerable thickness. Two types of laterite's have been
distinguished: (i) the laterite IllutrUl1l, and OJ) the laterite rock. Tlu'sc arc
also found occurring together.
Onum Sorr~ GROUPS
In addition to the fOUl" principal groups of so ils described above,

mention may be made of four more groups.
Forest and Hill Soils: The soil formation is governed mainly by the
character of the deposition. of organic ruattct' d 'rived from the forest grQ'w th.
Broadly, two conditions of soil formation may be distinguished: (i) soils
formed under acid condition, with acid humus and low base status, and (ii)
soils formed under slightly acid or neutral condition, with high base statltS,
which is Htvourahle to the formation of brown earths.
The soils of the hill district of Assam have t:I. high con.tent of organic
20 A :a:xSTOR¥ OF AGRXClULTURF. IN INDIA
matter and nitrogen. This may be due to the virgin nature of these soils.
In Uttar Pradesh, the sub-Himalayan tract. comprises three distinct
parts, viz. bhabar area immediately below the hills, tarai and the plains.
The.tarai areaS are characterized by extreme unhealthiness owing to exces-
sive soil moisture and prolific growth of vegetation.
The weathering of metamorphic rocks in Coorg has produced deep-
. surface soil of great fertility, as it receives annually the decomposed products
of the virgin forest. The areas towards the west are for the greater part
reserved forests and mountain areas. The land surface is full of pebbles, is
easily drained, and has· a laterite bed.
Desert Soils: A large part of the arid region of Rajasthan and the
Punjab and Haryana, lying between the Satluj and the Aravallis, is affected
by desert conditions which, geologically, are of recent origin. This part is
covered under a mantle of blown sand, and is dominated by conditions
which inhibit soil growth. Some of the soils contain a high percentage of
soluble salts and varying percentages of calcium carbonate, and possess
high pH. They are, however, poor in organic matter. Reclamation is
possible only ifproper irrigation facilities are made available.
Saline and Alkaline Soils: These soils are extensively distributed through~
out India in all the climatic zones. Many parts of the dry tracts of the
north, especially in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, the Punjab, Haryana and Rajas-
than, give rise to saline and alkaline efflorescences in the same way as the
soils capping the Upper Tertiary rocks do. There are many yet undecom-
posed mineral fragments in these alluvial days and silts, which on weather~
ing liberate salts of sodium, magnesium and calcium. The i[\jurious salts
are confined to the top layers, being deposited there by the capillary trans-
ference of saline solutions from the lower strata.
It has been estimated that nearly 850,000 hectares in Uttar Pradesh
and over 200,000 hectares ih the Punjab and Haryana have been affected
by lisar. Over 10,000 hectares are being affected every year in the Punjab
and Haryana. Alkali soils are met with all over Maharashtra.
REFERENCES
BirkC:and, P.W. Pedology, Weathering and Geomorphological Researclz, New York, 1974
Donahue, R.L. Our Soill and Tlzeir Management, Bombay, 1963
GerlUimov, J.P. The Age of Recent Solls. Geoderma, 12, 1974
Kt:shnan, M.S. Geology of India and Burma, Madras, 1960
Maignein,R. Review oj Researeh on Laterites: UNESCO, natural resources research, IV, 1966
Mukerji, N.G. Handbook oj Indian Agrieulture, Calcuttta, 1915
Randhll.wa, M.S. Agll&ulture and Anima! Hushandry in India, New Delhi 1962
Raychaudhuri, S.:r. Land. ami Sail, New" Delhi, 1966
Raychaudhuri, S.P~ at al. Soils.of India New Delhi, 1963
Sahasrabuddhe, D.L. and Naggehalli, N.N. Agricultural Geology ojilidia a;,d P1ySical Pro-
ptrll'es of Soils, Poona, 1947·
Wadia. D.N. Geology of India, 1953
CHAPTER 3
CLIMATE AND AGRICULTURAL REGIONS

AGRIOULTURE is largely conditioned by weather, including rainfall. In
India, the success of agriculture depends principally on the monsoon rains.
The areas of very heavy rainfall in India are to the windward side of
the Western Ghats, the hills of Assam, and the great Himalayan barrier.
These are the watersheds from which originate the major river systems of
the country. Elsewhere, in the plateau of the Deccan, the Gangetic plains
of northern India, and the plains of southern India, the effects of orography
are less pronounced or are completely absent, and the rainfall is only
moderate. In the north-west, the Pu~ab, Haryana, Rajasthan and the
adjoining tracts to the north and west constitute the driest area of the
country.
The year may be divided into four seasons, viz. winter (December to
February), summer or pre-monsoon period (March to May), monsoon
(June to September), and the post-monsoon period (October to November).
MONSOON
India is truly the land of the monsoon. With the exception of Kashmir,
and south-eastern Tamil Nadu, a very large. percentage of the annuall'ain-
fall over the country occurs during the south-west monsoon period (June to
September). In the extreme north, a good proportion of the annual rainfall
is contributed by winter precipitation, whereas in south-east Tamil Nadu
nearly half the annual rainfall occurs during the post- or retreating mon-
soon period (i.e. after September).
With the advance of summer, associated with the 'northing' of the
sun, insolation increases rapidly over the higher latitudes so that by the
end of May the region of the highest air temperature and the lowest atmos-
pheric pressure lies over north-western India and the adjoining areas of
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia. This low-pressure system
takes over control, as it were, of the air currents over Asia, so that the south-.
east trade winds from the south of the equator, after being diverted into
the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, appear suddenly over the west coasts
ofIndia and Burma, respectively, as the south-west monsoon. The Arabian
Sea branch of the south-west monsoon, while crossing the Western Ghats,
gives copious precipitation over that region, and continues to drift eastwards
across the Deccan and the central parts of the country, meeting the bay
branch of the monsoon alC!ng the trough of low pressure which extends
from Orissa to north-western India. The bay branch is deflected .by the
Arakkan Yomas and turned in its course so as to skirt the .northern side of
22 A H1STORY OF AOR1CULTURE IN INDIA
the low-pressure trough while moving along the submontane tracts to the
south of the great Himalayan barrier.
The monsoon does not behave as a steady phenomenon. If that Were
so, the rainfall would always be orographic, i.e. to the windward side of the
mountain barriers along the West Coast, the Arakkan mountains, and the
Himalayas. Fortunately, the monsoon currents pulsate with a series of
eastern depressions, originating in or reviving over the head of the Bay of
Bengal, and moving in a westerly to north-westerly direction across the
northern and central India. These depressions occur at intervals during
the monsoon season, and divert the humid currents into the central and
north-western tracts, thus bringing about a more equitable distribution of
rainfall allover the country.
By mid~September the south-westerly monsoon rapidly withdraws and
is termed the 'retreating monsoon'. This withdrawal gradually leads to the
north-easterly air current assuming full sway over the subcontinent and the
adjoining Seas by January. The north-easterly monsoon, as it is called, is
associated with rainy weather Over the southern parts of Penin.sular India,
particularly over Tamil Nadu, from November to the end of January.
EASTERN DEPRESSIONS
Fluctuations in the intensity of the monsoon are to a very large extent

associated with a series of depressions which mostly originate from (or, when
they are coming from farther east, are strengthened at) the head of the
Bay of J3engal, and travel in a north-westerly direction across the country
towards north-western India, causing heavy rainfall along their track.
The frequency of such depressions is three or four per month during the
monsoon period (June to September). In some years, the frequency of
these depressions comes down very much, and then the monsoon rainfall
tends to become Corographical' (Le. confined to the hills and mountains).
This phenomenon shows the importance of the depressions for securing a
proper· spatial distribution of the rainfall over the plains of northern and
central India. lnyears of only a few depressions, droughts occur in the
interior regions of the country, chiefly in the north-western and central
parts.
WESTERli DEPRESSIONS
During November to May, a series of western depressions enter India

through the North-West Frontier Province and Baluchistan, and move east-
wards across northern India towards north-eastern India (Assam-Bengal).
These depressions cause cloudy weather and light rains in the plains, and
snowfall in the Himalayas, and are followed by cold waVes. The frequency
of these western depressions is, on an average, two in November, four or
five per month during December to April, and about two in May.
CLlMA'l'E AND AGRICULTURAL REGIONS 23
CVCLONIC STORMS
The more severe cyclonic storms usually form in the Bay of Bengal
and the Arabian Sea duting the transition periods, i.e. April to June, al1d
October to December. They enter inland and cause considerable precipi-
tation and damage owing to high winds anti, occasionally, tidal waves
in the coastal tracts.
MONSOON BEHAVIOUR
To begin with, We may consider the total rainfall durin.g the entire
south-west monsoon season, i.e. from June to September. If the deviation
of the actual precipitation in a year in a subdivision is mOre than twice
the mean, that year may be defin.ed as a year of flood or drought according
as the departure is positive or negative. Generally speaking, the number
of floods and droughts tend to equalize over long periods. It is the area
with very low rainfall, e.g. Rajasthan, which experiences the greatest
number of abnormalities. On the other hand, in areas like Konkan, Mala-
bar and Bengal, where the monSoon rainfall is over 1,000 millimetres, abnor-
malities are fewer.
The years 1877, 1899 and 1918 stand out prominently as years of
general drought. Such country-wide droughts occur once in about 20 years.
These were actually the years of great famine and distress. The years of
general flood were 1878, 1892 and 1917. There is, however, no regular
periodicity in the occurrence of floods and droughts.
AGRIQUL1'VRAL REGIONS
The following agricultural regions are defined on the basis of climate,
crops and stock animals:
I. THE TEMPERATE HIMALAYAN REGION
The Temperate Himalayan region may be divided into two
subdivisions:
1. The Eastern Himalayan Region,' This region includes Mishmi
Hills in upper Assam, Sikkim, Bhutan and Nepal. Rainfall is heavy in the
outer ranges and there are thick forests of sal. This is mainly a tea-growing
area. Cultivation of rice is done in some places. Forests are the main
source of wealth in this subregion.
2. Tile Western Himalayan Region.' This region includes Kumaon,
Garhwal, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. As compared
with the eastern Himalayas, the climate is dry. In the northern parts,
there is more of winter rainfall, and the climate is almost of the
Mediterranean type. Horticulture, particularly the growing of apples,
almonds, cherries, apricots, peaches, pears and plums, occupies a prominent
place in the agricultural economy of this region. Other cultivated crops
are potato, wheat, maize and rice. Goats and sheep are the principal
domestic animals. Diminutive black cattle provide milk as well as draught.
II. THE DRY NORTHERN WHEAT REGION
This region -comprises the Pu~ab, Baryana, western Uttar Pradesh,
western Madhya Pradesh and parts of Rajasthan. The annual rainfall is
less than 760 millimetres, and in many places less than 200 millimetres.
The soil is alluvial, having been deposited by a large number of rivers in
geological times. Wheat, barley, gram, maize and cotton are the chief
crops. Cattle are mainly of the Hariana breed. Buffaloes are of the
Murrah breed. They give a high milk yield. Camels are exclusively
found in this region.
III. THE EASTERN RICE REGION
This region comprises Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, eastern
Madhya Pradesh, eastern Uttar Pradesh and parts of Andhra Pradesh.
The soil is mainly alluvial. The annual rainfall of the region is over 1,500
millimetres. The main crops are rice, jute, sugarcane and tea. Buffalo
is the favourite domestic animal. Male buffaloes are used for ploughing in
preference to bullocks. The milk yield of buffaloes and cows is low.
IV. THE MALABAR COCONUT REGION
This region compri~es Kerala, the Western Coast strip, Karnataka and
the adjoining areas. The annual rainfall of the region is over 2,280 milli~
metres. The soil is lateritic. This region is important from the point of
view of plantation crops, e.g. coffee and rubber. .However, the predomi~
nant crop is coconut. Other important crops are tapioca, black pepper and
cardamom. Rice is the main food crop. Cattle are of poor quality.
V. THE SOUTHERN MILLET REGION
This region comprises the Jhansi Division in southern Uttar Pradesh,
central Madhya Pradesh, western Andhra Pradesh, western Tamil Nadu,
eastern. Maharashtta and parts of Karnataka. The rainfall of the region is
500.1,000 millimetres. The soil is partly black cotton and partly lateritic.
Sorghum, pearl-millet, cotton and groundnut are the chief crops. The
principal animals are sheep. The cattle give a poor milk yield.
REFERENCES
Da. A.K. and Srivastava, B.N. Introduction to Meteorolog)" Indian Press Ltd, Allahabad, 1933
Eliot,J. Climatological Atlas of India, Director-General Meteorological Observatory, Poona,
1906
India, Meteorological Department, Cloud Atlas, Manager of Publications, Delhi, 1937
Ram Das, L.A. Rainfal1 and Agriculture, Indian J. Meteorology and GcoPhY5ics,
I, .262-274, 1950
Ram Du, L.A. Weather and Indian Farmer, Manager of Publications, Delhi, 1946
CHAPTER 4:
VEGETATION
INDIA possesses a greater variety of vegetation than any other country.
This is because of her geographical position (8 0 N to 37° N latitude and
63 0 E to 97.5 0 E longitude) as wcll as variations in altitude and climate.
Immigration of plants from countries such as Malaya, China, Japan,
Siberia, Arabia, Africa and Europe has also contributed to the variegated
character of her flora. However, except at very high altitudes and in dry
desert areas, the vegetation is essentially arboreal.
A comparison of the Indian flora with the floras of the adjacent countries
indicates that there is considerable Malayan element. The European
element is represented in the western Himalayas by several genera and
species. The African element comes next in the order of dominance.
The Tibetan and Siberian types are confined to the Himalayas, and
comprise mainly alpine herbs and shrubs. The Chinese flora is strongly
represented throughout the temperate Himalayas by species of oaks· and
rhododendrons.
The vegetation types described in this chapter concern largely the
trees and shrubs under Phanerogams, together with a few Gymnosperms,
which give character to the forests. It may be mentioned that within the
areas under each type of vegetation, the occurrence and predominance of
species are considerably influenced by physical factor~; such as altitude,
climate and soil.
India can be divided into five regions on the basis of vegetation types,
These are as below.
1. The Temperate Himalayan Region: This region is further divided
into two subregions, viz. the western Himalayas and the eastern Himalayas.
2. The Tropical Thorn Forests,' They occur in the Indus Plain Region
comprising the Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and Rajasthan west of the Aravalli
Hills.
3. Th, Dry Deciduous Forests: They occur in Rajasthan east of the
AravalIis, southern Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, central Maharashtra,
a large part of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
4. The Tropical Evergreen Rail! Forests: They OCcur in the western
face of the Western Ghats-the Konkan, KanaraJ Kerala, Annamalais
and the N ilgiris.
5. The Mangrove and Beach Forests: They occur along the coastal
region.
These five regions and their vegetation types are described in the
follOWing account ;
1. TIlE TEMPERATE HIMALAYAN REGION

This region includes Assam (the Mishmi Hill tracts), Sikkim, northern
Bengal, Kumaon and Garhwal, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and
Kashmir. Rainfall is heavy in the outer ranges of the eastern portion. The
northern portion is comparatively dry, though with mare of winter rainfall,
and the climate is almost of the Mediterranean type. There are thick
forests of sal in the eastern portion.
i, The Westerllllimalayas. In this region are included Kumaon,
Garhwal, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir. The western
Himalayan region to the west of the Sacluj differs from the eastern in its greater
length, higher altitude, cooler and drier climate and far greater breadth .
of the mountainous masses. In the tarai area grow stately forests of sal
(Shorea robusta) (Fig. 9). Above 1,220 metres the climate is temperate and
humid and forests of eflir-pine, Pinus roxburghii, are commonly found (Fig.
10). In the dry regions, e.g. Chini in Himachal Pradesh, Pinus gerardiana
lends character to the landscape. Other common trees are the Indian
horse-chestnut, maple and walnut.
The chir-pine forests extend up to 1,980 metres and in their upper limit
gradually get mixed up with white oak. The forest floor on the dry, south~
facing slopes of the outer Himalayas are unusually open and grassy. On
very exposed areas, Euphorbia royleana is common.
From 1,830 metres upwards, Quercus incana becomes characteristic,
associated with Rhododendron arboreum and Lyonia ovalifolia (Andromeda elliptica),
with the straggling Rosa brunonii (R. moschata) covering them. Shrubs,
such as Indigojera gerardiana, Spiraea bella, Deutzia sp., Leycesteria formosa,
Piptanthus nllpalensi!, Pyrus ursina, P. pashia, Rosa sericea, R. macropllJlla, Viburnum
joeiens, Berberis, Ribes glaciate, LOllicera parvijlora, Rubus lasiocarpus and Prunus
padus are common.
At altitudes ranging from 2,130 to 3,050 metres, the characteristic trees
are Quercus semscarpifolia, Q.. dilatata, Abies pindrow, and Cedrus deodara. The
typical oak forests consist of tall straight trees, laden with the lichen,
Usnoa bar:bata. The abies are also tall and stately, often reaching 61 metres
in height. The principal associates of quercus-abies forests are Arundinaria
sp. and Taxus sp. A few climbers, such as Vitis semicordata, Clematt's
montana and Hedera nepalends, are also common. Cedrus deodara is the most
stately tree in the Himalayas (Fig. 11). At about 2,740 to 3,050 metres
Pinus wallichiana, Pir;ea smithiana and Cupressus torulosa also occur in some
localities. These forests usually grow on moist north-facing slopes, the
sunny south-facing slopes being usually barren. .
Rhododendron campanulatum, with its pink and mauve flowers, occurs at
about 3,050 metres. Interspersed with rhododendrons are TaxlIs baccata,
Betula utilis and clumps of dwarf ringal bamboo, Arundinaria falcaia. They
mark the end of the tree zone at about 3,660 metres.
VEGETATION 27
The Alpine zone extends from 3,355 to 4,575 metres or sometimes even
higher. Small bushes of Juniperus rccurva, Ephedra gerardiana, Rhododendron
anthopogon and R. lepidotum occur at 3,660 metres. Above 3,810 metres
Primula occurs commonly, along with Corydalis, Gagca and Aconitum lycoto-
num (A.laeve). Meconopsis aeuleata, the blue poppy, the pride of the Himala-
yan Alpine meadows, makes its appearance in July and August, along with
the rare Nomocharis, which has purple-spotted yellow flowers. The cushion-
like growth of Arenaria festucoides and some members of Caryophyllaceae
and Crassulaceae are striking· examples of xerophytic adaptations at high
elevations. Gentians are represented by two species, and anemones by two,
viz. Anemone polyanthes and A.· rupicala. About eight species of Po/entilla
with all shades from deepest red to bright yellow, three species of Primula,
light purple to deep, Hackelia uncinata (Cynoglossum uncinatum), Androsace
lanuginosa and Myoso.tis sylvatjells (M. pallens) are also found in this zone.
Most of the plants have thick hairy leaves and this characteristic is
observed in the members of Saxifragaceae, Crassulaceae and Compositae.
The cushion-like habit is seen in Armaria musciformis and Thylacospermum
rupiJragum and in Caragana pygmaea. The carpet~like habitis to he metwith in
Rhododendron anthopogon, Salix sclerophyUa and species of Cotoneaster.
Another characteristic of Alpine vegetation in the trans-Himalayas is
that the piants have brightly coloured flowers.
ii. The Eastern Himalayas. In the Eastern Himalayas are included
the regions ofSikkim; Bhutan, the Balipara Frontier Tract, and the outlying
Patkai, Barail, Khasi and Garo ranges. The evergreen types of vegetation
found in these areas are distinguishable into the follOWing subzones.
(a) The Assam and Brahmaputra and Surma Valleys. Along the eastern
Himalayas and in the upper Brahmaputra and Surma Valleys, this forest
type is represented by Meliaceae, Lauraceae, Myristicaceae, Magnoliaceae
and others. The following species are typical of the lower slopes of the
hills in upper Assam to the north of the Brahmaputra and the Naga Hills
to the soutl}. of the river: Dipterocarpus macrocarpus, D. gracilis, Artocarpus
chaplasha, Shorea assamica, Cz'nnamomum cecidodaplme, Dysoxylum binectariferum,
Altingia excelsa, lvlesua jema, Pter;ygota alata, Michelia charnpaca, Amoora
speetabitis, Toona ciliata and Kayea assamica.
Along the lower slopes of the Cachar, Khasi and] aintia Hilis and around
the Surma Valley are found: Dipterocarpus turbillatus, D. macrocarpus, Pterygota
alata, Mesuajerrea and Bombax insigne (Salmalia insignis). Artocmpus ehaplasha
and Quercus (oak) are also found in these belts.
(b) The Nortlzern Bengal Region. The northern Bengal region is
characterized by Schima-Bauhinia in association with Toona ciliata, St8l"eosper-
mum personatum (S. tetragonum), Alilanthus grandis, Castanopsis indica, Tetrameles
nudijlora, Michelia elzampaca and Gmelina arborea. The undergrowth is
composed of Phoebe~ Machilus, Amoorfl, Actinodaphn8, MeslIa and Pofyaltlzia.
Bamboo thickets of Bambusa arundinacea, Dendrocalamus hamiltonii, Oxytenan~

(hera nigrociliata and Meloeanna bambusoides are also noticed in these forests.
(c) The Eastern Sub~Himala)'an Tract. This tract is humid, supporting
a tropical flora up to an altitude of about 1,525 metres. The tropical ever~
greens are represented by species such as Michelia champaca, Schima wallick#,
Artocarpus c!wplasha, Dillenia indica, Talauma hodgsonii, Aesculus assamica (A.
punduana) , Terminalia alata (T. tomentosa) , T. myriocarpa, Bombax caiba
(Salmalia malabarica) , Pterospermum acerifolium, Cinnamomum glanduliferum,
Canarium sikkimense, along with canes, climbers and an impenetrable under~
growth of evergreen shrubs.
At lower elevations, Magnolia sp. and Michelia champaca are met With
and at higher elevations Castanopsis indica, Alnus nepalensis and Bucklandia
populnea are found.
(i) In the Sub-Himalayan Tract of Bengal and the adjoining regions
of Assam, however, the typical wet evergreen is only locally recognizable
in places. Sal forests have established themselves in much of the area,
rendering the type as one of wet mixed forests. In these areas, the species
associated with sal are: Michelia champaca, Schima wallichii, Anogeissus latifolia,
Terminalia alata (T. tomentosa) and Dendrocalamus hamiltonii. In the Tista
Valley of Sikkim, they are Garuga pinnata, Terminalia belliriea, Sehima walli~
chii, L(1gerstroemia parvijlora, Tetrameles nudijlora, Sterculia villosa, Toona ciliata,
Bauhinia purpurea, Mallotus philippensis and Callicarpa arborea.
(ii) The law'eI forest (approximately 1,830 to 2,135 metres) consists
characteristically of Machilus edulis, Beilsclzmiedia spp., Cinnamomum obtusi~
folium, Litsea spp., Alt;imandra cathcarti (Michelia cathcartii) , Maguolia campbellii,
Engelhardtia .spicata, Schima waltichii, Lithocarpus spicatus (Pasania spicata),
Prullus nepalensis, Mallotus nepalensis, Betula alnoides, Acer lacvigatum, A. camp-
bellii, Eurya acuminata, Symplocos theaifolia, Castanopsis tribuloides and members
of Araliaceae .
. (iii) The buck-oak forest (approximately 2,135 to 2,440 metres)
consists of Q_uercus lamellosa, Acer campbellii, Castanopsis tribtiloides and .Michelia
sp.
(iv) The high-altitude oak forest (approximately 2,440 to 2,745
metres) has. Lithocarpus pachjphyllus (Qyercus pachyphylla), intermixed with
many of the buck-oak associates.
(v) In the Alpine zone (above 3,655 metres) in the eastern Himalayas
the prominent families are Compositae, Scrophulariaceae, Primulaccae,
Saxifragaceae, Crucifera.e, Caryophyllaceae, Ranunculaceae} Cyperaccae,
Gramineae and Fumariaceae. The principal bushes are those of rhodo-
dendrons. The most widespread ge,nera are Pedicularis, Primula, Cm:ydalis
and Saxifraga. The. few trees, scattered at the lower limits of this zone, are
birches and pyri. Junipers, and species of Eplledra, Berberis, Lonicera,
Caragana~ Rosa, Cotoneaster, Spiraea and dwarf willows also occur. The
VEGETATION 29
flowering plant recorded at the highest altitude is Festuca at about 5,580
metres. 11,1. the drier valleys above 4,570 metres, several species of Armaria
occur, and form hard, hemispheric or globose, white, cushion-like structures.
The most striking plants of this zone are .Meeonopsis sp., Rheum nobile,
Primula spp., Tanacetum gossypium. Saussurea obvallata, S. gossypip/lora and
the odorous Rhododendron anthopogon.
2. THE TROPICAL THORN FORESTS
These forests are characterized by a xerophytic flora of low and open
formations, with many species adapted to xerophytic conditions. Thorny.
trees and plants are very common. Forests of this type are distributed over
the Indus Plain region in southern Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Rajasthan,
the Upper Gangetic Plains and in the Deccan Plateau.
The Indus Plain Region. This region includes the Punjab, Haryana,
Gujarat and Rajasthan to thewest of the Aravalli Hills. With a fewexcep-
tions, all trees in this region are deciduous, and most of the herbs are desic-
cated and burnt in the hot season. The vegetation of this region is typically
xerophytic. The principal indigenous trees are: Tamarix aphylla (T. arti-
culata), Sterculia urens, Grewia damine (G. saUdfolia), Acgle marmelos, Moringa
oleifera, Dalbergia sissoo, Butea monosperma, Prosopis cineraria (P. spicigera),
Acacia niloliea (A. arabica), Salvadora persica, S. oleoides, Anogeissus pendula,
Cordia diehotoma (C. myxa), Terminalia alata (T. tomentosa), Tecomella undulata,
Ficus laeor (F. infectoria) and Moros indica.
Among the shrubs, the most conspicuous are the isolated clumps of the
columnar, almost leafless Euphorbia roy/eana and E. neriifolia. Of special
interest in this region are two species of cotton, Gossypium stocksii an4 G.
herboCQum (G. wightianum). The other more or less prevalent shrubs and
undershrubs in certain districts are: Capparis decidua (C. aphylla), C. zeylanica
(C. horrida), C. spinosa, Flacourtia ramontchi, Tamarix dioiea, T. troupii (T.
gallica), Grewia sp., Fagonia eretiea (F. arabica), Rhamnus pentapomica (R.
persica), R. virgata, Ziziphus nummularia, Z. jujuba (Z. vulgaris), Z. oenoplia,
Dodonoea viscosa, Alhagi pseudalhagi (A. maurorum), Edwardsia moltis (Sop/zora
mollis), Couia auriculata, C. tara, C. obtusa (C. obovata), Mimosa fubieaulis,
Pluehea lanceolata, Reptonia buxifolia, Carissa spinarum (C. diffusa), Rhazya strieta,
Nerium indicum (N. odorum),. Orthanthera viminea, Periploca aphylla, Calotropis
procera, C. gigantea, Withania coagulans, Adhatoda vasica, Calligonum polygonoides,
Pteropyrum oliveri, Salsola baryosma (S. foetida) and species of Kochia. The
fleshy Suaeda and Salsola grow on saline soils and Calligonum polygonoides on
&andy soils.
In the Thar Desert, the fleshy Euphorbia neriifolia is the most characteris-
tic species. It is poisonous and is not eaten by cattle. This explains its
widespread occurrence. Trees are also indicators of soil types to a large
extent. Salvadora persica and Prosopis cineraria (P. spicigera) grow on loam.
Tamarix aplzylla (T. articulata) grows on saline soil, and~ in areas where it
grows, wells too have saline and bitter water. Butea monosperma grows on
usar an.d reh lands impregnated with calcium bicarbonates on. which no
other trees can thrive.
The trees found in the xerophytic forests of Rajasthan are those with
reduced leaf surface or with fleshy leaves. Variou~ spc.cks of Acacia and
Prosopis, the commonest being Acacia nilotica (A. rll'abica) and A. leucop!tloca,
are associated with Prosopis cill!!raria (P. spiC£gcra) and the exotic P.
chilensis (P. julijlora). Acacia catechu is fountI ill considerable nnmbers ill
Kutch. In the southern Aravallis, Anogeissus pcndula occurs in. fairly homo·
geneous patches. Othcr typical species are Salvadora alcaides, Tamari..-.: a/)/rylla
(T. articulata), Z iziJ)/zus mauritialla C
Z. Jujub a), Grcwia. lana ... (G. J}oPUI~f()lia)
and Ehretia laevis. The undergrowth consists of Gajlparis decidua (C. ajJli)J[[a),
C. spinosa, Ascle.pias and Calotropis, with the '(kshy 81lncda and .s'al.w[a
growing on saline soils, and Calligollum pof;ygonoides 011 san(ly soils. E lilJ!lorbia
nivuiia, with a thorny stem, is also very characteristic at th iimt of dry moun·
tains.
3. THE DRY DECIDUOUS FORESTS

These con.sist of low forests almost entil'cl y of decic.1 nOllS tl' 'es in all
canopies. The following regions SUppOlt a similar typ of l(wcst.s.
The Uppel' Gangetic Plains. Tll se plain..;; inch HIe R,\;asthill1 to
the cast of the Aravalli Hills, Bundelkhand, Malwa in Mntlhya Pl'atl'sh,
and the Jhansi Division of w es tern Uttar Pradesh. Thc ill.c1ig 'nOllS wgC'tn.-
tion. of this subregion is that of a dry country. The trees in tIll; dry s(~ ason.
are leafless for the most part and. the grasses an.d h'rbs g't tksi 'catC'd and
burnt up in the hot season. The principal fo rest is that ofAjmcr, n anking the
Aravallis and other hills which lloun.d the subregion on. ttl' west. The
average rainfall is 635 millimctres. At the close of wint.(~l', tl~lllperature
z'lscs rapidly during 1\.1:a1'ch, and humidity goes down. High tempcrat ltre
shooting up to 4·5·6°C in. the shade, awl d esiccating hot westerly will.(.ls from
the rocky Aravalli Hills and the sandy deser ts of Rajasthan, oft '11 a .com-
panied with dust-storms in May and June, hav e produced a typical tIcsert
vegetation of xerophytes) with adapta.tions to guard. agai.ll.st dl'y cont1ition.s
and with devices to conserve moisture. The common es t trec..:s ~l.n! the leaH 'S3
CapjJaris decidua, Salvadora oleoidesl with tough I 'athcry I 'aves, Acacia nitolica
(A. arabica), Pro.fopis cineraria (P. spicigera), Balallite.f (wg.YjJticlC(/, ])ia.ljJ)!ros (ordi-
folia, Ficus rzmlphii and several specit:s of Tamarix, w.ilh rc..:tinc d ~ca ly leaves.
The wastelands between the villages arc more or less b arr 'n, with only
occasional patches of Zizij)/tus nummularia and Salu(l(iora persica. Other
trces more or lcss restricted to western India a re ll'foringa oleifira, Acacia
senegal and ProsojJis cineraria (P. spicigera) accol1lp::l.1lictI with the common.
trees of the drier parts of Inelia, c~pccially Btltea mOil osperm a. Considerable
VEGETATION 31
F ig. 9. A fores t v i' sat (SJlOl'ca rO Ul/sIII ) , Ddll'rt D Ull . S n l rur" s l ~ <Ire [()lllld a l Ill(' r()u lh i l l ~ oC
tb e Him ,llayas 1'['0.111 Uttar Prildesh to i\~sam . ·J.'lH~Y an ~ also fl) \\l1d in Ow rm'cs l b l'l l
(."omp l'isill g sout hern B.ih.ar , wester n Orissa a nd eas te rn 1\tJ adb ya l' radcsh
(CO\l r lcsy: F o t" sl R (!scal'ch Insti tu te)
A HISTORY OF AURJt..:ULTURI~ IN INDrA
32
Fig. 10. A you ng foresl of Pinus "oxb"I'gltii ill the Siwaliks Uttar I'r:I<!t-,!t
(Colll·tr·sy: For('st R('s(~ rll'c h I nsliLU le)
VEGETATION 33
Fig. 11. A lor 's t of Cetims drot/arlZ ncar Simla, 2, .13+ mr.lt· CS a !.Jow spa-leve' , C"dnlf rtl'orla /'(I
is th e mosl stately tre in ti l(; IIH CS tS o f th c westcrn llimal ayas
(Courtesy: Fore~l It 'search Illstitut e)
A HISTOlty Oll ACRlCUT,TURF. IN INDIA
34
Vi g o 120 A dl'Y ek e idllOLlS Jell'lost. e:')JllaiJlili g l/o.HI'flli(/ Sr'lmln ;111<1 .ft" I(i(l ('lIll'dlll ill ~ l acl ll )'; 1
]' I:rtcksh
(Cllnrll'sy: lilll'l'st Rl'~l':tl'ch 11 lslilule)
35
VEGP.T ATION
Fig. 13. A l'orcsl of kak (Teelolla g/,(lIldis) in lVfadhya Vradt.:~ll

(COllrlc~y: For~;~1: Research I lIstilule)
36 A IlISTORY OF J\CRICtTLTURl': I N INDTA
J.'jg. 11-. A tropi al wet evergreen forest in Kcralll. Lift 10 right.- s iliali ])ijltvrOClIIjlflS
bourdillollii , Vile,>; altissima, large DiptcrocarplIs, large KirlgiodclUlroll pitmatum and )'ol)'allhicj Sll .
Sh ndumey Coupe V, Shcncot ah Division, Kerala
(Courtesy: Forest RCliearch Institute)
VEOETATIO)l' 37
lIig . I;), The Nilgil'i ShOlrl.f :'IIld grass la nd , Oota(' :: llIl:nd , T .,mil ]'.::·dll. ' 111<' I/W/II jinTsts
are a li ving foss il (,OllllllLlIl it y linlilrd to the hollows, cspc('i:,ll y th e lll'ads (II' W; lt<'I'-('UII I'S( 'S .
On c ( ~
d sll'Oycd , th ey do not ]'('gl'llcratc
(Courtesy: for es t R esea rch Institul(')
38 ,A HISTORY OF ,AGlUCULTURE IN INDIA
Fig. 16. Pur Sliluiri rorc~t ( /Jr.riLiom .fiJ/l/e.I), SUlltl('r!)ans, \ V(·~t l kllgal, sh. ",i llg tl. 'ns,·
pncum:1tophorc g rowth a nd buLtress ili g o r trees
(Courtesy: F orest R esearch Tnst.itutc)
VEGE'1'ATIO~ 39
areas of this subregion arc occupied by the usar or reh l and which, being
impregnatcd with alkaline salts, arc converted into sv\ramps ill the raiuy
Season and into deserts ill. the dry scason. Salvadora persica and Butt:a mOllo-
sperma arc the only trees that succeed on saline soils. The rocky areas are
covered with hardy shrubs, e.g. Anogeissus pcndlila. Among the hed):lceons
vegetation we find such interesting xerophytcs < S Lcptadeni(£ spartiwn with
erect, cylindrical, almost leafless branches, the spiny Alhagi pseudlllltagi (A.
camelonan), and the deep-rooted Arnebia hi.lpidissima. In the shade of the
prickly bushes of CajJparis sepiaria grows the inconsp icuous drought-resis tant
Ceropegia bulbosa, whose bulbous perenn.ating stem is roasted and eaten. by
cowherds. Besides these, we find succulent herbs, sllch as Portulaca oleracea
and Salsolafoctida, which store up a large f}uantity of water in their leaves,
and rosette p1an.ts with tough perennatin,g rootstocks, sl1ch as Boerhaavia
d£/fusa and RUj)/wrbia lhymifolia. Of the herbaceous planLs, a few perennial-
rooted grasses are the only ones which thrive.
Central India. The commonest species arc Anogeis.fus aClllnillata,
A. latifolia, Erythri1la suberosa, Mangifera indica, ...C)yzygium cumilli, Albizda
odoratissima, Boswellia sen'ala, Lannea coromandcLica, Sterculia urens, Tcrm£llalia
bellh'ica, Ficus glomerata and F. religiosa. The most conspicuous trees arc
Boswellia serrata and Sterculia urens. In the leafless condition, Boswellia serrata,
with its peculiarly twisted branches and yellow stem, is a remarkable sight
(Fig. 12). Its wood is used in manufacturing matchboxes, matchsticks an.d
paper pulp. Sterculia U1'ens yields gum katira, which is used in cosmetics.
The commonest bamboo is D end1'ocalamus strictus, wh ich is also used for the
manufacture of paper pulp. The following trees comprise the lower
canopy of these forests: Nlallolus philiPPCIl.l'is, F'Lacourlia ramoiltciLi, Carissa
spillaru111, Emblica qfJicinalis, vVrightia tomelltom, Bauhinia 1'e lusa, 1J. racemosa,
Caesaria tOl11entosa, Butea mOlloJj)erma, I-Ioloptelea intl'g~'ifulia and D lJlldl'ocallltllus
strictus.
The South-east Deccan. This region. compriscs the E:lstcrn. Ghats,
Tamil Nadu, a large part of Andhra Pradesh and Karllataka. Thc vegeta-
tion is of a dry, thorny, stunted type. The comluonest species arc Acacia
planijrol1s, A ..Hlndra, j\.lilllusops sp., Az:;adiracltta indica, Albizz:;ia amara, Acacia
latrorlllm, CaiLlica cinerea (Dichrostacliya cinerea), CMoroxylon swict(mia, Pro.mpis
c£lIeraria (P . .rpicigera) , Bombax insigne (Salmalia insignis) a.nd O.ryris arborea.
The flcshy evergrcen E1Iphorbia sp. also constitutes a charactcdstic feature
of the vC'g tation. Cassia auriculata an.d C. fistula OCCUl' here and there, ant!
the chief among the thorny shrubs arc Capparis sp., Carissa spinomm, Aristida
adfcensionis and Z idphus sp.
Kamataka. The forests in the Karn.:ltaka region form an intennecliate
stage between the rnon.soon and xerophytic forests. The C01U1U0l1est forest
tree is sandalwood. Other representatives al'C '[celona grandis anu the
associated Terminatia spp. and Anogeis:ms latifolia. Other species include
40 A HISTORY OF AGRlCULTURE IN INDIA
Ditlenia jJentagyna, Kydia calycina, Lagerstroemia lanceolata, Adina cordijo!ia,

Madhuca indica (M. latifolia) , Grewia asiatica, Pterocarpus marsupium, Lannea
coromandelica, Bombax ceiba (Salmalia malabarica), Butea monosperma, Bridella
refusa, Diospyros melanoxylon and Emblica rifficinalis. The chief bamboo is the
we1Hmown commercial variety, Dendrocalamus strictus.
Grand forests of teak (Tectona grandis) grow in southern Madhya Pradesh
(Fig. 13), Maharashtra, and the mountainous areas of Karnataka, Andhra.
Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
4. THE TROPICAL EVERGREEN RAIN FORESTS
These forest types are developed in regions of very heavy rainfall and
are characterized by the great variety and luxuriance of their vegetation.
composed largely of dense mesophytic evergreens. Many trees attain great
height and girth, and in these forests, three or four canopy layers or storeys
are noticeable, dependent on the varying heights of the trees. Some species
also develop characteristic buttressed stems at the base. Generally, the tree
trunks are densely clothed with a thick felt of leafy Jungermanniales and
mosses. The ground in these forests is usually covered with a dense growth
of shrubby vegetation and ferns. Large woody climbers, tree-ferns, palms,
bamboos and cane-breaks are also characteristics of these forest~. Epiphytes
are common.
Typical evergreen forests are to be found along the West Coast of
Peninsular India, particularly on the western face of the Western Ghats,
the Koman, Kanara, the Kerala, Annamalais and the Nilgiris. The greater
part of it is hilly an.d mountainous, and the western face of the Western
Ghats s'Ilpports a dense vegetation of Malayan type, chiefly represented by
members of Sterculiaceae, Tiliaceae, Anacardiaceae, Meliaceae, Myrtaceac,
Melastomaceae, Vitaceae, Gesneraceae, Piperaceae, Zingiberaceae, Orchi-
daceae and Araceae. The species commonly met with in this region are:
Dipteroearpus indicus, Hopea parviflora, H. wightiana,· Calophyllum elatum (C.
tomentosum), Cutlenia exeelsa, Palaquium ellipticum, Dysoxylum malabaricum,
Syzygium cumini, Actinodaphne ungustijolia, Cantltium dicoccum, Terminalia c1lebula,
Carvia callosa, Toona ciliata, Vateria indica, Canarium strictum, Tetrameles nudi-
flora, Mesua jerrea, Mangifera indica, Pterygota alala, Acrocarpus fraxinifolius,
Olea dioica and Xanthophyllum tomentosa (Pouteria tomentosa).
Forests of Dipterocarpus sp., Kingiodendron pinna tum and Polyalthia sp.
provide timber to the people of Kerala (Fig. 14).
Palms are represented by the species of Arenga, Caryota and Corypha with
the cultivated Areca catechu and Cocos nucifera in places. Among undershrubs,
Strobilanthes is important, and many species are noted for flowering at long
intervals of 4, 6, 12 or even 15 years. Among herbaceous plants, Impatiens
with about 60 species is conspicuous. In the mountain torrents in the
Ghats, species of the family Podostemonaceae occur.
VEGETATION 41
The evergreen rain forests in the Western Ghats and those of Assam have
much in common and also with the flora of Burma and Malaya. The
cumulative effect of the Quaternary climatic and edaphic changes has re-
duced these forests to their present restricted distribution along t)le Malabar
coast and in Assam. These forests noW exist in the narrow belt of the
country, more than 80 kilometres broad in the Western Ghats from Goa to
Cape Comol'in through Kanara and Coorg to the highlands of Kerala in the
south and to parts of Tamil Nadu towards the east. In the drier parts,
teak and sandalwood occur in these regions. The higher mountains are
populated by species of Ternstraemia, Micratrapis, Michelia, Gardonia, Syzygium,
Plzotinia, Rhododendroll, etc., along with the shrubs of Oleaceae, Rubiaceae,
Rutaceae and various climbers and Hanas. The patches of the forests in the
ravines are called the sholas. Since the region is characterized by high humi-
dity and abundant rainfall, it is in fact the pluvial flora that had advanced
and retreated during the pluvial. and interpluvial periods in Peninsular
India and in Assam. Successive fluctuations must have occurred between
the wet-evergreen and the dry-deciduous forests until their present distri-
bution was attained. An interesting result of the Quaternary events and
changes in climate is the reduction of the skola forests in the Nilgiris to the
status of a living fossil community to which the present environment is So
inimical that it has stopped regenerating itself (Fig. 15). Any injury to the
shola forest is a permanent injury from which it never recovers.
5. THE MANGROVE AND BEACH FORESTS

Throughout the tropics, particularly in the littoral regions in the
estuaries of rivers, in creeks and lagoons of low-lying areas, is to be found a
peculiar type of vegetation known as the mangrove vegetation or the man-
grove swamp. In India and Pakistan, the mangrove forests are developed
in suitable localities along the coastal region, from the Indus Delta in Sind
southwards, along the West Coast of Peninsular India down to Kerala, and
from the Sunderbans southwards along the East Coast of the Peninsula.
They are also seen along the coast of the Andamalls and the adjacent islands.
The mangrove formations extend up rivers, sometimes for miles.
The more common families represented in our typical mangrove forests
are Rhizophoraceae, Meliaceae, Leguminosae, Combretaceae, Lythraceae,
Rubiaceae, Myrsinaceae, Acanthaceae, Verbenaceae, Euphorbiaceae and
Palmaceae.
The following are some of the species met with in the mangrove forests
(Jf India and the Andamans: Rhizophora mucronata, R. apiculata CR. cOl1jugata),
Ceriops tagal (C. candolleana), C. roxburghiana, Kandelia candel, Bruguiera conju-
gata (E. gymnorhiza), B. sexangula (E. eriopetala), B. cylindrica (B. caryophyl-
loides), Xylocarpus granatum, Cynometra ramijlora, Aegialites rotundifolia, Xylocarpus
mo/[ucc8nsis, LUlZmitzera racemosal L. littorea CL. coccinea), Sonneratia apetala,
S. albaJ S. eascolaris (S. aaida) Scyphiphoya hydrophyllaceae, Aegiceras comiculatum,

Acanthus ilicifolius, Avieennia officinalis, Excaecaria agallocha, Nipa fruticans and
Phoeni~ paludosa.
As regards the distribution of the species in our mangrove forests, along
the East and West Coasts of India and the Sunderbans and the Andaman.~,
it is seen that whereas some species such as Rhizophara mucronata, Bruguiera
conjugata (B. gymnorhiza), Sonneratia caseolaris (S. acida) and Aegiceras cornicula~
tum are common to all these areas, a few others have rather a restricted
distribution on the East Coast of Peninsular India and in regions east of it.
Among this category may be mentioned Xylocarpa molluccensis Scyphiphora
hydroplryllaceae, Nipa fruticans and Phoenix paludosa.
One of the most extensively developed mangrove forests in India is in
the Sunderbarur in the Ganges Delta. In this forest belt, there are about 50
species of trees which may be conveni.ently classified into: (1) purely estuarial
species, and (2) species common to other parts of India. Among the purely
estuarial species are: Hibiscus tiliaceus (H. tortuosus), Thespesiapoplllnea, Brown~
lowia lanceolata, Amoora cucullata, Xylocarpus molluccensis, X. granatum, Bouea
burmanica (E. oPPositifolia), Erythrina variegata, .Ajzelia bijuga, Rhizophora
apiculata CR. conjugata), R. mucro na ta, Ceriops roxburghiana, Kandelia candel,
Bruguiera conjugata (B. gymnorhiza), B. parviflora, Lumnitzera racemosa, Barring~
tonia racemosa, Sonneralia apetala, S. caseolaris (S. acida), Aegialites rotundifolia,
Aegiceras corniculatum, Cerbera odollam, Avicennia qfficinalis, A. alba, Excoecaria
agallocha, Sapium indicum, Casuarina equiseiifolia, Nipa fruticans and Phoenix
paludosa. To these may also be added Hibiscus tiliaceous, Dalbergia spinosa,
D. candenatensis (D. torta) , Mucuna gigantea, Derrissinuata and D. trifoliata
(D. uliginosa), Finlaysonia obovata, Sarcolobus globosus, Acanthils ilicifolius and A.
volubilis.
Of the species common to inland Bengal, the following may be men-
tioned: Kleinhovia hospita, Micromolum pubesceJls, Aegltr marmelos, Ziziphus
mauritiana (,.e. jujubll), Lannea coromandelica, Cassia fistula, Pongamia pinnata,
Acacia tommtosa, A. nilotica (A. arabica), Barringtonia acutangula, bora arborea
(/. parvijiora), Morinda bracteata, Diospyros montana, D.peregrina (D. malabariea),
Cordia diehotoma (C. myxa), Doliehandrone spathaeM (D. rheedii), Vitex trifolia,
V. negundo, Drypetes assamica (eyelosternon assamicus), Croton oblongifolius,
Antidesma ghaesernbilla, Trewia nudiflora, Streblus, Trema and Ficus.
The root-system of mangroves is characterized by special adaptations
to their environments, which are often water-logged and poorly aerated.
Soine species as Rhizophora have a system of aerial stilt roots to support the
trees; others, e.g. Bruguiera, send up peg-like projections from their roots;
still others, e.g. Heritiera, Lurnnitzera and Kandelia, produce aerial (knee roots';
and yet others, e.g. Avicennia, have pneumatophores or breathing roots. In
the Sunderbans are found 'pure sundri' forest (Heritiera minor, H. fames) with
dense pneumatophore growth (Fig. 16).
VEGETA'l'ION 43
The members of Rhizophoraceae exhibit a peculiar phenomenon known
as vivipary. Owing to this phenomenon, while the fruit is still attached to
the parent tree, the' embryo begins to grow, the hypocotyl protrudes, and the
seedling hangs vertically from the fruit itself.
Beach Forests. Before concluding this chapter, a brief mention may
also be made of a narrow belt or strip of vegetation Seen along the coast, and
a little farther from the high-tide limits, known as the beach forests, In
this belt, the trees are partly evergreen and partly deciduous. In places,
Casuarina equisetifolia is cultivated extensively.
Among the more common species may be mentioned: Mimusops littoratis,
Pongamia pinnata, Morinda citrifolia, Erythrina variegata, Calopl1;J!llum inophyllum,
Terminalia catappa, Barringtonia asiatica (E. speciosa), Cordia subcordata, Thespesia
populnea, Vigna marina (V. retusa), Mucuna gigantea, Colubrina asiatica, Calotropis
gigantea and Pandanus odoratissimus (P. tectorius).
CHAPTER 5
THE TERTIARY PERIOD : MIOCENE~PLIOCENE

EPOCHS
APES, RAMAPITHECUS, THE EARLIEST-KNOWN HOMINID, AND
AUSTRALOPITHECINES
WITH the disintegration of the Gondwanaland towards the end of the

Cretaceous, the continents acquired their present features, their shapes, the
great mountain systems, the courses of the rivers, the great plains, and the
climatic zones. The Cenozoic Era that followed the Mesozoic is continued
up to the present. It began about 60 million years ago.
The Cenozoic Era is divided into two periods-the Tertiary and the
Quaternary. The Tertiary is subdivided into five epochs. The name of
each epoch ends with the suffix cene (Greek, recent), and refers to the pro-
gress of life. Originally it was done on the basis of the percentage of living
species of molluscs found in the rocks, but later certain marked palaeontologie
characters as well as physical events were included. The Tertiary Period
has been studied in greater detail than any other period, partly because its
flora and fauna bear close similarities to the living forms, but mainly because
of economic reasons, viz. search for petroleum, of which more than 50 per
cent of the world production comes from the Tertiary rocks.
. The subdivisions of the Cenozoic Era are shown below with their
approximate durations:
QJ.taternary Recent Epoch 10,000 years

Period
Pleistocene Epoch 1 million years
(most recent) Neogene
Pliocene Epoch 7 million years Period
~u (more recent)
'5 Miocene Epoch 12 million years
(less recent)
~ Tertiary Oligocene Epoch 15 million years Paleogene
Period (li ttle recent)
Eocene Epoch
(dawn recent)
15 million years
1 Period or
Nummulitic
Period
Paleocene Epoch
(ancient recent)
10 million years
j
Middle Miocene to Lower Pleistocene-the Siwalik Systell1. The
Siwalik Hills extend for 1,600 kilometres along the Himalayas from Balu~
MIOCENE - PLIOCENE EPOCHS 45
chistan to Assam. They are 16 to 59 kilometres wide, and rise to a height of

1,600 metres. They arc composed offine sand and pebbles, and were formed
from the mid-Miocene to the Pleistocene. The Siwalik system has been
split into three divisions as follows :
Boulder conglomerate beds First Glaciation

Uppo< Siwaliks { Pinjor sandstones Lower Pleistocene
Tatrot sandstone Pliocene
Dhok Pathan-gravels, brown }
Middle SiwaUks { sandstones, shales and clays Upper to middle
Nagri-grey sandstone and Miocene
shales
Chinji-bright red shales and
Low'" Siwaliks { sandstones } Middle Miocene
KamIial sandstones
The Siwalik or Indobrahm. River. From the north-eastern corner of

Assam, a mighty river flowed in the western direction along the foot of the
Himalayas as far as the Pothohar or Rawalpindi plateau in Pakistan, where
it joined the Indus which emptied itself into the Arabian Sea, then lying
farther inside Sind. This river has been called the "Indobrahm" or the
Siwalik River. It received on its right bank the rivers of the Gangetic
system as well as the Punjab rivers of the Indus system. On its left bank,
it might have received the ancient Son, Chambal, etc., from Peninsular
India. The Indobrahm flourished from the Miocene to the Pliocene for
about 20 milHon years. During this period, its basin, 6,000 metres deep,
was filled with mud, sand, gravel, boulders, logs of wood and skeletons of
dead animals that lived in the neighbourhood. An excessive thickness of
sediments accumulated as the basin was gradually sinking in response to the
rising Himalayas in accordance with the principle of isostasy.
Although there can be no doubt about the existence of the Siwalik
River from the vicinity of Naini Tal to the Arabian Sea, its continuation
farther eastwards along the whole length of the Himalayan base to Assam is
less substantiated.
Climate. General fluctuations ofclimate during the Tertiary comprised
progressive warming up from the lower Eocene, approaching the maximum
warmth in the later Eocene, Oligocene and the early Miocene when besides
the warm, the wet and humid climate existed and supported tropical rain
forests. From the upper Miocene to the Pliocene, the climate gradually
cooled again and progressively approached its climax towards the close of
the Pliocene. In this general trend of climatic changes, it may be remarked
that the warm to wet tropical climate almost uniformly existed all over India
during the early and mid-Tertiary and it Was more moist than now.
The Fauna. ' The fauna provides a glimpse of the geographical condi-
tions that generally prevailed during the Siwalik Period in the riverain
tracts along the foot of the rising Himalayas. The dinotheres and primitive
trilophodonts were water-loving animals, characteristic of warm and humid
lowlands, because their teeth were adapted to eating only succulent herbage.
The occurrence of the aquatic tragulids and hippopotamuses suggests the
presence of rivers. A savannah or swamp-type environment is indicated by
Hipparion, whose broad hooves were exceptionally adapted to it, whereas
Eqf.f.us was better adapted to harder ground and harsher herbage. The
presence of antelopes indicates prairies, steppes, or deserts, whereas goats
and oxen, with "cloven hooves" were suited for moving on the soft forest
soils. The majority of the pigs and Canidae Were forest-dwellers, though a
few from the Chinji to the Dhok Path an show striking adaptation to the
growing arid conditions. Giraffokeryx had a preference for the forest, and
the giraffe, with its characteristic feet and teeth structure, preferred the open
grassland with scattered trees. In the words of Edwin Pascoe, "In general,
therefore, we may visualize, during most of the period, belts of luxuriant
forest and open grass plains, with a great river winding through one or the
other."
The presence of hippopotamuses, antelopes, giraffes, and giraffe-like
animals indicates a link with Africa, where these ani.mals still exist, whereas
they have become extinct in India. It. seems there was an effective land-
link between India and Africa in the Tertiary Period.
EVOLUTION OF PRIMATES IN INDIA

Africa, India and South·East Asia are the areas where. the evolution of
primates has been going on for a long time. Of the Prosimii, the common
tree shrew, Tupaia, is found north of the Ganges, and Anthana, the Madras
tree shrew, in the tropical forests of southern India. Two species of Loris
are also found in India, Nycticebus coucang in the forests of Assam, and Loris
~ardigradus in southern Indil),. The rhesus monkey (Nlacaca mulatta), bonnet
monkey (Macaca radiata), and the langur (Presby tis entellus) are found in
many states. The cOmmonest of them is the rhesus (Fig. 19). Of the
Hominoi.ds, the gibbon (Rylabates hoolock) inhabits the tropical forests of
Assam and the Naga Hills.
The Apes. The genera Parapitlzecus, Apidium, and ONgopithecus are
among the oldest specimens of higher primates from the Oligocene Period
found near Fayum in Egypt. Other discoveries from the upper levels of
the middle and upper Oligocene of Fayum belong to .the genera Propliopi-
thecus and Aegyptopithecus. Propliopitlzecus had a smaller skeleton, much
smaller than that of today's gibbons. Aegyptopithecus was larger, and was
about the same size as the gibbon, and dates back to 34 million years.
Accol'ding to Simons; Aegyptopith~cus relates directly with the genus Proplio-
pithecus and lS the nearest relative of today's pongids. Other authors would
like to accept the genus Propliopithecus as the forerunner of the Pongids, that
is, the basic ancestor of the Hominoids. 1
Pliopithecus has been known. since 1837 from the Miocene and Pliocene
periods in France. Almost complete skeletons of Pliopithecus were found in
Czechoslovakia. Pliopitlzecus had seven lumbar vertebrae (the other Homi-
noids, including the gibbons, have only five) and the development of the
sacrum at the lower end of the spine, indicating that it had a long tail of
15 to 19 vertebrae.
L. S. B. Leakey discovered a fossil ape from the lower Miocene from
around Lake Victoria in East Africa. Hopwood named it Proconsul q/ricanus,
after the chimpanzee' Consul' from the London Zoo. The structure of the
li~bs leads to the assumption that Proconsul moved about on all fours.
Pilgrim is the pioneer of research on fossil anthropoid apes in India.
In 1910, he recorded Sivapithecus indicus from Chinji, Dryopithecus pUl1jabicus
from Haritalynagar near Bilaspur and Semnopithecus as/loti from Aasnot in
the Salt Range, Pakistan. In 1922, Brown established three new species of
Dryopithecus. Of these, D. pilgrimi was collected from Kirmu and Dal Sal',
near Ramnagar, a town 103 kilometres east of Jammu. These sites are
shown in Fig. 17. In 1965, Simons and Pilbeam, after a comparative study
of all specimens, classified all African and Siwalik material into two genera-
Dryopithecus and Ramapithecus. Dryopitlzeclls includes Sugrivapitlzecus and
Sivapithecus as well as Proconsul and is considered to be an ape in the Pongidae.
Apart from India, Dryopithecus is kown from Europe, Spain, Jt'rance, the
European parts of the. USSR, the Caucasus, North Africa and Anatolia.
Recently, specimens of Dryopithecus sivalensis have been described by
Chopra (1975) from Haritalynagar.
It has sometimes been assumed that the genus Dryopithecus could be
connected with the gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) and with the chimpanzee (Pan
paniscus), whereas the orangoutan (Pongo pygmaeus) of Borneo and Sumatra
has a direct phylogenetic relationship with the family of'Sivapithetnu.
In 1956, a complete lower jaw of Gigantopithecus blacki was found in
Lintscheng cave in the Lan-tschai-schan mountain in the central area of
Kuang-si in China. Recently, Pei found a second jaw, several teeth, and
another complete lower jaw of this ape. Gigantopithecus was an enormous
ape which lived in the middle Pleistocene. The lower jaw is exceptionally
large. Pei states that Gigantnpithecus waS significantly bigger than the gorilla,
and thinks that it might have been approximately 3·5 metres tall and was the
largest-known primate.
Simons and Chopra (1969) described a new species Gigantopithecus
bilaspurensis from thelower Pliocene period in a formation, five to ten million·
lJelinek, J. The Pictorial Encyclopedia of tI,e Evolution of Man J p. 23

Fig. 17. Ho:nnnoid sites in the Siwaliks in India and Pakistan: Haritalynagar neat Bilaspur
(Himachal Pradesh), Kirmu and Dal Sar near Ramnagar (Jammu), and the Salt Range
in the Attock and Jhe1um Districts, Pakistan
(After A. P. Khatri)
years old. This find was a lower jaw recovered from the Dhok Pathan
horizon of the Siwalik series, towards the east of the village of Haritalynagar
in the Bilaspur District of Himachal Pradesh. Harltalynagar is named
after the villages ofTalynagar, situated at the bottom of the valley, and Had
at the top.· It is about 30 kilometres north-west of Bilaspur. This area in
the past WaS a lake. Hari-ka-Tibba, close to the village of Hari, is a veritable
treasure-house of primate fossils. Chopra believes that this specimen shows
a greater affinity with t}1e pongids then with the hominids, and was about
the size of the gorilla. However, a marked reduction in the front teeth
and canines has important evolutionary implications. The appearance of
such hominid traits in the Pliocene Period is of significance.
HOMINIZATION
What are the changes involved in the process of the development of
man) also calleil bominization? Jelinek thus sums them up: "One characteris-
MIOCENE ~ PLIOCENE EPOCHS 49
tic is the straightening up of the body, gaining an erect posture, so that
changes occurred in the spine, the pelvis, and the long-bones of the limbs.
Hands and feet changed considerably. The structure of the sole of the
foot changed, and developed a double vault. The facial skeleton became
more flattened. The brain and the brain-case grew larger. One of the
most important characteristics which accompanies the develoment of man is
the rounded, or parabolic, form of the dental arcade and the hard palate.".!!
The development of man was also determined by climatic and marked
environmental changes. Tropical forests Were replaced by steppes (grass-
land), and this seems to have been the point at which man began to adopt
an erect posture. The ancestors of man, the herbivorous great apes) had to
change their feeding habits to include meat because vegetation had become
sparse. Besides, meat provides more concentrated protein diet. Hunting
speeded up the development of the upright posture of the body, stimulated
the growth of the brain, and strengthened all other functions. The ancestor
of man developed into an omnivorous creature. Man's an,ccstors were
neither fast enough nor strong enough to overpower hunting animals easily
or to catch up with them. They had to be cunning and use stones and
clubs to kill animals. The hand became an important instrument, and the
activities of the brain Were stimulated.
Ramapithetus, the earliest-known Hominid. Pilgrim (1910) esta-
blished the species Dryopithecus punjabicus on the basis of the rami of a mandible
recovered from the Chinji beds of the Salt Range, Pakistan.
Lewis (1934) reported a neW genus Ramapitheclls and proposed two
species of this taxon. The name Ramapithecus brevirostris was as~igned to
the type consisting of a right maxilla and premaxilla, the alveolus of the
canine, the root of 12 and the alveolus of 11, found 400 metres east of
Chakrana which is situated about 6·5 kilometres east of the village of
Haritalynagar in Himachal Pradesh. The other species, Ramapithecus
h!lriensis, was assigned to the type consisting of a "fragment" of the right
maxilla containing the first and second molars. This was found about
400 metres east of the village of Haritalynagar in Himachal Pradesh. The
reconstruction of the skull of Ramapithecus is shown in Fig. 18.
In 1960, Simons checked these finds and came to the conclusion that
the lower jaw described by Pilgrim to be that of Dryopithecus punjabicus did
not belong to Dryopithecus. He included Dryopithecus punjabicus and Ramapi.-
theells brevirostris under the name Ramapithecus punjabicus.
In 1961, Leaky discovered two pieces of an upper jaw from Ternan in
South-West Kenya, Africa, which he named Kenyapitlzecus wicked. Later
studies showed that Kenyapithecus was a different form of Ramapithecus, and
it was renamed Ramapithecus wickeri.
IJeIinek,J. The Evolution of Man pp. 45, 46

50 A lIISTORY OF A GlUCUf"TtJIU; IN INDIA
Fig. lH. Reconstruction of the skull of RalllaJlilh(,clI~'

(After Jelinek)
Another Rrwl{/jJithccliS liscovcry, i.'. tvm single molars, was mal1e in

China, at a place called Ldyan, It is l'e:G'rable to Ra/l1r1pit/u:CllS pwu'abicus,
Ramaj)illtecus finds have also b en report d from th Sway', II Alps of Europe.
Simons and Pilbcam (1965) gn vc the followin.g generic diagnosis of
Ramapit}ICCtlS, pointing out themail).featuresin.wIli.Ilit liITl'l's from Au tralo·
pi/hecus and DIJ1opithecu.<::
"Slightly smaller overall size (except Procollsul a./rictl II us, whi h they
renamed Dryopilhecus africanus), shallower mandible, less complex pattel'l1s
of tooth crenulation, little or no evidcn c of cingula or Cal'ubclli:)' cusps
and shorter face, In.cisors an.d canines reduced in. rdacion to hcck~tl)oth
size when. compared to J)'J)opil7leCTt.l' but not as rnal'ke lly as in. Aus/.ralopithecus;
incisor pl'ocumbaney intermediate. Differs [l·OlU Di)'oPil/lf'c1(s and other
apes in showing more widely spaced and much low '1' molar cusps, so that
the central or occlusal fovea of the Dlo1ars cover:) 11101'e of the crOwn !)ur[;we
of the tooth (even so these features show some vadabiliLy in Ra17wpitlllJcus
and DJ)'upithecus as well as in modern Ifomo and Pall); siclt's of the upper
molars, parti.cularly, arc 11."lOl'e vertical; also differs from DIJJOj)il/zeClls in
showing a larger and lower canin.e fossa, an arched palate, arcuate tooth
• row and a nluch shorter rostrum,"3
The facial and dental morphology of RamapithccllS shows distinc t hominid
characleristics. Goodall observes: "The principal hurnan characteristics
nChopJ'a, S.R.K. Prcsidclltia[ Address. Alltliroj)ol()gy and Al'cllaco[ogy, Indian Science Congres[~,
Nagpur.1971
1[JOCENE - PLIOCENE T'~ f>()(:Tl ~ IiI
Fig. 19. ,\ gL'Oujl or

d\l''\\\~ Innnk<.:ys, rvlllgh a l, A.I) . F)~)(;
(Co llrf(,sy: National l\JUSI'IlJlI, N,'\\' lklhi)
,
.................... '1">::.::.:\..../.
i
(,I
~.
Fig. 20. Principal deposits of fossil man in Arrica. (i) Transvaal Sites: Allstl'oiopitheclls
q/ricamlS and Allslra!opitllecus robus/lls, about 2 million years olu; Darl, E124, and Broom,
1936; (ii) Olduvai Gorge: Allslra!apithec!ls boisei (1959) and Homo "obi/is (1961), both I,S
million years old; Louis and Mary Leakey; (iii) the lower Omo River; early hominids,
ranging from 1 million to 4 million years old; Howell and Coppens, 1969; (iv) Lakf'Turkann:
Homo skull, 2 million to 3 million yeal's old (1972), and 1, 5-millioll·year-old Homo erecills
skull (1975); Richard Leakey; (v) Laetolilj 3.35- to 3.75.million-year.old Homojaw"bones
and teeth; Mary Leakey, 1974-75; and (vi) Hadar: "Lucy", 3·million-year-old Allslrala-
pithecus skeleton, and Homo "family"; Johanson and Taieb, 1974·75
of the teeth of RamapithccU$ are the sman size and the lack of prominence of
the canines, the broad flat molars showing interstitial wear, and relatively
small incisors. These characters are in striking contrast to the teeth of the
contemporary dryopithecine apes with their huge, overlapping canines,
large shovel-shaped incisors and a distinctive wear pattern.
"The lower face indicates that the jaws did not protrude to form the
muzzle, as in the apes, but were flattened, as in Australopithecines, parti-
cularly the robust forms. The facio-dental· complex shown by Ramapithe.cus
suggests that it was a ground feeder, dependent for survival on such food
items as grasses, seeds, rhizomes, bulbs and fleshy plants-quite a different
menu from the fruit diet of the dryopithecines.
"From the evidence provided by fossil seeds and the remains of other
mammals of the Nagri Formation of the Siwalik area, it seems that Ramapi-
thecus lived in a region of mixed forest interspersed with open areas around
lakes and water-courses.'"
We have no knowledge of the rest of the body of Ramapithecus. Nothing
is known about its skull, brain-size, and its hands and feet. It is 110t known
whether it stood upright. Circumstantial evidence, however, suggests that
Ramapitlzecus punjabicus might have been a partial biped.
As regards its age, Khatri states that Ramapitllecus punjahicus lived in
India from the upper Miocene to the early Pliocene, 14 to 8 million
years ago. The question is which of the finds of Ramapithecus, Indian Oli East
African, is older? Goodall observes, "The African species at about 14
million years is slightly older than the Indian form at 12 million years."
Edey states, HLeakey's Fort Ternan find locates Ramapithecus in East Africa
at least two million years before it appeared in India- and, most important,
in a country where Australopithecines of great age are beginning to turn up.
I t seems most sensible to continue to argue the case for Africa as the breeding
ground of man. Ramapithecus populations may well have radiated out from
Africa-to India and perhaps to other places-over a period of several
million years. But this is no guarantee that they went on to produce homi-
nid descendants in those places. Until fossil evidence confirms that they
did, it seems more logical to assume that early hominid evolution was con-
fined to the place where the fossils are: Africa."1>
AUSTRALOPITHECINES
The oldest find of Australopithecus skeletons is from the Hadar Lal{e
near the Awash River in Ethiopia by Johanson and Taiebo (1974-75). It
is about three million years old. The discovery of a part of a leg-bone and
the lower end of a thigh-bone indicated that these were ofa bipedal creature.
'Goodall, V. The Qjl8s1 for Man, p. 102
'Edey, M.A. The Emergence of Man, The Missing Link, p. 52
'Johanson, D.C. Family of Early Man, National GeoQra'phic, Dec. 1976
54 A HISTORY OF AGRlCULTURE IN lNDIA
The jaws Were rounded in front, and the front and back teeth Were evenly
proportioned. A skeleton of a female was also discovered. The angle of
the thigh-bone and the flattened surface of its knee-joint end prove that she
walked on two legs. The narroW incisors of the lower jaw resemble those
of Australopitflecus. Close to the remains of a child lay those of five adults,
near the lake margin. I t seems that a family of six got burled by a flash
flood.·
From the point of view of age, the next finds are from Transvaal,
Australopithecus africanus and A. robustus, about two million years old (Dart,
1924; Broom, 1936). From the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, Australo-
pithecus boisei (1959) anc:1 Homo habilis (1961), both 1·8 million years old, were
discovered by Louis and Mary Leakey. From Lake Turkana in Kenya, a
Homo skull, two to three million years old, and a 1·5-million-year-old Homo
erectus skull were discovered by R. Leakey (1975). From Laetali in Tanza-
nia, 3.35- to 3.75-million-year-old Homo jaw-bones and teeth Were discovered
by Mary Leakey (1974-75).
The subfamily Australopithecinae is divided into two genera,
Australopithecus and Paranthropus •
. Paranthropus was more robust, and his height is thought to be between
1·5 and 1·55 metres and his weight about 70 kilogrammes. Some characte·
ristics of his long bones indicate that his posture was not completely erect,
and tpat he carried his head lower than Australopithecus. Paranthropus per-
sisted for nearly three million years without any further funda.mental
development, and was adapted to living in closed woodlands, with a vege-
tarian diet.
The representatives of the genus Australopithecus were more gracefully
slight in build; they might have been about 1·2 metres tall, and weighed
about 40 Jdlogrammes.· The dentition of Australopithecines comes closest
to that of man, with Dryopithecus pattern in the relative dimensions of the
molars, and especially the small incisors and canines, which do not project
above the .occlusal line. Dentition suggests that they were omnivorous.
The profile of the sltull has a characteristically shortened face, which is
naore upright than that of the apes; the brow-ridges are highly developed.
The maximum volume of .the brain-case of the large anthropoid apes is
480 cubic centimetres. The volume of the Australopithecine brain-case
varies between 428 and 530 cubic centimetres. The Australopithecines
were bipedal, and moved in more OJ;' less erect posture.
Homo habiUs. Louis and Mary Leakey (1961) discovered the re-
mains of Homo habilis from the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. l/omo habili!
was about 1·25 metres tall, and weighed 40 to 50 kilogrammes. According
to the dentition, he was omnivorous. HIs cranium was higher and notice-
ably rounded at the back of the head. The brain volume of Homo Izabilis
was larger than that of an Australopithecine.
The study of the bones of the foot showed two typical characteristics
of man. Firstly, the big toe, which Homo Izabilis was able to move vertically.
Secondly, Homo habilis possessed a double vault of the sole, a requirement
for proper walking which the apes do not have.
The stone tools found with the skeletal remains of Homo Izabilis are the
most primitive of tools, and the hand of the maker must have been very
similar to that of man. It has been suggested that Australopithecus used tools
of natural objects of the shape suitable for the task. Homo habilis, however,
used naturally shaped objects, and also manufactured real tools.
The radiometric dating of Homo habilis shows that he is between 1·6
and 1·9 million years old. He lived at the Same time as Paranthropus boisei
in the Olduvai Gorge area.
The findspots of the fossil man in Africa are shown in Fig. 20. It is
also noteworthy that two apes which are nearest to man, viz. the chimpanzee
and the gorilla, are also found in Africa.
The Olduvai hominid sites are littered with bones of horses, zebras,
and a.ntelopes, some with their sku11s cracked open. Shells of snails and
tortoises are also found. In the faeces of these hominids are skeletal frag-
ments of mice, shrews, lizards and small birds. This indicates that they were
eaten whole. The long bones of animals might have been used as weapons,
and the jaws with teeth as scrapers.
REFERENCES
Boule, M. and Vallois, H. V. Fossil Men, New York, 1957
Chopra, S.R.K. Primatoiogical Studies in India. Anthropology in India, Cuicutta, 1975
Chopra, S.R.K. Presidential Addres!, Section of Anthropology and Archaeology, Indbn
Science Congress, Calcutta,. 1974
Chopra, S.R.K. New Fossil DryopitlzeC'us Material from the Nagri Beds at Haritalynagar
(Himachal Pradesh), India
COlltemporary Primatology, Nagoya, 1974
Edey, A. The Emergence if Man, TM Missing Lillk, New York, 1973
Jelinek,J. Pictorial EIII;yclopaedja ojthd Evolution of Man, London, 1975
Khatri. A.P. The Early Fossil Hominids and Related Apes of the Siwalik Foothills of the
Himalayas: Recent Discoveries and New Interpretations. in PaieoQ'ltliropoiogy,
Morphology and Paldodcology. Ed. Russel H. :Tuttle. Mouton Publishers, The
Hague, Paris, pp. 31-58, 4 plates. 1975
Khatri, A.P. The Pleistocene Mammalian Fossils of the Narmada River Valley and their
Horizons. Asian Perspectives, Vol. 9, pp. 113-33, 1966
Montagu ,A. Man-his First Two Million 1'ears, New York, 1969
Peake, H. and Fleure, H.J. Apes and Men, Oxford, 1927
Randhawa, M.S. eI ai. Evolution qf Life. New Delhi, 1969
White, E. and Brown, D. Tile First Mm, New York, 1973
CHAPTER 6
THE QUATERNARY PERIOD

THE PLEISTOCENE-THE ICE AGE
THE ARRIVAL OF HOMO SAPIENS
MANUFACTURE OF STONE T001$ AND CONQUEST OF I"IRE
THE Quaternary, the shortest of all the geological periods and unparalleled
climatically in its development of the Ice Age, commencl!ll nhont a million
years ago. It is subdivided into the Pleistocene (the glacial age) and the
Holocene or Recent (the post-glacial age). The Holocene began. about
10,000 years ago. Russian scientists, however, recogni.:r.e three subclivision.s
of the Quaternary, namely the hoplcistoc:enc (Ql)' the Pleistocene (Qu)
and the Epipleistoccne (Holocene, Qa). Though llWl"ailleS wC"'rc first dis-
covered in the Swiss Alps in about lUOO, most of the Quaternary tl 'posits
have been known for a long time as products or flood, to which Buckbllc1 in
1823 gave the name Diluvium. The Holocene "vas furnwrly knowll in
Germany as Alluvium. Vcnctz in 1829 first suggested that glaci.ers formerly
existed in northern Europe. Evidences f cxt >nsivc gIc\ciL tion in n.orthern
North America were found some years late!'. About a centnry :Lgo, it was
discovered that the Kashmir Valley and its adjoining northern parts were
also heavily glaciated in the past (Fig. 21).
Fig. 2 I. The world in the middle part of the Quaternary period. The ual'kcr al'(~ns were
glaciated. The Himalayan glaciers dcscend<:d into lower valleys
'I'm: Q,I Ji\TERNARY PERIOi)
Fig. 22, Discover)' of 11"1' and filshiolling Ill' IH'bhl,· lOllls WI'l'I' IIIl! ]" :Ij(ll' aC'hil'vI'II)I'l1h 1)1'
P('killl{ 111:111 ., abol\l hall' a million yl~al's ago
I,R"!'OIlslrl1('tiltn frolll 111<' "11l~('1I111 Ill' Evo!lIli()l1ur
l.ift" Ch:llltligarlt)
Fig. ::!:1. "('oJ1lp:lri,wlJ (,1'

th,' (,),:1l1ial si;-:,'s: Cltilllp:tll -
'l. '-I' ·1[10 'T ; ""'110 1'1 ('dll I
1'1,'(/((\ II(iO ('('; .\'illllllll// o/I11,\
1,07 5 C(,; j IUI/(() ,1II/1i1'1I.\' HO'nlO .~plcf\1
./;).l'.Iili,· 1,300 CC'; 1liOril'l'II l01.ili,
1I1:tll 1" I(JO ('(,; N ..'allcknh:ti
llI all 1,:':,0 IT
5B 1\ HISTORY OF ,V:1Ut: l1 r : I' {IRI': TN I N J)I A
Fig, 2'L TIll' mosL prililitive P"I:wolithil' stOIll' lrlllh an' ('IIIIPJlI'rS i'nJlII S'I:i. n, l'.lIhohal'
PlatC'au , \,vest P:1l1jab, Pnkislall, They W( ' rt' (,lilting- tools :lllll w.,,'.' lI s ,'d 1(,1' cullillg chullks
or Jnl'at a nc1 lo scr:1 pl' hides, Th( :y an ' ,\boul hn II' a Illillinll y ,':H:I old
Fig. 2.'i. A ch':lIliall h [\IIcl-a x:(: cOIlI_pit- X ii'nlll Allir,llllp:ddw lI1 , ( :hillg it"PIlI Distl 'i, 'I , T :lll1iJ
Nadu, approximal.dy 20U ,UOO y ears old . /\ l'lllCilll{- l()ol "dg<'d OJII iI,nil s idl 's, it w ns lI~ l'd
fcw digging, t:ho ppi';g :lnd Cliltillg
'l'1f I '~ (.!_(1A'I'ERNAltY 1'lml( I ) :iC)
F ig. 21,. Prinlili v(' IlIl'Il ra~ hi<lllin ~ ,\ C' llI'uii;a1l stoll !' irll lh , :.i'llill :lOO,OO() "a I's ;\I{() , n'l!!
~1 t'lh t' 1I1 is lIa yi ll f{ a hllllll'd anilll :d willi a h:ll)(i':l'('
( R t:I ' on S ll'll~iio l l ('I't)lll lil (' !\ l\lSt' lllll ttl' i':v l}!Ulitl u,,{' I. il",', ( :il :ll ldi (\:uh)
6(J A HISTOlt\' OF A(;RW[)1.TUltS IN nSDIA
. '
INDIA
PALAEOLITHIC SITES
CHINA
,ii
_I
ARABIAN SEA
BAY OF BENGAL
INDIAN OCEAN
,,'
Fig. 27. Important sites from which Palaeolithic tools have been discovered in India and
Pakistan. Apart [mill the sites shown in this map) stone tOl)ls have beell discovered frolIl
n\llnerOUS other places
(Courtesy; Archaeological Survey of India)
THE QUATERNARY PERIon 61
The presence of ice in the past is inferred from the occurrence of boulder
day or glacial boulders which are often scratched and angular, the polished
and striated pavements caused by the movements of glaciers over them,
and the glacial moraines left behind after the recession and melting of ice.
Other indicators are the U-shaped valleys carved out by glaciers, the wide-
spread glacial debris over most of the glaciated area, the terraces forme~
along the banks of rivers by the fast-moving waters released from the melting
glaciers) and the fluctuations in the sea-level, if not due to tectonic move-
ments.· Together with these physical evidences, the alternation of the cold-
loving and warmth-loving plant and animal populations in response to
climatic changes provides ancillary proofs of past glaciation.
During the Pleistocene, there were four major glaciations, popularly
known as Gunz, Mindel, Riss and Wurm. The glacial periods were separat-
ed by three interglacials of varying periods of duration. In addition to
these four major glaciations, there Were several periods of glacial advances
and retreats and warm climate (inter-stadials) during the glacials.
GLACIATION IN THE HIMALAYAS
In the lesser Himalayas of the Punjab, glaciers from the Dhaula Dhar
Range spread out into piedmonts, the outflow from Which reached the
present level of 700 metres in the Beas Valley during the first advance. Two
later advances, which did not descend to such a low level, could still transport
vast blocks of granite. Glaciated land forms are recognizable in some
places in the Siwalik foothills.
Of all the four major glaciations in the Jammu and Kashmir, the
second was ofmmci.mum intensity with the glaciers descending the foothills.
There were two glacial advances during the second glaciation and four
during the fourth. The intervening interglacial periods were of much
longer duration than the glacial periods. In the adjOining region of the
outer Himalayas, the Slwaliks, river terraces corresponding to glacial and
interglacial stages have been recognized. Various kinds of sedimentary
rocks belonging to the Pleistocene are clays, silts, sandstones and loess. The
clays may be varved and the silts generally laminated. Large stretches of
deep alluvial terraces comprising sands, gravels and clays occur in the Satluj
Valley in Hundesh beyond the central Himalayas.
CONDITIONS IN OTHER PARTS OF THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT
Peninsular India was never under glaciation, but in several of its river
valleys, such as of the Narmada, the Godavari, the Krishna, and the Korta-
layer, gravel beds or conglomerates are found intercalated with silts
and clays. Constituting the river terraces, these alluvial deposits are believ-
ed to show events in the peninsular region corresponding to those in the
glacial regions. Some of these deposits have been correlated with the glacial
62 A HISTORY OF AG1UCULTURE IN INDIA
and interglacial phases on the testimony of animal fossils.

Sands, silts and clays, many hundred metres thick, with occasional
gravel beds and .lenses of peaty matter, occur in the great alluvial tracts
of the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Indus in the depression between
the peninsular and extra-peninsular regions. The deposits show a Suc~
c~ssion from the upper Eocene to the Holocene.
PLEISTOCENE FAUNA
In the Boulder Conglomerate, the highest horizon of the Siwalik system
and referable to the lower Pleistocene, the modern ox, camel and horse
make their first appearance, whereas Stegodon ganesa, Rhinoceros, Hippopotamas,
Sioatlzerium, Hyaena and Felis are the survivors from the previous faunas.
Bos acutifrons, an extinct relative of the buffalo, lived in the Siwaliks of the
Put\iab during the Pleistocene. A fauna consisting of Elephas alltiquus and
Equus namadicus, with extinct species of Rhinoceros, Hippopotamas, Cavus, Bos,
Sus, etc., has been found in the middle Pleistocene alluvium of the Narmada
Valley.
Bones of vertebrates of the middle Pleistocene age are sometimes
found ip, the Godavari Valley. One of the species identified is the gigantic
Elephas antiquus (namadicus) with thick and. long tusks. The circumference
of a tusk measured 75 centimetres at its proximal end. The animal must
have been about five metres in height.
From the upper drainage area of the Krishna, teeth of Mastodon pandionis
have been found. Portions of the cranium and the mandible of Rhinoceros
deccanensis, and the remains of an undetermined bovine have been obtained
frOll1 the bank of the Ghataprabha near the town of Gokak in Karnataka.
In the Narmada Valley between Hoshangabad and Narsinghpur, there
are old river terraces rising some 36 metres above the stream. Mammalian
bones were found from the base of the upper gravel and sand, equivalent to
the Potwar silt, whereas pre-historic implements have been discovered abun-
dantly in the layers of gravel. Fossils of the Quaternary fauna were dis-
covered in two. distinct beds. In the lower one, which also yielded pebble
tools, Was found a well"preserved 2·5-metre-long tusk of the Elsphas antiquus.
The upper bed contained the HippojJotamas, Equus, Bos, and BubalusJ along
with. late Acheulian tools made of jasper, chalcedony and fine-grained
. quartzite. Mammalian fossils include the following:
Ursus (Helm'ctos) namatlicus

Bubalus (? Buffilus) palaeindicus (allied to the modern Indian buffalo)
Boselaphus namadicus (related to the modern 'blue bull' or nilgai, B.
tragocameiU$) , Bos namadir:us (from the Siwaliks)
CervUJ auvarr;celi (allied to the modern barasingha)
Sus namadiclIs
THE RUATERNARY PERIOD 63
Hippopotamas palaeindicus (belonging to a subgenus, noW on1y found in
Africa)
Hippopotamas namadicus (probably from an earlier Siwalik ancestor)
Equus namadicus (from the Siwaliks)
Rhinoceros unicornis (a living species)
Elephas antiquus (namadicus) (probably identical with the European E.
antiquus)
Stegodon tnstgms. (Siwalik species)
Stegodon ganesa.
HOMO EREOTUS
Important discoveries of Homo erectus have been made in the Pleistocene
deposits of Java, China, Europe and Africa. These discoveries can be put
into two groups. The first group includes the more primitive forms, appro-
ximately a million. years old. llama crectus modjokerlcnsis from the Djctis
layers in Java, Homo creeius lantianensis from Lantian in Chin;}, Homo creclus
capensis from Swartkrans and Homo erectus heidelbcrgensis from Mauer in
Germany belOllg to this first group. In the second group, their ages ralige
from about 700,000 to 500,000 years. These include Homo ereetus erectus
from the TrinH deposits of Java, Homo erectus pekinensis from Chou-kou-tien
in China, Homo erectus mauritanicus from Ternifine in North Africa, Homo
erectus leakeyi from the Olduvai Gorge in East Africa and Homo erectus palaeo-
hungaricus from Vertesszollos in Hungary.
Near TrinH, in centraljava, Dubois found in 1891 a right upper molar,
a skull cap, and a left thigh-bone with man-like characteristics. The skull
cap was thick, heavy, and flattened in front, and the region above the eyes
was prominent and ape-like. The tooth was man-like and the thigh-bone
indicated an erect posture. Dubois named his find Pithecanthropus ereelus.
The age of these Trinil deposits has been estimated at 700,000 years.
Von Koenigswald discovered an infant skull at Modjokerto, west Java,
near Surabaya, related with Dubois's Pithecanthropus. This find was named
Homo modjokertensis and probably dates back to the period between the
lower Pleistocene and the middle Pleistocene. Its age is estimated at about
a million years.
Research on Pithecanthropus discoveries led to the conclusion that they
were undoubtedly man-like Skeletons, all of which belonged to the genus
Homo, and they were described as Homo eractus (Dubois, 1894). This 'early
man' was about 1·65 to 1·75 metres tall. The structure of his thigh-bone is
the same as that of the modern man and proves that he had an erect posture
when walking.
The Java man is placed bct\veen Australopitlufeus and the modern man.
The volume of the skull varies from find to find. Pithecanthropus I and
Pithecanthropus II, from the Trinil deposits, had-cranial capacities of 900 cubic
centimetres and 775 cubic centimetres respectively. The average brain size
is 883 cubic centimetres.
From a cave near Chou-kou-tien, about 40 kilometres south-west of
Peking, fossil teeth Were found. Black named it Sinanthropus pekinensis.
Unti11937, many skeletal remains, and teeth, of over 30 Peking man males,
females, and children, were found in this area. These remains are younger
than those of the Java man found in the Trini! deposits and may belong to a
later phase in the middle Pleistocene. Their actual age is estimated at
between 500,000 and 400,000 years. Sinanthropus pekinensis is now Homo
creetus pekinensis (Black).
The body structure of Homo ereetus peMnensis was similar to that of
the Java man. His posture was erect and he was 1·55 to 1·60 metres tall.
The Peking man had a strong skull, with a thick brow-ridge. The lower
jaw of Homo erectus pekinensis was a little lighter, but the most noti.ceable
difference was the volume of the skull. The cranial capacitywas 795-1225
cubic centimetres.
The early men from Java, China and Lantian had very similar ways of
life. Their dentition indicated that they were omnivorous. This was con-
firmed by the remains of animal bones and fruits which Were found in their
living-sites. They used stone tools, choppers and scrapers of the Soan type.
The cave deposits of Chou-kou-tien contained clear evidence of the use of
fire. It was the oldest domestic fire and the ash layer reached 1\ thickness of
six metres) indicating the occupation of the cave over a long period. The
control of fire is the first great human achievement, for which credit goes to
the Peking-man. Fire was the·first step towards man's emancipation from
the bondage of his environment. With fire he could endure cold, explore
caves fof shelter. scare away dangerous animals and cook meat (Fig. 22).
The first European discovery of Homo erectus came in 1907 from the
Mauer sand-pit near Heidelberg. It is called 'Heidelberg lower jaw', and
dates back to the middle Pleistocene.
Another European discovery was made in 1965 at VertesszoIIos near
Budapest, in Hungary, where several isolated molars and an occipital bone
were found. Its age is about 600)000 years. This early man was named
Homo erectus palaeohungarieus.
Di.scoveries Which confirm the existence of Homo erectus in Africa are
from the north. In 1954 and 1955 at a site south-east of Oran, near Terni-
fine, three lower jaws were found. The parietal bone and teeth belonged to
a young person and resembled those found at Chou-kou-tien. The Ternifine
find is dated from the middle Pleistocene.
Ariother important discovery comes from Swartkrans in South Africa-
a lower jaw, with three molars on the left side and fragments of the upper jaw.
It has been named Homo erectus capensis.
Homo erectus was also found in the Olduvai Gorge. Leakey and his wife
THE Q.UATERNARY PERIOD 65
found a well-preserved skull without a facial skeleton in the upper layers of

Bed II. Its structure indicated that it was connected with the Java man
and the Peking man. The discovery included the typical tools belonging
to the Abbevillian (Chellean) culture which further confirmed the dating
and classification. The skull has a powerful brow-ridge, and its volume is
about 1,000 cubic centimetres. It has been named Homo erect us leakeyi.
Skulls Were also found at Steinheim and Swanscombe. The capacity
of the Steinheim skull is about 1,150 cubic centimetres, and of Swanscombe
skull between 1,250 and 1,300 cubic centimetres. The capacity of the skull
found at Ehringsdorf (Germany) is between 1,400 and 1,450 cubic centi-
metres. In the modern man, the capacity of the skull is usually between 1,350
and 1,500 cubic centimetres.
The major sites "where the remains of Homo metus have been found are
shown in Fig. 28. Skirting the mountain barriers and the deserts, Homo
emlus spread from the tropics of East Africa, northern India, Java and China
to the temperate lands of Asia and Europe over a million years.
Changes in the body activity involved in the establishment of man as
a species are summed up thus by Peake and Fleure: "Increase of the
period of gestation; increase of brain-growth; reduction of jaw-growth and
jaw muscle, following elaboration of the hands and perfecting of the thumbs;
development of stereoscopic vision and of refinement of the ear, and of the
memorization of sights and sounds; all accompanied by marked alterations
towards a more erect posture, which was nevertheless still imperfectly
attained in the case of many early men; reduction of hair on the body;
and the differentiation of labour between sexes. The reduction of jaws,
connected with the evolution of the hands and implements to share their
work, carried with it especially the reduction of the canine teeth previously
large and interlocking, and the lower jaw was thus enabled to move far more
freely instead of simply up and down and from side to side obliquely as it
seems to have done among the apes. It seems likely that this increased
freedom of the jaws is a factor of the elaboration of speech. An increase of
size, and with it probably an increase of the periods of life both before and
after birth, may be assumed to have occurred in the common stock whence
man and these apes have sprung, and the tendency seems to have continued
to develop in man, for the period of gestation in the latter is 280 days as
against 220 or less among ancestral apes. This lengthening of the embryonic
period has carried with it delay in the hardening of the skull, and so in-
creased growth of the brain, enabling it to register more and more delicately
facts of vision and hearing especially. Not only has the pre~natal pCL'iod
been lengthened, but the human body has become increasingly dependent
for a longer time; thus the scope of maternal devotion has increased."l
IPeake, H. and Fleure, H.J. Ajm ami Mm, pp. 52,61

66 A HISTORY 01<' AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
~ MOllnt8ins
r:.; :] Desert
\
Fig. 28. Ml\lor 5ites where the remains of Homo ere.lus have been found. Skirting mountain
barrier~ and deserts, Homo ereetus spread from the tropics of east Africa, northern India, Java
and China to temperate lands of Asia and Europe oV,cr a period of a million years
Among females, oeStrus was lost, and in its place they acquired mens-
truation. This led to frequent s'exual intercourse, and a rapid rate of
reproduction.
'In Fig. 29 a comparative idea' ofthe sizes of skulls and brains from an
ancient lemur to man can be had. Increase in the size of the brain and its
complexity in man' is notable (Fig. 23).
PALAEOLITHIC HUNTERS AND FOOD~GATHERERS
The notion. of three Ages, viz. Stone, Bronze and'Irou, was first set
out by the Danish archaeologist Vede1-Simonsen in l813. Following him,
'Christian Jurgensen Thomsen, the first curator of the National Museum
of Danish Antiquities, Copenhagen, classified and arranged the collections
into three groups, as they represented three chronologically successive ages.
THE QUATERNARY PERIOD 67
Interpreting the exact role of pre-historic archaeology, Sven Nilsson
stated: 'It demonstrated that notwithstanding apparent or partial retrogres~
sion, the human race was constantly undergoing a gradual and progressive
development.'
Subsequent scholars split up the Stone Age into Palaeolithic, McsoIi.
thic and Neolithic. Lord Avebury split up the Palaeolithic into three sub-
divisions--lower, middle and upper.
The Palaeolithic of the archaeologists corresponds with the period
from the middle to the upper Pleistocene. The most striking feature of the
Palaeolithic industries is their immense duration from about 500,000 to
e
.
,
b
.
..0 7
@P
Fig. 29. Skulls of: 1, modern chimpanzee; 2, modern man; 3, Neanderthal )11all; 4,
Peking man; 5, Auslra{opilhecus (hominid); G, Proconsul tifricanus; 7, Ad(J.bi~ parisiensi.f, an
ancient lemur. An increase in the size of brain and its complexity and II reduction in
brow-ridges in man as compared with hominids is noteworthy
(Courtesy: UNESCO) .
10,000 years ago, the end of the last glaciation. During the middle Pleisto-
cene, the Siwalik Hills were certainly inhabited (Fig. 22) by the carly man
resembling the llomo ereelus pekillellsis. No actual fossil remains have been
recovered, but stone tools, choppers and crude scrapers, which are 500,000
to 300,000 years old, have been discovered. The surest way to distinguish
the earliest men from fellow-animals was in the acquisition ofintelligence and
skill for making tools. With the capacity to manufacture stone tools, man
stepped into a higher plane of concentration and manipulative skill.
PRE-SOAN CULTURE
In the topmost gravels of the Boulder Conglomerate, the first true

prehistoric tools appear in 11 localities in the Siwaliks in the Punjab.
This industry has been named Pre-So~n. The tools are made of crude split
pebbles and large flakes of quartzite chipped on one side, mainly with large
bulbs of percussion, small striking platforms and marginal flake scars. They
resemble the Cl'omerian flake industry of the cady Palaeolithic in East
Anglia, England. Their age is assigned to the last phase of the second glacia-
tion .
. SOAN CULTURE
The Early Sofin sites in Pakistan are found in the Valley of the Solin at
Adiala, Khaslakalan, Chauntra and Trap near the junction of the Solin and
the Indus· rivers; also in the Indus Valley at Ghal'iala at the confluence of
the Haro and the Indus, at Khushalgarh, Makhad and Injra.
At the beginning of the Second Interglacial, in the then gravels of Soill1
terraceS near Rawalpindi, characteristic pebble tools were discovered by
de Terra (Fig. 24). They were possibly used for cutting chunks of meat and
to scrape hides. They were also used for breaking nuts and for making
notches in tree trunks as an aid to climbing. They resemble the palaeoliths
associated with the Peking man, and the Oldowan pebble tools from east
Africa.
De Terra and Hawkes found palaeolithic pebble tools from Chitta,
ncar Rawalpindi, in northern Punjab, at Rampore near Jammu, and at
Kargil, beyol1d the main Himalayan range on the trade route over the
Zojila Pass. From the presence of stone flakes in localities lying across the
Great Himalayan range, the interesting conclusion arises that the Himalayan
passcs have become much higher now (the Zojila Pass being 3,445 metres
now), and whcn the Kargil-man flourished, the passes Were much lower and
migration across the Himalayan mountains was easy. Geologists are of the
opinion tllat the passes which have become inaccessible or difficult noW were
low and easy and marl~ some of the most ancient routes trodden by the early
man. That the Himalayan mountains ate still rising is a corumon belief
among geologists. They have risen appreciably since the advent of Man
1'H:E Q.UA'I'ERNARY PERIOD G0
in northern India, and now have become. a serious barrier between China,
Cen.tral Asia and India. Godwin-Austen was of the opinion that since the
advent of Man, the Himalayas have been thrown up by 2,440 to 3,050 metl'es.
Attributable to the second interglacial age as the carly Soa:n is another
industry of equal antiquity but of a different tradition, known as the hantl-axe
complex. Typologically, this is similar to the lower Palaeolithic AbbevilIio"
Acheulian series observable in the Peninsular India, with its primary focus
at Madras. Section 15 at Chauntrain the Soan Valley is in many respects the
most important locality from an archaeological point of view. This is the
only sitei:(l Pakistan which shows a parallel development of the Madras
(hand-a.xc) industry of the south with the 808:n flake and pebble industries.
Palaeolithic sites on the terraces of the right bank of the 8il'sa below
Nalagarh were discovered by Olaf Prufer in 1951. The tools werc made of
light-coloured quartzite and consist of pebble tools and flake tools. The
pebble tools include choppers and scrapers.
B. B. Lal (1955) discovered pebble tools, viz~ unifacial and bifacial
choppers, and a f~w hand-axes from the river tenaces of the Banganga neal'
Haripur GuIer, on the Beas near Dehra Gopipur, and at Dhaliara and Kangra.
Y. D. Sharma (1955) discovered quartzitic palaeoliths, mainly choppers,
scrapers and flakes, from Dher Majra, Dhang, Dadhi and Merhanwilla along
the Sirsa River, which joins the Satluj above Rupar. Similar implements
were also found about 1'5 kilometres north ofDaulatpur on the Beas brunch
of the Solin River and also showed affinity with the late Solin tradition,
The existence of such artefacts in the Sirsa and the Solin valleys considerably
enlarges the area of the Soan industry.
Pebble tools were reported by Salmi and Khan (1964) fro111 a terrace
of the Ghaggar River near Chandigarh"and by Joshi and Khanna (1974)
from a terrace of the Markanda in the Sirmur District, Himachal Pradesh.
Recently, B. C. Verma (1975) discovered pebble tools and hand-axes in the
Kheri area in the Siwaliks along the southern bank of the Sirsa River, five
kilometres south of Nalagarh, in Himachal Pradesh. Associated with the
stone tools \....ere fossils of Equus sivalensis.
It seems that the Paleolithic hunters roamed along the river valleys in
the hilly areas of India and Pakistan. Here, apart from game, they haei
plenty of pebbles from which they could fashion their stone tools.
CENTRAL INDIA
Acheulian hand"axes and SOall"type choppers and scrapers have also

been discovered from Pleistocene formations along the Narmada, at Bhera~
ghat near J abalpur, in Madhya Pradesh. They are found associated with the
mid-Pleistocene Etephas namadicus, Bos namadicus, Equus namadicus, llippoj)ota-
mas, Bubalus, Sus and Cervlls. The Soan"type tools have also been dis-
covered in Kurnool, in Andhra Pradesh, and in Orissa, Maharashtl'a,
70 A l-IISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
northern Gujarat and southern Rajasthan. In Fig. 27 are shown the sites
from which Palaeolithic tools have been discovered in India.
THE MADRAS HAND-AXE INDUSTRY (OR MADRAS-AcHEUL)
The SolIn industiy with its primary focus in the north produced pebble
choppers and flakes and coreS of Clacto-Levalloisean types, and evolved
on its own lines. The other tradition is the core-tool or the hand-axe
tradition with its primary focus in the peninsular portion, especially around
Madras. The terrace at Attirampakkam in the Kortalayar Valley in the
Chingleput District, Tamil Nadu, shows the stratigraphic evolution of the
Acheulian culture. The tools are prolific. According to' Krlshnaswamy,
'the hand-axes are reminiscent of very late Acheul types of Eur-Africa and
even simulate Micoque forms, being thin, flat and elongated and made on
flakes. Cleavers are abundant and of varied forms. Both show the Vaal
technique of South Afdca. Along with the dominant bifaces, there are
coreS and flakes exhibiting So~n technique.'ll
The tool type of the Madras industry is pear-shaped.or oval, flaked on
both faces in such a way as to produce a continuous cutting edge (Fig. 25).
The pointed heavy-butted hand-axes were used for digging roots an.d
rhizomes. Some of them may have been used as lance-heads, Or even
thrown as bolts. The tools of the Madras Industry have been found as far
south as the Cauved and Vaigai rivers, in the west at Kandivili near Bom-
bay and north of the Narmada, and north-east as far as the upper reaches of
the Son, a tributary of the Ganges (Fig. 30). This technique of tool-
making covered a vast area-India, South Africa, and western Europe.
MAHARASHTltA
Lately, Palaeolithic Acheulian hand-axe tools have been discovered

at a number of sites in Maharashtra. Fossils of hippopotamus, rhinoceros,
elephant, gaur (wild cattle), horse, deer and bufffdo have been found at
Patne. Fragments of an ostrich egg were discovered in association with
the upper Palaeolithic tools at Patne. The eggshell had engravings of
criss-cross lines. This is the earliest evidence of the upper Palaeolithic art
discovered in India and has been dated to 25,000 B.P.
The lower Palaeolithic sites in Maharashtra arc Gangapur, Nandllr,
Madhmeshwar and Kalegaon on the Godavari River, Sakri at the Kan
River, and Nevasa at the Pravara Ri.ver. Besides, a numbel' of middle
Palaeolithic sites have been discovered at Godavari, Tapti, Wainganga,
l{rishna~ Pravara, Ghod and Zarpad rivers.
A striking feature of the distribution of Palaeolithic hand-tools in
India is the predominance of chopper-type pebble tools in northern India,
'Kris]maswami, V.D. Stone Age in India, Ancient Inaia, Jan. 1947

THE QUATERNARY PERIOD 7]
and of Acheulian hand-axes in southern India. Outside India, the Anyathi-
nian culture of Burma, the Choukoutienian culture of China, the Tampa-
nian culture of Malaya and the Patjitanian culture ofJava are dominated by
chopper-chopping-tools. Pebble tools also occur in the pre-Stellenbosch,
eady Olduvan and Kafuan stages in South and East Africa. This distribu-
tion tends to suggest that even on a world.-wide basis the chopper-chopping-
tools on the one hand and hand-axes l.j.nd cleavers on the other represent
two different cultures. The' chopper-type is more primitive and older than
the Acheulian hand-axes. .
Sites from where Palaeolithic tools have been discovered are near rivers,
small streams Or lakes. Wild animals that the stone-age man hunted lived
in jungles along the rivers and lakes. When they carne for drinking water,
Palaeolithic hunters had an opportunity to kill or trap them.. Apart from
wild animals, fish from lakes and rivers were also a source of food for tllem.
These men moved in small bands and apart from hunting collected fruits)
leaves of edible herbs and the I'oots and tubers of wild plants. For digging
roots and tubers, pointed sticks and hand-axes of the Acheulian type were
used.
NEANDER.THAL MAN (HOMO SAPIENS NEANDERTHALENSIS)
The earliest find of the Neanderthal skull is from the fortification of

Gibraltar in 184-8. Fragments of a skull and a skeleton were later discovered
from the late Pleistocen.e deposits in the Neanlierthal Valley near Dusseldorf
in Germany. Skulls and skeletons of the Neanderthal man, were subse~
quently discovered from various places in France, the Island of Jersey, Bel-
gium, Spain, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, North Africa, Israel,
Iran and Iraq (Fig. 32).
From these discoveries, it appears that the Neanderthal mall lived in
Europe, Africa and western Asia some 72,000 years ago. He was short,
had a low receding forehead, protuberant brows, long arms and bent thighs;
he walked with a stoop, and had a matted coat of hair. His brain~case was
. large, but the brain was poorly developed. The cranial capacity was between
1,350 and 1,700 cubic centimetres with the average at about 1,400 to 1,425
cubic centimetres. He must have been strong and well-built, about 1.55
to 1·65 metres tall. His lower limbs were shorter than those of the modern
man and his thigh-bones were slightly arched. He hunted a variety of
animals, including cave-bears and hairy mammoths, and cooked their meat
on fire.
The Neanderthal men hunted mammoths, the woolly elephants of
Europe. Their weapons were boulders, and spears of wood tipped with
blades of flint. Hunting in a pack requires organization, planning and
strategy. In this respect, they showed a great advance over Homo cree/us,
who probably relied on individual skill in hunting. The Neanderthal man
72 A HISTORV OF AGRIOULTURE IN !NDIA
r-'f --._-_.-_-_-#'(~____~It~--·----~'(~'-------~------~~r_·------TH~·--------~'ir·-·--~----·--'f~--·---·-:.-:.-:.·--'lw~__,
J- I
l~
INDIA
COMPARATIVE OCCURRENCE OF CHOPPER-CHOPPING
TOOLS AND BIFACIAL HANDAXES AND CLEAVERS
Jt~ • CHOPPER-CHOPPING TOOLS

I o BIFACIAL HANDAXES AND CLEAVERS
It
I
.
• I
'~
" .~
o
SITES OF OCCUMEHCE • I, Guier 2. N", Nol.g.,h, ~.~. In '0'"'' ~gi.n 5. In Chili., D"I,,"
..
~
~
6 ,n Sl~g"ull 9..ln 1: C'.Varh 8. N.., H... nlllb,d 8. N", Norli,glIpu, 10. In 5.b."",.1 V.IIIV \I
11. In MohlV,II.y 12., In Moyu,bh,nj' 13. In UpPIf aodoYlIlVoIlty 14. In L..... 00<1...,1'1,11'1 15. HOI' Kbondivlv
18. I. Mol.p/'toII. 8..1. 17. ·In L....'Kr"II.'
Volloy, It, Noll Olddol", II. In N.II., 0111"0' 20.21. In Kart,l.vor V.",y
, 2.1 In Lawllr CaIN.,t ValltV
----- . - - - -------_!!_------------'---
Fig. 30. Tht: comparative occurrence: of chopper-chopping tools Imd biracial hand-Meso
Chopper.chopplng.tools were more common in the Siwalik! of India and Pakistan, Difaci(ll
hand·axes predominated in the south
(Courte3¥: Archaeological SUl'Vey of India)
TUE QUATERNARY PERIOD 73
STONE AGE CULTURE
IN
EAST PUNJAB
•
Ohol Baha
§Jill
0
Early Slone age
Middle slone age
Late stone age
1@
(Polished axe)
• Modern Towns
71:,0
SIMLA
•
MAP AREA
Chandigaril •
ng. 31. The Stone Age sites in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. A number of Bueh sites
llave been discovered in the Kangra Valley in Himachal Pradesh and in the Valley of the
Sirsa River above Chandigarh
(After H.D. SankaHa)
74 A HIS'I'ORY OF AGRlCUL'l'URE IN INDIA
also used stone-tipped arrows and buried his dead with great ceremony.
In the cave of La-Chapelle-aux-Saints, the corpse was accompanied with
lVfousterian implements and joints of meat. His social and cultural achieve-
ments comprised middle Palaeolithic civilization.
Gradually, however, he increased his stock of tools by adding knives,
spearheads, awls, scrapers and the like, all made from chips struck from the
original core of flint used in making the hand-axes. He also used the spear
and the sling as his weapons. He also began to use bones and horns. To
meet the growing demand for flint, he sank shafts to get at the subsurface
deposits when those on the surface Were exhausted. Such advances re-
presented major steps towards a greater control over the physical environ-
ment. He made his clothing from the skins of animals, using bone needles
and sinews for binding them. He could also make fire. He made the
mouths of caves his permanent habitations.
In material culture, the Neanderthal man was far ahead of the early
stone-age man. The invention of fire-making gave him the most powerful
Weapon against wild animals. Clothing made from skins of hunted animals
also symbolized advance. Progress was due largely to the challenge of the
hostile environment he had to face in the last Glacial Age.
We can appreciate the important changes that took place, as man began
to eat meat, as he started using fire to prepare meat and warm himself,
as he constructed his first homes and made his tools. The activities of these
early Palaeolithic hunters can be deduced from the remains of animals they
hunted. The. remains of more than 1,000 mammoths were discovered in
Predmosti in Moravia. InSolutre (France) numerous bones of wild horses
were found, andin Ambrosievka (Ukraine) the remains of hundreds of bison
have been discovered. These discoveries indicate organized huntsinwhich
large parties of hunters participated. The spear was their most important
weapon, and the spearheads of stone, bone, and mammoth ivory were in use.
These Palaeolithic hunters also used wooden traps, fishing-nets and hooks.
The recent discovery of nine Neanderthal skeletons from the Shanidar
cave in Iraqi Kurdistan by Ralph S. Solecki has greatly improved the image
of the Neanderthal man. Solecki estimates that the Shal1.idar cave was first
occupied about 100,000 years ago, and, over a period of60,000 years, groups
of the Neanderthals made it their seasonal home. These Neanderthals were
more like Homo sapiens in skeletal structure, and there was not much difference
between them and the modern man. The discovery of the remains of lame
and disable.d persons from two of the caves indicates that they were kept alive
by their fellows, till they met their death by an accidental rockfall. 'These
were the first stirrings of the concept of man caring for his own, a sense of
belonging and family/,S observes Solecki. Pollen analysis of the soil samples
.,
'Ralph S. Solecki, Shanidar, New York, 1971, pp. 33, 34
THE Q,UATERNARY PERIOD 75
• Remains of Neanderthal Man

C Mt. Carmel
E. Ehringsdorf
M Le Moustier
N Neanderthal
S Steinheim
CartoQ'oph,. Hallwag Berne
Fig. 32. The distribution of Neanderthal man

(After Charles Singer # aI., History qf Technology, Vol. I, 1954·. The Olarelldon Press J Oxford)
around the skeletal remains of one person showed that it had pollen of eight
species of flowers. This indicates that they buried their dead with flowers,
and these Neanderthals were the first Flower People.
HOMO SAPIENS SAPIENS
Particularly important are the remains of the Neanderthals found at

Mugharet et.Tabun and lVfugharet es-Skhul near Mount Carmel in Israel.
Many skeletal remains from the sites in Israel show clearly developed
characteristics similar to those of the modern man. The thigh-bones are
straight and quite long. The brow-ridge is still fairly prominent. The
example of the Neanderthal man from Israel indicates how Homo sapiens
neanderthalensis developed into the present-day form of Homo sapiens sapiens,
who first appeared at the end of the first Wurm Glaciation about 30,000 to
40,000 years ago. This early type of man shows n.o marked differences in
the skeleton, il1cludi~g the structure of the skull, from the modern man..
Even the capacity of the skull had reached the same level as that of the
modern man. The only noticeable morphological differences can be found

in the geologically early discoveries, which showed that the early man had a
more robust body structure than the modern man. The most famous sites
of this man arc: Cro-lvlagnoll, Cro-Magnon~man, and Combe Capelle ill
France; Oberkasse1 in Germany, Predmosti, Mladec and Dolni Vestonice in
Moravia, as well as a number of other sites. .
About 25,000 years ago, the glacial climate in Europe improved slightly
for a while. The Neanderthal man unaccountably passed out of the
Pleistocene picture and his place was taken by the Cro-Magnon-man, the
modern species, llomo sapiens. More than 100 specimens of Cro-Magnon~
man have bcen collected in western and central Europe. His cranial capacity
was equal to that of the present-day man. In the evolution of brain we
notice the upward march of living matter from the scattered nerve cells of
coelentrates to the highly complex human brain, which is one of nature's
marvels and is the seat of soul or spirit of man. As Jacquetta Hawkes sumS
up, 'Throughout this vast stretch of time the ill,crcase ill, the size and comple-
xity of the nco-pallium or New Brain makes the central theme; in the fossil
skulls which are our principal record for the human epic we see the forehead
and vault rising, their capacity swelling. Here, housed within the curved
bone plates of the skull, is the most subtle and complex instrument in the
""orId, which, at the command of the whole man, has created the rich and
varied cultures, the superb individual works of art, the inspiring if never final
systems of thought, that make the history of mankind.'
REFERENCES
Boule. M. andVollois, H.V. FOSl'j/ Men, New York, 1957
De Terra, H. 'The Siwaliks of India and Early Man', Early },tlall (ed by C.O. :rvIacCurdy),
pp. 257-268, Philadelphia, 1937
De Terra, H., Teilhard de Chardin and Hawkes,,J. & Chr. 'Palaeolithic Human Industries
in the North-West Punjab and Kashmir and their Geological Significance', .Mem.
COnfJ. Aeac(, Arts and Sci., VIlI, 1934
De Terra, H. and Teilhard de Chardin, P. 'Observation on the Upper Siwl1lik Formation
and Later Pleistocene Deposits in India', Proc, Amer. Phil. SO(., LXXVI, 791-822,
1936
Edey, M.A. Th, Missing Linlc, New York, 1973
Goodall, V. TIle Quest for Man, London, 1975
Hawk~, J. and Woolley, L. History of Mankind, Vol. I, UNESCO, 1963
Jelinek,J. The E1IDiutioli of Man, London, 1975
Johanson, D.C, Family of Eatly Man, National Geographic, December 1976
Joshi, R.V•. Stone Age Maharashtra, in Dawn qfCivifization in Maharashtra, Bombay, 1975
Khatri, A.P. The Pleistocene Mammalian Fossils of the Narmada River Valley and their
Horizons, Asian Per"p8ctives, IX, pp. 113-33, 1966
Khatl"i, A.P. Origin and Development of the Handaxe in the Narmada Valley. Centenary
Volume of Prehistoric Research in India. Calcutta University. pp. 96-121, 1966
Khatri, A.P. Stone Age and Pleistocene Chronology of the Narmada Valley (Centeral
India), Anthropos, Vol. 56, pp. 519-30, 1961
Krishnan, M.S. Gtology qflmlia Ilnd Burma, Maw'as, 1943
THE QUATERNARY rERIOD 77
Krishnaswami, v.n. 'Prehistoric Man round Madras, Pro&. Indiall Acad. SciellceJ, Madras
Meeting, Madras, 1938
Krishnaswami, v.n. Stone Age ill India, Ancient India, No.3, 1947
Lal, B.B. Palaeoliths from the nea~ and Banganga Valleys, Punjab, AllciCIIJ Illdia, No 12,
1956
Leakey, L.S.B. Tilt Slone Ag~ of Africa, Oxford, 1936
Peake, H. and Fleure, H.J. Apes and Men, Oxford,. 1927
Randhawa, M.S. clal. Ello[utioll of Life, New Delhi, 1969
Sahni, M.R. and Khan, E Stratigraphy, Structure and Correlation of the Upper Siwa 1iks
East of Chandigarh, Joltr. Pal. Soc Im/ia, V, 1964
Todd, K.R.U. 'Prehistoric Man Round Bombay' Proe. Prellist. Soc. East Allglia, VII, 35-42,
Ispswich, 1932
Verma, B.C. Occurrence of Lower Palaeolithic artefacts in the Pilljor z..,fember (Lower
Pleistocene) of Himachal Pradesh, Jou., Gaol. Soc. qf India, Vol. 16 No.4, 1975
Whitf', E. and Brown, D. Tlte Fir.fl Alal1, New York, 1973
Zeuner, F.E. Dating the Past, all Introduct 011 1o Geochronology, London, 1M6
CHAPTER 7
THE HUNTERS AND FOOD-GATHERERS OF

THE MESOLITHIC PERIOD
THE transitional period between the· end of the Palaeolithic and beginning
of the Neolithic is called Mesolithic. It began about 10,000 B.C. and ended
with the rise of agriculture and polished stone tools in the Neolithic Age
from 7500 B.C. to 1710 B.O. It is characterized by tiny stone implements
called microliths.
Microliths are widespread throughout the Indian subcontinent. Guja-
rat (Langhnaj), Madhya Pradesh (Adamgarh, Barasimha, Nimkhera, Sakri,
etc.), the region between the central Indian hills and the Gangetic plains
(Barakaccha, Sidhpur, Lekhania in the Mirzapur District, and Morhana
Pahar), Birbhanpur on the Damodar in West Bengal, Karnataka (Raichul',
Jalahalli, Kibbanahalli and Belgaum), and Andhra Pradesh (Nagarjuna-
konda) are particularly rich in Mesolithic sites. Mesolithic sites are common
in Maharashtra. Microliths occur in the sands of the Godavari and the
Wainganga rivers, on the hill surfaces at Ellora, and in the caves at Pachad
and Hathkambha in Konkan. The tools comprise a large number of
indeterminate flakes, blades, burins, geometric forms like the lunates,
trapezes and triangles, scrapers and discoids, and small chopping-tools, and
points of various types, including a few pressure~flaked bifacial ones.
The Adamgarh Hill near Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh has rock-
shelters and cave~paintings (Fig. 33). It has yielded 25,000 microliths. The
earliest finds Were palaeoliths, comprising hand-axes, cleavers, ovates, dis-
coids, scrapers, flakes and cores showing predominantly Acheulian charac-
ters. The occurrence of flakes and cores in the same deposit indicates that
the tools were made on the spot. The tools comprised simple, backed and
saw-edged blades, lunates, points, awls an.d a few burins. A few potsherds
and bone-pieces Were also obtained from the uppermost layer of the black
soil. In trench.es which lay under the cave-like shelters, both the tool
industries were encountered: the lowest levels comprising red clays yielded
palaeoliths, and the upper layers of black or dark-brown soil had microIiths.
Hearbon dating of shells from Adamgarh 9arried out at the Tata Institute
of Fundamental Research has placed the beginning of the Mesolithic age in
that area at 5500 B.C. at Lekhania. The Mesolithic age was as late as 1710 D,C.
Here it would. be relevant to explain the technique for estimating the
age of rocks and prehistoric objects. The so-called radioactivity method
has been applied to the study ofrocks. Itis based on the fact that the emana-
tions of radioactive bodies, such as radium, uranium, and so all., are trans-
formed first into helium and then into lead. The amount of helium that
MESOLITHIC HUNTERS AND FOOD-GATliERERS 79
issues, for example, from a given quantity of uranium during a fixed period
has been calculated. Since the rate of disintegration of the uranium atom
is known, the evaluation of the respective proportions of uranium, helium and
lead in a mineral whose age it is desired to find gives Some idea of the
time that has passed since its formation.
'The same principle is employed in the 14carbon method, which is,
however, limited tothe later periods of prehistory. This method is based on
the discovery that alongside normal carbon, with an atomic weight of
12, all living organic matter contains various isotopes of this carbon, one of
which is radioactive and is, therefore, known as radio~carbon, or, because
its atomic weight is 14, as 14carbon. After death, 14carbon disintegrates
progressively at a rate that has been measured and is believed to be constant.
The older a bone or an archaeological object is, the less the radio-carbon it
contain.s, and it is accepted that by the end of 25,000 years the radio-carbon
will have totally disappeared. In the case of any object below this age~ the
quantity of 14 carbon present gives a rough idea of its antiquity. In fact,
when applied .to articles taken from the Egyptian tombs, whose age is well
established, this method has given exact figures. It may be assumed that it
is equally accurate for older materiaL'l
The Teri sites in the Tinnevelly District, Tamil Nadu, are mostly
along the eastern coast of the tip of the peninsula and are dated 4000 B.C.
by Zeuner.
On the basis of the available collection, a sequence of three industries
is postulated: (i) an earlier Ted in.dustry consisting offlakes and core tools;
(ii) a later-the main-Ted industry, similar to the former, but including
blades and geometric forms; (iii) a Neolithic blade industry, often accom-
panied with stone axes. The first two are generally made on quartz and
chert and are heavily stained with red hydrated ferric oxide.
According to Sankalia, these tools must have been made by hunting
and fishing people living in temporary camps on or near the coast. The
geological context and the presence of certain tool-type might make the
industry upper Palaeolithic and might be placed towards the close of the
late Pleistocene, but provisionally it has been given a date of 4000 :B.c.,
which is certainly very conservative. II •
Equally ancient is the Birbhanpur microlithic industry, which was investi-
gated by B.B. Lal. The tools are non-geometric and include irregular, free
flaked cores, fluted cores, blades, lunates, points, borers, scrapers and burins
(Fig. 34). The material is mostly milky quartz, though occasionally crystal,
chert, chalcedony, quartzite and fossil wood are used. Lal's studies indicate
lBoule, M. and Vallois, H.V. Fossil Mm, p. 60

ISankalia, H.D. From Food Collection to Urhanisation, in llldian Anthropology-Essays in Memory
of D.N. Majumdar, p. 77
that the climate when themicrolithic people occupied the site must have been
comparatively dry and mild. It succeeded the last wet phase during which
dense forests existed in the region. This mild climatic phase was followed
by a period of aridity, and the habitation layers Were covered with win.d-
blown sand.
An important site in :Ku1'llataka is atJalahalli, near Bangalore. Here,
Todd found, in a reddish soil horizon, microliths of quartz, rock crystal and
one of red jasper. Seshadri groups the collection on typological basis into
two categories: (i) Jalahalli microlithic industry with a preponderance
of crescents, points and arrowheads, indicating a hunting economy and
environment; and (ii) Bl'ahmagiri microlithic industry consisting primarily
of parallel-sided flakes, and Gravettian-like pen-knife blades,. implying a
semi-urban culture in which arrowhead, crescent, etc., are absent.
Sankalia states that the people of Langhnaj who lived in the sandy
undulating plains of northern and central Gujal'at manufactured microliths,
e.g. blades, lunates, trapezes, triangles, scrapers, points and a few burins,
fluted as well as amorphous cores. The material is chert, agate, carnelian
and only occasionally quartz. Heavy tools so far are very few-only one
mace-head of a digging stick of quartzite was excavated. They hunted
l'hinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis), hog deer (Axis porcinus), Indian buffalo,
antelope (Boselaphus lragocamelus) , black buck (Antilope cervicapra) and wild dog.
The Langhnaj people occupied elevated areas-sand-dunes-formed
during the previous dry period and enclosed on three sides by small inunda-
tion lakes. They lived by hunting and fishing. Large quantities of cut
animal bones were found in their habitations. These animals included
cattle, tzz'lgai, deer, rhinoceros, mongoose, pig, squirrels, rats, tortoises and
fish. Animal flesh was cut with tiny tools, awls, scrapers of various types,
blades and gravers or burins. Arrowheads of stone indicate that they
used bows and arrows (Fig. 35).
Small quantities of potsherds suggest acquaintance with pottery.
Quern fragments are so small that these could hardly have been used for
. grinding the grain of wild grasses. Among the few ornaments are round
flat beads, and beads of dentalium shell. They buried their dead in a
flexed posture in the north-south direction.
The microlithic industries of India seem to represent the arrival of new
people, probably from the West. According to Sal1kalia, physically or
racially they Were fairly tall, with long head, slightly protruding lower lip
and recall the Hamitic people of Egypt.
DOMESTICATION OF THE DOG

The domestication of the dog (CanisJamiliaris) is the major achievement
of the Mesolithic hunters. Wolves often hang around human dwellings as
scavengers, feeding upon bones and crumbs of flesh. The earliest dogs were
MESOLITHIC HUNTERS AND FOOD-GATHERERS 81
probably like the Indian pariah-dogs and the Javanese chow. These types
followed the Mesolithic hunters round the world, breeding with other local
species, e.g. the wolf, which, though distinguished as Linnaean species, are
still interfertile. That the dog entered into the ecological system of man very
early is borne out by the fact that man and the dog are universally distribut-
. ed together, even in remote regions like Australia, Greenland and Alaska.
According to Zeuner, in northern Europe the dog had become a com-
panion of man by about 6000 B.C. The Natufians of Palestine (named from
one of their camp-sites in the Wadi-el-Natuf in Jordan) had the domesti-
cated dog. The radio-carbon age of the Natuf1an layers in the tell of pre-
historic Jericho is 8840 B.C. An early dog is from the Belt cave in Iran,
c.9500 B.C. Harlan mentions a 12000 B.C. dog find from Iraq, which is the
earliest at present. The very fact that the Harappans had well-domesti-
cated breeds of dogs indicates that domestication of these animals must
have taken place at least two to three millennia earlier. In the Harappan
period the domesticated dog had already developed two distinct races.
Marshall, who discovered terracotta figures of dogs from Mohe;rUo-daro,
concluded that the cultivators of the Indus Valley had a dog resembling the
pariah; another a terrier, and yet another the modern mastiff (Fig, 36).
Bairn Prashad identified the bones of a greyhound type of dog from Harappa,
which he considers to be allied to Canis tenggeranus, which was Widely distri-
buted in the Oriental Region in Diluvial times, and was the ancestor of
the pariah-dog. The Harappa dog; according to Baini Prashad, shows distinct
affinities in the shape of its skull with the Indian wolf, Canis lupus palHpes.
The Indian wolf, as Blanford relates; is rarely, if ever, heard to howl; and it
sometimes barks like a pariah-dog. The young of the Indian wolf are born
with drooping earS and are readily tamed. Moreover, all varieties of
domesticated dogs have the wolf-type teeth. Studer derives the pariah from
the dingo, which was widely distributed in southern Asia in former times.
Discussing the origin of the domesticated dog, Zeuner observes, 'The
evidence So far available suggests that the domesticated dog sprang from one
of the geographical races of the wolf. The possibility of an originally wild,
dingo-like form now completely absorbed into the domesticated stock cannot
be excluded, but such form would have been extremely close to the Indian
wolf. In any case, however, the Mesolithic clogs of northern Europe already
were introduced stock which appears to have been dingo-like (C.! poutiatini)
and which inter-bred with northern wolves (Cf illostranzewi). These large
dogs, from which Eskimo or other polar-dog breeds are ultimately derived,
continue through the Neolithic. C. J. poutt'atini gave rise to the sheep dogs
of the Bronze Age and later to G.f. matrisoptimae, and to the hounds (C.r.
intermedius)' .3
3Z cuner, F.E. A liistolY of Domesticated Animals, p. 27

82 i A inS.rORY OF AGRICULTURE IN lNDIA
. The earl)1 men hunted wild horses, deet and wild cattle wlth the help
bf their rough traps, spears~ bows and arrows. It is probable that wolves
Were their camp-followers and frequented the heaps of bOnes of wild animals
wJrich acc'urnulated around the early Mesolithic camps: It is likely that
out of fun the early men captured their cubs 'and tained them. Young
'Wolves captured injungles were 'kept as pets 'and their utility as guardians
of camps and hunters was the result of generations of enslavement and
selective breeding. Women probably played an important role in develop-
ing the domesticated breeds of dogs on account of their inherent gentleness
and patience. Very likely, these early animals became sufficiently tame to
be harmless, but did not breed in captivity. Only when they began to
breed in captivity and yielded themselves to selective breeding by man' that
they became truly domt"sticated and developed in intelligence and utility.
These domesticated dogs were of great help to the Mesolithic hunters,
and fleet-footed animals, such as deer, antelopes, fox.es, jackals, and rabbits,
were more easily available for the camp pot. Thus the food supply avaHable
greatly increased, and this might have led to an increase :in the population
of the early man. The domestication of dogs was a revolutionary advance
in tlielife of the hunters and food-gatherers and opened out new possibilities
of Living' with abundant and more variable dietary.
• Apart from hunting wild animals, the domestication of the dog led to
I
stin more useful results. As Zeuner observes, 'Once the dog had become a
member of the human society, the control and later domestication became
possible of certain small ruminants which had always constituted an impor-
tant part of the diet of the dog's ancestors'. These are the goat and the
sheep. The frequent 'occurrence of bones of dogs in the Bronze Age sites in
Europe is connected with the increasing importance of sheep-keeping.
CAVB PAINTINGS
The best evidence of the life and activities of the Mesolithic man lies in
the paintings in cave-shelters. Numerous painted cave-shelters have been
located in India. Haematite paintings on rock~shelters situated near Singan-
pur, in the Raigarh District, Orissa, represent hunting-scenes and dances
with masked figures, resembling those at Cogul in Spain. One of them
depicts kangaroos, animals now restricted to Australia. Representations of
horse and deer. in Singanpur cave-shelters are very much like the Spanish
drawings ofthe same age. Rock engravings at Ghatsila, in the Singhbhum
District, Bihar. are remarkable for their Australian character. According
to Mitra, these facts point to the existence of an ancient Indo-Australian
t::ulture extending from the upper Palaeolithic to the Neolithic.
Cockburn discovered numerous painted cave-shelters in the Kaimur
, ·ran"r:;es in the Mirzapur District in Uttar Pradesh. Here, hunting scenes
show men, armed with harpoons having stone shaftheads, attacking rhinoce-
MESQLITilIC 11UNTERS AND, l>OOD-GATHERER~ 83 ,;
rOSes. These paintings may be attributed to the end of, the Palaeolothi<; .
period. In the Bellary District, more than 20 groups ,of animal drawings:
and hunting~scenes with men armed withjaveHns and shields are painted in
cave-shelters.
The, most exciting discoveries of the Stone Age paintings are from
Madhya Pradesh, and the scholar who discovered them is V. S. Wakankar.
A group ,of fantastic rocks on the northern fringe of the Vindhyas facing the
plains ofMalwa could be Seen from ObaidullaganJ, about 42 kilometres
froIll Bhopal, in the Raisen District of Madhya Pradesh. They are called
Bhimbetaka, or the seat of Bhima (Fig. 37). Wakankar first saw them in
1957, but started the study of their paitings and stone tools in 1972.
There are 754 rock-shelters, out of which more than 500 have paintings.
Apart from Bhimbetaka, there are cave paintings at Bhopal, Jaora, Raisen,
Kharwai, Narwar, Chhoti-Badi Dant, Pachmarhi, and Modi in the Mand-
saur District, in Madhya Pradesh.
The floor of one of the caves at Bhimbetaka was dug. (Fig. 38) .. At the
lowest level, pebble t~ols of the Soa;" type were found, followed by Achrulian
hand-axes. Above them were middle palaeolithic (30,000 to 100,000 B.P.)
cherts and jaspers, followed by the upper Palaeolithic 'non~geonietrical
microliths, in which blades .and burins were prominent. Th~ next layer
relates to the MesoIithicPeriod nO,OOO,to 7,000 B.P.) in'w~ch'geometrical
microliths and bone tools were found.
Wakankar has classified the drawings and paintings into seven different
periods. , Out of them, the first three are tentatively dated as 'follows : i i
Period I. ' Terminal upper Palaeolithic 20,000 to 10,000 years B.P.
Period Il Mesolithi.c 10,000 to 4,000 years B.P. . :
Period III - Chalcolithic 4,000 to 2;500 years B.P,'
Period I. The earliest paintings at Bhimbet"aka are green and dark red.
The green ones are fine outline drawings of dancers and' hunters~ . The
paintings fall into two groups. One group, possibly earUdr, 'cotisists of'
drawings of elephants, wlld cattle, boats, tigers, rhinoceroses, etc. .,
Pe:r~od n. The s~bjeCt-matter of the Second, and possibly 'of the later
group, i:; more varied, and the drawings 'are small ... Some of them pottr~y
hunting-scenes. AnimaJs shOwn are wild. cattle, elephant; tiger, wild boar,
dee:r, antelope' and birds.' The 'hunting-weapons include' barbed spears,'
pointed sticks, bows and arrows. ' It'is rarely thatthe drawings are truly
realistic, but sometimes the artists succeeded remarkably i'n capturing the'
natural grace of the animals, '
What is the purpoSe of this art in which animals figure so prominently?
It seems it was magico-religious to ensure good hunting. Representations
of large animals in strategically situated rock-shelters, such as the horned
bull of Kanwala, boar, tiger, rhinoceros, fish, tortoise and mythical bull from
Bhh~betaka, buffal? ;'und elephant of Adamgarh, bull from Ramgudiwar
A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
1500 B.C.
Neolithic
POlished slone imp-
lements from Burzo-
2000 B.C . hom. KoshmlrVoliry
30001:).C. Microlith Ie tools

from Birbhonpur
5000 B.C.
TO,OOO S .C. Mesolithic:

MiddlQ Stone Age
Tools from Topti
Volley
20,000 B.C.
300,000 B.C.
Palo Cil!ollthie
<:'hopping tools from
9i1ospur, Himachal
Pradesh
Fig. 39. Stonc-tooltypts from the PabcolitIlic to th e Nl'uli lhi (" :lge
Talkoli of Badami, and elephant of Edakal caves, du indicate that these

animals were deified and were painted ov 'rsi:.r.c to create a ih.:li llg of awe in
the speclators.
The Mesolithic paintings are reu. '.l'h(.;y c.kpicl Inllllillg"-sccnes an.u are
marked by vigour. The hum.an figures arc elongated and arc showll holdillg"
bows, arrows and barbed harpoons, surrounding lheir quarry, deer in. this
casco In a corner, a group of men arc shown fleeing' fJ.'om an :tlLlckinp;
rhinoceros, while one of thenl is climbing a tree. Men. a\'c naked or weal' a
skirt of leaves or bark (.Fig. 45). Rescrn!Jlanc~ with the Spanish cave
paintings from Cueva de Val del Charco del Agu:l. Arn:J.l·I:Ft is obvious.
A cave painting froul Bhill1.bctaka shows a dcvi('(~ which t.he cave-
dwcllers adopted for hunting. Th 'y used to Searc hcrd:;; of deer ~t:J.ndiHg
on rocks, with a steep f ..\l1 below. In a pain.ting 1.1<.:cr arc shown falling" into
a chnsm from a ledge. The cat'casses of dead or \NOll11l1ed elecr were collect-
ed and eaten after roasting on fire.
Wakanlml' published a group of paintings £1'0111. Bhimhctaka which
depict the activities and the social life of these hun.lers :.mdlood-gathercrs.
Two paintings depict love-making. Anolher ShOVI1S a pregnant woman,
and yet anot11cr the birth of a child, who is. depicted between the legs of the
rnother. There is a charming group of ehilc.ln~·n ii·olicking. There arc
r.lESOLITllW IlU TI'.RS AND FOOlJ-GATIIEREIt;
Fig. 33a. Adamgarh rock-shellers lIea t' I-Ioshangabad, Madhya PJ'adesh. Thesc C<lVC-
sh eltcl's wpre occupied by Palaeolithic anrl iVIcsolithic hunters. The 1011'('1' levels yielded
paiaroliths, and the upper microlilhs
F ig. 33b. Detail c f a cavr-shdler at Adamgarh. The overhanging rock provided shelt(,,.
to hunters againsL incl "Jl1l'nl w(,rlLher. The r of is pninlcd wiLh hunting-sc"nes
86 A 1I1STORY UF Ac.aUc.:ULTURE IN INDIA
Fig. 3'1. l'1icl'Oliths from Birbh:mpur, ]jistrict Burcl ..,':m, 111':11' (1)(' D:1Il1Odar -[llI e)" '''''I 'St
Be n gal , 4000 n.c_ 'J h ey jll('l ud blad(;s, hlllatc·s. points tlnd bon'ls a nd hUl'iw;
(Co urt('sy: rrhaeolngical Survey of] nclia)
MEsOLrrI-tIC HUNTERS AND FOOD-OATHERERS 87
Fig. 35. 1\ IIl1'solithic scen(' . !\. nwn. is shooting :\ 11 arruw lipp('d with :1 sharp nJi crolit h
al a ll a lllel ope. The oth er is thl'owillg Ull a decr it Speill' lipped wi th a sh,u'j)('I\(' d s tOIlt:
( R('C'onstl'll cti ul1 i'rom th e Museum uf Evolulion of Lift', Chancligarh)
- ..
Fig. 36. T oys [rom :MohC'JI-

jo-dnro, depicting a varidy
o[ dogs
(MU.!l' 1{ac!cny)
A UiSTOR.Y OF AGRtcUL'liURE :IN tNDtA
Fig, 37. C av(~·s ltdICl's al Bhilllhc la ka , 11(';(1' lllwpal , R"is(,It J)islrict , l\f; tdh ya Pl'ac k sil . Thl!
walls and rools nl' Cr!\,c-sh._.lt(·r s ha ve paiutillgs d ali ng frn1ll th e l\IPw lilhic In tilt' early hisloric
prripd
MESOLITHic iIUNTERS AND FOO.b-GA'l'lJERimS 89
Fig, 311 . Illlnio r o f th e C;W~ il l Bhimhe t aka, T his eaV l' has b el' ll in occ up a tion ;, jll ('l '
l' a li1colith ic ti ll Ie'S, as is " Vilkll C,·r] hy Ilw (lis('(w,'!'Y (11' J\(' tll'll li: lII tilnls fl'Ull l th .. l<JWl' I'IlHlS[
1:1 ycr
90 A HISTORY OF AG RtCULTURE IN lNl>lA
l'·ig. -10. i\ ruck-s ltdl er al Bllimbdakn. Th(' ),(J(lC is p ai lll ('( l wil lt 1; g"III '('~ (I f ga llr , tin:!',
::;amhhal', dc .
( COll!"l('S),: A .'ll. Khatri)
Fig. 'II. IVJl'sn lilhi c palll1wg fmlll :1 r(lve-sheller <I' lIhilllb,·laka . flt-I'd s "r Ch l'(, /lIi , wild
bumdot's alld c;ltlk arc shown
~n:S()L ITI lI C HLJNTERS AND FOOD-C:ATrIERF. R S
I'ig. 42a. A ga ur Crom a eave painting at llhimhc La ka
Fig. '~2h. A buflill o-bull- a J\Iesoli tili c paint in g fro m a c avc-shcll.l:r aL Uhill11) ' taka
02 A HISTORY OF AG IU CUl.TURE IN INDIA
11ig. 47. i\frican birds nn d

animal H in Mesolithic cave-
paintings fr011l M ::ldh ya
Pradesh : I()P, a g imll'c
Bhimh cta ka; middfc; osLrich .
es, Bazar Cave, Pachmmh i;
boltom , g iraffes, i\damgftl'h
c:wc-slw ]lcl', l.w ar ]-Tosll All -
gahacl
!lIESOLrrrnc HUNTERS AND l'OO])-CA'nmRERS
Recent
Early
Mediaeval 0
PERIOD- IV
~e ".
~
Early ,
Historic
,
"
"
PERIOD- '"
ff~QllUI';
Cha lcolith i c
PERIOD ·· II
Upper- Pa la eo l ith ic
and Me solithi c
PER IOD- I
A B
Fig. 43. Chronological nnd stylistic devclopmcllt of l"o('k-pninting in India

(Aftcl' V .S. \Vuknl1k:lI')
94 A RlSTOR¥ O~ AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
~
2
4
~5t;~1~ tt j
9
,Fig. 44. Life in the Mes,olithic age at Bhimbetaka: 1, amorous couples; 2, pregnant women;
3, the birth of a child; 4, child-tearing; 5, children playing; 6,'initiation ofa child; 7, cure
bYTagic; 8, ceremony for the dead; 9, the purial ofa child, and a family in mourning
(Aftery.S. Wa~ankar)' , , " , "
paiptill%S lsho~ing the, agony. of the family members for the dea~l. The, last
one depicts the burial ceremony of a dead child and the grief of the parents
(Fig. 44). The brevity of expression is truly modern in spirit. With a few
lines, so much is conveyed.
, Most ~nter(;sting are ,'the paintings of w,ild animals. It is the roofs of
rock-shelters which' have such paintings in white paint (Fig. 40). The
animals . dep~cted are herds of deer, neetgai, sambhar, gaur, buffalo, wild
bo;:t'r, rhinoceros, tiger and elephant (Fig. 41). The gaur-bull with its
enOrmous horns is shown charging (Fig. 42a) and t~e buffalo-bun with its
uplifted t~rseems to be in a fighting mood' (l."ig. 42 b). These paintings
show many fea~Ures 'in cOInmon with rock paintings in the Tassili-n' Ajjer·
mountains in the Sahara. Not that there is any genetic' relationship bet-
ween the painters. 'The paintings show how the human mind works in I
parallel lines in a particular period of human development.
Now I mention some extraordinary paintings from the cave-shelters
of Madhya Pradesh. In the Bazar Cave at Pachmarhi, ostriches are depict-
ed. I have already referred to the discovery of decorated ostrich egg-shells
from Maharashtra. It is interesting to see these birds, now restricted to
E.4ILV ~1'1s()LITHI(: PA.HTltU;

~pf.tr. 8HII1 m"'35!&
:Et},~~\{~~:
~~~ ~~ l ~%!i
.. q
~ ~~ .
I----~
~. . .w.t.
Fig. 45. A Mesolithic painting from Bhimbetaka. Hunters armed with bows, arrows and
spears are chasing game. Human figures are elongated to show rhythmic action
(After V,S, Wakankar)
Africa, depicted in a cave-shelter in India (Fig. 47, middle). Giraffes, whose

fossils have been recovered from the Pleistocene deposits in the Siwalik
Hills, are also depicted in cave-shelters at Bhimbetaka and Adamgarh., A
roan with a bow is shooting an arrow at a giraffe (Fig. 47, bottom).
A word about the age of the rock paintings. Potteries can be dated
by 14 carbon method. In some cases, the designs on Chalcolithic-Neolithic
pots closely resemble those in some cave paintings. From Modi in the
Mandsaur District, a site which had 60 painted rock-shelters, the majority
of which have been submerged under the waters of the Gandhi Sagar Dam,
Wakankar discovered a painted stone piece and a heap of haematite gJ;anu-
les from Mesolithic levels. Thus the date of the painting was established
to be that of the Mesolithic period.
There is another significant discovery from Patne in the Ajanta Hill
range ofMaharashtra. There, S. L. Sali found decorated ostrich egg-shells.
The shells were decorated with parallel cross-hatching and concentric circle
engravings. At Bhimbetaka, bone engravings ,of similar designs as well as
of bone tools have been obtained from the upper Palaeolithic and Mesoli-
thic levels.
The rock.paintings at Bhimbetaka, which are green, are earliest on the
basis of superimposition and can be attributed to the upper Palaeolithic
period. After this period, the green coJour has never been used, though
there are a few exceptions, such as a group of flower-vase paintings in one
cave, which belong to the Gupta period. The green in these later-period
drawings is quite different from the earliest group in which it is much
darker and tallies with the green nodules found in the upper Palaeolithic
levels at Bhimbetaka.
Apart from the colour of the paints, it is the style which is the surest
guide to the age of paintings. In the case of cave paintings, some difficulty
arises, as the paintings of the living tribals also resemble them. However,
this resemblance is only superficial. An expert eye can easily distinguish
the recent from the ancient. The Palaeolithic and the Mesolithic paint-
ings have a vigour and verve which is not matched by the present-day tribal
painting.
SURVIVING PRIMITIVE TRIBES IN THE MESOLITHIC STAGE

Apart from the stone tools, and cave paintings, some of the surviving
primitive tribes provide us with an idea of the mode of life of the Mesolithic
people and their food. Of these, the Onge of the Andamans, a Negrite
pygmy tribe, are the most primitive. Only about 150 of them survive in
the Little Andaman.
Although they have now started using iron tips for their arrows and
spears, their economy is essentially of the type of the Mesolithic Age, based
on hunting, fishing and gathering. Cultivation in any form is unknown to
them.
'(Within the limits of thei.r pre-agricultural technology, the On.ge
optimally utilise the natural resources of the forest and the sea," states Sinha.
From the forest, they procure tuberous roots, yams, jackfruits, pandanus
fruits and various types of berries, and also pigs, larvae of insects, birds and
honey. From the island creeks and their banks, they get freshwater fish,
prawns, and turtle eggs. From the sea, they get fish, turtle, dugong, shell-
fish and crabs, and sea-borne cocoanut.
"The forest provides them not only with the major sources of food but
almost all their material requirements. The communal huts and tem-
porary shelters are made from forest products. Other articles of their
use-boats, weapons, their scanty body covering, decorative material and
medicinal items-are all derived from forest products. Roots, stalks, bark
fibres, stems, trunks, branches, leaves, flowers-every part of the tree is used.
"There is a distinct division of labour among them. Hunting pigs,
dugong or turtle, fishing with harpoons and bows and arrows are men's
jobs, while women are mainly engaged in the collection of roots and tubers
and fishing with nets."
THE FOOD HABITS OF THE TRIBALS OF MADHYA PRADESH
The food habits of the tribals provide us with a clue to the type of food
consumed by the Mesolithic food-gatherers and hunters. We will now con-
sider the environment and food articles of the tribals of Madhya Pradesh.
In the Bastar District of Madhya Pradesh, the important tribal and sub-
tribal communities are Maria, Muria, Bhatra, Mahara, Dhakad, and Rawat.
In the Betul, Mandla, Sargl~a and Chhindwara districts, Gond, Kol and
Bharia predominate. The Jhabua District is inhabited by Bhils and Kan-
jars. These tribes most probably belong to the 'Proto-Australoid' group
or the so-called Veddoid type.
Topographically, the regions inhabited by the tribal people are gene-
rally hilly and undulating, with high and low plateaus covered with dense
and almost inaccessible forests.
Ecologically, the present forest vegetation represents bio-edaphic series,
and very little of the primaeval forest is left. However, some relict areas
of the mixed deciduous monsoon forests of Shorea- Tectona-Diospyros exist.
The dominant tree species in the tribal forest areas are Shorea robusta, Tectona
grandis, Diospyros melanoxylon, Terminalia alata (T. tomentosa) l Madhuca
indica (M. latifolia) , Pterocarpus marsupium, Buchanania lan;;an (B. latijolia) ,
and Anogeissus latifolia. The sociability of these species is very high and they
occur in closed colonies. The herbaceous ground-floor vegetation consists
of a large number of species, many of which provide food to tribal races.
In Madhya Pradesh, although rice (Oryza sativa) and lesser millets
(Panicum miliaceum, Eleusine t;oracana, and Paspalum scrobiculatum) form the
staple diet of the tribal people, almost all of them supplement it wi th seeds,
grains, roots, rhizomes, leaves and fruits of numerous wild plants which
abound in the forests. Grigson (1949) noted that famine has never been
a problem in Bastar, as the tribes have always been able to draw half their of
food supplies from the innumerable edible products from the vast forests.
Ethnobotanically, the knowledge about the food habits of various
tribes is fragmentary and incomplete. Haines (1916), Mooney (1942),
Elwin (1947), Grigson (1949), Roy and Rao (1957), Subramanyam et at.
(1961) and Jain (1963) enlisted some species.
D. K. Tiwari (1977), of the Jawaharlal Nehru Agricultural University,
Jabalpur, prepared a detailed list of wild plant species eaten by the tribals
in Madhya Pradesh. He has listed 165 trees, shrubs and climbers. Of
these, the first category contains a list of 31 plants whose seeds are roasted
and eaten. It includes:
'Sinha, S. Primitive Hunters, Shifting Cultivators, The Times oj India Annual. 1974
98 A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDlA
(1,TrflTh
3 ~M~
10 12
Fig, 46. Animals depicted in Bhimbetaka rock.paintings: 1, a wild buffalo; 2, a gaur; 3,

'a rhinoceros; 4, a boar; 5, a chinkara; 6, a ~potted dear; 7, a sambhar, 8, a deer; 9, a blue
bull (nilgai); 10, an elephant; 11, a.tiger or panther; 12, a tiger
(Mter V.S. Wakankar)
MESOLITlirc HUNTERS AND FOOD-GATHERERS 99
Avena fatua, Coix lacryma-johi, Dendrocalamus strictus, Madhuca huryracea,
Oryza sativa val'. spontanea, Paspalum scrobiculatum and Setaria glauca.
There are 19 plants whose roots and tubers are eaten after baking,
boiling or processing. This category includes: Asparagus racemosus,
Arisaema tortuosum, and eight species of Dioscorea.
There are 17 plants whose juice is taken fresh or after fermenting.
This group includes: Caryota urens, Phoenix vlvestTis, Madlluca IOllgijolz'a,
Borassus flabellifer and Ampelocissus latifolia (Vitis latifolia).
There are 25 plants whose leaves are eaten as vegetables. These
include Rotala leptopetala (Ammannia pentalldra), Amaranthus spirzosus, Bauhinia
purpurea, Indigofira glabra (1. pentaphylla), Moringa oleifera (!vI. pterygosperma),
Portulaca quadrifida, Nymphaea nouchali, Nelumbo nucifera and Shoreo mbusta.
There are 10 plants whose petals are cooked as vegetables. These
include species of Bauhinia, Sesbania grandiflora, Cochlospennum religiosum and
Holoptelea integrifolia.
There are 63 plants whose fruits are eaten raw, ripe, or roasted Or pickl-
ed. The fi'uits of AegIs marmelos provide delicious food for the forest-dwellers.
Buclzanania [an zan, the chironji, provides them with delicious nuts. It occurs
in many forests in Madhya Pradesh. The fruits of Emblica qiJicinalis (amla),
rich in vitamin C, are eaten raw or are pickled.
There are five species of Ficus which provide figs for the forest-dwellers.
The fruits of the thorny shrub Pithcellobium dulce (Inga dulci.r), also called
Jungli Jalebi, are favourites with the tribaIs. Seedling mangoes (Mangifira
indica) are common and are also eatellraw or ripe by both man and monkeys.
Tamarindus indica (imli) is a common forest tree whose pods make good
pickles. The sepals of mahua (Madhuca butyracea) are greedily eaten and
are also fermented for liquor. MOTUS alba, the mulberry, provides fruit.for
both man and birds. Besides, the ber, Ziziphus mauritialla and Z. oenoplia,
provide delicious fruit. It has been eaten by the jungle-dwellers from the
Mesolithic period onwards.
So far as sugar is concerned, honey of wild bees, Apis melliftra, was its
main source for the tribals. Combs of wild bees are found in all the jungles
ofIndia. The rocky cliffs of Bhimbetaka are studded with numerous honey-
combs of wild bees.
Thus We find that, apart from the flesh of wild animal~, the Mesolithic
people had a variety of seeds, leaves and fruits which they could collect
from the jungles. The selections which they made ultimately provided
plant material to their successors for cultivation in fields and gardens.
REFERENCES
Alkhin, Bridget, Middle Stollo Age Culture ill India, Institute of Archaeology, University of
London, 1960
Anderson, C.W. The Rock Paintings of Singanpore, Jour. Bihar and Orissa Res. Soc., 1918
Bose, S. Economy of the Onge of Little Andaman, Man in India, Vol. 44,1964
Boule, M. and Vallois, H.V. Fossil Men, New York, 1975

Burkitt, M.C. and Cammiade, L.A. Fresh Light on the Stone Age of South-East" India,
Antiqui1J, Vol. 4, 1930
Elwin, V. Th~ Muria and their Ghotul, Bombay, 1947
Grigson, W.V. The Maria GoTlds of Bastar, London, 1947
Haines, H.H. Trees, Shrubs and Economic Herbs of Southern Circle, Central Prol/inces, Nagpur,
1916
Harlan,J.R.. The Plants and Animals that Made Man, Scientific American, Sept. 1976
Jain, S.K. Wild Plant Foods of the Tribals of Bas tar, M.P., Proc. Nat. lnst. Sci. Inaia, 3013,
1964
Joshi, R.V. Dawn ojCilJilization in Maharashtra, Bombay, 1975
Khatri,A.P. Rock Paintings ofAdamgarh (CentralIndia) and their Age,Anthropos, Vo1.59,
pp. 759.69, 1964
Lal, B.B. Birbhanpuf, a Microlithic Site in the Damodar Valley, West Bengal, Ancient
India, No. 14, 1958
Noorani, H. Cave Paintings of Madhya Pradesh, Times of India, Oct. 31, 1976
Piggott, S. Prehistoric India, London, 1950
Roy, J.K. and Rao, R.K. Investigations on the diet of the Muria of Bastar District. Bull.
Dep. AntMop. Govt. India, 6, 33-45, 1957
Sankalia, H.D. The Microlithic Industry of Langhnaj, Gujarat, Journal of Grgarat Research
Socie9, Vol, XVII, No.4, 1956
SankaIia, H.D. From Food Collection to Urbanisation, in Indian Anthropology, Essqys in
Memory if D.N. Mqjumdar, Bombay, 1962
Sinha, S. Primitive Hunters, Shifting Cultivators, TIle Times if India Annual, 1974
Wakankar, V.C. Bhimbetaka-the Prehistoric Paradise, Prachya Pratibha, Vol. III, No.2
Wakankar, V.C. Bhimbetaka-Prehistoric Cave Paintings, Marg, Sept. 1975
Zeuner, F.E. Stone Age and Pleistocene Chronology in Gujarat, Deccan College Monograph
Seriss No.6, Poona, Deccan Col'ege, 1950
Zeuner, F.E. and Allchin, Bridget, The Microlithic Sites of Tinnevelly District, Madras
State, Ancient India, No.12, 1956
Zeuner, F.E. A History if Domesticated Animals, London, 1963
CHAPTER 8
THE NEOLITHIC AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION

IN WESTERN ASIA
INVENTION OF POLISHED STONE IMPLEMENTS,
DISCOVERY OF AGRICULTURE AND DOMESTICATION
OF ANIMALS
7500 B.C. - 6500 B.C.
WHILE people Were hunting wild animals and subsisting on leaves and fruits
of the jungle trees in India, a remarkable development took place in western
Asia, viz. the discovery of agriculture.
The birthplace of the Neolithic agricultural revolution was the hilly
region embracing Israel, Jordan, Anatolia, Iraq, the Oaspian 'Basin and
the adjoining Iranian plateau. It is in this region that wild ancestors of
two major cereals, wheat and barley, and of domesticated animals like
goat, sheep, pig, and cattle (Bas primigenius) , are found. Thus, apart from
the fertile soil, all the requirements of mixed farming, which include agri-
culture and stock-raising, were present in this region (Fig. 49).
The Natufians, who are so named after a camp-site in the Wadi-el-
Natuf, in Jordan, used sickles of small flint blades set with gum into the
grooved shafts of bone. The blades were finely notched and set in a line
to make a continuous saw-edge. The silica in the grass or corn stalks had
polished the edges of the flints into a bright lustre from constant use. On
the flat rock floor at the cave mouth Were hollows made by pounding the
grain into flour, and stone mortars were found for the same purpose.
In Fig. 48, a reconstruction of a harvesting Scene from the Fertile
Crescent, two men and a woman are shown harvesting wheat with stone
sickles. In the background is a cluster of huts.
I t is the animals that live in herds that are more amenable to domesti-
cation. The herd is ususally led by a leader whom the herd follows. If
the leader is captured, the rest of the herd can easily be caught. Sheep,
goats, cattle and pigs, which are the main domestic animals, come under
this category and no wonder that they were the first to be domesticated.
Similarly, among plants it is the grasses which tend to grow densely, and
are most amenable to control by man. Most of our cereals, e.g. wheat,
barley, oats and rice, are grasses.
The oldest Neolithic settlement sites known are Ali Kosh, Bus Mordeh
phase (7500 B.O.) in Iran, Jericho in Jordan (7000 B,a.), Janno in Iraq
(6750 B.C.) and Belt Cave below the Caspian (6500 B.C.) in northern Iran.
Between them, they more Or less embrace the region called· the Fertile
Crescent, which saw the rise of Neolithic culture. Ali Kosh, Jericho, Jarmo
and other ecologically similar localities witnessed the first attempts at agri~
culture. These are mountainous areas where adequate rainfall for non~
irrigation agriculture exists. The Ali Kosh villagers harvested their cereals
with flint sickles, which were set into hafts by means of asphalt.. They
ground up wheat, barley, and crop weeds on saddle~shaped Or shallow-
basin grinding-slabs, using simple discoidal hands tones of pitted limestone.
An innovation was the use of the stone mortar and pestle.
Braidwood states, HJarmo was a permanent, year-round settlement with
about two dozen mud-walled houses that were repaired and rebuilt frequen-
tly, creating about a dozen distinct levels of occupancy. We have identi-
fied there the remains of two-roW barley (cultivated barley today has mostly
six roWS of grains on a spike) and two forms of domesticated wheat. Goats
and dogs, and possibly sheep, Were domesticated. The bones of wild animals,
quantities of snail shells and acorns and pistachio-nuts indicate that the
people still hunted and collected a substantial amount of food. They en-
joyed a varied, adequate and well-balanced diet which was possibly superior
to that of the people living in the same area today."l
Jarmo and other ecologically similar localities witnessed. the first attem-
pts at agriculture. In the region about JarnlO, the prescnt~day botanical
evidence strongly substantiates the idea that here are found wild wheat,
wild barley, lentil, pea, flax, fig and almond-all of which are potentially
domesticable in their present forms, or have potential factors fOl' hybridiza-
tion. All are found in a definitely wild state, that is, in uncultivable situa-
tions, so that they must be considered indigenous and not later introductions.
From tIns region, Neolithic culture diffusec1 in a series of waves to Aegean
and Levant, Egypt, southern Russia, the Balkans and the Danube Valley,
I taly, France, Spain, the British Isles and India.
POLISHED STONE-AXES
Polished stone-axe or celt, with its edge carefully ground, was an impor-
tant tool which enabled the Neolithic man to obtain a foothold in the forests.
In the forest clearings, these farmers started the cultivation of cropS. Very
often, fire was used for burning forests, and grains of cereals were dibbled
with the aid of pointed sticks, as is still done by some farmers in the hill
areas of Assam. Later on, stone-hoes with wooden handles were invented.
The sowing of crops was largely the work of women, who are credited with
the discovery of agriculture. It was only after the domestication of cattle
and the invention of the plough, which came much later, that woman was
liberated from the toil of cultivation. In most states in India, even noW
whereas ploughing is done by man it is the woman who follows the plough
and drops the seed in the furrows.
lBcaidwood, R.J. The Agricultural Revolution, Scientific American, Sept. 1960
NEOLITHro AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION 103
CULTIVATION OF PLANTS
It is the cereals-wheat, barley, rice, millets and maize-which have
contributed most to the building up of the Neolithic culture. They yield
nutritious food and the grains can be easily stored for a number of years.
All the cereals have arisen from wild grasses, and wild ancestors of a number
of them are known. One of the major differences between the cultivated
forms and the wild ancestors is that in the latter the seed is shed as soon as
it is ripe, whereas in the former the seeds remain enclosed in their husks
and can only be separated by threshing. The cultivated forms possibly
arose from a lethal mutation as a result of which non~shattering varieties
developed, and they could be successfully harvested, threshed and winnowed.
A fascinating history of cultivated plants has been built up by the discovery
of carbonized seeds and impressions on potsherds from archaeological sites.
The study ofpoUen has provided us with evidence of farming, inferred from
the occurrence of cereal pollen or the pollen of weeds associated with cultiva-
tion. Sculptures and paintings showing agricultural operations also provide
evidence of past agriculture. Other evidences are storage pits, pots, sickles,
hoc-blades and saddle-querns.
Wheat. Vavilov recognized 14 species of Triticum, which fall into
three groups with 7, 14 and 21 chromosomes respectively. Among these,
the most ancient are the 7-chromosome wheats comprising T. aegilopoides,
the wild einkorn, and T. monocoqcum, the einkorn. Carbonized seeds of both
these species have been found at Jarma. Both have fragile stems, loose
spikelets, and a single seeel in each spikelet. Both easily hybridize. The
wild einkorn is found in Armenia and Georgia in the Soviet Union, and in
western Iran. There are no records of this wheat in India, Africa or China.
Einkorn is still cultivated in the hilly regions of Europe and the Middle
East. Its importance lies in the fact that it is the ancestor of all other culti-
vated wheats, excepting emmer (Fig. 52).
There are Seven species of 14-'chromosome wheats. They originated
through hybridization and chromosome doubling of the 7-chromosome
einkorn with a 7-chromosome wild grass which is still unidentified. The
only wild species with 14 chromosomes is the wild emmer, T. dicoccoides,
which is found in Armenia, northern Palestine, Syria, Turkey, and western
Iran. The wheat found at Janno is of an irregular type with coarse and
loose ears comparable with those of T. dicoccoides. From its original home,
emmer diffused into Egypt, Ethiopia and Europe. It is still grown on a
considerable scale in Ethiopia. Emmer was the wheat of Egypt until it
was replaced by bread wheat after Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in
the fourth century B.C. Outside Ethiopia, emmer lingers on as a relict crop
in Yugoslavia and southern India.
The third domesticated wheat was also a tetraploid. It was so trivial
that there is no common name for i~; scientifically, it is named Triticum
104 A HISTORY OF AGRICUl..TURE IN INDIA
timoplzeevi. It originated in Transeaucasian Georgia and has spread only

as a collector's item for genetic studies.
The 14- hromosomc wheats have tough Slems and seeds which thresh
frce from their glumes and c llsist of4· sp ei s: T. durztm (macaroni), T. persicum
(Persian), T. turgidum (rivet) ano T. p%nirum (Polish).
The wheat we grow today is none of tIl Be LIlt" 'C early domesticates.
All three arC known as glntl1c wheats because the spike, or the sed-bearing
head, breaks up when. it is thrl'.'lheu, lcavjng each seed enclosed in a hard,
shell-like glumc, or husk. Th se 'ds m.ust then he processed further, uSllally
by pOllnding in a mortar, to fr e them of the husks. Some lime after emmer
was dOJncsticated a mutation occu1'l'ccl that caused the b::lse of the glumc to
ollapsc at m.aLuriLy, frceing- the seed. At the sam time, the spike bc ame
tough, so that it did noL fall apart as tIl.' anecstrn 1 spik shad clonc. The
mutat el, frc -t.hreshing CHnnel' is the ancestor of our macaroni wheals.
'The Jn3jor vhcat species of the world, and the one til. t contributcs
most to tIlc annual harvest of 360 milli.on tonnes, is still another ki nel, kn.own
generally as bread wheat. It is a h ·xaploitl; that is, it has 21 pairs of
chrom.osomcs. It arose long after th· initial domestication of t he three
primitive glu111C wheals. Its extra set of chromosomes was contributed
by a wild goat-grass called Triticum lawe/lii, and th~ dist.riblltlon o[ the wild
progenitor suggests that the hybridization may Invc lakcl1 plac:c sOlllevvhere
n ar th southel'l1 end of the Caspian Sen.. T. {auschii is tit, only sped s
of goat-grass with a continental distribution, amI it may have contributed
to the adaptation that makes it possible for hreau wheat to be grown on the
dry steppes of the world. As a wild grass T. tauschii is essC'utially worthless,
but a:; a. contributor of gcn tie chara t l'istics it lit rally mad n. billion-
dollar crop out of a million-dollar one'.2
The 21-chromos011l.c whea.ts comprise five sp des and arc widely
cultivated. Of these, T. aestiVll7n (common), T. splwerococcwlZ (shot) and
T. compactwn (club) are true br ad wh ats which compris 90 per cent
of the wheat grown today. Grains of T. splmcrococwm, the common wheat
of northern and central India, found from Mohenjo-daro are dated about
2300 D.C. This wheat seems t.o have l)een grown widely in the Indus Valley.
Bal'ley_ There arc two species of c111tivatcd barely, the two-rowed
(Hordeum distic!lllm) , and the six-rowed (II. flexast.iclmm). The wild ances-
tor of the two-rowed barley is found ill Palestine, Arabia, Asia Minor,
Transcaucasia, Iran and Afghanistan, and of the six-rowed barley in
eastern Tibet. The earliest find of barley is from Jarmo.
DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS
During the Neolithic times, along with the cultivation of cereals the
"Hadan, J.R. The Plants and Animals that Nourish Man, Si:it:nlific American. Sept. J976
NF.OLITIII C AGR1CllJ.TlIRAr. lU'VOLlI'I'lON ]():'i
l lig, 4[1, A Neo lithic rl1l'~1 ,n'll(" depicting tht' IHll'v('sliug ol'wlH'at and harl!')' willi sloll"
,ick les. with clusters or huts in thl' hackgl'Ound
(RcrollSlJ'uction frolll tlw 1\ [USI'I.IIlI of' Evolulioll of' J ,iii', ( :halldigal'h)
106 A HISTORY OF AGRICULTlJRE IN INDIA
,'\~~
r::::J ,Wfld W/1e-al
g@.
!ill Wild G""" Capra o Wild Plg t SUI 5c'ra!o
.U~ Wild Bnrley _, Wild Sheep.Ovlr. ill]] Wild Aurothl , Bo. Prlmlstnl\ll
/"
Fig. 49. The distribution of the wild ancestors of domestic plants anel animals in the:
Old World
(Based all a map in Sonia Cole, The Neolithic Rel'olulion; by permission of the Trustees of
the British Museum, Natural History; courtesy: UNESCO)
Fig. 50. The diffusion of farming into Asia and Europe

(Based on a map in Sonia Cole, The Neolithic Revolution; by permission of the Truslees of
the British Museum, Natural History; courtesy: UNESCO)
NEOLITHIC .AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION 107
domestication of animals was also carried on. This became possible

because the habits and habitats of animals and plants and their reproduc-
tion and growth came under keen observation. Domestic animals like
sheep, goats and cattle are movable sourCeS of food, and their dung is used
as manure. Goats and cattle also supply milk. The hair of sheep and
goats can be woven into cloth or beaten into felt. The use of animals to
carry loads or draw ploughs and vehicles is a later adaptation.
Changes in climate and the advent of aridity are regarded as important
factors favouring the domestication of wild animals. With the decline of
food and water supplies, the wild animals herded hungrily round the
scattered oases around which human settlements had already been establi-
shee!. The close contact of wild animals with man paved the way for their
domestication.
The time sequence in which wild animals were domesticated is as
follows: Firstly, goat and sheep; secondly, cattle and pigs; and lastI}',
draught and transport animals such as the horse and the aSS. This sequence
is borne out by the excavations carried out in the Belt Cave, where the re~
mains of domesticated sheep and goats are found in the earliest pre-pottery
horizon dated to the first half of the sixth millennium, whereas the rem aim
of pigs and cattle are found in the second half of the same millennium.
HOUSING, POTTERY, BASKETRY AND LOOM

A distinctive feature of the Neolithic culture was the deVelopment of
houses built of locally available materials. Walls made of pise 01' sun-
dried bricks were popular in south-western Asia, Africa and China. The
oldest-known Neolithic houses are of Jericho and Jarmo, in which both
stones and pi,e were used. The walls Were lined wIth lime-plaster, and
the floors were plastered and burnished with smooth stones. The woodell
door frames Were possibly provided with skin curtains.
The development of agriculture and the production of foodgrains in
sizeable quantities led to the problem of storage. Pots were required not
only for storing foodgrains but also for cooking. Though Jericho was occupi~
cd in the eighth millennium, the first pots are dated about the middle of the
sixth millennium. The first pots were hand-made from clay, and the USe
of the wheel in pottery came much later. The baking of pots is of signifi-
cance for the beginning of science. As Gordon Childe observes, "It is the
carliest cOllscious utilization by man of a chemical change." The usc of
pottery extended the range of cooking operations and improved the diet
of man,
Basketry was first developed in Iraq, Iran, Palestine and Egypt. Coiled
basketry Was popular in Egypt. Weaving was made possible by abundant
supplies offla.'{ and wool. Flax was the material used for textile in the early
Neolithic times in Egypt, Asia and Europe. According to Jacquetta
Fig. 51. Neolithic sites in South-West Asia and eastern Europe

(After J. Braidwood, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago; courtesy: UNESCO)
~~------~y~-----~
r-"~~
PERSIAN AEGIlOPS
WHEAT (AB) ~QUARROSA (D)
Fig. 52. Ancestry of common
wheat
(After P.O. Mangelsdorf)
"J
~ COMMON WHEAT [AIlOl
'NEOLITHIC AGRICUL'rURAL REVOLUTION 109
Hawkes, the Danubians, the windmill people of England, and the first
Scandinavian settlers had no textile garments, but relied entirely on skins
and furs. Spinning, weaving and making of pots is again credited to
women.
The invention of weaving had a deeper implication. As Bernal
observes, "Weaving is clearly a further adaptation of basket-making, and
both of them involve regularities, first of all actually practised and then
thought about, which are at the basis of geometry and arithmetic. The
forms of patterns produced in weaving and the number of threads involved
in producing them are essentially of a geometrical nature, leading to a
deeper understanding of the relations between form and number."
Saddle-qtlerns Were used for grinding grain. Possibly, parched grains
were used, and the grinding operation may not have been so arduous.
Techniques of baking and brewing were also developed.
During the Neolithic or the Polished Stone Age, man acquired the
skill of grinding and polishing stone implements like celt, axe or adze, and
invented the sickle for harvesting crops. He began to control his food
supply by cultivating plants and domesticating animals. Bernal regards
the invention of the technique of agricu,lture, ranking with the utilization
of fire and of power, as one of the three most momentous 'inventions in
human history. Like all great transformations, it was not a single act but
a process including numerous observations and inventions, aU subservient
to the essential achievement-the cultivation of seed-giving grasses. Apart
from the discovery of agriculture and animal husbandry, other achieve-
ments of the Neolithic revolution were wood-working, and manufacture
of pottery and textiles. Thus when we speak of the Neolithi.c revoluti.on,
what is implied is not a catastrophe but a major change in the techniques
of food production which gave man control over his environment and
saved him from the precarious existence of a mere hunter and gatherer
of wild berries and rootS. For the first time, he lived in settled villages,
and apart from secul'ity i}om hunger he had leisure to think and contemp-
late.
From the Fertile CreSCent area, agriculture and animal husballdry
slowly diffused into adjoining lands (Fig. 50). It reached the valleys of
the Tigris and the Euphrates, Asia Minor, Egypt, Greece, the Danubian
area in Europe, Italy, southern France, Iberia and Iran before 3300 B.C.,
and Sind a little later.
REFERENCES
Draidwood, R.]. The Near East and the Foundations/or Civili::ation, New York, 1952
Braidwood, R.J. The Agricultural Revolution, Scientific American, Sept. 1960
Butzer, K.W. The Significance of Agricultural Dispersal into Europe, ill PreMsloric
Agriculture (Ed. Struever, S.), New York, 1971
Childe, G. Man Makes Himself, London, 1936
110 A HlSTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
Curwen,E.C. andHatt, G. Plough and Pasture, Tile Early liistor_v of Farming, New York, 1961
Harlan, J .R. The Plants and Animals that Nourish Man, Scientific Americall, Sept. 1976
Hawkes, J. and Woolley, L. History of lvlankind. I. PrehistOlY and the Begillllings of Civilization,
UNESCO. George Allen & Unwin Ltd, London, 1963
Helbaek, H. Archaeology and Agricultural Botany. Anti. Rep. ItlSt. Archacol. London, pp.
44-59, 1953
Randhawa, M.S. et al. E,'olulion if Life, New Delhi, 1969
Sauer, C.O. Planters of the Old World and their Household Animals, Prehistoric Agriculture
(Ed. Struever, S.), New York, 1971
Watson, R.A. and P.]. The Domesticator of Plants and Animals, Prehistoric Agriculture
(Ed. Struever, S.), New York, 1971
Whyte, R.O. Et'olution of Land Use itl South-Western Asia, F.A.O., Rome, 1960
CHAPTER 9
THE CHALCOLITHIC CULTURE IN MESOPOTAMIA

INVENTION OF THE PLOUGH, WHEEL AND METALLURGY
3000 D.C. - 1700 D.C.
TilE term Chalcolithic is applied to communities usin..~ stone implements

along with copper or bronze ones. In more advanced communities, the
proportion of copper and bronze implements is higher than that of stone
ones. The Chalcolithic revolution, like the Neolithic, was the climax
of a long process. It was the ultimate result of what Gordon Childe calls:
"The Second Revolution between 6000 and 3000 B.C. which transformed
tiny villages of self-sufficing farmers into populous cities, nourished by
secondary industries and foreign trade, and regularly organized as States.
The scene of this drama lies in the belt of countries between the Nile and the
Ganges. During this period, man has learnt to harness the force of oxen
and winds, he invents the plough, the wheeled cart, and the sailing boat,
he discovers the chemical processes involved in smelting copper ores and
the physical properties of metals, and he begins to work out an accurate
solar calendar."l
The Chalcolithic revolution began in Mesopotamia in the fourth
millennium B.C. From this nuclear zone, it spread to Egypt and sub-
sequently to the Indus Valley. The valleys of Tigris and Euphrates have
a fertile soil. The Sumerians who settled in the deltas of these rivers had
just emerged from the Neolithic stage of culture. They had splendid
pottery and carried on cultivation with flint hoes. Their capital was Ur,
which Was suBsequently destroyed by flood. To the north of Sumer was
Akkad, which included the Neolithic sites of Jarmo and Hassuna, which
saw the b.i.rth of agriculture. By 3000 B.C. Sumerian civilization was
fully developed, and about 2385 B.C. king Sargon of Akkad conquered
Sume-r and unified the country.
Copper is not found in Mesopotamia and it was imported from Oman
on the Persian Gulf. Hence it was with imported copper tha t the Sumerians
worked and they became masters of the technique ofbronze-manufaeture.
One of the major events of the Bronze Age was the shifting of primitive
'wheat varieties from the mountains to the plains. Helbaek believes that
aile result of this forced movement of primitive cereals beyond their natural
habitat by the human agency may have been the emergence of new plants.
With the 'Use of the bullock-drawn wooden plough, the rich alluvial soil
started yielding bumper crops of wheat. The plot gave place to the field,
'Childe. V. G. Man Makes Himself, p. 118

112 A HISTORY OJ)' AGRICULTURE IN lNDIA
and agriculture really began. In fact, the plough heralded an agricultural

revolution, just as the tractor in the present century. Horticulture was
concentrated around the urban centres. The priestly hierarchy, with the
concentration of surpluses in their hands, started building monumental
temples, which dominated the economic life. It was also the beginning
of warfare with emphasis on fortification for the urban centres. There
was expansion of handicraft production, which led to the development of
trade.
Mesopotamia and the adjacent lands are favourably situated among
the three ofthe centres of origin of cultivated plants, viz. the Near Eastern,
the Mediterranean and the Central Asiatic. The Central Asiatic is the
native home of wheat, peas, beans, lentils, gram an.d cotton.
Whyte thus sums up the contribution made by the Near Eastern amI
the Mediterranean centres to cultivated plants of the Old World: "The
world's potential sources of western orchard fruits are concentrated
in the Near East, the native home of the grape, pear, cherry, pomegranate,
walnut, quince, almond, apricot and fig. The first orchards were un-
doubtedly located in the Near East. In Soviet Georgia and Armenia,
one may still observe all phases of the evolution of fruit. growing from wild
groves consisting almost wholly of wild fruit trees through transitional
methodQ to those approaching modern fruit-growing, including the graft-
ing of the better wild varieties on the less-valuable wild forms. Here also
one may see that primitive man, while clearing away forestq to make room
for grain fields, has left standing the better specimens of wild apple, pear
and cherry. It appears that viticultural methods and all the more impor-
tant grape varieties have been acquired from the Near East, where one
can still find wild forms quite suitable for culture in vineyards. In
Medicago, Pyrus and Am)'gdalus, species formation has been active and is
still occuning. Natural polyploidy has been discovered among wheats
and numerous species of wild plants, particularly in alpine and subalpine
zones. From Turkey, Iran and Soviet Central Asia has come the world's
wealth of melons, and the leading forage crops, lucerne, Persian clover,
a number of species of 01l(lb~)'chis, Trigonella and vetch."2
In the cultivated plants of the Mediterranean centre, one can easily
trace the important role played by man in selecting the most suitable forms;
the Mediterranean forms of flax, barley, beans (Vicia) and chickpea are
notable for their large seeds and fruits in. contrast to the small·seeded forms
of central Asia, their basic centre of origin, where most of the dominant genes
of these plants are concentrated. "The western dispersal of vine, olive, fig,
stone fruits, bread ivheat, rice, ornamental and shade trees ·was apparently
partly or wholly due to the spread. of Greek and Roman civilizations. To
2Whyle, R. O. Evolution Df Lalld Use ill SDuth. Western Asia, p. 86

MESOPO'rAMIAN bHALCOLITHlC CULTURE. 113
this the Arabs added the sugarcane, date palm, cotton, some types of Cirrus,
lucerne and other plants. The grapevine and lucerne also went east-
wards into China and are clearly attributed to Change Chi'ien about
140 B.C."
EGYPT
The main elements in the population of Egypt Were the Libyans who
came from the north, and the Semites who came from Palestine. The
Semites brought with them flocks of sheep and techniques of making
pottery and stone vases, and elementary knowledge of metals. It is they
who ushered in the Chalcolithic phase in the southern countries. It is
through them that the civilization of Mesopotamia reachec1 Egypt. In
proto-dynastic age, irrigation of fields by canals had been introduced, and
towns with temples had been founded. River transport by means of boats,
propelled by paddles by batches of men, developed. This was followed
by the use of the sail, thus harnessing power of the wind in the service of
man. A system of writing had developed and the Egyptian art had acquired
its peculiar idiom.
The City. The origin of the city is one of the main achievements
of the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations. The rise of the city
meant a new social organization, as well as the origin of town-planning and
architecture. Apart from food-producers, a city has a. preponderance of
people who are not directly engaged in agriculture and are administrators,
priests, traders, craftsmen and labourers. The ri~e of a city itself meant
improvements in the technique of agricultural production so that non-
agriculturists could also be maintained. It also meant the rise ofa leisured
class, the priests, who could think and study. I t is these people who
watched the stars, the moon and the sun and thus developed astrology,
the mother of the science of astronomy. Already, by about 2700 B.C.,
observations of the Egyptian priests had led to the compilation of a solar
calendar. The Mesopotamians developed the sexagesimal system and
mathematical tables from which algebra and arithmetic arose in due course.
Irrigated Farming and the Plough. In the Chalcolithic Period,
basic agricultural techniques, which had developed in hilly uplands, shifted
to lower river valleys. The system of nomadic shifting cultivation gave
way to the cereal-fallow system. Irrigated farming was developed. Flood
waters were stored in reservoirs for irrigation in the valleys of the Nile and
the Euphrates, and canals were dug. Hence ChalcoIithic is also called the
age of irrigated farming.
The sowing of seed by dibbling with a pointed stick gave place to hand
furrowing. Woolley mentions that the settlements of Al'Ubaid people
in the Euphrates Valley are marked by the vast numbers of heavy flint
hoes which litter the sites. The invention of the plough> which was at
first only a forked branch of a tree, brought about improvement in cultiva-

tion by field tillage. Though it is not possible to credit any particular
country with its invention, the plough was in use in Mesopotamia before
3000 B.C. The Sumerian plough had a tube attachment through which
seed could be dropped. This is the earliest seed-drill known. Copper
was as yet expensive and, hence, denticulated flint sickle blades were in
common use up to the m;ddle of the third millennium B.C.
Irrigated agriculture with the use of canals has its OWn problems.
What is considered a boon in early stages becomes a curSe in due course.
The cause of the declin.e of Sumerian civilization, according to Whyte, was
salinity and water-logging. After 1,000 to 1)500 years ofirrigation, serious
salinity problems developed. By 1700 D.C. wheat had completely dis-
appeared in the south, and barley, which is more salt-resistant, survived
but gave lower yields. It was the loss of command of environment, observes
Toynbee, which led to the breakdown of the civilization of the Tigris Basin.
Braidwood thus sums up the achievements of the Bronze Age: 'In
3,000 or 4',000 years the life of man had changed more radically than in all
of the preceding 250,000 years. Before the agricultural revolution most
men must have spent their waking moments seeking their next meal, except
when they could gorge following a great kill. As man learned to produce
food, irutead of gathering, hunting or collecting it, and to store it in the
, grain bin and on the hoof, he was compelled as well as enabled to settle
in larger communities. ,\Vith human energy released for a Whole spectrum
of neW activities, there came the development of specialized non~agr1cultural
crafts. I t is no accident that such innovations as the discovery of the basic
mechanical principles, weaving, the plough, the wheel and metallurgy
Soon appeared.'
REFERENCES
Braidwood, R.J. The Agricultural Revolution, Scientific American, Sept. 19GO
Childe, V.G. Mall Makes Himself, London, 1936
Randhawa, M.S. Evolution qf Life, New Delhi, 19G9
Whyte, R.O. Evolution of Land Use in SOllth-Western Asia, F.A.O., Rome ,1960
'Woolley, C.L. h.xcavaliollS at Ur, London, 1954
CHAPTER 10
THE PRE-HARAPPAN PEASANT COMMUNITIES OF

BALUCHISTAN AND THE DOMESTICATION
OF ANIMALS
THE arid land of Baluchistan with its barren mountains was green and
fertile about five thousand years ago. Sir Aurel Stein discovered a large
series of stone-built dams and terraces, called gabarbands by the Baluchis,
\\lhich ,,,ere designed to aid the irrigation of fields. The gabarbands indicate
climatic conditions with a greater rainfall.
Piggott, on the grounds of techniques employed in pottery-painting,
has proposed a broad classification of the prc-Harappan Baluchi cultures
as below:
A. Buff-ware Cultures
1. The Quctta Culture (from sites in the Bolan Pass)
2. The Amri-.Nal Culture (from two sites, the first in Sind, and the
second at the head of the Nal Valley in Baluchistan)
3. The Kulti Culture (from a site in Kolwa in South Baluchistan)
B. Red.ware Cultures
4-. The ;:/lOh Cultures (from sites in the Zhob VaHey of northern
Baluchistan)
'The variety in stylcs and techniques among the products of the Balu-
chistan communities-the strongly individualized groups of pottery types',
states Piggott, 'permits us to visualize the existence of little peasant states,
cach more or less self-contained, within a natural area such as the Zhob
Valley, or those of the Kolwa and Maskai. The similarities we can detect
between the localized cultures are the outcome of common necessities among
farming peoples working a difficult land.'l
A pre«pottery microlithic culture has been discovered fi'om Kili Gul
Mohammed "lNhich has been dated early fourth millennium B.C. These
people lived in houses built of mud bricks. They kept sheep and possibly
cultivated crops. Period II yielded hand-made pottery and Period III both
hand~made and wheel-turned pottery as well as copper. Damb Sadaat
shows three periods, with somewhat continued development, dating from
2528 or 2625 B.C. for Period I and from 2554, 2425 or 2220 D.C. for Period
II. The wheel-turned pottery, terracotta figurines and copper ohjects
are among some of the finds. Rana Ghundai yielded a complete sequence
through a numher of periods. At Rana Ghunclai, the inhabitants of the
earliest phase used hand-made pottery and flint blades, tended cattle and
lPiggott, S. Prehistoric India, p. 134

116 A llISl'ORY Or,' AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
II'
INDIA'
• EXCAVATED SITES
IN DIFFERENT REGIONS
• PRESENT~DAY CITIES
AND TOWNS
,;
ARABIAN SEA BAY OF BENGAL

I;
INDIAN OCEAN
_ 1 ____ Sf ",' '!~ ___ ._____ .c'
Fig. 53a. Neolithic cultures of Indian subcontinent

PRE-HARAPPAN l'EASA-NT COMMUNITIll.S 117
R. ions, II liJ ~ 4> &~ ® Fig. 53b. Neolithic cultures of Indian sub-
NORTH' NOMHERN NORTH CEHTRAL Mia' stTHCRN
wtSfeR#-! - , EASTERN EASTERN fASTlBN continent and relative chronology based on
,_., 1 r-.-- 14 0 dating
(After B.K. Thapar)

lOO 0\(. ". . _ -~-."--.-.-----"-~"------
JDODb,C'". __
---~--"---
JfCfJ3,C, -. __
4()/)OM •.l -_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
lived in huts. The location of some of these sites aml their relative age is
given in a map and a bar diagram prepared by B.K. Thapar (Fig. 53).
As they lie between the higher inland plateau of central Asia and the low
flat plains of Sind, the possibilities of influences from important settlements
round the south-east of the Caspian Sea, Tepe Hissar, Anau and Namasga
Tepe in Russian Turkestan can hardly be overlooked.
Stone saddle-querns and riders from Kulli attest corn-growing. Chert
blades from Shahi-tump and Maz;ena-damb are comparable with those
in the Amri-Nal Culture and, according to Piggott, seem to be archaistic
survivals.
Apart from the technique of potteries, it is the representation of domes-
tic animals which provides us with a clue to the life of the people. The
typical painted decoration on Kulli ware consists of zones of non-represen-
tational motifs between which, in many instances, runs a frieze of naturalistic
representations of animals and plants. The frieze representS a standard
scene, in which two humped cattle dominate, in grotesquely elongated form,
a landscape with formalized trees and rows of diminutive, stylized wild
goats (Capra hircus). The cattle are usually shown as tethered, either to
one of the trees between. which they stand or to a peg. In between a bull
and cow is a branch of a pipal-tree with heart-shaped leaves (Fig. 54-). Com-
parison may be made with the bull in a Mughal painting of the eighteenth
century (Fig. 55). The resemblance between the two is remarkable.
The cattlc are of the typical humped form (Bas indicuJ·). The figures
us A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
ofgoats, which so often accompany those of the cattle on the vase-paintings,

are more stylized, and represent the wild goat (Capra Izircus), with curved,
swept-back horns (Fig. 54). Fish are sometimes used to form a conti-
nuous band of design on shallow plates, where they follow one another,
head-to-tail, in a narrow circular zone.
Cattle figurines Were found in very large numbers-66 were found
at Kulli, and no less than 85 Were found in a restricted area on the lowest
occupation-floor at Shahi-tump. The figures are 75 to 100 millimetres
long, a~d the characteristic feature of the zebu cattle, i.e. a well-developed
hump, is well enough suggested (Fig. 54 E).
The animal bones recovered comprise the humped ox (Bos indiclls),
domestic sheep (Ovis orientalis vigllci), and the ass (Equus arilluJ).
The evidence from paintings on pottery and the recovery of bones of
animals leads us to the conclusion that the Baluchi farmers had domesticated
goats, sheep, zebu cattle and the ass.
There is no doubt that the domestication of goats, sheep and zebu
cattle took place in Baluchistan. According to Carl Sauer, the hearths
of domestication are to be sought in areas of marked diversity of animals,
where there was a large reservoir of genes to he sorted out and recombined.
So far as the above-mentioned animals are concerned, Baluchistan was
such an area.
How were the wild animals domesticated? Carl Sauer explains:
'Taming of the wild again may be thought of as beginning by infant capture,
nursing by a foster mother, and raising the young in close association with
man. A plausible reconstruction is thus: man returning from the hills
with a kid or lamb, woman rearing it, and children growing up with the
young animal and leading it out to browse. In such a gentle captivity,
breeding might occur and thus domestication begin. 2 The domestication
of goat and sheep took place in the pre-agricultural phase. When the
nomadic man with the aid of the dog brought sheep and goat under his
control, it WaS the first step towards food production.
. Gcat (Capra hircus). The wild ancestors of domesticated breeds of goat
are known to a large extent. The wild goat (Capra hircus) is found in the
barten hills of Baluchistan and western Sind (Fig. 56). It is the chief
ancestral stock from which the various breeds of domestic goats have been
derived. In the north-east of Quetta, it is replaced by markhor (Capra
falconeri) and is found in Turkestan, Afghanistan, Baluchistan and Kashmir
(Fig, 60)., The Circassian goat is said to be the descendant of the markhor.
By faJ.' the most important is the bezoar goat (Capra hircus aegagru.l), which
ranges ii'om Sind in the east through Iran and Asia Minor to Crete and
the Cyclades in the west. In many parts of this area, it has disappeared.
2S auer • C. Agricultural Origins and Dispersals, p. 86

PRE-HARAPPAN PEASANT COMMUNITIES 119
A B c
... - ... ..... -.
i':
.~.
........ ....... .....
..".
Fig. 54. Zebu bulls painted on pottery, and bull figurines, Rulli Culture, from a site in
Kalwa, ill southern Baluchistan
(After S. Piggot)
From Iran it extends into Russian. Turkestan and the Caucasus, and into
the west of Asia Minor.
In the late Pleistocene, the bezoar extended south into Lebanon,
where its remains were found in an upper Palaeolithic context in the
Antelias Cave, near Beirut. This goat is a true bezoar. In addition, the
bezoar was recorded from the cave called Mugharat-el-Wad 011 Mount
Carmel in Palestine. As the specimen came from a disturbed deposit, its
age could not be ascertained; it may have been Palaeolithic or Mesolithic.
If Palaeolithic, this find would extend the area of the wild bezoar as far
south as the mountains of Palestine. In addition, it was found in the
Natufian cave of El Khiam in Israel (Vaufrey, 1951).3
The goat was the earliest ruminant to be domesticated. Long before
6700 B.C. the scimitar-horned bezoar goat had been domesticated, and
most of the derived breeds lost the characteristic sub-angular and broad
cross-section of the male horn. It may well have been first domesticated
in Palestine, though Iran is an alternative. The domesticated goat existed
in Iran about 6000 B.a. In the fourth millennium, goats with twisted horns
appear, and gradually become dominant. This change may have coincided
with the Chalcolithic stage. By Bronze Age times the twisted horn had
become the fashion. The twisted-horn goats have descended from two stocks,
one being the scimitar-horned Neolithic goat. The other, though twisted,
is nearer the bezoar and thus betrays closer kinship with the original stock. 4
The Harappa toys contain representations of a goat. Two seals fi'om
Mohenjo-daro show a wild bezoar goat with enormous curled horns, and
a bearded domestic male goat with side-spreading horns (Fig. 57).
The Gaddi goat greatly resembles the ancestral wild goat. In the
mountains, Gaddi goats were used as beasts of burden. They are still used
in the Himalayan districts of India for carrying panniers of salt and food-
grains.
Sheep (Ovis orientalis vignei). All varieties of domestic sheep have descen-
ded from three species of Ovis found wild in the mountainous regions of Asia
and Europe. The earliest to be domesticated in south-west Asia was Ovis
oricntalis vignei, the udal, found wild from Tibet to Elburz mountains. Des-
cendants of Ovis musimon, the moufion, are found in Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia,
Cyprus, Anatolia and northern Iran. Ovis ammon, the argali, is found in the
mountainous regions of Soviet Central Asia. The argali is a very large sheep,
with a shoulder height of up to 120 cm, and occurs farther east and north-
east than the urial, ranging from Bokhara through the Altai Mountains
and Tibet to northern China, According to Zeuner, it has certainly contri-
buted to the domesticated stock of India and the Far East, but in connection
with the origins of sheep-breeding it is of subordinate importance.
Ovis orie1ltalis vignei, which has many wild varieties in mountains from
Afghanistan to Armenia, is probably the ancestor of domesticated sheep in
India as well as ill Arabia, The people of Anau in Soviet Turkestan domesti-
cated a variety of avis oriontalis vignei, and it is generally believed that all
3Zeuner, F.E. A History of Damasticatud Allimals, p. 130

«Zeuner, F.E. A History oj Domesticated Animals, p. 1110
PRE-IIARAPPAN PEASANT COMMUNITIES 121
domesticated sheep have been derived by selective breeding and crossing
from the varieties found in Turkestan. The inhabitants of Mohenjo-daro
and Harappa had domesticated sheep with them. Toys showing a ram's
head have been recovered from Mohenjo-daro (Fig. 57).
Though sheep were most probably domesticated in the mountains of
Iran, Turkestan and Baluchistan, we find that they came to the plains ralher
early in the history of civilization and served a useful purpose in the economy
of the Mesopotamian and northern Indian civilizations. They provided
milk, meat and clothing for the inhabitants of the cold nm'th.
In the mountain ranges of the Himalayas and in Tibet, breeds occur
which betray urial descent, such as the Hunia, It is tall and strong and
carries salt over the passes,
Another Himalayan breed is the barwa!. The rams, with their massive
horns, the bases of which almost touch each other, suggest the presence of
argaIi blood. They are used as fighting sheep. The so-called unicorn
sheep of Nepal belong to this breed. The searing of the horn-buds with a
hot iron causes the horns to grow upwards in a fused condition.
In the hotter parts of India, breeds of sheep are kept which are closely
related to those of western Asia and Africa. The dumb a, which occurs from
Turkestan to western India and Pakistan, is a fat-tailed breed (Fig. 59)'
Others belong to the 10ng~legged and lop~eared groups. There is no archaeo~
logical evidence for their history.
The complex picture presented by the history of domesticated sheep is
summarized as follows by Zeuner. 'The sheep was domesticated with the
aid of the dog before agriculture was fully developed. The sheepdog
played a vital part in the domestication of ruminants. The original centre
of domestication is the Aralo~Caspian steppe and Turkestan. From there,
sheep-keeping spread early into Iran, and later into Mesopotamia and
Baluchistan. The domesticated race of wild sheep was in the first instance
the arkal, which belongs to the species of the urial. The five main breeds
which had reached Mesopotamia by about 2000 B.C. were: (1) the screw-
horned hair~sheep, (2) the screw-horned wool-sheep, (3) the zackelschaf,
(4) the ammon's horn wool-sheep and (5) the ammon's horn fat-tailed
wool-sheep. All these were of urial stock, So far as is known. In so far
as sheep are kept in India, Tibet and other countries of the east and south
Asia, they are of western derivation, and basically of urial stock. Argali
blood has, however, been introduced repeatedly, and a few breeds are
claimed to be of almost pure argali stock.
'Before domestication began, fat had to be obtained from game animals.
With the domestication of the sheep it became available in practically any
quantity required. Sheep fat was in due course replaced by vegetable oils
in the Neolithic, though for culinary purposes it conti.nued in esteem among
eastern peoples. Nevertheless, the numerous technological uses of fats
122 A IIISTORY OF AGRIC OLTURE I N INDIA
almost certainly were greaLly dC'lclopcJ as a result of the dt;mcsticalioll

of the sheep_
'The use of wool was probably discovered when the peculiar mode of
moulting in large coherent patches was observed by the first domesLicators.
It would have been easy to make sheets of Jelt from such ma terial, and
felt~making has remained an important industry in many parts of central
Asia, 'where it is even today associated wit h nomadic culture. Spinning
and weaving were probably first practised with vegetable materials.
'Woven cloth made of ,vool was 110t readily accepted in areas where
g'ood plant fibre, mainly flax, was available and where the climate was sufli-
ci.cntl y mild. I t, thcrclc)rc, developed mainly in climates with a colel winter,
and its subsequent spread to Warmer zoncs ,",',1$ prob n.bly due to the devclop ~
ment or finer qualities of 'NOOl.
'It thus appears that the domestication of the sh cp, apart from ens uring
a permanent meat supply, also improved great.ly the supply o[ raw materials,
of skins, hair, fat and bones. All these became, in due coursc, available
fron t other so urces, narncly olhel' domesticated ruminants. But the
production of ,,\Tool has almost entirel y remained a monopoly of the
she ep'.r;
Goat and Sheep. 'The chief dillcl'CllCCS between the goat and the sheep
arc in. their ecological requirement.s an.d in. the raw materials they snpply.
Thc shcep is essentiall y a gl'ass-fecdcl', pl'c1crring (where f.wailab lc) the
protection. of open woods. The goat is a browser, preferring foliage of
shrubs to grass. In spite of this all goalS are well adapted to life beyond the
tree-lin.c, both in. high m.ountains and in arill zones, where small shrubs
arc available in abundance. Thc goat is probably con.tent with even sparser
food than the oriental breeds of shecp. In particular it cats aromatic herbs
despised by other ruminants; hence it can penetrate farther into the desert.
i\ part fro111 the snpply of meat, which both species provide) the sheep scores
in respect of wool and fat and in. the quality of its meat w hilst the goat
fumishcs more mille It is possible that the usc of milk and its derivatives
,\·as first established with the goat, before the cattle werc uOluesticated,
' In the course of time, however, the sheep got the upper hand over the
goat) especially in temperate countries, presumably because its meat is tastier
and less tou gh and b ecause i t produces both fat a nd wool. MOl'cover,
where cattle are kept without difficulty, the need of keeping goa.ts as rnilch
an.imals docs not arise. Yet, where pastul:c is scarce, where thorny scrub
dominates over grass) where it is difficult on acco unt of lack of good i()o(1
a nd w ater to keep cattle, the goat becomes an important economic [actor,
for it is able to live under conditions which do n.ot snit sheep) a.nd it provides
m.ilk in quantities which arc large compared with the size of the animal.
~ZCllncr, F.E. 11 IIisll)l)' oj J)olllmh-alct! Anilllals, pp. 1 ~) 71 Hl!3

PRE-HARAPPA N PEM;ANT C:OMl\HlNLTIES 123
Fig. 55. t\ Bt'ahmani bul l, rvIllghal, eighlcl'nth "' lltur y

(Co urlesy : Naliona l .M u seum, New Delhi)
A rUS'l'ORY 0]" AGHrC;lTJ : J'l1,RJo: IN I N DIA
}'ig. 5(;, The wi ld goal (Ca/lift hjj'cus ) is sti ll IlJllll{l ill lil" han'(' " hill s
or Baluchistan and ",, ('stel'll Silld , I t. j~ till' cbid' ann'slm l ); Io('k l'nllil
which tilt' var ious bl'(,('cis ot' dOlllf' S I ie goal ha ve bet' " dC ' l'i\' c'( L
PIU:-H ARAP PAN P I':AHAN'J' (:OMMU N ('I 'rEs 12:>
F ig. 57. DOlll('~lical i oll of sheep :1nd goals, Toys ~llId st'ah fnl111
Jo,[oh cn-jo-daro: fO/I, a r:Ul1; middle, iL:ft, a w ild g(l:l l (Cajml hilCllJ)
lIIiddle, 1iCItr, a d omestica ted gont; bottOIll, a d (Jll1e~tjca f ('(l gnal
(Artcr' l\Iackay allli Vats)
126 A lllSTORY OF A(m.ICllLT1TlU: I N J ' IHA
fig . .'ill, TIlt, 1I(!I'flll ( (J l li.\' (III/Olt !l1J/(/iStJlli), Ilw 1:IlW's l wild sllt"'p II illl (· lIr),·!) limns, is li1l111l1
ill Jlorlht'I'L1 1.:IlI rll;:)l , Spili, Sikldlll, KllIIWOI1, NI')I;d ;llld 'i'il)l'l . '1'111' I q~ "lId is Ihal it ":lI s
makes, l\lllghal. "arly l'ightt'(,lll h n'1l 11l1 -
( ( :"111'[, -, . : Sah .., .lll llg tl.III S(· lllll . Il ytlt't':ll,:td )
1'1{I' - Jl \R ,\I'I',\N l'l-.ASAN ' I' Cl)1\I.\II Il\ ITII',:-' 1 ~7
F.ig. 59. DUlllba, a hn 'ccl .. r sh!'!'p ",ilb a rat tail. l\luglml, i';II' I ), "ighlt'['llth
century
(Courtesy: Prince of \Vail', ~lLlSt' lII11 (.1' \\ ' I'~lt ... n India, BOJIIIJ:I )')
12B A HISTORY OF AGR)C':t ILTURE IN INDIA
Fig, 50, larkhol' (Cnj)/'o/{//collt!r; ) . a wild goa l wilh hums spirally lwi~ll'd likl' n cork-sc;n'\ ,
is IOlllH.1 ill Algh:lllistnn and frotll lla zaTil to th e Pi!" l'illljal )l1()lIttl<lill rall~c in Kn sht11it',
.t\ I ughal, sevClIlccnth ccnlul'),
\ CUlIrlcsy: Salar J llllg J..ll1 . 'lUll, I fydcmlwd)
PRE-HARAPPA~ PEASA~T COMMUNITIES 129
Hence the goat has been kept by preference in the mountainous districts
and the dry steppes all over the world.
'As a producer of raw materials for technical processes, the goat is less
important than the sheep. Its skin has been used since time immemorial
for water-containers, but it does not supply fat and its hair is usually coarsc,
wool in the strict sense of the word b 'ing rare. Therefore, though goat's
hair is used, and no doubt has always been used, WhCl'C available, thc sheep
became the most important producer of spinning material. One wonders
why thc goat has not been completely replaced by the sheep. The reason
appears to be that as a browser it prefers environments different from those
liked by sheep. It can thrive on desert scrub and it yields more milk'.
Ass (Equ1ls asillus asintls). The true asses are of purely African origin.
They arc derived from North African wild race, now extinct. According to
Zcuner, the ass was first domesticated in the Valley of the Nile or in Libya.
The bones of the ass have l;ccn recovcred from Rana Ghunclai in Ualll~
chistan. The remains of the ass have also bc 'n r portell from Harappa,
Kalibangan (Rajasthan), and Rangpur (Gujarat), Period III (1000-800
B.C.). It is, however, not certain that these Lones are not of half-asses, or
hemiones.
For patient hard work, no animal can match the donkey. In construc-
tion work and in the digging of canals, loads are carried by donkeys. After
the day's hard work, they arc just let loose to eat whatever they can find.
However, the donkey's greatest contribution to animal husbandry is as
progenitor of the mule. The hybl'id between the male ass and the female
horse is the mule, a sure-footed animal, so useful in carrying loads on narrow
mountain paths.
REFERENCES
Lydekker, R. Wild Lifs of the World, J~ondon, 1916
Piggott, S. Prehistoric [,idia, London, 1950
Sauer, C.O. Agricultural Origins and Dispersals-tIle Domestication of AuiTllois alld Food Stllffs,
Boston, 1969
Stein, A. All Archaeological Tour in J-Vaziraslan and North Baluchistan, London, 1929
Zeuner, F.E. A History of Domesticated Aniln1is, London, 1963
CHAPTER 11
HARAPPAN CHALCOLITHIC CULTURE IN PAKISTAN

SIND AND WEST PUNJAB
2300 B.C. - 1600 B,C.
THE Mohenjo-daro mound in the Larkana District of Sind, capped by a

Buddhist stupa, and the ruined city of Harappa, littered with bricks, were
known to the people of Sind'and the Punjab for a long time. Excavations
at Harappa in the Montgomery District of the Punjab Province were started
in 1921 by DayaRam Sahni, and at Mohenjo-daro in 1923 by R.D. Banerjee.
The work at the two sites was co-ordinated by Sir John Marshall.' The
excavation of the town of Chanhu-daro in Sind was undertaken by Mackay
in 1935-36. Detailed excavations at Harappa were later on done by M.S.
Vats in 1939.40. The Indus civilization is known as the Rarappa civiliza-
tion after Harappa, the site where it was identified for the first time. Lothal
in Gujarat was a contemporary of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. From
Sind and the western Purtiab, Harappan Chalcolithic culture spread to the
eastern Punjab, western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and western Madhya
Pradesh. From Lothal this culture diffused to a number of si.tes in Gujara,t
(Fig. 61).
From end to end of the territory stretching from Mohenjo-daro to
Harappa, fr~m some 40 settlement-sites, come pottery of identical mass-
produced types. Harappan Chalcolithic culture is further characterized by
the concurrent use of copper or bronze flat axes and stone blades. The
mass production of stone blades started in the Neolithic Period in the
Fertile Crescent and it continued even after the discovery of copper on
account of the cheapness of stone and its easy availability. Other characte-
ristics of Chalcolithic culture are steatite and faience beads, along with those
of carnelian, agate and copper, and peculiar terracotta figurines. Houses
are built of baked bricks of standard dimensions. Stamp-seals are engraved
with figures of domestic animals and a uniform script. A standard system
of weights is recognizable. Whereas some sites are villages, others are small
towns, and 350 miles [563 kilometres] apart stand two cities, each covering
at least a square mile [2.6 square kilometres] of ground, twin capitals of an
empire.
CITIES OF HARAPPA AND MOHENJO-DARO

The northern 'capitaP Harappa is in the Punjab (Pakistan) about 100
miles [160 kilometres] south-west of Lahore. The southern city, Mohenjo-
daro, is on the Indus, in Sind, nearly 200 miles [320 kilometres] north of
llARAPPAN CHALCOLITllIC CULTURE IN PAKrSTAN 131
• HllNOCcw(
,, __ .
~,
r
j
Map area
i '/"'0
.I .,.~
<:
._._._ PlBsent External Boundary 01 India
Fig. 61. Harappan and pre-Harappan sites

(After Y.D. Shartna)
Karachi. 'The very existence of these large cities and towns', states Piggott,
'must pre-suppose a considerable agricultural population producing an
adequate surplus beyond its immediate needs for sale to the towns. The
invariable uSe of burnt clay bricks throughout the Harappa culture must
imply far greater timber resources for firing the kilns than the present
vegetation of tamarisk and scrub would afford.
'Though none of the evidence is conclusive, the inference from the fauna,
the wood needed to burn so many million bricks, and the implication of a
flourishing agricultural background, all suggest a climate different from that
of today, when at Mohenjo-daro the range in annual temperature is between
120°F [49°C] in summer to frost in winter, with a rainfall of less than 6
inches (152 millimetres] in the year. The very use of burnt brick as a build-
ing material instead of the sun-dried mud brick common to the Ancient
East may imply the necessity of finding something more durable under
conditions of frequent or considerable r ainfall, and the elaborate sytem of

drains in the cities m a y also be explained in. connexion with a greater volume
of rain-water'.l
The cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro were contemporary; laid
out according to a common ground-plan, each waS with its defence citadel
towering above the rest of the town. They seem to have been twin capitals,
a northern and a southern, of one united kingdom.
Harappa and Mohenjo-daro were large cities with systematic town~
planning. Harappa had a circuit of 4·8 kilometres. Its bricks provided
ballast for the railway track of the North-Western Railway for many kilo-
metres. Both the cities Were protected by citadels, an.d were planned in rec-
tangular blocks separated by broad main streets (Fig. 62). The houses
were built of kiln-fired bricks, and some were two-storeyed. They had
three to four living-rooms and were provided with a bath, a kitchen and a
well. The use of the corbelled arch iudicatcu Mesopotamian. influence.
The drain;1.ge system consisted of kiln-fired ring wells> which can also be
seen in a section of the Naln.garh mound at Rupar (Fi.g. 69).
The citadel at Mohenjo-daro had massive towers of burnt bricks.
Inside the citadel was a public bath, cloak-rooms, a square-pillareu hall
for public gathcrings~ and a large granary.
The Hat·appans. Evidence of the phy 'ieal type an.d personal appear-
ance of the Harappans lies in two sources, viz. sculptures ill ston,e and
bronze and the t'cmains of skeletons found on the excavated sites. From the
available evidence, it appears that more than one ethnic strain was PI' sent in
the population. Nearly half the skulls belong to the Mcuitcrran.e::tn type,
which includes a large number of groups of people from Spain to India.
This is the type also found in late Natufian of Palestine, <H'l.d pre-dynastic
Egypt. It is found in Arabia and northern India. Such people are medium
to tal1, with a complexion ranging from clark to light. olive-brown, a long
head and face, and a n.arrow and relatively pl'OHouncccl noso, black hair,
and eyes ranging from black to brown and characteristically large :md open,
'The body is of slender build. An example of this type is seen in the bust of a
bearded man from MohcrUo"daro, wearing a cotton shawl, with a trefoil
motif. The upper lip is shaved and the beard is trimmed (Fig, 63). This
fashion, though pre-Islamic, is still followed by some Moslems in Pakistan
and India.
The other type is the V cddoid or Proto"Austruloid. Three skulls from
Mohel'ljo-daro belong to this group and these possibly represent the aboriginal
inhabitants of the country. Of small stature, with a dark skin, approaching
black, wavy or curly black hair, long head, broad Hat nose and fleshy pro"
truding lips, these people form the main element in the southern and cen.tral
IPiggott j S. Preldstorjc IlIdia, pp. 137, 1313

IlARAl'PAN CI1ALCOL[TtIlC CUL'l'tHU~ IN PAKISTAN 133
Fig. (i2. Sysll'mat ic t()wl1-pl:llllling wiil l l'l'rtangLlI~r b locks sq)<Ir<llccl h y broad main str('('ls
ilS s('ell i ll l'XCaVa if'd remaiffs ~l l lvl ohcll.if)-r1aro, Sind, Pakistan, 23 00 III 17')011 ,' -'
(Co url csy: Al'cb:tcoiogic<li Snr\'l'Y flf Jlldi,,)

A HISTORY OF AC1 RICUL TlTRE IN INDIA
Fig, (i3 . .H ead of 11 be(lrd '<1 man w ea.riJlg a shaw.1 with Lt'clo il mDLiI', T h (' sllawl wa ~
possibl y o f coLton . Mohenjo-daro , 230011 ,C.
(Co ur tesy: Archaeolog ical Survcy of lndia )
tIARAPP, \ N CIfALCOLITIIIC CULTl lit" IN PAKISTAN 1:1:1
Fig, U;), A painll:d dish on s talld .

f 'ig, ['4, i\ bron ze figurl' of a n lid" d:lllci ng-girl This tYI)(' of'poll.,1'}' is J) 'pical .. r
wea ring bn,cclds Harappa]) Civilizati(lll,
( C:Ollrt('SY: Na tional Nills("urn, New 1)l' lhi ) Harappa, 2300 n.c.
13G A IIlST ORY OF AG 1UG{)1.' l' U]{E rN IN D IA
Fig . Cit;, Broll ze Obj{!f lS, a xc~, knife, a c hise l, dc ., frolll Sind alld lI ,u'appa
(CO lll'll 'S)" : A r ch aeological Survl'Y IIrlJlClia)
HARAPPAN CIIALCOLITHIC CULTURE IN PAKISTAN }37
Indian aboriginal tribes of the present day. The brollze sculpture of a

dancing-girl in the National Museum, New Delhi, represents the Proto-
Australoid type-dark complexion, slender b uild, and thick lips (Fig. 61).
Burials. The Harappans buried their dead. The bodies were
extended from north to south, wi th the head towards the north. The
graves Were large enough to contain an average of 15 to 20 pots. 1_'he
pots recovered from the graves at Rupal' contained foodgrains (Fig. 70).
Personal ornaments Were sometimes worn by the dead, e.g. shell bangles,
necklaces and anklets of steatite or paste beads, copper finger-rings, and ear-
rings of thin copper wire. Toilet and other oqj ects were occasionally includ-
cd: handled copper mirrors, mother-of-pearl shells, an antimony stick, a
large shell spoon. 'In one grave at Harappa a pottery lamp and bones
of a fowl were found at the foot . A grave at Harappa was notable for the
fact that the body had been buried in a wooden coffin, 7 feet [2·13 metrcsl
long and 2-2} feet [61-76 centimetres] wide, widening towards the head.
The thickness of the timbering of the coffin, as shown by a clear stain in the
sandy soil, was It inches [3·8 centimetres], representing, side-walls of
Dalbergia latifolia. Traces of the lid on the sandy material immediately
overlying the skeleton were identifiable as deodar which grows in the
Himalayas and may have been river-borne to Harappa.'2
Harappan Culture. The Harappans had reached a high state of
culture. They wore cotton garments, and used ivory combs and copper
mirrors. Women wore a variety of ornaments of bronze and gold. They
used knife blades, saws, sickles, spears, axes, arrow-heads, daggers of bronze
and copper fish-hooks. They had weights of chert, steatite and chalcedony.
These articles were no doubt produced by skilled craftsmen- copper-
smiths, carpenters, jewellers, goldsmiths, stone-cutters and potters. There
was a system of writing from right to left, and there must have been a class
of clerks. A system of trade with the adjoining countries must have deve-
loped, as most of the commodities, including metals, timber and precious
stones, were imported. The discovery of Harappan seals at Dr in Meso-
potamia indicates trade relations with the Indus Valley during the reign of
Sargon of Alckad, c. 2380 B.C. There is little doubt that the idea of literate
urban civilization reached the Indus Valley through Iran fi'om the earlier
civilization of M esopotamia, a country which had trade links with northern
India. This view is further strengthened by the composition of the popula-
tion of Mohenjo-daro as revealed by the examination of skulls. About 50
per cent of skulls are of dolichocephalic Mediterranean type, simi1n.r to
those of Al'Dbaid in Sumer.
The occurrence of copper ore in Baluchistan, the western Himalayas
and Rajasthan accounts for the rise of ChaIcolithic culture in the north~
~WheelerJ M. The Indus Civili;;;ation J pp. 66, 67

138 .A lIISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
west of the Indian subcontinent. Evidence of earliest copper-smelting

is found among the makers of painted pottery. In the early phases, copper
must have been worked by hammering and cutting only from natural metal
or from the metal smelted from ore, The copper or bronze axes are flat,
without the shaft-hole (Fig. 66). They were presumably hafted in a split
and bound handle. Arrow-heads are of copper or bronze. They are thin
and flat, rese:rnbling those from northern Iran. Knives are leaf-shaped.
Copper and bronze axes, daggers and spears were in use. The use of COpper
was limited, as the metal was scarce and expensive. Most implements were
made of stone. Chert blades, which Were provided with handles, continued
to be used by the Harappans On account ortheir cheapness and abundance.
The concurrent use of copper and stone implements gave the name-
Chalcolithic -.,.. to this culture. On account of the scarcity of copper, the
u~e of this metal was restricted to weapons, tools for city craftsmen, and for
o:rnaments for women, The major technological advance of the Harappan
culture was the use of metals, particularly that of copper and its alloy, bronze.
The general characteristics of this civilization, as enumerated by
Wheeler, include a thick red-slipped ware in cylindrical and goblet shapes,
intersecting circles, pipal leaves, rosettes and peacocks as motifs, Indus seals
and script, triangular terracotta cakes, kidney-shaped inlays of shell or faien-
ce, metal tool types, and town-planning according to a grid-iron scheme of
streets and houses, A cultural uniformity, unquestionable technical compe-
tence, though dull, and a flare for standardization are noticeable in all
areas of activity-in the making of bricks, in sanitary arrangements, in
pottery, in the wide range of copper and bronze tools, vessels and human
and animal figurines, .and seal-cutting from steatite blocks. In this effortless
competence, of which evidence has survived in archaeological remains of all
descriptions, one can See the picture of city~centred prosperous agricultural
communities thriving on wheat, barley, sesamum and mustard, animal
husbandry, an industry of woven cotton, various arts and crafts and an
extensive trade, all rendered possible by an efficient central government
with capitals, defensive city outposts, docks and harbours.
The buildings and articles found in the excavations of IIarappan towns
were produced by specializ,ed craftsmen-brickmakers, carpenters, potters,
coppersmiths, stone-cutters, goldsmiths, and jewellers. The regularity of
the streets iinplies a civic authority with officials to enforce its decisions.
Sweepers must have been employed for cleaning the drains. There must
have been a class of clerks, since a. system of writing and numeral notation
was in. use, as well as standardized weights and measures.
. AU these classes, evidently very numerous, must have been supported
by.the surplus food-stuffs produced by peasants living in the city Or in the
suburban villages. In Chapter 13 is described the agriculture of the
Harappans, Which supported the urban civilization.
CHAPTER 12
HARAPPAN CHALCOLITHIC CULTURE IN INDIA

PUNJAB, HARYANA, JAMMU, UTTAR PRADESII. RAJASTHAN,
GUJARAT AND MADHYA PRADESH
c. 2200 B.C. - 1600 B.C.
FROM the nuclear area in Harappa in the western Punjab, the Harappan
Chalcolithic Culture slowly diffused to Bahawalpur, eastern Punjab, Har-
yana and Jammu in about a century. From Haryana it reached the border
districts of western Uttar Pradesh. From MoheI\io.daro in Sind it reached
Lothal in Gujarat. Most of the Harappan settlements in Gujarat are
situated on the coast of Kutch and Kathiawar. From Gujarat the Harappan
culture diffused to eastern Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. A brief
account of these sites is given below.
PUNJAB (INDIA)
(i) KOTLA NlHANG KHAN, DISTlUOT RuPAlt
In the PuI\iab (India), a number of Harappan sites have been discover-

ed. M.S. Vats excavated Kotla Nihang Khan near Rupar in 1939, and
demonstrated the parity of its antiquities with those of Harappa. A row of
furnaces was discovered. They might have been used for manufacturing
implements or ornaments. The date of Kotla Nihang Khan is about
2200 B.C.
(ii) RUPAR AND OTHER SITES
The Nalagarh mound at Rupar on the SatIuj was excavated by Y.D.

Sharma in 1953-56. In the lowest stratum, Harappan potteries, bronze
implements and inscribed steatite seals were discovered (Fig. 67). The
details of these objects are shown in Fig. 68. The mound also contained
a number of ringed soak-wells (Fig. 69). The burials were typically
Harappan, with lots of pots accompanying the corpse (Fig. 70). In the
proto-historic PuI\iab, Rupar could claim the status of a town. Round
about Rupar are a number of sites, viz. Dher Majra and Bara, north of
Rupar, KotH, south~west of Rupar, Chamkaur, west of Rupar, and Hawara,
south-west of Chamkaur. At Bara, Y.n. Sharma found a distinct culture
with its antecedents traceable to a pre-Harappan tradition. Dher Majra
is a Bara culture site. The same is the case with Sangho!. The Bara culture
is rich in pottery, terracotta cakes and faiellce. Bronze is known and
Barans seem to have subsisted on agriculture and.fishing. At Rupar and
Chandigarh both the Bara and Harappa cultures overlap. Bara is dated
, d .
to 2350 B.O. to 1950 B.C. by Y.n. Sharma, an hence It was a contemporary
of Harappa.
Schematic Sechon Across Rupar Mound 1963
Coin-Hoard of
Vasudeva
Inscribed Seal ings (A 0 143-116) Coiil of
(C 500-600 ;40) Gold Coin a Soter Meges (Plus AD 800.-1000)
ierracollas (Sung a Type) Chandragupta ( (C 100 AD) v ji
L~-----_1.8D 320-330) \----~::::::=----l-
Punch-Marked Inscribed Seal IV (C 200 BC-AD 600)
Coins (C 300-250 BC) N.B.P--:.W:::A:R-:E-;,;:::::-:::'""".----~~~~~:::~~
ron and Copper
hert Bla es Implem~nts III (C 600-200 BC) \
,-":,...'!'~-a.<;,c;_t;!.5akes-lnscribed ,Steatite Seal PAINTED GREY WARE (I (C 1000. 700 BC) I
:.::~., :.:;.::::.:7,:;'.::~'.:':~:?'.t~~I!~: !Z!P.~e~?nts HARAPPAN WARE I (C 2000-1400 BC)
.... .. J
_.:"::\:;./::.~I:;·~.~r::~:<;:;::~-.:::':;~:l·~'~·~:;~:~/(}h;:~f\A0~~07:].8SH0-r;J:m%~S7?J
Fig. 67. A schematic section across the Nalagarh mound at Rupar, 1953, showing strata,
2000 1I.C. to A.D. 600. In the lowest ~tratum, l-Iarappan wares with bronze implements
were discovered. These were overlain by Painted Grey Ware
The. Harappan and late Harappan sites have also been located at Kur-
rara·Kurrari and Manikpur-Sharif in Tehsil Kharar, and Arnauli, Bara-
Samana and Kainor in Tehsil Rupar.
(iii) SECTOR 17 OF CHANDIGARH
In Sector 17 of Chandigarh, while the foundations of a shop were being

dug, the remains of a Harappan cemetery were found. Several types of
pottery were excavated, viz. pre-Harappan, Harappan and Bara wares.
On the one hand, there were unmistakable Harappan forms, such as dishes-
on-stand, pointed goblets, beakers, lids, basins, ring-stands, troughs, includ-
ing a funnel-shaped vase with an inscription in Harappan characters. And
on the other hand, there w~re certain decorative designs, both painted and
incised, resembling Kalibangan pre-Harappan pottery, Other finds
include a humped terracotta bull with forward-pointing horns. This bull
combines the hump of the zebu with: the horns of the urus. Toy cart-frames
and wheels, stone querns and pestles are evidence of agriculture. Bangles
of faience, terracotta and copper, and beads of agate, paste and terracotta
Were also found. A reconstruction of the Harappan town of Chandigarh
shows fiat-roofed. houses below the Siwaliks (Fig. 71).
Sarangpur near Chandigarh had pottery resembling the pre-Harappan
HARAPPAN CHALCOLITlfrC OULTURE IN INDIA 141
1700 A.O.
t300A.D.
4
" m'\ 11
'J.,
VI
Mediaeval Glazed
Ware
Potte ry types '-4
,~. ~
1000A-D,
BOO A.P. V W Pottery types J '-3
600 A.D.
2~
~
1. ~4:'
W' sem·01';,_:-.:
o
w~
Red Polished Ware
IV 0 Pottery types, '-5
0
200 B.C.
3 .---.----l
CII...,.,..,_,.,._.......
200 B.C. 2 __ft_ ~ ~ Northern Black
~ ~. . c- ';:> ~ Polished Ware, 1-5;
600 B.C. 3~ 4 ~ " . ' 7 Ill;) Iron implements,
r---------~~--~~--~~==~-~------~----~ 6,7
700 B.C. i6'iil ~ "I1W ~-;:;:}~ ...,;;.!*- B PaintedGrey
~I ~~\ ~ ·~I : -= III II S
Pottery.,1- 1
1000 S.C. ~" sij '7~ EI 10 cr Ivory Pms,9,IO
'/:,: .:~ ~'30" 4~ $,',\"0 CE> ~ r ~

Harappan
1700 B.C.
,~:.
.....
~\
- .
.$.6", ' -
B
Ii
Po.ttery,1-5 i
BN>n%e
implements,6,8;
Chert blade~9
Fig. 68. Sequence of Rupar culture from sections of the Nalagarh mound, Rupar, Punjab
(After Y.n. Sharma)
ware of Kalibangan.
DISTRICT LUDHIANA
Sanghol. Period I revealed some Harappan material, viz. a chert
weight, and pottery. Houses were made of packed clay, had mud flooring,
chulahs, and circular pits for storage.
Dadheri had a late Harappan horizon in period IA.
Mandiala Kalan is known for a red ware painted in black-hatched
triangles, and an externally incised ware which indicates affinities with the
incised ware of Bara. Sharma observes, "The arrival of the Harappans on
the Satluj was a continuous process; they came in wave after wave bringing
in new ideas and ceramic traditions." He cites three IIarappan sites,
namely Deheru, Manupur and Kheri~Nodh-Singh along the course of the
Budhanala, a dried~up bed of the Satluj near Ludhiana. It indicates the
route followed by the Harappans to Rupar.
DISTRICT GURDASPUR.
The sites in District Gurdaspur contain only Grey Ware associated with
Painted Grey Ware and late Harappan Red Ware. The main sites are
Kanwa, Dodwan, IIaripur, Lohagarh, Hardo Rawal Khurd, and Gurdas
N angal da Theh.
DISTRICT AMRITSAR
At Gharinda, west of Amritsar towards the border, at a d .lstance of
six kilometres before Attari, Painted Grey Ware, Grey Ware and a few
late Harappan sherds were discovered.
DISTRIC'l.' FEROZEPUR
In the District of foerozepur at the site in Sosan, Painted Grey Ware,

Grey Ware, and late Harappan Ware were discovered.
DISTRICT J ULLUNDUR
In the District of Jullundur Painted Grey Ware, Grey Ware and late
Harappan Ware were found at Apara, Haripul' an.d Chini Kanjri Ka Theh.
On the north-western side of the district, Grey Ware and Black Slipped
Ware were discovered at Malsian, Karalan and Kartarpur. On the eastern
side of the district, Nagar and Kathpalon yielded the evidence of Painted
Grey Ware, Grey Ware and late Harappan Ware.I.
HARYANA
A recent survey has brought to light 391 protohistoric occupations
in Haryana. They are in the valleys of the Sarasvati, the Drishdavati, the
Sabi and the Yamuna.
Siswal in the Bissar District represents a pre-Harappan phase in
Haryana.
Excavations at Mithathal, in the Bhiwani District by Suraj Bhan re~
vealed three cultural levels, dating fron~ c. 2000 B.C. to 1500 B.C. About 14,5
late Harappan settlemen.ts have been located in the Karnal, Kurukshetra,
Ambala and Gurgaon distdcts. 2
BHAGWANPURA
Bhagwanpura is situated on the right bank of the Sarasvati in the Kuru~

kshetra District. Here, the late Harappan. culture was found interlocked with
the Painted Grey Ware culture. The excavations revealed different house
types also. The earliest were semi-circular thatched huts supported 011
posts fixed in post holes. In on.e house, four saddle qucrns and differen.t
types of pestles were found. In the second structural phase, a mud~wallcd
house complex was discovered. It had 13 rooms, with a corridor in between
the two sets of rooms, and a courtyard on the eastern side. The size of the
lJoshi, J.P. 'Overlap of late Harappan Culture and Painted Grey Ware Cultlll'c in the
Light of Recent Excavations in Haryana, Punjab and Jammu', Indian Illst. Adu . Studies,
Seminar, Simla, Nov. 1977
IIS uraj Bhan, 'The Protohistoric Settlement Patterns in HmTanu', Indian Illst. Ad". Studies,
Semillar, Simla, Nov. 1977
HARAPPAN C Il ALCOLITHIC CULTURE IN INDIA 14-3
l
_J
F ig. G9. Ring ed soak-well s for dra ining wasle w. tCl" f.·om ho uses in the N:-dagarh Inound
( Courlesy; Archaeological Surveyor India )
Fig. 70. A burial from Rupar. A numb er of POl S, som e co ntainill g (ollcigraills, were
buded ,d :> ng with the corpse
(CourtCS)' : Archacologi.cal Survey of lndia )
144 A HISTORY OF AGRICULT{.1RE TN INDIA
Fig. 71. A rec011StrllcLioll of the Earappall lOWII J1f'at: Ch:llldig~l)'h, r;. 2000 H.G.
(Courtesy: :Muscum of EvoluLion of I.il(! , ChalJdi!:{~\t'h)
Fig. 72. A reconstruction of the proto-histori . village of Ahat·

(After H.D. Snnknlia)
HARAPPAN CI-IALCOUTlllC CULTURE TN I NDIA
145
l~ig. 73. Excavation al AhaI' neal' Uda ipur, in Raj asthan. Corn bins and chulahs ure shown.
Rice gl'ai ns were found along with pottery, 1800 JI.C.
(Courtesy: Arch aeological Surv y of Indi a)
146 A HfSTORY OF AORH:UI.Tl1RE IN INDIA
•
to
,"
l"ig. 74·. A well and a public drain at LOLh al, a Hnrappan si te in /:):nmlslllca,2300 D. C.
(Courtesy: Archaeological Survey of Illdia)
HA.RAPPAN CHALCOLITHIQ CULTURE IN INDIA 117
rooms varied from 1·60 X 1·60 metres to 3·35 X 4·20 metres. From these
rooms, besides copper objects, faience bangles and beads, tcrracotta ghata-
shaped beads, bone styli, terracotta figures, Painted Grey Ware vessels and
plain Grey Ware vessels and late Harappan pottery were discovered. A
statistical analysis of the pottery revealed 2 to 5 per cent of the lale Harappan
element.
In the third structural phase, the houses were built of baked bricks.
Two skeletons discovered from this place were oriented north-south,
conforming to the Harappan tradition, but there were nO grave-goods. 8
Banawa1i lies in the dried-up course of the Sarasvati. It has revealed
three culture sequences, viz. pre-Harappan- c. 2500 to 2200 B .C.; Harappan
-c. 2200 to 1700 B.C . ; and Bara Ware culture - c. 1700 to 1450 B.C.4.
JAMMU
MANDA
The ancient site at Manda, Akhnoor, lies on the right bank of the
Chenab R iver at the foothills of the Pirpanj al Range. It is 28 kilometres
north-west of Jammu and about 1 kilometre from Akhl1.oor. Excava-
tions at this site have revealed three sequences of cultures. The oldest
consists of the pre-Harappan Red Ware and the Harappan Red Ware. The
.Harappan pottery consists of red ware, jars, dlshes, dish-on-stand, beakers and
goblets. The antiquities ascribable to this period include a copper double-
spiral-headed pin, bone arrow-heads with a tang, terracotta bangles, cakes,
chert blades, saddle querns, pestles and potsherds with Harappan graffiti.
The next period shows the Harappan Red Ware and Grey Ware asso-
ciated with Painted Geey Ware.
WESTERN UTTAR PRADESH

DISTRICT SAHARANPUR
The chief concentration of the Harappan sites occurs in the Saharan-
pur District. The settlements are not mOre than 200 metres in length, suggest-
ing that they were small villages. Most of the sites are on the Yamuna River
or on its tributaries. These sites are atBahupur, Pilakhni, Chilhera, Krjshn i,
Ka]ahetti, Tatarpur Kalan, Nirpalpur, Hulas, Piki, Rcdi Malakpur, Naya-
vans alias Nayagaon, Fatehpur Gujar, Chhapal'he~'i, SalarpuI", Khatauli,
Kaulakheri, Sarkar~ Sheikh and Ratna Khcri.
DISTRICT MUZAFFARNAGAR
Bhura: Situated at a distance of about 8 kilometres north of Kairana,
8Joshi, J.P. 'Overlap of Late Harappan Cultme and P.G.W. C ul ture in Haryana, Puruab
andJammu', India" Illst. Ad!!. Studies, Seminar, Simla, Nov. 1977
4Bish t, R.S. 'Hal'appa C ulture in Punjab: A Study in Perspective', Ilidiall I/lst. Ad'CI.
Studies, Seminal", Sim la, Nov. 1977
the ancient site at Bhura is located along the dried bedQf the Katha Nala,
a tributary of the Yamuna.
DISTRICT MEERUT
Alamgirpur: An Indus site has been discovered at Alamgirpur, 27 kilo-
metres west of Meerut. Alamgirpur is located on the left bank of the Hindon,
a tributary of the Yamuna. The excavations revealed a succession of four
cultural periods. The earliest yielded kiln-burnt bricks, the Harappan
pottery, terracotta objects comprising animal figurines, cakes, carts, cubical
dice, beads and bangles. Beads of steatite and semi-precious stones, bangles
offaience and a broken blade of bronze were also found. The use of cloth
with a plain weave is a significant feature of objects recovered from Alam-
girpur. Polished stone querns and pestles were also found.
Singauli Taga: A Harappan site was discovered at Singauli Taga on
the left bank of the Hindon River in 1966.
DISTRICT ALLAHABAD
Indus sherds as well as dishes-on-stand have been reported from

Kausambi in the Allahabad District.
RAJASTHAN
(i) KALIBANGAN
An important disc0very of a pre-Harappan township in Rajasthan

was made by B.R Lal and B.K. Thapar in 1971. The mound
is known as Kalibangan or black bangles, as fragments of black bangles
Were found strewn over it by the local inhabitants. Another site which is
close by is called Pilibangan, or yellow bangles.
Kalibangan is on the left bank of the dry bed ofthe Ghaggar (the ancient
Sarasvati) in the Ganganagar District in the erstwhile Bikaner State. The
settlement is in two parts, following the Harappan pattern, viz. a citadel on
the west, and the town on the east. Both the citadel and the town were
protected by a fortified wall. The site has yielded evidence of two periods
of or.cupation, of which the lower is pre-Harappan, and the upper belonged
to the Indus civilization. Below the Harappan citadel are the remains of
a pre~Harappan small township which represents a different culture.
14Carbon determinations show a date between 2450 al\d 2300 B.C. for the
pre-Harappan levels. The pre-Harappans were in a chalcolithic stage like
the Harappans. .Proto-Harappan seems to be a more appropriate term for
their culture.
The pre-Harappan settlement Was fortified, and within the walled area
'Deshpande, M.N. 'The Harappan Settlements in Ganga-Yamuna Doab', Indian Inst.

Adu. Studies, Ssminar, Simla, Nov. 1977
HARAl'PAN CHALCOLITI-IIC CULTURE IN INDIA 149
there were houses made of mud-bricks of the same size as that of the forti-
fication wall. An ordinary house consisted of a courtyard, around which
were located the living-rooms. Adjoining the walls of the houses were small
platforms or chabutaras. Some of the houses had ovens resembling tandoors,
and cylindrical pits lined with lime-mortar, used possibly for the storage
offoodgrains. This is the pattern which prevails in the villages in Rajasthan
even now.
The citadel consisted of two almost equal but separately patterned parts.
Both these parts were surrounded on all sides by a fortification wall, rein-
forced at intervals with rectangular bastions. The southern half contained
half a dozen massive platforms of mud and mud-bricks, each separated
from the other by a passage, and the northern half contained the residences
of the elite.
Because of the depredations of brick-robbers, no plans are available
of the buildings which stood upon the platforms. But the available remains
indicate that some of these might have been used for religious purposes. On
one of the platforms were located a well, a fire altar and a rectangular pit
lined with baked bricks containing bovine bones and antlers, representing
perhaps sacrifices. On yet another there was a roW of fire altars, a well and
a series of bathing-floors. The presence of these features in the citadel is
noteworthy. In the city, there were no street-drains or bathing-platforms.
These amenities suggest that the inhabitants washed and bathed and per-
formed their rituals in the citadel area.
The city had a grid ofstreets which divided the area into blocks. Four
arterial streets running north-south and three running east-west have been
uncovered, and it is surmised that the une:x:cavated northern portion of the
city may contain more.
To avoid damage to the houses from vehicular traffic, wooden fender-
posts were provided on some of the street-corners. There has so far been
no evidence of regular street-drains. House-drains, which were either of
wood or of baked bricks, discharged their contents into storage-jars buried
in the floor of the street. 6
According to Raikes, the desertion of Kalibangan and other sites in the
Sarasvati Valley took place ow~ng to a change in the course of the river
about 1800 B.C. to 1700 B.C. Owing to the tectonic changes, the Yamuna,
which used to flow in the present bed of the Sarasvati, turned westwards.
Faulted strata and ruptured walls Were revealed in the excavated
trenches in the pre-Harappan settlement. It seems that the pre-Harappan
settlement was destroyed by an earthquake. It was rehabilitated, and
subsequently flourished for about six hundred years.
The past never disappears. It survives in the present in some shape.
'Thapl'\r, B.K. 'Digging up the Past', Times oj India Annual, 1977

150 A lUSTORY OF AGlUCULTURE IN INDIA
B.B. LaP points out that the Marwari women cover their entire arms with
silver bangles like the nude dancing-girl from Mohenjo-daro. Tandoor
is still in use in the villages of the Punjab for baking chapaties. In Rajasthan,
villagers have platforms in front of their homes where they sit to gossip or to
enjoy the warmth of the sun in winter. Sets of copper instruments, viz.
tweezers (mochna) , tooth-pick, and a small spoon-like device for removing
wax from the ears, are still sold in the towns of Himachal Pradesh. The
Harappans had a similar kit of tools.
(ii) AHAR-BANAsrAN CULTURE
The village of Ahar~ about 3 furlongs [605 metres] from the Udaipur
Railway Station, is known in medieval inscriptions as Aghatapura. It was
the capital of Guhila kings, the ancestors of the Ranas of Mewar, before
they migrated to Chittor. Close to it, on the bank of a rivulet, also called
Ahar, lies a mound locally known as Dhulkot. There are other sites on the
banks of the Banas and its tributaries, and hence the culture is called Bana-
sian.
For security, a hill-girt valley was chosen by the people of Ahar. There
is a fairly good amount of rainfall, so that water for drinking and irrigation
is available. This region provided excellent hunting. Deer and wild boars
are still plentiful.
For building houses, schist was available and it could be easily broken
into the required size of slabs. Quartz nodules were available in abundance
to strengthen and beautify the walls of mud houses.
The plinth of houses was built with roughly dressed slabs of schist.
The walls were made with mud OI' mud-brick'!. Timber was used, but
sparingly. The roof was sloping and was thatched with bamboos, and
additionally .covered with grass and leaves.
, These stone~and-mud"walled houses, with sloping roofs, were fairly
large. The largest one so far exposed has a length of 33 feet [10 metres].
Other houses have a range between 22 X 17 feet and lOX 9 feet [6· 7 X
5.2 metres and 3 X 2·75 metres]. A reconstruction of the village of Ahar
by H.D. Sankalia (Fig. 72) shows that even now there are villages in
Rajasthan which are not distinguishable from it.
Saddle querns were found in the kitchen, near the chulah. Though
grains-charred or not <;harred-have not been discovered from Phases la
and lb, some cereal, e.g. wheat, must have been ground into flour, made
into dough and converted into chapa ties by baking on pans of clay, numerous
fragments of which Were found. Initially, it appeared that jwari (a kind of
millet) was used in Phase Ie, the grains of which were found mixed with
'Lal, B.B. 'The Indus Civilization: Probieinli and Issues', Indian Inst. Adu. Studies,
SemInar, Simla, Nov. 1977
IIARAPPAN CHALCOLITHIC CULTURE IN INl>IA 151
clay in making pottery. There is some doubt about this find, as it Was
from a disturbed layer.
The prehistol'ic Aharians certainly ate dee. According to Vishnu-
Mittre, rice was of the long-seeded strain, perhaps the ancestor of the
fragrant Basmati rice. Abundant impressions of rice husks on potsherds
have been found from Phase a, Period 1.
Fish, turtles, fowl, cattle, buffalo, goat, sheep, deer and pig were also
eaten by the people of Ahar. The bones of the domesticated cattle, Bas
indicus, predominate among those of other animals.
Three terracotta toy wheels indicate the use of cart by the people of
Ahar. The Aharians possessed seven kinds of pottery. Of these, the Black-
and-Red was used as a table ware. Red Ware and Grey Ware were also
used.
Copper tools and weapons were made from the copper ore smelted
from deposits in the Aravallis. Five copper axeS, one knife blade, a copper
sheet, a bangle and two rings were found. The occurrence of copper slag
indicates that the Aharians smelted copper.
The Ahar axes, though thinner and with a more flaring edge, are not
otherwise different from the flat socketless axes discovered from other sites
in India.
Ahar is the only site where during this period lithic blades were not
uscd for household purposes, along with copper, and stone axes. Hence
the Ahar Culture has been called the Copper Age Culture. 8
The Banasian culture is distinctive in its absence of a stone industry of
any kind in its earlier phases and in the presence of numerous copper objects,
particularly axes made oflocally available copper. Black and Red Wares
are predominant, with lustrous Red Wares appearing in later phases.
Radiocarbon datings carried out at the University of Victoria, Australia,
indicate the beginning of the Ahar culture around c. 1990 to 2144 B.C.
Some late dates, 1727, 1552, 1273 B.C., are indicated by samples analysed
at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. According to Allchin,
the Banasian phase might havc extended from 1800 to 1400 B.C.
GDJARAT
Rangpur, a Harappan site in Gujarat, south-west of Ahmedabad, was
discovered in 1934. Subsequently, Lothal was discovered. Five mounds
Were discovered at Somnath in the Sorath District. They are marked by a
chalcolithic blade industry, Harappan segmented faience beads, and dishes-
on-stand. pottery. A Harappan mound was discovered at Rojdi on the
Bhadar River, 34 miles [55 kilometres] south of Rajkot.
·Sankalia, H.D. The PrehistoJY and Protolzislory of India tllld Pakistan

DECCAN NEOLITHIC AND CIIALCOJ.ITHIC SETTLE~IEKTS 2.",!")
value can be judged fr0111 the fact that it is one of the three ingredients of
tnJI1znla, an Ayurvedic medicine and tonic.
Irrigation
The farmers of Inamgaoll cultivated wheat, barley, kullh, mUlig and peas.
A large mud embankment on a stone foundation for diverting flood water
in the Ghod River through a channel dug for the purpose was also discovered
at Inamgaon. According to Dhavalkar6 , this is the earliest evidence of
irrigation in India.
THE LATE HARAPPANS IN THE GODAVARI VALLEY
S.A. Sali' has drawn attention to some late Harappans in the Godavari
Valley in Maharashtra. From an ancient site at Kalivada on a bank of a
small feeder stream of the River Pravara ncar the village of Ambhore, in
the Sangamner Tallika. of the Ahmadnagar District, potteries ''>'ere found
which closely resemble the late Harappan red ware. Sali believes that
this is the first evidence indicating the southward extension of the Harappam
into the Godavari Valley.
DAIMABAD
The C:halcolithic sit.e at Daimabad on the Pravara River in the Ahmad-
nagar District was excavated by Deshpande in 1958-59. It yielded evi-
dence of foul' phases, viz. Neolithic, Late Harappa, Buff and Cream Ware,
Malwa ancI Jorwe cultures. Apart from potteries, charred grain of barley,
a fragment of a copper celt, and microliths of chert and chalcedony were
discovered from the Latc Harappan phase.
In 1974, a hoard of bronzes was discovcred by a Bhil from the roots of
shrubs which he was uprooting for fuel. Sali ascribes. them to the Late
Harappan phase. These comprise a chariot with a pair of humped bullocks
yoked to it. This must be the breed present in Maharashtra in 1300 D.C.
I t was used for ploughing, pulling carts and chariots (Fig. 140). The charlot
is driven by a naked man. Attached to his penis is a four-hooded cobra.
In front of him is a dog standing on the central pole. Other animals in the
hoard are a rhino, a buffalo and an elephant. Obviously, it is a cult image.
According to Sali, the man represents the Pasupati, Shiva, the Lord of
Beasts.
A pot recovered from Inamgaon has a painting shO\.ving two zebus
yoked to a bullock-cart (Fig. 141).
The Harappan Daimabad ,vas a sizeable town covering more than 20
'Dhavalkar, M.K. "First Farmers of !vlaharashtra," in Dawn of Cit·ili:;.atioll ill JiaharaJhtm

(Ed. K. Khandalavalu)
'Sali, S.A. The Harappan Contacts in tite Deccnll, illditm Irlst. A,h'allced Study, Semillar,
Simla, Nov. 1977
HARAPPAN CHALCOLITHIO aULTURE IN INDIA 153
a thali combined with a stool.

Utensils of quartz, copper, ivory and bone, terra cotta toys, and seals
and beads of sundry materials have been discovered. The toys include
terracotta animal figurines and cartS. The weights of quartz or agate are
identical with those of the Indus Valley. Spearheads, arrowheads, axes
and ush-hooks of copper or bronze were also recovered.
According to S.R. Rao, 'Lothal as well as the Indus Valley cities receiv-
ed gold from the Kolar and Hatti gold mines in Karnataka. The occurrence
of typical Harappan products such as disc-beads of white steatite at Maski,
Piklihal, Tekkalakota, Vtnur (2300B.C.), and flat copper celts at Tekkalakota
(1700 B.C.) and Hallur, all situated within the gold-producing region of
Deccan, assumes great significance in the present context. Recently some
neolithic sites have been discovered in the ancient gold-working region
around Kolar in Karnataka and Hosurin Tamil Nadu; Itis not improbable
that the gold from Kolar and Ratti mines was carried over land and sea
routes through one of the ancient ports situated on the west coast men~
tioned by later Greek writers. l4Oarbon date or the Indus culture of
Lothal is 2300 B.C.
(ii) RANG PUR
Rangpur is 30 miles [48 kilometres] to the south-west of Lothal. In

the second millennium B.C., a part of the population of Lothal apparently
set out for the interior of Kathiawar, settling at Rangpur. Rangpur was
undoubtedy inhabited earlier, since agate and jasper microIiths, not asso-
ciated with pottery, have been found there. The traces of Indus culture
at Rangpur are the same as those at Lothal. They represent a later
phase and include utensils of poorer quality. This deterioration is accentuat-
ed towards the cnd of the second millennium, when the pottery became
decadent and the weights and knives of quartz disappeared. In the first
. millennium, two types of pottery Were in use: the bright red and the
red-and-black.
~Rangpur excavations have thus not only confirmed the Harappan
penetration into Gujarat-Saurashtra, but have also shown that there was a
pre-Harappan settlement, and a continuation after the destruction of
Harappan.
~With these changes We should note the presence of the horse and bajra,
besides the absence of so many typical Harappan objects of daily use and the
presence of neWer ones. Except in the climate and vegetation and to a
great extent in the fauna-cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat, pig and deer-there
was a great change in the Iifeways of the inhabitants of Period III at
Rangpur' ,10
lOSankalia, H.D. The Prehistory and Protohistory qf India and Pakistan, pp. 31l0, 381
(iii) SURKOTDA, DISTRICT KUTCH

The site at Surkotda in the Kutch District was discovered in 1965, and
has provided us with evidence regarding the diffusion of the Harappan
culture from Sind via the land route. The excavation brought to light a
sequence of three cultural periods. In the earliest period, the objects found
were largely Harappan. They included long chert blades, beads of steatite,
carnelian, lapis lazuli, faience and terracotta; copper rings, bangles and a
spearhead; terracotta toy cart-frames, bangles and cakes; bone objects; and
a large number of clay lingas. The pottery showed typical Harappan forms,
the Indus goblet, dish-on-stand, perforated jar, handled cup, as also chara-
cteristic Harappan painted designs, such as the fish scale, jJipal leaf, cranes,
deer, and plantains.
In Period II, the Harappan elements were less pronounced. Among
the :finds were a copper flat celt and a chisel, indicating some metallurgical
sophistication. The upper levels yielded sherds of the white-painted black-
and-red ware of the Ahar fabric which indicated that a new group of settlers
had arrived.
MADHYA PRADESH
KA,YATlJA, DISTRICT U]]AIlII
The Kayatha culture was discovered by V.S. Wakankar in 1964.
Kayatha is the ancient Ki!ipitthaka situated on the right bank of the River
Choti Kali Sindh, a tributary of the Chambal, about 25 kilometres to the
east of Ujjain.
The Kayathans had distinctive pottery, copper tools and ornaments,
and also lithic blades. Their houses Were round or rectangular and had
wooden posts1 placed at intervals,. supporting a split bamboo screen,
plastered with mud inside as well as outside. The roofs were conical
or fiat.
The Kayathans were the earliest settlers of Malwa who lived in houses,
pos.sessed wheel~made pottery, used tools and weapons of stone and copper
or bronze and probably cultivated wheat. The period when the first
. settlement took place would be around 2000 B.a., as suggested by a few
14 0 dates. About 1800 B.a. the Kayathans disappeared from the scene.
The people of Kayatha believed in the cult of the stylized bull. Kaya-
tha has yielded a large number of these bulls in terracotta. A clay figure
of a horse has also been discovered from Kayatha. It is a powerful piece
of sculpture which conveys the restless energy of a horse.
NAGDA
Nagda on the Chambal was another important settlement. Like

Kayatha it ha(thick debris of the: Chalcolithic Period.
HARAPPAN CHALCOLIT1lIa CULTURE IN INDIA 155
REFERENCES
Bilht, R.S. Harappa CultUl'e in Punjab: A study in Perspective, Indian Insl • .Ado. Studies,
Deshpande, M.N. The Harappan Settlements in Ganga.Yamuna Doah, Indian IIIJI. Ad",
Siudies, Semina', Simla, Nov. 1977
Diluhit, M.G. Excavations at RlIngpur, Deccan CoUege R~s. Insl, B, XI, 1950-51
Ghosh, A. Indian Ar&/uzt%gy, 1953-54-0 Review, New Delhi, 1954
Joshi,].P. Overlap of Late Harappan Culture and Painted Grey Ware Culture in the Light
of Recent EJCC8vations in Haryana, Punjab and Jammu, Indian Insl. Ado. Sludi,i,
Khatri,A.P. Koregaon: The Mid-PaleoIithic cum Chalcolithic!site on R. Bhima (Maha-
rashtra), Anthropologist, Vol. IV (Nos. 1-2), pp. 14-9
Lal, B.B. The Indus Script: Some Observation3 Based on Archaeology, Jour. Rqy. Asiaji~
Soc., 1975
Mackay, E,J.H, Further Excaoalionl al Mohenjo-claro. Delhi, 1938
Marshall, J. Mohenjo...tfara and liu Indus CultuY6, Delhi, 1931
Piggott, S. Prt/zistorie India, London, 1950
Rao, S.R. The Excavations at Lothal, Lalit Kala, IlI.IV, 1956-57
Rao, S.R. Lothal and the IndUJ:Civilizalion, Bombay, 1973
Sankalia, H.D. The Prehistory and Protohistory of India and Pakistan, Poona, 1974
Sharma, Y.D. Transformation of the Harappa Culture in the Punjab, in Archaeological
Congrm and Seminar, 1972, Kurukshetra, 1976
Sharma, Y.D. Value of Common Painted Ceramic Designs from Different Sites as Guide
to Chronology with Special Reference to Pottery from Bara (Punjab), jn Radiocarhon.
and Indian Archaeology (Ed. D.P. Agrawal and A. Ghosh), Tata Institute of Funda-
mental R~earch, Bombay, 1973
Suraj Bhan. The Protohistoric Settlement Patterns in Haryana. Ilzdian Inst. Aclv. Studi,.,
Thapar, B.K. Digging up the Past-SOme Recent Archaeologica Finds, Times if India
AIIlIUOI, 1977
Vats, M.S, Excavations al Harappa, Delhi, 1940
Wheeler, M. 1711 IndlU Cir.ll1izalioff. Cambridge, 1968
CHAPTER 13
HARAPPAN AGRICULTURE
CULTIVATION OF WHEAT, DARLEY AND COTTON
EVIDENCE of agriculture in the Indus Valley and other areas which came
under the influence of the Harappan chalcolithic culture is in the finds
of foodgrains and fibres recovered in excavatiotlll, and in potteries, granaries,
terracotta toys and ornaments. The size of the Harappan towns itself
indicates that it was a plough agriculture, with dependence on bullocks
for draught.
THE PLOUGH
The Sumerians developed the plough about 2900 B.O. Possibly, the
Harappans learnt.the use of the plough from the Sumerians. All primitive
ploughs were made of wood, and wood is a perishable material. Hence
there is no possibility of finding an actual wooden plough from a Harappan
site. However, a terracotta model of a plough, 7 X 19.7 centimetres has
been discovered from Mohenjo-daro (Fig. 78) .. This toy plough is kept
in the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay. Its shape is rather peculiar.
There is a.longish beam and the plough breast terminates in a rectangular
manner. There is no indication that it had a handle (munna) for the
ploughman. to hold. .
Apart from the terl'acotta plough toy, there is indirect evidence of the
existence of the plough in the Harappan times. In an earlier chapter,
I hav.e referred· to the site of Kalibangan in. western Rajasthan. Its pre-
Harappan levels have been dated 2450 to 2300 B.a. The people of Kali-
bangan had domesticated cattle, and carried on agriculture. To the
south,..east of the pre-Harappan settlement a ploughed field was discovered
by B. B. La! and B. K. Thapar. This is the earliest ploughed field so far
excavated anywhere in the world. It showed a grid of furrows, with one
set more closely spaced (about 30 centimetres apart) running east-west,
aud the .other widely spaced (about 1.90 metres apart), running no1'th-
south (Fig. 80). Tills. pattern bears a remarkable resemblance to
ploughing as is now carried on in the neighbourhood, where mustard and
gram are grown in two Sets of furrows in the same field. Compare, on
the other hand, the state of agriculture in Europe. In Germany, the
cultivation of small plots with hoes Was still the sole economy down to
about 2000 B.a. .
Allchins, relying on Lambrick, who, according to them, had personal
knowledge of Sind, describe· as follows how crops were grown in the river-
l'ain tract of the Indus. "The principal foodgrains, that is wheat and
l!ARAPPAN AGRICULTURE 157
barley, would have been grown as spring (rab£) crops: that is to say. sown
at the end of the inundation upon land which had been submerged by spill
from the river or one of its natural flood channels, and reaped in March
or April. In modern practice ~uch land is neither ploughed nor manured,
nor dot$ it require additional water. Lambrick remarks that 'the whole
operation involves an absolute minimum of skill, labour and aid of imple-
ments.' Other crops, including cotton and sesamum, would be sown as
autumnal (kharif) : that means they would be Sown at the beginning of the
inundation and harvested at its close, in autumn. For this fields surroun-
ded by earth embankments would be required, most probably along the
banks of natural flood channels. Although this method i~ more precarious
than the former, both exploit the natural fertility of the alluvium, and the
annual inundation. Both systems are still in use."l According to my ex-
perience of cultivation in the riverain areas of the Punjab, when the land
has appropriate moisture or waltar, as it is called, land is ploughed, seed is
SoWn and the soil is smoothened with a plank. The practice followed by
the Harappans could not have been different. For the proper sowing of
crops, soil has to be stirred and seed has to be covered.
SEED-DRILL
S.R. Rao in his monograph, Lothal and the Indus Civilization, has re-
produced a photograph of a seal from Lothal which he feels depicts a seed-
drill (Fig. 79). But its shape is rather unusual for a seed-drill.
'THE WFIEELED CART
Ox-drawn sledges were still be~ng used about 3000 B.C. at Ur to

convey royal corpses to their final resting-place. But long before that
date, the sledge had been tran.8formed by an invention that revolution"
ized locomotion on land. The wheel was the crowning achievement
of prehistoric carpentry; it is the pre-condition of modern machinery,
and, applied to transport, it converted the sledge into a cart or wagon.
Wheeled vehicles are represented in the Sumerian art as early as 3500
B.O., and in northern Syria perhaps even earlier. By 3000 B.C., carts,
wagons, and even chariots were in general use in Elam, Mesopotamia and
Syria.
In the Indus Valley, wheeled carts were in use when the archaeologic
record begins about 2300 B,C. and at about the same date in Turkestan too.
Children's toys from Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Lothal and Chandigarh in"
elude some wheeled carts, which indicates that they were in use in ordinary
life (Fig. 81). Bronze models of carts have also been found at Harappa and
lAlIchins, B. and R. ThB Birt" of Indian CI'vilisation-India and Pakistan before 500 B.C.,
p.261
158 A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE :rn INDIA
Chanhu-daro. These bullock carts had solid wheels. They very much
resemble small carts, called lahiru, which are used for carting farmyard
manure in the villages of Oudh. In Orissa the bullock-carts have solid
Wheels. A toy-cart from Mohenjo-daro had a basket-like body, which
indicates that it was possibly used for carting farmyard manure (Fig. 83).
Excavations at Harappa have revealed cart-ruts, 3 feet 6 inches (1 metre)
in width. The present~day bullock-carts in Sind have the same width
(Fig. 82, right).
BULLOCK-CARTS FROM LOTHAL
A solid wheel of a toy-chariot in alabaster carved with geometric and

other designs, and terracotta toy-carts furnish evidence of the means of
communication in Lothal. Probably, male buffaloes and bullocks were
yoked to the carts. Three main types of bullock-carts were reconstructed
by Rao with the help of the toy-wheels and cart frames found in the excava-
tion at Lothal. The first type has a solid chassis, which is concave or fiat,
The second and third types have a perforated chassis. The third type has,
in addition, a detachable cross-bar. On such a chassis, wooden posts were
fixed to form a box-like frame (Fig. 81, top). Even now, the carts in Gujarat
can'Y such frames formed by interlacing ropes (Fig. 81, bottom). Cotton is
carried in this manner in these carts. The wheels of the Lothal carts were
attached to the free projecting. ends of the axle which was secured with
lc:;atMr straps to the main frame. Lynchpins seem to have held the wheels
in PQ~ition. 'l'he carts with a detachable cross-bar and those with a chassis
made tJP of two Qurved bars Were confined to Saurashtra. Rao believes
that the latter were meant for carrying light loads, whereas the other two
t:ypes Were used for carrying heavy loads.·
Bernal states that the bullock-cart combined two critically important
idea!r-the use ·of animal power and the wheel. "These inventions were
to have enormous material and scientific consequences, The cart and the
plough between them enabled agriculture to be spread over all open plains
and so far beyond the 1imi~ of the old civilizations. The increased possibi-
lities and speed of transport by cart and even more by ship, together with the
.need, to know the sources of valuable materials, led to deliberate exploration
and . to the beginnings of geography."s
PROTE.CTION OF CROPS FROM: WILD ANIMALS AND BIRDS
Here I may as well refer to the wildlife of the Harappan period, as

represented in seals and toys. In some cases, bones of wild animals have
also been recovered, The wildlife consisted of the elephant, rhinoceros,
IRao, S.R .. L~lhal (l1Id 11Ielndus Civilization, p. 123

'Bernal, J.D. Science in History, p. 77
HARAPPAN AGRICULTURE 159
wolf, jackal, nilgai, gaur (Indian bison), wild buffalo and species of deer,
such as the hangul or Kashmir stag, chital, sambhar, barasingha, four-horned
antelope, black buck and hog deer. The sambhar, barasingha and chi/al
were fairly Widespread.
The Harappa toys contain representations of the rhinoceros, the tiger,
and the elephant. There are toys shaped as monkeys, squirrels, mongooses,
snakes, pangolins, wild boar and crocodiles (Fig. 84). From among the birds,
the duck, peacock, hen, kite, pigeon, dove and parakeet are represented in
the toy art.
Out of these wild animals and birds, nilgai, deer of different varieties,
wild boars, and parakeets must be the cause of damage to the crops ofHarap-
pans, as they do even now wherever they are found. How did the Harap-
pans protect their crops? Terracotta sling-balls are found in all Harap-
pan excavations. Possibly, the farmers used these sling-balls for scaring
away pests. The sling is the earliest device by which force and range were
given to the arm of a thrower of missiles. Slings and sling-balls are even
now used by the farmers for protecting the maize crop in the submontane
areas of northern India. A boy armed with a sling standing on a machan
in the midst of a field of maize is not an uncommon sight.
GRANARIES
The best evidence of agriculture in the Harappan areas is in granaries,

which have been discovered at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. Mortimer
Wheeler thus describes the granary at Harappa. "To the north of these
'lines' the ground is littered with a medley of broken walls and floors which
have not been intelligibly planned. Amongst these dis,iecta) however, not
less than seventeen circular brick platforms emerge as a unit. It was built
offour concentric rings ofbricks-on~edge, with fragments of a fifth (or possibly
of packing) round a central hole which had apparently held a wooden
mortar. Fragments ofstraw or husk were found about the centre, and burnt
wheat and husked barley were noticed in the central hollow of one of the
other specimens. There can be little doubt therefore that the platforms
surrounded mortars for the pounding of grain with long wooden pestles, as
in some parts ofIndia today." In Fig. 85 We see two women pounding barley
with wooden pestles in a village home in Haryana. The importance of the
Harappa platforms is their indication that this process was there concentrat-
ed and possibly regimented.
"A hundred yards [91 metres] north of the 'platform' area, and itself
within a hundred yards of the river-bed, lay the remarkable group of grana-
ries which supplies a key to the Whole layout. These granaries, each 50 X
20 feet [15.2 X 6.1 metres] overall> are ranged symmetrically in two rows of
six, with a central passage, 23 feet [7 metres] wide. They are built upon a
podium of rammed mud, Some 4 feet [over 1 metre) high, rivetted along
160 A HISTORY 011 AGRIOULTURE IN INDIA
parts of the eastern and western sides and the whole of the southern and
with baked bricks stepped back to form a battered face, like the rivetment of
the citadel defences. Incidentally, the continuous rivetment along the
southern end and the absence of space at the sides prove that the approach
was on the north, i.e.· from the river~bank, suggesting the use of watcr~
transport for incoming or outgoing supplies of grain.
4'The floors of the individual granaries were carried clear of the ground
on sleeper-walls, three to each unit. In at least two instances, the central
sleeper had rectangular thickenings as though to carry posts or piers for
additional roof~support. The purpose of the sleepers, as in the closely
similar granaries of Roman forts, was to provide intervening air-ducts to
keep the overlying building dry and so to prevent sweating and mildew.
The structures Were entered from the central passage by short flights of
brick steps, and the systematic use of the passage itself for something more
than transit is indicated by the presence in it of a number of carefully laid
brickftoors. As the general level rose outSide the area, the air-ducts beneath
the floors tended to become choked, and accordingly small projecting air-
vents, conducting from the higher level, were added at their outer ends.
The combined floor~space of the 12 granaries was something over 9,000
square feet £S36 square metres], and approximates closely to that of the
Mohenjo~daro Granary as originally planned.
ICWe may glance at the layout of the area as a Whole. Its units consist
of{i)ra::nges ofa barrack~like quarters within a walled compound, (U) serried
lines 6f plattotltis 'apparently for pounding grain, and (iii) a marshalled
ij.r:ray ofunifurtn granaries witllin easy reach of the (former) river."'"
The i$oJinctnc projection of the granary at Harappa can be seen in
Fjg. 86. TheFe is a structural similarity between the Indus granaries and
ali AkkacUan Ilttucture at Susa.
It'seems that trade in the Harappan times was by barter. The seals
were not money, but were starn!) seals, used for stamping packages. They
were carved on steatite, a soft stone. It seems that families of merchants
. had adopted, certain domestic animals as totems. That is why they engrav-
ed their likeness on the seals. From the ruins of a warehouse at Lothal 71
$ealings were. recovered, most of which bear impressions of cloth useri for
packing the cl'I'rgo which was consumed by the fire. Circular plano- convex
pieces of clay, according to B. B. Lai, may be regarded as tokens carried by
merchana Or their messengers.
The granaries also indicate. that payment to labourers was in kind.
As in the Indus Valley, all important cities in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley
had granaries.. A text from Dr implies that one of the granaries stored
enough barley to provide wages for 4,020 days; another text refers to the
4Whee]er, M. TIll Indus Civilization, pp. 32,33

HARAPPAN' AG1UCUL'l'URE 161
commandant of the granary who was responsible for seeing that 10,930
man-days' payment was made out of his store, presumably in barley, to meet
the wages of the workers from the town; the workers included scribes, over-
seers, shepherds and irrigators. Another text refers to royaJ barley, to be
returned with interest, received by Lulamu from the granary of the canal-
bank. All these documents are of c. 21 SO~2000 B.O. Another tablet of the
same period records a harvest gathered from certain fields belonging to
the temple of Nan-she in Lagash. 5
From the size of the granaries it can also be concluded that the peasants
paid their dues to the Government in kind, who, in turn, used it for payments
to employees of various kindg. The artisans, carpenters and others receiv-
ed their wages in kind from the farmers.
Grana~y at Lotltal: A structure standing on a platform and consisting
of 12 blocks of brick forming channels about 26 inches [66 centimetres]
broad and separated by air-ducts was identified by Mortimer Wheeler as
a granary. It seems that agriculture, fishing and trade were the main
occupations of the inhabitants of Lothal. The size of copper fish-hooks
indicates that fish of large size were caught by the fishermen of Lothal
in the rivers.
FOOD CROPS
The Harappans cultivated bread wheat (Triticum aestitJum)~ T.
sphaerococcum, barley (Hordeum vulgare and H. hexastichum), sesame, peas
(Pisum sativum Vat. arvense), melons, date-palm, and species of Bra.uica.
Cotton was an important crop and the centre of origin of Gossypium arboreum
lies in the Indus Valley. These crops are dealt with in the following
account.
Wheat. Among the cereals wheat and barley were recorded from
Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. The association of these two cereals in the
archaeological remains of Mesopotamia, along with other evidence, has
led to the belief that there was some contact between the Indus Valley and
Mesopotamian civilizations. Helbaek has pointed out that wheat and
barley have been cultivated together from the very beginning of village-
farming in western Asia.
Luthra has shown that the wheat recovered from Mohenjo-daro
belongs to Triticum vulgare (T. aestivurn), T. compactum and T. sphaerococcum.
Triticum aestivum, the common bread wheat, T. durum) the macaroni
wheat, and T. dicoccurn, the emmer wheat, are-the three important species
grown in India. T. sphaeracoccum, which was cultivated in the past in the
Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, has now gone out of cultiva-
tion and has been replaced by the more high-yielding bread and macaroni
'Wheeler, M. Th~ lnr/us Civilization, p. 35

wheats. T. compactum was reported to have been cultivated in India

(Howard, 1916).
T. sphaerococcum is a wheat of great antiquity and has been found in the
excavations at MoheI\jo-daro dating back to 2300 B.C. (Fig. 90). I t is suppo-
sed to have originated in the north-western area of the Indian subcontinent.
I t appears that in ancient India the cultivation of T. sphaerococcum was wide-
spread. It has high resistance to drought and this factor has contributed
to its success. T. sphaerococcum appears to be a derivative of T. autivum.
Percival states, 'Like its ally T. compactum, this race T. sphaerococcum
probably arose as a mutant among the progeny of an early hybrid. Its
peculiarly small round grains very closely agree in form and size with
Buschan's T. compactum globiforme, the naked-grained wheat, most commonly
grown in various parts of Europe in Neolithic times, and it is possible that
the race now confined to India is a remnant of an ancient stock.'
Percival again states, 'This race, which I received from India and parts
of Persia, is referred to by Howard to T. compactum Host, but the latter so
far as I am aWare do!::s not occur in India,S
According to Ram Dhan Singh, Vavilov concurred with Percival's
view: Ram Dhan Singh referred to the later extensive work of Ellerton, who
made a world-wide collection of wheat species and cultivars, and says that
though Ellerton's collection did include a specimen of T. sphaerococcum
derived from the Euphrates region of Iraq and Percival's earlier collee·
tion included a sample from Iran, both are considered to be importations
from JncUa. It appears that Wimshurst (1920), who wrote a paper on
wheats an,d barleys of Mesopotamia, held a· similar view. 7
Barley. All barleys, wild and cultivated, belong to the same potenti.
ally interfertile population and are grouped under one species, fIord~um
vulgare. There is now overwhelming evidence to show that barley was
domesticated from a two~row progenitor resembling H. vulgare subsp.
spontaneum in the Near East region around 8000 B.O. (Harlan, 1968, 1969).
The barley culture in India appears to have come from western Asia (the
Near E~t in European terms), and can be followed with fair certainty
across northern India and then southwards (Raikes and Dyson, 1961;
Sankalia, Subharao and Deo) 1953; and Vishnu-Mittre, 1974). The series
ofarchaeological finds from Ur and Mohenjo-daro have now pushed back
the antiquity ofIndia's relations with western Asia to the third millennium
B.O. ,At that time the ancient Indus cities Were in regular and intimate
contact with the Sumerian cities of Iraq (Sen, 1963).8
·Percival,]. The Wheat Plant, G. Duckworth & Co. Ltd, London, p. 463,1921
'Singh, R.D. Triticum sphaerococcum Perc. (Indian Dwarf Wheat), Indian J. Ganet. Pl. Br.
6: 34-1-7, 1946 . .
!Bakshi, J.S. and Rana, R.S. Barl,:)! in Evolutionary Studies in World Crops-Diversity and
Change in the Indian Subcontinent (Ed. Sir Joseph Hutchinson), p. 47
HA'RAPPAN AGRICULTURE 163
A few grains of barley have been found mixed with wheat at MohenJo-
daro and identified by Luthra (1936) as Hordeum vulgare var. nudum. In
low frequency they are also found mixed with wheat at Chanhu-daro
(Vishnu-Mittre, unpublished). The material from Harappa is referred
to as H. vulgare var. /w:astichum (Vats, 194-0). In contrast to the low frequ-
ency of barley found at the above sites, a sizeable quantity was found at
Kalibangan (Fig; 87 1 bottom right). Mohenjo-daro material, as mentioned
above, is dated 1750 B.O. from the late levels, whereas Kalibangan material
is dated to 2090-2075 B.C. (Agrawal and Kusumgar, 1968 a, b). There is
reason to believe that barley was cultivated throughout the Harappan period
from 2300 I1.C. to 1750 B.C.
The Kalibangan materi al consists of small and large grains and some of
them are twisted, indicating that they were produced in two lateral rows
and suggesting that they belonged to the six-rowed barley. The collec-
tion includes both naked and hulled forms.
More or less contemporary with the Harappan civilization, records of
barley have recently been discovered from the Gangetic plain, from Atranji-
khera in Uttar Pradesh dated to 2000-1500 B.a. (Chowdhury, Sa raswat,
Rasan and Gaur, 1971) and from the Neolithic of Chirand, Bihar, estimated
to date from 2500-1800 B.C. D
Thus, although the In.do-Aryans appear to have brought with them
their staple foodgrain (yava), the wheat and barley material of the Indus
people was also adopted by them, generating new variability required for
more intensive cultivation. Itmay well be that barley came to India not
once but On several prehistoric occasions, either through the trade routes or
along with immigrating people.
In the plains and at low altitudes in the hills, only six-rowed hulled
barleys are grown commercially. At higher altitudes; however, where
barley replaces wheat as a staple crop, hull-less six-rowed types are grown. 10
An indirect evidence' of the cultivation of foodgrains, such as wheat
and barley, by the Harappans is provided by terracottas and saddle
querns. In a terracotta from Mohenjo-daro, we see a woman kneading
flour (Fig. 89). This is how wheat-flour is kneaded even at present in
India. In Fig. 88 is shown saddle-quern recovered from the Harappan
settlement, Sector 17, Chandigarh. Sit and vatta are the descendants of
the saddle-quern and are used for grinding spices in Indian homes. Saddle-
querns were possibly used for grinding roasted barley. Roasted barley-
flour mixed with sugar is the sattu, so much relished by the people in the
'Vishnu-Mittre, Palaeobotanical evidence in India, in Evolutionary Studies in World Crops-

DiversilY and Change in 1M Indian Subcontinent (Ed. Sir Joseph Hutchinson), pp. 1B, 19
lOBakshi, J.S. and Rana, R.S. Barley, in Evolutionary,Studies in World Crop,r-Divmity and
Change in the Indian Subcontinent (Ed, Sir Joseph Hutchinson), pp. 47, 48
164 A HISTORY O(AGRraULTURE IN INDIA
INDIA
WHEAT AND DARLEY
GfOGRAPHICA~ DISTRIBUTION OF "ECORDS
lOGHHER WITH DATES IN TH~ INDIAN SUBCONTINENT
• WHEAT
o BARLEY
..
,
~,
I
'- -0
.
'"
Fig. 75. Geog£j!pbiClll distribution of wheat and barley, together with dates, in the Indian
subcontinent
(After Vishnu-Mittre)
,.' I(
INDIA
WHEAT CULTIVATION
".
.................... ,.
.
,
..
I
I,
u to·
"
Fig. 76. Wheat cultivation in the Neolithic period and in the present age
(AfterYishnu.Mittre)
166 A HISTORY OF AGRlOULTURE IN INDIA
Himalayas.
Gram. (Cicerarietinum). Gram (or chana, asit is called in Hindi) is the most
important of Indian pulses. It is grown in the arid areas of the Punjab,
Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh.
Carbonized grains of gram have been recovered from Kalibangan, a
Harappan site in Rajasthan (Fig. 87, top)
Thus we find that all the three major food crops of north~western
India, viz. wheat, barley and gram, were cultivated by the Harappans.
I t is in this very area that they achieved dominance in the cropping system
in due course (Fig. 75).
According to van der Maesenl1, there are 35 wild species of Ciccr
in central and western Asia, one species being endemic in Greece, one
in Ethiopia and one in Morocco. Cicer arietinum (chana) is widely cultivated
in the Indian subcontinent, Iran, central Asia, the Mediterranean countries
and Ethiopia (Fig. 77). It has also been introduced into Mexico, Peru and
Chile.
The chickpea (chana) is one of the oldest and most widely used grains
in the Middle and Far East. In the immediate vicinity of cultivated
chickpea, especially in Turkey and Syria, wild relatives occur, although
not in abundance.. In Iran and Afghanistan, the wild relatives are dis-
tinguished from the cultivated species by differences in morphological
characteristics and the altitude at which they grow.
The earliest-known Qccurrence of chickpea and a specimen, probably
belonging to a wild species of Cicer, Were reported from the Hacilar site
near Burdur in Turkey. The deposits in these layers Were dated by
using the uO method to about 5450 years B.O. (Helbaek, 1970). For
later millennia (c. 3300 B.C. onwards during the Bronze Age) the proof of
its clllti.vation was found in Iraq and at Jericho. The late Bronze Age
specimens of chickpea Were discovered stored in large vessels in Crete.
In India the introduction of chickpea may be attributed to the Harappans,
who Were the earliest to cultivate it.
Peas (Pisum sativum var. arvense). Vats (1940) discovered seeds of peas
(Pisum sativum var. arvensc) from Harappa.
Sesame (til). Historical, philological, botanical and ethnographical
evidences.suggest the possibility of an independent origin of agriculture in
Mdca inthe area near the headwaters of the Niger River. Murdock be-
lieves that the Mande people who inhabited this area were the first to
domesticate sesame.II Botanical evidence also suggests that sesame origi-
U van der Maesen, L.J.G. Cicer L., A MOTl()graph of the Genus, with special reflrmce to the
Chickpea (Cieer arietinuro L.), its Ecology and CultitJation, pp.l, 2 and 11
IIMurdock, G.P. Africa: Its People and their Cultur4 Histrory, Edgar Anderson, in Evolution
qfter Darwin
Fig. 77. Distribution of the genus Citu and the main areas of cultivation of C. arietinum in the
Old World. The dotted line encloses the areas where the species of genua Cieer are found.
The contin\l.()\l& line encloses the areas where C. anetinurn is cultivated
(Mter L.J.G. van der Maesen)
168 A lIlSTORY 01i' AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
natcd in Africa. l3
The recovery ofa lump of charred sesanlC by Vats at Harappa suggests
that it was cultivated by thc Indus Valley people. They are likely to have
received it from Africa direct or vin Mesopotamia. Botanical evidence
shows an early spread of scsarnc from Africa to India via the Sabaean
Lane. a
In Sumer, sesam.e WDS frequently men.tioned as Sc-gis-m.i in the clay
tablets, beginrling f1'orn the third dyn;\sty ofUr. It was perhaps introduced
there directly from Africa. Both Lothal and Mohenjo-daro people had
trade relations with the Sum. dans and this might have led to the intro-
duction. of sesame. Once growll i.n India, SegaIne ent.ered the Indian die~
and cookery to such an extent that we hardly feel that it call1.C [rOlll Africa.
From India it sprcad to China.
Rape. Thc Brassicas culti.vated in India are of the olcifl:rous types,
belonging to two species, BrClssica camjJcstris and B. ,iuncea. B. campeslris
has given rise in India to three distinct cultivars: brown, sarS01/, yellow sarson
and toria. They are cultivated in rather distinct ecogcographical areas,
and may be regarded as ccotypes. Collectively, they arc known in
India as l'UpC, and they constitutc an important oilseed crop. B. juncea is
more vigorous, and is an important oilseed crop. It is known in India
as mustard.
B. campestris occurs wild as a wecd frOlll western Europe to easterll
China. The Indian rapes [<111 geographically midway in the va::;t geo-
graphical distribntion of the species. The wild, tmspcciali7.etl primitive
rape became a weed of culLivati.on, and gave rise to a range of cultivars
as a result of three different types of selection in the three Tnain regions of
its habitat. In the West, selection for root devclopmcnt gave rise to the
turnip. In the Far East, selection for leafy vegetables yielded the great
divcl'sity of Chinese cabbages that arc classified as B. pl!kincnsis and n.
chinensis (Herklots, 1972). In the Inid-region, in India, selection for oil
content gave the three oleiferous races, brovvll and yellow sarson and toria.
All these types arc cross-compatible and they belong, in Harbcrd's terms,
to the same eytodeme. The Indian oleifcrous group appears to have been
developed by the differentiation of the brown sarson stock. According to
Russian workers, and also according to Singh (1958), ea.stern Afghanistan
and the adjoining areas of Pakistan and north-western India may be re-
garded as its centre of origin. From this ccntrc, yellow sarson arose through
the selection orthe yellow-seeded types that were considered to be ofsupcrior
quality. Toria arose in response to selection for adaptability to the
l:lJoshi, A.B. Sesamrlm. leAR

HMehra, K.L. 'History of Sesame in India and its Cultural Significance', m Vis/we-
JhlJllra/w.I~d 11ldological Journal, Vol. V, I't i
l'ig. 78. Plough> ten'acotta, 7 X 19 .7 Clll. Mohenjo-dill 0, c. 2300 B.C.

(Courtesy: Pr·j nce of ''\1 al ('5 M L1SCUITI, Eom ba y)
Fig. 79. A seal from Lothal w ith a

picture of a sct:d-d,.ilj
(After S.R. Rao)
170 A i-JISTORY OF Ac1uc LT kE 11 r DrA
Fig, 80, Fun'ow marks of ploughed land on the south ern side of KLB 2,1 alib:lltgan, Raj a-
sthan (loP)
(Courtesy : Archat'ologlcal Survey of Illdia )
Tilt' present-day method of ploughing (hol/olll) vpry mllch rc.'('mhles Ih !' anciellt one
IIARAPPAN GRICULTUR E 171
Fig. 81. Terracotta toy-carts fl'om Lothnl

(Afte r S .R. Rao)
172 A HISTORY OF AGRIClJl.'l'tJRE IN I NDIA
F ig. B<!, A luy-clll't Crolll lIul'appa with ~plicl

wht:els (11:fi , tIlJ} ) , lind rl'al\\\' or the toy-cart
(/iji, b()/I ()III)
(Courtesy: Ardl'lcoillgica l Surveyor India)
The bullock-cart ill th e pr 'st' nt-day Sind (right )
is lIut liu n : lIIo "d !"!'(Im the H r.rappa n carl
Fig, B3. A toy- art. [roll1 IvIuhl~njc-dal'O. I twas jlmsilJly u sed fill'
cnrting manure
(Courtesy: ationu11Iuseum, N 'w De lhi )
IIARAPPAN AGRIC:UL'l' RE 173
Fig. 8 'L Toy. modelled 011. wild animals, dep: tin 6 hare, tiger, pnngolin, Illonke}' ,
cmcodilc and vild boat'
(Afler Mackay)
174 J\. TllSTORY U1" AGRICLTLT£TH.E IN INDIA
Fig, HS, Women poullding barky

with wood en p{'s ll cs in a village
horne in Haryana, The stone 1110rt.<'lf
is embedded in the Ooor. In thl: (on:-
grmmd is a.cMlIlj for winnowing husk,
(CoUl'tcsy: H, K. Gorkh a, Indian
Ag rie ul Lm'al Research Institute)
Fig. 86. I sometric proj ections of the g t'eat g ra t1 ary, Harappa

(Courtesy: Archaeological S U['vey of Indi a)
CQNJFCTURAL Rf.STORATION OF S10RE , ROOM NO v HARAPPA

OF WFSTFRN RI OC¥ W I TH GAL I. FRY NO. " MOUND F
I SOMETR IC PROJECT ION Of
T H E GREAT GRA NAR Y FROM SOUTH-EAST
-'
WOODEt.
FLOORING
AlB HOLE S
HARAPPAN ACHUCUJ ,TtTRE J 7S
Fig. 87. Carbonized grains of Ciccr ariclillum [rom a Harappan site, Kalibangan, RrljasLhan
(top). Carbonized gra ins of Triticum sp 1wcrocoCCIl11! hom it Hal'appan sitc, 1Vlohclljo-daI'o,
Sind (bottom, lq.fl). Carbonizcd grains of Ifordl!lllll sp., li'om a Hal'appan site, Kalibangan,
Raj asthan (bottom, 1-igltt)
(After Vishnu-Mittl'c)
Fig. 88. A saddlc-qucrn recovered from a Hal'<lppan Fig. 89. A tC1Taeotta C!'om
settlement, St~ctoI' 17, Chan.digarh, c. 2200 ]l.C. Mohcnjo-daro, showing a
(Courtesy: 'Museum of Rural Lilc of the Punjab, woman kncadiug Hour
Punjab Agricultural University, Ludh iana) (Courtesy: National
tvIuscum, N~:w D e lhi)
17G A JJ ISTORY OF A(mJC1JL'fUlm IN TNl)lA
,!
I
•
'/,,1
" .~
- ........ --.'I-,__.~
.. I
Fig, ~JO, Carbrllliz('d \\'1'(':11 gl'n ill~ from I\lllhcnjn-daro dated 10 17!i5 ll.r' , by lie m ·thod.
They ('om pare \\'ith lho~t' of Tl'iliClII1I ,\Iilmeroco((/I/Ir
( COU I·tl'S), : ;[,lIelics l.\lll, cum, Indiall Agol iCIIIIlII'al RI'. e!ll'ch Instilule. <!w D elhi)
HARAPPAN ACRYCUL TURI!. 177
Fig. 91 . St'eds of Illll stard froJlI Chan llll-d a rn , Sind

(CoUl' le~y : Cenetics l\lUSt' lllll , Indian Agricultllra l J{ csral'ch Imlilllil" , New Delhi )
Fig. !:I2. A plant of Gos,!.vpium "rlio/cum wi.th open bolls. 'l'hi:3 roUon plant was
known to the Hal'appalls
(Courtesy: Indian AgriculturaL Reseal'cll Institute, New Delhi)
IIARAPPAN AGRICULTURE 179
ecological situations of Benga], Bihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and the

Punjab. 15
Sarson oil is used in India for cooking. It is a]so used fbr massage, and
it is believed to strengthen the skin and to keep it cool and healthy. With
camphor it forms an ec-ficacious embrocation in cases of muscular
rheumatism, stiff nec\c, etc. The oil is used for lighting, and the oilcake
is a favourite cattle feed. The seeds mixed with hot water form an efficient
counter-irritant poultice. The tender leaves and shoots are relished as
sag, a favourite food of the Punjabis.
The seeds of Brassica }wzcea have been recovered fi'om Chanhu-daro,
a Harappan site in Sind. A sample of it is preserved in the Genetics
:rvruseum of the Indian Agricultural Research Institure, New Delhi (Fig.
91) .
The Harappans at Surkotada in Kutch had found diverse uses of the
seeds of several kinds of grasses, sedges, cheno-amaranths, portulacas, and
polygonums, perhaps for medic inal purposes or to feed the birds (Vishnu-
Mittre and Savithri, 1973-74; Savithri, 1976).
COTTON
The Indus Valley civilization is the earliest to have spun and woven cott~
ons. The Babylonian and Greek names for cotton, Sindhll and Sindon, rcspec~
Lively, point to the Indus Valley as the home of cotton. A statuctte o{ a
man from Mohenjo-daro shows him wearing textilcs (Fig. 63). The first
sample of cotton materi~l was a small fragment of cloth found by D.R.
Sahni from Mohenjo-daro. It was found clinging to the side of a silver
vase, and was dyed red with madder. Its preservation was due to a
fortunate accident, viz. the formation of silver salts from the silver of the vase.
Turner and Gulati, of the Technological Laboratory of the Indian Central
Cotton Committee, who examined the sample, concluded that it was un-
doubtedly made of cotton fibre, the typical convoluted structure of cotton
being plainly visible. Another sample was received from Mohenjo-daro,
viz . small pieces of string found attached to some pottery. The string was
found to be 24'-fold cotton yarn. The fibre-weight, the number of convolu~
tions, the ribbon~width and the fibre-rigidity of the san"lple were strikingly
similar to those of the coarse Indian cottons of the arboreum, Izcrbaceum and
ind~'cltm types. Turner and Gulati concluded that this early coarse cotton
had been produced from a plant closely related to one of Watt's arbol'eum
types.
Tn Gossypium arboreum, commonly known as the desi cotton, wild and
weedy types have been recorded fi-om Kathiawar, Gujarat, Khandcsh and
the Deccan. They are perennial, and arc hence known as tree-cottons. In
15Narain, A. Rape and mustard, in Evolutionary Studies in World Crops-Diversity and
Challge iii the Indian Subcolltillmt (Ed . Sir Joseph Hutchinson), pp . 67, 68
O. herbaceum, wild and weedy types are known from the coastal strip to
the north-west of Karachi, through northern Baluchistan to south Yemen,
Ethiopia and the Sudan, and even to western Africa to the south of the
Sahara.
The perennial forms of Gossypium herbaceum race accrifolium and the
perennial fOlms of Gossypium herbaceum race indicum are morphologically
very much alike, e.'(cept for differences in their fruiting parts. Genetically
also. Gossypium herbaceum and Gos.!ypium arboreum are very close.
In Gossypium arboreum, two types of perennial cotton were collected by
Watt (1907). One of these groups of perennial cotton belonged to the
race indicum of peninsular India. They were considered to be one of the
primitive perennial forms. The so-called Rozi cottons are the cultivated
forms of this perennial cotton. All the annual forms ofGossypium arboreum
cultivated at present are the derivatives of these indicum perennials.
The other perennial forms of this species belonged to the race bur-
manicum distributed in Assam and Burma.
The Harappans not only grew cotton, but also devised methods of
ginning, spinning and weaving it into cloth. Considering the age when
it was achieved, it was a great technological advance.
Cotton cloth seems to be the Harappans' main export to Mesopotamia.
From the Mesopotamians they got woollen garments and silver in exchqnge.
The Indus civilization had boats with sails. A terracotta amulet from
MoheyUo-daro shows a boat with two birds known as Dishakaka. Sailors
in those days slowly sailed, hugging the coast.line, and they usually carried
shore-sighting birds, e.g. crows, doves and swallows. 'When the ship was
out of sight efland, they would set the shore-sighting bird free and it would
go to the East, to the.8outh, to the West and to the North and to the inter-
mediate points and rise aloft. If on the horizon it caught sight of land,
thither it would go. But if not, it would return to the ship.'16
FRUITS
Date-palm (Phoen;x sylvestris). Two faience sealings, shaped like a
date seed, suggest the familiarity of the people of Harappa with the date-
palm (Vats, 1940).
Lotus, Pomegranate, Lemon and Coconut. There is a represent-
ation oflotus fruit in toys from Harappa. Earthenware vases shaped like
a pomegranate and a coconut suggest that these fruits Were known to
the people of Harappa. A pendant shaped like a lemon leaf suggests its
presence at Harappa (Vats, 1940).
Melon. A few vestiges of seeds comparable with those of melon are
lISrivastava, B. Dishakllka on a terracotta amulet from Mohenjo.daro, Indian IlISt. Adv.
Studils, Seminar. Simla, Nov. 1977
known from Harappa. The seeds were too brittle to be lifted up (Vats,
1940).
INCREASE IN POPULATION
Technological innovations which lead to an increase in food production
and its secure supply also result in an increase in population. More people
are required for agriculture than for hunting and fishing. Kosambi esti·
mates that the most efficient hunting and food-gathering can hardly support
one person per square kllometre, pastoral life can support three, but agri.
culture about a hundred.
Grahame Clark estimates the population of England and Wales at
250 human beings in upper Palaeolithic, 4,500 in Mesolithic, 20,000 in the
Neolithic, and about 40,000 in the second millennium B.C. during the
Bronze Age. No estimates are available for India, but there is no doubt
that in the Harappan area the new techniques of plough cultivation and
irrigated farming led to a substantial increase in population.
USE OF WOOD AND DEFORESTATION

Here, a reference may be made to the use of wood by the Harappans.
The oldest record of the use of wood, in the Indian region, is from Harappa
proper and from the sites of Harappan culture in Gujarat. At Harappa, de-
odar (Cedrus deodara) and rosewood (Dalbergia latiJolia) were used for coffins.
Other wood remains found at Harappa Were of a wooden mortar (Ziziphus
mauritiana; syn. ,z. jrduba) for pounding grains. The Harappans in Kutch
used timber of Tamarix, Albizzia, teak, Pterocal'jJus santalinus, Soymida
febriJuga and Adina cordiJolia, possibly for agricultural implements, carts,
axles, axe handles, oil presses, grain·pounders, turnery, tanning and dyeing
and for fuel (Savithri, 1976). The choice of these woods for specific
purposes shows not only the knowledge of where the trees grow but also of
the characteristic qualities of the woods used. The charred timbers
recovered from Lotha1 in Gujarat were Acacia sp., Albizzia sp., Teetolla
grandis, Adina cordifolia and Soymida febriJuga.
According to Wheeler, one of the major factors of the decline and fall
of the Harappan culture was the widespread deforestation of the surrounding
region to meet the demands of firewood for baking millions of bricks used
for the building of the city of Mohenjo-daro. Large-scale use of wood
for baking pottery, smelting metals, and as domestic fuel further depleted
the fore'its. The building of houses and ships also made demands on the
forest reserves. The clearing of land for cultivation and grazing by
domestic animals were other biotic factors which led to the destruction
of vegetation. This is how man pays the price of cultural advance and
civilization. Eastward shifts of the edge of the south-western monsoon
has been suggested by Piggott as the cause of increasing aridity. The final
blow was, in all likelihood, delivered by the energetic Aryan nomads who
massacred the inhabitants. On the topmost level of the city, skeletons of
men, Women and children, bearing axe or sword cuts, have been discovered.
Though the Harappan cities were destroyed by the invaders, the achieve-
ments of the Harappan culture, viz. the use of copper and bronze, pottery,
the plough, the bullock-cart and irrigated farming were adopted by the
Aryans. .
REFERENCES
Allchin, R. and Bridget. Th6 BirtJ, oj Indian Civilization, Pelican, 1968
Anderson, E. Euo/ution qfter Darwin, Chicago, 1960
llakshi,J .S. and Rana, R.S. Barley, in Evolutionary Studies in World Crops-Diversity and Cftallge
in the Indian Subcontinent (Ed. Sir Joseph Hutchinson), London, 1974
Bernal, J.D. Science in History, London, 1954
Hutchinson, J. (Ed.) Evolutionary Studies in World Crops, London, 1974
Lal, B.B. Perhaps the Earliest Ploughed Field so far Excavated Anywhere in the World,
Puratatlva, New Delhi,1971
Lal, B.B. The 1m/us Script.' Some Observations Based on: Archaeology
Mehra, K.L. History of Sesame in India and its Cultural Significance, in Vislwes/waranand
InaIllogical Jour., Vol. V. 1967
Mehra. K.L. History and Ethnobotany of Mustard in India, in Advancing Frontiers of Plant
SciencBJ, Vol. 19, 1967
Murdock, G.P. Afri~a: its People and their Cultural History, Ncw York, 1959
Narain, A. Rape and mu&tard, in Evolutionary Studies in World Crops-DifJersily (md Change in:
the Indian Subcontinent (Ed. Sir Joseph Hutchinson), London, 1974-
Percival, J. Th, Wheat Plan!, London, 1921
Rae, M.V. Wheat, In Evolutionary Studies in World Crops-Diversity and Change in th, Indian
8uhcontin~nl (Ed. Sir Joseph Hutchinson), London, 1974
Rao,8,R. Lothal and the Indus Civilization, Bombay, 1973
Salltharuun, y. and :Hutchinson,J .B. Cotton, in Evaloutionary Studies in World Crops-Diversity
ana Chalrge in llu Indian Subcontinent (Ed. Sir Joseph Hutchinson), London. 1974
Singh, R,D. Tritirnm sphaerococcum Perc. (Indian Dwarf Wheat), Indian J, Genet. PI. Br.
6: 84-47, 1946
Srivastava, B. Dishakaka on an Amulet from Mohenjo-daro, Indian Inst. Adv. Studies, Semi-
na" Simla, 1977
Thapar,B.K. Digging up the Past-Some Reeent Archaeological Finds, Times of India
Annual, 1977
The Wealth of India, A Dictionary of Indian Raw Materials and Industrial Products:
Raw Materials, Vol. I, Delhi, 1948
Turner, A.J. and Gulati, A.N. The Early History of Cotton. Agric. Jour. India Vol. 24,1929
Vuhnu~Mittre. Palaeobotanical Evidence in India, in Evolutionary Studies in World Crops-
DiversifY ilJld Change in the Indian Subcontinent (Ed. Sir Joseph Hutchinson), London,1974
Wheeler, M .._T7u I~dus Civilization, Cambridge, 1968
CHAPTER 14
DOMESTIC ANIMALS OF THE HARAPPANS

AND POULTRY AND FISH
ON the seals from Harappan sites are depicted contemporary wild and domes-
ticated animals whose actual remains in the form of bones have also been
recovered from the excavations. The inference from the fauna is that the
climate waS more humid. It provided an environment for the rhinoceros,
the tiger, the water-buffalo, the sambhar, and the elephant to thrive, none
of which now exists in wild form in the region. Domestic animals included
humped bull (Bos indicus) , Indian buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), goat (Capra
hircus) , sheep (Ovis orientalis), pig (Sus scrofa cristatus), one-humped Indian
camel (Camelus dromedarius), ass (Equus asinus), and at least two types of dog,
one referable to the modern pariah-dog, Canis tenggeranus harappenis, and the
other to a mastiff type. The cat from Harappa (Felis ocreata r. domestica)
resembled the common European domestic cat in appearance.
The domestication of animals is closely linked with agriculture. The
development of animal husbandry without crop-raising is impossible.
This fact is proved from archaeological excavations which show that animal
husbandry and agriculture occur together. The large ruminants, such as
cattle and buffalo, possibly came as crop-robbers to the fields of the farmers
of the river-civilization of Sind and the Punjab in the pre-Harappan phase.
They were. captured by the farmers and ended up as domesticated beasts in
their pens. The pig is also a crop-l'obber, and even. now it is a pest in
sugarcane fields in northern India.
There is a close link of vegetation, animals, and man. Domesticated
animals provide man with food in the shape of meat and milk and power.
Their power value was probably more important than their food value,
and the degree of development of an ancient civilization is closely related to
the relative efficiency of the domesticated animals available in the country
concerned. The Red Indians of North America and the aborigines of
Australia had no other animal available to them than the dog, and hence
they remained in a primitive hunting stage for centuries when others had
gone far ahead. The Indians of Mexico, Central America, Peru and
Bolivia domesticated the llama and alpaca for transport and developed a
much higher type of civilization, the Maya culture, as compared with their
kinsmen in North America. However, there were no draught animals in
the Americas, and their agriculture was ploughless. They depended upon
the use of spades and digging sticks for the cultivation of crops. Bullocks,
asses, elephants, horses and camels are more efficient than llamas and alpacas
and hence the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Indian civilizations were
184 A HISTOR.Y OF AGRICULTUR.E IN INDIA
far ahead of the Meso-American civilization. Bullocks, baffaloes, asses,

elephants, horses, goats, sheep, and camels have played a great role in the
development of civilization in early stages. They provided animal power
which supplemented the human muscle power, thus relieving man of drud-
gery, and providing him with surplus food, on account of which a leisure
class arose which could think of higher things. .
Mammals domesticated for draught, milk and meat are cattle, gaur,
and the buffalo.
DOMESTIC ANIMALS
Seals and clay toys from Mohenjo-daro depict a variety of domesti-
cated cattle.. It is noteworthy that only bulls are depicted on the seals
and not cows. Out of these, the most prominent is a zebu, with an enorm-
ous dewlap with folds (Fig. 94, middle row, left). Out of the present-day
breeds. it resembles the Kankrej, which is found in the Tharparkar District
in Sind, and also in Gujarat (Fig. 95, bottom). Kankrej is the heaviest of Indian
breeds, with a powerful body, a broad chest, and a well-developed hump.
The skin of the males is silver grey, iron grey or even black. The dewlap is well
developed and the sheath is pendulous. The forehead is broad, and horns
are curved and covered with skin to a comparatively higher point. Bullocks
are powerful draught animals, and cows are fairly good milkers. A silver
grey Kankrej bull and a cow from Kathiawar are shown in Fig. 96. The
animals are grey and their horns are enormous. It is interesting to note the
survival of an ancient breed from Mohenjo-daro down to the present in
India and Pakistan.
There IS a toy depicting a hUmped bull, with short thick horns
(Fig. 94, bottom row, mMdle). It resembles the Red Sindhi bull (Fig. 99,
toP)·
There is a humpless bull with moderately curved horns and a strong
neck with folds (Fig. 94, top rOWJ lift). It greatly resembles the gaur (Bos
gaUrus),which is even now found in the jungles of Madhya Pradesh, north
of the Narmada River (Fig. 97, bottom). It has no dewlap. The bull
shown in the seal also resembles the Maithon (Mithun) found in Assam,
. which does not have a hump or a dewlap.
There is another variety of a humpless bull, usually represented with a
single hom which has been unfortunately nicknamed unicorn (Fig. 94, middle
row, centre right). There are many seals which show this breed. In fact, 312
seals out of 387 excavated from Mohenjo-daro in the first exploration depict
this animaL The largest number of seals from Lothal have the image of the
urus bull. Only a few have the figure of the Kankrej zebu bull. Rao states,
IIWhereas no figure of cow was found at Harappa and Mohe~o-daro two
IIpecimens Were recovered from Lothal. One of them has short forward-
projecting horns and a low hump. The udders and genital organs are
HARAPPAN DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND BIRDS 185
clearly indicated."l Seals from Surkotada in Gujarat and Kalibangan in

Rajasthan also bear the image of this animal. This indicates that it was a
favourite animal of the Harappans and was found in Sind, Gujarat and
Rajasthan. The head is drawn in a profile; that is why only one horn is
shown. In some of the composite figures, two horns are shown. This
animal has cloth-covering or a jhul on its back, and in front of it is an ela-
borate type of manger. These are some indications of domestication. It
resembles Bas primigenius, or aurochs, as depicted in the caveS of Lascaux,
south-western France. The horns are forward-pointing, with tips slightly
turned upwards. The aurochs from Pleistocene onwards was found in
Europe, North Africa, Egypt, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Iran and Baluchi-
stan. The European domesticated cattle are the descendants of Bos primi-
genius. Its domestication was undertaken before 4000 B.C. 'In the Siwaliks
a Bas acutiftans occurs, which Pilgrim regards as the possible ancestor of the
Pleistocene wild cattle, i.e. of both Bos namadicus of India and of Bos primi-
genius of Europe. An A.siatic origin of the group, according to Zeuner, is
altogether likely since the aurochs is either very rare or altogether absent in
the lower Pleistocene of Europe. It became fairly frequent in the Great
Interglacial, but not abundant until after the end of the Ice Age. With
no ancestral forms known from anywhere in Europe, this increase in
the frequency of wild cattle looks very much like an invasion from
elsewhere) attempted repeatedly and succeeding finally in the Holocene.
By this time the species had spread as far west as Spain and Morocco and
eastwards to China and Siberia'.2 .
The aurochs became extinct in Europe in the middle of the nineteenth
century. Zeuner has reproduced a picture of an auroch published in1827
(Fig. 98, bottom). When we compare the aurochs from the caves of Lascaux,
the seal of the so-called unicorn from Mohenjo-daro and the picture of the
last surviving aurochs, no doubt is left that the bull shown in seals u'om
Mohenjo-daro and other Harappan sites also represents aurochs (Bas
primigenius) .
The zebu is a characteristically Indian breed characterized by a promi-
nent hump on the shoulder, a long face, upright horns, drooping ears, small
brow-ridges, a dewlap and slender legs. Its colour varies from white to
grey and black. The hump of the zebu is an enlarged muscle and not just
a store of fat. The hump is a genetically fixed character already well
deVeloped in the calf at birth. Apart from the hump, in colour, voice and
habits the zebu differs greatly from European cattle. Possibly, the zebu
is a direct descendant of Bos namadicus, which was found wild in India
throughout the Pleistocene.
IRao, S.R. Lotnal and ths Indus Civilization, p. 50

IZeuner, F.E. A History qf Domesticated Animals, p. 203
186 A HISTORY OF. AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
The earliest representation of zebu is in a rough figurine from the

earlier Halafian period at Arpachiyah in northern Mesopotamia which
dates back to 4500 B.C. Zeuner remarks, "That the oldest find should be
Mesopotamian may be regarded as an archaeological accident, for sub.
sequent ones point to India, and indeed have been regarded as evidence
for Indian contacts with the Mesopotamian civilization."3
At Mundigak, in Afghanistan, humped bull figurines occur from
period I onwards. AlIchins remark that these figurines provide the earliest
evidence so far ofthe domestication of Bas indicus.'
This also indicates that the domestication of zebu in Afghanistan, Sind
and Baluchistan must have taken place as early as 4000 B.C.
Apart from seals, bones of cattle have been found in Mohenjo-daro.
The presence of the bones of calves indicates that their flesh was eaten by
the people of Mohel\io-daro.
"The very considerable frequency with which the remains of Bos
indicus have been met with during the excavations indicates that the inhabi-
tants of Mohenjo-daro at one stage or other of their history maintained
large herds of this animal:' observes Marshall. "In quite a large number
of cases the teeth indicate that the animal from which they were derived
was young; for instance> in the case of the third molars there has, in many
cases, been but little wearing down of the tooth surface, while in a few
instances this tooth has only just been erupted. This would appear to
indicate that the inhabitants slaughtered these animals for food, and it
is possible that this may also provide the explanation of the total absence
in the collection orany complete long bone belonging to this species; pro-
• bably such bones were split in order to obtain the marrow."1S
It seeJ;nS that the zebu cattle Were originally domesticated in the moun-
tainoull regions of the "Baluchistan and Afghanistan. Zebu' cattle have
aversion for water and never bathe in ponds, whereas thebuff'alo takes
delight in WallOWing in mud and swimming in ponds. The preference of
the zebu for dry land and its aversion for water indicates its origin in a dry
mountainous environment.
The. domestication of zebu cattle in Afghanistan, Baluchistan and Sind
was a most important step. taken by man in the development of agriculture.
The zebus can withstand high temperature, and are resistant to many
tropical diseases. They have played a useful role in the development of the
cattle population in the tropical areas of China, Indonesia, the Philippines,
Africa, and recently in southern United States of America, Australia and
Brazil (Fig. 93). In India alone there are 178.3 million zebu cattle. They
IZeuner. F.E. A History of Domesticated Animals, p. 239

·Alkhin, R. and B. The Birth of Indian CirJili'zation, p. 258
-Marshall,J. Mohenjo.darQ and the l/ldus Civilization, Vol. II, p. 669
HARAPPAN DOMESTIO ANIMALS A.ND BIRDS 187
.: 0
", ~,
\0,'(,f.;.~"
.' ...'. )~
" I
'. 'J
OZESU
& 2EeU RECENTLY
C5 IN1RDOUCED
2j o
Fig. 93. Distribution of zebu cattle in the world. The home of the zebu cattle is the Indian
subcontinent. It hall been recently introduced into Braz·iJ and the southern USA
provide draught for ploughing land, and for carting produce. They provide
milk and meat for consumption of human beings. Their hides Were used
in the past for ~nufacturing shields as well as shoes. Their dung and
urine are used as manure to fertilize the crops. As beasts of burden
and of traction, they still play an important role in the agriculture of Asia.
In the pre-agricultural phase, and in early agriculture, reliance was entirely
on human muscle-power. The cattle relieved human beings of a great
drudgery.
The Buffalo (Bubalus hubalis). Buffaloes belong to the order Artio-
dactyla, suborder Ruminantia, family Bovidae, tribe Bovini. Within the
Bovini, Bohlken (1958) distinguishes three groups-Bovina (cattle), Bubalina
(Asian buffalo) and Syncerina (Mrican buffalo)-among which no inter-
breeding appears to be possible. The domestic buffalo was given the
specific name hubalis by Linnaeus. According to Bohlken's terminology,
it should be called Bubalus amee forma hubalis.
The Indian buffalo is thinly haired; it is dark ashy grey, almost black.
The legs are thick and short. It is of heavy build, and has large hoofs, a short
tail, a large wide muzzle, and a long head, which is carried low. The neck
is short and thick, with the head set at the same level as the back and at a
peculiar angle) indi~ating its water· dwelling habit. The forehead is fiat,
and the large and angulated horns are black. Two distinct types of horns-
the one sharply and regularly curved, and the other extending straight
outwards for a considerable distance-exist) these representing either
distinct local races or dimorphic phases of the species. Horns are angular
in section. A pale-brown variety occurS in Assam.
The buffalo generally reaches maturity at about three years, calves
for the first time at about four years, and breeds up to 16 or 20
years of age, usually at intervals of about 16 to 18 months. The gestation
period is lOt months. The body temperature of the buffalo is normally
lower than that of cattle and this lower temperature may account for its
heat-tolerance coefficient.
According to Baini Prashad, the Indian buffalo is the lineal descendant
of the gigantic Bubalus palaeindicus of the Pliocene, fossils of which have
been recovered from the gravels of the Narmada and the topmost beds of
the Siwaliks. With the remains of the extinct buffalo, Bubalus palaeindicus,
stone implements were also found in the valleys of the Godavari and the
Narmada by Rutimeyer, which shows that it was a contemporary
of man.
In the Pleistocene Period, the genus Bubalus was widely distributed in
Europe and soutb::rn Asia, as is evident from skeletal remains from some
parts of' Europe. When the climate became drier, it was restricted to
India, Indochina and somo of the south-east Asian islands. The European
buffalo of today was reintroduced from the East in its domesticated
form.
According to Duerst, Bubalus palaeindicus was hunted by ancient inhabi-
tants of Iran and Mesopotamia about 3800 B.C., when Sargon ruled over
Accad.
There are now three wild buffalo species in Asia which have appeared
sufficiently distinct to attract individual names. These are the anoa of
Celebes, the tamarao of Mindoro and the arni or Indian wild buffalo. Only
the last has been domesticated. Duerst regards the anoa buffalo of Celebes,
Bos depressicomis, as the most primitive buffalo which is connected with the
Ind1an buffalo through the Mindoro buffalo, Bos mindorensis, of the Philip-
pines. It is probable that the local varieties of buffalo were domesticated
in different places where ¢ey were found. The present restriction of the
Indian buffalo to the Oriental region is probably due to desiccation of
north-western Asia;
'The Indian wild buffalo, Bubalus arnee, receives its specific name from
the Hindi ami, of which the masculine is arna. Its present distribution is
northern India, and possibly also Sri Lanka and the region of Indochina.
The ami lives in large herds in thick reeds, rushes or grass jungles; they are
closely bound tov{ater (Fig. lO I) and spend much of the day in wallows 6 •
As late as the beginning of the nineteenth century, wild buffaloes were
common in the marshes and jungles of the Indian subcontinent, east of
longitude 80° E, and north of the Godavari River, but excluding the
Ganges plain itself. Their number has now been reduced by the spread of
cultivation and consequent habitat destruction, together with hunting and
disease, to some 1,400 in six isolated areas, chiefly reserves in Assam,
a few herds in the Kosi River area of Nepal, and 400-500 in the Bastar
District of southern Madhya Pradesh and the Koraput District of Orissa
(Daniel and Grubh,1966).
The wild buffalo is a very large animal, standing 150-170 em at the
shoulders, and it can reach 200 em and a weight of nearly 1,000 kg.
It is grey black, dark grey or dark brown; usually the muzzle and the legs
below the knee are light grey, and there are distinctive white or grey chevron
markings on the neck and above the brisket. The horns are very large and
widely separated from each other at the base. They leave the skull side-
ways, forming an angle of about 1300 with eaeh other, and curve round in the
shape of a sickle or in a crescent, with the tips pointing inwards (Fig. 101).
There used to be a variety in Assam with long straight horns curved only at
the tip (Fig. 104). The horns diverge little from the plane of the face; those
of the female are more slender and often longer than those of the male.
They average over 60 em in length,?
ThewiId buffalo is found in Assam, Sunderbans, the Himalayan Tarai,
Orissa and the Raipur District of Madhya Pradesh and in Sri Lanka. Blan-
ford suspects that those from Sri Lanka are not truly wild, and are descen-
dants of escaped animals. However, the long horns of the wild buffaloes
of Assam indicate their authenticity as truly wild animals (Figs 101, 104).
In a bronze toy showing a buffalo on wheels, from Daimabad,
Ahmednagar District, Maharashtra, c. 1300 B.a., the horns retain their
primitive character (Fig. .103). Long horns are still found in some of the
inferior breeds, e.g. the Nagpuri buffalo (Fig. 102). The Surti buffalo
also has long, spreading, thick horns which is, indeed, a primitive character
(Fig. 100, top). The best breed of buffalo is the Murrah of the Punjab
and Haryana, with curled horns and a capacious udder (Fig.100, bottom).
There are two well-defined ecological types of buffalo, namely swamp
buffalo and the river buffalo. The swamp buffalo is the denizen of
marshland, where it wallows in the mud and feeds on coarse marsh grass
and reeds. These buffaloes sink up to their bellies in muddy water and
'Mason, I .L. Species, Types and Breeds, in The Hushandry aud Health of the Domestic Buffalo
(Ed. W.R. Cockrill), pp. 1,3,5
IMason, I.L. Species Types and Breeds, in The Husbandl)1 and Health of the Domestic Bliffa!o
(Ed. W.R. Cockrill) pp. 4, 5
cover their bodies with mud as a protection against sun and flies. They
are also nocturnal. The river~type buffalo is the one found throughout
India and Pakistan and prefers clean water-rivers, irrigation canals and
ponds-in which to wallow. This type has been specially developed for
milk production and is docile and easily managed. All the best milch
breeds of India and Pakistan, e.g. Murrah and NiH, are river type.
Baini Prashad is of the opinion that one of the centres, if not the sole
centre, of domestication of the buffalo in India was the Sind Valley.
He has described a horn and some jaw-bones of the Indian buffalo from
Harappa. The bones of the buffalo are less common than those of cattle,
and at Mohenjo-daro appeared only in the upper levels. There are eight
seals on which the buffalo is depicted. Out of these, a typical seal is shown
in Fig. 94 (top row, right). The animal has long horns, as in the wild buffalo
from Assam. From this evidence it seems that the Pu~ab and Sind are the
home of the early domesticated buffalo. .
Even at present the buffalo is more common than the cow in the
Punjab and is valued more on account of its higher milk yield and its
greater fat content which is more suitable for the preparation of ghee. It
is a more efficient USer of rough forage than cattle. Not being sacred, a
certain amount of culling is possible. Its love for water betrays its original
home in the swampy jungles of the Punjab and Sind. Even now in its
wild fOfm it is never found in the mountains. The buffalo has played an
important role in the economy of ancient India, as the female gives plenty
of m,ilk and the male is ideal for transport and for ploughing muddy rice
fields.
The Indian buffalo reached Indo-china, China and Japan quite
early. In muddy rice fields of these countries, it found an ideal environ-
ment. Its westward spread was, however, slow. From Sind it reached
Iran and Mesopotamia. The first record of it in the Jordan Valley was
A.b, 723, From Iran, the buffalo reached southern Russia and the Balkan
countries. It seems likely that the buffaloes Were brought back to their
European homes by the. Crusaders. About A.D. 1200, Bulgaria and
Macedonia had buffaloes in plenty. From Bulgaria they spread to Italy,
and B:ungruy, which marks their northernmost outpost. At the end of the
thlrteenth century, buffaloes were present in the Pontine marshes of Italy.
Buffalo populati()n is steadily increasing. Recently, it has found a new
home in northern Australia, southern USA, and the Amazon Valley of
South America.
Out of the total world population of buffaloes (1971), which has been
estimated at 140 million, .India has 57.4 million, China 30 million and
Pakistan 12.1 million. Out of the Indian breeds, the best is the Murrah
(Fig. 100, bottom). Its breeding area is Haryana. The skin and the hair are
black in Murrah, and the horns are curled into a spiral. The ears are small,
thin and pendulousj the legs are short and straight, with black hoofs.
The barrel is massive and well developed. The udder is well developed
with a prominent zigzag milk vein. The teats are long and well spaced.
The females weigh up to 900 kg.
Another good breed is NiH-Ravi found in the Montgomery and Multan
districts of the PUrUab (Pakistan), and in the Fazilka Tehsil of the Fcroze-
pur District of the Punjab (India). It resembles the Murrah in the colour
of its skin and hair. It has white markings on the forehead, muzzle, legs
and tail switch.
The Surti buffalo is found in the Charottar tract of Gujarat, which
embraces the Kaira District and the adjoining territory of Baroda. Its
horns are of medium length and are sickle-shaped. They are flat with
transverse corrugations. They are directed downwards and backwards
and then turn upwards (Fig. 100, top). The females weigh on the average
540 kg. The buffalo is still the more popular milch animal in India. With
selective breeding, better nutrition and improved health control, it has the
potential of meeting the protein requirements of India. In India both the
buffaloes and cattle coexist. While discussing the possibility of introducing
the Indian buffalo into potential areas, Cockrill states, 'There are many
harsh areas where the only possibility of getting a fair return from the
land lies with the water buffalo; such environments include substantial
parts of Australia's Top End, the marshes of southern Iraq, and wide
expanses of Latin America.'8
The Elephant (Elephas maxim liS indicus). The mammals domesticated
primarily for transport and labour are the elephant, the camel, the horse
and the ass.
The earliest evidence in support of the use of elephants is to be found
on 15 seals from Mohenjo-daro. The elephants shown clearly belong to
the Indian species. Similar seals bearing the image of the elephant have
been recovered from Harappa.
Six out of the 15 Mohenjo-daro elephants distinctly show a line
extending down from the back behind the foreleg (Fig. 105). The line
indicates a covering cloth or wrapping on the back. It proves that the
Indian elephant was domesticated by the time of the Indus Valley
civilization (2300-1600 B.C.).
The elephant is a five-toed ungulate, ideal for transporting and soldier-
ing in swampy jungles where horses and mules are rendered ineffective.
It eats the leaves of bamboos, plantains, pipal (Ficus religiosa) , banyan
(Ficus benghalensis), and of various species of reeds (e.g. Typha) which
flourish in swamps. Its principal food is leaves of rushes and reeds.
As there are few swamps in northern India and Pakistan, reeds, rushes and
'Cockrill, W.R. Tlie Husbandry ami Health of the Domestic Buffalo

192 A lllSTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
bamboos have vanished, and with them has vanished the elephant. It
may be noted that whereas even a petty land-owner can keep an elephant
in Bihar and Bengal, as its natural food is so abundant around jheels in
these moist regions, it is difficult even for a raja to keep one in the
Punjab. The elephant served for transport of goods in civil life, and as a
tank in battles. It continued to hold its sway for long in northern India
and slowly made way for the more active horse, which is less expensive to
keep and is more manoeuvrable. The decline of the elephant must have
started from 1600 B.C. when the Aryan horsemen warriors invaded India.
The elephant as a weapon of war suffered a major defeat in 326 B.C., when
the elephants of Poros fled in confusion before the cavalry charges of the
Greeks under Alexander. Since then, its utility in warfare has gradually
declined. I ts present distribution is restricted to the wet areas of India,
namely Kerala, Assam, mhar, and the tarai zone of the sub-Himalayas.
Even now the elephant is used for hauling heavy logs in the forests of
Assam and Burma. It is also ridden on ceremonial occasions when
pomp .and pageantry are necessary for beguiling the crowds.
The Camel (Camelus drornedarius). Like the horses, the camels as a
group are of American origin. North America was the centre of camel
evolution throughout the Tertiary. The earliest-known ancestral camels
are called Protylopus. They lived in the upper Eocene and Wel'C no larger
than hares. The Oligocene camel, Poebrotherium, had the size of a sheep.
Protomeryx of the lower Miocene, Protolabis of the middle Miocene, Pro-
camelus of the upper Miocene, and Pliauchenia of the Pliocene are further
Btages~ and some of the .later American camels were very large. In the
Pleistocene ofNol'th America, including Alaska, the genus Camelus occurred.
It is nom such a late source that the present-day camels of the Old World
appear to have been derived by way of migration to Asia across the Bering
Str~ts, when these were dry land in the late Pliocene or in the early Gla-
ciation times. Only one invasion of camels appears to have succeeded prior
to this date; it brought to the Siwaliks of northern India CarnelllS sivalensis,
a species Which is believed. to be not closely related to the living camels, and
another smaller specieS (C. antiqllus), which Falconer thought was perhaps
related to the llama.
The Pleistocene wave of true camels spread rapidly to the west along the
dry belt of the Northern Hemisphere. It reached ea.')tern Europe, with
G. knobloeM in Sarepta, southern Russia, and C. alutensis in Rumania. They
were not able to thrive farther west in Europe because of the unsuitable
climate. Whereas these fonns are supposed to have been closely related
to the two-humped Bactrian camel, the dromedary pecame separated from
the northern branch somewhere in western Asia and spread across Arabia
(jJresent in the late Pleistocene of Azraq Oasis, according to Glutton-
Brock, 1961) and Palestine (where it was the contempotary of Levelloisian
HARAJ.>PAN DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND BIRDS 193
man at Sabha) into northern Mrica, reaching even Mauritania in the

extreme west. The dromedary had arrived in northern Africa in Acheulian
times."D
The remains of the camel have been discovered from Mohenjo-daro and
Harappa. Baini Prashad is of the opinion that the one-humped camel was
domesticated by the people of the Indus Valley. Another centre of domesti-
cation of the one-humped camel is in northern Mrica. The two-humped
Bactrian camel is a native of Central Asia, and has been found wild near
Lop Nor, and was probably domesticated in that region. A few camel bones
of the Indian one-humped race (Camelus dromedarius) were found at Anau in
Turkestan and in the neolithic Tripolye culture of southern Russia, where
they are likely to be approximately contemporary with the Harappan
civilization. One of the rare representations of a camel in the prehistoric
Asia, states Piggott, comes from a site probably of the second millennium
B.C., just over the border of Baluchistan in Persian Makran, at Khurab,
where it is modelled in relief on a bronze object. lo
The camel was not known to the Aryan invaders, though Herodotus
mentions that the camels used by Indians were as swift as horses. This
statement suggests that dromedaries, not Bactrians, were in use in the Indus
Valley in the fifth century B.C. The country is indeed well suited for this
animal.
In north-western India and Pakistan, the dromedary is an important
beast of burden at present. It is popular in the desert areas of Rajasthan,
Gujarat and Haryana, where it is used for carrying loads. In Haryana it
is used for working Persian wheels and also for threshing of sorghum (Fig.
l07,hottom). With the eyes covered with leather goggles, it would go round
and round, turning the wheel with great patience (Fig. 107, top).
Ass (Equus asinus asinus). The ass is the proverbial beast of burden,
found all over India. Even in this mechanical age, it is playing a vital role
in construction work and in the carrying of earth where canals are dug.
It is economical to keep, and the owners after day's work let it loose to fend
for itself. Apart from grass, it eats street wastes and weeds. The upkeep
of no other animal is so cheap.
There was considerable building activity in the Harappan towns, and
one can presume that the ass was used by the Harappans for transporting
bricks and other building materials. It may also have been used for riding.
In Arab countries, apart from riding, aSSeS are used for the treading of corn
and for pulling the plough.
Zeuner believes that the ass was first domesticated in the Valley of the
Nile. A herd of asses is· depicted on a pallel in the tomb of Sahure, fifth
'Zeuner, F.E. A History of Domesticated Animals, p. 346

IDPiggott, S. Prehistoric 1I1dia, p. 159
194 A HISTORY or-- AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
dynasty, 2650 B.C. The wild asses of northern Mrica must have contributed
to the domestic stock.
In India, the wild ass (Equus Itemionus) is found m the
Rann of Kutch, and in the desert of Eikaner and Jaisalmcr
(Fig. 106). It also occurs in Sind, Baluchistan, Afghanistan, Iran
and Kurdistan in Iraq. According to Lydekker, 'This species,
of which there are several local races, has moderately large ears,
an ereet mane, and a tail covered at the baSe with short hair which grows
longer towards the tip. It is fawn or chestnut-brown above, and White
below, the back being marked with a dark-brown, partly white-edged,
stripe, running down the middl. Sometimes there is a shoulder-stripe,
and sometimes 'he legs arc barred with reddish brown. The shoulder-
height is about I' inches [1.2 metres] and the total length about no inches
[2 metres], whereas the tail measures about 23 inches [58 cen.timetres]. The
animal is darker at the car-tips and roun.d the hoo£'3, and the tip of its tail
is blackish. It inhabits desert and semi-desert plains. It is generally found
in herds very difficult of approach, and subsists on. such vegetation as is to be
found in those arid districts. An exceedingly swift animal, it is rarely
overtaken by a single horseman, and is generally caught when young by
being tired out by a number of horsemen taking up its pursuit one after
another.'ll Prater12 states that wild asses are readily tamed when young.
The greatest contribution that the ass has made to anima.l husbandry,
according to Zeuner, is as the progenitor of the mule, a sure-footed animal,
which can carry heavy loads on narrow mountain paths. It is known that
in earlier times crosses were attempted between hcmioncs and asses, as well
as between horses and asses, but of the several possibilities only one proved
really successful, the hybrid between the male ass and the marc, called the
mule. The product of the union of a horse with a female ass is called
hinny; it is, on the whole, rare. Pohlig found that hinnies were valued as
good for riding in Persia, and Pallas mentioned them from China. 1!J
The bones of I1sses have becn found in the excavations at Harappa,
along with those of other domestic animals. It was possibly tamed from
the stock of wild asses which are still found in Sind and Baluchistan. The
remains of thc ass have also been reported from Kalibangan (Rajasthan)
and at Rangpur (Gujarat) Period III (1000-800 D.C.). They may be the
. remains of onagers.
The Pig (Sus scrofa cristatus). The Indian wild pig (Sus scrqfa cristatus) is
found in the Siwaliks and the tarai area throughout northern India. It lives in
tall grass 01' scanty bush jungle. It is omnivorous and lives OIl roots, tubers,
llLydekker, R. Wild Life of the World, Vol. II, pp. 05, 96

nprater, S.H. The Book of iTldiall Animals, p. 190
13Zeuncr. F.E. A History qf Domesticated Allimais, pp. 382, 383
JIARAPI'AN DO?-JESTIr: ANIM.\LS 1\1\ 1) lllR))S
Fig. 91. Sea ls :lnt! toys d epicting domcsticat(:d auiJ1li1ls. 7i)1' lOW, li,/l alld centre, humplcss
bulls; ri,r;ht, R bum-do. 111iclr//c mw, left, a hllnlped bull oCa brel'd lose Lo KnJikl'~j of \(jarnl;
CtWlte and right, bull s with forward-projecting horns, r 'semb ling LUllS (lJos /HimigCllills ) or
Europe, BollolII tOTU, Tift , a humplcss b1.lll ; 1JIidr/{c, it hUlllpcd bllll (a ll from rvlo he njo-daro;
alkr l\lackay and Vats). Hallom rOIll ngllt, n ltump"d bull f['(J1ll Seelor 17, Chnnd iga rll
A HISTORY OF AC R ICt]J,TUrm IN I N D IA
196
F ig. 95. TO/I, a humped bull u('pickd ill s( 'al s frolll l'vIohenjo-daro.
Bottom , n. K:lnkn;j bull frUlll Kutch , which n : -l'lnhles th e bull
depicted Oil the St'n l ab o ve . This brced is a lso CO ll1m on in the
Tharp a rknr Distri ct of ' ill I (Pakista n) , II is the h eavies t hI" d
wit h c lll'ved (101'115 and wcll-d 'vdop ed dcw hlJ
rrARAPPA D01\[~. 'frc A 'T;\IALS A ' lJ TlIRTlS 19 7
F ig, 96, A Kankrcj bu ll and cow frOI11 Kathiawar

19B A HISTORY OF AC1RICULTURE IN INDIA
Fig. 97. The homed hlll1lplcss hull depicled on :l sf:(11 li'OIlI IvJoh njo-chro
(la/I) resembls the gaur, Bos gaurlfs (below)
HARAPPAN DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND BIRDS ]99
;
. I
.:L.;~;:::'~~~~~~·~·~,\~:
,t
Fig. 9B. Y()jl, a bull of Bos primigellius Ol' aurochs or thc la te Plcis to·
ccnc, d epic ted in the ca ve of Lascaux, sou th-west Fran ce. j\.Jiddlc ,
the sq-called unicorn from :rvlohenjo-dal'o also d epicts a bull 0['
Bos prillligcllills. It ]I<'I S it mangel' ~jll fro nt or it, indicating domes ti.
cation. Bottom . t h e last surviving sp ecin lf'11 of a urochs depicted in a
picture puulish cd in 1827. The aurochs b ecam e exti n ct in )~ Ul'op e
ill the middle of the nine l<;cnth centur y
(After Zeuncf)
200 A rllST i~Y nv ACRICt l LTllRF. IN r DtA
Fig. !I!). BrceLls of .. (LIt; ii'uJJl Silld. Ti)j),::l R l:d Si lluhi uull; bollom, u Tharpat'kar bull
JTARAPT'AN DOMESTIC ANrr.IALS .\ TD BIRDS 201
Fig. 100. Tup, the SlIl:ti burr<llo has long and t hi ck hums. HO/lQIII, 1he J\,Iurruh buffalo has
curled hol'l1s and has Oil high milk yield
202 A llISTORY OF ACRlClJLTURE I N INDIA
Fig. 101. The wild buffalo from the Brahmaputra Valley in Assalll
Fig. 102, agpul'i bulTalo, with its 100Ig hOl'lI s, is V f'l'y dose to lhl~ ;lIlC.;('stral burblo
iTAHAPJ'AN DOMESTtC ANIMALS ANIJ l1IRDS
Fig. 103. A buJralo, bronze, Chalcolithic perioe], c. 1300 B.C.,

Diamabad, Ahmaclnag:u Disll'ict, Ivrahn rashtra. r n the shape
0[' its horns it. resembles the wild buffalo below
Fig, 104. T Ile Illdian w ild buni110 lS ii)tllld in Assall1, Il liv[,s

in reeds HlId rllshes close to pOllds
204 A JTTSTORY or A(:n.rr:lll.TttRf.'. IN I NDIA
Fig. lW>. !:i«'als 1'1'0111 !\[ulll'lIjo-dat'l) s l}() \Vill~ dephallis. T hey

havt: a cove rin g 0[' c10lh Oil L1l e bar'''. illdica liug c[(IIlI('s l1ca ti oll
(Courtesy : A r cha eologica l SLU'V('Y o j' ] lldia )
Fig. lUG. A h 'I'd or h el1lio llt '~ (wild assl's) in lli t! Ralltl flf Kutch ill C uj arul. III lht: photo
below they arc galloping to csrap c humall illtrud.:rs
(Courtesy: Chief Conscrvcltor of FOI't:sts, Tuj ara l)
jrARAPPAN DOf..mSTIC ANIMALf; AND BIRDS
. ."
I _.•
l;'ig. 107. Top, a camel working a Persian wheel. lIIillcilulclcd c<llHcls work lil'i.:h:ss ly
fot' hours. Bottom, camels ll l'e :'\ Iso used [01' threshillg sorghum in the clese l't areas of the
Hissar District, Hal'yana
(Coul'tesy: Indian Agricultura l Research Iustitute, New Delhi)
206 A mST RY OF ACltIClJI,T'URE' IN INDIA.
F ig. 108. Fish and fishing in the HamppHI1 period. Top, n lislll'J"man wilh nel. lHiddle,
a fis h-loy [min Ral'appn (bOlh nfter Vats). BollolII, n p'linlillg 011 a ]lot from aI, showing
Nemachilu.'i-lik . fish.
(Arter Hora)
lIARAl'PAN 1)( ME. TIC I\NIM :\LS ,\ N I) BJRJ)S 207
Fig. 1U9. Copper (ish- hooks ('['Olll l\1olwnjo-daro

(Col.lrLl'sy: i\t'chacological Surv .y (If' fndi a)
Fig. 110. Birds on a rage-a 1 IT:1co lla from lvlo hc njo-dar o

(Courlesy: Natio m) 1 i\'fu scum, New Delhi)
200 A lWiTUHY OF (lRIGUI.Tl IH.F: I mOIA
Fig. 111. Domesticated birds fWIll tht, IIaI'appaII j)cl'iod) show illg a fly ing p ig('oll, a parakeet,
::t. domestic fowl and a chick, a duek, a pigcoll, and :1 wOlllan holdin g :l lIu k
TlARAl'PAN ])OM~STIC ANIMALS AND nlRD S 2 n~1
Fig. 11 2. Th,' reel jUJ)gl fowl ( Galllls galllls) is the anceSlor of JI10lkm poultry
210 A JWl'I'ORY OF A ClUC!ULTUR E i N INDL\
F ig. 11 3. The] ndia ll w i ltl h oa l' ( SIIS sen!!" C) isilltll.\') i ll d ill ,·... ·ll t nl()oti s, K :(ng n drawi llg .
ea r ly eigh leenth cen tu ry
lC o u r lcsy : 1\TU SCUlll or Evu luti oll ur L iti!, C h a lldi g <ll 'l! )
iuseds ;111d o(Eil. The lll:de iii ;It,;·g-n:.')::ivc 'HI.<11:I'CU ;Itl.ack:: 1llllll:II\'-!Jf:ill,"~:':"
Fi1:(. I U reprodllces a paiutillg ill wllich t1w wild I)oar is ,;hl)\Vll ill dilliTull
moods.
All dOlllestic varieties, except t.he Chinese v:lricty, arc the !lcsccnc1i1I1U:
of the TIl(li:m wilcl pig. Pig-breedillg originated ill [wlia aud GIst 'fllrk('s··
tan alltl spn:ad t.hrollgh t]\(~ JVleditenallcall regioll 10 EUl"Ojll'. TIle Chi.llesc
variety is the dl~SCCIll1:llIt of Sill" Ililllllus, j(lltll[1 wild ill SO\lllt-(:asl. Asia. 'I'll(:
European l'eprcst:lltalive is the wi It! pi!~ (Sus sl.'rr!/a). .','U.l" .l"rroj(1 amI SII.I"
!lilllJlus are COllllectnl by transitional races ftllllld ill th(~ gl:ol(l'aphicall)' illt.(~r··
mediate areas. The J\-ieditcn:tll<:;tn rac(~s an: illl:cl'lncdial:e IwlWfTIL the
Europeall and the eastcrn Asiatic grollps in ~evcral respects. 1 t .';lTIIIS that
the dOll1l'stlcatell pig- was I'ept~atcllly ralsl~d lndcpclll1t-lltly frnlll the wihl
stllck all over, wherever it is lr)l!ml.
A toy Illlltkilcd Oil ~l wild bo,Il' h:!s ]JCCIl recll\'("JTd frolll "tI.11l1IClljo-lhro.
The remains of pigs were also f()lJlld at .l'vrt)h{"l~o-dam. "The pig W;IS
present. ill large lIl11ulJcrs ill t.his area frolll (he vcrI' e;ldiest lillle whcn
"tI.,fohclljo-claro W,IS a flollrisiJing city," statt'o J\'brsh;dl. "BIIt. it lS imp()s-
sihle to dctt:nllinc wllctller or not (llis anillial was aclllally tinllJt"sliralu]
Dr even whether it W;lS lIsed ;lS a SOllrcc of 1()lIl1 by the inltalJiLallls in those
far-on'tillll"s. Al the present tim!', pigs arc or COil I lllO Il OCCllITenl't~ thn")Jll~II"
Ollt these parts, and it is possihle I.h:1t in tile old days tit lOy existnl ill large:
herds that roamed the count.ryside s(~arcllillg Ii)!' liJod."I.1
Tbe Cat (Fdis (Jcrcafa r. dOlllc.l·tica). The cat i(1cntific(1 as l~,lij' ()(:rcllf((
rae<~ dUlIlcsticl1 is knowll from the l)ol$"s recovernl from Ilaral'P;l ;111<1
is IJl:licycd to l)e a dcsc<,:lUhinl of AjJ'ir;m F. OCl"i:II/a. It was jloiisilJly
dOlllcstlcalcd in Sind and t.he PIII~j:lh. There is very illl.'~J'(·s(illf; (:villr:n(,[~
of tl0111cSl.icatnl cats from Ch:lllhu-r!:tl"O, a hrick over which, WhCllsoft ,uttl
unhaked, a tlog had chased ,I
cat, IJOlh leaving" tll[:ir dl:lraclnislic 1110t-
prints: 'the (kep impress of lllc p:\(ls ami their spread indicale the spced of"
bOlh anil1lals ... the [lop;'s i l1l print sligh II)' over-l:1 ppiJ If~' t.he ca t's shows til;lt
he callle sccoml'. This brick is ill the Prince of "Vales MIISI'11JU, BOllllJay.
Tile cat: li'OIl1 Harappa seelllS to have cl$scly rcscllllJlcll the IIrclinary EllrlJ-
pean (lol1lcstic cat..
The main use of cats ill all agriCltltliral CCOIWruy is ill rudclll conlrol.
Til save the l()()odgraillS frol1l )"otkuts, c;tl:s ;ll"!: ""pt as pcu; in g-r;lllarics
as well as ill grain storef; in rural IltllllCS ill IJl(lia. .lts 11Sdilltll'S~; ;IS a
prolector of lI)()(lgrains gave a special Sl:l(W; to lll,: C;\l. III India it is a
Sill In kill a cal. To aLone {()r sllch a sin, I.ltl~ sillller has til jJrc:;cnt a goldl'll
ca t to Bralllllins.
Fish. With the exception ofl.ilC C:lr]', ;dlllte rl"llldillS ofJislt frollll\fohf."ll-
jo-daro arc from examples of the Cunily Siltlridac; of the lhree genera rt~p-
"l\-1arshall,.]. iHulll:/uu-dlllu alld tIll' l/1dl/s Ci;!ili.~llli(lll, Vol. 11, p. G(j9

resented, two, viz. Rita and Wallago, are the common inhabitants of the large
rivers of India, and Arius of sea and estuaries. All the three species are
excellent food-fish, and it is probable that they were used for food at Mohenjo,
daro. Rita and Wallago were probably caught locally, but it is not likely
that a fish such as Arius, which is normally confined to estuarine or tidal
regions, would penetrate so far upstream as this, and it secms more likely
that these fish were caught further down the river in the neighbourhood of
Karachi and were dried and brought up to Mohenjo-daro. At present,
large quantities of this species are caught, dried, and salted on the west
coast of India. The methods employed for catching fish were by means
of nets, traps, or hook and line. Where fish are caught by means of nets
or traps in such a river as the Indus, turtles (Trionyx gangeticus, Chitra indica,
Batagur baska, and Emyda granosa) and the gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) were
also captured in the same manner.
A pot from Nal in Baluchistan shows a frieze of Nemachilus-like fish
(Fig. 108, bottom). Hora identified seven genera of fish from Nal ware,
viz. Garra, Crossoc/lilus, Cyprinon, Tor, Nemachilus, Eotia and Glyptothorax.
A painted sherd from Harappa shows Scenes with human figures. One
shows a fisherman carrying two nets suspended from a pole across his
shoulders, with a fish and what is probably a turtle near his feet, which rest
on a cross-hatched band, presumably the river by which he is walking
(Fig. 108, top). Apart from evidence from paintings on pottery regarding the
methods offish-catching, fish hooks have also been discovered from Mohenjo-
daro (Fig. 109).
DOMESTICATION OF DIRDS
A number of terracottag have been discovered from Mohenjo-daro
and Harappa, which indicate that the Harappans had domesticated a
number of birds. There is a terracotta from Mohenjo-daro in the National
Museum, New Delhi, in which a woman is holding a duck in a tender
manner (Fig. 111). A terracotta toy depicts a duck. Parrots and parakeets
axe favourite birds in Indian folk-lore and painting. There are numerous
paintings of the Mughal and Rajput schools depicting a lady with a parrot.
These are representations of Padmini, wLth her favourite parrot Hiraman.
A terracotta from MoheI\io-daro in the National Museum depicts
parakeets clinging to a cage (Fig. 110). Parakeets are also depicted in toys
(Fig. Ill).
The blue rock-pigeon (Columba liuia) is widely distributed in Asia
and Europe. It has become a commensal of man, like the dog, and takes
shelter in niches and holes in buildings of all types. A terracotta toy from
Harappa depicts a. pigeon (Fig. 111).
Do:m.estic fowl (Gallus gallus murghi). The domestic fowl (Gallus
gallus murghi) originated in India. Its ancestor, the red jungle fowl
(Gallus gallus), is still found in northern India from Kashmir to Assam and
in Madhya Pradesh, Bengal, Orissa, Visakhapatnam and parts of the
Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh. It is also found in Burma, Thailand,
Malaya, the extreme south of China, Sumatra and Java. It is commonly
found in sal forests of the Himalayan tarai. The cock has beautiful plumage,
tinged with bright red near the throat and the tail (Fig. 112). The hen
is brown, shy and silent.
The domestic fowl mates free1ywith G. gallus and the progeny is fertile.
This free mating indicates its link with the wild jungle fowl.
The birds which man succeeded in domesticating have certain common
traits. The first is a tendency to gregariousness. Wild and solitary birds can be
domesticated with great difficulty. On the other hand, the gallinaceous birds
are pre-adapted for domestication by their gregarious temperament, the
social structure of flocks, their poor powers of flight, and the nature of diet.
The earliest evidence of domestication of the fowl is from Mohenjo-
dar~. There are clay figures in which a hen and a chick are shown figura-
tively (Fig. 111). A number of avian bones were excavated and they are
considerably larger than those of the present-day race of fowls.
Among the seals from MOhenjo-daro, Mackay (1938) recognized one
with two birds in the position of fighting. He thought that they were
Sonnerat cocks, whereas Gandert (1953) regards them as red jungle fowl.
There are clay figurines from the same site and they are intended for
the fowl. Most of them are fragmentary, but the evidence is cumulative.
There is a cock in a position of display, a fragment with a ·comb and one
which Mackay interprets as a hen with a food dish. This would point to
breeding in captivity. This is confirmed by Sewell's study of the bones
which are larger than those of the wild bird. A femur from Mohenjo-
daro measures 103 mm compared with 69 mm in the case of the wild
bird. The femur of a modern table fowl (call. Institute of Archaeology)
measureS 115 mm, which shows that the Indus Valley birds had been bred
for size. Full domestication had, therefore, taken place, say, by 2000 B.C.
At Harappa the fowl is not absent, but there are only two clay figurines
that appear to represent a cock and a hen. From Chanhu-daro, clay
whistles are known of a shape suggesting small gallinaceous birds.
It is conceivable that the Indus Valley people kept the fowl only for
sport, and that its breeding for flesh occurred later. When the Aryans
invaded India, about the middle of the second millennium, the newcomers
learnt to admire the cock. The Rig-Veda does not mention it, but the
Atharva-Veda and YajUl'-Veda do. He is praised for his courage and
pride, and as an indicator of time. By about 1000 B.C., it was forbidden
to eat the fowl. Evidently, the bird had assumed a religious significance. 15
UZeuner, F.E. A History of Domesticated Animals, p. 448

214 A llISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
From north-western India, the fowl was taken eastwards and appeared
in China towards the fourteenth century B.C.
The period of the rapid expansion of fOWl-keeping was the first millen-
nium B.C. From north-western India, it evidently reached Iran at an
early date. Whereas this possibility is implied in the coin evidence from
north-western India and its appearance on the Assyrian seals around the
eighth century B.c., there is substantial literary evidence in addition. In
the religion of Zoroaster, it plays an important part as the guardian of the
good against the evil. With his crowing at waking time, the cock became
the symbol of the waking day and thus of the light, in general. Hahn
believes that the use of the cock as a 'time-piece' arose in Indo-Bactria.
From Iran the domestic fowl spread westwards to Mesopotamia and
Asia Minor. It is possible that the Medes, who were subject to the Assyri-
ans from the latter part of the ninth century onwards, brought it into the
Euphrates-Tigris Basin. A few seals from the eighth century B.C. show
the bird. One found at Nimrud dates from 740 to 710 B.C., according
to Mallowan.18
Its first introduction into Greece was from Iran in the eighth century
B.C. In the sixth century B.C., it spread over the rest of the Greek world.
In the second century B.C. the fowl had become an economically
important bird with the Romans. In Britain it appeared in the first century
of the Christian Era.
The storage of grain and the conservation of live meat in the form of
domesticated birds and animals is the major achievement of man in the
Neolithic agricultural revolution. 'Plants capture the radiant energy of
the sun and reorganize and store it in the production of seeds and vegetable
matter. Animals can utilize the stored energy of plants by eating them and
their seeds. By domesticating plants, man gains control over the primary
food source for animals. By domesticating animals, he gains control over
living organisms that eat plants and greatly concentrate the energy they
derive in the form of animal protein. Thus. man taps the primary source
of food energy by cQntrolIing plants, and he aSsures himself high-protein
food by controlling animals.'17 This led to security in food requirements of
man and hence to an increase in his population. Thus, domestication of
plants and animals is the foundation of civilization. Only when man is
freed from worry of getting food that he starts thinking, and this leads to
higher things in lif~, and the development of science and art and of culture.
"Zeuner, F.E. A Bistory if Domesticated Animals, p. 445

l"Watson, R.A. and Watson, P.]. The Domesticator of Plants and Animals, in Prehistoric
Agritullure (Ed. S. Struever), p. 10
liARAPPAN DOMESTta ANIMAl.S AND BIRDS 215
REFERENCES
Allchin, R. and Bridget, The Birth of Indian Ciuiliz;ation, Harrnolldsworth, 196B
Cockrill, W.R. The Husbandry and Health of the Domestic Btl[falo, FAO, Rome, 1974
josJli, N.R. and Phillips, R.W. Zebu CallIe of India alld Pakistan, FAO, Rome, 1953
Lydekker, R. Wild Life of the World, Vol. II, London, 1916
Mackay, E.J.H. Furtlrer Excavations at Mohenjo-daro, Vol I, New Ddhi, 1943
1ITarshall,]. Mohenjo-daro and tlu Indus Civilization, 3 Vols, London, 1927 to 1931
Piggott, S. Prehistoric India, London, 1950
Prashad, Baini, Animal Remains from Harappa, lHem . .Arc!,. Survey India, 51, 1936
Prater, S.H. The Book of Indian Animals, Bombay, n.d.
Randhawa, M.S. Role of Domesticated Animals in Indian History, SciCllcs and Culture,
Vol. XII, No. I 1946
Rouse, J.E. Cattle of Africa and Asia, Oklahoma, 1972
'Watson, R.A. and P.,J. The Domesticator of Plants and Animals, in Prehistoric Agriculture,
New York, 1971
Zcuner, F.E. A History of Domesticated Anilllals, London. 1963
CHAPTER 15
BURZAHOM-A NEOLITHIC RELICT CULTURE

IN A REFUGE AREA
c. 2375 B.C.
NEOLI'l'HIG culture is characterized by polished stone axes, crude hand-made

pottery with evidence of cultivars of primitive kinds or their wild progenitors.
In the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent, the existence of Neolithic cultures
has been established in six different geographical regions: (i) Northern,
covering Kashmir, the Kangra Valley in Himachal Pradesh (excavated site,
Burzahom); (ii) North-western, covering Baluchistan, Swat and the
contiguous areas of the Upper Sind Valley in West Pakistan (excavated
sites, Rile Gul Mohammad, Ghaligal and Saraikhola); (iii) Central-eastern,
covering Chota Nagpur plateau with its peneplains in various districts of
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal (excavated sites, Barudih
and Kuchai); (iv) North-eastern, covering Assam, Chittagong and the sub-
Himalayan regions including Da1jeeling (excavated site, DaojaIi Hading);
(v) North Bihar, covering the District of Saran (excavated site, Chirand);
and (vi} Southern, covering peninsular India (excavated sites, Brahmagiri,
Sanganakallu, Maski, Piklihal, Vtnur, NagaIjunakonda, T. Narsipur,
Hemmige, Paiyampalli, Tekkalakota, Terdal, HaUur, Palavoy, Kupgal
and Kodekal).
BURZAHOM
Burzahom in Kashmiri means the place of birch. In the past. this
place was possibly covered with a forest of birch (Betula utilis).
The megalithic site of Burzahom situated on the Yendrahom Karewa
below the Mahadev peak, about 16 kilometres north-northeast of Srinagar,
was discovered by De Terra and Paterson in 1936. It was excavated by
T.N. Rhazanchi, Raghbir Singh and KoM. Srivastava of the Archaeologi-
cal Survey of India in· 1960 and onwards. About nine other sites of Bur-
zabom culture have been discovered in the terraces of the JheIum River.
Allchins are of the view that the finds of ground stone axes in the Kangra
Valley in Himachal Pradesh also probably belong to this group.
Excavations at Burzahom up to 3.6 metres, reaching the virgin soil,
disclosed three cultural layers. The earliest settlers were 'pit-dwellers'
(c, 2375 B.a.). Cut into the upper Karewa bed, the pits were circular or
oval and varied from Ii to 2t metres in depth. The mouth of pit was
narroW. The bottom was usually flat, over which ashy deposits Were
noticed, signifying human occupation. A landing-step was provided in a
DURZAHOllJ CULTURE 217
deep pit. In one case, two nearby pits were interconnected by meanS of
a small arched corridor plastered with mud. There were niches in the
walls. The occurrence of charred reeds and post-holes in one of the pits
suggests that a roof of reeds was provided. The pit-deposits yielded polish-
ed stone axes, bone tools, and hand-made, mat-impressed steel-grey pottery,
which included a deep bowl with pedestal base and a jar with a flaring rim.
A few wheel-made burnished sherds of red ware were also noticed.
In a wide and deep pit, with a charred lining, were found a large
number of animal bones, especially of the deer, indicating that the pit was
used as a communal hearth.
In the succeeding phase, pit-dwellings were abandoned and the inhabi-
tants began living in mud houses built over the ground. The floors of
thes'e houses were often plastered and occasionally painted in red ochre.
The potter's craft further improved with the introduction of the wheel.
Towards the close of the phase, copper came to be used, although sp~ringly.
The people depended largely on hunting and fishing, as is evident from the
sceneS depicted on carved stone slabs. An engraved stone slab was dis-
covered by Khazanchi fixed in a tank-like rectangular structure, which
could be dated 1200·1300 B.C. It depicts a hunting scene. A man hold-
ing a spear is throwing it at the hind quarters of the stag. Another in
front is shooting an alTOW at him. A dog with an uplifted tail is depicted
chasing the stag (Fig. 116).
The tools of the people of Burzahom, especially the stone pounders,
querns and lunar knives, suggest that there was also some agriculture.
Period III was marked by intrusion of neW ideas. Deep and wide pits
Were cut into the underlying floor-levels of Period II for erecting megali-
thic structures. In one case, a rubble wall Was built over a dwelling-pit.
ThQugh no clear plan was discernible, the complex formed a rough semi-
circle, opening on the south-eastern side. For keeping the stones in position,
a dry-rubble packing was provided. About 1.50 metres below the surface
,vas exposed a huge stone of the megalithic complex. One of the megaliths
is still standing (Fig. 115).
Burials. Thirteen burials, eight human and five animal oncs, 'were
recorded within the habitation-area. They were buried in circular or oval
pits, coated with lime from inside. A noteworthy feature of the human
burials of Phase II was the use of red ochre on the bones. Four human
skeletons Were buried in a crouching position. The burials showed both
primary and secondary interments. The former showed extended arti-
culated skeletons, and the latter only selected bones. No grave-furniture
was noticed. Pet animals or their bones were sometimes deposited with
the human remains.
Pottery. The pottery of the Neolithic Periods I and II was charac-
terized by a grey hand-made ware with shades of dull-red, brownJ buff
218 A lIISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
imd burnished black surfaces. In the earlier period, the pottery was coarSe
both in fabric and finish, and was represented by the bowl, vase and stem.
In Period II a burnished black ware of medium fabric made its appearance.
It included such shapes as the dish, sometimes with provision for a stand,
bowl, globular pot, jar, stem with triangular perforations and a funnel.
shaped vase. A distinctive type in the grey or black burnished Ware was
a high-necked jar with a flaring rim, globular body and flat base. On the
lower part of the neck were incised oblique notches. Mat.impressions
formed exclusive designs on tius ware (Fig. 114).
In Period III, the pottery, predominantly of red ware, was generally
wheel-made, though the fabric was coarSe.
Bllrzahom
(Kashmir)
Schematic Section
E:arlv
Historical
l\feolithic
Fig. ~14. Schematic section of Burzahom, Kashmir Valley. The lowermost layer has pit
dwellings, fl. 1800 D.C. The menhir marks a burial spot
(Courtesy: Archaeological Survey of India)
Period IV,. roughly belonging to an age earlier than the Buddhist site
0: Han'lan;
Yle1ded
ascribable to the third or fourth century of the Christian Era,
a red ware offine-to·lll.edium fabric, often slipped and mostly wheel.
made.
l'o~18. About 2,000 bone tools were recovered from the excavation.
The mam .typ:s are ,harpoons for fishing, needles with or without eyes and
awls for stitchIng skins, Spear points, arrowheads and daggers for hunting,
BURZAHOM CULTURE 219
scraperS for treating skins, borers, chisels and polishers for working on tools,
and perforated knives for agricultural operations. Sankalia observes that
the clothing of the people of Burzahom must have been largely of leather,
and was cut with flake-knives and stitched with needles and bodkins.
Tools were also fashioned out of antlers. The greatest frequency of bone
tools was observed in Period II (Fig. 117).
About 1,500 stone objects consisted of polished axes, harvesters, poli-
shers, pounders, chisels and mace-heads (Fig. 118). The larger axes
were for heavy work, and the smaller ones for lighter work. The hoes
were also of two types; the larger ones were over 10 inches [25 ern] long and
3 inches [7.5 em} broad. The flake knives Were double-edged and one-
edged. Double-edged picks, querns and grinders were also found. These
are typologically different from their southern counterparts. l
Dog Burials. The ritual burial of animals is another feature of
Burzahom. Like human beings,. animals were buried in oval pits, with
their inner sides plastered with lime. The animals found in the burials
were wolf, wild dog and ibex. Pet animals, particularly dogs, were sacrific-
.cd and buried along with the corpses of the owners, who probably desired
their company in the next world. Allchins are of the view that the dog
burials, pit dwellings and bone tools suggest the influence of Neolithic
culture of northern China. Sankalia believes that it had contact with the
pre-Harappan culture of Kot Diji and with the Hissar III culture of Iran.
AGRICULTURE
A crop-cutting instrument with two holes, the like of which has been
known from China, indicates that cultivation was practised here (Fig. 118).
No direct evidence of cereals grown by the Neolithic Kashmil'is has come
forth, but seeds of weeds, like Lithospermum an'ensc, species of Trifolium,
Lotus corniculatus and other species· of Lotus, Medicago denticulata and M.
falcata, and species of Ipomoea and Euphorbia have been recovered (Fig. 120).
Most of these are weeds occurring in cultivated fields, dry pastures and waste-
lands, and are usually associated with the cultivation of wheat and barley.
Recent pollen analyses carried out in the Haigam Lake, not far away
from this site, reveal that the origin of cultivation in the valley started within
the blue pine forests which were cleared by the Neolithic man. The climate
was much cooler than at present. Subsequent clearances Were confined
to the broad-leaved forests of oaks and alders which had replaced the conifers.
Tree pollen rapidly declines after cutting of the forest-trees, and in its place
there is a sharp rise in the pollen of herbaceous plants and the cmergence
of new weeds Which are associated with the cultivation of crops. The
cultivation was of a shifting type.
lIndian Archaeolog)' 1961-62-A Review, Archaeological Survey of India

220 A HISTORY OF ACRICULTURE IN INDIA
Shifting Cultivation. ]huming, or shifting cultivation, is still practis-

ed by the tribals in the hilly areas of Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Arunachal
Pradesh, Nagaland and Orissa. It is estimated that 338,502 hectares of
land was subjected to shifting cultivation in Orissa and 27,287 hectares in
Assam (1966).
Sinha thus describes penda, or shifting cultivation, practised by the
Maria Gands of the Abujhmar HilIs: "The cultural pattern of the Hill
Maria centres around the principal subsistence economy of penda, shifting
cultivation. The technology of shifting cultivation is intimately adjusted
to the ecology of Abujhmar Hills."
The penda cultivation begins with the felling of trees at a site decided
upon by the village elders at a ceremony after the harvest festival, kaqsar.
The villagers start felling trees after a communal ceremony at the penda
plot. There is no formal allotment of land, but villagers divide the land
by mutual discussion, the size of each plot depending on the number of
persons in the household to be fed and capable of doing a full day's work
with axe and hoe.
Disputes are practically unknown even today in the Abujhmar
Hills, as there is ample land for all. Each penda is cultivated for two years,
and each year the villagers cultivate a new penda and an old pellda. The
conventional cycle afforest regeneration of the Hill Maria is about 18 years.
After the initial operations of clearing, the Hill Marias get ready to
set fire to their dried plots. They .have the practical knowledge of the
local climate, and schedule their firing operations in such a way that the
fields receive the monsoon showers within a week.
The village leader goes to the field to start the forest fire and immedia-
tely after that each villager sets fire to his respective field. Sowing starts
by the third week of June immediately after the break of the monsoon and
the date of the first sowing is decided by the headman in consultation with
the elders.
Immediately after the completion of sowing, and sometimes in between
sowing, the whole penda is fenced by wooden logs and bamboos. This is
the communal work of all the able-bodied members of the village. The
crops cultivated in the penda include millets, pulses, small~sized maize, chilli,
oilseecL'I, sweet-potato, arum, pulses and beans. Rice is grown only in
semi-permanent or permanent plots near the streams.
Every phase of penda cultivation is marked by some rituals. There
are rituals for the choice of the penda site, the first felling of trees, ,the first
sowing, the harvesting and the eating of the first crops. The penda land
is considered to be the land of the clan god. When the new grains of the
crop concerned have been garnered, the village headman of each village
sends word to the pen-waddai, or clan-priest, who worships the clan god at
his shrine, pen-rawar.
Apart from the fact that there is adequate land on the Abujhmar Hills
for penda cultivation, the collecting and hunting of forest products and ani-
mals are an important source of food. Among the forest plants and pro-
ducts, nuts of the siari, green mango, ~ulphi-juice, mahua flower and seeds,
young bamboo shoots and seeds, and various kinds of roots and tubers, and
mushrooms are important.
Hunting, an exclusively male occupation, is more popular at the foot-
hills than on the hilltops. Gommunity hunting is generally organized
between the harvesting and sowing seasons, the principal game being
various types of deer. They also hunt peafowl, jungle fowl and hare.
They show a remarkable knowledge of the habits and habitats of the
various game animals and birds.
Fishing, on a small scale, is done quite extensively in the hill streams
throughout the region. Fishing-rods, various types of bamboo and cane
cages and traps are the main fishing-tools.
While the purely hunting-fishing-gathering economy of the Onge of
Little Andaman sustains a total tribal population of about 150 today with
a density 0[0.56 per square mile (1.45 per square kilometre) and an average
family size of 3.06 only, the shifting cultivator Hill Maria Gonds of the
Abujhmar Hills have a density of about 9.3 per square mile (24 per square
kilometre).2
POLISHED STONE AXES-THEIR USE

The polished stone axe, prima facie, does not seem to be an efficient
tool for cutting trees. How was it used by the Neolithic man? It seems
that the Neolithic man had discovered the secret that the life of the tree
is in the bark and not in the dead wood in the centre. The bark contains
the living cells of the phloem, through which food materials are transported
from the leaves to the stem and the roots, and the xylem whose cells pump
water from the roots to the leaves. If the bark is removed, the tree dies. It
is easy to cut the bark of a tree with the aid of a polished stone axe. The
practice of killing trees in this manner is called ring-barking. After the
bark is removed in this manner, the tree is left to dry thoroughly and after
that it is burnt.
It was estimated by experiment that one man can clear a hectare of
forest in five weeks if he uses a stone axe. s
During the Neolithic Age, it seems that men cleared large areas of
primeval forest with polished stone axes, burnt the clearings and plan led
small fields of cereals near their huts and used the rest for pasturing animals.
An experiment was carried out by two Danish archaeologists, J orgen Troels-
'Surajit Sinha, Primitive Hunters, Shifting Cultivators, The Times oj India Annual, 1974-
aColes,j.M, 'Experimental Archaeology', Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., 1966-67, p. 7
Smith and Svend Jorgensen, with Neolithic polished stone axes. They
obtained a number of Neolithic flint axe blades from the Nat·ional Museum
in Copenhagen. The axe blades were inserted in a rectangular hole in
the haft of ash wood (Fig. 121). It was found that if the haft was not to be
split, it must not hold the blade too tightly but must leave room for a little
side-wise play of the blade when it struck. They discovered that the proper
way to use the flint axe was to chip at the tree with short, quick strokes, using
mainly the elbow and the wrist. They concluded that the Neolithic men
could have cut large clearings in the forest with their flint axes without
great difficulty. After the felled trees had more than a year to dry, brush-
wood and branches cut from the trees were spread over the area to be burnt.
Then it was ignited along a 30-foot-wide [9-metre-wide] belt by means
of torches of burning birch bark attached to stakes. As soon as the ashes
cooled down, part of the area was sown with primitive varieties of wheat
(einkorn and emmer) and naked barley. The seeds were spread on the
ground and raked with a forked branch (Fig. 122). For comparison, two
sets of plots were sown-one burned and one unburned but hoed and weeded.
The contrast in results was remarkable. On the unburned ground, the
grain scarcely grew at all, but the burned ground produced luxuriant crop
which was harvested with a flint knife and a flint sickle. In the second year,
the burned plots yielded a much smaller crop.4 This is what happens in
jltum areas of India. After 2-4- years, the yields decline, and the fields are
invaded by tall grasses and weeds, followed by bush and forest. The land
is again subjected to jllUming. At each turn of the cycle, the soil becomes
more and more depleted of plant nutrients and productivity becomes less
and less. When jhuming is done on hillsides, there is enormous loss of top
soil due to erosion.
The polished stone axe is a tool which led to major advancement in
the life of the people. It enabled man to cut jungle trees and clear the
land for cultivation. It led to the development of carpentry. Thus ploughs,
wheels and boats could be manufactured, and wooden houses could be
constructed.
A RELICT CULTURE
When one compares Burzahom with Chalcolithic sites of Sind, the
Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat, one cannot help remarking that it was
situated in a refuge area which continued to preserve techniques which had
long been superseded in the area which came under the influence of the
Harappan Chalcolithic culture. This is not surprising, as even in the present
age there are widely different patterns of farming in India. Whereas the
Punjab has modern agriculture with the use of tractors, tube-wells, electric
4Iversen,Johannes, Forest Clearance in the StOlle Age, Agricultural Beginnings, 1956

BURZAI-JOM CULTURE 22:1
l·' ig. 11 5. The IrI cg(l lith at Bllrza hotn, Kas hmir Va ll ey
A TIIS'fORY OF AGRICULTURE IN IN1JIA
Fig. IlG. Huntct's or BUI'zaholll holding a slag at bay. Tlw man wi lit a bow is shuo ting
Dn alTOW, and the olle be-hiud is flinging a spcaJ". 1\ dog with tail uplil'l<'d is dH15ing th e
slag
(Cou rt esy: Al'c h aeological l:i urvey uf'I ndia )
Fig. 117. Bone-tools discovered from BUl'zahom. The second and fourth from left are
lIeedles, and the sixlh is a harpoon
(Courtesy: Al·chacological SUl'vey of India)
A 111 TORY OF AORIe t:rutm IN INDlA
]~i g. 118. Polished slone-tools (ncoliths) from BUl'zahol11, Kashmil' VaHey, 1800 D. C . On
the tOl are SlOrH!-axI'S. In the centre is a l'ing stone and below are n slone-axe and a chopper
(Courtesy: Archaeologkal SurVf'y of India)
lHJk 7. AIlOM (:11t.'I'U1U: 227
Fig. 119. The Neolithic ax (also a iled celt or adze), mad e by the combined te hlliques
of chipping, grinding and polishing, has a sharp convcx cutting cdge, and th e butt cu d is
pointed. T h ese neolithic axes are from diOcrent parts of India. The top two are [['Om the
villages of Loclhw<u'a, Chakla and Bankat, Karwai Tchsil, Banda District, Uttar Prad esh ,
collected by A.P. Khatri; the left onein the second row is [loom a village ncar l'in.j orc, Him~lch .d
Pradesh; the central axe and the r ight one 011 the second row are surface finds from th(~
Raichu1' Dist rict, Karna laka; a t the bottom is a chisel from the Raichul" District
22H A HISTORY OF AURICPL' l'URE iN iNUlA
: •. ,
,t_
, ,,
Fig. I~l). Seeds of",c'cis as~()ci;dl'cl with ntllivallon, fmll ' Ncnlithi 'or BU"J',:tltO'Il,
Kashmir, L~ft 10 right: lop row, Li//w,ljN'WIiI/Ii (/1I 1(,IlSL' alld ljJIIJl/(lC(I sp. ; bcd/o/ll l()W,
'T,i/I,lilllll i';P" LolliS carniell/allis alld lHediclJ,i;O s[>.
(, \!'itT \,ishmt-l\ lilll't')
BURZ" II U1\1 CUL 'J l ' RE
Fig. 1:2 1. A s Lo n e-axt: w a s r('co l l~ Il'u cLl'd b y mO lillting Lh e j\'Ctl li l hi c Jiil JL hea d
0 11 a c p y of a Ncolithi han pres('rved a L Lh e bouorll of rl hog i ll 1) (· tltIlHl'k . 1 L
was JOLlml lh il t th e full SWi lig 1f th e IllOclc rll W()u J SJ n a n o fl c lI chipp f'ci o r bl'ok l' th l ~
h f'OI cl . Us ill g shor t, ra pid slrokl'~ , th e ex p c rilll ' n t n~ k a rnl 10 fell 1.1'1.:: ('5 ha villg it
di a m e le r vI' mor e tha n 30 e lll ill 30 lIlinuL('s. T o fdl sm a ll treC's, tll ey c h o pp('cl
a ll th e \'ay r o un d th e trullk
(Arter Johan nes I vers(,lI )
230 I\. IIl STOR Y OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
t.
""Ii
, ~
l\
<; (J
II
I,) ~
"'~
~ ,. ~ C\ ,~
\I ~
~
... _' r.
l lig. 12:l. To}) .. Trees were burllt by cuvering th ell1 wil h bru sh\\'ood and
ignlirng it 9-me tre s tdp. " ' h en the stdp was almost bun1i o ul , the large r
logs "'CI'C u sed to light th e next one. J\lliddlc: The s' 'd W <IS sown (/([1)
by hand in the warn1 ash, and thl! S ed bl~ d was raked with a forked sli-k
(right). The plant s sown were barley and tw o primitivl' va ri e ties orw hl'at.
Bottom: Be rl ey h a d grown to this It igh t . ix weeks aftez- i, Jl acl beell sown ill
the as h of the burnt brushwood and trees. Barley 50W 11 ill plots not cov ' ITel
with ash grew v er y poorly
llURZAHOM CULTURE 231
motors, diesel engines, and chemical fertilizers, Orissa, Assam, and

large areas in Madhya Pradesh still pursue primitive agriculture.
There are jungle tribes in Kerala who still hunt with bows and
arroWS.
Burzahom also explains the anomalous position of Neolithic cultures
in India which, unlike those of other countries, are younger or contemporary
with the Bronze Age cultures. Surely, it could be expected that neolithic
sites as old as the fifth or sixth millenium B.C. would be discovered in
Baluchistan and Himachal Pradesh, which would enlighten us about the
beginning of agriculture in the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent. A preliminary
report of the French archaeologists about the excavations at the site of
Merchrag, about 150 kilometres to the south-east of Quetta on the banks
of the Bolan River, points in this direction.
Polished stone axes have been discovered as surface finds from many
parts of India. Stone axeS in the top row of Fig. 119 were discovered by A.P.
Khatri from the KUl"wai Tehsil in the Banda District in Uttar Pradesh.
They were worshipped as Shiva lingams in way-side temples. Stone axes
at the centre and right of thc second row in Fig. 119, now in the Museum
of Evolution of Life, Chandigarh, were discovered as surface finds in
the Raichur District, Karnataka. At t)le bottom is a chisel from the
sanle area.
Recently a neolithic settlement has been discovered by Devendra
Handa, about 25 km to the north of Hoshiarpur on the banks of a small
river at Dhol Baha. It has yielded pointed butt variety of celts. Polished
stone axes have been discovered as surface finds in villages near Pinjore
on the Sirsa River, and are kept in the Museum of Evolution of Life,
Chandigarh (Fig. 120, second row, lift). These are indications of Neolithic
settlements in the Siwaliks in northern Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. This
is a region in which Palaeolithic tools have been discovered at a number
of places (Fig. 31). It seems that this area, which has numerOuS freshwater
rivulets, has been inhabitcd by man from about half a million years
onwards.
REFERENCES
Allchin, B. and R. The Birth of Indian Civilization, Pelican, 1968
Indiall Archaeology, 1960-61, a Review, ASI, New Delhi, 1961
Indian Archaeology, 1961-62, (I Review, ASI, New Delhi, 1964
Iversen,]. Forest Clearance in the Stone Age, in AgriclIltllral BegilWillgs, 1956
Khazanehi, T.N. Pit Dwellers of Burzahom, in The lllllstrated Weekly if Irldia,
Sept. 5, 1976
Pande, B.M. Neolithic hunting scene on a stone slab from Burzahom, Kashmir, Asia" Pers-
pective, Vol. XIV, 1973
Sankalia, H.D. Prehistory and Protohislory of Ilidia alld Pakistan, Poona, 1974
Sinha, S. Primi tive Hunters, Shifting Cultivators, The Times of India AIITlual .•
Bombay, 1974
Thapar B.K. Problems of the Neolithic Cultures in India: a Retrospect, Puralaltva, No.7,
1974-
Thapar. B.K. EarlY Farming CommWlities in India, Ms. 1977
Vishnu-Mittre, Protohistoric records of agriculture in India, Trans. Bose Res. Institute, Vol.
31,1968
CHAPTER 16
NEOLITHIC AND CHALCOLITHIC SETTLE]\1ENTS

IN SOUTH INDIA
CULTIVATION OF MILLETS AND PULSES AND DISCOVERY OF SILK
2295 B.C. - 1300 B.C.
ALL over India, ground and polished stone implements of the Neolithic Age
have been found, their characteristic material being trap in place of the
quartzite used in the Palaeolithic Age. The earliest archaeolithic finds in
India were in the Valley of the Tons River in the United Provinces by Le
Mesurier in 1860, and they were polished celts of this Age. In 1872, William
Fraser located Bellary as the real focus of the Neolithic culture in south India.
Southern Neolithic culture is characterized by burnished grey pottery,
polished stone axes and urn-burials. Subsequent to the discovery of a
neolithic settlement at Brahmagiri, a number of such settlements were dis-
covered in south India. These are Sanganakallu by Subbarao, Piklihal
by Allchin, Maski by Thapar, Utnur and Tekkalakota by Nagaraja Rao.
Neolithic settlements in the Andhra-Karnataka region have been discovered
at Hallur, T. Narsipur, Hemmige and Nagarjunakonda. In Tamil Nadu,
neolithic settlements have been discovered at Paiyamapalli, Gaurimedu
and Mangalam. The location of these settlements is shown in Fig. 53a.
How old are these settlements? One of the samples from Utnur gave
as early a date as c. 2295 B.C. The date for Narsipur is 1805 B.C. and for Tekka-
lakota 1780 B.C., Paiyamapalli, Sanganakallu, and later phases of Narsipur
and Tekka1akota are between 1485 B.C. and 1615 B.C. Sequential changes
from core and flake tradition and simple hand-made pottery to more deve-
loped wheel-turned pottery and the adoption of copper and bronze tools in
the late phase are clearly noticeable. SankaHa thought that Raichul' and
Bellary were probably the original focus of neolithic cultures in south-eastern
India and stimulated the development of similar cultures in Andhra-Kar-
nataka and Tamil Nadu regions. Allchin favours Daimabad in Maharashtra
as a focal point which, in its turn, received inspiration from the Harappan
cultures and even from Burzahom as far as early pottery is concerned. 1
NEOLITHIC CULTURES OF ANDHRA-KARNATAKA (PIKLIHAL,

UTNUR, NEVASA)
The region in which these cultures flourished is now shared by Andhra
Pradesh and Karnataka. The remains of these cultures are found in areas
lS en , S.N. A Survey of Source :Material in A COllcise History if Science ill Illdia, p. 9

234 A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INOlA
10!l" - -
1
I
INDIA
•
o
Sorghum
Penni!l~tum
. ,,'
,I
.. ~'f1u'ine
II
.~
.;...~
11
,I' • ..s.
,; I
oJ'
l
i
,. '" 't: ... _..-_ ...........
""':r""~
I .
.~.l
BH!lTKULI (AMR~
.4·5 Cen!, BC-~·8 C.ent, AD
PAUNAR.
• Cent. eC-3-'i1 Cenl. AD
." .
~ .
"'-:. o
,
'"
-_--"_----____------, ------.------,
~ ~
Fig. 123. Geographical distribution of records of millets together with dates in the Indian
JUbcontinent. The ClU'liest record of sorghum is from Inamgaon (Maharashtra). 1370 B.C.,
that of.fiogermiJ:let (ragi) from Hallur (Kamataka), 1800 B.C., and of pearl-millet (hajra)
from Ahar, 1720 B.C.
(After Viilinu-Mittre)
DECCAN NEOLITHIC AND CHALCO LITHIC SETTLEMENTS 23.5
with granitoid hills, with dykes, of fine-grained basalt, which is most suitable
for manufacturing polished axes. These people lived under overhanging
rocks and carried on a primitive type of agriculture in the plains below.
They were pastoral people and hunters. This is proved from cinerary
mounds, which were large heaps of cattle-dung. Short-horned cattle and
long-horned buffaloes, besides sheep and goats, were domesticated. Terra-
cotta figurines from Piklihal depict the zebu cattle. Those shown in rock
paintings at Maski are zebu with long, forward-pointing horns, as seen in
a terracotta from Chandigarh (Fig. 94). The buffalo is not common.
The flesh of cattle seems to have been eaten~ as is evidenced by the common
occurrence of split and cut bones. .A1lchin discovered hoof impressions
from the floor of a cattle~pen in an ash mound at Utnur. According to
him, the size of the larger pens has been inferred to represent herds of 600
to 1,000 anim:;tls.
The principal tools of these people Were pointed-butt polished stone
axes, adzes, chisels, hammers tones, fabricators and microliths. 14Carbon
dates from two sites, Piklihal and Dtnur, would place their culture around
2100 B.C.
MILLETS
Millets is a group name for a number of cereals known as coarse grains.

Whereas these are grown primarily for their grain, their straw makes valua-
ble cattle fodder. They are annual warm-weather grasses. They are
grown under conditions where other crops do not thrive and in regions of
low rainfall. Most of the millets are of short duration, i.e. of three to four
months' span from seeding to harvest. Their nutritional requirements are
low, but they respond well to irrigation and manuring. Some of the millets,
particularly jowar, hajra and ragi, are also grown as irrigated crops in well-
manured soils. But they are mostly grown on dry landa as rain-fed crops.
The millets comprise plants belonging to different genera and species,
with widely varying habits and characters. The commoner millets cultivat-
ed in India are jowar (Sorghum bico!or), bqjra (Pennisetum typlzoides) and ragi
(Eleusine coracana).
Ragi (Eleusine coracatza). Carbonized grains of ragi (Eleusine
coracana) have been reported from the Neolithic finds of Hallur, about 1800
B.C. in Karnataka (Vishnu-Mittre, 1971). The charred mass, which con-
tains spikelets of E. coracana~ also contained those of E. indica, the wild pro-
genitor of ragi. Ragi is also called finger-millet on account of resemblance
of its stalks with fingers (Fig. 130). It is one of the hardiest crops suited for
dryfarming. Its grain is of great nutritive value, and can be stored for
many years-even up to 50 years. Its straw is a valuable fodder for cattle.
Grains of ragi recovered from Hallur are shown in Fig. 129, top left. It is
noteworthy that Kanataka has the largest area under ragi. From Karnataka.
it
~
~" WID Megalithic ~
(Not to Scale)
Fig. 124. Two cultural periods at Paiyampalli, District North Areot (Tamil Nadu)
(i) The Neolithic ground stone-axes, short blades of jasper, agate and chert
(il) Megalithic iron objects, black and red pottery, tripod burial lIrn and terracotta lamp
with light wicks
ragi spread to the adjoining Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharash-
tra. In these states, ragi covers more than two-thirds of the area under it
in the country.
Eleusine cor4&ana is a tetraploid, and is regarded as of African
provenance.. Its presence in India so early as 1800 B.C. is interesting as
well as· intriguing.
MIDor.MiI1ets. Minor millets are korra or kangni (Setaria italica) , kodon
(Paspa/tern scrobiculatum), kutki (Panicum miliare) , cneena (Panicum miliaceum)
and S:W1wak (Echirwchloa ftumentacea). Besides, many other allied species,
the grains ofwhi.ch are used as food, are reported to be grown to a limited
extent, .01': Occur wild near the hilly regions. They are Setaria glauca, S.
"verticillat.a, Echinoc/lloa colonum, E. crus-galli and Paspalidium flavidum. Of
these, !codon (Paspalwn scrobiculatum) has been recovered from the early
historical site ofTerin the Osmanabad District ofMaharashtra (Fig. 131).
Pulses, Carbonized seeds of kulthi (Dolichos bijlorus) have been re-
covered from neolithic site Tekkalakota, in Karnataka, dated to 1780 R.C.
to 1500 B.C. (Fig .. 129, middle row, right).
PAlYAMPALLI, DISTRICT NORTH ARCOT (TAMIL NADU)

1390 ~ 200 D.C.
Phase A contained bone tools and short blades of jasper, agate and
chert. besides ground stone axes.
DECCAN NEOLITHIC AND CHALCOLlTI-lIC SETTLEMENTS 237
HALLUR
Neolithic Age Iron Age

1800 Be 870 Be
• _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.... f=ticlI
Eleuslne
coracana
Paspalum
scrobicuJa/lJm
Teelona
grandis
Fig. 125. Foodgrains and timber discovered from HaUur (Karnataka), 1800 B.C. to 870 B.C.
At Site 1, dwelling-pits of varying depths, cut into the natural soil,

oval, circular and oblong, were uncovered. The larger pits had it. landing
or ramp-Hke approach on one side. A dwelling-pit lined with stones
along the edges showed two _phases of occupation. Post-holes along the
periphery of some pits suggested the existence of a thatched superstructure
over them. Bone tools exemplified by awls, points and scrapers were
found in one of the dwelling-pits, besides fragmentary ground axes and
short blades of chert and quartz. The ground stone axes revealed all the
stages ormanufacture, namely flaking, pecking and grinding. Generally, the
axes with a pointed butt formed the majority. The mace-heads and per-
forated stones used as weights for digging-sticks Were of particular interest.
For domestic use and agricultural operations, short blades of chalcedony,
chert and quartz Were used as composite tools. The wasteflakes and fluted
cores indicated that the blades Were made locally.
The Neolithic settlers of Paiyampalli cultivated cereals and pulses.
Charred grains of pulses identified as kulthi (Dolichos bijlorus) and mung
(Vigna radiata) have been found in those levels where a few sherds of mega-
lithic pottery occurred in an essentially neolithic habitation-deposit.
These may be dated 315 B.C. The skeletal remains from the neolithic
levels represented animals of the bovid group, sheep, spotted deer, fowl,
pig, jungle cat and· rhinoceros. Swamps and thick jungle in the neighbour-
hood of the Paiyampalli are suggested by the presence of bones of rhino-
ceros.
CHALCOLITHIO SITES IN THE DECCAN

In the north-western part of the Deccan plateau, traversed by the
Narmada and the Tapti flowing westwards and the upper reaches of the
Godavari and the Krishna flowing eastwards, a series of cha1colithic sites
have been unearthed. These sites are Prakash, Bahal and Tekwada in the
Tapti Valley, Daimabad and Nevasa in the upper reaches of the Godavari,
Sonegao near the Krishna, Nasik, Jorwe and Chandoli on the plateau itself.
An integrated study of this group of Maharashtrian sites has brought
to light a number of phases. Daimabad I presents the earliest phase having
cultural affinities with Saurashtra and Malwa as also with the upper neo-
lithic phase of Karnataka. Stone axes, perforated ring-stone, a stone-blade
industry and a coarse grey pottery form the cultural complex of the first
phase. In the second phase, represented by Daimabad II and Prakash lA,
copper knife blades, a fine reddish-brown Ware and Malwa-type spouted
wares appear. Jorwe, Nevasa, Chandoli and Sonegao, which represent
the third phase, yield a variety of both stone and copper implements,
painted red Jorwe wares with spouts, some lustrous red wares, and fibres
of cotton, flax and silk. 14C datings on samples from Sonegao put the
Jorwe phase between 1375 and 1290 B.C.; the second phase (Daimabad II,
Prakash IA) may be placed benveen c. 1700 and 1400 B.C. by comparison
with Navdatoli IIIB and IIlC, and the first Daimabad phase before 1800
B.O.2
NEVASA (AHMADNAGAR DISTRICT, MAHARASHTRA), 1500 B.C.
N~vasa is the headquarters of a taluka of the same name in the Ahmad-

nagar District in Maharashtra. I t is situated on both the banks of the
River Pravru;at a tributary of the Godavari, and is about 177 kilometres
northeast of Pune. It is an important chalcolithic site i'1. Maharashtra.
A la:tge mound overlook& the river. The portion lying on the left bank
is nearly 300 metres long and 100 metres wide. It is called "Ladmod",
and is CJ+t up into three smaller mounds. From the water-level it is nearly
21 ~5 xnetr~ high, the top 9 metres or so containing the debris offour cultural
periods from 1500 B.C. to A.D. 1500.
The earliest occupants settled on a thick layer of black soil. They cut
the jungle with the help of copper and polished stone axes. For the rest of
the cutting and clearing, they used .short parallel-sided and Gravette-like
blades and points of a limpid chalcedony. True saws also occur in this
as&em.blage. The technique by which blades Were removed has been
described ~ a "Crested Ridge and Fluted Core" technique, and is a common
f~ture qf all the Chall;olithlc cultures. Among the heavier tools; we have
occasionally mace,.head or weight for a digging-stick, small querns, mullers,
'Sen, A.N. ASutvey of SourceMateriah,inA iJoncise History oj Science in India, pp. 11,12
DECCAN NEOLITHIC AND CHALCOLITllIC SETTLEMENTS 239
and rubbers. Large querns are comparatively very few, as agriculture

was in its infancy. Negativ Iy, this is confirmed by the absence of any
grains, and the recovery of \ ast quantities of animal bones, among which
those of cattle predominate. Pottery is wheel-made, and is matt with
geometric paintings in black OVer a red surface. It is so well-baked that when
struck, it gives a metallic ring. The shapes are again comparatively
limited, carinated bowls of various sizes, vessels with tubular spout and
flaring mouth and carinated belly, and vessels with globular body and high
neck. Among the unpainted group there are storage jars, with finger-tip
decoration, basins or troughs and fine black slipped ware with red coating.
The people of Nevasa lived in mud huts which were generally square
or rectangular. These were built with the help of thick wooden posts
(Fig. 133). The floors Were made with lime and clay but at times with
a bedding of sand or gravel. The size of the rooms is 2·7 X 1·5 metres. In
a corner of the room was a squarish chulah.
Burials. Burial within the house was an approved custom. Of the
131 burials found by Sankalia at Nevasa, 126 were of children. This indi-
cates heavy child mortality. Children were normally buried in two urns,
placed horizontally facing each other (Fig. 133). Adults were buried in
pits dug for the purpose. The body was extended and lay north-south. It
seems that before burial the body Was exposed and the flesh was allowed to
dry up. Feet were cut off and the rest of the skeleton was placed in a pit
dug up in the house. This practice was probably adopted to ensure that the
soul of the deceased ancestor may not walk off, deserting the family. Pots
and pans used by the deceased were placed near the skeleton.
DISCOVERY OF SILK
Several of the burials at Nevasa were endowed with funerary goods,
such as small pots and beads made of shell, agate, carnelian and copper.
In one burial, a copper bangle was found around the leg-bone of a child;
the burial Was very rich in pottery as well. The most remarkable find,
however, was that of a necklace of J 7 barrel-shaped copper beads
strung with thread, worn round the neck of a child buried in urns. A.N.
Gulati, who examined the thread, is of the opinion that it was of white
silk, apparently spun from cocoons on a cotton nep. This is thus the
earliest evidence of the use of silk in India.
Bombyx huttoni, the Inman silk moth of north-western Himalayas,
is ancestral to several of the domesticated Bombyx species according to
Zeuner. There are five silk-producing species of Bombyx in India. In
addition to Bomby.,: silk, there are species of Saturniidae which are the pro-
ducers of coarser and harder tusser silk. They include Antlzeraea mylitta of
India (Fjg. 134), which feeds on the leaves of ber tree, Ziziphus mauritiana •
Gulati found the presence of millet-cells and epidermal hairs, besides
fungal spores, in the earth sticking to the copper beads. This, according
to him, would indicate the use of cattle-dung in the burial rite. In addi-
tion, he noticed the 'presence of oil-globules in the material surrounding
the string, which suggests the use of oil for anointing the body. Polished
celts and an adze were also recovered. The few copper objects inCluded
fish-hooks, wires and a bangle.
NAVDATOLI (THE NIMAD DISTRICT, MADHYA PRADESH),

1657 D.c.-I443 B.C.
Navdatoli is a key-site of the Chalcolithic culture of the Narmada basin.
Now it is a small hamlet inhabited by boatmen (navdas). The Narmada,
which in the past was below the hamlet, is noW about 600 metres away.
Sankalia, who excavated this site, thus describes its culture. 'The
inhabitants built round and square or rectangular huts, raised on thick
wooden posts. Around these were put bamboo screens, plastered with Clay
from outside and inside. At Inaxngaon in district Poona, huts were cons-
tructed in a similar manner (Fig. 138). The floor was also made of clay
mixed with cowdung. Both were then given a thick coating of lime, so
that the house when first built must have looked spick and span. The
size of the largest rectangular room was 20 feet by 40 feet [6 metres by 12
metres]. But sometimes a circular hut was only three to four· feet [0.9
to 1·2 metres] in diameter, the largest being of 8 feet [2·4 metres] in diameter.
So, it is doubtful, if the small one was meant for habitation. Such small
huts might have been used for·· storing grain or hay. But normally in
Period II the size of a room was 10 feet X 8 feet [3 metres X 2·4 metres].
How many persons lived in a room Or a house can only be guessed. But,
possibly, not mbre than four in a room of 8 feet X 10 feet [2-4 metres X
S metreS]. Secondly, the settlement was so often rebuilt, as evidenced by
house floors, tb.at it is difficult to distinguish the house pla.ns by mere occur-
rences of post-holes. But judging from the modern village of Navdatoli,
one may guess that the prehistoric village might have had 50 to 75 huts,
supporting a population of about 200 persons.
'In one house was found a well-made rectangular pit. Its sides are
slightly bevelled; all round there are postholes; On either side at some dis-
tanoe is a pot~rest made into the ground, and possibly the remains of a
'single-'lnouthed hearth. Inside the pit Were found two charred logs of
wood and the remains of two pots. These have a high corrugated neck
with everted rim, a ribbed ovalish body with one or two incised bands,
·filled in with lime and a high hollow base.
'These houses were built very clOSe to eacb other. But between a row
Qf4 or 5 houses, it appears, there was an ,open space, like a chawk. These
house$ were furnished, .as can be expected of those days and as we find in a
farmer's house even todaYJ with earthen pots for storing, cooking and drink-
DECCAN NEOLITHIC AND CHALCOLITHIC SETTLEMENTS 241
ing. The large storage jars were strong and sturdy but generally decorated
with an engraving along the neck. But what surprises us and delights our
eye is their "table service", or dinner set. It is this which distinguishes these
Early Navdatolians from the modern primitives like Santals and other
tribes in Chota Nagpur, for instance. The Navdatolians had a large
number of pottery vessels which according to their fabric, shapes and designs
fall inl·o four distinctive groups, each having certain shapes and designs
associated with a particular period. The most common is a pale-red
slipped fabric with paintings in black over it. Since this occurs throughout
Malwa (an old geographical name for parts of Central India), it is called
the "Malwa Ware". This occurs as a major pottery fabric right from the
first occupation .and runs through the entire Cha1colithic habitation.
However, in the earliest period only certain shapes and designs figure, hoth
becoming more varied later.
'Then there is a sprinkling of black-and-red ware, with paintings in
white, comprising generally bowls with gracefully inturned sides and cups.
This fabric is confined only to Period I, and seems definitely to be an import
from the adjoining region of Rajputana, where at Ahar it occurs in pro-
fusion.
'The third important fabric is the white-slipped one. It is associated
with the first two periods only, but died out later. It has several gradations
in slip and texture, but the finest is smooth, lustrous and slightly greenish-
white.
'Though it copies some of the shapes of the Malwa ware, its own dis-
tinctive shapes are a shallow dish with broad, flat rim and stand, and a
high concave-walled cup with bulging bottom. An almost complete bowl
of the latter in fine white slip recalls a similar vessel from the earliest period
at Sialk, in Iran. A band of running antelopes and dancing human figures
seem to be characteristic designs.
'A number of querns were found, as they were left by their users, right
on the kitchen floor, near ~hulltas or hearths. The chulhas were quite large,
made with clay and thinly plastered with lime. It is, however, not to be
presumed that the inhabitants were strictly vegetarians. In the debris of
their houses have been found remains of cattle, pig, sheep, goat, and deer.
Except for the last, all must have been domesticated and eaten. But since
the grains were vaded and plentiful they relied .less on animal food, and
hence their remains are comparatively few in number as compared to those
from Nevasa.
'The early inhabitants of Navdatoli were fairly well off. They were
essentially farmers or peasants, though a section might be living by hunting
and fishing. They used copper hut sparingly in the shape of simple, flat
axes (Fig. 135), fish-hooks, pins and rings. In a later phase possibly they
used daggers or swords with a midrib. So for their daily needs of cutting
2+2 A HISTORY OF ACRICULTURE IN INDIA
NAVDATOU·MAHESWAR
Phase-II Phase-III Phase-IV

Phase-I
C::'::'::'::':~"'-----+-----+-----"'1
~ _____+-_____ +'--""'--" Wheal
Rice
1-----~~-----t------i_-----1 Barley
L-____ __
L.._____~-----,..-----+_-----"i Pisum
I--__.....-i_-----"1 Lalhyrus salivus
-l~_--
L-____~~---__I-___ --+_-----_t Lathyru5 spha~ricus
~ ____
'-----~I------ . . -----+_-----_1
-l~_-_--l~_-_-_t- ___ --~
Phaseo/us (Vigna)
Lentil
1-_____..._____111( Unum usilalissimum
1------11------1------+------"" ZiZipllus
Emblica offidnaris
_______ __
~ ~~
_____. .
------~~----------~---------~Bamboos
I-____~~-----I------+- Acacili
Fig. 126. Foodgraics, fruit and timber discovered from Navdato]i-Maheawar

vegetables~ scraping leather and piercing stone; they had to rely upon stone
"tools; their blades are so small 'that we call them Hmicroliths". These were
·hafted·in bone and wooden handles.
'The stalks of the crops Were probably cut with sickles set with stone
teeth, as thousands of such stone tools have been found. 1lJ
CULTIVATION OF PULSES
Apart from two types of wheat and seeds of linseed (Linam usitatissimum))
Navdatoli had five kinds of pulses, viz. (i) masur, or lentil (Lens culinaris),
(ii) UTa. or mash (Vigna mun,go), . (ii) mung, or green-gram (Vigna radiata),
(iv) khesari (Lathyrus sativus), and (v) Latlfyrus sp., besides four other legu~
minous weeds. This is the first record of pulseS from India and shows their
antiquity (Fig. 137).
. Mung (Green-gram). Grains of mung were discovered at Navdatoli.
This discovery indicates that this pulse was eaten by the people of Navdatoli.
JSankaUa, H.D. From Food Collection to Urbanisation in I.ndia, Indian Anlhropology,

.&says in Memi»7 qf D.N. MVumtlar, pp. 89 to 93
DEccAN NEOLITIUa AND CHALCOLl'I'UIC SE'I'TLEMENTS 243
Botanical evidence shows that the original home of mung is India. A wild
relative of mung, Vigna suhlohata (Phaseolus suhlohatus) is found in the (arai
jungle near Pantnagar, District Naini Tal. It is immune to yellow mosaic
virus and is used in plant. breeding. From India, mung spread to other
countries in the ancient times. The regions between Afghanistan and the
Soviet Republics of Tadjikistan and Uzbekistan have been proposed as the
secondary homes of this pulse.
Mash, Urd (Black-graD1). Mash was consumed as a pulse crop by
the Chalcolithic (c. 1500 B.O.) people of Navdatoli, as already stated. In the
Vedic (before .800 B.C.) and post-Vedic periods, mash enriched the Indian
diet and cookery to a great extent. In fact, it was so much accepted in the
ancient Indian culture that it was even used in the socia-religious ceremonies.
It began to be used as a horse food from the Maurya and Sunga periods
(300 B.C. to A.D. 75). The Sanskrit name mash gave origin to the word
maska, used as a unit of weight in India. Botanical evidences suggest that the
original home of mash is India, where it Seems to have been first domesticated.
From India this pulse spread to other countries in the ancient times and
its spread is closely connected with the cultural histories of the recipient
countries. The regions between Mghanistan, Soviet Republic of Tadjikistan,
Uzbekistan and Western Tian Shan are proposed as the secondary homes of
this pulse.'
Masur. The history of masur (Lens culinaris) is complicated. It Was
consumed by the Ohalcolithic (c. 1500 B.a.) people of Navdatoli, as already
stated. In the Vedic (before 800 B.C.) and post-Vedic periods, masur en-
riched the Indian diet and cookery, The fact that the masur pulse was
interdicted in the sraddh ceremony would indicate its exotic origin. How-
ever, it was only after A.D. 1000 that masur was accepted as a sacred gift to
Brahmins. It began to be used as a horse food after A.D. 800 but it was
considered to be of lower quality than gram. Fig. 127 illustrates a masur
plant with pods.
Vavilov proposed four. centres of origin for masur, viz. the Central
Asiatic Centre, the Near Eastern Centre, the Mediterranean region extend-
ing from N.W. India, Kashmir, N.W. Pakistan, Mgharlliitan and Soviet
Republics of Tadjikistan, Uzbekistan and West Tian Shan, the interior of
Asia Minor, the whole of Transcaucasia, Iran and the highlands of Turk-
menistan, the Mediterranean region extending to Abyssinia: Eritrea and
Somaliland. Helbaek believed the Anatolian-Caucasian region as the
centre of origin of the masur pulse, from where it spread to Europe at an early
date. The earliest record of masur is from Jarmo in Iraq, dating to the
seventh millenmum }l.C. Renfrew considered Greece to be the centre of the
origin and domestication of the masur pulse. The fact that the masur pulse
·Mehra, K.L. History of Mash Pulse in India, V.I.]. Vol. III, 1970
244 A :H1STORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
Fig. 127. Un! culilt4ris (lentil)
was identified am.ong the plant remains of an early neolithic habitation

(6220 ± 150 ll.a. ) in N ea Nikomedia (N. Greece) would point to its ancient
tultivation' in Europe. Once domesticated as a cultivated plant in Europe,
the masur pulse spread to Egypt and eastwards to India. Once grown in
India, masur has enriched the Indian diet and cook.ery. to such an. extent
that many of UB hardly feel that it was first domesticated in ancient Europe. 5
Pulses are now grown over one-seventh of the cultivated area of India.
JMehl7l, K.L. Hi$tory (If Masur Pulse in India. V.i.J. Vol. X, 1972
DECCAN NEOLITHIC AND CIIALCOLITUIC SETTLEMENTS 245
They figure prominently in the crop rotations and crop mixtures practised
by the farmers. They are legumes and, hence, help to maintain soil ferti-
lity. They are rich in proteins and supply the major part of the protein
requirements of the population of India.
MILLETS
Jowar (Sorghum bicolor). Sorghum, orjowar as it is known in India,
is an African plant. In Fig. 142, the stalk of a jowar plant is shown. Its
cultivation started in East Africa 5000-7000 years ago. Its earliest record
in India is from Ahar, Rajasthan, 1725 B.C. Its earliest record in Maha-
rashtra is from Inamgaon, 1370 B.C. Its next record is from Bhatkuli,
District Amraoti, fifth century B,C, and Paunal', third century B.C. From
these centres, it seems, jowar spread to Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and
Madhya Pradesh.
At present, there are about 18 million hectares under jowar, with a pro-
duction of 9 million tonnes of grain. Jowar occupies more area in India
than any other food crop except rice. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya
Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pra.desh, and Tamil
Nadu, in that order; are the States where grain sorghum is chiefly grown.
The largest area under jowar is in Maharashtra, i.e. to the extent of 34
per cent. Its grain is roasted when it is green. When ripe and dry, it is
the favourite cereal of the Maharashtrians. There are two main types
with regard to stem character: the pithy or dry stem, and the juicy stem.
The stalks of the juicy type are relished by cattle.
About 25 species of Sorghum are found in India. Of these, about 12
species with a number of varieties and forms belong to the series Sativa,
and are grown to a greater or lesser extent for their grain in different parts
of the country; their stems and leaves are used as fodder. The most
important among these are S. cernuum, S. durra and S. subglabmcms. The rest
of the species are the so-called wild sorghums, although many of them are
also grown for fodder; of these, S. halepense is widesprea.d in India.
OILSEEDS
Linseed. Oarbonized seeds of linseed (Linum usitatissimum) were found
at Navdatoli (Vishnu~Mittre, 1962). Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and
Maharashtra are the main linseed.growing areas. It is noteworthy that
the nuclear a.rea, viz. the area from where the seeds were first reported,
is surrounded by the area in whichthe crop has spread most. The total
area under linseed in India is now about 1·37 million hectares, with a total
annual production of a.bout 370,000 tonnes.
Castor. A carbonized seed of castor (Ricinus communis) has been
discovered from Ter in Maharashtra, 150 B.C. to A.D. 100 (Vishnu-Mittrc:,
1968).
rNAMGAON
I Malva I
C , 600-1300 BC
Overl ap' I Early Jorwe
C 1300 - 1000 BC
I Overlap 1 1000- 700
C
Lat e Jorwe
BC
Wheat
Bar l ey
Riee
Sorghum
Lentil
Vigna radiala
Dolichos bi(lorus
Dolichos l ab/ab
Pisum
Lalhyrus
Vicia
Z,ziphus
Pho enix
Buchllnania
BAmboos
Dendrocafamlls
Teclona
Fig. 128. Seeds oferops, fruits and timber recovered from Inamgaon (Maharashtra), 1600
R.C. to 1000 B.C.
Castor had its origin in India and North Africa. India, after Brazil,
is the second largest producer of castor seed with about 26 per cent of world
production. Castor is mainly grown in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and
Maharashtra.
FRUITS
Ber (Ziziphus numlUularia). Carbonized fruits of ber (,?,i.dpltuJ
nttmmularia) were fou~d at Navdatoli (1660-1400 B.C.), and also from Kaun-
dinyapur, Ter, and Inamgaon (Vishnu-Mittre) (Fi g. 126). Wild ber
grows all over India and Pakistan. In the food-gathering stage, it provided
a fruit diet to the hunters. Its fruit is eaten fresh and is also sun-dried for
storage.
AlUla (Emblica officinalis). Carbonized seeds of amIa (Emblica
officinalis) dated 1600 B.C. were found at Navdatoli (Vishnu-Mittre). The
amla fruit is rich in vitamin C. It is pickled and candied. Its medicinal
nECC: A r\ N F. LtTIIIG A N rl CIlALUOI.ITTIlC SETTI.EME N T S
Fig. 129. Seeds of sorghum , gram and other crops from prehistoric siles
Top row, lift: ElcllSill1! COI'aC(IIW, Hallur, Kal'nalalm, 1800 B. C . ; right, impressioll s o!'Sol'ghrllll
spikC'lels 011 a pots-h erd from Ah a J', Rajasthan
"l'[iddle "OW, left .. Sorghum sp., CaJ'bonizcd grains fJ'om a charred lliass, llhatkuli, 1 :lahara-
shtra, fifth century 13. C .; right, Dolie/lOs b~(lorlls, Tekkalakota, Kamataka, 1780 n. ,
Bottom row, lift: Cicu arietinlllll, Bhatkuli, MaharashtL'a, fifth ccntury D.C.; righI, caruo-
nizcd fl'uits of ZiziJJ/llIs nlllJll1lul aria from Malva-Jol'we site, Illamgaol1, Mah :ll'ashtra
2+8 A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
l ' ig. L30. Fingpr-millet, m' mgi (ElcliSill6 em-ne(lI/(I) , is common ly g"OWll ill Karnataka as a foocl
crop
(Courtesy: Indian Agd ulluml ReSC'<1l'ch Institute)
DECCAN NEOLITUIC ANlJ CTlALCOLl'l'IUC SE'l"l'LEME NT S
Fig. 13 1. Sceds of crops from cady historical site of Tel', O s man:lbarl, I\I:1h ~ll·:t shlra
First row, [eJi: I-fordcllIIl sp.; right , Triticum sjJhaerococclllIt
Second row, lift: Carbonized spikelcls of rice 1'1'0111 a chalTcd mass; light J spikelel s of OIYZ ll .w/iua
Third TOW, lift: Paspallllll .rcrobiclIlalllm; right, Pi.rlllll saliuU/Jl
Fourth row, left: Lms culi/laris; righl, Ricillus commuTlis
2,SO A t!lSTOi"{Y 0 1' AGR1cur.1'URE IN INDIA
rig. 1 3~ . Rcconsll'U lion of th e Chalcolithic village of Navdaloli , c. LiDO Il.t:. The inhabi.
t;lIlts nfNavdatoli lived ill rounded huts raised 011 thick WOOdCIl posts. Al'Olind the frnm c-
\\'ork were bamboo SCl'c('ns coat.ed with clay and li me
(Mter H,D. Sallkalia)
DECCAN NEOLIT1I1C AND Cn ALCOLITHIC SETTLEMENTS 251
l'ig. 133. Life and death at Nevilsa, Chalcolithic, c. 1300 H.C. In the foreground is a potter's
hut. Spouted pot and vessel with flaring mouth arc his products. The corpse of a child is
being buried enclosed in a pitcher. On a slab arc polished stone-axes
(Reconstruction by H .D. SankaJia)
252 A HISTORY OF A RICULTURE TN INDIA
l<'ig. 134. AlZtlieraea Tlryiitta, the t usscr silk moth (female). Below are th e o coons from w hich
silk is spun out
(Courtesy: Indian S ilk Board )
DECCAN NEOLI'.fHJC AND CIIALCOLlTHIC SETTLL\IENTS 253
Fig. 135. Coppel' implemcnts from avdaloli (J\Iadhya Prades h), 14-00 u. -. Nevasa
(lvIahat'ashtra ) and JOI'WC (Mahal'l'Ishtl'a)
(Courte;;y: A rchaeological Survey of India)
254· A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
Fig. 136. Seeds of pulses

First row: Lens cu['illal'is and Vigna radiata
Secolld row: Vigna Itlungo an d Cajanus cajan
Third row: Latlzyrus salirms and Cicer ar i etillllln
DECCAN NEOLITHIC AND CUALCOLITHIC SETTLEMENTS 255
Fig. 137. Seeds of crops from Navdatoli-IvIahesw ar

First row: Triticum aestillllln and Vigna rn7lllgo
Second row: Vigl/a mdiala and Lens culirlaris
Third row: Lal/!YrtlS sativlIs und LillLlm IIsilalissimum
BoUolll: Pisum satiulIIll
(After Vishnll-Mittl'e)
2,% /\ llI ST ORY OF ACRI C l l LTUR E IN I NJ..)JA
- -
.-------( . "".~ .
....
Fig. 1313 , Iso m ctric recolls tru c tio n of C ltn lcolitlli c v ill:t gf', llla m gaulI , iJis lri c t 1'11111' , c. 700
II. C . H llUSt:~ wC n : ro und ed alld h ad s lr:l\v 1'(,(>ls suppor led b y WlllllJt' ll (loi!',
(, \I'tc.:J J [.n . S'lll kalia )
fJEC{ :AN N l'.OlXllllf: AND f:HALC()L1TlflC SETT T.fo, W'-,:'i'I'S
Fig. 140. A b),onze chariot with a cult figure, possibly PrlSupali, Shiv[I, fl'Onl Dnil11:1lJad,
Ahmadnagar District, Mahal'ashtra, of the Chalcoli thic period, c. ]300 ll.f'.
(Courtesy: National Museum, New Delhi; Archaeological SlIl'v<'), of Intli" )
Fig. 141. A pot from Inamgaon with en-

graving of a cart dl'awn by zebu cattle
(After H.D. Sankalia)
DECCAN NEOLITHIC At-;n CIIALCOI.I1'HIC SETTLE~mNTS
value can be judged from the fact that it is one of the three ingredients of
triJJhaia, an Ayurvedic mcdicine and tonic.
Irrigation
The farmers of Inamg-aon cultivated wheat, barley, kulth, mung and peas.
A large mud embankment on a stone foundation for diverting flood watcr
in the Ghod River through a channel dug for the purpose was also discovered
at Inamgaon. According to Dhavalkar 8 , this is the earliest evidence of
irrigation in India.
THE LATE HARAPPANS IN THE GODAVARI VALLEY
S.A. Sali 7 has dl'a\,vn attention to some late Harappans ill the Godavari
Valley in Maharashtra. From an ancient site at Kalivada on a bank of a
small feeder stream of the River Pravara ncar the village of Ambhore, in
the Sangmnner Taluka of the Ahmadnagar District, potteries were found
which closely resemble the late Harappan red ware. Sali believes that
this is the first evidence indicating the south'ward extension of the Harappang
into the Godavari Valley.
DAIMABAD
The Chalcolithic site at Daimabad on the Pravara River in the Ahmad-
nagar District was excavated by Deshpande in 1958-59. It yielded evi-
dence of four phases, viz. Neolithic, Late Harappa, Buff and Cream Ware,
Malwa and Jorwe cultures. Apart from potteries, charred grain of barley,
a fragment of a copper celt, and microliths of chert and chalcedony "Ivere
discovered from the Late Harappan phase.
In 1974:, a hoard of bronzes was discovered by a Bhil from the roots of
shrubs which he "INas uprooting for fuel. Sali ascribes them to the Late
Harappan phase. These comprise a chariot with a pair of humped bullocks
yoked to it. This must be the breed present in Maharashtra in 1300 B.C.
I t was used for ploughing, pulling carts and chariots (Fig. 140). The chariot
is driven by a naked man. Attached to his penis is a four-hooded cobra.
In front of him is a dog standing on the central pole. Other animals in the
hoard are a rhino, a buffalo and an elephant. Obviously, it is a cult image .
According to Sali, the man represents the Pasupati, Shiva, the Lord of
Beasts.
A pot recovered from Inamgaon has a painting showing two zebus
yoked to a bullock-cart (Fig. 141).
The Harappan Daimabad ",.ras a sizeable to'o\'Il covering more than 20
8Dhavalkar, M.K. "First Farmers of Maharashtra," in Dawn l!.! Civilizatioll ill lUahal'aJhlm
(Ed. K. Khandalavala)
'Saii, S.A. The Haloappan Contacts in the Deccan , I"dimi ITlst. AdL'arlced Stllt{y, Semina r ,
Simla, Nov. 1977
260 A HISTORY QF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
Fig. HZ. Panicle of sorghum

DECCAN NEOLITHIC AND CHALCOLITHIC SETTLEMENTS 261
hectares. The temple of Pasupati was surrounded by mud-walled houses
with flat roofs. Sali believes that Daimabad may have been the capital of
the Harappans of the region of the Godavari basin in Maharashtra.
Timber. Fragments of wood and charcoal have been recovered ftom
some archaeological sites in southern India. They give a clue to the species
of trees which were used by the Neolithic-Chalcolithic people. A piece
of charcoal from Inamgaon turned out to be of a specimen of bamboo of
the genus Dendrocalamus. Holarrhena antidysenterica, the Easter-tree~ with
fragrant white flowers, even noW is abundant in the forests of Karnataka.
A piece of charcoal from Hallur was of this species. A piece of charcoal
from Tekkalakota in Karnataka was identified as belonging to Soymida
febrifuga. The wood of Ziziphus mauritiana was used by the people of
Harappa for making mortars (moosal). Possibly in south India a similar
use was made of this wood, which is shock-absorbing. This selective use of
wood indicates a knowledge of the characteristic qualities of the woods by
the NcoHthic~Chalcolithic people of south India. Wood of teak, Acacia,
Albizzia, Soymida febrifllga and l5ziphus mauritiana was used as timber and
for making agricultural implements and bullock-carts.
REFERENOES
Allchin, B. and R. The Birth Q/ Indian Civili.l:;ation, Penguin, 1968
HeJback, H. Plant Economy in Ancient Lachish, IV: Th Bronze Age. Wdlcome-Marston
Archaeological Expedition (1958), pp. 309-17
Indian Archaeology, J959-60-A RSt,jew, Department of Archaeology, New Delhi, 1966
Khandalavala, K. (Ed.) Dawn Q/ Civilization in Maharashtra, Bombay, 1975
Mehra, K.L. History of mas a-pulse in India and its cultural significance, in VishveshvaralUznd
Indologieal Journal, Vol. III, 1970
Mehra, K.L. H:istory of masura-pulse in India and its cultural significance, in Vish,'eshuara-
nand Indalogicol Journal, Vol. X, 1972
Mehra, K.L. HistorY ofmunga-puL!e in India and its cultural .ignificance, in Vislweshvara-
nand Indologieal Journal, XIII, 1975-Achal)'a Dr Vishva Balldhu Commemoration Volume,
Part II, 1975
Renfrew, J.1<f. 'A report on recent Ends of carbonized cereal grains and seeds from pre-
historic Thessaly', ThessaUka, Archaeologkal Review for Civilizafion, HisltJry and Religion
of Ancient Thessaly, 5 (1966), 21·36
Sali, S.A. The Harappan Oontacts in the Deccan, Indiall I,ut. Adv. Study, Seminar, Simla,
Nov. 1977
Sankalia, H.D. From Food Collection to Urbanization in India, Illdiall Allthropology-Ess(I)'s
in Memory of D.N. Majumdar (Ed. T.N. Madan and Gopala Sarma), Bombay, 19G2
SankaJja, H,D Prehistory Qlld Protohistory Q/ Itldia alld Pakistan, Poona, 1974
Sen, S.N. A Survey of Source Material, in A Concise History rifScience II [lidia, INSA, New
Delhi, 1971
Vavilov, N.I. The Origin, Variation, Immuniry and Breedillg of Cultil'ated Platlts, The Ronald
Press 00., New York, USA, 1951
Vishnu-Mittre. The beginnings of Agriculture, Palaeobotanical evidence in India, in
Evolutionary Studies- ill World Crops (Ed. Sir J. Hutchinson), London, 197-1-
Wealth of India, Vol. IX, New Delhi
CHAPTER 17
NEOLITHIC CULTURE OF EASTERN INDIA

CULTIVATION OF RICE, BANANAS, SUGARCANE AND YAMS
2000 B.C.
RICE is the most extensively cultivated crop in the world, and serves as the
staple food for the largest population. China is the largest producer of rice
in the world, followed by India. India accounts for nearly 2 I per cent
of the world production of this cereal. Other important rice-producing
countries are Bangladesh, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand and Burma.
In India) rice has the largest area under it; i.e. about 30 per cent ofthe
total area under all foodgrains. Though it is grown in all the States, its
principal concentration is in eastern India, viz. Assam, West Bengal,
Bihar, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.
The Neolithic cultures of eastern India, viz. Assam (excavated site,
Daojali Hading). north Bihar (excavated site, Chirand), West Bengal
(excavated site, Pandu Rajar Dhibi), and Orissa (excavated site, Kuchai)
have particular importance when we consider the problem of the origin of
cultivation of rice.
According to Sankalia, the whole of eastern India, comprising Assam,
Bengal and Bihar are pure Neolithic cultures, with ground stone rul:es as
the basic industry. Ground tools of stone and bone are abundant in eastern
India, with hand-made pottery in small quantities. The stone tools are of
three main types, viz. triangular, rectangular and shouldered.
ASSAM AND NORTH·EASTERN REGION
The Garo Hills. Nearly 1,000 tools Were collected from Rongram,
Rengchangiri, Rangchigiri, Chitra Abri, Rongchugate, Rombhagiri, Tura
and Phalbari~ These sites are situated On the north-western face of the
Arbela Range, 762 and 609 metres above sea-level.
The present distribution of these tools suggests that people in some
areas in the Garo Hills preferred to make simple celts, whereas others made
tanged or shouldered ones, though the purpose or function of both was
probably the same, vii. hoeing. Thus it was essentially an agricultural tool.
The North Cachar Hills. There are three classes of Neolithic pottery
found in the stratified site of Daojali Hading in the North Cachar Hills.
Of these, the cord-impressed pottery is the most numerous and shows dis-
tinct influence fr<lm the Szechwan region in China.
Among the ground tools, the fully ground are by far the most numerous
in the Garo Hills. Shouldered axes again form a major or dominant group
NEOLITHIC CULTURE OF EASTERN INDIA 263
among the various types of tools (Fig. 145). These have been found for
the first time in stratified context at Dcojali Hading, where they occur along
with small axes, flat or round on the sides, quadrangular adzes and cord-
impressed pottery. According to Sankalia, 'The Assam Neolithic primarily
drew its inspiration from Southwest China and Indo~China, and the Dco-
jali Hading assemblage was comparable with the Late Bacsonian of South-
east Asia. The major role was played by the Upper Yangtze Valiey of
Szechwan and Yunnan in developing the Neolithic cultures of Assam!
The Naga Hills. The pecked and edge~ground axes of the Naga
Hills compare with the excavated specimens from Yang Shao Taun in
Honan, North China. The pecking technique seemS to have been intra"
duced into this region from China, whence also came the jadeite axes.
The pointed butt axes of the Naga Hills, being associated with shoul.
dered axes, are derived from East Asia (Fig. 146).
Sharma has shown that the shouldered axes have affinity with the
Hoabinhian of Thailand.
According to Sankalia, 'The life of these Neolithic people could not
have been much different from that of most of the present pre~literates
some 50 years ago, when modern civilizations had not reached them. Even
now cord-impressed pottery and bark cloth are made by the Agaro, who
also practise shifting cultivation.'!
No direct evidence for the domestication of animals has been obtained
in eastern India. From circumstantial evidence it can be inferred that
j/uJomillg or slash-and-hurn shifting cultivation must have been prevalent.
This is a system which is widely prevalent even now in Assam, and contri- .
butes to the flood problem of that State. The tribals live on the hilltops
and when they burn the forest, a good deal of fertile soil is washed away
during the rains.
BIHAR
Chirandl District Saran. In eastern India, the lower layers of
Chirand, District Saran, a site about 8 kilometres east of Chapra and
situated near the confluence of the Ghagra and the Ganga, has given a truly
Neolithic assemblage. The discovery only underlines the importance of
the earlier but mixed assemblages from Sonpur (District Gaya), Uriup
(District Bhagalpur)' and a few other sites. Three things are noteworthy
at Chirand. First, the earliest settlement rests under a truck debris of the
Early Historic town and is 3·5 metres thick. Secondly, it is situated in the
plain over the old reddish silt. Thirdly, ground or polished tools are few
but there is an abundance and variety of bone tools. A 14 0 determina-
tion from the topmost level of the Neolithic had given a date of 1650 n.c.
lSankalia, H.D. The Prehislm-y and Protphisfm-y of India anrI Pakistan, pp. 297. 298
264- A I-IlS'tORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
but there is an earlier date 1755 ± 155 B.C. It is, therefore, expected that
the lowest deposit might go back to c. 2500 B.C.
The houses were circular, about 2 metres in diameter. The floors Were
paved and the walls were made of clay or luud, plastered over a bamboo
screen from outside and inside. It is also thought that there were roofed
"pit houses". The roofs were presumably conical and thatched. Villages
with such circular huts may even now be seen on the way to Chlrand.
The inhabitants used pots and pans. Though the details are not yet
available, it seemS there were four main fabrics: red, pale and deep grey,
black and black-and~red. These ate either hand-made or made with the
help of a turntable.
It is said that the microliths made on chert, chalcedony and siliceous
stones obtained from the Son were used by the Neolithic people.
A distinguishing feature is the repertory of tools made from bone and
antler. These include picks, chisels with broad and narroW end, hammer,
dagger, bar celt, shaft straightener, side- and end-scrapers, needle, bodkin,
awl and drill.
There are also arrowheads, both tanged and socketed.
For cutting stalks of wild gtasses, these Neolithic men employed micro-
liths, set in bone, wood or clay hafts or used the larger parallel-sided blades.
Terracotta figurines, showing humped bulls, birds and toy-cart wheels,
were also recovered. The ceramics associated with this culture included
hand~made red, grey-black and black-and-red Wares. The occurrence
of lIUlt impressions· on a sherd indicate the knowledge of the technique of
preparing mats out of reeds.
So far, no harpoons or fish-hooks have been found, though certain
objects have been recognized as net-knitting tools. The only effective
weapons of offence were bows and arrows, tipped with stone and bone
points and terracotta sling balls.
The site has also yielded a number of ground stone artefact including
hammers tones and rubberstones. 2
It appears that the earliest Chirandians Were not merely hunter-
gatherers. They also cultivated foodgrains. Among the debris occur
charred grains of rice, paddy husk, wheat, barley, pea and green-
gram. Paddy-husk impressions on some of the pieces of burnt clay as
also some grains of charred rice indicate the use of that cereal by the
inhabitants. The rice grains belong to both the cultivated and wild Oryza
sativa and O. rufipogon. The assemblage, as a whole, indicates an advanced
stage of neolithic economy.
WEST BENGAL
Pandu RajaI' Dhibi. A fairly extensive, early rice-growing, l'iverain
iSlinkalia, H.D. The Prehistory and Pr%hislory of India and Pakistan, pp. 304--307.
NEOLITHIC CULTURES OF EASTERN INDIA 265
culture, with maritime contacts, once existed in West Bengal. Pandu
Rajar Dhibi is one of the largest settlements in West Bengal. As the name
connotes, it is reputed to be the home of King Pandu.
Pandu Rajar Dhibi is set in beautiful surroundings. Situated on
the banks of the Ajay, it has banana groves, occasional tall coconut and
sal trees, their greenery contrasting with the red, lateritic, undulating plain.
At Pandu Rajar Dhibi we see a gradual growth of a Chalcolithic
culture.
In Period I, besides hand.made, thick grey ware, with impressions
of paddy-husk, were found a wheel-turned thin ware of plain and sandy
fabric, a pale-red ware and black-and-red ware.
Rice, fish and meat of nilgai, deer and pig Were the staple diet of the
inhabitants from the very beginning of the settlement.
Pandu Rajar Dhibi is not a solitary agricultural village of the Chalco-
lithic period in West Bengal. Small excavations at Mahisdal, Nanur,
Haraipur, District Birbhum, and TuIsipur, District Bankura, have yielded
similar evidence.
The objects from these small excavations not only confirm the evidence
from Pandu Rajar Dhibi, with regard to the nature of the houses, pottery,
and burial practices in Period I, but complement it in several ways.
Among the microliths are Iunates and short blades, a flat copper celt with
convex. cutting edge, tetrahedral stone weights, and a large quantity of
charred rice. The impressions of paddy husks from Pandu Rajar Dhibi were
identified by the Economic Botanist to the West Bengal Government as
those of cultivated paddy, Oryza satiua. 3
ORISSA
Kuchai. Kuchai Baidapur (District Mayurbhanj), Kiching, Kur-
kutie, Sini (District Singhbhum) are Neolithic sites in Orissa. At all these
places grey~black, brownish red pottery, comparable with that of Pandu
Rajar Dhibi, Period I, along with polished stone tools of phyllite, have been
found.'
THAILAND
Chester Gormans, in a review of the latest evidence from the main-
land sites in Southeast Asia, including his own excavations in the Spirit Cave
and at Non Nok Tha and Ban Kao in Thailand, has shown that the initial
date for the Hoabinhian occupation culture might be placed in the Late
Pleistocene, about 13000 to 14000 B.P" as the four 14 0 dates range from
·Sankalia, H.D. The Prehistory and Protohistory qf India and Pakistan, pp. 309 to 312
'Sankalia, H.D. The Prehistory and Protohistory qf India and Pakistan, p. 312
'Goonan, Chestor, "The Hoabinhian and after .•.. ," World Archaeology, February 1971,
pp. 300·320
266 A HISTORY OF AGRIQUL'l'URE IN INDIA
455 ± 360 to 11690 ± 560 D.P. The oldest date derives from a mid-layer 4,
and the samples from layer 5 are under analysis. The cultural and
other remains continue until about 3500 to 3000 B.C. }'rom here the
story is brought forward by the two sites, Non Nok Tha and Ban Kao up
to the historical period. Thus a unique tim.e span from 12000 B.C. to
2000 B.C. is provided during which We witness "the shift from upland to
lowland settlement and a concomitant shift in the subsistence base from
hunting and gathering to early cereal agriculture."
It is worth noting in this context that 15 of the 18 sites cited by Gorman
are located in the upland Karstic formations near small streams or in
forest-clad submontane areas in close proximity to streams. An identical
situation is found in Meghalaya (Garo Hills) and other hilly areas of
Assam.
The discovery by Gorman of Hoabinhian culture in Thailand dating
back to 12000 B.C. confirms Carl Sauer's guess that the earliest agriculture
was in SoutheastAsia. Sauer states, "As the cradle of earliest agriculture,
I have proposed South-eastern Asia. It meets the requirements of high
physical and organic diversity, of mild climate with reversed monsoons
giving abundant rainy and dlY periods, of many waters inviting to fishing,
of location at the hub of the Old World for communication by water or by
land. No other area is equally well situated or equally well furnished for the
rise of a fishing farming culture."
EARLIEST AGRICULTURE WAS BY VEGETATIVE PROPAGATION

(U.DAna_, SlJgarcane, Yams, Sago Palm, etc.)
Sauer is of the view that the earliest agriculture was by vegetative
propagation. of parts of plants. He states, 'The creative curiosity of man
in the monsoon lands has operated strongly with asexual plant reproduc-
tion. Multiplication and selection is from clones. A piece of a plant is
set into the ground to make a new plant. 'i.·his m.ay be by an offset or
sprout from the parent, by dividing a root stock, by a stem cutting, or by a
piece of underground stem or tuber. An individual plant is divided and
multiplied indefinitely.'
The list of such man-made plants, or cultigens, is large, with eastern
India in the first place as regards origin. Botanically, it includes many and
important monocotyledon'!: Southeast Asia is the original home of the
banallaS and ginger. Musaceae and Zingiberaceae are predominantly
SQutheast Asian. The principal area of diversity of Musaceae is Assam-
Thailand with 10-20 species, followed by Borneo-Indonesia with 11-13
species. Genetic studies lately have resolved the variations in the Asiatic
bananas with the result that the old distinction between bananas and plan-
tains must be abandoned. One cultigen line derives directly from Musa
balbisiana, native from Bihar, up to the Himalayas, another from the Malayan
NEOLITHIC OULTURE OF EASTERN INDIA 267
}vl. acumil1ala, and the third main line involves hybrids between the two. 6
lv.[usa acuminata in the broad Sense is geographically nearly coextensive with
the genus as a whole, and its centre of diversity lies in the Malayan area,
where four out of the kno'\>vn five subspecies overlap. This area was also
the primary centre of origin of the cultivated bananas, which sprang from
kt acuminata.
Discussing the evolution of edible bananas, Cheesman observes, 'The
early cultivators seized upon the .6rst signs of parthenocarpy and female
sterility. Thus began the evolution of edible bananas, and jungle weeds
were transformed into a fruit crop with sweet, moist and aromatic flesh.
There was selection in favour of triploidy, because of the vigour, yield and
sterility. The AAB group has 20 clones in India and eastern Malaysia.
There are many mutants in India. The dispersal of the edible bananas
outside Asia was accomplished by the transport of vegetative planting
material by human agencies. The first movement was across the Pacific.
The second movement was across the Indian ocean to Africa.'7 According
to Murdock, the Indian element entered Africa by the Sabean lane during
the first millennium B.C. The Malaysian elements, which include the
bananas, taros, yams, breadfruit and coconut, Were introduced by the
Indonesian migrants about the time of Christ in Kenya and Uganda, from
where they diffused across the African continent to western Sudan. The
Bantus carried these crops westwards and southwards. It was followed by
a population explosion.
The domesticated forms of the ginger family, such as turmeric, appear
to be mainly Indian. For the home of the greater yam (Dioscorea a/ala),
Burkill favours the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal i for D. esculenla, Indo-
china. s 'A half-dozen species of cultivated yams, some of them carried to
the farthest Pacific Islands, throw important light on cultural radiation
£i'om the Southeast Asiatic mainland. Certain palms, especi.ally the sago
palm, pandanus, bamboos, and sugarcane, have been widely carried out of
India and Indochina and greatly altered by man.'
It may be noted that no archaeological evidence of such plants would
be available as climate precludes the preservation of herbaceous cultigens.
Who were the earliest farmers in South-Eastern Asia. According to
Sauer, 'The improvement of plants by selection for better utility to man was
accomplished only by a people who lived at a comfortable margin above
the level of ·want. The needy and miserable societies are not inventive,
for they lack the leisure for reflection, experimentation, and discussion.
'The hearths of domestication are to be sought in areas of marked
'Cheesman, E.E. On the Nomenclature of Edible Bananas, Jour. Gmlliu, Vol. 48,
1948, pp. 293-296
, Cheesman , E.E. The Evo/utioJI of Bananas, pp. 132, 143, 144
'Bul'kiU, I.A. Dictiollary af ECOllomic Products r:if Ille Malay Ptnhlsula, l59
268 A IUSTORY OF AGlUCOLTURE IN INDlA
diversity of plants or animals, where there were varied,and good raw materi-
als to experiment with, or, in other words, where there was a large reservoir
of genes to besorted out and recombined. This implies well-diversified
terrain and perhaps also variety of climate.
<Primitive cultivators could not establish themselves in large river
valleys subject to lengthy floods and requiring protective dams, drainage,
orirrigation. Thus earliest agriculture had its origin in hill and mountain
lands.
'Above all, the founders of agriculture Were sedentary folk. Groups
move as little as their needs offood, water, fuel, and shelter require. Mobi-
lity as a dominant character goes with specialized hunting economies or
with life in meagre environments. Growing crops require constant atten-
tion. I have never seen primitive plantings that are not closely watch-
ed over until the crop is secured. A planted clearing anywhere is a feast
set for all manner of wild creatures that fly, walk, and crawl to come in and
raid fruits, leaves, and roots. What is food for man is feast for beasts.
And, therefore, by day and night someone must drive off the unbidden
wild guests. Planting a field and then leaving it until the harvest would
mean loss of harvest.
'The progenitors of the earliest agriculturists I have sought in some well-
situated, progressive fishing folk living in a mild climate along fresh waters.
Fresh water is postulated rather than sah because seaside vegetation has
contributed little to the making of crop plants. For sedentary living there
must have been available a long season or year-round staple resource in fish
and other aquatic life. Clustering of groups in permanent villages was
made possible at sites continually advantageous for fishing, such as stream
junctions, lake outlets, rapids. Waterways served as lines of communica-
tion with other villages and so for the exchange and growth of ideas. Water-
fowl, riparian mammals, water-side plants gave diversity to food. Basts
and fibers were used to make nets and lines and suitable woods were at hand
for boats and paddles.'9
Sauer states that the art of seeding is relatively recent in the Old World
and marginal to the art of planting. Archaeological excavations in the
Fertile Crescent area of the Near East have shown that the art of seeding is
as old as 7000 B.O. In the lands with cold winters the art of seeding is not
marginal. Here vegetative propagation of crop plants is marginal. In
tropical areas no doubt vegetative propagation is of prime importance.
HEARTHS OF AGRICULTURE
Sauer's theory of diffusion of agriculture from one centre suffers from
overstatement. Sauer states, the Near East and Mediterranean regions
'Sauer, O.C. Agricultural Orfgim and Dispersals. pp 24: to 26

NE01.ITHtC CULTURES OF EASTERN INDIA 269
are no more than recent peripheral developments of the dispersal from the
original hearth in Southeast Asia. Agriculture did not diffuse from one
centre to the rest of the world. In fact, there were seven hearths in the
Old World, and four in the New World, from which diffusion of crop plants .
took place. The oldest centre of diversity and origin of cultivated plants
is South-East Asia comprising Thailand, Malaya and adjoining areas. In
this centre, rice, sugarcane, banana, coconut, cardamom and turmeric
\"'ere cultivated. The second oldest centre is that of the Fertile Crescent
in the Middle East where wheats, forage crops, olive, grapes and almonds
were cultivated. The third centre is in South India which is the home of
rice, jute, desi cotton, pulses, mango, citrus fruits and black pepper. The
fourth centre is the Chinese, the home of soybean, loquat, litchi, some
citrus fruits and tea. North India, Afghanistan and Iran comprise another
centre which is regarded as the home of bread wheats, rye, linseed, apple,
pear, and walnut. The countries bordering the Mediterranean Ocean
are the home of oats, temperate fruits and vegetables like cabbages, cauli-
flowers, etc. Abyssinia is the home of wheats, sorghum, castor, barley,
coffee, and water-melon. The new world has four centres of origin of
cultivated plants. Of these one is in Mexico in Central America, which is
regarded as a home of maize, sweet-potato, cotton, chilli, papaya, guava,
pumpkin, and beans. The other centre is in Peru and Bolivia in South
America, which is the home of potato, tomato and tobacco. Argentina
and Brazil are the home of rubber, groundnut, pineapple, cashew, tapioca
and cocoa (Fig.143).
RICE-ORIGIN AND CULTIVATION

The genus Oryza, to which rice belongs, has 28 species and
subspecies, of which 26 are wild and two, O. sativa and O. glabmima,
are cultivated. All the rice varieties of Asia, Europe, and America belong
to O. sativa, and of West Mrica to O. glaberrima. India has five wild species,
of which O. sativa var.fatua is a common weed in many states. O. perennis,
found wild in Orissa, has a short rhizome, a branched floating stem and
perennial habit. In wild rices, grains shatter easily and are difficult to
harvest.
Among the wild species, there has been a regular trend of evolution
from perennial to annual habit, from cross-pollination to self-pollination
and from lesser to greater fecundity.
Looking back in history and considering the evolution of cultivated
rices it must be supposed that man took annual wild types (nivara, brevili-
gulata), subjected them to the selection pressure of cultivation, harvesting
and sowing and thereby gave rise to the sativa cultivars in Asia. The west
African rice, O. glaberrima, represents the cultivated member of a series
parallel to that occurring in Asia. There is no evidence of exchange betWeen
}'jg. 143. Centres of diversity and origin of cultivated planes (general assignment after
Vavilov, 1935, and Darlington and Janaki Ammal, 19'15)
Asia and west Africa in prehistoric times to account for the existence of
O. glaberrima and it must be accepted as a separate domesti.cation.
It is considered that O. sativa evolved from the wild rices by mutation
and selection. It is thought that rice cultivation originated in India, Burma
or Indochina. India has more than 4,000 varieties of rice.
Malayan migrants introduced rice cultivation in Indonesia in pro to-
historic times. Rice was introduced into the Philippines by immigrants
from South China in the first millennium B.C. It is they who developed
the vast terrace system in the mountains of the Philippines. On account of
iUt heavy yields, rice could support a far denser population than any other ce-
real, and consequently population in rice lands increased at an explosive rate.
According to Shastry and Sharma10, the genus Ory;:a started initially
as a small plant growing in well-drained soils in the humid atmosphere
of forests. The hydrophytic habitat with preference for open sunshine
and a larger size of plant (e.g. O. officinalis) were later phylogenetic
developments. The tuberculattons on the surface of the fertile lemma and
palea and the development of awns are also advanced characters in Oryza,
though in the most advanced, cultivated species, O. sativa and O. glaberrima,
the awns are often suppressed. Lasdy, it follows that South~East Asia is
the probable centre of origin of the genus, and its spread to the African
and American continents was a later development.
1llShastry, S.V.S. and Sharma, S.D. Riel In Evofrltionmy Studies in World Crops (Ed. Sir
Joseph Hutchinson), pp. 56 to 58
NEOLITHIC CULTURE OF EASTERN INDIA 271
Most species of Or),za are diploid, with 211=24 chromosomes. The
diploids are distributed in the tropics of Asia and Africa, whereas the tetra-
ploids are to be found in the tropics of America a8 well as of the Old World.
The basic type is a wild perennial grassy species which grows in ponds,
ditches and canals, and which sometimes occurs as a weed in rice culti-
vations. It has panicles which shatter on ripening and seeds with hard
seed-coat and considerable dormancy. It is found throughout the Old
World tropics from south China and the Philippines to west Africa and it
has been recorded from Cuba and from South America.
Numerous specific names have been given to the forms of this wild
perennial from different geographical areas. In Asia, the names O.
perennis, O. balunga, and O. rufipogon have been used, and in Africa O. longi-
staminata and O. barthii. The New World form is usually described as
O. cuhensis. .
The cultivated rices fall into two species, namely O. sativa in Asia
and D. glaberrima in west Africa. The Asian species falls into tV'iO geneti-
cally and geographically distinct races, the ind,'ca race of the Indian su b-
continent and the japonica race of Japan and north China.
Archaeobotanical Record of Rice. The earliest archaeobotanical
record of rice in India is from Lothal (2300 B.C.) and Rangpur (2000 to
1800 B.C.) in Gujarat. This is in the form of impressions of spikelets on
potsherds. Gujarat, which is largely a dry areaJ is hardly the habitat for
rice. It is what is known as an accident of archaeology and no attempt
should be made to read too much in it. In due course, older sites may be
disc..overed in eastern India, which is the true home of rice. I t is the find
of Ol)';:a sativa from Neolithic Chirand in Bihar (2000 to 1300 B.C.) which
is much more significant. Ot'yza saliva was also found from Pandu Rajar
Dhibi (second millennium B.a.) from West Bengal. It is also recorded
from Navdatoli (1550-1400 B.a.), Hastinapur (1100-800 B.C.) and Atranji-
khera (1200-600 B.C.) in Uttar Pradesh. The location of these sites is
shown in Fig. 144. Spikelets, husks and grains of rice found in an excava-
tion at Hastinapur are shown in Fig. 147.
The earliest record of rice in the world, however, comes from Non
Nok Tha in Thailand, where it dates to 3500 B.C. Here, impressions of
rice grains have been found on potsherds. It was also found in late Neoli-
thic of China which dates to 1650 B.C.
Diffuse Origin of Rice. Rice has had a diffuse origin (c£ Harlan,
1965) both in space and time. Several centres of origin have been proposed
for Asian rice : southern India (Watt, 1892 j Ramiah and Ghose, 195 I ;
Nair et al., 1964), J eypore tract in Orissa, in south-eastern India (a secondary
centre, Rarniah and Ghose, 1951), the Philippines (Ramiah and Ghose,
1951), China (de Cando lIe. 1886; Roschevicz, 1931; Ting, 1949). Indochina
(Hamada, 1949) and the western Indo-Pacific area (Barrau) 1966). All
"·-~··-·-r-·- -.-~. ~---1(- . ---_ift:____-';u._-.-__,_--!f- ---.~

r.
-1"
INDIA
RICE
GEOGR •• HiCAl DISTRIBUTION OF RECOROS
TI)GETHE" WITH O~TES IN THE INDIAN SLlBCONTINENT
_. ~~ .
•
H,lllUR nQ(! Be
~.
I;',.
PERIVAPURAM
• AO IQ(!
\
.I
T I
--.--- ,~~
Fig. 144. Geographical distribution of records of rice, together with dates in the Indian
subcontinent
(After Vlshnu-Mittre)
NEOLITHIC CULTURES OF £ASTERN INDIA 273
these areas show today considerable varietal diversity. In addition, the
north-western and north-eastern foothills of the Himalayas (Ramiah and
Ghose, 1951) and the Guyanas (Porteres, 1949) are known to show much
variation. The difficulties resulting from considering the centres of diversity
as centres of origin are well known by now (cr. Zohary, 1970). With the
ancestral species present in its original habitat in all these regions of
variability and with the knowledge that this species is found good enough
even today for harvesting, the changeover from rice-gathering to rice-
culture could have been attempted in each of these regions and at various
times. This can be witnessed even today in some areaS such as the Jey-
pore tract in Orissa in eastern India. Further, the transition from the
wild to the cultivated form in rice is ora much lower magnitude than that
involved in at least the principal cereals. And this ennoblement could
have been effected by the people inhabiting these regions.l l
Nayar seems to be correct when he says that rice had a diffuse origin
both in space and time. Among centres of origin proposed in India are the
Malabar Coast in Kerala, the J eypore tract in Orissa, and the north-eastern
foothills of the Himalayas. In these areas are several wild taxa, including
both annual and perennial nlfipogon, and high varietal diversity.
When one examines rice cultivation in India at present, one finds that its
largest concentration is in eastern India, viz. West Bengal, northern Bihar
and Orissa (Fig. 144). This fact also lends support to the theory that this
area is the main centre of the origin of rice in India.
ACHIEVEMENTS OF NEOLITHIC CULTURES

It must be clearly understood that the term Neolithic denotes a stagc in
economic and technological development, and is not necessarily a period of
time. While in the Fertile Crescent area in Western Asia it may date back
to 7000 B.C. and in Thailand even earlier, in the Indo-Pakistan subconti-
nent it may extend from 3000 B.C. to 1300 B.C. Still in India there are
inaccessible areas which are not far removed from the Neolithic stage.
When We talk of Neolithic revolution, we should understand that it is a
process and not an event. As such, it extends over a vast span of time. The
major achievement of the Neolithic revolution Was the discovery of agri-
culture, horticulture, vegeculture and animal husbandry.
Concluding the account of the Neolithic cultures of India, we may as
well review their achievements. With their polished stone axes, the Neoli-
thic men cleared the jungles close to their sites of habitation. They
built underground shelters or huts, thus creating the first villages. They
made hand-made pottery for storing foodgrains. They invented textile-
llNayar, N.M. Origin and Cytogenetics of Rice, in Advances in Genetics, VoJ. 17,1973,
pp.177·78
271 A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDrA
ATRANJIKHERA
2000 BC 1200 Be 600 BC
Rice
Wheat
Barley
C icer arielinum
Lalhyrus sativus
Boehmeria
p/alyphylla
Ahar
1800 BC-1725 BC 1200 BC
Rico
Sorghum
'----------4 Penniselum
Fig. 118, Fooclg,'nins discovered in the excavationg at Atl'ilnji-

khcra ;;md Ahar and their age
weaving and basketry. As Boule and Vollois observe, 'The Neolithics were
the first lYfen who succeeded in breaking away from a passive attitude
towards their physical environment, who attempted to render nature
subservient to their needs by exploiting the forests, cultivati~g the plains
and capturing animals, in order to makc of them valuable auxilliarics.
Hence a neW upsurge of the spirit of invention. Hence, too, new social
organizations leading to fixed agglomerations of dwellings, that is to say,
to true villages, We cannot lay too much stress on the moving gtandeur
of lhe changes that must have taken place in order to turn the more or less
l'l.omaclic hunters of the Palaeolithic into cultivators, the first peasants
living on their crops, henceforth attached to a soil which fed thcrn and
which therefore gave them, for the first time, the idea of a Country. We
al'e in the presence of a major stage in the evolution of Humanity, at the
very origin of true civilizations. This stage can only be compared with
NEOLlTTlI C L:L'LTLIRES OF EA:-iTERN INDIA '27.'1
F ig. 145. Polished Ncoljthic axc~ ['rom D coj a li Hading , North Cach aI' Hi lls, }\ SS'lrl1 .
The uppcr r'ow contains should ered ground stone-axes, with rectangula r' tang. T hese
axes sCl'ved as h oes for digging the soil
(Courtesy: Arc:haeo lo,jical SUl'V 'y of India)
Fig. 14·(j. Palaeo lith ic and eolithic

tools from the Loh it DistJ·ict. j n
the last row at left. is a full y ground
sands lone Neolithic axe . In the
middle is a shou ld er ed axe, w ilh :l
rounded L'cCl'anguJ ar scc1ion
(Cou r tcsy: Arc h:1 cological Surv ey
of I nd ia)
270 .'\. 11J. " I' IlRY 01" .\(;.RI :1T f .TURE TN TN DIA
.,j
lo'ig. 147. Spikdcl ' , husks a lld gra ins or nsc roulld ill all I 'X{' ilY<lliOIl at H ;ls till ;'l)lt t' ,
1\iCCfut Disl.rict, U llar l)l'"desh ( l.cgt·nd on t'nei ng ]lag'!' )
(Courtesy : AI'c1wcological Surveyor J nelia )
NEOLITHIC CULTURES OF EASTERN INDIA 277
that, infinitely older, of the conquest of fire. '12
Our civilization still rests on the discoveries made by the Neolithic
people. Historic man has added no plant or animal of major importance
to the domesticated forms on which he depends.
REFERENCES
Allchin, B. and R. The Birth of Illdiatz Civilization, Pelican, 1968
Boule, M. and Vollois, H.V. Fossil kIm, New York, 1957
Burkill, I.A. Dictionary of Economic ProcIncts cif tILe Malay Penillsula
Cheesman, E.E. On the nomenclature of Edibl e Bananas,Jollnl. of Genetics, Vol, 4-8, 1948
De Candolle, A. Origin fit Cultivated Plants, New YOl'k, 1959 (Reprint)
Indian Archaeology, 19G2-63-A Review, A.S.L, New Delhi, 1965
Indian Archaeology, 1968-69-A Review, A.S.L, New Delh i, 1971
Indian Archaeology, 1969-70-A Review, A.S.L, New Delhi, 1973
Nayar, N .M. Origin and Cytogenetics of Rice, Advances ill GC1letics, Vol. 17, New York, 1973
SankaJia, H.D. The Prehistory and P1'oto/tist01:Y qf India aud Pakistan, Poona, 1974
Sauer, C.O . Agricultllral Origill and Di.lpersa[s- The Domestication qf Animals and Foodstl!IJS,
M.LT., Boston, 1969
Shastry, S.V.S. a nd Sharma, S.D. Rice, in Evolutl:onmy Studies qf 'World Crops (Ed. SirJ. Hut.
chinson), London. 197'1
Simmonds, N.W. The Evolution qf tile Bananas, London, 1962
Thapar, B.K. Problems of the Neolithic Cultures in India: a Retrospect, PtlTatattvCl, No, 7,
1974
Vishnu-Mittre. The Beginnings of Agriculture-Palaeobotanical Evidence in India, in
EvolutiolZar:_v Studies of World Grop~ (Ed. Sir. J. Hutchinson), London, 1974
Fig. H7. Legend

1. Charred rice spikelets (s) and charcoal chips (c)
2. Broken spikelet with awn (a). The lower portion of the grain is exposed clue to the
breaking off of the husk
3. Another spikelet showing fertile lcm.ma (n) and palca (p)
4. Collapsed spikelet showing sterile lemma (51) alld expansion of l'achilIa(r)
5. Another flattened spikelet wiLh awn
6. Grain embcdcled in tar-like substance
7. Part of spikelet showing tri-cl entatc nature of apiculus (ap)
8. Two spikclets, one with awn (a)
9. Outer surface of the paddy with chess-board pattern (cb)
10. Portion of the spikelet showing thi ekening of the rachilla (r)
11. Inside v iew of the husk with pel'icarp (pe) attached
12. Surface view of the husks
13. Grains of different shap es and sizes
14. Enlarged v i ew of gl'ains
15. Basal part of the gra in showing embryonic rcgion (e)
CHAPTER 18
THE EARLY ARYANS-A BRONZE AGE PEOPLE

DOMESTICATION OF THE HORSE, AND MIGRATION TO INDIA
THE home of the Aryans is believed to be in South Russia in the steppes

between the Danube, the Volga and the Urals. About 1800-1600 B.C.,
they left their homeland and dispersed east and west in large hordes.
They left their ancestral land perhaps due to a prolonged drought, followed
by famine. A large group known as Kassites penetrated into Akkad, and,
in due course, became the rulers of Babylon in 1746 B.C. One horde occupied
northern Iran, another, the Mittanis, conquered Asia Minor, where
they introduced horse-breeding. The third horde entered India
through Afghanistan and Baluchistan (Fig. 149) and overwhelmed the
Harappans.
The earliest evidence about the Aryans and their language is from
philology. During the period from A.D. 1767 to A.D. 1786, two European
scholars, Coeurdox, a French missionary, and Sir William Jones, the founder
of the Royal Asiatic Society of Calcutta, made an outstanding linguistic
discovery. According to them, the Sanskrit of the Rig-Veda had remarkable
affinities with Latin and Greek in vocabulary and grammar. Such striking
similarities could be accounted for only by supposing that these languages
had a common origin in some extinct language. This supposition was
supported by the work of Bopp, a grammarian. By 1813, someone had
suggested the word 'Indo-European' as a convenient term for the group of
allied languages and their presumed original.
The findings of these scholars were confirmed by Max Milller, who
worked in England from 1849 to 1862 under the patronage of the Direc-
tors of the East India Company, and translated the Vedas and other sacred
texts of the Hindus into English. Max Miiller states that a language bears
the impress of the earliest thoughts of men ·often buried under the layers
of neW thoughts, and philology reveals the very elements and roots of
human speech and thought. He concluded that Sanskrit, Greek, Latin
and Zend are sister languages derived from a common ancestral language
which was spoken by the Aryans in their original home. The terms for
god, house, father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, dog, cow, heart,
tears, axe. and tree are identical in Sanskrit, Greek, Latin and German
languages. The domestic animals are generally known by the same name
in these languages while wild beasts have different names. "Before
the Hindus migrated to the southern peninsula of Asia", observes Max
Miiller, "and before the Greeks and Germans had trodden the soil of Europe,
the common ancestors of these three races spoke one and the same language,
THE EARLY ARYAl'{S-A BRONZE AGE PEOPLE 279
... RY ... N AJ"tnce to I;,dl!l •

PE BIANS
~
Fig. 149. The home of the AryanJI is southern Russia-the land around the Caspian Sea
and Black Sea. From that area they spread to Iran and Asia Minor. From Iran some
hordes migrated to India
(Courtesy: UNESCO)
a language so well regulated and so firmly settled that we can discover the
same definite outlines in the grammar of the ancient songs of the Veda, the
poems of Homer, and the Gothic Bible of Ulphilas."l
The Zend Avesta, the religious book of the Parsis, reflects beliefs dating
back to the era of the emergence of the Indo-Iranian community. Zoroas.
trianism was characterized by a cult of fire. Zarathushtra, the prophet
of Zoroastrianism, condemned the old practice of making large-scale sacrifi.
ces and drinking haoma (Persian) or soma (Sanskrit). He directed his pro-
phecies against the old caste of priests who adhered to these rites. These
customs Were apparently widespread among a certain section of Indo-
Iranians in ancient times.
The Avesta divided society into three classes: priests, chariot warriors
(rataishtar-the one standing on the chariot), and husbandmen and cattle-
breeders. The Rig- Veda also mentions chariot warriors.
lMax Muller, Chips from a German Workshop ,Vol, II, p. 255

The Avesta fi'equently stresses that cattle are the basis of the welfare of
society. In some places appeals are made to people to engage in farming.
The bronze reaping-hook and the stone grain-grinders show that the local
inhabitants lmew farming.
In the list of the countries given by the Avesta one finds the legendary
Aryanam-Vaichakh (Aryan spaces). This country probably lay in the steppes
of the southern Urals, near the Caspian Sea and to the north of the Aral
Sea.
Iran means the homeland of the Aryans. The people of Iran take
pride in their Aryan ancestry. Darius I, in an inscription at Naksh-i-Rustam,
described himself as 'an Aryan of Aryan descent'. Muhammad Reza Shah
Pahlavi assumed the title of Arya Mehr, the Sun of Aryans, following the
same tradition and pride in Aryan ancestry.
'The most reasonable hypothesis, and one which seems best to satisfy
the demands of philology and archaeology', states Piggot, 'is that originally
put forward by Professor J.1.. Myres and the late Harold Peake, and deve-
loped by Professor Childe, which sees the Indo-European languages evolv-
ing among the earliest agriculturists of the South Russian steppes and the
lands eastwards to the Caspian Sea. In this South Russian area the basic
culture in the late third and early second millennium B.C. was that of agri-
culturists. perhaps partly nomadic but sufficiently sedentary for small
cemeteries to be formed, presumably close to relatively stable settlements.
They domesticated Sheep and cattle, and the horse was certainly tamed in the
latter phases of the. culture, if not at the beginning; burials in separate graves,
sometimes under a mound or barrow and often accompanied by a stone
(exceptionally a copper) battle-axe, emphasize the presence of a stratum of
warriors and chieftains iIi the social structure.'2
Investigations by Soviet linguists V. Abayev. V. Ivanov and others
show that the words for afour-wheeled cart, wheel, yoke, pole, road, bridge, stake,
caTt, oxen, horse are the same in all the Indo-European languages. The
plough is called krish, both in Sanskrit and Persian. Agriculture is called
krishi. It is clear from this account that the disintegration of the unity of
the Indo-Aryan tribes took place after they had domesticated the horse and
learnt to use the plough, the cart and the chariot.
Archaeological evidence about the Aryans was lacking so far. In
1972..74 came a remarkable discovery. The archaeological expedition of
the Urals University (Sverdlovsk) explored an interesting site: a settlement
and burial mound, dating back to the middle of the sec.ond millennium B.C.,
on the .banks of the Sintashta River in the south of the Trans-Urals region
in the Soviet Union.
According to Gening the Sintashta relics date back to the sixteenth
lPlggQtt, S. Prehistoric India, pp. 250, 251

THE EARLY ARYANS-A BRONZE AGE PEOPLE 281
century B.C., i.e. to the period of the Indo-Iranians' advance to the East.
Parallels in funeral rites, beliefs and social systems can be drawn with the
Indo-Iranians, and make it possible to advance a hypothesis concerning
the connection between these relics and the ancestors of the Indo-Iranians.
Contacts must have been made at the time of their movement to the East
from the Volga and the Black Sea steppes. The Sintashta findings make it
possible to form the hypothesis that the Iranians had mixed with large
groups of local tribes, most probably of Ugro-Finnish origin. The very
name of the Indo-Iranians, "Aryans", WaS probably inherited from local
tribes along with other tribal names.
What did the expedition find at Sintashta mound? Several dozen big
mud huts, grouped in rows, each row having 5-6 hutS. They stood close
to one another and looked like one "big house". Inside there were usually
two big clay oven'! standing by the wall. The chief occupation of the
population was most probably animal husbandry, but they also engaged in
farming.
Archaeologists obtained particularly valuable information when,
digging in the burial mound situated some 200-300 metres away from the
habitation, they discovered bronze knives, awls, a reaping-hook, fishhooks,
combat axes, spear-heads, stone arrowheads, maces, grain-grinders, whet-
bars, piles of costume jewellery: copper-gilted headgear rings, beads (some
of opaque glass), and a chestplate made of silver.
Gening stateS that the most important was the discovery of combat
chariots. Having studied their imprints on the mud, the Soviet archaeo-
logists established that the wheels consisted of at least 10-11 spokes. This
set them apart from the wheels of the heavy Assyrian chariots having only
four spokes and a heavy rim, and from the chadots found in the tomb of the
Egyptian Pharaoh, Tutenkhamon, which had six spokes.
In one of the burial chambers there were skulls and four horse legs
in each corner of the chamber where the chariot had been placed. The
"horses" were "harnessed" to the chariot. More frequently the burial
chambers contained horse carcasses. Next to the horses stood clay vessels,
apparently containing some holy drink.
The articles discovered attest to a high level of animal husbandry.
In the third millennium B.C. animal husbandry existed in the steppes of
Eurasia. The discoveries in the Sintashta burial mound, with remains of a
large number of sacrificial horses, cows, sheep and dogs, have for the first
time shed light on the development of this branch of the economy in that
region. 3
Apart from philology and archaeology, one cannot ignore evidence of
ethnology. The inhabitants of the Punjab in India and Pakistan have great
'Gening, V. Ancient Settlements of Indo-Iranians, Soviet-Land, Oct. 1977

resemblance with the people of Iran and southern Russia. It was Punjab
which waS the land where the aryans settled and the Vedas were composed.
EVOLUTION AND DOMESTICATION OF HORSE
The evolution of the horse took place in North America. The earliest
ancestral horse, known as Eohippus, was of the size of a fox. It had four
toes on the front feet and three on the hind feet. In the Oligocene, the
descendant of Eohippus was Mesohippus, a three-toed horse.
In the Middle Miocene-Lower Pleistocene, the Hipparion, an ancestor
of the horse, had three toes, but the side oneS did not touch the ground.
Its remains have been found in the ChinJi beds of the Salt Range in Pakistan,
and it became abundant in the succeeding Dhok Pathan beds. No earlier
ancestor of horse than Hipparion is found in India. It seemS that it crossed
from North America into Asia in the Hipparion stage during the Miocene.
During the Miocene, there was a general uplift of the continents. The
northern land masses grew cooler and drier. Forests retreated and grass-
lands expanded, providing much scope for the development of the hoofed
animals. The uplift of land brought Eurasia and North America into
contact acroSS what is now the Bering Strait.
During the Quaternary Period, camels and horses migrated from North
America to Eurasia. Equus, or true horses, appeared in the Pleistocene.
Their side toes were reduced to mere splints of bones, while the middle toe
hardened into a large tough hoof. The teeth also became adapted for
chewing of the grasses that grew in the plains.
A strange fact about the horses is that although North America was
the centre of their origin, they spread into Eurasia in the Miocene and
became extinct in North America in the Pleistocene.
Equus namadicus has been found in the middle Pleistocene alluvium of
the Narmada Valley in Madhya Pradesh, and also in the Siwaliks, above
Chandigarh.
The genus Equus includes seven species. The true Caballine horses
occupy the plains of Eurasia north of the great mountain ranges. The
asses. are in north Mrica. The two species of half-asses or hemiones or
onagers are in the dry zone of Asia, viz. Iran, Arabia, Gujarat (India) and
Sind (Pakistan) •. In addition, there are three species of zebras in East and
South Mrica (Fig. 150). This distribution suggests that late in the
Tertiary, an ancestral type of horse spread over the regions mentioned
above and subsequently developed geographical subspecies which have
since become distinct species.
Two races of wild horse survived into the twentieth and nineteenth
centuries respectively, One is Przewalskis horse, which roamed about in
Mongolia until the Russian Revolution. About forty individuals of this
wild horse still survive in the Tachin Shara Nuru Mountains in Mongolia.
THE EARLY AltYANS-A BRONZE AGE PEOPLE 283
The other is the tarpan, the horse of south Russia which became extinct in
1851 in the Ukraine. Originally, both were widely distributed in the
temperate zone.
Domestication. According to Zeuner, 'From 2000 B.C. onwards the
horse-drawn chariot swept across the Western world, a contraption which
requires elaborate domestkation and special training. The chariot
itself, of course, is older. It is therefore reasonable to assume that the horse
was domesticated considerably before 2000 B.C.
The domesticated horse is almost exclusively of tarpan stock. The
probable area of domestication of the horse is Ukrainian and east Russian
steppes, Kazakhstan and the steppes of western Asia mainly around Lake
Aral and including the plains of Turkestan, Ust-Urt Plateau and Turan.
The horse was tamed by the inhabitants of this immense grassland. The
western part of this zone was still a centre of horse domestication in Scythian
times.
The horse gave man greater mobility than he had ever had before,
and it made possible a secondary nomadism, combined with temporary
crop-raising.
The people who brought the horse across the mountains to the Near
and Middle East appear to have spoken Indo-Germanic languages. Thus
the original centre of the domestication of the horse might briefly be circum-
scribed as Turkestan. This view is, however, not based on archaeo-
logical evidence, but on biological considerations.
Remains of the 'horse' have been found in some of the early pre-
historic sites of the East and often been quoted as evidence for domestication.
Unfortunately, not one of them bears the test of critical examination.
The important ones are Anau, Sialk and Shah Tepe. These bones Were
found to be of half-asses or hemiones and not of true horses.
Gordon Childe (1951) worked out the spread of wheeled vehicles into
Europe. He believes that the wheeled cart and the potter's wheel are
both inventions of the Uruk culture of southern Mesopotamia and that this
happened before 3500 B.a. There is evidence that the wheeled cart was
preceded by the sledge, and sledges have been found in the royal tombs
of U r which are at least 1000 years younger. The earliest evidence consists
of script signs on late Uruk tablets.
CmIde held that wheeled vehicles reached the Indus Valley by about
2500 B.C., north Syria by 2200 B.a., Crete by 1900 B.C., Greece by 1550 B.a.,
south Russia by 1400 B.a., north Italy by 1100 B.C., central and northern
Europe by 1000 B.C. and Britain by 500 B.a.
According to Zeuner the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia became
acquainted with the horse in the course of the third millennium B.C. Horse
is mentioned for the first time in the Chagar Bazar tablets, written in the
reign of Samsi-Adad (c. 1800 B.a.). Even in the days of Hammurabi
Fig. 150. Late Pleistocene distribution of the members of the genus Eqw~s (horse). The
asses and zebras were confined to Afdea and hemiones or half-assess to the Middle East and
northern India. There are no overlaps (After Zellner)
(c. 1750 B.C.) the horse seems to have been of little economic importance,
as it is not mentioned in his code of law. But a letter, apparently written
during the reign of his successor, Samsulluna, says that about that time
large movements of peoples took place, which brought many horses to
Mesopotarnia. The same movements would have brought it to Egypt in the
west and to India in the east. About 1700 B.C., or slightly later, the horse
was known in all countries of the Near and :Middle East, viz. Kassite Baby-
lonia, Syria, Mitanni on the Upper Euphrates, the Hittite state in Asia
Minor, the Amorite principalities of Palestine and the New Kingdom of
Egypt. In this entire area the horse was at that time used exclusively to
draw the two-wheeled chariot.
From Mitanni, of about 1360 B.C., a remarkable document is available.
I t is called the Kikkuli Text and was studied by Hrozny (1931). This
T il E EAR LY ARYANS A BRONZE A<:E P F,()PLE 2H5
F ig, 15 1n, A il'1'l'H ('o l la 11111'''',

LOlltal lCujarn l), r, :.!OUli 10 WOO
B.L.
( C()UI'(( ~~y: Arch:wolog i ':d Sun'I'Y
or Indi a)
l"ig, I ,-, I I> , ( :Iay li g ul'(' ",1' a h ()l'~l:

from K a iya lha , [)i .~tl' i !'l Ujjairl,
lVJ;ldh Y<l Pradesh . c , 170n B,C,
(C"lIrl l '~r: H . D , S;)llk:dia')
Fig, 1",2 , HI'OIl 7. I' a .·I·s w iill sh a l'! It ll l e,~

lT l"j\ ' ('j'(' cIfro 11 I upp el' Ja)'l'l's or 1\[011('11 -
jlldal'o, d alt'd (0 "J)JIul IBOO H,( ' , to HiOO
II. I "which pro),,,b ly lwl ongl '" t ( . i\ I'Y:-Ul
i n\' ac!('I 's 1'1'0111 Ira l l
(CO lll'lI 'S), A l'l'h:H'lllng i, 'a l SUf\'.:Y or
I m li a )
286 A JIIST RY (I" j\GRIC U LTLTRE 1 ' lNIlIA
Fig. lS3. Chm'jols drawn by horses were commonly used by the nobles in tll(~ Buddhist
period. Houses were multi-storeyed wilh wooden balconies. The.: dress 0[' tIle.: people
was n dholi and a turban. l"illar details of East (~alcStupa 1, Sanchi, firsL ce ntury
(Courtesy: Al'chaeologi a l Surveyor lndia)
THE EARLY ARYANS-A BRONZE AGE PEOPLE 287
treatise gives detailed directions for training and is apparently exclusively

concerned with chaTiot-horses. Strangely enough, several technical terms
used are reminiscent of Sanskrit expressions. Whilst this document provides
a vivid picture of horse-breeding in the fourteenth century B.C., it is
relatively late. Hrozny indeed argu es in favour of an Aryan horse-equipped
invasion which happened about 2000 B.C.
The picture of a horse on the silver cup of Maikop, in the Caucasus in
Russia, is dated at 2000 B.C. This 1s the earliest pictorial record of the horse.
By 2000 B.C. the horse was known in the Caucasus area, as already stated"
and made its appearance in Asia Minor (Mitanni). By 1800 B.C. it had
reached Troy, and within the century that followed it spread over the
whole of the Near and Middle East, in conjunction wi.th the two-wheeled
chariot. In Greece it was established in the sixteenth century, and
thereafter it must be regarded as a normal piece of equipment of Medi-
terranean economy. '1
Horse in India and Pakistan. The wild horse that reached India
early in the Pleistocene was long extinct. There is no evidence about the
presence of the domesticated horse in India prior to the invasion of Aryan ,
nomads about 1600 B.C. We do not find any figure of horse in the seals of
Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and Kalibangan. However, the bones of 110rse
(Equus caballus) have been discovered from Surkotada in Guj arat in sub-period
Ie, and from earlier levels as well. A terracotta horse has been discovered
from Lothal, c. 2000 B.c.-lSOO B.C. (Fig. 151,a) and c1ay figure from
Kaiyatha, District Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, has been dated c. 1700 B.C.
(Fig. 151,b). However, these do not indicate any significant use of horses.
There is no evidence of domest'ication of the horse in India.
The earliest horse remains so far reported come from Rana Ghundai
in northern Baluchistan. According to Zeuner, the remains attributed to
this species more probably belong to the hemione.
The same doubts apply to the rare finds of horses lTl_ade in the Indus
Valley culture. It is only with the Aryan invasion that the horse becomes
frequent in India, an invasion affolAding a parallel to those that occurred in
the eighteenth and seventeenth centuries B .C. in western Asia and in Europe.
Apart from cattle, the really characteristic domesticated animal of
Aryans was the horse. Pack horses, riding horses, chariot horses, War
horses, race horses and even ploughing horses, all find frequent mention
in the Vedas .5 From the descriptions of the colouring of horses in the
Rig-Veda, Ridgeway concluded that they had chestnut heads and backs,
shading off into dun on the lower parts of the body, in the manner of the wild
horse of the steppes known as Przewalski's horse, and that they were of
"Zeuner, A History of Domesticated A1zimals, pp. 300, 303,313,329,332 and 333

6Aiyer, A.K.Y.N. Agriculture a/ld Allied Arts ill Vedic India, p. 47
Mongolian or Upper Asiatic stock. They seem to have been kept in stalls
on occasion at least, and Were hobbled when put out to graze. Stallions
were sometimes gelded, but mares were especially used as draught animals
in war-chariots, and riding seems to have been very exceptional and never
formed a technique of warfare. This may well have been partly due to the
fact that the invention of stirrups seems to come unaccountably late in the
development of horse-harness, and that a secure seat for a fighting man
could hardly be attained without them. Military cavalry was known to
the Assyrians and the Achaemenids, and the invention of stirrups must be
an ancient oriental contribution to horsemanship.
The Aryan horses seem to have been used essentially as chariot-animals,
whether in warfare, or for chariot-racing, which was a favourite sport.
It seems to have been indulged in purely for amusement and for prizes
(except on a few formal religious occasions, such as the royal consecration),
and the race took place along a courSe to a mark round which the chariots
turned and came back again-the aikavartana and so forth of the Mitan-
nian Guide to the Turf. 6
The Aryan chariot, as it appears in the Rig-Veda, has a name (ratlza)
which is an Indo~European 'wheel' word, represented by the Latin rota,
Celtic roth, Old High German rad, and Lithuanian ratas, and similarly
common to the whole language group are the words for wheel, axle, nave,
and yoke. It resembled the Wlo-wheeled chariot depicted on East Gate
of Stupa I at Sanchi (Fig. 153). Chariots drawn by four horses are also
. depicted in Sanchi reliefs.
The Aryans were the first people to introduce the idea of rapid trans-
port made possible by the use of horses. .For their farm work, ox-drawn
four-wheeled carts were used, and horses were bred solely for use with the
light two-wheeled chariot.
Piggott states that 'the evidence from Baluchistan and from Sind and
the Punjab is reasonably consistent in implying that at some period likely
to have been before 1500 B.a. the long-established cultural traditions of
North-Western India were rudely and ruthlessly interrupted by the arrival
of new people from the west. Thick layers of burning indicate violent
destruction of Rana Ghundai, Dabar Kat and other Baluchi settlements.
The burning of the Baluchi villages and the equipment of the graves at
Shahi-tump suggest that these new arrivals were predominantly conquerors
who travelled light, and adopted the pottery traditions of the regions in
which they established themselves. In Sind, at Chanhu-daro, a barbarian
se~tlement appears in the deserted ruins of the Harappa town. 7
Groups of skeletons. of men, women and children, some bearing axe
'Piggott, $. Prlhistoric Indill, pp. 26B,269

Tigg{)tt, S. PrdhiWric India, pp. 240, 241
THE EA.RLY ARYANS-A BRONZE A.GE PEOPLE 289
or sword-cuts were found lying on the topmost level at Mohenjo-daro.
Mortimer Wheeler attributes this massacre to the invading Aryans. Two
bronze axes with shaft-holes were discovered from the upper levels of
Moheruo-daro (Fig. 152) . Apart from these axes two bronze daggers with
thickened mid-rib were also discovered. Piggott regards them as an import
from Iran. The axes resemble those recovered from sites in north of Iran,
e.g. Hissar III, Shah Tepe and Turang Tepe. A shaft-hole axe represents
a technological advance over the flat axe. These were the type of weapons
whieh could be associated with the Aryans.
The Aryan conquest of the Harappan towns is indicated by references
in the Rig-Veda to their god Indra, who is described as Purandara, or the
destroyer of fortresses. Dange has suggested that the expression can also
mean destroyer of canals. So, it may refer to destruction of Harappan
irrigation systems. The following are references to the destruction of
fortresses and cities in the Rig-Veda.
"Indra has overturned a hundred stone-built cities" (R., IV. 3.9.20).
"Indra, you are the blaster of fortresses" (Y., 386.38). "Indra demolished
the ancient cities of Ashna" (R., II. 2.9.5). "Invincible, destroying the
phallus-worshippers, he won by his prowess whatever wealth (was concealed
in the city) with the hundred gates" (R., X.8.9.3.). «Thou hast destroyed
the impregnable cities of the Dasyu Shambara" (R., VI. 3.8, 4).8
No doubt there is an element of exaggeration in these hymns as
conquerors always boast of their superiority to their rivals, but most of the
Harappan townS Were walled and had citadels.
The Aryans' advantage lay in superior weapons of warfare, the trained
horse and the bronze sword with thickened mid-rib. The training of the
horse for war, and of milch-mares as a source of an exceptionally complete
food must have an immense advance, giving the herdsman a power over
great spaces, and enabling him to organize vast stretches to gratify his
ambitions and to meet his needs. After acquiring command over the horse,
the nomad horsemen marched into peripheral fertile lands of Iran, Meso~
potamia, southern Europe and India. The domestication of the horse
caused a great crisis in human history which may be compared to the
invention of the steamship and later on of the aeroplane in modern times.
The ancient civilizations of India and Syria were shaken to their foun-
dations and ultimately crumbled before the onslaught of the horse and the
bronze sword~ The horse was used by the Aryan nomads for management
of herds of cattle, sheep and goats in the grassland of the southern steppe,
and it served a new purpose in the peripheral fertile lands. The Aryans
found that not only sheep and goats but subject people could be just as
well controlled with the aid of the horse.
8Aiyer, A.K.Y.N. Agric4ltUTe and Allied Arts in Vedic India, p. 51

CHAPTER 19
THE VEDIC AGE

PASTORALISM, HUNTING AND CULTIVATION OF BARLEY
1500 B.C. TO 1000 B.C.
THE extent of the country occupied by the Aryans, as mentioned in the Vedic
texts, is eastern Afghanistan, North-West Frontier Province, Kashmir,
the Punjab and parts of Sind and Rajasthan. The Aryan land is called
Saptasindhavah-the land of Seven rivers. The seven rivers are the five
rivers of the PUrUab, viz. the Sutudri (Satluj), the Vipas (Be as) , the Paru-
shni (Ravi) , the Asikni (Chenab) and the Vitasta (Jhe1um). The other
two rivers are the Indus to the north and the Sarasvati in the present-day
Haryana. Drishadvati, noW represented by the Chutang, is also mentioned
along with the Sarasvati. The Punjab was the land of the Rig-Veda. The
Vedic people knew the whole of the Punjab, and occupied the best part
of it along the river-beds. The rest was a jungle of xerophytic plants,
e.g. Salvadora persica and Prosopis cineraria (P. spicigera) and remained as
such till this arid area was irrigated by canals in first quarter of the current
century.
The territory occupied by the Aryan settlers was divided into a number
of tribal principalities ruled by Rajas. There were five principal tribes
caned Panshajana. Of these, the most important were the Bharatas, who
had settled in the region between the Sarasvati and the Jamuna. They
were supported by Vasishtha Rishi. The Bharatas, under the leadership
of Sudlrs; fought a tribal confederacy of five tribes, viz. Puru; Yadu,
Turvasa, Anu and Druhyu, along with five of little note, viz. Alina, Paktha,
BhaI:tnas, Siva, and Vishll1}.in. The priest of the Purus was Vishwamitra.
The battle was fought on the banks of the Parushni (Ravi) and is known as
Dashrajana, .or the battle of the .ten kings. In this battle, the Bharatas
defeated the Purus. Purukutsa, Raja of the Purus, was killed in this battle.
It is from the Bharatas that India derives its name.
In the north-west of India lived the Gandharis. The Rig-Veda men-
tions the fine-quality wool of the sheep kept by them.
The indigenous inhabitants are mentioned as Dasyu and the Dasas.
Dasyus are described as black-skinned, snub-nosed people, and were the
original inhabitants of the Punjab and Sind. They were conquered by the
Aryans and were treated as Shudras. There are many references to the
slaughter of Dasyus in the Rig- Veda, and the term Dasyu-hatya occurs fre-
quently.
Most of the tribal wars were fought for acquiring cows, which were a
'tHE VEDIC AGE 291
symbol of wealth. The term for war in the Rig-Veda is Gavisthi or search
for cows.
Most of the tribal problems were settled in assemblies, known as
sabha and samili. The Aryans gave their primary loyalty to the tribe which
was called Jana. The Aryan society was patriarchal, with several gener-
rations of the family living under the same roof. Preference was for sons,
who could help actively to look after cattle and in war and hunting.
THE RIG-VEDA AND THE ARYAN DEITIES
The Rig-Veda is the oldest book of the Aryans. According to Max
MUller, its hymns comoposed between 1200 B.C. and 1500 B.C. were handed
down orally from the father to the son. The manuscript on which Max
Muller based his translation was a commentary by Sayana Akarya, dated
back only to A.D. 1400. I-tsing, the Chinese traveller, who visited India
between A.D. 671 and A.D. 695, says that the four Vedas contain about
one hundred thousand verses, and in every generation there were intelli-
gent Brahmins with prodigious memory who could recite all these verses.
'In the Vedas the gods are constantly invoked to protect their wor-
shippers, to grant them food, large flocks, large families, and a long life;
for all which benefits they are to be rewarded by the praises and sacrifices
offered day after day, or at certain seasons of the year. Deities are invoked
by different names, some clear and intelligible, such as Agni, fire; Surya,
the sun; Ushas, dawn; Maruts, the storms; Prithvi, the earth; Ap, thewatersi
Nadi, the rivers: others such as Varuna, Mitra, Indra, which have become
proper names, and disclose but dimly their original application to the great
aspects of nature, the sky, the sun, the day.' 1
The Mittanis. Here We may refer to Mittanis of Asia Minor who were
the contemporaries of the Rig-Vedic Aryans of north India. In the four-
teenth and fifteenth centuries B.C., Aryan names were frequent among the
Mittanian rulers, and appear in the diplomatic correspondence from El
Amarna in Egypt and Boghaz Keui, the Hittite capital in Asia Minor, in
documents written in modified cuneiform script on clay tablets. In a
treaty between the Hittite king Subiluliuma and the Mittanian Mattiuaza,
son of Dusratta, in about 1380 B.C., in which the latter invokes his gods
as witness, in the formula ilani Mi-it-tra-as-si-il-ilani U-ru-w-na-as-si-il ilu
In-da-ra ilani Na-sa-at-ti-ia-an-na. These can only be the gods Mitra,
Varuna, and Indra. The last deity is the Nasatyas, an alternative name
for the Asvins. This Hittite treaty points to a common stock of mythology
among the Indo-European peoples of India and Asia Minor.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS OF THE ARYANS
Gandhara Grave Culture. The archaeological evidence of the
-----.----
lMax Muller, Chips from (J. German Workshop, Vol. I, p. 27
292 A ItIS'i'ORY OF AGRIaULTURE IN INDIA
arrival of the Aryans in the North-West Frontier Province, according to

Thapar, is available in the Ganclhara Grave Culture, covering Periods
I-III, and the occurrence of objects of copper or bronze, viz. copper celts,
swords, shaft-hole axes, and spiral-headed pins, which have a wide distri-
bution in time and space (Heine Geldern, 1936, 1937, 1956; Piggott, 1950;
Gordon, 1958; Allchin, 1968).
The Gandhara Grave Culture, was brought to light by the excavations
at Buthara II, Katslai 1 and Loebanr I Butkara, Barama, Timargarh and
Balambat in Swat by Dam. It is characterized by: (a) three distinct types
of burial practices (inflexed articulated inhumation, cremation in urns and
fractional and multiple), corresponding to three periods of occupation I,
II and III; (b) two classes of pottery (red ware and grey ware); (c) the use
of copper-bronze during Periods I and II and of iron during Period III;
and (d) the knowledge of horse-breeding. On the basis of a comparative
study and no determinations, Period I is dated to sixteenth-thirteenth
century B.C., Period II to twelfth-tenth century B.C. and Period III to
ninth-sixth century B.C. The settlement pattern of this culture indicates
the location of the habitation sites along the slopes extending to the river,
permitting the use of river for terrace cultivation, Higher slopes would no
doubt have been used for cattle-grazing.
A detailed study of the skeletal material (Bernhard, 1967) obtained
irom the graves indicates the presence of two dominant groups of foreign
peoples in the graves: Eurydolichomorph or Proto-Europoid in Period I and
Leptodolichomarph or the Mediterranean in Period III, 'closely connected
the. southern migration of foreign people into the Pakistan-India
sub~contin.ent which began in the second millennium B.C. and
continued in the first'. On the basis of this evidence, the excavator felt
that these migrations represented two waves of invasions of the plain grey
ware-using people, the first associated with copper or bronze in about the
middle of the second millennium 1I.C. and the second with iron in the
beginning of the firSt. On circumstantial evidence, the people associated
with these migrations are identified with the Aryans, the two waves being
further explained by the use of the words ayas (generally taken to be copper)
in the Rig-Vedic literature, and tamra-ayas (copper) and krishna-ayas (iron)
in the later Vedic. 2
THE ARYANS
The Aryans were tall and handsome people of fair colour. Men wore
ear-ornaments and there is mention of an ornamental headdress for women,
which stood up like a 'horn'. Gold was used for bracelets, anklets, ear-
rings, and neck-ornaments.
2TIlapar, Il.K. The ArcluuologicQ/ Remains 0/'1111 Aryans in North·Wes/em India. LC.H.R.
THE VEDIC AGE 293
Dress. The Vedic Aryans used the deer-skin or woollen cloth for
garments. The dress usually worn consisted either of three or of two gar-
ments. Luxury manifested itself in the wearing of variegated garments or
clothing adorned with gold. The hair was carefully combed and oiled.
Women wore it plaited, and in some cases men wore it in coils : it was a
characteristic of the Vasishthas to have it coiled on the right. Shaving
was not unknown, but beards were normally worn, and on festive occasions
men bore garlands.
Food. Milk formed a considerable part of the ordinary food, being
taken in its natural state or mixed with grain. Ghee or clarified butter was
also much used for frying food as well as for feeding the sacrificial fire.
Grain was either parched or ground into flour, and mixed with milk or
butter, and made into cakes. As throughout the history of India, vegetables
and fruits formed a considerable portion of the dietary. But the Vedic Indians
were a nation of meat-eaters, nor need We believe, 'that they merely ate
meat on occasions of sacrifice'. Rather, as in the Homeric age, the slaughter
of animals was always in some degree a sacrificial act, and one specially
appropriate Jar the entertainment of guests. The sheep and the goat
were the normal food ea ten by men and offered to their gods: horse-flesh
was probably eaten only at the horse-sacrifice, and not so much as ordinary
food as to gain the strength and swiftness of the steed. 'There is no incon-
sistency between this eating of flesh and the growing sanctity of cow, which
bears already in the Rig-Veda the epithet agnnyii, not to be killed.' If this
interpretation of the term is correct, it is merely proof of the high value
attached to that useful animal, the source of the milk which meant so much
both for secular and sacred use to the Vedic Indian. The flesh eaten was
either cooked in pots of metal or. earthenware or roasted on spits. s
In addition to milk, the Aryan had at least two intoxicating drinks.
The first was the soma, which however, by the time of the Rig-Veaa, appears
almost exclusively as a sacrificial drink. Basham4 believes that soma
was possibly Mang (Cannabis sativa), whose consumption produces vivid
hallucinations and expansion of consciousness. Bhang grows wild in the
sUbmontane districts of the Punjab and Uttar Pradesh as well as in Central
Asia and South Russia. It is the favourite drink of sadhus and hippies.
Bhang is most likely the soma plant.
The popular drink was, however, the sura, which was distilled from barley.
It was extremely intoxicating, and the prjests regarded it with disapproval:
in one hymn mention is made of men made arrogant by the sura reviling the
gods, while another couples it with anger and dicing as the cause of sin.
Sports. Among the amusements of the Aryans the first place must
2Rap$on, E.J. (Ed.), The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, pp. 88,90
'Basham, A.L. The Wonder that was Indj(J, p. 236
294 A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDI.A.
clearly be given to the chariot race, a natural form of sport among a horse-
loving and chivalrous people. .The second belongs to dicing. Dancing
was also practised, and the dancing of maidens is several times mentioned;
it seems that men also, on occasion, danced in the open air, as a metaphor
alIude.q to the dust of the dancing feet of men.
The Village. 'All the evidence points to the absence of city life among
the tribes. The village probably consisted of a certain number of houses
built near each other for purposes of mutual defence, surrounded by a
hedge as protection against wild beasts. The pur, which is often referred
to and which in later days denotes a 'town', was probably no more than a
mere earthwork fortification which may in some cases at least have been
part of the village. In certain passages, these puras are called autumnal;
and by far the most probable explanation of this epithet is that it refers to
the flooding of the plains by the rising of the rivers in the autumn, when the
cultivators and herdsmen had to take refuge within the earthworks which
at other times served as defences against human foes. In the midst of each
house burned the domestic fire, which served both for practical and sacri-
ficial uses. '6
All the Aryan l;mildings, however, appear to have been of wood, and
the house seems to have been rectangular, with a thatched roof, divided
into more than one room or compartment. Possibly the cattle and sheep,
as well as the household, Were under a single roof. This pattern of living
still prevails in the Kulu Valley.
Chaupals. The community had periodic assemblies in a meeting-
hall, from which women were excluded. Here, the business of the clan
was discussed, and gossip retailed. The men gambled at a game of chance
played with nuts. One is reminded of chaupals in the present-day Haryana.
Artisaus. The carpenter, working with an axe or adze, and making
ploughs and chariots, or the door-posts of a house, was an honoured person.
His equipment included the bow-drill, the use of which is implied in the
fire-making appliance with which fire was kindled. Next in importance
was the worker in metal who smelted the copper ore in a furnace, using the
wing of a bird in place of a bellows to fan the flame. Bronze seems to have
been the only metal worked; it fallows that copper must also have been used,
although the word for this metal occurs only later than the Rig-Veda, as
does that for tin.
Leather~workers were certainly there. Leather was used for chariot-
races, reins, whips, slings, bow-strings, cuirasses, bellows, bottles, and large
containers. It was also used for making carboy-like holders for storing
ghet and oil, cattle troughs, shoes and sandals, leather arm protectors for
archers, harness and saddles for horses, floor spreads and drum leather.
'Rapson, E.]. (Ed.), The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, p. 91

THE VEDIC AGE 295
Potters made pots which were used for boiling milk, keeping curds and
storing grains. They made pitchers for storing water and soma juice.
Pastoralism. The Vedic Aryans were primarily pastoral. When
they settled in the Punjab, they cut the jungles, and built their villages.
They grazed their cattle in the jungles, and planted barley in the land
close to the abadi (habitation) where it could be protected from wild animals.
Like the Gujars of Jammu and Kashmir, they often travelled for long dis-
tances in search of pastures, but ultimately returned to their homes along
with their cattle.
The village maintained, on payor on a share of produce, cowsherds,
who were entrusted with the work of taking the cattle to the pasture ground
in the morning and bring them back in the evening (Anguttarallikaya. 1.
205 i Rig- Veda, X. 10. ef). Such a practice still survives in many villages
of Haryana.
A number of hymns in the Vedas are addressed to Tndra for gifts of
cattle. "May we escape poverty by means of cattle" lR., X. 4. 2. 10).
"Grant to us Indra wealth of barley and cattle" (R., X. 3. 13.7). "Shedder
of rain, set open these clouds, set open the cow pastures, send us liberal
kine liberally" (R., 1.3.3.7, 8). "Givers of horses, cows and garments"
CR., V. 3. 10, 8). "Lord of wealth (Indra) visit us as of old to give us
COWS horses and chariots" (R., VIII. 6.4. 10).
j
The sixth Anuvaka of the eighth Mandala of the Rig-Veda relates

wholly to the liberal gifts in cows, mares, camels and horses, one of which
is characteristic, viz. "I have received sixty thousand horses, and tens
of thousands-a score of hundreds of camels, a thousand brown mares,
and ten times ten thousand cows with red patches." (R., VIII. 6.4. 22).
The name of the sacrificial fee, dakshina, is explained as referring
originally to a cow placed 'on the right hand' of the singer for his reward.
The singers delight to compare their songs to Indra with the lowing of
cows to their calves. At night and in the heat of the day the cows seem to
have been kept in the fold; while for the rest of the day they were allowed
to wander at will.
The Aryan vocabulary is rich in names for every aspect of the herd,
states Piggott, with special words for 'a cow with a strange calf', 'a cow
barren after calving' , 'a three-year-old ox', and so on. Red, black,
dappled, and light-coloured cows are mentioned, and herds were differen-
tiated by distinctive nicks cut in the ears. One may compare the infinite
variety of Punjabi words for buffaloes. The· cows were milked three times
a day, and castration was practised. Oxen were used for the normal
purposes of farm transport.
Churning of milk was done with a wooden beater, twirled with a rope,
now one way, now the other. This practice still continues in the rural
areas of India. The churning-stick is called madhani, and the churning-
296 A H1STORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
pot chilli in Pu~abi.

Cows which gave abundant milk and which could be milked with ease
are prayed for, thus: "These wllite kine giving milk like wells" (R., VIII. 7.
10.3). "I invoke the milk cow that is easily milked, that the handy milker
may milk her" (R., 1. 22. 8.26). The quality of some cows which let down
their milk merely on the sight of their calf has been well observed and
referred to thus: "As a cow having a copious stream of milk yields it coming
into the presence of the calf" (R., IX. 4.2. 1).6
To the Vedic Aryans, the buffalo was a new animal and they were
only accustomed to cows. When they came across the buffalo in India,
they called it gauri and govala, exten.'lion of the term go (cow).'
As cows were the principal wealth of the Aryans, they were often stolen,
and expeditions were organized for their rec()very with prayers to Indra.
"Recover thou our cattle, Indra; bring them back; the drum sounds re·
peatedly as a signal; our leaders mounted on their steeds, assemble; may
our warriors be victorious" (R., VI.4,'j·. 31).
Sheep and Goats. Dogs Were used for guarding houses and for
boar~hunting, and they got driven away ftom the sacrifices, but there is
no direct evidence of their use in herding, which seems to have been carried
out by a herdsman armed with an ox-goad. The flocks included
both sheep and goats, kept for their wool as much as for their
flesh. The Sanskrit word for a sheep is used by transference for wool,
and no doubt sheep's wool was IDrunly used, but there is evidence that
goat's wool was. also !.lsed, presumably from such long-haired animals
as those of Kashmir. The wool, when spun, was woven, probably by
women, on a loom of which the names of warp, woof, and shuttle are
preserved.-
The art of weaving was well known and there are numerous references
to it in the Vedas. The fibre used was wool. Wool was Woven into
carpets and fabrics for .garments. The use of the needle was also know~;
and stitched garments Were presumably in use. Softness was a great
attribute of the best carpets and of the fabrics for the best garments.
Hunting. Hunting .seems still to have played a considerable part in
the life of the Aryans. The hunter used both bow and arrow and snal'es
and traps. There are clear references to the capture of lions in snares,
the taking of antelopes in pits, and the hunting of the boar with dogs.
Birds Were captured in nets stretched out on pegs. Buffaloes seem to have
been shot by arrows, and occasionally a lion might be surrounded by hunters
and· shot to death.
IAiyer, A.K.Y.N. Agri~ultUTe and Allied Arts in Vedic India, pp. 42,46
'Sharma, R.S. Cor!/fict, Distrihution and DijJerenl1'ation in Ril1vedic Sociery, LC,H.R.
·Piggott. S. Prehis/()rit Illdia, pp. 267. 268
THE VEDIC AGE 297
AGRICULTURE
There are exhortat\ons to idlers to work rather than wasting time in
, gambling. "Play not with dice; pursue agriculture; delight in wealth so
acquired; there~ gambler, are cows, there is a wife (to look after)"
(R.,X,3,5.13).
While the profession of agriculture and the possession of vast cultivated
land were extolled, the man behind the plough, the man who is actually the
tiller of the land, was looked upon as a dull individual, not a fit
company for the members of the upper classes. The profession was regarded
as fit only for the unlearned, and those devoid of wisdom. It remained so
for centuries.
Ploughs were drawn by teams of two to eight bullocks. Plough-oxen
may be employed for the whole day when they are eight~strong per plough.
lfthe number of oxen yoked to one plough is six, they should not be engaged
for more than three-quarters of the day. If the number is four, not more
than half the day, and if the number is two, not more than one-quarter
of the day.
Atri, Parasl[ra, Apastamba and others say lone who yokes eight oxen
to a plough is a pious man. One who yokes six is just a businessman.
Cruel are those who employ four and those who employ two are but beef-
eaters/ 9
Employment of large team of bullocks indicates that the bullocks
were weaker than the present~day breeds. Besides, the ploughs were made
or wood) and they were not provided with iron ploughshares, and to
plough hard clay soil more bullock-power was necessary.
There are 21 references to agriculture and ploughing in the
Rig"Veda, the bulk of which are in Books I and X. RS. Sharma10 states,
Books I and X, which account for a good bulk of the Rig~VedaJ are
admittedly late, both from the point of view of style and the nature of ma~
terial culture they reveal. Most references to field agriculture are confined
to these mandalas, and evidence furnished by them shades off into post-
Rig-Vedic period from around 1000 B.C.
Ploughing. The rains have fallen, and the ploughing of fields begins.
rhe first ploughing of the season was inaugurated amidst much ritual.
Here are hymns addressed to Shuna, Sita, and Shunashira. Address-
ed to Shuna: "May the oxen draw happily; the men labour happily;
the plough furrow happily; may the traces bind happily; wield the goad
happily."
Addressed to Sita, the earth goddess: "Auspicious Sita, be present,
'Gangopadhyay, R. Some Materials jorthe Stlldy of AgricI4lture and AgriClliturisls in Ancient India,
pp. 86, 87
IOSharma, R.S. COIiflicl, Distrihution and Differentiation. ill Rigv~dic Society, I.C.H,R.
we glorify thee i that thou mayest be propitious to us; that thou mayest
yield US abundant fruit. May Indra take hold of Sita; may Pushan guide
her; may she, well-stored with water, yield it as milk year after year."
Addressed to Shunashira: "May the plough-shares break up our
land happily; may the plough go happily with the oxen; may Parjanya
water the earth with sweet showers happily; grant, Shuna and Shira,
prosperity to us" (R., IV. 5.12. 1-8).
Here is a reference to ploughs and ploughing. "Our auspicious ploughs
with their ornamental handles, and their sharp-pointed shares, cleave the
ground to the happiness of cows, sheep and well-grown maidens." The
ploughs Were wooden and so Were the ploughshares.
"May the ploughmen. plough roun.d and round, happy with the pros-
pect of heavy crops-may the rain god grant us plenty with milk and honey."
"Fit up the ploughs, and yoke them close to each other." "May Indra
press the plough deep into the soil; may the sharp-pointed share cleave the
soil and push the ploughed earth on both sides of the furrows" (Y., 189.
13-20) .
"0, Indra, I ask your help in ploughing for the increase of grain"
(Y., 16.10). HMay the lowlying lands so ploughed and rich with milk,
and wet with honey and ghee come back to us much fertilized" (Y., 189.20).
"The ploughshare furrowing the field provides food for the ploughman"
(R., X. 10.5.7):
The plough used was large and heavy, but a yoke does not seem to
have been used. Maybe the plough traces Were tied to the horns of bullocks
as in Early Dynastic Sumer' and Third Dynasty Egypt.
Irrigation. As already stated, the Aryans' land of Northern India
is well-watered and has seven rivers. There is reference to craftsmen
(rihhus) who led forth the rivers (R., IV. 4.1.7). The reference is to irriga-
tion by channels taken from the rivers. There is also reference to soil ero-
sion by rivers. "Rivers, the corroders of their banks, like armies destructive
of their foes" (R., IV. 2. 9. 7).
W,lls. Wells Were in use for supply of drinking-water to men as well
as to animals, and also for irrigation. (I As a thirsty ox or a thirsty man
hastens to a well" (R., I. 19.4.2). "Our praises converge towards you,
like herds towards a well" (R., X. 2.9.4). "Tie the ropes tight to the
waterpots, let US draw water from this unfailing well. Set up the cattle
trough; bin,d the straps to it; let us pour out the water from the well which
is not easily exhausted" (R., X. 9.2.5).
There Were kucha wells, which were just holes dug in the ground. Even
now such wells are in use in the riverain areas of northern India. These
were a source of danger to unwary men and cattle. Prayers were offer-
ed for the safety of cattle that they may not faU into such wells. "Let not,
Pushan, oW' cattle perish, let them not be i1\iured, let them not be hurt by
THB VEDIa AGE 299
falling into a well" (R., VI. 5.5.7).
Fields. Land was laid out into regular fields, ploughed and sown,
and crops Were reaped and stored. Land was also measured and fields
of definite sizes were laid out. This system implies individual ownership.
Thus: "Wide fields, vast treasures, spacious pastures, has Indra bestowed
on bis friends" (R., III. 3.2.15).
Measuring-rods of presumably standard lengths were used for measur-
ing fields. "Like a field m~asured by a rod" (R., I. 16.5.5).
Here are references to seed and sowing. "Sow the seeds; may the
earheads be many and heavy for the sickles to cut and pile in heaps; may
these auspicious ploughs (used at sowing time to cover the seeds) bring uS
wealth in cows, sheep, chariots and well-nourished and strong women"
(A. 88.1.7).
"Harness the ploughs, fit on the yokes, now that the womb of the earth
is ready to sow the seeds therein; and our praise to Indra, may there be
abundant food, may the grains fall ripe towards the sickle" (R., X. 9.2.3).
Harvesting of Crops. Harvesting began with a prayer. The
harvesting tool was the sickle. Thus: "I take the sickle also in my hand with
a prayer to thee" (R.) VIII. 8.9.10}. "May the crop swell at my prayers;
let the sickles cut down the heavy crop of grain" (R., V. 6.12.9.10) rlMay
there be abundant food, may the grain fall ripe towards the sickle" (R.,
X.9.2.3). Some form of container or m~asure was used for which the word
urdara is used.
Harvesting was both by cutting down the crop at the level of the ground
and also by cutting the earheads. UAs barley is harvested by separating
the earheads from the stalk" (Y., 122.1). "Thou milkest the nutritious
grain from the humid stalk" (R., II. 2.2.6).11
Even now in the Kumaon Himalaya at higher altitudes, barley is
harvested in this manner and the earS are snipped offwith a pair of sticks,
while the straw which is allowed to stand in the field is burnt.
BARLEY. Barley (Tava) is the grain crop mentioned frequently and
in many contexts, such as sowing, harvesting, winnowing and storing. Thus,
"As a husbandman repeatedly ploughs the earth for barley" (R., I. 5.6.15).
"Causing the barley to be sown in fields properly prepared by the plough"
(R., I. 17.2.21). "The cattle feed upon the barley" (R., X. 2.11.8).
SESAMUM: This is the only oilseed mentioned. Both the black-seeded
and the white-seeded varieties Were grown, and the seed was pressed for
oil.
SUGARCANE: This crop seems to have been grown by the Aryans.
"I offer you dried sugarcane, white sesamum, reeds and bamboos"
(A., 475, 53 and 54).
l1Aiyer, A.K.Y.N. Agriculture and Allied Arts in Vedic India, pp. 3, 5, 6, 12, 14,16 :md 17
CUCUMBER AND BOTTLE"GOURD are specifically mentioned, "May I

be liberated from death like the urvaruka (cucumber) fruit from its stalk"
(R., VI. 4.5.12). An idiot is thus described. "He is like an empty bottle-
gourd" (A., 720.1-4).
There is no mention of wheat and cotton in the Vedas, though both
the cr<Jps were cultivated by the Hamppans. It seems that the Aryans
were accustomed to barley diet in their original homeland and they stuck
to it. Barley is good for men, cattle and horses. Barley is used in Hindu
rituals even at present in India. For clothes the Aryans continued to prefer
wool to cotton even in the hot climate of the Punjab.
Rice is not mentioned in the eady Vedic literature. It is highly prob-
able that the Aryans were not aware of rice in the early stages of their
colonization of India and learnt its cultivation from the aborigines of this
country when they reached the areas now described as Uttar Pradesh
and Bihar. Rice does not find a place in the basic rituals of the Aryans;
however, it does find a place in secondary rituals which Were later elabora-
tions.
CHAPTER 20
THE LATER VEDIC PERIOD

YAJUR-VEDA, SAMHITAS AND BRAHMANAS
The Age of Iron and Painted Grey Ware
The Invention of the Iron Ploughshare and Axe
Clearance of Jungles, Expansion of Cultivation
1000 D.C. to 600 B.a.
THE invasion of India by the Aryans was not a single action. It

extended over centuries, and wave after wave of the Aryans came and poured
into India through the passes, viz. Khyber, Gomel, Bolan and Tochi. It
seems that about 1100 B.C. a large wave of iron-using Aryans entered India.
Slowly, they moved from north-west to east. They entered the area now
known as western Uttar Pradesh about 1000 B.C. From about 1000 B.C.,
the use ofiron spread from Baluchistan, Gandhara to eastern Punjab, western
Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. It reached eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar
in the seventh century B.C. Apart from iron objects, a grey pottery, known
as Painted Grey Ware, is also associated with the later Aryans. The loca-
tion of some of the important sites of Painted Grey Ware is shown in Fig.
154. This type of pottery has been found in numerOUS sites in the Punjab,
Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh. It always overlies the layers associated with
the Harappan culture.
SAMHITAS AND BRAHMANAS
From 1000 B.C. to 600 B.a., a number of Vedic texts Were compiled
in western Uttar Pradesh. They include the Samhitas and Brahmanas.
The collections of the Vedic hymns or mantras were known as the Samhitas.
The Rig-Veda Samhita is the oldest Vedic text, on the basis of which we have
described the early Vedic age. For purposes of singing, the hymns of the
Rig-Veda were set to tune, and this modified collection was known as the
Sarna- Veda Samhita. In addition to the Sarna- Veda, in the post.Rig- Vedic
times, two other collections Were composed, viz. the Tajur- Veda Samhita and
the Atlzarva- Veda Sarnhita. The rajur. Veda contains not only hymns but also
rituals which have to accompany their recitation. The rituals reflect the
social and political milieu in which they arose. The Atharva- Veda contains
charms and spells to ward off evils and diseases. I ts contents throw light
on the beliefs and practices of the Aryans.!
A variety of plants providing food, fibre and medicines find mention
-----_._--
lSharma, R.S. Ancient India, p. 49
302 A HISTOR.Y OF AGR.IaULTURE IN INDIA
INDIA
DISTRIBUTION OF
PAINTED GREY WARE
BAY OF BENGAL
• Ancient Sites
• Modern Towns
INDIAN OCEAN
Fig. 154. Important Painted Grey Ware sites in northern India. In the Punjab,
Haryana and western districts of Uttar Pradesh, a large number of Painted Grey Ware
sites have been discovered. Now the northernmost limit of Painted Grey Ware is Jammu
THE LATER VEDIa PERIOD 303
in a hymn of the Atharva- Veda, addressed to Prilhivi, the earth goddess.
'The Earth has her hill-sides and her uplands,
Hers is the wide plain,
She is the bearer of plants of many uses:
May she stretch out her hand and be bountiful to us!'
Atharva-Veda, XII, i,
From c. 800- 600 B.C. was a period of great intellectual ferment among
the Aryans. Out of the classics of this periods, the first Were the Brahmallas,
which comment on and expound the doctrines of the Vedic hymns, especi-
ally in their relation to the ritual of sacrifices. They explain the social and
religious aspects of the rituals. To the Brah71lal1as Were added the Aran'-
_vakas, "forest books". The expository appendices to the Aran'yakas arc
called the Upanishads, "the sittings down", or "the sessions"-in which the
pupil sat at his master's feet. They were compiled around 600 B.C. 'For
the first time,' says Macdonell, 'we find the Absolute grasped and pro-
claimed'. The Upanishads claimed that Alma is the World Soul, of which
all individual souls are a part. These forest books ,".'ere the works of rishis,
sensitive and highly intelligent men who had relinquished the material
world and lived in forests in communion with nature. 'These rislzis looked
upon nature with the poet's eye. They symbolized everything, but they
revelled also in the gorgeous beauty of dawn and evening, the luxuriance
of Indian trees and flowers, the Serene majesty of Himalayan mountains,
the cascades, the rivers, and the shining lakes.'2
The later Vedic literature is the main Source of information on the life
and culture of the Aryans. We learn about the agriculture and animal
husbandry of the Ijeriod-the crops grown, the implements used, trades,
crafts and social system.
THE EPICS
The Afahab/wraLa and the Ramayana are the epics of the Aryan Hindus.
According to Winternitz, the epic of Niahab/zarata, whose authorship is
attributed to Vyasa, was compiled in 400 B.C., and additions and alter.
ations Were made to it up to A.D. 400. Hence the Nlahabharata cannot
be considered a contemporary record·of conditions prevailing about 900
B,C. SO far as agriculture is concerned, it is safer to rely on archaeological
finds.
The A1ahabharata war was fought at Kurukshetra in Haryana. Basham's
guess that it took place in the beginning of the ninth century B.C,
seems to be reasonable. It was a war between the Pandavas and the
KauJ'avas, both of them belonging to the Kuru tribe. The five Pandava
brothers, Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadcva, sons of
2Mackem:ie, D.A. Indian j\1yth alld Lcgclld, p. 34

Pandu, had their capital at Indraprastha. The Purana QUa of New Delhi
was later on built on this site. The Kurus headed by Duryodhana had
their capital at Hastinapur, an Iron Age site in the Meerut District of Uttar
Pradesh. The weapons used by the contestants were probably bows,
iron-tipped arrows, spears and swords. Chariots drawn by two or more
horses were their War vehicles. Each chariot carried two warriors armed
with bows and arrows. The Pandavas won the war, and Yudhishthira
became the king of the Kurus and reigned at Hastinapur.
The Ramayana is dated between 200 B.C. and A.D. 200. The author of
the Ramayana was the sage Valmiki. Brieily, the story is as follows: Dasa-
ratha was the king of Ayodhya. His eldest son Rama was married to Sita,
daughter of King Janaka of Mithila in Bihar. Janaka is called Sira-dhwaja,
'he of the plough-banner', because his daughter Sita sprang up ready-
formed from the furrow when he was ploughing the ground and preparing
for a sacrifice to obtain offspring. The legend indicates the esteem in which
agriculture was held.
Kaikeyi, the younger and favourite wife of the ageing Dasaratha,
prevailed upon him to banish Rama and to install her son Bharata as the
king. Rama, a dutiful son, accompanied by Sita, and his younger brother
Lakshmana, left for the forest. For a while, they lived in Chitrakut in the
Banda District, and later in the Dandaka forest, near modern Nasik, on the
banks of the Godavari. Sita was carried away by Ravana, king of Lanka.
She was recovered after a lengthy war in which Rama was assisted by South
Indian tribes, whose totems were bears and monkeys.
Sita was banished by Rama and she was in exile at the hermitage of
Valmiki, where she gave birth to twins, Kusha and Lava. Ultimately,
Sita came to Rama and she declared her purity in a public assembly.
She Called upon the earth to verify her words. The ground opened and
received the daughter of the furrow.
The Ramayana represents the expansion of Aryan culture in Bihar, the
Deccan and South India. According to some, it describes events which
are later than those of the Mahabharata. It represents a state of society more
refined than that of the Mahabharata.
MASTERY OF IRON TECHNOLOGY
Invention of the iron axe and the ploughshare. The mastery of iron
technology is an outstanding achievement of mankind. Iron ores are
widespread as compared with copper. Smelting ·of iron ore gave a hard
metal to which copper or bronze are no match. This was a big step for-
ward in metallurgy but was not easy to achieve. Without carbon this new
metal had not the sharpness or hardness of copper or bronze. It was only
gradually, through trial and error, aided by lucky accidents, that the high
temperature of 1535°C required to smelt iron, and the use of a
THE LATER V1Wrc PERIOD 305
catalytic flux to produce a slag ana thus separate molten iron from impuri-
ties were slowly achieved. The iron metal so produced was yet soft and
spongy in comparison with copper or bronze. It was not until the achieve-
ment of the characteristic hardness as a result of the admixture of carbon
with iron in proper proportion that the special properties of iron Were fully
realized.
The invention of the socketed iron axe gave an efficient tool to man
which enabled him to clear jungles for cultivation. It was with the use
of fire and iron axes that the Aryans cleared the dense jun.gles of Uttar
Pradesh and Bihar.
The hard clayey soil of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar could not be easily
cultivated with wooden ploughs. When the wooden plough>; were pro-
vided with iron ploughshares, their efficiency increased. This improvement
enabled the Aryans to cultivate virgin lands, thus leading to greater mastery
over food production. It almost led to a Green Revolution, which was
sparked off by the invention of two most important tools, viz. the socketed
iron axe and the iron ploughshare. In due course, all small tools of agri-
culture, viz. sickles and hoes, were also manufactured from iron.
Painted Grey Pottery. The Painted Grey pottery was first isolated
in a stratified context in 1946 from Ahichchhatra in the Bareilly District
of Uttar Pradesh. At Rupar, it overlies the Harappan pottery and bronze
implements. The Painted Grey Ware has also been recorded from the
Purana Qila of New Delhi, from Hastinapur in Meerut and from a number
of sites in the Punjab. Its other important sites are Panipat and Sonepat
in Haryana, Baghpat, Alamgirpur, Atranjikhera, Mathura, Shravasti
and Kausambi in Uttar Pradesh, and Noh in the Bharatpur District in
Rajasthan. The northernmost site is at Manda in Jammu. The antiquities
of Period III of Manda include glass bangles, a terracotta horse with a saddle,
iron daggers and arrow heads, and copper-antimony rods and stone rotary
querns.
Excavation at Atranjikhera: in the Etah District was undertaken by the
Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University, under R.C. Gaur.
Period II, extending to a height of 4 metres, was characterized by the
occurrence of the Painted Grey Ware in association with plain grey, black-
and-red, black-slipped and red ~ares. The other finds included iron arroW
and spear-heads, bone styluses, gamesmen, beads and terracotta discs.
The excavations conducted at Hastinapur in 1962 yielded specimens
of finished iron objects in the form of nails and knife-blades from the middle
levelsof the Painted Grey Ware deposit. Earlier, in the excavations of
1950-52, only slags had been found. At the same time, it is to be noted that
iron has not so far been found stratigraphically below the deposits of the
Painted Grey Ware anywhere. The presence of the bones of a horse at
Hastinapur in association with the Painted Grey Ware recalls the traditional
concept of the association of the horse 'with the Aryans. The proven asso-
ciation of iron with the Painted Grey Ware, which is the earliest stratigraphic
evidence of iron in India, points to the presence of a second wave of iron-
using Aryans in India ..
When one examines the shapes of painted grey potteries, one is struck
by the persistence of some designs even in the present. Some pottedes and
dishes recovered from Hastinapur are shown in Fig. 155. The pot, witl1 a
narrow neck, is the present-day garbi, now manufactured in bronze metal.
The small cup in the foreground is the katori. 'The fiat dish in the centre,
resembling a tholi, is suitable for eating rice. Commenting on such dishes
from Swat, B.K. Thapar states, 'This type is very convenient for eating
rice and its occurrence in Period III accords ,veIl with the literary
evidence for rice seems to have been mentioned only in the later Vedic
literature.' 3
THE IRON AGE IN PENINSULAR INDIA
Megalithic tombs have been found in large numbers in Peninsular India
to the south of the Godavari. This region is marked by outcrops of granite
of which megaliths are constructed. Whereas single standing stones
(menhirs) are rare, there are dolmens (table-like cists above the ground),
menhirs or standing stones (the Deccan and Kerala) and umbrella stones
(iopikals) in Kerala. Sometimes, there are only circles of stones with an
underground grave in the centre. These megaliths are funerary structures.
Corpses were exposed, the bones were collected and interred in sarcophagi,
in urns, in pits or dolmenoid cists. These monuments are usually located
on rocky .highgrounds close to irrigation tanks and arable land. Sastri
believes that this was perhaps the beginning of irrigated fice cultivation ill
southern India.
The pottery from these megaliths is black or bLack and rcci. The
shapes of pottery are simple and utilitarian, viz. globular vessels, flat dishes,
bowls and tall Uds (Fig. 159). The dishes are very suitable for rice-eating.
At Adichanallur in the Tinnevel1y District in Tamil Nadu earthen-ware
bowls cOl1taining husk of paddy, and bronze bowls with rice grains in them
have been found,40
All the megalithic graves contain iron implements, viz. iron tridents,
the favourite weapon of Murugan, a popular deity of the Tamils, and flat
Iron axes with crossed iron bands for hafting. Axes with ring fasteners,
iroti arrow-heads, spears and swords have also been found. Among agri-
cultural tools, ,the discovery of iron sickles is most significant (Fig. 160).
Knives, bill-hooks, hoes, wedges and horse bits were also discovered from
lIThllpar, B,K. Tht Arcluu%gical Remains tif Aryans in North-Western India, LC.H.R., 1977
4Shastri. N. A History of South India, pp. 54, 55
THE LATER VEDra PERIOD 307
some sites. As Mortimer Wheeler remarks, a liberal and developed iron

industry is the outstanding feature of grave-goods discovered from megaliths.
""heeler who excavated the site at Brahmagiri in Karnataka was of the
view that none of the south Indian megaliths was earlier than the third
century B.C. AIIchin 5 states that one pair of dates from HalIur suggests
that the introduction of iron followed between 1050 B.C. and 950 B,C.
Horse bones were also discovered in the transitional Chalcolithic-Iron Age
levels of Hallur. Allchin observes, 'The south Indian graves appear as a
developing complex with several streams of influence combining in them.
First, some grave types are reminiscent of those of Central Asia, Iran or the
Caucasus, and could well represent traits brought from these areas by Indo-
European-speaking immigrants. Next, some appear as developments of the
indigenous Neolithic-Chalcolithic burial customs of the Deccan. A third
series points to influences from outside India, and comparable types may
indicate the source of the influences. Thus, stone cist graves, with and
without port-holes, are found in the Levant, and on the coasts of south
Arabia. Pottery sarcophagi occur in Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf
region during the late centuries B.C., and legged urns identicaJ to Indian
types are reported from the Yemen. The same regions provide evidence of
rock~cut graves with shaft~like entrances, in forms strikingly reminiscent of
those of the Malabar coast. Strictly speaking, not all these examples are
dated with any precision, and therefore they can scarcely provide a firm basis
for comparisons; but they suggest that during the first millennium :a.C.
India received them as influences by dint of maritime contacts with the
Middle East. A fourth stream also cannot be excluded, being the possi~
biIity oflocaI development in peninsular India itself 'p
It is clear that this iron-using culture did not grow out of the earlier
Neolithic culture in South India. The presence of iron in the north at about
1050 B.C. is also significant. The iron-users may have come via the ocean
from the Middle East, or they may have migrated from northern India where
they were well-established in the period 1100 B.C. to 1000 B.C.
LIFE IN THE EARLY IRON AGE IN NORTH INDIA
Banerjee thus describes the pattern of life in the Early Iron Age, It was
a period when forts were constructed to safeguard the township against
surprise attacks, as exemplified at Ujjain or Kausambi. As the towns grew
up on river banks, the advantage of the river waters was also taken to protect
the forts with deep moats. The forts were provided with gateways and
passages. A fort conjures up pictures of warfare. The equipments .of the
times were, however, flimsy and consisted of iron arrow-heads, spea 1'-
heads and daggers.
&Allchin, B. and R. Tile Birth of Indian Civilization, pp. 229, 230

308 A HISTORY Ol? AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
The repertoire of iron objects comprises knives, arrow-heads, spear-

heads, wedges and axes. There are indications of local manufacture of
iron o~iects in the form of slags found at Hastinapur. This manufacturing
meant indeed not only the mining of orcs but also the existence of smithy,
involving smelting and forgin.g.
Fishing l11.ust indeed have been resorted to, as indicated by conical
te1'l'acotta net-sinkers.
The use ofa copper boreT points to craftsmanship in wood or metal.
The articles of toiletry consisted of antimony rods, nail-parers of copper,
and of a hollow terracotta object with segmented interior that has been
described as a hair-cleaner.
Among ornaments wcre glass ban.gles. This is the earliest evidence
of glass manufac ture in India.
Beads were made of materials like agate, carnelian, jasper, glass, coppel',
bone and terracotta. The beads of terl'aco tta are pear-shaped and often
biconal. These were supplemented by car-ornaments in the shape of
convex discs with concave sides, made orbones or agate and brightly polished.
The weaving of baskets was practised and their impressions upon the
soil were preserved. 6
The Caste System.. The caste is foreshadowed in the vamas of the
early Aryans, but it became a reality in the latcr Vedic period. The
Brahmanas, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas were the white-skinned Aryans. The
Brahmanas who expounded the Vedic texts spread the Aryan culture in
the newly conquered regions of central and eastern India. The Kshatriyas
(Rajanya), who were the rulers and warriors, established the Aryan colonies
in the east and the south. The Vaishyas were the agriculturists aml traders.
Some of them worked as artisans. At the bottom of the social pyramid were
the Shudras, t he aborigines, who wel'e the farm labourers, hewers of wood
and drawers of water. The Shudras were not allowed to read the sacred
texts nor to approach. the sacred fire. The aborigines who liveu in the
jungles were the Nagas, who worshipped the cobra (naga).
The economic classes of other countries are represented by castes in
India. Kosambi states that caste is class on a primitive level ofpl'oduction.
Peasant families engaged in agriculture formed a distinct caste. They were
served by carpenters, · blacksmiths, goldsmiths, weavers, leather-workers,
tailors, drawers of water, oil-pressers, etc., who formed distinct castes. This
type of division of labour continues even now in rural India. Only in
States w ith modern agriculture and industry there are signs of its break-down.
Occupations_ The passage below in which the names of castes and
variety of professions are given indicates the richness and variety of the socio-
cultural and economic life of the Aryans of the later Vedic period.
iBanerjee, N.R. TIle Irotl Age ill frulla, pp. 19G to 199
THE LATER VE])IC PERIOI) 30!l
Fig. ]55. PaiJlted Grcy 'W are pols and dish frolll Hastinal ur, 1000 B.C. to 1.100 H. C.
(Cour tesy: Nal iolHl\ Museum. New Delhi)
Fig. 156. Young I-Iari:lll<l bulls at lhe Hi~sar callie farlll. The HaL'iana hl'C'cc! of CLlttie is
associated with the Aryans. It is confined to the Punjab, B .aryuna, Delhi anc! wesLcrll
Uttar Pradesh where the Aryalls sel. tl ed
310 A IIlSTORY OIl MiRICULTURI( I N INDIA
Fig. 157 . Smelling of iron was it major achievemeil i. Iron jJl'ovidt:c.1 a hard metal {'rom
which axes, plough~hal'(:s anc.l sickles were fabricated. This iL:d (0 grca t progrcss ill
agricullure
(ReconstrllctioJl from the Museum of E volution of Li fc.: , Cha1ldig;u'h)
THE LATER VEnrC P lmrOIJ
-.~---- ..... ----'

-------
F ig. 15fl. T Il(' girl is scaring away birds 1" ·0111 it pearl-millet rield wilh a sling
(Courlesy : Indian Agricu llu,·a l R esearch InsliLutc, New Delhi )
A JlTS'l'OI Y 011 AURWVLTUllE IN INDIA
Fig. l 'i0. Black Polis h ed W a r e from Ydlesw:1ra m , an Iron Ag' site in Ta mil Nadu
(Cou rtesy: Arc h aeologica l Survcy of] ndia)
F ig. 160 . Iron obj ec ls I'r olll l'vr<'gnli lhs in South }nd in. At Ihe I'ig h t i~ a sickl e and ill
th e hfl is:1 sword. 1 n Ih e mid dl e is ,Il l <1,"(' w ilh it rjn g-fas tcllt:r. I\t th e lop is an a rrow-
h ea d . c. 300 H.C .
(Co ur tesy: An' h :H'ologic;ll S urvey 0(' Ind ia)
TIlE LATER VEDIC PERJOD 313
'Brahmin, Rajallya, Vaishya, Shudra, thiel~ eunuch, adulterer, dancer,
na/tuva (dancing master), drummer, veena-player, gambler, secret lover,
maidens, lovers, flatterer, unbeliever, courtesan, clown, bald-headed one,
hairy one, the too tall on.e, the dwarf, the fat one, village headnlan,
accountant, graceful girl, hunchback, sluggard, sleepy onc, the garrulous
one, loud musicians, conchshell-blowers, the half-blind one, the deaf one,
unmartiec1 elder brother) goldsmith, engraver, potter, chariot-maker,
carpenter, bow-string-maker, hunter, fisherman, keeper of dogs, tanner,
trader, iron-smelter, watchman, ploughman, elephant-keeper, shepherd,
butcher, rope-maker, author, investigator, physician, the star-gazer (astro-
nomer), inciter to quarrels (war-monger), women who make scented oils,
the barren woman, the leper, the mother of twins, the dumb, the lame,
the rogue, and a host of others (Sukla Tajur, Anuvaka, 396). The list is not
however a catalogue of mere names, bu t a study of the cha.rac.teristics of cadI,
in which its special feature or character is touched off by an illuminating'
epithet denoting the object or quality associated with it. Thus, the
ploughman with food, the rich man with prosperity, the woodcutter with
light (fire), the dancer with music, the star-ga.zer Widl scientific knowledge,
the in.vestigatOl" with vast knowledge, the thief with darkness, maiden with
love, the war-monger with suffering and poverty, the iron-smelter with
an.ger, the adulterer with lust, the sower of seeds with auspiciousness, the
courtesan with pleasure, and so on.' 7
The subdivision of occupations is an indicator of progress in economy,
vVe hear of hunters, of several classes of fishermen, of attendallis on cattle,
of fire-rangers, of ploughers, of charioteers, of several classes of attendants,
of makers of'jewels, basket-makers, washermcn, rope-makers, dyers, chariot-
makers, barbers, weavers, butchers, workers in gold, cooks, sellers of dri.ed
iish, makers of bows, gatherers of wood, doorkeepers, smelters, footmen;
messengers, carvel'S, seasoners of food, potters, smiths and so forth. Profes-
sional acrobats are recorded, and players on drums and flutes. Besides
the boatman appears the oarsman, and the polcman.
Social Life. On the whole, there seems to have been some decline in.
the positi.on of women in this period: in onc of the SUtra texts, her wet'gild
is assimilated to that of a ShUdra and her lack of proprietary power mUSL
have tended to decrease her prestige. The polygamy of the Kings is now
fully established; and, presumably, the practice of the sovercigns was
fhllowed by the richer of their subjects. On the other hand, the preference
for Sons becomes more and more pronounced: 'a daughter is a source of
misery, a son a light in the highest heaven.'
Two important features of later village life in India appears in the forms
of the astrologer and the barber. Of women's work We learn of the dyer,
7Aiyer, A,K.Y.N. Ag,,;clIlIlire lllld Allied Arts in JTedic India, p. 65

314 A tnSTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
the embroirl.erer, the worker in thorns, and the basket-maker. The mer-
chant is often mentioned, and the usurer has a special name: it is of interest
that the term Sresht;hin OCcurS several times, denoting at least a wealthy
merchant, and possibly already the word has its later technical sense of the
head of a merchant guild.
The advance of civilization is seen also in the more extended know-
ledge of the metals; as compared with the gold and the qyas, of doubtful
meaning, of the Rig- Veda, this period knows tin, lead, and silver, of which
ornamented bowls are made, while ayas is differentiated as red qyas, pre-
sumably copper, and dark or black qyas, which is iron.
Houses. Houses were constructed of mud, or at best of sun-dried
mud-bricks, and no more than barely recognizable lengths of walls in
crumbling desolation can be accounted for in the excavated sites. Burnt
bricks were not, however, unknown as excavation at Ahichchhatra has
sho'rvn.
A variety of wild cane was used, along with the husks of rice, to rein-
force the mud or mud-brick walls with plaster, as observed at Hastinapur.
As rains were heavy in the region where the Painted Grey ceramic occurs,
the roof was thatched.
Money. There were no coins, though the path to this development
was already opened by the use of the krishr.J,ala, the berry of the Abrus prB-
catorius (rati), as a unit of weight. vVe hear in the Brahmal,).as of the
catamWla, a piece of gold in weight equivalent to a hundred krishv.a1as " and
such pieces of gold were clearly more or less equivalent to currency and
mUflt have been used freely by the merchants, of whose activities we hear
so little in the sacred texts. The nishka, originally a gold ornament, was
also at this time a sult of value; and the cow as a unit was probably in
course of supersession. B
Clothes. The style of clothing seems to have continued unchanged,
though we hear mOre of the details; among other things are woollen gar-
ments, robes dyed with saffron, and silk raiment.
Sports. The amusements of the day were, as in the period of the
Rig-Veda; the chariot race, dicing and dancing.
Food. Various eatables are mentioned in the texts of this period.
The apnpa is a cake mixed with g/lee (clarified butter) or made of rice or
barley; odana is a mess, generally of grain cooked with milk. SpeCial
varieties are those made with water, milk, curds or ghee and beans, sesame
or meat, and named appropriately; such as "tilaudana". A porridge made
of grain, barley or unhusked sesame, slightly parched and· kneaded, is
called karambha. Bar1ey~gruel (yavagu) and decoctions of other grains are
also referred to.
'Rapson, E.]. (Ed.) The Cambridge Hiswry of India, Vol. I, pp. 120, 122. 123
THE LATER VEDIC PERIOD 315
Meat-eating seems to he fairly common. The SatapatJUl BrahmalJa

prescribes the killing of a goat in honour of a guest. Generally, meat was
eaten on the occasion of some ceremony or other, but such ceremonies were
performed almost every day. It appears that the killing of cows gradually
came into disfavour. The normal meat-diet consisted of the flesh. of the
sheep and the goat, the usual sacrificial victims.
Among the chief products of milk may be mentioned curds (amiksha),
sour milk (dadhi), fresh butter (1lava-nita), payaS)'a or curds consisting of a
mixture of sour milk and hot or cold fresh milk, butter, mixed with sour
milk (Prishad-liira), phlJ.nta, the first clotted lumps of butter produced by
churning, and finally vetjina, a mixture of hot fresh milk with sour milk.
This formidable list of milk-products and their mixtures shows the great
popularity of milk.
Sura, an intoxicating spirituous liquor, is often mentioned. Though
tolerated asan ordinary drink, it is often condemned as leading to quarrels
and asseducing men from the path of virtue, like dicing and meat-eating
(A. VI.70.1). The Sautrama:Q.I sacrifke is of the nature of an expiation
or penance for an indulgence in sura. Probably, it was prepared from
fermented grains and plants. It was kept in skins. The 'Jajur- Veda
Samhit{is mention a beverage called tnasal'a, which appears to have been l1.
mixture of rice and S)'amflka with grass and parched barley, etc. lvladllll
primarily means "sweet" as an adjective, and so denotes any sweet food or
drink such as the Soma or milk. The sense "honey", though known in the
Rig-Veda, is only now its most definite sense, and there are taboos against
its use by students and women under certain circumstanccs. 9
Pastoralism. The ytifur-Veda helps 'us to draw ,some conclusions
about the mode of life of the Aryans for the period 1000-800 n.C. and the
attached book, the Satapatha Brl/.hmar,Ja, extends the information to about
600 B.C. 'Even cursory reading', says Kosambi, 'shows that pastoral life
formed the basis of Yajur-Vedic society, as of its ritual. Nevertheless, the
growing importance of agriculture and of metals is made very clear in a
prayer (still recited): 'May for me .... milk, sap, clarified butter, honey,
eating and drinking at the common table (sagdhi and sapili), ploughing,
rains, conquest, victory, wealth, riches, prosperity .... low-grade grain
(ku)'ava) food, freedom from hunger, rice, barley, sesame, kidney-beans,
vetches, wheat, lentils, millet and wild rice (prosper through the sacrifice).
May for me the stone, clay, hills, mountains, sand, trees, gold, hronze, lead,
tin, iron, copper, fire, ivater, roots, plants, 'what grows on ploughed land,
what grows on unploughed land, tame and wild cattle prOSper through the
sacrifice (yaJna)'. 'This may be dated at about 800 B.C., and shows that
·Majumdar, R.C. and Pusalker, A.D. (Ed.). The 'EIis/my and Culilire if the Indiml
People-The Vedic Age, pp. 457, 458
316 A HlSTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
the Aryans had begun to face new problems of production in the Iron
Age.'lO
DOMESTIC ANIMALS
We get evidence of domestic animals kept by the later Aryans from
some excavations in Haryana. A quantity of animal bones have been
found from different levels at Bhagwanpura in the Kurukshetra District.
The assemblage consists of a large number of charred bones of cattle. The
bones of ea ttle, sheep, goat, dog and Equus were present in the assemblage.
Cattle from the lower levels are mostly of massive size. A few of the cattle
bones show incomplete ossification. Charred tortoise shells are also present,
which indicates that the flesh of the tortoise was eaten. Even at present,
Sansis eat the flesh of the tortoise. Cattle bones from the upper levels
show a weaker and small breed.
What was the breed of cattle kept by the Aryans? According to Olver
(1938}, the Hariana breed of cattle entered India through the northern
passes with the Aryans. Ware (1942) also supports Olver's view.l1 The
Hariana breed is found in Pakistan, the Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar
Pradesh. The related breeds are the Mewati, Rath, Ongole, and Krishna
Valley. The Mewati breed is found in the Alwar and Bharatpur districts
of Rajasthan as well as in the Kosi tract of the Mathura District. The
Rath breed is found in the Alwar District of Rajasthan. The Ongole breed
is found in Bapatla, SathanapaIli, Vinukonda and Kandukur taluks of the
Nellore and Guntur districts of Andhra Pradesh. The Krishna Valley breed
is found in the southern areas of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. It
is notable that all the breeds represented in this group are located along the
route taken by the Aryan invaders stretching from Kalat in Pakistan
and then passing through the Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh
to sou th India .
. However, it is the Delhi~Rohtak-Gurgaon and Hissar tract in which the
Hariana breed is found at its best. The Hariana bullocks are short-
horned, white 01' light grey, the body is proportionate, moderately long
and lias a compact appearance (Fig. 156). The head is carried high, the
horns are short and, in castrated bullocks, curving upwards and inwards.
The ears, the dewlap and the sheath are small. There is a big and well-
developed hump; the feet are small and the hoofs are well shaped, hard and
black. The tail is rather short, thin and tapering, and carries a black
switch reaching just below the hocks. The Hariana breed is a dual-
purpose breed, used both for draught and milk production. The bullocks
IDKosambi. D.D. The Culture and Civilization of Ancient India in Historical Outline, p. 85
l:Joshi,
N.R. and PWllips, Ralph W. Zebu CaUle of India and Pakistan-All FAO Study,
p.87
are excellent for fast ploughing and for road transport. The cows arc good
milkers.
Elephants and Horses. Another sign of the new era is the definite
references to the keeping of tame elephants, the guarding of elephants
being one of the occupations occurring in the TaJur- Veda texts. The use
of horses for riding had certainly become more common.
AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS
The agricultural implements mentioned in the Vedic literature include
the plough (langala, phala, sira and sita) and daira, smi. The langala was
of a lace-pointed type, having a smooth handle, whereas the sira was a large
and heavy plough. Sieve (titau) was in use to separate the grain from the
straw, and winnowing (surpa) was resorted to. Udam was the vessel used
for measuring grain.
The plough (langala) was used extensively, drawn by oxen in teams of
six, eight or even twelve, and repeated ploughing was resorted to with a
view to enabling the soil to acquire the desired tilth. The ploughland was
called urvara or kshetra. Cowdung (sakrt) was used as manure and the
dried cowdung (karisha) was found to be better. The Kathaka Samhila
describes a process of cultivation as well as of harvesting, using the plough
and sickle respectively.
AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES
Generally, in the Vedic period, two harvests a year were gathered.
The number of references pertaining to agriculture found in the Vedic
literature indicate that tI1e cultivator in the Vedic period possessed a fair
knowledge of the fertility of the land, selection and treatment of seeds,
seasons of sowing and harvesting, rotation and other cultural practices of
crops, manuring for increased production of crops, and the like.
The Vedic farmers knew the method of improving the fertility of the
soil by using the method of rotation. The Taittirrya Samlzita mentions that
rice would be sown in summer and pulses in winter on the same field. 12
CROPS
'In place of the yava of the Rig-Veda many kinds of grain are mentioned,
andyava is restricted, in all probability, to the sense 'barley'. Among these
names are wheat, beans, corn, sesamum from which oil was extracted,
Panicum miliaceum, Echinochloajrumentacea (Panicumjrwnentaceum), and Setaria
italica (Panicum italicum), Wrightia antidysenterica, Dolichos unijlorus, Ervum
hirsutum, Chionaclme koenigii (Coix barbata), and various others. Rice; both
12Raychaudhari, S P., Lallanji Gopal and Subbarayappa, B.V. A Concise History of Science
in India, pp. 252, 353
31(3 A HISTORY or" AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
domesticated and wild, was much ltsc.:c1. Rice grains have been discovered
il'om HasLinapur (Fig.H7). The term llsLtl J()1' rice of good quality is
ta~71lllla, Vl'ihi and sali, and for the wild variety, nfvara. The Taiflir[)'(1 even.
rc1ers to the husked (k(lr~1a) lIn.d t1llhuskcd ((lk(/r~[(1) ric. The seasons of the
clifTcrent gTains are bricily SI.111HllCd up in lhe Taillil'(ya Salllhita,' barley,
sown no doubt, as at prcsenl, in win,tel', ripened ill Sllmmcl'; rice, sown
in the rains, ripened in autumll; beans and SCsall1UI1l, planted in the time
of the SUlTIUler rains, ripened in the 'w inter and the cold season. There
were two seasons or
harvest accordin.g to the SanlC authority, and another
text tells US that the wint.er crops wcre rea.dy i.n 1\1a1'ch. The fanner had,
HS now, constant troubles to contentl with: moles destl'oycll the seed, birds
amI other C1'c<.\tU1'es injured the yo ung shoots; amI both droughL an.d exces-
sive rain werc to be feared. The A 11'(1)':;0- Vt'da provides us 'w ith a considerahle
number of spc'Jls to avoill blight and secltrc a good harvest. CncLllllbcn;
arc:: alluded to, perhaps as cultivated; hut lbC:1'C is no certain reference
to tl'ce culture though frequent mention is mtulc of the g'rcat: Indian trc .S
like the Acvattha, Ficus reiigios((, and the Nyagrnc1hn, FiClis henglialcnsis
(F'. indica). The diflcrcnt f01'111S of the jujube arc specially narncd.'u
Bajra, Pead-MiUct (Peunisetull'1 typhoidcs). PellJlisetum typl/Oides,
commonly knmvn as pearl-m illel , bull'ush, or spikell lllillet in Engl ish and
baJra in I-lindi, is the most important oral! tile millets. It is a robust, quick-
growing, summer cereal grass with large ::items, ]eaves, and hC(lc1s. It is
efficient in its ut.ilization of moisture ancl has a higher level of heat
tolerancc than sorghum and maize. It thrives on ligh1.-tcxtnL'cd and
well-drained soils, but docs not tolerate water-logging anll flooding as well
as sorghum.
Bnjra is most extensively grown as a cereal in the drier an'as oi'wcstcrn
anc1 southern India. an.d the southern peripheries 0(' t.he Sahara ill. Africa.
BaJra is one of the principal lDillel.s grown in India, next in importance
only to jowar (sorghurn) among the coarse grains. As its grain. is :t great
favourite "vith sparrows, it is a.·common sight in R(~jasthan and fvfaharashtra
to see girls standing on a macha//. (seaJIolding), scaring the birds by throwing'
earthen balls with a sling (Fig. 158). 'Illc total production of' baJra-grain
in India is about three million tonnes. It is drought-resistant and can he
grown in tracts of low rainfall. Rajasthan) Gujal'at, IvIaharashtra)
Andhra Pradesh, Tamil N adu 3 ncl I Iaryal1H arc the main b(ura~gl"owing
States.
Kl'ishnaswilmy (1951 and 1962) studied taxon.omicall y and cytologic all )
several Pennisetum species as \>\'cll as inlerspecific cro~ses among' them
(primar.ily those .involving P. iyj)/wides X P. pwpurcwn) and concluded that
the originating centre of pear1~millct was Afdca, from whcre it might lw.vc
l:JRapSUIL, E. J. (Ed.). The Cal/lbridge His/olY oJ Illdia, Vol. I

THE LATER VEDIC i'.ERIO)) 319
.,
Fig. 161. A pearl-millet (hajra) crop in Hajasthan. The earlic~t record Qf peatl-mill ct in
J ndia is from Rangpur, C:ujarat, 1100 B.C. to 800 II.C.
(Courtesy: lndian Agricultural Research Jnstitut(!, New Ddhi)
A fIISTORY OF AGRlUULTtJlm IN INUIA
320
..
Fig. 162. Barley was a favourite crop ofVedie Aryans, and they call ed itYIIUIl. The: largest
area under this drought-resistant crop is in U liar Pradesh and R :Ijas t h an
(Courtesy: Punjab Agricultural University)
migrated to India and might have beep domesticated. He pojnts out
that only two of the 32 species in section Penicillaria of the genus P6nnisetum
(P. typhoides and P. purpurcum) have been known outside Africa, and no
wild species of this genus has yet been reported from India or other parts
of Asia.
The question regarding the African centre which may be the origin
of the various species of Pcmzisetum is perhaps more difficult. Wild species
occur in both the Abyssinian and West African localities. In the drier
regions of Niger, a wild species (P. molissimum) occurs which is closely akin
to the cultivated species. This is one of the six annual species considered
as possible contributing ancestors of the cultivated P. £vphoides. Several
unidentified wild species as well as cultivated varieties were collected in
Ethiopia--some at elevations above 2,000 metres-in late 1967. If the
species of Pennisetum did originate in the Abyssinian region, it may be
assumed that a vcry early migration to West Africa occurred.
In Africa, its archaeobotanical record is noted at the Nagez phase
which dates from 1255 to 105 B.C . It is a Neolithic site. It is not certain
whether the grains belong to wild or domesticated species. At Lc Baidla I
site, 60 per cent of the grain impressions are those of Pennisetum, out bf
which 1/3 exhibit characters of cultivated grain . The site datc~ from 80
to 105 B.C.
Archaeological sites in India from which haJfa has been reported are
in States with semi-arid climate. The earliest record of bajm is from Rang-
pur (Gujarat) , in Period II, 1100 B.C. to 800 B.C. and from HaUur (Kar-
nataka) between Neolithic and Megalithic periods.
The introduction of hajra in India seems to have taken place during
the Painted Grey Ware phase. How far were the Aryans responsible for
this introduction can only be conjectured. Perhaps it would be more
accurate to assume that bajra reached India at a relatively early time about
the beginning of the second millennimn D.C. but was 110t extensively grown
until the growth in population brought the marginal, drier lands into
cultivation.
REFERENCES
Aiyer, A.K.Y.N. Agriculture and Allied ATls ill Vedic India, Bangalore, 1949
Aiyer, A.K.Y.N. Dairying in A 'lciellt India, N.I.S., New Delhi, 19.50
Allchins, B. and R. The Birth of Indiml Civilizatioll , Penguin, 1960
Banerjee, N.R. The Iroll Age iTl India, Delhi, 1965
Basham, A.L. The TtVonder that Ylas India, London, 19.54-
Dani, A.H. Timargarh and Gandhara Grave Culture, Allcient Pakistall, Vol. III, Peshawar,
1967
Dowson,]. A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Rcligi(m, GeogmJllI.y, Histor.y and
Literatllre, London, 1950
Gangopadhyay, R. Some Materials for the Stlll[y of Agriculture and Agricrdtllrisls ita .Ancient
India, Calcutta, 1932
Gening, V. Ancient Settelments of Indo-Iranians, Soviet Land, New Delhi, October 1977
Gode, P.K. Studies in Indiall Cultural History, Vol. II, Poona, 1960
Harlan, J.R. Crops and Man, Wisconsin, 1975
Kajale, M.D. Ancient Grains from India, Bulletin Deccan College, P.G.R.I., 1974-
Kosambi. D.D. The Culture and Civili:!;ation qf Ancient India in Historical Outline
Mackenzie, D.A. Indian Myth and Legend, London, 1971
Majumdar, R.C. and Pusalker, A.D. History and Culture of tile Indian People; The Vedic Age,
London, 1951
Max MOUer, Chips from a German Workshop, Vol. II
P'ggott, g. Prehistoric India, Penguin Books, 1950
Ragozin, Z.A. Vedic India, London, 1895
Rapson, E.J. (Ed.) The Cambridge ERstDIY of India, Vol. I (Reprint), New Delhi, 19G8
Raychaudhari, S P. and Kaw, R.K. Agriculture in Ancient India, ICAR, New Delhi, 1964-
Raychaudhari, S.P., Bose, D.M., Sen, S.N. and Subbarayappa, B.V. A Concise History
of SciCllce in India, Agriculture, I.N.S .A., New Delhi, 1971
Sastri, N. A History of South bldia, New Delhi, 1958
Sharma, R.S. Conflict, Distribution and Differentiation in Rig-Vedic Society, Indo-Soviet
Sympa.rium. Dushallbe, Oct. 1977
Sharma, R.S. Ancient India, Delhi, 1977
Thapar, B.K. The Archaeological Remains of the Aryana in North-Western India. Indo-
Sovul Symposium, Dushanbe, Oct. 1977
Wheeler, R.E.M. Early India lIna Pakistan, London, 1959
Zeuner, F.~, A History of Domesticated Animals, London, 1963
CHAPTER,21
THE BUDDHIST PERIOD

SIXTH CENTURY B.C.
BIRTH OF BUDDHISM AND JAINISM
SACRED GROVES AND TREE-WORSHIP
EXPANSION OF CULTIVATION IN BIHAR AND
EASTERN UTTAR PRADESH
IN the sixth century B.C., India had sixteen large States called Mahajanapa-
das. The administrative unit at the district level was calleel Janapada.
Of Mahajanapadas, Magadha, Kosala, Vats a and Videha in eastern India
were powerful States. Kosala had its capital at Sravasti, which has been
identified as the present Sahet-mahet on the borders of Gonda and
Bahraich districts in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Ayodhya, which is associated
with the Ramayana, was the capital of Kosala. Kosala also included the
territory of Sakyas of Kapilavastu, where the Buddha was born. In the
west was the State of Avanti with its capital at Ujjain. In western Uttar
Pradesh and the adjoining areas of Rajasthan and Haryana were the States
of Panchala, Surasena, Matsya and Kuru.
The Punjab was no longer important, and eastern Uttar Pradesh and
Bihar, where forests were cleared and the land was colonized under the
patronage of the ruling monarchs, occupy the stage of history. Wild
elephants also abounded in the jungles of eastern India. Tamed and
trained, they were a source of military power to the Nanda and Maurya
Kings, who used them in warfare. They had the same role in wars as tanks
in the present age.
BIRTH OF NEW RELIGIONS
In the sixth century B.C. were born four great religions of the world,
Confucianism in China, Zoroastrianism in Iran, and Buddhism and J ainism
in India. Out of these, Buddhism had a universal appeal. Shorn of its
excrescences, it attracts a number of people even in the present age of science.
It preached truthfulness, ,purity of heart, non-violence ahd kindness to all
living beings. It taught people to avoid greed, falsehood, fault-finding,
hatred and anger. As it was a revolt against Brahmanical ritualism and
caste-system, it appealed. to a large number of people, particularly the
oppressed lower castes. The founder of Jainism, Vardhamana Mahavira,
and of Buddhism, Gautama the Buddha, belonged to the Kshatriya caste.
They used Prakrit, the language of the masses, for their teaching rather
than Sanskrit, the language of aristocracy. As such, their message reached
the masses and made a deep impact on their lives.
324
1~ .(' .~
" ,...
ANCIENT INDIA
c: 100 89
Fig. 163. India in the sixth century B.C. was divided into sixteen States called
Mahajanapadas
SACRED TREES
Gautama was born under an asoka~tree, received enlightenment under

a pipal-tree, preached his new gospel in mango groves, and under shady
banyans, and died in a sal grove. Never before or after has a religion
THE nUDDHlST PERlOD 325
been so much associated with vegetation.

Buddhism adopted the cult of tree-worship from the older religions
which prevailed in the country. The trees which are associated with the
birth of the Buddha are sal, asoka and plaksha, and hence they were regarded
as sacred by the Buddhists.
To understand the association of trees with the Buddha, it is necessary
to know the facts regarding his life. Gautama belonged to the Sakya Tribe
of the Aryans. His father was Suddodhana, the Raja of Kapilavastu, a
petty principality on the border of Nepal. Green rice fields surrounded by
sal forest with the backdrop of the snow-covered peaks of the Himalayas
provided an inspiring environment to Kapilavastu. Here, Gautama was
born in 563 B.C. The birth of the Buddha has been thus described:
(Queen Mahamaya bearing the Bodhisattva for ten months like oil in a bowl,
when her time was come, desired to go to her relatives' house, and address-
ed king Suddodhana, CCI wish, 0 king, to go to the Devadaha, the city of my
family". The king approved, and caused the road from Kapilavastu to
Devadaha to be made smooth and adorned with vessels filled with plan-
tains, flags, and banners, and seating her in a golden palanquin borne by
a thousand couriers sent her with a great retinue. Between the two cities
and belonging to the inhabitants of both is a pleasure grove of sal-trees named
the Lumbini grove. At that time from the roots to the tips of the branches
it was one mass of flowers, and from within the branches and flowers hosts
of bees and flocks of birds sported, singing sweetly.
'When the queen saw it, a desire to sport in the grove arose. The
courtiers brought the queen and entered the .grove. She went to the foot
of a great sal-tree, and desired to sei~e a. branch. The branch like the tip
of a supple reed bent down and came within reach of her hand. Stretching
out her hands she sei~ed the branch. Thereupon she was shaken with the
throes of birth. So the multitude set up a curtain for her and retired.
Holding the branches and even while standing she was delivered.'l
In another account it is stated that Maya saw in a dream the descent
of the Bodhisattva in the form of an elephant. (On waking she goes with
her women to a grove of asoka trees and sends for the king, who is unable
to enter, until the gods of the Pure Abode inform him of what has happened.'
It is further mentioned that 'she seizes not a sal branch, but a plaksha at
the moment of birth'. Sal (Shorea robusta) and plaksha (Butea monosperma)
are both common trees in the Nepal tarai in which the birth-place of the
Buddha is situated.
The Lumbini garden was visited by the Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang.
He came to India in A.D. 630 and stayed until A.D. 645. He mentions
an asoka-tree under which the Buddha was born. "To the north-east of the
lThomas, E.J. n, Lifo qfBut/dha J p. 33

326 A HISTORY OF -AGRIOUL'l'URE It-< INDIA
arrow well about 80 or 90 Ii, we come to the Lumbini (Lavani) garden.

Here is the bathing tank of the Sakyas, the water of which is bright and
clear as a mirror, and the surface covered with a mixture of flowers. To
the north of this 24 or 25 paces there is an asoka~flower tree, which is now
decayed; this is the place where Bodhisattva was born."
Gautama was married to Yasodhara, by whom he had a son, Rahula.
Apart from his wife, the palace was full of beautiful women who served
as cooks and servants. When Gautama realized that life was not merelv
a cycle of pleasures, but also had its miseries, like disease, old age, and death,
the idea of renunciation of worldly life came to him. The Buddlzacharita
mentions a garden full of beautiful women to which King Suddodhana sent
him. "Behold the god of love, says the Buddhaclzarita, <behold Kama, they
murmured on seeing his arrival. Curious and with wide~eyed admiration
they gathered round him, and saluted him with their smooth hands, like the
cups of the lotus-flower. By the King's instructions, Udayin, a friend of his
childhood, encouraged them to exert all their fascinations. Some, wreath-
ing their arms round Siddhartha like twining plants, sought to hold him
by force; others, whether carelessly or feigning to be almost carried away
by their transports, allowed the gauzy draperies which veiled their youthful
forms to slip aside; others swung their tempting forms on the branches of the
mango-trees; and, lastly, yet another sang in the prince's ear the song of the
forest, full of furtive desires and of the emanations of the spring. But his
consciousness of the vanity of all things now rendered him insensible to these
blandishments, and he returned to the palace, resolved to abandon the
world."2 Accompaniedby his groom Chandaka, and riding his favourite
horse Kanthaka, he left the palace (Fig. 164). This sculpture from Sanchi
also depicts domestic architecture during the Buddhist period. The lower
part of the house was built of stones and bricks, and the balconies and
upper storeys were made of wood.
It was under a pipal-tree (Ficus religiosa) at the place, now known as
Bodh Gaya, that Gautama received enlightenment. This tree was also
seen by Hiuen Tsang, who has given the following account. "From this
south-west 14 or 15 li, not far from the place of penance, there is a Pippala
(Pi-po-Io) tree under which is a 'diamond throne'. All the past Buddhas
seated on this throne have obtained true enlightenment, and so will those
yet to come~ Pray, then, proceed to that spot. The Bodhi tree above
the diamond throne is the same as the Pippala tree. In old days, when
Buddha was alive, it was several hundred feet high. Although it has often
been injured by cutting, it still is 40 or 50 feet [12 to 15 metres] in height.
Buddha sitting under this tree reached perfect wisdom, and therefore it is
called the Samyak Sambodhi, tree of knowledge (Pu-ti-Bodhi). The bark
'Rene Grousset, Tn, Civilization a/the East India, Vol. II, p. 38

THE BUDDHIST PERIOD 327
is of a yellowish-white colour, the leaves and twigs of a dark green. The
leaves wither not either in winter or summer, but they remain shining and
glistening all the year round without change. But at every successive
Nirvana-day (of the Buddhas) leaves wither and fall, and then in a moment
revive as before. On this day (of the Nirvana) the princes of different coun-
tries and the religious multitudes fi'om different quarters assemble by thous-
ands and ten thousands unbidden, and bathe the roots with scented water
and perfumed milk; whilst they raise the sounds of music and scatter
flowers and perfumes, and whilst the light of day is continued by the burning
torches, they offer their religious gifts.
"On the left side of the road, to the north of the place where the Buddha
walked, is a large stone, on the top of which, as it stands in a great vihara,
is a figure of the Buddha with his eyes raised and looking up. Here in
former times Buddha sat for seven days contemplating the Bocihi tree; he did
not remove his gaze from it during this period, desiring thereby to indicate
his grateful feelings towards the tree by so looking at it with fixed eyes."s
A sapling of the Bodhi-tree was taken by prince Mahindra, son of
Asoka, to Ceylon, about 250 B.C. and was planted at Anuradhapura. Its
great branches are supported by pillars. It is the oldest historical tree in
the world.'
The banyan, together with the Ganges and the Himalayas, completes
the picture of India. "It is probably the most astounding piece of vegeta-
tion on the face of the earth", observes Lassen. "From one single root it
produces a vast green temple of many halls, with cool, shady bowers imper~
vious to the light, and seems created expressly and exclusively for the purpose
of supplying shelterless primeval humanity with ready-made dwellings.
For neither is its wood of much use, nor are its fruits eatable for man, and
if it inspires the Hindus and their neighbours with profound veneration, it
is owing to the surpassing marvel of its wellnigh preternatural growth, its
indestructible duration and everlasting self-renewal: . to which traits and
mysterious gloom of its gallet'ies and avenues adds not a little, yielding a
most grateful retreat from the torrid summer heat. The trunk of the
tree, at a moderate height fro111 the ground, branches out into several stout
limbs which stretch from it horizontally; from these, slender shoots-the so-
called "air-roots"-grow downwards until they reaeh the ground, where they
take root, whereupon they increase in thickness anc:l become strong supports
for the mother-limb. The central trunk re peats the branching out process
at a greater height, and the second circle of limbs in its turn sends down a
number of air-roots which form an outer circle of props or pillars. As the
central trunk increases in height, it goes on producing tier upon tiel' of
IBeal, S. Chinese Accounts of India, Vol. II, p. 350

'Wells,H.G. The Outline qf History,p. 392
328 A HISTOR.Y OF AGRIOULTURE IN INDIA
horizontal limbs, and these add row after row to the outer circle of pillars,
not indeed with perfect regularity, but so as to form a grove of leafy halls
and verdant galleries multiplying ad infinitum. For this evolution is carried on
on a gigantic scale. The highest tier of horizontal limbs is said to grow
sometimes at an elevation of two hundred feet [61 metres] from the ground
and the whole structure is crowned with the dome of verdure in which the
central trunk finally culminates. The leaves, which grow very close to-
gether, are five inches long by three and a half broad [12 x9 em1, and their
fine green color pleasantly contrasts with the small red figs. "Ii
In every village, the planting of banyan- and pipal-trees was enjoined.
Apart from shade, it was also a measure for saving crops and fruits from
destructive birds. Banyan- and pipal-Lrees, when covered with figs, provide
food for thousands of birds. Thus, indirectly they save crops and fruit-
trees from damage by birds which are kept busy eating their figs for weeks.
They also provide a home for birds and to preserve a tree is to save a large
number of them that find shelter in it.
The remains of the Buddha were enshrined in a number of stupas by
Asoka. The famous Stupa of Bharhut, discovered by Cunningham in
1873, was situated in the State of Nagod, now merged in Madhya Pradesh.
Bharhut is the site of an old city called Bhaironpur, which extended for
12 koso Cunningham dated the Stupa between 200 and 250 B.C. Later
research has assigned 184-72 B.C. as its probable period. The discovery
ofB harh u t S tupa is a landmark in the his tory of India. 11:5 seul ptures provide
us with a glimpse of religion, manners, customs, dress, fashions as well as
the architecture of India during the Sunga period.
Apart from the Jatakas or legends of the previous lives of the Buddha,
a number of trees are represented in the sculptures. Cunningham identi-
fied seven Bocihi trees. Of these, pipal (!fi"cus religiosa) is the Bocihi tree of
Sakya Muni. The other five trees of the other Buddhas are: banyan or
Nyagrodha (Ficlls benghalensis)J the Bodhi tree of Kasyapa; gular or udum-
bara (Ficus glomerata), the Bodhi tree of Kanaka Muni; Sirisa (Albizia
lebbeck) , the Bodhi tree of Krakuehhanda; Sal (Shoraa robusta), the Bodhi
tree of Vishwabahu; Patali tree (Bignonia suavco[ens) the Bodhi tree of
V ipaswi. All these trees are shade-giving, and it is not surprising that in a
hot country man expressed his gratitude to them in this manner, and gave
them the title of 'Bodhi' . Apart from these six: trees, Pundarika or White
Lotus, i$ the symbol of Sikhi. While his remaining identifications are
correct, what Cunningham identified as Patali tree is in fact the asoka tree,
Sa raJa asoca (S. indica). The sacred Bodhi trees at Bharhut are so accurately
sculpted that it is easy to identify them (Fig. 165b).
The Buddha faced many trials. Devadatta, a jealous kinsman. let
aRagozin, Z.A. Vedic India J pp.26,27

Fig. 164. The great dcpal'tu l'c. In th<: background arc scveral-storeyed buildingR. Womell
seated in wooden balconics walch the procession. Norlh gate, Slupn T, S am'hi, fiJ'st Cf'n -
tury D.C.
(Courtesy: Archaeological Survey 01' India)
A JIlSTORY OF AI:RlCLILTl TRh I N I N PL\
Fig. 1G5a. An illll~I: r':ition to a .J alaka ~t()ry, shnwilll-{, ::Imon~ ol llt'l's. bam\na plal1t~
(Musa paradisiaca)
niB BUDDHIST PERIOD 331
Fig. 165b. Sacred trees of the Buddhists. I, Asoka-tl'ce (Sar{lca asoca; syn. S. indica); 2,
Banya.n (Ficus benglialeusis); 3, Cluster-fig (Ficus ,glomera/a), Bhm1nH; 4, l.ellbcck- tree or
siris (Albizia lehbcck), Bharhut; 5, Sal (Short(! robust a) , l1harhllt; 6, hOll-wool or N~gk('sar
(Mesua ferrea), Bharhutj 7, Pipa.l (Ficusreligiosa), Sanchi; and 8 J Foliage of pipal, l3harhllt
(After R. V. Silholcy)
loose a dangerous elephant to destroy him. In his mad onslaught, the

elephant trampled a man, but when he faced the Buddha he knelt clown at
332 A IlISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
his feet (Fig. 166). This medallion from Amaravati shows the mastery of
Indian sculptors in depicting elephants. Incidentally, it also conveys to
us an idea of architecture during the Buddhist period. The lower parts of
houses were made of stones or bricks. Multi-storeyed houses wcre common
in towns, and they had beautifully carved wooden balconies from which
women watched royal processions and strcet scenes.
JAINISM
Vardhamana Mahavira was hOl'n in 540 D.C. in a village near VaisaIi

in northern Bihar. His father was head of a Kshatriya clan and his
mother was a Lichchhavi princess. Mahavira became an ascetic at the
age of thirty and wandered from place to place preaching his doctrine of
non-violence. He died at the age of seventy-two in 4·68 B.C. at Pavapuri
near modern Rajgir. Bimbisara was the ruler of Magaclha eluring the
lifetime of the Buddha and Mahavira.
As the cultivation of soil, according to Jainism, caused violence to
living beings, the Jainas adopted the ptofcssion of trade and commerce
and money-lending. Even at present, Jainas arc moslly mcrchants and
money-lenders. The.J ainas adopted Prakrit language ill preference to
Sanskrit, and this promoted the growth of Prakrit language and its literature.
With the increase in agricultural production clue to thc 'Use of iron
tools, trade and comrnerce also flourished. About twenLy cities are named
in Buddhist literature. Seven of them only are reckoned by Thera
Ananda as sufficiently important cities (malta-nogara) , viz. S:1vatthj, Champa,
Rajagaha, Saketa~ Kosambi 3 Denarcs and Kusinara.
MONEY
Instead of barter, a cumbrous systcm, the need of coins was felt.

Punch-marked coins became the l1.1.eciiuOl of exchange. The earliest
punch-marked coins belonged to the fifth century B.C. and circulatecl in
eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar (Fig. 169). With the devclopment of trade
and commerce, the members of the Vaisya community, who were traders
and merchants, became important. They became enthusiastic supporters
of the Buddha and Mahavira.
RURAL ECONOMY
'The rural economy of Indb at the coming of Buddhism was based

chieHy on a syslem of village communities of peasant proprietors. There
were no landlords. The.J ataka bears very clear tes tirnony to this. The
king had a right t.o a tilhe on raw produce, collected as a yearly tax; and
only to this extent could he be considcl'cd the ultimate owner of the soil.
All abandoned, all forest land the king might dispose of; and under this
right was included the reversion to the crown of all properly left intestate
TIrE BUDDHIST PERIOD 333
l<'ig. 166. The lluddh ;[ subjugates the mad t'lcp hnllL Nalagil'i. \VOrt1('U, "!lud e abov(' the
waist, wa lch from the balcollies 0[' h o us('s. !\lllaravati, la le S('c()11l1 CC OI U1')' , Ivl a dra!l
Museum
(Court 'sy : Archaeological Survey of India)
334· A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
Fig. 167. Buffaloes muddying a pool. The ci"cular hut ill lh e background I'cscmbl 's
the Navadaloli huts. On the len arc arch l'S carrying bows. An illuslralion tQ a Jalnka
story, West Gate, Sanch i.
(Co urlesy: Al'chaeological Survey of India)
or 'ownerless'. The sovereign was moreover entitled to 'milk money',

a perquisite paid by the subjects when an heir was born to him. Besides
these privileges he could impose forced labour or raJakariya on the people,
limited to the confines of his own estates. Thus the peasant proprietors
enclose a deer-reserve for their king, so that they might not be summoned
to leave their tillage to beat up game for him. The tithe on produce was
levied in kind, measured out either by the village headman (gama-blzojaka) ,
or by an official (a mahamatta) at the b arn doors, or by survey of the crops.
Some of the rice and other grain were stored in the special granaries kept
filled for urgency, in war or famine. The amount levied seems to have
varied from t to 1].2", according to the decision of the ruling power or
other circumstances. And the contributions raised at one or more gamas
(villages), rural or suburban, could be made over by a monarch to anyone
he wished to endow, e.g. to a daughter 011. her marriage, a minister, a
Brahman, a merchant. Again, the king, could remit the tithe to any person
or group.
The land might, at least in the kingdom of Magadha, be given away,
and in that of Kosala, be sold. In the formC':r case, a Brahman landowner
offers a thousand karisas of his estate as a g,ift; in the latter, a merchant entan-
gles an unwilling noble in the sale of a part. And in the law-books we read
that land might be let against a certain share of the prodllce. The holdings
too in the arable land, called the khetta, of each village would be subject to
redistribution and redivision among a family, as one generation succeeded
another. It is not clear whether any member of a village community
could give or sell any of th e Mella to an outsider. It is just possible that the
old tradition expressed in the Braltmanas when a piece of land was given as
asacrificial fee-(And the Earth said: Let no mortal give me: away!,j~may
have survived in the villages as a communal, anti-alienizing feeling concern-
ing any disintegration of the basis of theil- social and economic unity. It will be
seen that conditions regarding land-holding were similar to those prevailing
now in the Punj ab, which is the land of peasant proprietors pm' excellenc!:.
VILLAGE
'A gama might mean anything from a group of two or three houses to
an indefinite number. It was the generic, inclusive term for an inhabited
settlement, not pos. essing thc fortifications of a nagara or the ruler's palace
of a rajadhani. The number of inhabitants in the gmnas of the Jataka tales
varied from 30 to 1,000 families. The houses were all together, in a group,
separated by narrow lanes. Immediately adjoining was the sacred grove
of trees of the primeval forest left standing when the forest clearing had been
made. Beyond this was the wide expanse of a cultivated field, usually a
rIce field.
'Around t he gama, which appears to have been classed as of the country
336 A lIISTORY OF AGRIOULTURE IN INDIA
(janapada), of the border (paccanta), orassuburban, lay its khetta, or pastures,

and its woodland Qr uncleared jungle: primeval forest like the Andhavana
of Kosala, the Sitavana of Magadha, the Pacinavamsadaya of the Sakiya
Territory. Different from these were such suburban groves as the Bamboo
Grove belonging to Magadha's king, the Anjanavana of Saketa, the] etavana
of Savatthi. Through those other uncleared woodlands where the folk
went to gather their firewood, and litter, ran caravan routes, roads that were
at times difficult because of swampy passages after rain, and dangerous on
account of wild animals and brigands.
'Adjoining or merged into these wilder tracts were supplementary
grazing pastures of herds of cattle and goats-herds belonging to the king
or commoners. Commoners customarily entrusted their flocks to a
gopalaka. We find him either penning his herds at night in sheds, or, more
often, bringing them back every evening and counting them out to the several
owners, varying the pasturage from day to day.
'The arable ground of the gama lay without the clustered dwellings,
since these were apparently enclosed by a wall or stockade with gates
gamadvara. Fences, snares, and field watchmen guarded the khetta or
gamakhetta from intrusive beasts and birds, whereas the internal boundarie5
of each householder's plot were apparently made by channels dug for co-
operative irrigation. These dividing ditches, rectangular and curvilinear,
were likened, at least in the Magadha khettas, to a patchwork robe of a
mendicant, called glldri in Punjabi. The limits of the whole khetta might
be extended by the fresh clearing of forest land. And whereas the majority
of holdings were probably small, manageable single-handed or with sons
and perhaps with a hired man, estates of 1,000 karisas (acres?) and more
occur in the ]atakas, farmed by Brahmans. In the Suttas, again the
Brahman Kasibharadvajais employed 500 ploughs and hired men (bhatika)
to guide· the plough and oxen.
eWe hear of no instance of a shareholder selling or mortgaging his
share of the village field to an outsider; and it was impossible for him to
do so, at least without the consent of the village council. We have three
instances of sales of land in the books. But in one case it was the forest
land cleared by the proprietor or his ancestors. A very old text apparently
implies that a piece of ground was given as a sacrificial fee. But it is at
once added that the earth itself said-and Mother Earth was a most dread
divinity-YNo mortal must give me away!"
HEADMAN
'Instances of collectivist initiative reveal a relatively advanced sense of

citizenship in the gamas. The peasant proprietors had a nominal head in the
bhojaka or headman, who was paid by certain dues and fines. But all the
village residents met to confer with him and each other on civic and political
matters. And carrying the upshot of their counsels into effect, they built
new mote-halls and rest-houses, constructed reservoirs and parks, and took
turns at a voluntary COTvee in keeping their roads in repair. Women too
considered it a civic honour to bear their own part in common work. A
further glimpse into the sturdy spirit in gama-life is caught in the Jataka
sentiment that for peasants to leave their tillage and work for impoverished
kings was a mark of social decay. Relevant to this is the low social rank
assigned to the hired labourer, who is apparently classed beneath the
domestic slave.
SCARCITY
<Scarcity owing to drought or to floods is not infrequently referred to,

extending even over a whole kingdom. The times of scarcity in Buddhist
records apparently refer only to brief periods over restricted areas.
STATUS OF FARMING
'The pursuit of agriculture was not associated with either social prestige
or social stigma. In both J atakas and Suttas, Brahmans are frequently found
pursuing tillage, cow-herding, goat-keeping, trade, hunting, woodwork or
carpentry, weaving, caravan-guarding, archery, carriage-driving, and
snake-charming, but also no reflection is passed upon them for so doing.
'In the Punjab, the old tribal system was still prevalent. There the
actual cultivator would still be a man of the three upper classes, whereas
in Magadha he was generally Shudra. It is to this period that we must
ascribe the great complexity of the caste system, and the beginning of the
association of caste with craft. A number of castes arose by intermixtures
of the old four divisions.
'The .Kshatriya clansmen of the republics were largely cultivators of
the soil. For instance, in the Kunala Jataka, it was the workmen in the
fields of the Sakiyan and Koliya hhojakas. amaccas and uparajas who began
to quarrel over the prior turn to irrigate. In the earliest Indian literature,
agricultural and pastoral concepts play a great part.'6
DASAS AND DASIS
The slave or servant (dasaJ dasi) was an adjunct in all households able
to command domestic service; but slaves do not appear to have been kept,
as a rule, in great numbers. Slavery might be incurred through capture,
commuted death sentences, debt, voluntary self-degradation, or judicial
punishment; on the other hand, slaves might be manumitted, or might
free themselves by payment. They might not, while still undischarged, be
admitted into the religious community (sangha).
'Rapson,E.J. Cambridge History ofIndia , Vol. I, pp. 176-182,370,371 and433

338 A HISTORY OF AGRlCULTURE IN INDIA
LANDLESS LABOURER
The hireling, the wage-earner, or the day-labourer was no man's chattel,

yet his life was probably harder sometimes than that of the slaves. He was
to a great extent employed on the larger land-holdings; He was paid
_either in board and lodging, or in money-wages. Nlanu prescribes regular
wages both in money and kind for menials in the king's service.
NORTHERN BLACK POLISHED WARE
The Buddhist period is characterized by a new type of pottery called

Northern Black Polished Ware, which has a lustrous black surface. It is
well fired, giving a metallic sound on being gently struck with a hammer.
Its main sites are in the Punjab, Haryana and the Gangetic plain. Its
centre of diffusion was the Gangetic plain. This pottery is superior to the
Painted Grey Ware and is more durable.
USI!. OF bWN FOR AGRlCULTURAL IMPLEMENTS
By the sixth century B.C. the iron age was well established in Uttar
Pradesh and Bihar. Spear-heads, arrow-heads, axes, daggers and knives
of iron were manufactured in substantial numbers. Iron ploughshares
and sickles of iron made farming more efficient.
Iron was also used for making chisels and drills-the primary tools of
the carpenter-and for manufacturing nails. A larger production of iron
and the manufacture of iron axes enabled the people to cut down forests
and to lay roads through unexplored parts of the country. Apart from
the felling of trees, skilful cutting of hard wood at Ujjain suggests the use
of improved iron implements, such as saws.
With the expansion of cultivation, the usefulness of cattle was fully
realized, and cattle became sacred. The Vedic practice of animal sacrifices
was given up under the influence of Buddhism, and the .bullocks became
the companion of man in the conquest of virgin lands. Henceforth Indian
farmers regarded them as helpmates and as members of their own social
group.
REFERENCES
Banerji, N.R. The Iron Age in India, Delhi. 1965
Beal, S. The Chinese Accounts of India, Vol. III, Calcutta, n.d.
Cunningham, A. TheStupa af Bharhut, Londan, 1879
Edwardes, H. A History if indIa, hombay, l~o
Ragozin, Z.A. Vedi~ India, London, 1895
Randhawa,M.S. The Cult of Trees and Tree-WOIship in Buddhist Hindu Sculpture, New Delhi,
1964
Rapson, E.J. (Ed.) Cambridge History ofIn dia , Vol. I, Cambridge, 1922
Rf)ne Grousset, The Civilization of the East India, Vol. II, London, 1932
THE BUDDHIST PERIOO 339
Sastri, H.A.N. andSrinivasachari, G. Aduanced History a/India, Bombay, 1970
Sitholey, R.V. Plants represented in Ancient Indian Sculptures, Geophylo{ogy, Vol. 6, No.
1, 1976
Sharma, R.S. Ancimt India, New Delhi, 1977
Thomas, E.J. The Life of Buddha, London, 1956
Wells,H.G. The Outline a/History, London, 1966
CHAPTER 22
THE MAGADHAN EMPIRE

FOURTH CENTURY B.C. CIVIC LIFE, ARTISANS, MERCHANTS
AND MONEY
MAGADHA emerged as the most powerful State in eastern India in the

sixth century B.C. Bimbisara (ruled 54·4 B.C. to 492 B.a.), the king of
Magadha, conquered Anga. Bimbisara made Magadha the paramount
power. He was succeeded by his son Ajatasatru, who ruled from 492 B.C. to
460 B.C. Ajatasatru began the construction of fortifications of Rajgir. He was
succeeded by Udayin (460·444 B.C.), who made his capital at Pataliputra,
the present-day Patna. In 413 B.C., the house of Bimbisara was over-
thrown by Nanda. Mahapadma Nanda conquered Kalinga and Kosala.
The Nandas of Magadha used elephants on a large scale for their
warfare.
In 325 B.C., the Nanda dynasty was overthrown by Ohandragupta
Maurya, whose chief adviser was Kautilya, also called Chanakya, the
author of the Arthashastra. In 322 Il.C., Chandragupta Maurya returned
to Magadha from the Punjab with a large army, killed the Nanda king
and occupied Pataliputra. In 305 Il:C., Chandragupta defeated Seleucus,
the Greek ruler of western Asia. Seleucus not only ceded to Chandragupta
eastern Afghanistan, Baluchistan and the area west of the Indus but also
gave him his daughter in marriage.
The sources for information on the life. of the people and their agri-
culture in the Buddhist period are Kautilya's Arthashastra (fourth century
B.a.), Pali texts Mahavagya and Kullavagya (third century B.C.), which
describe the daily life of the Buddhist monks, and Jataka stories, which
tell us about the previous incarnations of the Buddha. The sculptures
of the railings and gateways of the stupas of Bharhut and Sanchi (second
century B.a.) are also an important source of information on the dress,
ornaments and appearance of the people of that age, and the fauna and
. flora of the period. Some of the Greeks who accompanied Alexander on
his expedition to northern India in 326 B.C. left vivid impressions of the
daily life of the Indians. In his Anabasis of Alexander, Arrian (Flavius
Arrianus, A.D. 96 to A.D. 180) describes the life of Alexander from his
accession to his death. He derived the information from the writings of
Aristobulus of Cassandreia and Ptolemy, who accompanied Alexander on
his campaign in the Punjab. Arrian also wrote the Indika, which is based
on the accounts of the country given by Megasthenes and Eratosthenes.
Megasthenes was sent on an embassy to Chandragupta Maurya, by Seleucus
Nikator, king of Bactria. He lived in Pataliputra and wrote a book on
'THE MAGAPHAN EMPIRE. 341
India, also called Indika, which served as a sourCe of information to many

classical writers. l
TUE PEOPLE
The Greeks noted that the Indians were a tall people-< tall and slender',
says Arrian, llightly-built to a degree far beyond any other people.' On
the other hand, Diodorus, following perhaps some other source, describes
them as eminently tall and massive. In the south of India complexions
approximate to those of the Ethiopians and in the north to the Egyptians.
But in features there is not any marked difference, and no Indian people
has woolly hair, like the Negro races, <owing to the dampness of the Indian
climate'. There was discussion among the Greeks whether the darkness
of skin was due to the action of the sun or to a property in the water
of the African and Indian rivers. The Indians, or some races among
them, were believed by the Greeks, in striking contrast with truth, to be
singularly free from diseases and long-lived. The people of Sind, Onesi-
ctitus said, sometimes reached 130 years. The intellectual powers which
they displayed in the arts and crafts were attributed, like their health and
longevity, to the purity of the air and the rarefied quality of water, but their
health was also attributed to the simplicity of their diet and their abstinence
from wine.
DRESS
Megasthenes noted down a variety of points which struck him in the

manners and customs of the people. A noble simplicity seemed to him the
predominant characteristic. Nearchus seems to have described the dress
of the people in the Indus region. They wore clothes of cotton, and this
linen from the trees is of a more shining white than any other linen, unless
it be that the people themselves being dark make the linen appear all the
whiter. The reference is obviously to tree-cotton, GosS)pium arboreum.
They have a tunic of tree-linen down to the middle of their shins, and two
other pieces of stuff, one thrown about their shoulders and one twisted
round their heads. And the Indians wear ear-rings of ivory, those that
are very well-off.... Also they dye their beards different colours. In the
summer they protect themselves with umbrellas. They wear shoes of white
leather very elaborately worked; and the soles of the shoes are variegated,
and high-heeled so as to make the wearer seem taller.
Megasthenes observed at Pataliputra that in dress the Indians, for
all their general simplicity, indulged a love of richness and bright colours,
wearing ornaments of gold and gems and flowered muslins, with umbrellas
carried after them.
lMajumdar, R.C. The Classical Accounts qf India, p. 5

'Nearchus described their dress in war. 'The foot-soldiers ·carried

a bow as long as the body .... To shoot, they rested one end of it on the
ground and set th"!f left foot against it. They had to draw the string far
back, since the arrows in use were six feet [1.8 ITlctrcs] long. In their left
hanel, they carried long narrow shields of raw hide, nearly co-cxtensive
with the body. Some had javelins instead of bows. All carried long
two-handed swords with a broad blade. The horsemen had two javelins
and a shield smaller than that of the foot-soldiers.' In a Sanchi relief we
sec two soldiers carrying bows of this type (Fig. 167).
DIET
'Their diet was distinguished from that of the Greek by the absence of
wine, which they drank only in religious ceremonies; but rice-beer was gene-
rally drunk. Their staple food was pulpy rice. Each man took his food
by himself when he felt inclined; for they had no fixed times for common
meals. When a man would sup, a table was placed beside him and a gold
dish set upon it~ in which first was put the rice, boiled after the manner
of the Greek chondros (gruel) and then on the top of it season.ed meats,
done up in the Indian way. Their system of gymnastic exercise differed from
that of the Greeks: it consistcu principally of massage, and they used smooth
-oIlers of ebony for shaping their bodies.
HONESTY AND TRUTHFULNESS OF PEOPLE
'Megasthenes observed the much greater part played by oral tradition

and memory, as compared with written documents, than was the case in the
Greek world, though it cannot be asserted that wdting was unknown, as
Strabo would seem to imply, since in one passage he referes to written
inscriptions. In the sphere of morals, the salient characteristic of the
Indian people was a high level of veracity and honesty. 'An Indian
has never been convicted of lying', he wrote in one passage, and in another
pointed to the rarity of law-suits as evidence of their frank dealing. 'They
are not litigious. Witnesses and seals are unnecessary when a mall makes
a deposit; he aets in trust. Their houses are usually unguarded'. During
the time that Megasthenes was on Chanc1ragupta's camp, out of a mullitude
of 400,000 men there were no convicLions for thefts of any sums exceeding
200 drachmas (about £8). In Sind, Onesicritus said, no legal action could
be taken, except for murder and assault.
PUNISHMENT FOR CRIME
'The laws, Nearehus said, were preserved by oral tradition. According

to Megasthenes, many of them were sufficiently severe. A man convicted
of giving false witness suffered mutilation. In the case of bodily harm being
inflicted, not only was the principle of an eye for an eye observed, but the
THE MAGADTIAN EMPIRE 34·3
Fi g. I GA. I\. bull ock-carl, with a pail'

of bullocks in tbc foregruund . A lllcd.
n lli Ofl [ron l3harhut, 200 H.C. Calcutta
Museum
(Courtesy: I\.('('hat~o [ ogica l Su rvey of
India)
Fig, 169. Punch-marked silver coins of the Buddh ist period. Toj} row, Ii:/i, ncnt bar
variety, silver, sixth cent ury I1.C.; righi , PU!1ch -ll1arlwd c u p-shnped v;u'jcly, silv(;I' , f(lul'lh
ccntury D.C.; Bottom r01v, It:/t, Punch-mnl'kcd, silver, th ird CI'l1tUt'y D ... ; 7'igitf, Silver coin
of Sophytes, a prince of th e Punjab, tbe obverse of the coin show in g a coc k with large
spurs. c. 300 D.C.
(Courtesy: National Museum, New Delhi)
3+4 A HISTORY OF ACRICULTURE IN INDIA
---~------
Fig. 170. The threshing or wheat ncar Bhopal ill Nradhya Pradesh. S<'Vf'1l bullocks fire
tieu with a rope to a wooden post (met/ti). They w;t1k around it ft)!, hours nnd thresh out
the grain. This is :t pl'flcticl: as ancient ns the Buddhist J)<'!'iod
Fig. 171. The winnowing of wheat in Madhya Pradesh

THE MAOADIIAN EMI>IRE 345
11 .. ncl was cut off as well. To cause a craftsman the 10s~ of his eye or hand
was an offence punished by death.
D .•ILY LIFE
'As regards daily life, the public side of it was sufficiently gay. The people
were frugal in their diet, and sober, except on occasions offestivals. The chief
display of luxury was in dress. The inns, hostelries, eating-houses, serais,
and gaming-houses were evidently numerous; secls and crafts had their
meeting-places and the latter their public dinners. The business of enter-
tainment provided a livelihood for various classes of dancers, singers, and
actors. Even the villages were visited by them. There were penalties for
refusal to assist in organizing public entertainment. The king provided, in
amphitheatres constructed for the occasion dramalics, boxing, and other
contests of men and animals, and also spectacles with displays of pictured
objects of curiosity, and the streets were lighted up for festivals. Then
there were also the royal processions, when the king went forth to view his
ci ty or to hunt.
~ In domestic life, the joint-family system prevailed. A boy and a girl
attained majority at the age of sixteen and of twelve respectively. Adoption
-legitimated by the king-was common. There were the four regular and
four irregular forms of marriage, which was dissoluble by mutu::-l consent
or prolonged absence.'2
PAT ALIPUTRA
Chandragupta's capital, Pataliputl'a~ on the site of the modern Patna, is

described by Megasthcnes as a splendid city, standing on the northern bank
of the Son. It was the shape ofa parallelogram, roughly nine miles by two
[14.5 X 3.2 kilomelres], and was surrounded by a broad, deep moat, which
recei ved th.e drainage and was connce ted at its two cxtremi ties with the
river. The city wall was a massive timber palisade, with drawbridges,
towers and gates at regular intervals. The town itsclfwas well planned and
laid out, with inns, gaming-houses, theatres, race-courses, and meeting-
halls for guilds and religious sects. There were handsome bazaars where
indigenous and foreign goods were displayed for sale. The streets were
crowded with a busy and many-coloured throng of men and animals. The
houses were two or three storeys high, and, as they were mostly wooden,
elaborate precautions were taken against an outbreak of fire. In. the heart
of the city was the royal palace, which stood in the midst of a walled-in
park, with ornamental trees, tame peacocks and pheasants, and lakes full
of sacred fish.
The palace was built of wood, exquisitely carved; the pillars were
IIRapson, E.] . The Cambridge HistolY of India, Vol. I, pp. 370, 371 and 433
346 A HISTOI<Y OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
plated with gold and silver, ornamented with designs of vines and birds.
The king lived in great state. "In the Indian royal palace", we are told,
"there are wonders with which neither Memnonian Susa in all its glory,
nor. the magnificence of Ecbatana can hope to vie."3
RING WELLS
In the ring wells, instead of bricks, terracotta rings Were used. Ring
wells appeared in India in the sixth century B.C. and continued till about
the second century of the Christian era. The ring wells ofRopar are dated
from fifth to fourth centuries B.C. to the beginning of the Christian era.
According to Y.n. Sharma, ring wells can be seen even at present in the
south and in Orissa and Bengal. Their present use is for drinking water.
In ancient times, they were mostly used as soakage or sullage pits. In some
places. undoubtedly, they also must have been in use for drinking-water.
In ancient times, they appeared often in clusters. In Ropar, there were
five of them in a cluster, their depth being different from one another.
When one was silted up, another was dug up close by (Fig. 69).
ARTISANS
'In the arts and crafts, a considerable proficiency and specialization

of industry had been reached. A list of callings given in the Milindapanha,
reveals three separate industries in the manufacture of bows and arrows,
apart from any ornamental work on them. In the same work, there is
allusion to a professional winnower of grain.
'Some trade-names, on the other hand, are comprehensive. The word
kammara might be applied to a worker in any metal. Vaddaki apparently
covered all kinds of woodcraft, including shipbuilding, cartmaking, and
architecture, thapati, tacchaka (lit., planer), and bhamakara or turner being
occupied with special modes of woodWork. A settlement of uaddakis is
able. to make both furniture and seagoing ships. Once more, the same
worker in stone (pasana-kottaka) builds houses with the ruined material
of a former gama and also hollows a cavity in a crystal as a cage for a mouse.'
Important handicrafts like the three named above and their branches,
the workers in leather, i.e. the leather~dressers, the 'painters', and others
to the number of eighteen were organized into guilds (seni) according to
Jataka records.
Various types of workers are described by Rhys Davids as below.
The workers in wood. They were not only carpenters, and cabinet. .
makers, but also wheelwrights; and the builders of houses, and. of ships, and
of vehicles of all sorts.
The workers in. metal. They made iron implements-weapons of all
-Rawlinson, H.G. !/jIJiIl -A Short Cultural History, pp. 66~67.

THE MAGADHAN EMPIRE 34;7
kinds, ploughshares, axes, hoes, saws, and knives. But they also did
finer work-made needles, for instance, of great lightness and sharpness;
or gold and (less often) silver work of great delicacy and beauty.
The workers in stone. They made flights of steps, leading up into a
house or down into a reservoir j faced the reservoir; laid foundations for
the woodwork, of which the upper part of the houses was built; carved
pillars and bas~reliefs; and even did finer work such as making a crystal
bowl, or a stone coffer. Beautiful examples of these two last were found
in the Sakiya Tope.
The weavers. They not only made the clothes which the people wrapped
round themselves as dress, but manufactured fine muslin for export, and
worked costly and dainty fabrics of silk cloth and fur into rugs, blankets,
coverlets, and carpets.
Leather-workers. They made foot-covering and sandals worn by people
mostly in cold weather; and also made embroidered and costly articles.
Potters. They made all sorts of pots, dishes and bowls for domestic
use; and often hawked their goods about.
Ivory~workers. They made a number of small articles in ivory for
ordinary use, and also costly carvings and ornaments~
Dyers. They dyed the cloth made by the weavers.
Jewellers. Some of their handiwork has survived, and is often repre-
sented in bas-reliefs. We know fairly well the shape and size of the orna-
ments they made.
The fishermen. They fished only in the rivers. There is no mention
of sea-fishing.
The butchers. Their shops and slaughterhouses are mentioned several
times.
Hunters and trappers. They are mentioned as bringing on carts animal
and vegetable products of the woods, and also venison and game for sale into
the city. It is doubtful whether they were formed into guilds. But their
industry was certainly a very important one. The large stretches of forest~
open to all, separating most of the settlements, the large demand for ivory,
fur, sinews, creepers, and all the other produce of the woods, and the
congeniality of the occupation, all tended to encourage the hunters. And
there is no reason to suppose that the, very ancient instinct of the chase
was confined to the so-called savages. The kings and nobles also, whether
Aryan by blood or not, seem to have taken pleasure in it, quite apart from
the economic question of food-supply.
The cooks and confectioners. Anumerous class, probably formed a guild.
The barbers and shampooers. They had their guilds. They dealt in
perfumes, and were especially skilled in arranging the elaborate turbans
worn by the wealthier classes.
The garland-makers andjlower-sellers. They made garlands and sold flowers.
Sailors. They were occupied for the most part in the traffic up and
down the great rivers, and also going to sea. In some of the earliest docu-
ments we hear of sea voyages out of sight of land; in the later documents,
such as the Jatakas, the mention of such voyages is frequent. The earlier
document:; speak of voyages lasting six months made in ships.
'And later texts, of about the third century B.C., speak of voyages down
the Ganges from Benares to the mouth of the river and thence across the
Indian Ocean to the opposite coast of Burma; and even from Bharukaccha
(the modern Broach) round Cape Comorin to the same destination.
It is clear, therefore, that during the whole of this period the occupation of
the sailor was neither infrequent nor unimportant.'
MERCHANTS AND TRADE
'Besides, the peasantry and the handicraftsman there were merchants

who conveyed their goods either up and down the great rivers, or along
the coasts in boats; or right across the country in carts travelling in cara~
vans. These caravans, long lines of small two-wheeled carts, each drawn by
two bullocks, were a distinctive feature of the times. The carts struggled
along, slowly, through the forests, along the tracks from village to village
kept open by the peasants. A typical bullock-cart and a pair of bullocks
are seen in a Bharhut relief (Fig. 168). Smaller streams were crossed by
gullies leading down to fords, the larger ones, in cart ferries. There were
taxes and octroi at the border of each Mahajanapada and a heavy item in the
cost was the hire of volunteer police who let themselves out in bands to
protect caravans against robbers on the way. The cost of such carriage
must have been great; so great that only the more costly goods could bear it.
'Silks, muslins, finer cloth and cutlery and armour, brocades. embroi-
deries and rugs, perfumes and drugs, ivory and ivory work, jewellery and
gold (seldom silver) were the main articles in which the merchants dealt.
'The activity of trade is indicated by the traffic on high roads (rajapatha,
'routes royales') and by-roads (banikpatha, 'merchant roads') the bustle at
frontiers, ferries, tolls, and city.gates."
MONEY
'The most important feature of the economic development during this

period was the use of coins as common currency. The system of barter,
in vogue during the Vedic period, was gradually replaced by exchange
in precious metals. Herodotus's statement that the satrapy in India paid>
360 talents of gold dust as annual tribute to the Achaemenid king of Iran
shows that even in the 6th century 13.0. dust or ingots of gold and silver
served as currency.
'Rhya Da.vids) Buddhist lniJia, pp. 90-96

THE MAGADHAN EMPIRE 349
'In the sixth century B.C., we find the use of actual coins, i.e. a piece
of metal of regular shape, whose weight and fineness were guaranteed by
a recognized authority. They were regularly issued by rulers, individual
merchants, or corporations, and the State had no monopoly in this respect.
As one or more figures were marked on these coins by a punch, as symbols
of the issuing authority, these coins are generally known as punch-marked
coins. They, however, bore no names, and, with rare exceptions, no legends at
all, and some coins with similar devices were also cast. These coins bear no
inscriptions and have symbols of various types such as human and animal
figures, arms, trees, solar, lunar and planetary marks (Fig. 169). These
coins appear to have been in circulation from 700 B.a. to A.D. 500. The
coins of this variety are found throughout the length and breadth of
India. The technique of minting punch-marked coins was a simple
process. The metal was possibly melted in a crucible and the molten metal
was poured on to a slab to cool. Then it was beaten on an anvil into sheets.
The sheets were cut into small pieces which were later punched with sym-
bols. Thousands of these coins found in different parts of India show that
they formed regular currency for a long period.'
INDO-GREEK COINS
It is the Bactrian Greeks who first introduced coins with names and
portraits of the rulers. The figure of the king on the obverse and of a deity
or other symbols on the reverse are executed with a high degree of artistic
skill. The credit for injecting art into the coinage of India goes to these
Greek rulers. Not only the other foreign hordes who invaded India but
even the Indian rulers adopted the system and issued coins of similar type.
In a silver coin issued by Sophytes, a prince of the Punjab (c. 300 B.a.),
we see him wearing a Greek helmet. On the reverse is an Aseel cock with
large spurs (Fig. 169). Aseel is a fighting breed of poultry (Fig. 172). It
is still popular with people in India who enjoy the sport of cock~fighting.
STANDARD
The weight of the earliest coins was based on the system laid down
in Manu-Samhita. Its unit was the rati or gwy'a berry weighing approxi.
mately 1.83 grains or 0.118 gram. Although no actual specimen of the
suvarna or standard gold coin of 80 ratis is known, the silver purana or dharna
or 32 ratis, and of the copper karshapana of 80 ralis, as well as their various
multiples and subdivisions have been discovered all over India.
RELATIVE VALUE OF METALS
We have no definite knowledge of the relative value of gold and silver

in India before the time of the Persian Emperor Darius (518 B.C.), when
it was 1:8 in his Indian Satrapy while in Persia it was 1 :13. This is due
to the fact that while India had gold in abundance, her supply of silver
from indigenous sources was very restricted, and it had to be largely
imported from outside. But gradually the ratio in India came to be the
same as in the western countries. The ratio between gold and copper did
not show the same fluctuation as that between gold and silver, as both gold
and copper were procurable in this country. The fluctuation in the ratio
between silver and copper was, however, great and led to the variation in
weight of the two coins. The approximate ratio of the two metals was
1 :5.7.
In the earliest period, the copper Karshapana of 80 ratis (146 grains,
9.44 grams) was the standard coin. Kautilya refers to the silver Karsha-
panas of 32 ratis. 5
'The Magadhan state functioned on a powerful cash economy. The
Arthashastra pana was of silver. The age shows plenty of hoards of silver
coins of the 3.5-gram standard, but none of gold and very few of copper.
Every state servant was paid in cash. The highest pay was 48,000 panas
per year each for the king's chief priest, high councillor, chief queen,
queen mother, crown prince, and commander-in-chief. The lowest was
60 per year for the menial and drudge labour needed on such a large scale
in camp and on State works; this was called vishti. A good deal of this
labour was for porterage in bad country, roadmaking, digging irrigation
canals or fortification ditches and piling up dykes. The scale of 60 pieces
of silver shows the minimum then needed to keep body and soul together
for a year under conditions of hard physical labour, with perhaps something
left over for dependants. (This amounts to 17.5 grams of silver per month,
almost exactly what was paid to the lowest Indian labour by the British
East India Company in the early eighteenth century.) Carpenters and
craftsmen were paid by the State at 120 panas. The heavy-armed soldier
of the line after being trained in full got 500, which was the scale also for
scribes and accountants in State service. The expert miner and the
engineer received 1,000 a year. So did the best quality of spy who could
disguise himself in many ways. Whereas these spies were expected actually
to follow the nonnal pastimes of the classes whose disguise they adopted,
there were no extra allowances; lIenee 1,000 panas per annum may be taken
as the decent minimum for a Magadhan grilzapati's normal standard and
style of living. The lower spies got 500, which was also the scale for the
registrar who reported on the village or villages in his charge. Royal
messengers were paid on a fixed scale, in proportion to the distance travelled,
with double rates for the long-distance couriers. There were regular
pensions for those disabled in State service, and for the helpless dependants
of servants and officials who died during their term. For long service,
'Majumdar, R.C. Ancient India! :pp. 2)G-218

THE MAGADHAN EMPIRE 351
special bonuses were given in the form of allowance!! of rice or foodgrain.
presents of cloth and the like. Never was anything given away which would
permanently curtail State revenues.
Besides the coins, there was a very considerable use of instruments of
credit. The great merchants in the few large towns gave letters of credit
on one another. And there is a constant reference to promissory notes.
Interest itself is mentioned very early; and the law books give the rate of
interest current at a somewhat later date for loans on' personal security
as about eighteen per cent per annum.
REFERENCES
Kosambi, D.D. Th8 Cultur~ and Civilization of Ancient India in Histurical Outline,
London, 1965
Majumdar, R.C. Ancient India, Delhi, 1960
Majumdar, R.C. Th~ Classical Accounts oj India, Calcutta, 1960
Marshall,J.H. and Foucher, A. The MOlluments ojSallclzi, 1940
Rapson, E.J. (Ed.) Cambridge History ofIndia , Vol. I, Cambridge, 1922
Rawlinson, H.G. India, a Short Cultural History, London, 1954
Rhys, Davids, T.W. Buddhist India, London, 1903
Sastri, K.A.N. and Srinivasachari, G. Advanced History ojIruJia, New Delhi, 1970
Sharma, R.S. Andenl India, New Delhi, 1977
CHAPTER 23
RURAL ECONOMY AND ADMINISTRATION OF

LAND IN THE MAGADHAN EMPIRE
THE Mauryan Government had a weII~organized revenue administration,

bureaucracy, army and police. There were Superintendents for various
departments. Among them were Superintendents of Agriculture, Forest
Produce, Pasture Lands, Cows, Horses and Elephants. The Arthashastra
thus enumerates the qualifications and duties of the Superintendent of
Agriculture.
'Possessed of the knowledge of the science of agriculture dealing with
the plantation of bushes and trees or assisted by those who are trained
in such sciences, the Superintendent of Agriculture shall in time collect
the seeds of all kinds of grains, flowers, fruits, vegetables, bulbous roots,
fibre-producing plants, and cotton.
He shall employ slaves, labourers, and prisoners to sow the seeds on
crown lands which have been often and satisfactorily ploughed.
The work of the above men shall not suffer on account of any want
in ploughs and other necessary implements or of bullocks. Nor shall there
be any delay in procuring for them the assistance of blacksmiths, carpenters,
borers, ropemakers, as well as those who catch snakes, and similar persons.'
All these duties were enjoined upon the Superintendents of Agricul~
ture because the Magadhan State started the clearance of jungles on a
large scale. The king was the biggest land-owner. Land farmed directly
under the crown supervision was called sita lands. The State derived sub~
stantial income ftom sita lands, which were settled with Shudras. They
gave one-fourth of the produce to the State warehouses.
FORMATION OF VILLAGES
How the villages were settled is thus described by the author of the
Artftashastra.
'Either by inducing foreigners to immigrate or by causing the thickly-
populated centres of his own kingdom to send forth the excessive popu-
lation, the king may construct villages either on new sites or on old ruins.
Villages consisting each of not less than a hundred families and of not
more than five hundred families of agricultural people of Shudra caste,
or agricultural people, with boundaries extending as far as a krosa (2,250
yards; 2,057 metres) or two, and capable of protecting each other, shall be
formed. Boundaries shall be denoted by a river, a monntain, forests, or
by trees such as salmali (silk-cotton tree), sami (Acacia suma), and kshira-
vriksha (milky trees), possiby Manilkara Izexandra.
LAND ADMINISTRATION IN THI;'. MAGADHAN EMPIRE 353
There shall be set up a sthaniya (a fortress) in the centre of eight hu.n-

dred villages, a dronemukha in the centre of four hundred villages, a khar-
vatika in the centre of two hundred villages, and a sangrahana in the midst
of a group of ten villages.
There shall be constructed in the extremities of the kingdom forts
manned by boundary-guards, whose duty shall be to guard the entrance
into the kingdom. The interior of the kingdom shall be watched by trap-
keepers, archers, hunters, chandalas, and wild tribes.
Those who perform sacrifices, spiritual guides, priests, and those
learned in the Vedas shall be granted Brahmadeya lands yielding sufficient
produce and exempted from taxes and fines.
Superintendents, accountants, gopas, sthanikas, veterinary surgeons,
physicians, horse-trainers, and messengers shall also be endowed with lands,
which they shall have no right to alienate by sale or mortgage.
Lands prepared for cultivation shall be given to taxpayers only for
life. Unprepared lands shall not be taken away from those who are pre-
paring them for cultivation.
Lands may be confiscated from those who do not cultivate them, and
given to others; or they may be cultivated by village labourers and traders,
lest those owners who do not properly cultivate them might pay less to
the government. Cultivators may be supplied with grains, cattle, and
money, which they may return at their convenience.
The king shall bestow on cultivators only such favour and remission
as will tend to swell the treasury, and shall avoid such favour which deplete
it.
Either on the occasion of opening new settlements or on any other
emergent occasion, remission of taxes shall be made.
He shall regard with fatherly kindness those who have passed the period
of remission of taxes.
He shall exploit timber and elephant forests, offer facilities for (:attle~
breeding and commerce, construct roads for traffic both by land and water,
and set up market towns.
He shall also construct reservoirs, filled with water either perennial or
drawn from some other source. Or he may provide sites, roads, timber,
and other necessary things to those who construct reservoirs of their own
accord.
Whoever stays away from any kind of co-operative construction shall
send his servants and bullocks to carryon work on his behalf, and shall have
a share in the expenditure, but shall have no claim to the profit.
The king shall exercise his right of ownership with regard to fishing,
ferrying and trading in vegetables, in reservoirs or lakes.
Those who do not heed the claim of their slaves (dasa) , hirelings
(ahitaka), and relatives shall be taught their duty.
354 A HISTORY Or,' AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
CLASSIFICATION OF VILLAGES
The Mauryan Government made a two-fold classification of the villages
for the purpose of fiscal administration. The villages were grouped accord-
ing to the number of tax-paying inhabitants, the caste of the people, the
size and:the commercial and industrial value.
(i) Villages enjoying remissiOll if taxes. These included certain newly
founded villages and villages granted as Brahmadeyas and the like. This
group included villages granted)o royal)ervants, such as superintendents,
accountants, gopas, sthanikas, veterinary surgeons, physicians, horse-
trainers and messengers, without the right of alienation by sale or mortgage.
(ii) I.Villages supplying soldiers or weapons of war. Villages that paid
grains, cattle, gold and raw produce as tax, and supplied free labour instead
of taxes, included the purely agricultural type as well as villages of low-
caste people. The Maurya Government pursued a policy of setting up
villages tenanted solely by the people of the Shudra caste. Says Kautilya,
'Villages should be formed, each consisting of from 100 to SOD agricultural
families of Shudra caste.' Men of low caste for such work were preferred
on the ground that they were more efficient in manual labour than men of
the high castes. Stringent measures were adopted to protect agricultural
interests in these villages by way of forbidding impediments of different
kinds. 'No ascetic other than one who was taken to the fourth stage of
life, no association other than one of the same origin (i.e. of agricultural
caste), no guild devoted to a different object other than a guild of the same
nature shall colonize a village. On account of the isolation of the villagers,
and devotion of the people to cultivation there will be growth of wealth,
labour, minerals, grains and drinks.'
The seclusion of the villages belonging to the Shudra families was a
Mauryan innovation. It gave a distinct stamp to the farmers as a whole.
Megasthenes was thus led to believe that husbandmen formed a distinct
caste. He says, 'The second caste consists of the husbandmen, who appear
to be far more numerous than the others. As they were exempted from
fighting and other public services, they devoted the whole of their time to
tillage. Nor would an enemy, coming upon a husbandman at work on his
land, do him any harm, for, farmers were regarded as public benefactors
and were protected. The land thus remaining unravaged, and producing
heavy crops, supplies the inhabitants with all that is requisite to make life
enjoyable. The husbandmen themselves, with their wives and children,
live in the country and avoid going into town.'
THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF A VILLAGE
During the Mauryan administration, an account of the different parts

of a village was kept by the local officers for the purpose of assessment
of taxes. They comprised cultivated plots of land, uncultivated fields,
LAND A.DMINISTRATION IN THE MAGA.DHAN EMPIRE 355
wet lands (kedara), gardens, vegetable gardens, fenced plots, forests, altars,
temples, irrigation works, cremation-grounds, feeding-houses, piaos where
water was supplied to travellers, places of pilgrimage, pasture ground, roads,
boundary plots, threshing floors, house sites and stables of domestic animals.
DIVISION OF LAND
The division of land for various purposes, and the duties of the king
towards farmers are thus described in Arthashastra.
'The king shall make provision for pasture grounds on uncultivable
tracts.
Brahmans shall be provided with forests for soma plantation, for reli-
gious learning, and for the performance of penance, such forests being
granted with safety for animate or inanimate objects, and being named
after the tribal name (gotra) of the Brahmans resident therein.
A forest provided with only one entrance, rendered inaccessible by the
construction of ditches all round, with plantations of delicious fruit trees,
bushes, bowers, and thornless trees, with an expansive lake of water,
full of harmless animals, and with tigers, beasts of prey deprived of their
claws and teeth, male and female elephants, young elephants and bisons-
shall be formed for the king's sports.
On the extreme limit of the country or in any other suitable locality,
another game forest with game beasts, open to all, shall also be made.
The king shall protect farmers from the molestation of oppressive
fines, forced labour and taxes, herds of cattle from thieves, tigers, poisonous
creatures and cattle disease.
The king shall keep roads clear for traffic, and protect travellers from
molestation by the officials, robbers, and boundary-guards. He should
also protect the roads from being destroyed by herds of cattle.'
THE HEADMAN
The Jatakas refer to the headman generally under the designation

'gamabhojaka'. The Kulavaka Jataka refers to gamabhojaka who used to
make money in sinful ways and who tried to harass innocent men. The
appointment of the headman was either hereditary or was conferred by the
village council itself. The villages of the industrial type appears to have had
an elderman (jetthaka) as the head. The Suchi Jataka tells us that there
was a 'Jetthaka' at the head of the village of 1,000 biacksmiths. I t indicates
extensive use of iron for fabrication of agricultural implements. The
headman appears also to have been sometimes a nominee of the king even
during the Jataka period. According to the Kharassara Jataka the king
appointed an 'amachcha' (minister) as the headman of a village and he
collected the revenue (bali) from the village on behalf of the king. In the
Gamani-Chanda J atakas we are told that an officer named Chanda after
retiring in old age from service took to farming-in a village. The king
made a grant of this village to him as a Brahmadeyya (full gift). Chanda
thus became the headman of the village.
The Kulavaka Jataka tells us that the members of the thirty families
of a village met in the village to consider the common problems of the
village community. We further learn that they kept the roads in repair,
cut down trees that obstructed traffic, constructed cause~ways, dug water~
reservoirs and built a hall.
Kautilya refers to the headman (gramika) as well as to the village~
elders (grama-vriddlzah), who constituted the local assembly. The headman
co-operated with the Gopa, a royal official, in maintaining the village
register, which contained a full description of the tax~paying and non-tax-
paying parts of the village, a record of gifts, sales, charities and remission
of taxes. The Gopa attended to the accounts of five or ten villages.
Villages were divided into the following categories: villages exempted from
taxation, those that supply soldiers, those that pay their taxes in the form
of grains, cattle, gold or raw material, and those that supply free labour
and dairy produce in lieu of taxes. Kautilya enjoins: 'When the headman
of the village has to travel on account of any business of the whole village,
the villagers shall by turn accompany him: those who cannot do this shall
pay It ,panas for every Yojana.' This shows that the headman was assisted
by the villagers in matters relating to the whole village. The village elders,
with the gramika at the head, looked after the local administration. So
far as affairs touching land were concerned) we notice them, in the first
place, taking charge of property of the infants or minors and improving it.
They looked after the 'temple~property (deva-dravyam).. 'In the absence of
claimants to dilapidated religious buildings, villagers or charitable people
may repair them. They also conducted the sale of buildings of different
kinds, fields, gardens, lakes or tanks, etc. The property on sale was accurabuy;
tely described, so that the buyer could know exactly what he was going to
and the sale was by auction. They decided disputes concerning boundaries
of land within a village as well as those between two or more villages in con-
sultation with the elders of other village. They also punished those who made
encroachments upon the boundary~areas or destroyed the boundary~marks.
'rhe Prakrit inscriptions refer to the headman under the designations
tgramika', 'gamabhojaka', and 'gamani', and to a committee under the name
'gotthi' or 'gotti' which corresponded to the village assembly.l
CULTIVATION OF LAND
Fields that are left unsown may be brought under cultivation by

employing those who cultivate for half the share in the produce (ardhasitika);
lGupta, R.N. Th, Land System in South india, p. 41.45

LAND ADMINISTRATION IN THE MAGADHAN EMPIRE 357
or those who live by their own physical exertion may cultivate such fields
for 1 or 1of the produce grown; or they may pay to the king as much
as they can without entailing any hardship upon themselves with the
exception of their own private lands that are difficult to cultivate.
FARMER'S LAND REVENUE
The wasteland probably belonged to the Crown, but in the Artha~

shastra, Bk. II, ch. I, we find the injunction that the king shall not take
away unprepared lands from those who are preparing them for culti~
vation. Proprietary right thus obviously lay with those who cultivated
the land. The owner was, however, responsible to the king, if he failed
to sow his land or if the crops were damaged -due to his own neglect or
that of his servants. This meant only an economic benefit both from the
standpoint of the owner of the land and of the State; and it would cer-
tainly be a mistake to try to assert anything more than that the king
had no proprietary right on land with this qualification that no land was
allowed to lie fallow permanently, and that he was entitled only to a
defined portion of the gross produce as tax. Manu allows i or i A,
part. 2 It was usually one-sixth; but made variable up to one-twelfth
to ensure against over-taxation. In the time of Chandra Gupta
Maurya, - the rate was one-fourth with an additional water rate of
one-fourth.
CROP-SHARING SYSTEM OF CULTIVATION
From the Mahavagga we learn that the Buddhist Sanghas sometimes

cultivated lands belonging to private persons and used to get half of the
produce as their share, or sometimes let out their own lands in lieu of half
the produce. 'Of the paddy seedlings belonging to the Sangha, grown
upon private ground, half the produce, 0 Bhikku, you may have, when
you have given a part to the private owner. Of seedlings belonging to
private persons grown upon the land of the Sangha, you may have the
use, when you have given a part t6 the owner.'s
PAYMElI\T TO WORKERS
The Arthashastra enjoins that provisions shall be supplied to watch-

men, gardeners, slaves and labourers, in proportion to the amount of work
done by them.
'They shall be paid a pana and a quarter per mensem. Artisans shall
'VII, 130. Medhatithi, Kullukabhatta, . Gobindaraga, Nandanacharya and Raghaba-

nand a- Commentators of Manu, are all unanimous that a sixth part of the harvest is the
king'sshare.SeealsoGautamaX,24-27; Vasistha,XIX, 26~27; Baudhayana, 1, 18, 1,13,
15; Vishnu, II, 22-25, 29, 30; and Apastamba, II, 26, 9.
tGupta, K.N. The Land System in South India, p. 199
358 A mSTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
be provided with wages and provision in proportion to the amount of

work done by them.
Those that are learned in the Vedas and those that are engaged in
making penance may take from the fields flowers and fruits for the pur-
pose of worshipping their gods, and rice and barley for the purpose of
performing agrayana, a sacrificial performance at the commencement of
harvest season; also, those who live by gleaning grains in fields may gather
grains where grains had been accumulated and removed from.'
SOCIAL SECURITY
The king provided social security for the aged, infirm and minors,
etc. The Arthashastra states,
'The king shall provide the orphans, the aged, the infirm, the afflicted,
and the helpless with maintenance. He shall also provide subsistence to
helpless women when they are pregnant and also to the cJ¥ldren they
give birth to.
Elders among the villagers shall improve the property of bereaved
minors till the latter attain their age; so also the property of gods.
When a capable person other than an apostate or mother neglects
to maintain his or her child, wife, mother, father, minor brothers, sisters,
or widowed girls, he or she shall be punished with a fine of twelve
panas.
When, without making provision for the maintenance of his wife and
sons, any person embraces asceticism, he shall be punished with the first
amercement; likewise any person who converts a woman to ascetic-
ism.
Whoever has passed the age of copulation may become an ascetic after
distributing the properties of his own acquisition among his sons, other-
wise he will be punished.'
FAR¥ERS NOT 'l'O BE DISTURBED
AB the economy depended upon the work of the farmers, they were
protected from intruders. Says the Arthashastra:
'No ascetic other than a vanaprastha, no company other than the one
of local birth and no guilds of any kind other than local co-operative guilds
shall find entrance into the villages of the kingdom. Nor shall there be
in villages buildings intended for sports and plays. Nor, in view of pro-
curing money, free labour, commodities, grains, and liquids in plenty,
shall actors, dancers, singers, drumme~, buffoons and bards make any
disturbance to the work of the villagers; for helpless viiIagers are always
c1ependent and bent upon their fields."
'ShamaJastry, R. The Arthashastra of K'aulif.ya, pp. 45.48

LAND ADMINISTRATION IN THE MAGADHAN EMPIRE 359
REFERENCES
Gangopadhyay, R. Some Materials for the Stucfy of Agriculture and Agriculturists ill Allcitnl India,
Calcutta, 1933
Gupta, K.M. The Land System ill South India, Lahore, 1933
Kosambj I D.D. The Culture and Civilization of Ancient India in Historical Outline. London, 1965
Rapson, E.J. (Ed.) Cambridge History of India, Vol. I. Cambridge, 1922
Sastri, K.A.N. and Srinivasachari, G. Advallced History oj llldja~ New Delhi, 1970
Shamasastry, R. Kautilya's Arthashastra, Mysore. 1960
CHAPTER 24
AGRICULTURE IN THE MAURYAN AGE

322 B,a. - 232 B.C,
THE Greeks noticed in India two annual harvests-the winter and the sum-
mer ones-and the sign of an astonishing soil fertility. They knew that
rice and millets were sown in summer, and wheat and barley in winter. Aris-
tobulus described the cultivation of rice in enclosed sheets of water. They
saw trees, which the generative power of the Indian soil endowed with a
strange capacity of self-propagation-the branches curving to the ground
to become themselves new trunks, till a single tree became a pillared tent,
under whose roof of broad leaves a troop of horsemen could find shade from
the noonday heat. The reference is obviously to the banyan-tree and its pillar-
like aerial roots. Among the plants, two especially interested them. One
was sugarcane, 'the reeds that make honey without the agency of bees'.
Megasthenes seems to have attempted a scientific explanation of its
sweet juice. It was due to the water which it absorbed from the soil being
so warmed by the sun's heat that the plant was virtually cooked as
it grew. The other plant was the cotton plant, yielding vegetable
wool. Some of it the Macedonians used uncarded as stuffing for saddles
and suchlike. Spices were also associated in the Greek mind with
India.1
In the Arthashastra~ we find a mention of the suitability of different
lands for the cultivation of different crops, viz. lands that are beaten by
foam, e.g, river banks, etc., are suitable for growing pumpkin, gourd and
the like. Lands that are frequently flooded with water for long are suit·
able for pepper, grapes and sugarcane; those in the vicinity of wells for
vegetables and root crops; moist beds of lakes, etc., for green crops; and
the marginal furrows between any two rows of crops are suitable for the
plantation of fragrant plants, medicinal herbs, khus-khus roots, and the
like.
The Arthashastra mentions the following crops: Sali (a kind of rice),
vrihi (rice), koclrava (Paspalum scrobicutatum) , tila (sesamum), priyangu,
daraka(?), and varaka (P}zas8olus trilobus) are to be sown at the commence-
ment of the rainy season.
Mudga (Vigna mungo), masha (Vigna radiata), and saibya (?) are to
be sown in the middle of the season.
Kusumbha (safflower), masura (Lens culinaris), kuluttha (Dolichos hi•
.florus), yava (barley), godhuma (wheat), kalaya (leguminous seeds), atasi
lRapson, E.J.· The Cambriage History ojIndia, p. 363

AGRICULTURE IN THE MAURYAN AGE 361
(linseed), and sarshapa (mustard) are to be sown last.'2
IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE
Srni (sickle), khanitra (hoe), musala (pestle), udukhala (mortar), surpa (win-
nowing-basket), dhanyakrt (winnowing-fan), chalani (sieve), sthivi (granary),
methi (the post of the threshing-floor round which cattle turn to thresh out
the grains), are mentioneed as tools of agriculture.
CYCLE OF FARMING OPERATIONS
In the Kullavagga, Mahanama the Sakyan, while telling Aniruddha

what is incident to a household life, gives a short list of farming operations.
"First you have to get your fields ploughed. When that is done, you have
to get them sown. When that is done, you have to get the water led down
over them. When that is done, you have to get the water let off again.
When that is done, you have to get the weeds pulled up. When that is
done, you have to get crops reaped. When that is done, you have to get
the crop carried away. When that is done, you have to get it arranged in
bundles; when that is done, you have to get it trodden out. When that
is done, you have to get the straw picked out. When that is done, you
have to get all the chaff removed. When that is done, you have to get it
winnowed. When that is done, you have to get the harvest garnered.
When that is done, you have to do just the same the next year and the same
all over again the year after."
According to the Jatakas, the agriculturists sowed different kinds of
grains, planted sugarcane, cotton, different kinds of vegetables, such as
pumpkins, gourds and cucumbers. To scare away birds, they made use
of scarecrows; and towards the harvest time, when crops stood thick in the
fields, the peasant anxious to kill the creatures that devoured crops used
to dig pitfalls, set traps, fix stakes and snares. At the sight of coming rains,
they would hurry to the fields with spade and basket in hands to bank the
dikes, and the women of the house make haste to carty indoors rice and
crops that were spread in the sun to dry, lest the harvest should get wet.
Jat. No. 140 mentions a female slave dozing in her watch over rice spread
out in the sun to dry, and of a goat waiting for a chance to eat it.
When crops were ripe, the threshing-floor was made ready and methi
(the post of the threshing-floor round which cattle turn and thresh out
grains) was planted with care on an auspicious day. The harvest was then
threshed, winnowed and garnered after setting aside the rice of the king's
tax that was measured with grain basket. s
IShamasastry, R. Kautilya's Arthashastra, p. 128

JGangopadhyay, R. Some Materials lor the Study qf Agriculture and Agriculturists in Anc; ent
India, pp. 42.65,106, 107
362 A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE m INDIA
Even at present the threshing of wheat in parts of Madhya Pradesh is

being carried on in the same manner as in the Buddhist period. A num-
ber of bullocks are tied with a rope to a wooden post (mcthi) fixed in the
centre of the threshing-floor. They go round and round and thresh out
the grain (Fig. 170). After that, the threshed wheat straw and grain are
thrown from a basket by a farmer standing on a wooden stool, and is assis-
ted by his wife. The grain falls near the stool while the dust is blown away
by the wind, and the hhoosa falls near the heap of grain (Fig.l7!).
The Arthashartra gives the following directions for the threshing of crops.
'Grains and other crops shall be collected as often as they are harvested.
No wise man shall leave anything in the fields, not even chaff. Crops,
when reaped, shall be heaped up in high piles or in the form of turrets.
The piles of crops shall not be kept close, nor shall their tops be small or
low. The threshing-floors of different fields shall be situated close to each
other. Workmen in the fields shall always have water but no fire."
GROWING OF CROPS
According to the Arthashostro, rice crops and the like are the bestj
vegetables are of intermediate nature; and sugarcane crops are the worst,
very difficult to grow, for they are subject to various pests and require
much care and expenditure to reap.
The seeds of grains are to be exposed to mist and heat for seven nights;
the seeds of kosi are treated similarly for three nights; the cuttings of sugar-
cane and the like are plastered at the cut ends with the mixture of honey,
clarified butter, the fat of hogs, and cowdung; the seeds of bulbous roots
with honey and clarified butter; cotton seeds with cowdung; and water
pits at the root of trees are to be burnt and manured with the bones and
dung of cows on proper occasions.
The sprouts of seeds, when grown, are to be manured with a fresh
haul of minute fishes and irrigated with the milk of snuhi (Euphorbia anti-
quorum).
Where there is the smoke caused by burning the essence of cotton seeds
and the slough of a snake, there snakes will not stay.
IRRlGATION
The Kama Jataka speaks of a Brahmana clearing the jungle for culti-
vation and making little embanked squares for water. We also hear of
the rivers being dammed for the purpose of irrigation. Says the Kunala
Jataka, 'The Sakiya and the Kaliya tribes had the river Rohini, which
flows between the cities of Kapilavasthu and Kolia, confined by a single
'Shamasastry, R; The Arthashastra of Kautilya, pp. 128·131

AGRlOULTURE IN THE MAURYAl>< AGE 363
dam, and by means of it cultivated their crops. In the month of Jettha-
mula when crops began to droop, the labourers fi'om both the cities assem-
bled. Then the Koliyans said, ('Should this water be drawn off of both
sides, it will not prove sufficient for both of us. But our crops will thrive
with a single watering; give us then the water,"5
Kautilya also refers to sluice-gates of tanks and enjoins that 'persons
letting out the water of tanks at any other place than their sluice-gate shall
pay a fine of six panas i and persons who obstruct the flow of water from
the sluice-gate of tanks shall also pay the same fine.' It is further laid
down that (the water of a lower tank, excavated later on, shall not irrigate
the field already irrigated by a higher tank and the natural flow of water
a
from higher to a lower tank shall not be stopped, unless the lower tank
has ceased to be useful for three consecutive years.'
The J unagadh rock inscription of Rudradaman records that the
Sudarshana lake was constructed by Pushyagupta, the provincial governor
of Ohandragupta Maurya; it was subsequently provided with conduits by
the Yavana king Thushaspha for Asoka Maurya. I t suffered a breach
(420 cubits long and 75 cubits deep) in the second century of the Ohristian
Era, owing to heavy flood in the rivers Suvarnarekha and Palasini. It
was repaired by the Parthian amarya Suvisakha, who was the governor of
Rudradaman, the Saka ruler of that time. In Western India, the successors
of Rudradaman continued the tradition of constructing tanks.
IRRIGATION CHbRGES
The Arthashastra enjoins, "Those who irrigate land by manual labour

shall pay tth of the produce as water rate (udakabhagam); by carrying
water on shoulders, lth of the produce; by water lifts lrd of the pro-
duce; and by raising water from rivers, lakes, tanks, and wells, lth of
the produce.
The Superintendent of Agriculture shall grow wet crops, winter crops
or summer crops according to the supply of workmen and water."
PLANT DISEASES
In the Kallavagga, we find the Buddha pointing out that when the
disease called 'mildew' falls upon a field of rice, that field of rice cannot
last long; neither does a field of sugarcane continue long if the disease called
(blight' falls upon it,6
'Gupta, K.N. The Land System in South [lidia, pp. 216·217

IGangopadhyay, R. Some Materials Jor the Siurfy qf Agriculture and Agriculturists in Ancient
Illdia, p. 73.
364 A I-1!ST()RY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
PERILS O'F SNAKEBITES
'As at present, the farmers in India ran the risk of being bitten by snakes.
Jat. No. 354 relates the story of a farmer's family consisting of man and
wife, two children-a son and a daughter-a daugther-in-law and a maid-
servant of the house. They lived happily together. One day, the far-
mer, along with his son, was ploughing a field. The son collected dry
leaves scattered over the field and set fire to them. The smoke hurt the
eyes of a snake who lived in a termite-hill close by. In a rage, the snake
bit the farmer's son and he fell down dead.'
REFERENCES
Dixit, K. N. Agricultural Implements in Ancient India, Jour. tr.P. Hist. Soc.. Vol. XVIII,
1970
Gangopadhyay, R. Some },tlaterialsfor the Study of Agriculture ant! Agriculturists in Ancient India,
Calcutta, 1933
Gupta, K.M. The Land System in South India, Lahore, 1933
Kosambi, D.D. The Culture and Givilizatioll of Ancient India in Historical Outlillc, London, 1965
Majumdar,R.C. AncientIndia,Delhi,1960
Majumdar, R.C. Thl1 Classical Accounts of India, Calcutta, lD60
Raychaudhari, S.P. and Kaw, R.K. Agriculture in Ancient India, New Delhi, 1968
Shamasastry, R. Kautirya's Arthashastra, Mysore, 1960
CHAPTER 25
ANIMAL HUSBANDRY IN THE MAURYAN AGE
THE term animal husbandry is used here in a broader sense. Apart from
cattle, buffaloes, sheep, and goats, it includes asses, horses, mules and ele~
phants. Animal husbandry made great progress in the Mauryan age. As
Sharma states, 'With its emphasis on non~violence and the sanctity of
animal life Buddhism boosted the cattle wealth of the country. The ear~
liest Buddhist text Suttanipata declares the cattle to be givers of food, beauty
and happiness (annada, vannada, sukhada), and thus pleads for their
protection. '1
SUPERINTENDENT OF Cows
There was a Superintendent of Cows, whose duty was to supervise herds
of milch cattle as well as to look after the stored milk and ghgc. He also
supervised the work of cowherds, buffalo herdsme'n, milkers, churners and
hunters. He took care that calves were not starved and were given adequate
milk.
The herds included equal numbers of milch cows, pregnant cows, aged
cows, heifers and calves. There were special herds which included crip-
pled cattle and cows difficult to milk.
The cattle and buffaloes were classified as calves, steers, tameable ones,
draught oxen, bulls that are to be trained for .the yoke, bulls kept for cros~
sing cows, cattle that are fit only for the supply of flesh, buffaloes and draught
buffaloes; female calves, steers, heifers, pregnant cows, milch cattle,
barren cattle (either cows or buffaloes); calves that are month or tvvo
old as well as those which are still younger. 2
The Superintendent of Cows branded them all, including their calves
over two months old, and stray cattle which had remained unclaimed for
two months. Then he registered them, also noting the natural marks,
colour, and distance between the horns.
THE HERDSMAN
The cattle belonged severally to the residents of the village. After

the crop was cut, the cattle were let loose and roamed over the fields.
When the crops were growing they were sent under the charge of a herds~
mall, hired by the village collectively, to the grazing grounds. The herds~
man was an important' personage.
~Sharma, R.S. Ancient Inelia, p. 64

2Shamasastry, R. Kauti[ya's Arthashastra, p. 143
'Knowing the general appearance of each one of his charge and the
marks upon it, skilled to remove Dies' eggs from their hide, to h eal sores)
accustomed to keep a good fire going with smoke to keep the gnats away,
knowing the fords and the drinking places, clever in choosing pasture,
leaving some milk in the udders, and with respect for the leaders
of the herd.'
THE Cow
According to the ArlTtashastra, 'The killing of the cow was a deadly
sin. All that kill, eat and permit the slaughter of the cow ro t in hell for as
many years as there were hairs on the boel y of the cow so slain.' . The wor-
ship of the eow is one of the first among the daily duties prescribed for
kings. Thus, 'during the eighth division of the night, i.c. the very early
morning, he (the king) sh all receivc benedict'ions from sacrificial prjests,
teachers and the hig h priest and having seen his physician, chief cook and
astrologer, and having salutecl both a cow with her calf and a bull, by cir-
cumambulating round them, he shall get into his cc urt.'
THE BUFFALO
In the ~1auryan age, the bufii1.10 had become a recognized dairy ani-
mal. AnlOng the anirnals to be classi(lCd by the Superintendent of Cows,
before forming them into herds, were buffaloes. The rations for l.mITaloes
are mentioned, and the outturn of butter from. buITaloc's milk is compared
with that from cow's milk.
In a Sanchi sculpture, which illustrates a Jataka story, two buffaloes
are depicted swimm.ing in a pool in front of a hermItage. In the back-
ground are the circular huts of the rishis, which res ~mblc the Navclatoli
huts in their design (Fig. lG7).
THE GOAT
As a milch ::m ilnal, the goat is m.enLiolled in th e Arthaslwstra and scems

to have become fairly important also, as the outtnrn of bntter from her
milk has been consiucrecl worthy of Leing rcckoncll in c01l1parison with
that of the cow or the bunalo.
THE SHEEP
The sheep were sllOrn of their wool onee in six months.

BULLS
In the A1"tlzaslwslra, it is prescribed that bree(Jing bulls should be pro-

vided for the herds at the rate of four for cvery ten. animals J whether cows
or buffaloes.
The bull capit.al at Rampurva in T.irhut. depicts a Vigorous zebu bull.
ANIMAL HUSBANDRY IN THE MAURYAN AGE 367
Fig. 172. An A.~~d cock , a fighting breed ofpou Ilry, with large Sp ill' S , Dcccani ,
late seventeenth century. Compare witb the figure on obverse of silver coin 0['
Sophytes (Fig. 169)
(Coul·tcsy: Prince of Wales Muse um of Western India, Bombay)
368 A IlISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
Fig, 173, Bull ca pit a l , Rampul'va, Tilhut, inu I'yn, 2-10 II .C, Calcutta IVlllSI ·UlIJ. T lw!Jull
rcpl'cscn ts the Hariana brc{!d, J t is sym bolic of t 11(' illl porI ance or {";l tt II' i II t il(" . 'OllOIllY
of ]V[nu ryan India
(Courtesy : Archa '01 ogical Survl'y of I nd ia )
Fig. 174-. TO/I, F .·agmcnt of a torana architrave showing Gajalakshmi and a N agori
bull, Kausambi , Allahabad District, Uttar Pradesh, first century B.C . , Allahabad Museulll
BollolII, A Nagori bull
370 A HIRTORY . OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
Fig. J 75. All. illustration to a Jataka story. Kcpping Ihe PO IH hallgil\g froJ1l the roar is
a custom still followed in India. In frunt of the but ate two asses.
(Courtesy: Allchacological Survey of llldia)
ANIMAL HUSBANDRY IN 'I'HE MAURYAN AGE 371
It is symbolic of the importance of cattle in the economy of Mauryan India
(Fig. 173).
A fragment of a torana architrave from Kausambi (first century B.C.)
shows G<ljalakshmi and a bull. The Gajalakshmi is surrounded by lotuses
aUll a pail' of elephants. The bull, which is a symbol of male fertility,
resem.bles the Nagori breed (Fig. 174).
PASTORES
According to the A rtha.dwslra it was enjoined upon kings that ample

provision should be made [or pastures by setting apart suitable land
of sufficient extent, when forming villages. T h e gopa or viHage
accountant was to note the boundarIes of such pastures, number
and register therl1.. They were protected fro111. thieves, tigers and other
carnivores by hunters aided by their hounds. Herds were moved from
one pasture to another according to the season.
GRAZIERS
The cuule when out grazing were exposed to many dangers. They
could get stuck in a quagmire or fall from a precipice. They might get
drowned in a river or be struck by lightni ng. They might get devourc1
by tigers, or bitten by sl1:lkcs, Ot' dragged into watce by crocodiles. They
might also pcrish in a forest fire. It was the duty of the graziers to save them
from such dangers.
The Art1tasltaslra defines, among the duties of the grazicl's, caution in
watering cows, "They shall allow their cattle to entcr only into such rivers
or lakes as arc of cq ual depth all arouncl, Dl'oad and free from mire and
crocodiles". Cows should be guarded at home behind walled enclosures,
if necessary, and protected when out grazing.
Grazicrs were enjoined to group their animals into tens of each kind,
according to their colour, and take them out for grazing. They were
also to altach bells to the necks of their cattle, so as to scare away snakes
and tigers and as a means of knowing the whereabouts of the herds.
All animals possessed brand I)1.arks, which were stamped on them at the
lnustel's.
There was capital punishment for st ealing a cow or hurting one. The
Artfzashastra ordains, "Whoever hurts or causes another to hurt, or sleals or
causes another to steal a cow, should be slain. 3
When a person caused a bull attached to a herd to fight with another
bull, he was fined. If a bull got injured, that person was heavily fined.
It is the usefulness which determines whether an animal is sacred or other-
wise. Cattle had fully proved their usefulness in. t he Mauryan age by
aShamasastl'Y, R. Kautilya'.r Artlw,rhaslra, p. 111

the milk they provided to the people and their draught power in cultivation.
FEED AND FODDER.

The Arthashastra recognizes the difference between straw and grass
and the two are separately specified in the feed to be given to cattle, as
yavasa (meadow or green grass) and trina (ordinary dry straw).
The feeding of oi1cake is a definite recommendation in the Arthashastra.
Detailed rations are prescribed for cows, buffaloes, mules, camels, etc.,
severally. Thus:
'Bulls which are provided with nose strings and which equal horses
in speed and carrying loads, are to be given half a bhara of meadow grass,
twice the above quantity of ordinary grass (Irina), one tula (100 palas)
of oilcakes, ten adhikas of bran, five palas of salt, one kudumba of oil
for rubbing over the nose, one prastha of drink (pana), one tula of flesh,
one adhika of curds, one drona of barley or of cooked urd (Vigna radiata),
one drona of milk; or half an adhika of sura (liquor), one prastha of oil or
glzee, ten palas of sugar or jaggery. One pala of fruit of sringibera (gin[i;er)
may be substituted for milk. For cows, mules and asses, the diet was of
the same commodities less by one quarter each. For buffaloes and camels
it was twice the quantity. Buttermilk (lassi) was given as a drink to dogs
and hogs. Moreover, all cattle were supplied with abundance of fodder
and water. The quantity of the feed to be given was in proportion to the
quantity of milk yielded by the cows or the duration of work in the case
of bullocks. 4
MILKING AND MILK
In the Arthashastra, graziers are directed to milk their animals twice

a day in some seasons, viz. the rainy, autumn and the first part of winter,
and only once a day, i.e. in the morning, during the whole of spring and
summer. This was done because there was plenty of grass in the pastures in
the rainy season and early winter, and in summer the pastures dried up.
The difference between the cow's milk and the buffalo's milk was well
recognized in respect of their outtUfll of butter (fat content). 'One drona
of cow's milk when churned will yield one prastha of butter; the same
quantity of buffalo milk will yield one-seventh prastha more; and the
same quantity of goats and sheep milk will pl'oduce one-half more,' states
the Arthashastra.
CREE
It was in the form of ghee that the butter-fat in the milk was largely
made use of. Ghee was included even in the rations of cattle. Elephants
'Shamasastry, R. Kautilya's Arlhashastra, p. 145

were given ghee as part of the ration at the rate of three prasthas per day,
along with many other articles.
Ghee was the best forni in which butter-fat could be preserved for long
periods. This knowledge has been made use of not only in domestic life
but also in storing supplies in forts against a siege. Huge stone cisterns
were used as receptacles for storing ghee. Lumps of gur were placed as a
preservative at the bottom of cisterns while storing g/lee in them. This
practice prevails even now in some rural families in India. 5
The best ghee was made from butter which was melted the same day.
This was the kind of ghee used by kings and wealthy people.
ASSES
In the Mauryan age, asses were used as beasts of burden. In a

Bharhut sculpture which illustrates a Jataka story two asses are shown in
front of a cottage (Fig. 175).
HORSES
Horses were used for riding and for war. In war, they were yoked
to chariots. The chariots were of various types, viz. festal chariots,
battle chariots, and travelling-chariots. Horses were also yoked to
carriages.
The royal horses were under the charge of a Superintendent of Horses,
who registered the breed, age, colour and their place of origin. The
Arthashastra states, 'The breed of Kambhoja, Sindhu, Aratta, and Vanayu
countries are the best; those of Bahlika, Papeya, Sauvira, and Taitala are
of middle quality; and the rest ordinary.'
Steeds, stallions and colts were kept separately in the stables. As
regards the construction of stables, the Arthashastra gives the following
directions. 'The superintendent shall have a stable constructed as spacious
as required by the number of horses to be kept therein, twice as broad as
the length of a horse, with four doors facing the four quarters, with its
central floor suited for the rolling of horses, with projected front provided
with wooden seats at the entrance, and containing monkeys, peacocks, red
spotted deer, mongoose, chakora, parrots, and myna birds; the room for
every horse shall be four times as broad or long as the length of a horse,
with its central floor paved with smoothened wooden planks, with separate
compartment~ for foddet', with passages for the removal of urine and dung,
and with a door facing either the north or the east.'
Horses were given regular training for warfare, viz. circular move-
ment, slow movement, jumping, galloping, and several forms of riding.
Horses are also mentioned in the Jatakas;
'Aiyer, A.R.Y.N. Dairying in Ancient India

374 A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE iN INDIA
'Sindh horses are milk-white and thorough-bred. They are white as

ljJies, swift as the wind and well trained. Thoroug h-bred horses are
fecl on parched rice, drippings, minced n1.cat and grass and red rice-powder.
Thorough-bred Sindh horses sheathed in mail were used for war purposes.
The Yalaha and Sindhu are the horses of superior brced.'G
Horse-dealers figure prominently alnong the Gandh<l,ra trades and
we learn from the Vayupurana that the Gandhara horses were considered
the best of all. Horse-dealers from northern districts used to bring horses
to Benares for sale. Sindh horses were available in Benal'es and were used
on ceremonials by the king.
MULES
Mules are mentioned in the Arthaslwslra.
ELEPHANTS
Magadha was the first State in India which. used clcpllants on a large
scale in warfare. For traversing jungles and marshy arC [lS, elephants are
very useful. Moreover, they had their use in storming fortresses and
breaking open massive doors. According to Greek sources, the Nanclas
maintained 6,000 elephants and Chanc1ragupta M a urya had 9,000 ele-
phants. On account of its usefulness in warfare, the elephant was a
protected animal, and special forests were rcserved for it. The Arthashastra
states, 'The victory of kings in battles depends mainly upon elephants; for
elephants, being of large bodily frame, arc capable not only to deslroy
the arrayed army of ::m enemy, his fortifications an.d encampments, but
also to undertake works that arc dangerous to life.'
War elephants and riding elephants were kept insiuc the fort, whereas
those with bad temper were kept outsillc. Only twenty-year-old male
elephants were captured. Female elephants and young elephants were
not captured.
As regards the quality of elephants the Artlwshastra stales, 'Elephants
bred in countries such as Kalinga, Anga, K .arnsa, and the East arc the Lest;
those of the Dasarna and western countries arc of middle quality; and
those of Saurashtra and Panchajana countdcs are or low qnallty. The
might and energy of all can, however, be irnpl'oved by suitable trainlng.'
In the exLrelTl.e limit of the country, elephant forests, sepa rated from
wild tracts, shall be formed.
The Superinten.dent of Elephant Forests with his retinue of forest
guards shall not only maintain the forests, but also acquaint himself with
all passages for entrance into, or exit from, such of them as arc mountainous
or boggy or contain rivers Or lakes.
GOode, P.K. Stlldies in Indian ClIltlll'al History, Vol. I, p. 229

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY IN THE MAURYAN AGf',
ng, 176. Life in an Indian vi.llage ill the Buddhist period , about 20U B.C. ] n the foreground
a rc buffaloes , zebu bulls, goats ;ll1d sheep. III ['L'ont of t]l e hut women n 1'(' busy with dOlll cs lic
ChOl'CS, such as grindi.ng spi(.;cs, d >hl.lsking paddy, and wiul10wing wi th a c/f(l(1j. Sanchi 200 B.C.
(Courtesy: Al'chacologi(:aJ Survey of India)
376 A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN IN1l1A
Fig. 177. A n.:plica of the Girnar edict of .i\soka, in {'rollt of the National MuseullI, New
Delhi. Tn the edict Asoka states that 111' plfllltcd trees along roadsides
(Courtesy: National Museum, New Delhi)
ANIMAL HUSDANDRY IN THE MAURYAN AGE 377
Whoever kills an elephant shall be put to death.
Whoever brings in the pair of tusks of an elephant, dead from natural
causes, shall receive a reward of four-and-a-half panas.
How elephants were captured is described as follows: 'Guards of ele-
phant forests, assisted by those who rear elephants, those who enchain
the legs of elephants, those who guard the boundaries, those who live
in forests, as well as by those who nurse elephants, shall, with the
help of five or seven female elephants to help in tethering wild ones, trace
the whereabouts of herds of elephants by following the course of urine and
dung left by elephants, and along forest tract'! covered over with bI'anches
of Bhallataki (Semecarpus anacm·dium) , and by observing the spots where
elephants slept or sat before or left dung, or where they had just destroyed
the banks of rivers or lakes. They shall also precisely ascertain whether
any mark is due to the movements of elephants in herels, of an elephant
roaming single, of a stray elephant, of a leader of herds, of a tusker, of a
rogue elephant, of an elephant in rut, of a young elephant, or of an elephant
that has escaped from the cage.
'Experts in catching elephants shall follow the instructions given to
them by the elephant doctor (anikastlza) , and catch such elephants as are
possessed of auspicious characteristics and good character.'
The captured elephants were given military training of seven kinds,
viz. drill, turning, advancing, trampling down and killing, fighting with
other elephants} attacking forts and cities and warfare. The elephants
under training were provided with collars and were made to work in com-
pany with trained elephants.?
VETERINARY SERVICES
Veterinary service was considered essential to the community and

veterinary doctors were assigned free endowments of land, in the same way
as the village accountants, physicians and horse-trainers. Medicinal herbs
were collected from places where they were growing naturally. They
were also grown in fields like other crops.
Slaughterhouses were regulated by a Superintendent of Slaughter-
houses. This arrangement afforded opportunities to the veterinarians to
study and make observations on the internal organs of the animals.
During the reign of Asoka, veterinary hospitals were State insu.-
tutions and were functioning all over the Empire. In a rock edict it is
stated, "Everywhere in the dominions of Hts Majesty King Priyadarsi,
and likewise in the neighbouring realms ... everywhere on behalf of His
Majesty have two kinds of hospitals been established, hospitals for men
and hospitals for beasts. Healing herbs medicinal for man and medicinal
'Shamasastry, R. The Artllasllaslra of Kanliiya, pp. 49, 151, 153

378 .A HISTORY 011 AGlUctJLTURE IN INDIA
for beasts, wherever they were lacking, have been imported and planted ..• "
Thus it is evident that provision was made for the care and treatment of
sick cattle, horses and elephants.
REFERENCES
A Conds« History qf SCUlIld in Indkl, INSA, New Delhi, 1971
Aiye:r;, A.K.Y.N. Dairying in Ancient India, Symporium, UNESCO and NIS, New DeIhl,
Nov.l950
Gangopadhyay, R. SUI1UI Materials/or tlz, Stu4Y if Agriculturl (lnd Agriculturists in Ancient
India, Calcutta, 1933
Gode, P.K. Studi,s in Indian Cullural HistoT)l, Vol. 1. Hoshiarpur, 1961
Raychaudhari, S.p. and Kaw, R.K.R. Agriculture in An,imt India. New Delhi, 1968
Sharnasastry, R. Kautilya's Arthashastra, Mysore, 1960
Shanna, R.S. Anci6nt india, New Delhi, 1977
CHAPTER 26
ASOKA PROMOTES ARBORICULTURE AND

HORTICULTURE
274 B.C. - 237 B.C.
AsOKA succeeded Bindusara on the Mauryan throne in about 274 B.C.

During the early part of his reign, he conquered Kalinga (Orissa) and
Ganjam. .In this war the Kalingas suffered heavy casualties and 150,000
were taken prisoners. Asoka had a feeling of remorse when he saw the
horrors of war, and the slaughter of men in thousands. After the Kalinga
war, he became a Buddhist and abjured violence.
The extent of Asoka's empire can be judged from his rock and pillar
edicts. The Kandahar rock edict has an inscription in Greek and Aramaic
which shows that among his subjects were Greeks as well as Iranians. There
are rock edicts at Mansehra and Shahbazgarhi in the North-West Frontier
Province (Pakistan). Along the western coast are edicts at Girnar,
Junagadh and Sopara. There is a replica arrack edict of Girnar placed in
front of the building of the National Museum, New Delhi (Fig. 177). In the
south are rock edicts at Siddapura and Maski. In the east are the rock
edicts at Dhauli and Jaugada (Fig. 178).
In his sixth major rock edict, Asoka says: 'I have now arranged it thus.
At all times-whether I am eating, or am in the women's apartments, or in
my inner apartments, or at the cattle-shed, or in my carriage, or in my
gardens-wherever I may be, my informants should keep me in touch with
public business'.1 This edict indicates his interest in animal husbandry
and gardens. Asoka a!s0
prohibited the burning of forests for driving out
game.
Asoka actively promoted arboriculture and horticulture. This was
partly due to reasons of religion. The worship of the bodhi-tree was specially
enjoined by Sakya Muni himself, who directed Ananda to obtain a branch
of the tree under which he had obtained Buddhahood, and to plant it in
the court of the Vihara at Sravasti, adding, 'He who worships it will
receive the same reward as if he worshipped me in person.' Such being the
recorded origin of the reverence paid to the pipal-tree of the last Buddha
Sakya Sinha, it is not surprising that tree worship was generally popular.
In the Divya Avadana it is related that the Bodhi-tree was the favourite
object of Asoka's worship.
For the first time in Indian history we hear of a monarch who encourag.,
ed arboriculture and adopted it as a State policy. Asoka encouraged the
lSaatri, K.A. Nilakanta and Srinivasachari, G., AdvDMed History 4 India, p. 102
380 A HlSTORY 011 AGlUOUL'l'URE IN INDIA
!_ ROCk edicts and minor rocl" ~chCts

J. Pillar edlclS
I,,. .
..i ,,
l__.___ lr--_ _ _ + ___~. ._----~~---' -----.-. !" ---~-
,,- ~ . .. It' I
• + ___ --J
Fig, 178. A. map showing A!oka's EmJ;'ire, 250 s.c.
planting of trees in gardens and along roads in the form of' avenues. Rest-
hQt.JSq& wllI.re. mad~; many watering"itatiOll3 also were made for the comfort
Elf ~a_ttle Md ID!!n. One of the Asoka pillars. bears the following inscription:
'On the roads I have had banyan trees planted, which will give shade to
beasts and; men. I have had mango grOoves. planted aad have had wells dug
AsOKA PROMOTES AttBORtCULTt1J.tE AND HORTICULTURE $81
and rest houses built every nine miles .... And I have had many watering
places made everywhere for the use of beasts and men. But this benefit is
important, and indeed the world has enjoyed attention in many ways from
former kings as well from me. But I have done these things in order that
my people might conform to Dhamma: ll
In Chapter XXXIV of the Arthashastra mention is made of a Superin-
tendent of Pasture Lands. He supervised the construction of tanks, wells,
buildings for shelter and flower gardens and fruit gardens. There is every
likelihood that this type of administrative arrangement for planting gardens
continued under Asoka.
Sanchi provides us with a glimpse of arboriculture in the reign of Asoka.
Sanchi is about eight kilometres from Bhilsa. the modern successor of the
ancient town of Vidisa. Vidisa was the junction of two great trade routes,
one of which ran west to east from the busy sea-ports of the western coast
of India through Ujjain, Kausambi and Benares to Pataliputra and the
other south to north-west from Pratisthana, the Andhra capital, to Sravasti.
Vidisa was the home of Devi, the wife of Asoka. Sanchi became an imp or"
tant Buddhist centre in the third century B.C. The famous stupa in which
the remains of the Buddha were enshrined was built by Asoka in 225 B.O.
As Sir John Marshall remarks: "Asoka himselffounded the Sangharama
and built this Stupa where not only because Vidisa was one of the greatest
cities of his empire, but because he wished to honout it as the birth-place
of the beautiful Devi and a spot invested with specially happy. memories
for himsel£"s The stupa was made of bricks, and about the middle of the
second century B.C., during the reign of Sunga king Agnimitra, it was
encased in stone and the procession path was paved with stones. The
stupa was surrounded by a balustrade which reminds one of the wooden
palisades and enclosures. The balustrade was pierced by four gate-ways
or toranas, which are richly carved. The toranas of stupa numbers I and 3,
which are covered with sculpture reliefS, showing the Buddha's life and
previous incarnations, were added in. the Andhra period from 72 to 25 B.O.
The stones of the procession path, balustrade, and the gateways are gifts
from devotees whose names are written in Brahmi characters. Each gateway
is composed of two square pillars surmounted by capitals supported by
a structure of three architraves with volute ends.
FRUIT-PLANTS
A number of fruit-plants are shown in sculptures from Bharhut. They
include plantain (Musa paradisiaca)~ mango (Mangiftra indica), jack-fruit
(Artocarpus hoterophylZus) and grapevines (Fig. 179)_ Mango seerns to be
the favourite fruit and, apart from trees, the fruit~bearing branches are
llThapa:x:, R. A. History of India, p. S8
3Marsball_ Th6 Monuments of SaMhi
$82 A HISTORY OF AGRIOULTURE IN INDIA
4
6
Fig. 119. Fruit-plants shown in sculptures from Bharbut, second century B.C. and Sanchi,
first century B.C. 1, Plantain (Musa paradisiaca), Sanchij 2, Mapgo (Mangife,.a indica), Samhi; 3,
Mango bunch with leavell, Sanchi; 4, Mango fruits and leaves,Iharhutj 5, A parrot carrying
a b\lncll of gtapes (Vitis vinjf8To). Sanchi; 6, A grapevine bearing bunches, Bharhutj 7,
Jackfrujt (Arlocarpus heterop~)'Uus), Bharhut
(After R.V. Sitholey)
ASORA PROMOTES ARBORICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE 383
also depicted both at Bharhut and Sanchi. The Yakshi standing under
a fruiting mango-tree which decorates a gateway to Stupa I at Sanchi is a
masterpiece of Indian sculpture (Fig. 181). 'Swaying gracefully from a
branch ofa mango-tree, the vrikshaka is singularly beautiful', says Marshall.
'Holding with both hands to the arching bough of a mango-tree, the
j'alabhanjika ucurves the woodbine of her body" in an attitude which brings
out her breasts "like urns of gold". Her locks spr~ad out over her back and
are brought up on the crown of her head into a curious top-knot, which may
be compared to the coiffure of the female servants and jungle-dwellers.
Her transparent dhoti is only betrayed by the pleated folds falling at the sides
and drawn up at the back between the legs. Her big earrings are broken,
but the bangles, which load her forearms almost up to the elbow and her
legs almost to the knees and her bead necklace and her girdle of trinkets
lend themselves to detailed study. The type presents a pleasing compromise
between the court lady and the woman of the woods."
The mango (Mangiftra indica) frequently occurs among the sculptures
of Bharhut. In the relief showing presentation of the Jetavana monastery,
a mango-tree is shown. According to the Buddhist legend, the Buddha,
. when he was living in Magadha, received a visit from Anathapindaka, a rich
merchant, who offered the Park of Jetavana to him. It had limpid pools,
luxuriant verdure and countless flowers. In this park, the Buddha gave
discourses to the people.
Grapes (Vitis vinifera) are also depicted both in Sanchi and Bharhut.
In a sculpture from Sanchi, a parrot is shown carrying a bunch of grapes
in its beak (Fig. 179). On a fragment of a railing post from Bharhut, now
in the Allahabad Museum, a grapevine is carved, and both the leaves and
bunches of grapes are shown (Fig.182). The grapevine was growing wild
in Kashmir, North-West Frontier Province and northern Punjab (Vavilov,
1949-50).
PALMS
Different types of palms are depicted in Bharhut and Sanchi. Palmyra

pahn (Borassus flahellifer) is shown on a medallion from Bharhut. It is
a common tree in southern and eastern India, and. the accuracy with
which it is carved shows that the sculptors were acquainted with it. Wild
date-palm (Phoenix zylvestris) is shown in a Sanchi sculpture. A palm,
with a man standing below, is depicted at Besnagar (Fig. 180).
Buddhism spread rapidly in India under the patronage· of Asoka. In
due course, it reached Ceylon, Burma, Thailand, Sumatra, Java, Viet Nam,
China, Korea, Japan, Central Asia, Mongolia and Afghanistan. It had a
humanizing influence on the barbarous tribes in Afghanistan, Central Asia
·Marshall and Foucher, The Monuments qf Sanchi, p. 44

Fig. 180. Palms depicted in Buddhist sculptures. 1, Palmyru·palm (Bomsms /lobelli/or) ,

Bharhut,second century n.c.; 2,A palm, w ith a num standing below, Bc.snagal'; 3, Wild datc-
palm (Plwcrlix s.ylvestris), Sanchi
(After R.v. Sitholey)
and Mongolia. It gave them a new philosophy of life and developed their
moral character. It inspired the great art of Ajanta, whose inl1ucncc
reached Khotan in Central Asia, and Tun Huang in China. It inspired the
world's greatest monument at Borobudur in Java, which is still admired for
its noble sculpture. AboV'e all, it propagated agriculture and love for trees
and gardens.
REFERENOES
MarshalI,J.H. and FOllcher, A. T/l~ Monuments qfSanchi, 2 Vol!!, London, 193:1
Rapson, E.]. (Ed.) Cambridga History ofIlldia, Vol. I, Cam.bridge, 1922
Sastri. K.A.N. and Srinivasachari, G. Advanced History qf India, New Delhi, IH70
Sitholey, R.V. Plants represented in Ancient Indian Sculpture, GeophytoloCY, Vol. 6, No.1,
1972
Thapar, R. History of Inriia, Vol. r, Penguins, 19N
ASOKA PROMOTES RDORIC LTUR.E. ANU It m flCULTURI'_
l'ig. 181. A Yakshi under a mango-tree. StLlpa 1, Sallcili, lirsl crntury D.C.
(Courtesy: Archaeological Survcry of India)
'1Rh ITIS1 OR OF ACRICUL TURE IN INDIA
Fig. 1U2. !\ grnpevillll car v\:d on a fraglllnil or a .n liliug pust , Blial'lilli , S;It 1101 l)isll'i( t , 1\1:,db ya
Pradesh , second century B .C.
(Coul'l,csy: L\lIahabM[ l\fusellm )
CHAPTER 27
FRO},/I SUNGAS TO TI-IE SATAVAI.JANAS AND

I(USHANS
200 B.C. -_. A.D. 300
BRICK~WELr.S ANI) IMPROVED AGRICULTURAL IMl'LEMENTS or' IRON
CULTIVATION OF RICE AND COCONUT PALMS
ASOKA died in 232 D.C. and was followed by a lUlmbcl' of weak successors.
After the: lV1auryans, the Sung-as ruled India. The Snnga Dynasty was
founded by Pnshyalllitra, the Commander-in-Chief 0(' the last Maurya ruler
Brihac1ratba. He moved the capital from Pataliputl'Cl to Malwa. Kalinga
became independent under Kharavela who invaded lvragac1ha and captured
Pataliputra. The Andhras (the Sutavfthanus) occnpied the north of the
peninsula. The southern half of the peninsula was rul(:ci by the Cholas,
Pandyas and Chcras. Northern India was ruled by the] l1elo-Greek kings.
The Sungas rnlcd frOI11 1131 11.0. to 72 B.C. The last Sunga wIer was
Dcval;>huti. Hc was assrtssina tee] lJy Vasudeva, his minister, who flmncled
the Kanva Dynasty. There wetc four Kanva kings who ruled li:om 72 ll.O.
to 27 B.C. Susarman, the last Kanva ruler, was overthrown by the Anc1htas .
When thc Sunga power waned, the Ksbatriya t.ribes or the Punjab,
Hmyana and northern Rajasthan who were living bet.ween the R.avi alia the
Jumna became iudependent aneI set up Republics. Panini describes .them
as professiollnl warriors. Of these, Yaudheyas inlulbitccl th! country bctwecll
the Sulllj and the Jumna, and the Arjutlayanas lived south-west of Mathllra.
These tribes were the ancestors of the Rajputs.
I ' .
INDO-GREF.KS - COINAGE AND SCt.JLPTU~E
In ·250 B.C.; Diodotus, the governor orthe Greek colony 'of 13aclria,
set hiu'lself <l.S an independent ruler. In 190 B.C:., Demetrius invaded 110l~th;_
western. India and conquered 'Taxila. In 175 B.C., Bucralidcs, . the· ruler:
of Bact.r~a, defeated Demetrius and conqLlcrecl the PLUljao. Ik laic,l ,th(;
foundation of the City of Sirlmp near Taxila.. The great.est of the 'J ncin-
Greek ~ings of the Punjab was Menander (180 B.c.-1.6 0 ll.C.), who became
a Buddhist. His capital was at Sagala, the present-day Sialkot. . 'The
Pali "York Milindapanlw (Q}-l cstions of rvfilinda) is j n the fonhi of a
dialogue between Milinda (Mcnandct') and the Buddhist monk Nagascnn.
(Nagaljuna), in which problems of the Buddhist J'clig'ioll are dismissed.
The c11)l11inlon of Mcnamler comprised the central part.s of Alg'hnnisLan,
North-West l"ronticr Province, the l)unjab, Sind, Rajasthan and Kathiawar
and probably wcstern Uttar Pradesh. Coins of MCI~~mclcl' ~U'C :found in
large numben; from Afglw.nistun to thc~ western dislricts of Uttal~ 'PI:aciesh.
Menander died in 130 D.C., mourn'd by the masses, and many cities desired
to get a share of his ashes,
It is the Bactrian Greeks who Orst introduced coins with nanles and
portraits ofthc rulers. The figure of the king on thc obversc and of a deity
01' other symbols on the revers arc ('xecllt cl with a high uegrec of artistic
skill. The credit for i~jecting art into thc coinage of India goes to these
Greek rulers. Theil' coins are infinitely supcl"ior in design to the punch-
marked coins which existed in India in the Mauryan peroid. The foreign
hordes who invaded India, and the Indian rulers adopted the system and
issllcd coins of similar type, though th' exccution is inferior.l
The Indo-Greeks also encouraged sculpture. The northern region
called Gandhal'a, comprised Afghanistan, North-West Frontier Province
and the Potwar plaLeau of the Punjab. Through the medium of sculpture,
the chief events of the life of the Buddha were depicted by the sculptors.
The Gandhara sculpture is Gracco-Rornan in style, and it derived its inspira-
tion from Buddhism. Financial SUppOl't for the construction of stu pas and
monasteries was provided by wealthy rnerchants, and they also commission-
ed sculptors fOl' carving statues of thc Buddha and Bodhisattvas. A nllmbCI'
of stnpas and monast Tics dot the hillsides of Peshawar, Swat, and the
Kabul Valley, The sculptors adapted the (face of Apollo' to represent
the Buddha. Later on, abou t the second century of the Chris tian Era, the real
India.n Buddha image evolved at :M athma. The 1 ndian sculptors of
Mathura and Amaravati, however', adopted Graeeo-Roman drapery from
the Gandhara sculpture f01' theie statu s of the Buddha. Thus the Buddha
imagc is the product of a true cultural fusion b,tween two str'ams )f art,
VIZ. Indian and Graeeo-Roman.
THE SATAVAHAN S (ANDIIRAS); TIll-: HRS'l' OI~NTURY D.C. TO TIU: SECON))

CENTURY OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA
During the first century H.O. to the second century of the Christian
Era, when northern India was ruled by the Indo-Greeks, followed by the
Kushans, the Deccan was ruled by the Brahman Dynasty of Sfttavrlhanas
(Andhras). The coins and inscriptions of the S[Havahanlls are concentrat-
ed in the region around Paithan in the Aurangabad District of Maharashtra.
Gradually, the Siitaviihanas extended thcie power over Kamataka and
Andhra.
The first Sutoviihanas l'uh:1' was Simnka. The third fulct' Satakarni 1
conquered wcstel'n MaLwa. Salakal'ni II conquered eastern Malwa from
the Sungas. The seventh king Hala (A.D. 20-24) is remcmbered as the
author of the SnUasai. Guutamiputl'Cl. Salakal'l1i (A.D. 80-104·) extended
the empire to western Rajaslhan and Vidarbha. Sri Yajna Satakarni
lMajumdar, R.C. Allcie711 ["din, p. 119

SUNGAS, SATAVAIJANAS AND Kl)SIlANS 389
Fig, lin. Coins and sea ls w ith animal and bird 1I10lifs frOlH tIl(' st'contl century to the telllh
century: Tajl row, lift; Vasudeva, Kushau, gold, st'cond CI'IlI Lll'y; lighl, Chandl'agupla I ,
Gllpta, gold , fou!'th centul'Yj Sl'colld row; ldi, KUIIlHl':JgUp tfl I , G upla, pcncock Iype, gold,
fifth ccn ttll'Y ; cCI/Ire, a bull, scal, COl1l'lh CCI It.Ul'Y, Sal)ghol, l'unjah; right , ~(lmuJragupta,
Gupta,goIJ ,foUl,th cen tury; 17lirdrow, fiji, a bull, ~('al, (;lIpta p(Tjoci, fifth C('I J(l.II'Y, Sang hol;
right, an elcph.mt tramplillg a lion, sea l , G upta , sixth century; Bot/om row, lift, Sa~l\l]l1ka.
King of Cauda (celllral Bengal), gold. seven th century; "iglll, a 11Oi',~C a11(1 a Lull, Sllahi
dynasty, Kabul, tenth centUl'Y
(Coul·tcsy: National :r>.1lISClIOl, New Delhi, alld Depart.ment of Archaeology, l'U1ljal,
Government)
390 A HISTORY 0F 1\0 RIUIILTURE IN INDIA
F ig. 134, A mall <mo a woman fl~cdirlg a p:m'nt. Bdow is a hlnssonlillg asoka (Saraca
a.roea). Kushan. first cenllll·Y
( C:ourtt:~Y: lVt a th ura Nl useum)
SUNGAS, SAT AVATIANAS AND KUSHANS 391
(A.D. 165-194) defeated the Sakas and recovered much of the lost territory.
AGRICULTURE
Though iron hoes are known froIll. the third century B.C. in South
India, their number increased substantially in the first and second centuries
of the Christian Era . This increased uum.ber indicates greater agricultural
activIty. The people of the Deccan cultivated cotton, and Andhra was
known for its cotton cloth. According to R.S. Sharma, the art of transplant-
ing rice seedlings was widely practised in the firs t two centuries in the
deltas of the Krishna and the Godavari, which became the rice bowl of South
India,2 Through contact with the north, the Deccanis learnt the use of
bricks and ringwells.
BRAHMINS AS PIONEERS OF PROGRESSIVE AGRICULTURE
The Satavahanas were the first rulers to make land grants to the
Brahmins. Owing to their knowledge of astrology and ability to forecast
rain, the Brahm.ins enjoyed respect among the rural people, BC3iclcs, they
were the educated class of that age, and also pioneers of culture and progres-
sive agriculture in the South. Kosambi states, <The brahmins acted as
pioneers in undeveloped localities; they first brought plough agriculture
to l'eplace slash-and-burn cultivation, 01' food-gathering. New crops,
knowledge of distant markcts, organisation of village settlements and trade
also came with them. As a result, kings or kingS-la-be invited brahrnins,
generally from the distant Gangetic basin, to settle in un-opened localities.
Almost all extant copper plates (which have been discovered all over the
country by the' ton) are charters which- from the fourth century onwards-
record land-grants to brahmins unconnected with any temple. In addi-
tion, every village would set apar t a lot or two of land plus a fixed though
small share of village harvests for the cults and priests, brahmin or not.
Brahmins, however, claimed and generally received exemption from all
taxes; they even clain'1ecl a spcciaHy low rate of interest on loans, and other
privileges. '3
Here a reference to the Saka sataraps of wes tern India is necessary.
The greatest of them was Nahapana. He ruled over Gujarat, Kathiawar,
and northern Maharashtra. His capital was Minnagara, which has been
iden.tified as Dohac1, half.way between Ujjain and Broach. About A.D. 100
Nahapana was dcfeated by Gautamipu tra Satkarni,
COCONUT CULTIVATION ON TIlE WEST COAST
The coconut (COCO,f nucifera) is the most useful of the tropical palms.
2Sharma, R ,S. ATlcilmt Irltiia, p. 100

Tlte Culture and Civilizatioll of Ailciellt India in Historical
DK,Ql.liU)1bi, D.D. OUtlilld) p. 172
The nuts gIve copra, oil, oilcake and fibre. Its juice is converted into
vinegar and toddy. Trunks of mature trees are used as timber for construc-
ting houses, and matted leaves as thatch for roofs. According to Harlan"
the coconut palm is a plant of the South Pacific Islands. The largest produc-
tion of coconuts in the world is in the Philippines, with 3,997 million nuts
from nearly a million hectares (1958). India follows, with. a production
of3,540 million nuts from 0.6 million hectares (1958). Kerab is the largest
producer of coconuts in India, followed by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
'The real cause of development of the west coast was the coconut',
states Kosambi. (Coconut tree, which forms the basis of the whole coastal
cconomy today, seems to be an im.port from Malaysia. It was being propa-
gated on the east coast about the middle of the first century B.C. and reached
the west coast a centUl'Y later. By A.D. 120 the Salea Ushavadata, son of
Dinika and son-in-law of the reigning king Nahapana, began to give away
whole plantations to brahmins, each one containing several thousand coco-
nut trees. Ushavadata was generous to the Buddhists as well, but thcre were
'no cave monasteries on the coast within his reach. The coconut, now to
be found in every Indian ceremony and ritual, was rather poorly known in
many parts of India before the sixth century A.D. This provides a useful
comment upon (timeless and immutable' Indian customs. The wood,
fibre, wine, and other products of this tree arc also of the utmost value;
the nut itse1fprovides 'meat' for cooking and when dried an excellent food
oil, used also for soap-making. The western coastal strip (where the coco-
nut can grow well because of heavy rainfall and 110t climate) could not
have been profitably cleared of its dense forest, let alone settled with its
present crowded population, without this tree and the heavy commodity
production based upon its exploitation in full. The trade up the few passes
of the sheer Deccan scarp gave a longer lease of life to caravans; they took
salt and coconuts up to the plateau to exchange for cloth and metal vessels,
as well as for the grain of the uplands'. 5
KUSHANS
The close of the second century B.C. was a period of great turmoil in
central Asia. On account of a severe drought, the tribes were fighting for
their survival and there was a keen competition for the possession of pas Lurc-
lands. In such a struggle, a tribe known as the Yuch~Chi was pushed
out by the Riung-nu tribe. They, ill their turn, pushed out the Sakas
from Bactria where they settled.
Kushan was the name of one of the five Yueh-Chi suhtribes. About
A.D. 40 arose a leader among the Kushans, Kac1phises I, who conquered the
Kabul Valley and all the area west of the Indus. His successor Kadphises II
"Harlan,J.R. Crops Gild JI;[an, p. 75
'Kosambi, D.D. 11,c Cull"" arid Cillilizatiotl qf An~icJlt India i,~ lfij~9rir;al Outline, p. 189
SUNGAS, SATAVAHANAS AND KUSIIANS 393
,._.--,.' '"!
IRON 0 BJ ECTS
No . 185
'No. 187 No . 188
No . 19 8
, ;';.j V
~-'~~j.
N o.199
' No~ 1 95
I
d
Nq., 20..0 r\i o . 206
F ig. 18:-i. I rOll agricultu ral implements excavated froUl the Hhh
mound , Tax ila. 300 lI.C. to A .D. lOO; W2- 190 an: hoes with chisel-
like blades; 191-197 art! spuds with broad bla les like th atoCkhwj!a;
1Sl13, a tru e spad(~; 200-202 arc weeding-forks; 20:3-206 . 11" sickles
(From Taxila , VoLIII, h y Sil' John Marsha ll)
,\ llIS'l'Ul<t.Y W' .\l:H.IClILT( I RE TN IJ' JH A
STONE OBJECTS
p No . 42
q '" No . 5~ 1 No . 5n t N o,61
Fig . l flli. Pi, ( It sloI,..' , qU,T.IS :Jllcl tllI.ll" I·' , I','sll, ~ d1. d 1I ~ IIl ' Ull's, glll,dillg-
mi ll s frolll I.h<: 131Ii1' .11)(III1HI alHI Sirkap, :.lOll H.C ; til . 11 . 100
(1:>'1'0111 7a~:jlj/ , \'u1.11I, Ly Sir John bJ', lwll )
sl 'Nt:AS, Si\'I'i\VAIIAN.\S ..\ ND l{t 'S II :\t\~ :Fl;i
J1ig. 187. t\ farmer ploughing. 'J'I)f' bullocks an' or !Ill' Il:u'ilillil brn'd. allcJ lht, typt' 01"
plough is still in uSt' ill Mahal'ashtra , Guudbur<l relief', 200 A,U.
(Oourtcsy: Lahore Museum)
Fig. 1813, ')tough from Solan, I1im:I '!lnl l'r"desh . It J't'M'l\,hl,'s Ill .. plllugh shuwJI
in the Gandhara rclief above
A HISTORY OV AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
I
.1
Fig. 18!). jl'On siddcs,uiamc ll'r 29.2 cnl, Ih~ h.·on hllnkhm, 54· em inlcngth, B8.9 em in
width, and iron trowels. u~..:d ;\S khwjJis, 200 A.P.
(Courtesy: Sanchi Museum)
SUNGAS, SATAVAHANAS AND KUSHANS 397
advanced up to Mathura. A large number of gold and copper coins

were issued in his l'eign, which bcar the image of Shiva and his Nand.i bull.
The Kushans were the first rulers of India to issue gold coins on a large scale
and there were no silver coins. Gold was received through trade with the
Roman Empire. The Kushan EU1.pire was situated between the Chinese
and Roman Enl.pires and controlled the Silk Route. Another source of
gold was the Altai Mountains in central Asia.
K.anishka, the greatest of K.ushan rulers, ascended the throne A.D.
78. The Saka Era was started by him. His capital was P Ul'ushapur
(Peshawar) in Gandhara and he ruled over Kashmir, the Punj:t.b, Sin.d,
Malwa, and the Gangetic Valley up to Patna. He sUlumonecl the Fourth
Buddhist Council at Jalandhara which prepared an encydop::tcdi a of
Buddhist philosophy.
The successors of Kanishka were Huvishka (A.D. 107~133) and
Vasudeva (A.D. 152 ~176 ). Vasudeva's coins bear the image of Shiva, holding
a trident, standing ncar the Nandi bull (Fig. 183 tOJ) row, lift).
YAKsrlTS (TREE- GODDESSES )

SMALL POPULATION AND VAST LAND RESOURCES
Under the patronage of the Kushan rulers, a school ofsculptnre develop-

ed at Mathura whose favourite theme is depiction of Yaksltis. The 'Yaksltis
or vrikslzakas are auspicious emblems of vegetative fertility. The famous
salablwnjika pose in which a woman is shown plll king flowers of a sal
tree derives f1'On1. the nativity legend of the Buddha in the Lumbini Garden,
where Mayadevi, supported by the sal-tree, stretching her arm to catch the
flowers, delivers the holy child. This seems to have provided the basis
for the woman and tree motifs which are so frequenLly seen in the Buddhist
sculptures of Bharhut, S·:t llchi, Aluaravati and Mathura. FI'arn its associa-
tion with the birth of the Buddha, the vrikshaka motif became a symbol of
fertility and women prayed to it for gIns of children. 'The Nfa/uzMwrata
also speaks of dryads (Vrikshaka and Vrikshi) as "goddesses bom in trees,
to be worshipped by those desiring children". 6 In the ancient eit.y of Sr:wasti,
Salabhanjika festival was celebrated w.ith greC\.t zeal whcn the sal-trees
flowered. The s{ll~trees in full blossom wcre worshippped for oflspring.
'Girls and young women arc regarded as human cm.hoc.1irnen t.s of the
maternal energy ofnalure', ohserves Zilll.Iller. They are diminutive d( ublcs
of the great 110thcr of all life> vessels of fertility, life in full sap, potential
sources of llew olTspring·. By touching and kicking the tree they transfer
into it their potency, and enable it to bring forth b10sso1'n and fru it. Hence,
the godcJess who represents the life energy amI. fCl'tiliLy of th e tree is hel'self
1110st aptly visualized in this magic posture of fertilization.?
·Coomaraswamy, A. I-lis{OIY of Iwliall alld Illdonesian Art. p. G'i
'Zimmer. II .Myth tid !:i'ymbQls i/l!m!ian A rt am/ Civilization. p. G9
During the Kushan age, the population of India was comparatively

small an.d there were vast areas covered with forests which could be reclaim-
ed. Hence more people were required. This explains the popularity of
Yakshi cult and its necessity.
The woman and the tree motiffouncl its most elegant expression in red
sandstone Mathura sculptures of the Kushan period. The leaves and
flowers of asoka (Saraca aSJca) (S. indica), were the m03t popular motif with
the Mathura sculptors. We find numerous sculptures in the Mathura
and Lucknow museums where the (lsoka is shown associated with female
figures. These are not dancing-girls, but vt'iksha devatas, symbols of ferLility,
who were worshipped for gifts of children by childless women. On a railing
pillar we see a warnan standing under a flowering asoka-tree. A beautiful
woman, with a happy face standing cross-legged on a crouching dwarf,
fastens a lotus garland on her head. Behind her we see an exquis itely
eat'vec1 branch. of asoka. In another l\.1athul'a sculpture, we see a couple
fceding a parrot, and below the window are the leaves and flowers of asoka,
which arc so true to nature (hg. 184).
Apart from asoka, we find foul' other trces depicted in these sculptures.
In one of these we see a woman under a kadamba tree (AntllOcejJlwlus chi1lensis)
(A. indicus), holding a sword touching its ball-like flowers. The broad
ovate leaves, with conspicuously marked venation and globose inHorescence,
are prominent characters of the kadamba, and they have been faithfu lly
carved by the sculptor.
Their third unidentified tree which we find appears to be champak
(Michelia champaca) and forms a background to a beautiful female figure
wearing a peculiar head-dress.
The fourth tree, with leaves like those of asoka an.d cO:l1pal'ativcly small
axillary flowers, which we find in the sculpture behin.d the W0:n:l.l1 treadlOg
over the c1warf~ resembles Mesuaferrea J the well-known NRgsura of Bengal
and Assam. Its linear-lanceolate, acuIn.inate, drooping opposite leaves, with
short peduncles and axillary solitary flowers, rescmhlc those of M esltafirrea,
rather than of any other Indian tree. Mesuafcl'rea, with its strikingly bcauti-
fulleaves and highly fragrant flowers, must have been as popular in ancient
India as it is now in Bengal and Assam.
The fifth tree in Kushan sculpture is possibly Ixora arb01·ea (I. parvijlora).
We find it sc ulp tured behind a woman carrying a basket.
All these trees grow in humid tropical arcas of India. Their presence
at Mathura indicates that in the Kushan perioel this region had a higher
rainfall.
TEMPLE GARDENS
The Buddhist priests planted groves of flowering trees around their

monasteries . They had plenty of leisure, and they lived in peaceful
SUNGAS, S,"L\\,AlIAN1\S ,\ N lJ Kl JS IIANS
Fig. 190, TOj), B hakhm' a sCl'a pI'r in common nsf' in the bl ack-cotton-soil areas of Mad1 1yn
Pradesh; Bot/o/ll, A close.' view of the bha"hal'
-l00 A H1STORY OF AGRICLlLT1JRE IN INDIA
Fig. 191. JUack-pepper (Piper nigrum) was the favourite ~pir.c of Indians till the
Portuguese introduced red-peppel' (CaJJsicu1ll .fru/escc/ls) ii'()Jl1 l'('ru , South America ,
in the sixteenth centlu·y. Black-peppel' i~ grown in Kt'I'OII", tl'ain<'d on posts or
EIJ,tllrillll v(lricg(l/(l vro r. Qrie.nla[is
Fig. 192. 'Vomm drying berries of bJack-pepplT ill Kt'raJa

SUNGAS, SATAVAIIANAS AND KUSITANS 401
surroundings conducive t.o tranquility. Such conditions are ideal for

the craft of gardening. In fact, the evolution of gardening IS int.imately
associated with Buddhist temples and monasteries.
ACRlm)l~T[JRE
Brick-wells. The me ofkiln-bnrnt bricks became popular in the Kushan

period. In the sites which have been excavated in northern India, the use
of kiln-burnt bricks for floors ancI ti les for Iloors and roofs is comrnon. The
Kushan bricks [rom Sanghol in the Punjab arc large, 32 X 20 centimetres.
and 6 to 8 centimetres thick. An agricultural innovation which can be
attributed to the K.ushans is the construclion of brick-wells, which wen:
used fot' inigation.
l-Iorser. The Kushans used ridjng horses 011 a large scaie. In sculp-
tures of the second centm'y of the Christian Era, ricling-ho"ses are d epicted
with saddles and reins, t houg'h thcre arc no stirrups. The cady stiri'up was
possibly a rope with a. loop.
The IIariana Cattle. 1\ Ganclhara rcl i el~ now in the Lahore MUS(; I1 Ul.
shows a farmer ploughing a field. The bullocks arc humped and arc of the
Hariana breed. The plough is heavy and resembles a type of plollgh s till
used in the Solan area of Himachal Pradesh (Figs 187 and lH8), Sirnilar
ploughs are also in usc in the Junnar area of Maharashtra.
AGRICULTURAL IMPLgMENTS OF IRON
Taxila) ,ZOO B.C-A.D. ,zOO. Troll. technology made g"eeat pl'og['exs in the
age of Satavahanas and Kushans. Indian il'OU and steel weapons and
cutlery were exported to western Asia where they enjoyed high esteem. In
India it led to the manufacture of sturdy agricultural implements. A number
of iron agricltltural implements were recovered from the Bhir rnound at
Taxila. These include a variety of hoes with length varying from 18 LO 30
centimetres, seven spuds, 15.5 to 18 centimetres in length, and five sickles.
One sickle had a curvecl blade and the other a straight blade anti a curved
handle. The length of the blades varied from 12.5 to 113 centimelres.
True spades were also discovered which arc superior in design LO thoSt~
currently in use in rural India (Fig. 185). The workmanship of thes e il'on
agricultural implements indicates the high level of iron technology in India.
during 300 B.C. to A .n. 100.
Improvement in the quality and strength or iron cbisels and ham.mer::;
lecl to improvement in tIle manufacture of slone obj ' cts, particularly
grinding-mills (chakkis) , which are still used in Indian homes for gri nding-
foodgrains and spices, Now querns and mullers, and pestles and InOl'Lars
could be manufactured with greater case. Apart from these grinding devices,
stone vases and cups of a variety of shapes and designs were manufactured
at Taxila (Fig, 186).
402 A HISTORY OF AORICULTURE IN INDIA
Sallchi-A.ll.200. A number of agricultural implements were dis-

covered from Sanchi in 1920. These implements include a blade-harrow
(bhakhar). sickles with curved blades, and iron trowels which were possibly
used as hoes (Fig. 189). The bhakhar is even now in common use in the
black cotton soil areas of Madhya Pradesh. It shows that an implement
of proved utility continues unchanged over the centurie~.
REFERENOES
Coomaraswamy, A. History oj Indian and Indonesian Art, London, 1927
Dixit,K.N. AgriculturalImplementsinAncientIndia, Jour.U.P.Hist.Soc. Vol.XVlI, 1970
Dodwell, H. H. The Cambridge Shorter Histor,y of India, Cambridge, 1943
Goetz, H. Five Thousand Years if Indian Art, Bombay, 1959
Harlan,].R. Crops and Man, Wisconsin, 1975
Kosambi, D.D. The Culture and Civilization oj Ancient India in Ilistorical Out/hIe, London,
1965
Majumdar, R.O. Ancient India, Delhi, 1960
Marshall,]. Sir, A Guide to Taxi/a, Delhi, 1936
Randhawa, M.S. Gardens through tIle Ages, Delhi, 1976
Randhawa M.S.· Agriculture and Animal Husbandry in India, New Delhi, 1958
Sastri, K.A.N. and Srinivasachal-i, G. Advanced History of India, New Delhi, HI70
Sharma. R.S. Ancient India, New Delhi, 1977
Zimmtr, H. Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization, New York, 1945
CHAPTER 28
THE KINGDOMS OF SOUTH INDIA

PANDYAS, CHERAS AND CHOLAS
FIRST CENTURY OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA TO A.D. 300
CULTIVATION OF RICE, RAGI, SUGARCANE, PEPPER AND TURMERIC
AND
TANK IRRIGATION
THE kingdoms of South India had a histOlY and character of their own.
This was on account of the barrier of thick forests on their northern boundary
which isolated them from northern India. This isolation endowed South
Indian culture with a powerful originality. Broadly, they fall into two
groups, viz. the Tamil group of Pandyas, Cheras, Cholas and Pallavas
and the Deccan group comprising Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas ..
The source of information about the economy and social life of the
Tamil States is Sangam literature which was compiled in the period c. A.D.
300-600. The Sangam was an assembly of Tamil poets held under the
patronage of a Pandya king at Madurai. Another source is Periplus if th8
Erythraean Sea (A.D. 81.96), which informs about the trade between the
Roman Empire and South India. The Greeks of Egypt under the Ptole~
mies of the last three centuries B.C. traded regularly with India, and when
Egypt became a Roman province this commerce was further developed by
the Romans.
In Sangam literature, there are references to substantial buildings.
Burnt bricks and lime were used for the construction of buildings, but it
seems wood was extensively used. The use of wood should not be equated
with primitiveness. Beautiful homes and palaces can be created with the
use of timber, as in Kerala and Japan. The palace at Padmanabha puram
in Kerala is made of timber. It is very much like the Nijo Castle of Kyoto.
From Maturaikkanci we learn that houses were built over the town gates.
Perumpanarrappadai describes a port town with multi-storeyed buildings,
large warehouses; and a tall lighthouse reached by climbing a ladder.
Narrinai refers to a venerable town having shops along streets where many
carts stood, while Nedunalvadai mentions a prosperous old town having
streets broad like a river.l
The most important development of this period is the spread of irrigat-
ed rice cultivation. Most probably it diffused from the adjoining area of
Orissa to the coastal area of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the Iron
Age, about 300 B.a. It meant a secure food supply and probably led to
1Stein, B. Essa)'s on South India, p. 15

404 A HISTORY OF ACRlCUL TURE IN INDIA
a population explosion. It is no accident that the early Tamil kingdoms

were located in deltaic areas of rivers.
The Sangam literature provides information regarding the variolls
occupations followed by the population. Apart from farmers, there were
shepherds, hunters, and fishermen. The village artisans included black-
smiths, carpenters, weavers, leather-workers and salt-makers. In the
towns were .merchants, shippers, customs agents and horse-importers.
The people were entertained by drummers and dancers. The kings were
surrounded by chieftains, warriors, scholars, poets and priests.
The Tamil States were constantly fighting among themselves and nibbl-
ing at each other's territory. It is not their petty wars which are of any
significance. It is their contribution to the agriculture and the culture of
India which is of tremendous importance.
PANDYAS
The Pandya territory occupIed the southernmost and the south-eastern

part of the peninsula, roughly corresponding with the modern districts of
TinneveIly, Ramnad and Madurai. Tambaraparani and Vaigai provided
fertile soil as well as water for irrigating fields. The capital was at Madurai~
the Mathura of the South, which was a religious and literary· centre. Its
population included the Buddhist and Jain monks, who were patronized by
the royal family and rich merchants. The earliest Pandya king about
whom we hear is Nedunjeliyan (A..D. 215). He is described as a performer
of Vedic sacrifices and as a hero of many battles.
THE CHERAS
The Chera country lay to the west and north of that of Pandyas and
roughly corresponds with the present-day Kerala. Its recorded history
begins in the middle of the second century of the Christian Era when
a great battle was fought between the Chera king, Adan I, and a Chola
king. The greatest Chera king was Senguttuvan (A.D. 180). After the
second century of the Christian Era, the Chera power declined.
THE CHOLAS
The Chola kingdom lay to the north-east of the Pandya kingdom,

between the Pennar River and the Velur River. The delta of the Cauvery,
with its moisture and fertile soil, provided an excellent economic base for
the Chola kingdom. The historical period begins in the middle of the
second century of the Christian Era, with the reign of Karikala (A.D. 190).
H.e defeated the combined forces of Cheras and Pandyas. He built the
new capital of Kaveripattanam on the coast. He raided Sri Lanka and
captured 12,000 men .. With this slave labour force, he constructed an
embankment along the Cauvery, 160 kilometres long, to protect the land
THE KINGDOMS OF SOUTH INDIA 405
from floods. He also built a number of irrigation tanks. He promoted

agriculture by clearing forests.
TRADE WITH ROME
In the first century of the Christian Era, the monsoon was discovered.
This discovery facilitated trade between India and the countries under the
occupation of the Romans, viz. Spain, Gaul, Dalmatia, Italy and Egypt.
Roman and Greek merchants visited the ports of southern India in consi-
derable numbers and established themselves in small colonies. They came
in quest of spices and cotton cloth for which South India had become famous
in the ancient world. A Pandyan king sent an embassy to Augustus Caesar
(27 B.O. to A.D. 19). There were Roman warehouses in South India,
and there was also a temple dedicated to Augustus at Cranganore on the
Malabar coast.
Rome received fine cloth, pearls, spices, sandalwood, gems and drugs
from South India. An important evidence for Roman trade with India
is the great number of Roman coins found in South India. The Periplus
states that gold and silver coins were profitably exchanged at Barygaza,
and that in the Tamil country great quantities of coin were imported. The
largest number of Roman coins has been discovered from the Coromandal
coast and. in the Coimbatore and Madura districts. This drain of gold
coins became a source of alarm to the Roman government. Apart from
gold coins it seems that Rome also exported wine. K.V. Raman recovered
a dozen amphorae (two-handled wine containers) from Nattamedu in
Tamil Nadu, some with resin as residue from the wine. 2
The early literature of the Tamils provides a vivid picture of the
activities of the foreign traders. A Tamil poet relates that the large beauti-
ful ships of the Yavanas bring gold to the thriving town of Muchiri
(Muziris) and return laden with pepper. The Periplus states that silk,
tortoise shell, and betel-leaf came to Muchiri from Southeast Asia. s
Poems describe the abodes of the prosperous Yavanas at the mouth of the
Cauvery River, of Yavana mercenaries who guarded the gates of the fort of
Madura and the Tamil king's tent. For the king, they brought costly
vessels of silver, singing boys, and beautiful maidens for the harem.
Periplus then lists the market towns of the Dachinabades (Deccan),
together with their trade and situation. Calliena (Kalyan), he says, was
hostile to Greek ships landing there, and they were escorted to Barygaza.
Farther south, he comes to the Damirica (Tamil country). Of Muziris
(modern Cranganore), he says, «it abounds in ships sent there with cargoes
from Arabia and by the Greeks." He also mentions Nelcynda of the Pand-
2Stein, B. Essays 011 South India, p. 29

8Ibid., p. 16
406 A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE II-f INDIA
yan kingdom, of which the Dravidian equivalent might be Melkynda,

"western kingdom", and its situation is suspected to be somewhere in the
the Cochin backwaters. He says, «There are imported here in the first place
a great quantity of coin, among other things, and exported fine pearls of all
kinds, diamonds, sapphires and tortoise shel1."4
AGRICULTUR:e
Regarding the state of agriculture in Tamil land, Sastri and Srinivasa·

chari observe, 'Cultivable land was abundant and the necessities of life
plentiful. The fertility of the lands watered by the Cauvery is a recurring
theme of Tamil poets. The natural forest produce of Pari's principality
included bamboo, rice, jack-fruit, the valli root, and honey. Ragi, sugarcane,
pepper, turmeric and cotton were cultivated. Society was organized in
castes with habits and traditions of their own; but the population of large
cities and port towns tended to be cosmopolitan."5
During this period we hear for the first time about the cultivation of
tunneric (Curcuma Zonga) and pepper (Piper nigrum). Harlan considers
India and Malaysia as the countries of origin of turmeric. s Known as
haldi in Hindi and manjal in Tamil and Malayalam, turmeric is used as a
condiment in every Indian home. It is mainly grown on the east coast of
India in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, and Tamil Nadu. There is a wild variety
also, Curctmia aromatica, with fragrant stems. The Guntur, Krishna, ani
East and West Godavary districts in Andhra Pradesh arc the main growing
areas. In Tamil Nadu, Trichur, Salem and. Coimbatore are important
turmeric-growing areas.
The pepper plant is indigenous to the forests of Kerala. It has been
cultivated in Kerala from about the second century D.C. Harlan claims
South-East Asia as the place of its origin. In Indonesia also, there is
extensive cultivation of pepper. In Kerala, it is grown below the Western
Ghats. Pepper is a climber which is grown on standards of Erythrina variegata
var. orientalis (Fig. 191). The berries are originally green and when they ripen
they become orange. They are dried in the sun (Fig. 192), and their outer
skin becomes black and assumes the characteristic wrinkled appearance.
As a preservative of food and for flavouring meat, pepper was in great
demand by the Romans.
The poets of the Sangam period (A.D. 300~600) counselled the kings
as to how to store water, enrich the land and improve the conditions of the
people. They emphasized the dignity of labour. The wet lands, as a
geographical division, were called marutham. The people occupying that
'Schoff, W.R. The Periplus of tile Erythraean Sea, p. 208

'Sastri, K.A.N. and Srinivasachari, 0, A"vali~cd Rislo,! of India I P' 179
'HarlanJ J;R. Crops and Mall, p. 7,'j
land division were referred to as ulavar or vellalar. In many places,
marutham was also called panai. Panai means fertile land or rich soil. The
farmers were called kalamar. Kalam means the fields.
IIango Adigal (second century of the Christian Era) said that the farmers
were responsible for the triumphs of the kings and the well-being of the
poor. There were two classes of farmers-the tenants and the vallalas or
landlords. The vallalas had the prerogative for marital alliance with the
royal households.
The val/alas did not plough the land, themselves, but employed labourers
for this purpose. The transplanting and harvesting of paddy and the
digging of root crops were done by women workers. The valla las were, in
fact, only managers and supervisors. This schism between the farmers and
farm labourers is a prominent characteristic of South Indian agriculture
even at present. During the ploughing season, you wo~lld notice a man
with an umbrella (the owner of the land), standing on an embankment,
while the farm workers plough the muddy field.
Rivers such as the Cauvery, the Vaigai and the Palar enriched the
soil of Tamil Nadu. In dry lands, minor millets such as samai and ragi,
and pulses such as lab-lab and Cajanus were cultivated. Eighteen varieties
of cereals and millets were grown. Thirukkural Thiruvalluvar has a separate
chapter on agriculture. 'Agriculture involved l1ard manual labour, yet
it is peerless among all the professions. The farmers are the pivot of civili-
zation'. Valluvar further explained in detail how the farmers were rcspol13i-
ble for the prosperity of the kings. If they were respected and encouraged,
the kings strength and reputation would endure.
The Perumpanatruppadai, another ancient Tamil poem of the Sangam
Age (before the second century of the Christian Era), describes the different
farming operations, viz. ploughing with bullocks, the levelling of land, th.;
transplanting of paddy seedlings, hoeing and weeding, harvesting, transport-
ing the sheaves to the threshing~floor, the threshing of crops by using cattle,
and winnowing.
The transplanting of paddy seedlings was the most important agricul- .
tural operation. Fields were irrigated from lakes and wells. Some farmers irri-
gated their fields by drawing water from the ponds to the accompaniment
of songs. Bullocks were used to draw water from the wells. Thulas were also
In use.
In Pattinappalai of the Sangam Age (before the second century of the
Christian Era) and Chillapat1zikaram (second century of the Christian Era),
descriptions of the various agricultural operations are given. Chillapathi-
karam also speaks of sandal (Santalum album) growing in the Malaya mountain.
This was the name by which Western Ghats were known. According to
the poet's fancy the sandal-trees were covered with serpents. Clzillapathi-
karam further mentions that ships sailed directly from Southeast Asia to the
Chola coast with silk, sandal, camphor and spices. 7 These spices most
likely included cloves, nutmegs, cinnamon, etc., which grow in the Spice
Islands and are even now imported into India.
Jivaga Chinthamani says, 'When there is plentiful rain the peasants are
happy. They hail the rain with shouts of joy, and beating of drums. When
there are breaches in the banks of the river, the people are informed by the
beat of drum, and they rush to the spot and work together to repair the
breach. The wives of the peasants encourage their husbands to work untirin~
gly in the fields by serving liquor to them.
'The land is ploughed with the aid of bullocks and male buffaloes. The
work of transplanting paddy seedlings is done by women. Sugar (jaggery)
is also manufactured by the peasants. As a result of peasants' untiring
work, food is produced in abundance. The peasants help others by liberally
giving them grain. The surplus produce is sent by carts to be sold in
different parts of the country. Carts carrying imported goods are also much
in evidence. Because of this trade the peasants are enriched and live a
happy life.'
In Chillapathikaram 'Nadu Kan Kathai', agricultural operations are thus
described.
"Field labourers, their arms blackened by exposure to sun, came runn-
ing with the farm owners. Their shouts could be heard from distance.
The travellers could also hear the melodies of women singing in drunken
voices. Their broad shoulders and large breasts were soiled with mud.
Having cast away the flowers from their hair, they were sticking the tender
sprouts of rice into the water-soaked ground. These graceful women looked
like bronze statues sprung from the mire of the fields. Then the hymns
sung by the ploughmen were heard. They walked behind their sharp
ploughs, which ripped open the soil. From afar the travellers could hear
the farmers' threshing songs as their bullocks trampled the harvest to
separate the grain from the straw; and the cheers of those who were listen-
ing to mud-soiled drums played by vigorous young minstrels."B
"There was an abundance of necessities of life and a reasonably brisk
inland and maritime trade. The level of material culture was fairly high
and in the spiritual sphere there was occurring a progressive integration
of the new Aryan with the old· pre-Aryan forms and conventions. The
general impression left on the mind by this early Tamil literature is one of
social harmony, general contentment and happiness."!)
'Stein,B. Essays on Soutlt India, p. 16

8Translation provided by Dr Rajammal Devadas
'Sastri, K.A.N. and Srinivasachari, G. AdalJQnced History of India, p. 181
TUE KINGDOMS OF soura INDIA 409
REFERENCES
Harlan,J.R. Crops and Man, Wisconsin, 1975
J airazbhoy, R.A. Persian Influence in Ancient India, Bombay, 1963
Randhawa, M.S. Agriculture and Animal Husbandry in India, New Delhi, 1958
Sastri, K.A.N. and Srinivasachari, G. Advanced History of India, New Delhi, 1970
Schoff, W.H. (Jr) The Periplus of the ElJlthraean Sea, London, 1912
Sharma, R.S. Ancient India, New Delhi, 1977
Stein,B. (Ed.). Essays on South India, NewDelhi, 1976
CHAPTER 29
THE AGE OF THE GUPTAS

A.D. 300 -'-A.D. 550
RENAISSANCE IN ART, LITERATURE AND SCIENCE,.
HIGH LEVEL OF IRON TECHNOLOGY AND PROGRESSIVE AGRICULTURE
THE Gupta Dynasty was founded A.D. 300. The first king is known as
Gupta. His grandson was Chandragupta I (A.D. 320-335), who married
a Lichchhavi princess, Kumaradevi, from Nepal. Some gold coins bear
the figures of both Chandragupta I and Kumaradevi. On the reverse is
goddess Durga seated on a lion.
Samudragupta (A.D. 335-380), the son and successor of Chandragupta I,
was proud of his matrilineal ancestry and described himself as Lichchhavi-
dauhtra, the son of the daughter of the Lichchhavis. This indicates that the
Lichchhavis were held in high esteem in that age. Samudragupta was
a warrior who greatly extended his empire. It included Bengal, Bihar,
Uttar Pradesh, the Punjab, Sind, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh
north of the Narmada (Fig. 193). He also invaded South India, and
captured twelve kings, who were however treated generously and liberated.
In his South India campaign Samudragupta reached Kanchi, the Pallava
capital. This campaign brought the southerners in touch with the nor-
therners and there was intermingling of cultures to the advantage of both.
In Samudragupts's army, horses, which are fast and more easily manoeu-
vrable, became more important than elephants. This is a lesson which was
learnt from the Kushans. He also performed an ashvamedha or horse
sacrifice to proclaim his imperial power. A gold coin issued by him bears
an effigy of a horse standing in front of an altar (Fig. 183, second row, right).
Samudragupta partonized learning and was a musician, and in some of
his· coins he is shown playing a lute. A Buddhist scholar, Vasubandhu, was
his minister.
Chandragupta Vikramaditya (A,D. 3.80-412), the next ruler, conquered
Malwa, Gujarat and Saurashtra. He married his daughter Prabhavati
with Rudrasena II, the Vakataka king of Deccan. In his gold coins he is
represented as a warrior standing, holding a long bow. On the reverse is
a goddess seated on a lion (Fig. 183, first row, right). It was during his
rule that the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Fa-hsien visited India.
Kumaragupta I (A.D. 414-455), who succeeded Ohandragupta
Vikramaditya, also won many victories and performed an ashvamedha. In
his gold coins he is shown feeding a peacock. On the reverse Karttikeya
or Kumara is shown riding a peacock (Fig. 185, second row, lift). The
Mandasor inscription of Kumaragupta and Bandhuvarman, his governor
THE AGE OF THE GUPTAS 411
.f
INDIA
THE GUPTA EMPIRE
AT THE CLOSE OF THE FOURTH C.NTURI'
> ,f
I
I'
S~rpp"ka
,~
"
~ ('~ PALLA VAS ~

~K.nChi. .~
...,.
~.
~ ~
'; '" ____ Ptoba~I. boundorv undor Ch.ndragupta Ii 0
~ ~Q.J,,'r' __ South,," camp,ign 01 Samundrag.pl.
q'r
.•
~
\,
~-_-_-_-_",_!",-_-_,-__-_-_-,_-,~,*,,_.'::::::::::_-_-;.r,..(_-_~_=_-_-,_-.._-__~.'...,..._-_-'-_---_..b:-._-=--~-_-_-:_.-;,7t-----t."r--'--'-',·
Fig. 193. Map showing the Gupta Empire at the close of the fourth century
at Dasapura, records the building of a temple in Dasapura (Mandasor)

by the local guild of silk weavers in A.D. 437-438. This indicates the use
of silk in that age by the richer classes.
During the reign of Kumaragupta, Nalanda became a great Buddhist
University which, apart from provinces of India, attracted scholars from
other countries also.
Skandagupta (A.D. 455-467) succeeded Kumara'gupta I. During his

reign northern India was threatened by the Huns, and he fought many
battles with the Hun hordes. Huns were expert horsemen and excellent
archers, and plagued northern India by their incursions.
The Gupta age was one of a great Brahmanical revival, though Buddhi-
sm also flourished. From the Bhitari inscription We learn about the ins.
tallation of an image of Vishnu by Skandagupta. The Gupta coins bear
the images of Hindu deities Durga and Skanda. Gupta seals bear the
image of Nandi bull (Fig. 183). Nandi is a humped zebu. Apart from
its religious significance, it indicates the esteem in which cattle were held
in the Gupta age.
INDIAN INFLUENCE OVER EAST AsIA
During the Gupta age, the cultural influence of India reached East
Asia. In Burma, Thailand, Malaya, Cambodia, Viet Nam, Java, Sumatra,
Borneo and Bali, flourishing Hindu States arose. The fifth century of the
Christian Era witnessed the golden age of the Gupta Buddhist art in north
Burma. The Ramqyana and the Mahabharata became popular in Java.
Indian missionaries were active in China. It was not a physical invasion,
but a spiritual conquest.
LIFE IN THE GUPTA AGE
The. seals and inscriptions of the Gupta age as well as the coinage
of that age indicate a well-organized Government, which maintained
law and order and people lived peacefully. Both trade and agriculture
flourished.
Fa-hsien, the Chinese scholar~ travelled in India from A.D. 401 to
410. He entered India via the Valley of the Swat and, after passing through
Peshawar and Taxila, travelled through the Gangetic plain and reached
Pataliputra. On his route from the frontier to Pataliputra, he found
Buddhism flourishing in the Indo-Gangetic plain. At Mathura, he found
twenty monasteries, with three thousand monks. The government appeared
to him to be lenient. The people moved about freely without passports.
Taxes were based on the richness of each locality. Soldiers and officials
received their salaries regularly. Offences were punished only by fines;
capital punishment was rare, and even mutilation was confined only to
cases of obstinate rebellion. Public morality was high. Fa-hsien was
not molested anywhere in the course of his long journey in India. In
Magadha, he found many rich towns and there were lodging-houses for
travellers. There were hospitals maintained by the rich. About Indians,
he writes, 'They do not kill animals, and do not drink wine or eat onions
or garlic, there are neither butchers' shops nor taverns in the market
place.'
A RENAISSANOE IN ART, LITERATURE AND SOIENCE
If the degree of development of a culture is judged by the aesthetic

level of the people, we can safely say that the Hindu culture reached its
hey-day in the Gupta age. It is rightly called the Golden Age of India.
The art of sculpture and Sanskrit literature reached high level of develop-
ment. During the Gupta period, the Buddha image reached its perfection
at Mathura and Sarnath, and people could see and feel the Divine in human
form. The elegant Greek drapery was combined with the spiritual calm
of India and a unique synthesis of the West and East was achieved. It
also indicates that it was a period of tolerance and of coexistence between
Buddhism and Hinduism.
The Laws of Manu, and the tales of Panchatantra were written in this
period. During this period, a number of outstanding men floudshed who
added lustre to the annals of India. Varahamihira, the astronomer, lived
at about the close of this period. Aryabhata (b. A.D. 476), the mathemati-
cian and author of the Aryabhatiya, flourished in this age. He explained the
true causes of eclipses of the sun and the moon, and could calculate them
precisely. He was the first to discover that the earth rotates on its ax:is
and moves round the sun. The decimal place-value notation and zero was
in use in India by the fifth century of the Christian Era.
Of the poets and authors of this period, Dandin, Subandhu, Banabhatta
and Kalidasa deserve particular mention. Kalidasa in his Ritusamhara,
'The Pageant of the Seasons', gives charming descriptions of indigenous
beautiful trees ofIndia which flower froin month to month. In his descrip-
tion of spring, he describes the mango-tree bent with clusters of coppery~
red leaves, and their branches covered with light-yellow fragrant blossoms
shaken by the March breezes, whieh kindle the flame of love in the hearts
of women. He describes the asoka-trees, with their graceful drooping
young leaves hanging, like tassels of silk, covered with coral-red blossoms
which make the hearts of young women sasoka (sorrowful). He describes
the jungles of dhak (kimsuka) resembling a blazing fire, making the earth
appear like a newly-wedded bride, with red garments. He aptly compares
the scarlet flowers of dhak with the bright-red beaks of parrots! In his
description of women's toilet, he mentions that they paint their bodies
with the fragrant paste of white sandal and cover their breasts with garlands
of white jasmines, and perfume their hair with champak blossoms. In the
rainy season, they decorate their heads with garlands of kadamba, kesara,
kakubha and kstak flowers.
The murals in the Ajanta caves, the quintessence of the Buddhist art,
which date from 200 B.C. to A.D. 600 (Caves XVI and XVII are attributed
to the last quarter of the fifth century of the Christian Era), not only show
the high level of the art of painting and sculpture attained in that period but
also give us a glimpse of the life of the common people in those times.
Some of these paintings show wreaths of flowers in the hair of women. They
wore garlands round their necks and bracelets of flowers round their arms.
In fact, flowers formed an integral part of their toilet.
SEASONAL FESTIVALS
India enjoyed a long spell of peace under the rule of the Guptas.
People led a happy life and celebrated seasonal festivals with much merri-
ment. The Salabhanjika (Women and Tree) festival was celebrated with
great zeal in the ancient city of Sravasti, which flourished in the present-
day District of Gonda in Uttar Pradesh. The sal-tree in flower is a sight
never to be forgotten. The tree gets covered with scented cream-coloured
flowers in the last week of March, and they fill the forest with fragrance.
The merriest festival in ancient India was the Suvasantaka, the spring
festival celebrated in honour of Kama Deva, the god of love. Dancing,
singing and merry-making were organized in every village, and both men
and women participated. Even princesses and the ladies of the aristocracy
used to dance in public places, and the god Kama Deva was worshipped.
SUl'asantaka survives in the form of Vasant panch ami, which usually falls in the
first week of February, when the sarson flowers.
GARDENS
In the Gupta age, Indians led a happy life. Vatsyayana in his

Kamasutra, the great book of Hin'du aesthetics, written about A.D. 300-400,
describes how they enjoyed civic life. The book has a happy materialistic
outlook with none of the other~worldly pessimism.
Four kinds of gardens are described by Vatsyayana: Pramododyan,
for the enjoyment of kings and queens; Udyan, where the kings passed their
time playing chess with their courtiers, e~oying the dance of danseuses and
the jokes of Court jesters; brikshvatika, where the ministers and courtiers
made merry with courtesans; and nandanvan, dedicated to Lord Indra.
Vatsyayana recommends the building of a house close to a pond with
an udyan (garden) outside. Lilies and lotuses were grown in the pond.
Geese, ducks and swans were ,also kept in these ponds. In the garden
attached to the house, a swing was invariably set up from the thick branches
of a shady neem or a pipal and in the stifling monsoon weather when there was
oppressive heat before the coming of the rains and there was not a breath
of air, these swings were especially popular. The dry and hot May and
June were spent in darkened rooms inside houses, and during the rains,
from July to September, people mostly lived, worked and enjoyed life in
the shade of trees.
A KITCHEN-GARDEN
Describing the duties of a loyal wife and a kitchen·garden, Vatsyayana
THE AGE Oll' THE GUPTAS 415
wrtes: r'A virtuous woman, who has affection for her husband, should act
in conformity with his wishes as if he were a divine being, and with his
consent should take upon herself the whole care of his family. She should
keep the whole house well cleaned, and arrange flowers of various kinds in
different parts of it, and make the floor smooth and polished so as to give the
whole a neat and becoming appearance. She should surround the house
with a garden. In the garden she should plant beds of green vegetables,
bunches of the sugarcane, and clumps of the fig tree, the mustard plant,
the parsley plant, the fennel plant. Clusters of various flowers such as
Trapa bispinosa, the jasmine, Jasminum grandiflorum, the yellow amaranth,
the wild jasmine, Ervatamia [Tabernaemontana] coronaria, the nacfyaworta,
the Cpina rose and others, should likewise be planted, together with the
fragrant grass Cymbopogol! (Andropogon] schoenathus, and the fragrant root of the
plant Vetiveria zizanioides [Andl'opogon muricatus]. She should also have
seats and arbours made in the garden, in the middle of which a well, tank,
or pool should be dug. 1 The gardens were kept alive with parrots, ~nas
and chakoras swinging in cages il'om the branches of trees.
RURAL ECONOMY
R.S. Sharma states that in the Gupta period, land taxes increased in
number, and those on trade and commerce decreased. Probably, the
king collected taxes varying from one-fourth to one-sixth of the produce.
In addition to this, whenever the royal army passed through the country-
side, the local people had to feed it. The peasants had to supply animals,
foodgrains, furniture, etc., for the maintenance of royal officers on duty
in the rural areas. In central and western India, the villagers were also
subjected to forced labour called vishti for serving the royal army and officials.
The village headman managed the village affairs with the assistance
of the elders. With the administration of a village or a small town leading
local elements were associated. No land transactions could be effected
without their consent.
A striking development of the Gupta period, according to Sharma,
was the emergence of the Brahman landlords at the cost of local peasants.
Land grants made to the Brahmans brought virgin lands under cultivation.
But these landlords were imposed from above on the local tribal peasants,
who were reduced to a lower status. In central and western India, the
peasants were also subjected to forced labour. The Brahmans were granted
land free from tax for ever, and they were authorized to collect from the
peasants all the taxes which could have otherwise gone to the emperor.
Royal agents were not permitted to enter the villages granted to the Brah-
1 The Kamasutra ofVatsyV'alla translated by Sir Richard BurtOIl and F.F. Arbuthnot, p. 197
'Sharma, R.S • .1n~iellt India, pp. 130,131, 132
mans. The Brahman land·owners were also empowered to punish criminals.2
AGRICULTURE
Our sources of information about the life of the people and their
agriculture and horticulture in the Gupta age are Vatsyayana's Kamasutra,
Varahamihira's Brhatsamhita, and Amarsimha's Amarakosha. Vatsyayana's
Kamasutra is not only a text on sexology, but also provides information on
gardens. Winternitz suggests its date as the fourth century of the
Christian Era.
Varahamihira was an astronomer, astrologer, and encyclopaedist. He
flourished in the period A.D. 505-587. His Brhatsamhita provides inform-
mation on agriculture, botany and zoology, apart from astronomy, medi-
cine, metallurgy and geography. It describes specific characteristics of
animals and the treatment of plant diseases. The B rhatsamhita, and the
Puranas, particularly the Agnipurana, incidentally deal with the selection of
land, manuring, cultivation, collection and the treatment of seeds, sowing,
planting, reaping and grafting.
The Amarakosha of Amarasimha, a scholar in the court of Chandra-
gupta II, contains information on soil, irrigation and agricultural imple-
ments.
SOIL CLASSIFICATION AND LAND USE
The Amarakosha describes 12 types of land in its chapter on Bhumivarga,

depending upon the fertility of the soil, irrigation and physical characteris-
tics. These are: urvara (fertile), usara (barren), maru (desert), aprahata
(fallow), sadvala (grassy), pankiia (muddy), jaiaprayamanupa (watery), kaccha
(land contiguous to water), sarkara (land full of pebbles and pieces ofHme-
stone), sarkaravati (sandy), nadimatrka (land watered from a river), and
devamatrka (rain-fed). In the Vaisyavarga are mentioned different kinds of
soils and their suitability for the cultivation of specific crops, e.g., ksetram-
rice and corn; Yalrya-barley; taiiinam-sesamum; maudginam-green-gram,
etc. There are also different names for lands ploughed once, two times
aJ,ld three times, and at several stages.
USE OF MANURE
The B rllatsamhita prescribes that seeds which have been properly treated
are to be sown with the addition of pork or venison into the soil (where
previously the sesame crop was raised, dug up and trodden) and sprinkled
daily with water mixed with milk (ksira). It says further, 'To promote
inflorescence and fructification, a mixture of one adhaka (64 paias) of barley
powder, one tola of beef thrown into one drona (256 paias) of water and
standing over seven nights should be poured round the roots of the plant.'
To ensure sprouting, and to promote the luxuriant growth of the stem and
the foliage, the seed should be soaked in an infusion made of paddy powder,
urad, sesame and barley mixed with decomposing flesh, and the whole mass
steamed with the addition of turmeric. For the growth of kapittha (Feronia
limonia) , the seeds should be soaked for a short time in a decoction of
asphota (jasmine), amalaki (Emblica oificinalis), dhava (Grislea tomentosa), v{lsaka
(Justicia adhatoda), vetula (Calamus rotang), suryavalli (Gynandropsis gynandra),
syama (Echites jructescens) and atimuktaka (Aganosma dichotoma) boiled in milk.
The soaked seeds should be dried in the sun and the process is to be repeated
for a month. A circular hole is to be made in the ground (1 cubit in
diameter and 2 cubits in depth), and the milky decoction poured into it.
When it dries up, it is burnt and pasted over with ashes mixed with ghee
and honey. Three inches of soil should now be thrown into it along with
the powder of bean, sesame and barley, and then again three inches of
soil. Finally, washings of fish are to be sprinkled and the mud beaten to a
thick consistency. Now the treated seeds should be placed in
the hole.
According to the Agnipurana, a tree becomes laden with flowers and
fruits by manuring the soil with powdered barley, sesamum and the offal
ofa goat mixed together, and soaked in washings of beef for seven consecutive
nights. A good growth of these is secured by sprinkling the washings of
fish on them.
ADVANCED I:aoN TECHNOLOGY AND MANUFACTUlm OF AGRICULTURAL TOOLS
The iron-pillar standing near the Qutab Minar in Delhi was erected by
Kumaragupta I, A.D. 415, in honour of his father. In spite of the lapse of
so many centuries, the iron of this pillar has not rusted. 'This pillar
measures 7.21 metres (23 feet 8 inches) from the top of the bell capital to the
bottom of the base; and the diameter diminishes from 41.6 cm (16.4
inches) below to 36.6 cm (I2.05 inches) above. The material is pure,
rustless, malleable iron. It was made by some sort of welding process, and
the weight is estimated to exceed six tonnes. V. Ball in his Economic Geology
of India, p. 338, 1st ed., 1881, remarked: 'It is not many years since the
production of such a pillar would have been an impossibility in the largest
foundries of the world, and even now there are comparatively few where
a similar mass of metal could be turned out.'3 Its size and contents indio
cate that iron technology had reached a high level in Gupta rule. The
iron ore from southern Bihar and central India was exploited for the manu~
facture of iron. From iron, weapons as well as agricultural tools were
manufactured on a large scale. It is these agricultural tools and theie use
in the cultivation of land which provided the base for the prosperity of the
people, and ushered in the so-called Golden Age. This also shows that
--------
BGal'ratt, G.T. (Ed.), The Legacyoj India, 1967, p. 338
418 A RISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
Golden Ages are the products of iron tools and a progressive agriculture.
AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS AND ACCESSORIES
The Amarakasha lists a number of agricultural implements, such as

plough (langala J hala), pin of yoke (yugakilaka), shaft of the plough (langala-
danda) , goad (prajana J tadana), harrow (katisa), spade or hoe (khanitra), sickle
(datra J lavitra)J tie for fastening the yoke to the plough (yalra), post for thresh-
ing grain on the floor (medhi), winnowing-basket (surpa) and sieve (chhalani).
IRRIGATION
There is enough evidence to indicate that due recognition was given

to irrigation. Land known as nadi-matrka depended on irrigation from
river water. Water in tanks and pools was used for irrigation in the central
and southern parts of India.
The Naradasmrti states that the erection of a dyke in the middle of
another man's field's was not prohibited in view of the fact that it would be
advantageous for irrigation, whereas the loss is trifling. It states further
that a man with the permission of the owner can restore a decayed dyke,
although without the owner's consent he cannot use it. Narada classifies
the dykes into kheya (which is dug into the soil to drain off excess water) and
bandhya (which is constructed to prevent the water from flowing out),.
CROPS
A number of crops were grown during this period, such as rice, wheat,
barley, peas, lentil, pulses, spices and vegetables. Kalidasa in his Raghu-
liamsa refers to paddy being grown in the fields of Bengal. The varieties
of rice grown included sali, kamala, nivaraJ unccha-paddy and -l:yamaka-paddy,
red rice, yellow rice and hog's rice.... Sali-paddy was grown by trans-
planting seedlings. This means that the tachnique of transplanting was
known to the cultivators. Wheat was grown in the Punjab, Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar, central India and Rajasthan as a winter crop. Of the vegetables
grown, the Amarakosha mentions cucumber, onion, pumpkin and gourd.
Sugarcane was grown in fields close to rice fields; and harveste:l in winter.
Cotton was grown mainly in Saurashtra or Kathiawar. The cultivation of
silk-cotton, flax and hemp was also known. Pepper and cardamom were
grown principally in the southern parts of India, particularly in the valleys _
of the Nilgiris. The other spices grown included mustard, cloves, ginger
and turmeric. Saffron, betel-nut, tamarind, sesamum, linseed, priyangu,
aloe, indigo were also grown. Of the number of fruits grown, mango
was the most popular. Coconut was extensively cultivated in the coastal
areas of Bengal, Orissa and Madras.~
'A Concise Histor,Y oj Science in India, pp. 358,359, 360,361 and 362
The B rhatsamhita mentions the names of some plan ts and method of
their prop~gaion. 'Kathal (Jack-fruit tree), Asoka, Kadali (plantain),
Jambu, Lakoocha, Dadima, Drakshya, Palivata, Vijapura (Matulanga),
Atimukhtaka-these are the plants to be propagated by means of cuttings
besmeared with cowdung.'
REFERENCES
Bose, D.M. and others A Concise History a/Science ill India, INSA, New Delhi, 1971
Burton, SirR. and Arbuthnot, F.F. (Trans.), The Kamasutra ojVatsyayana, London, 1963
Dodwell, H.H. (Ed.). The Cambridge Shorter History of India, Cambridge, 1943
Garratt, G.T. (Ed.). The Legacy of India, Oxford, 19S7
Gode, P.K. Studies!'lz Indian Cultural History, Vol. I
Majumdar, R.C. History a/l(l Cullllrs o/ths Indian People, Vol. IH, Bombay, 1970
Reginald Le May. Tho Culture of South-East Asia,. New Delhi, 1962
Sastri, K.A.N. Advanced History of Ifldia, New Delhi, 1970
CHAPTER 30
THE KANAUJ EMPIRE OF HARSHAVARDHANA

A_D. 606-A.D. 647
LIFE OF THE PEOPLE OF INDIA AND THEIR AGRICULTURE,
AS DESCRIBED IN HIUEN TSANG'S SI-TU.Kl
AND BANNS HARSHACHARITA
OUT of the ruins of the Gupta Empire arose four kingdoms in India at the
close of the sixth century of the Christian Era. These kingdoms inclu-
ded the Maitrakas of Valab hi, the Chalukyas of Badami, the Pushpabhutis
of Thanesar and Maukharis of Kanauj. Thanesar is an ancient site on
the Sarasvati in Haryana, well known as the scene of the Mahabharata,
the battle between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. At the close of the
sixth century, Prabhakaravardhana was the ruler of Thanesar. He
successfully fought the Huns and the Kushan king of Gandhara.
Prabhakaravardhana had two sons, Rajyavardhana and Harsha-
vardhana, and a daughter Rajyashri. Rajyashri was married to Graha-
varman, the Maukhari ruler of Kanauj. Grahavarman was slain by the
king of Malwa and his queen Rajyashri was made a prisoner. Rajya-
vardhana defeated the king of Malwa, but was treacherously murdered
by Raja Shashanka of Bengal, who was an ally of the king of Malwa. It
was owing to these circumstances that Harshavardhana became the ruler
of Thanesar. A great meeting of the nobles of Kanauj invited him to
accept the throne of Kanauj. He accepted the request and moved his
capital from Thanesar to Kanauj.
Harsha spent the early years of his reign in campaigning the country
with an army of five thousand elephants, twenty thousand horses and
fifty thousand infantry. Pedigree horses were imported for Harsha's cava-
lry from Vanayu (Waziristan), Aratta (Vahika or Punjab), Kamboja
(Pamir region), Bharadvaja (northern Gadhwal), Sindhu~desa (Sindh
Doab). and Parasika (Sassanian Iran). Bana mentions horses of six different
colours in the King's stables. The tanagana type of horses, famous for their
smooth and steady gait, are believed to have been obtained from northern
Gadhwal. Their riders, the khakkatasJ have been identified with an ancient
tribe of the central Punjab. Bana refers to horses of especially good breeds
and describes their build, habits, and distinguishing features. l Horses
were maintained by the feudal chiefs, who brought them to the battle-
field along with their soldiers. These feudal chiefs were rewarded by grants
of land. The elephants were not unharnessed nor the soldiers unhelmeted
IDevahuti, P. Harsha, a Political Study, p. 190

THE KANAUJ EMPIRE OF HARSHAVARDHANA 421
for six years, during which period Harsha conquered the Punjab,
Kanyakubja, Gauda (Bengal), Mithila and Orissa. Malwa, Gujarat
and Kathiawar were also included in his kingdom. His advance to the
Deccan was checked, A.D. 620, by the Chalukya king, Pulakesin II.
Jalandhar in the Punjab was the boundary of Harsha's empire in the north,
and Ganjam in the east, and the Narmada in the south.
Sanskrit replaced Prakrit, and was the language of religion, ritual,
literature and science. The Mahabharata, the RamayanaJ and the Puranas
were popular throughout the country. As K. M. Munshi observes, 'The
leading role as a highly trained and purposive agency in integration was
played by Brahmanas: men of learning and teachers; literary men and
religious preceptors; 'svamins' who specialised in the sacrificial lore;
the Pasupatacharyas, who, feared and respected by the people, wielded
vast influence over kings and founded temples and monasteries, all of which
became the centres of the new socio-religious movement. Smarta Brah-
manas were not only interpreters, commentators and lawyers, but also
expounders of Dharma. The influence of the Brahmanas was felt through-
out the country. They slowly reclaimed and raised millions of backward
people. Under their inspiration, communities were uplifted and the
cultural and spiritual elevation of the individual secured.'a
Our sources of information on the life of Indians and their agriculturo
in the seventh century of the Christian Era are Si-yu-ki, the travelogue of
Hiuen Tsang, and Harshacharita, a biography of Harsha by his court poet
Banabhatta.
Hiuen Tsang (also known as Hsuan-tsang and Yuan~Chwang), the
Chinese scholar, came to India in 630 during the reign of Harsha. Leavim,
Loyang in 628, he passed through Turfan, Samarqand and Bamiyan. He
visited Kashmir and Kulu in the north. He also travelled to Buddhist
pilgrimage centres, viz. Kapilavasthu, Pataliputra, Nalanda, and Bodh·
gaya. He paid a visit to Nasik and from there came to Mathura. He
resided in Nalanda on different occasions for about two years. He
remained in India for about thirteen years (A.D. 630-643). Never before
was such an arduous journey performed by any traveller with such
meagre resources. He came in search of Buddhist texts and it is his faith
which kept him inspired and enabled him to bear the rigours of the journey
through pathless deserts and wild mountains. He left India with a large
number of books on Buddhism and reached China in 645. He was honou-
re.d by the Emperor of China. He left an account of his travels in a book
entitled Si-yu-ki. He was perceptive and his observations on places, people
and plants are of great value as a contemporary record.
An account of the material condition of the Indians in the seventh
·Majumdar, R.C. (Ed.), TI,e History and Culture of the Indjan People: The C/assi~al Age. p. xxi
422 A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN lNDIA
century is provided by Hiuen Tsang. The towns and villages of Gandhara

lay desolate due to the ravages of the Huns. The belt of the country below
the Nepal hills comprising the ancient cities of Sravasti, KapiIavastu, Rama-
grama and Kusinagara lay deserted and was the haunt of robbers and wild
beasts. The tract of country along the east coast comprising Kalinga,
Dhanakataka and Chola was thinly populated. The last region was COve-
red with jungle. Great forests extended over the territory to the east of
Takka as well as to the south-east of Maharashtra. But the greater part
of the country, particularly the Indo-Gangetic plain, undoubtedly enjoyed
prosperity. This is proved by the pilgrim's reference to the luxurious
dresses of the people in certain tracts and the number of rich families in
other regions. Above all, the general prevalence of peace and prosperity
is indicated by the rich specimens of architecture, sculpture and painting.
NALANDA UNIVERSITY
One of the most interesting accounts of Hiuen Tsang's travels is a descrip-

tion of the famous seat oflearning at Nalanda in Bihar, which had become an
international centre of Buddhism and attracted Buddhist scholars and monks
from all over Asia. 'The curriculum included grammar, mechanics,
medicine, logic, and metaphysics. Science was well established. Medi-
cine was widely studied and included 'holding the lancet, in cutting, mark-
ing, and piercing with it, in extracting darts, i 0 cleaning wounds, in caus-
ing them to dry up, the application of ointments and in the administration
of emetics, purges, and oily enemas'. Astronomy was far advanced and
the diameter of the world had been calculated. In physics, Brahma-
gupta (A.D. 628) had already, anticipating Newton, arrived at a Law of
Gravity, and the Vaisesika school at an atomic theory.'3
Brahmagupta, renowned mathematician and astronomer, was a native
of Bhillamala, a town between Multan and Ahilwara. The main topics
dealt with in his Brahmasphuta-Siddhanta are: mean planetary motions, true
planetary motions, problems of time, space and distance, lunar and solar
eclipses, the rising and setting of planets, the moon's cusps and shadows,
and conjunctions of planets. The greatest exponent of Aryabhata's system
of astronomy was Bhaskara I (c, A.D. 629), a contemporary of Brahma~
gupta,'
PEOPLE AND GOVERNMENT
With respect to the ordinary people, Hiuen Tsang observes, 'although

they are naturally light-minded, yet they are upright and honourable.
In. money matters they are without craft, and in administering justice
'Edwardes, M, A History of [naia-From the Earliest Times to the Present Day, p. 84

'Bose, n.M. (C. Ed.), A Contise History of Sciencein India, pp. 95, 96
THE KANAUJ EMPlnE OF HAnSHAVARDHANA 423
they are considerate. They dread the retribution of another state of
existence, and make light of the things of the present world. They are not
deceitful or treacherous in their conduct and are faithful to their oaths
and promises, and in their rules of government there is remarkable recti-
tude, while in their behaviour there is much gentleness and sweetness.
With respect to criminals and rebels, these are few in number and only
occasionally troublesome. When the laws are broken or the power of
the ruler violated, then the matter is clearly sifted and the offenders puni-
shed. There is no infliction of corporal punishment; they are simply left
to live and die, and are not counted among men. When the rules of mora-
lity or justice have been violated, or a man is dishonest or wanting in filial
love, his nose or ears are cut off and he is expelled from the city to wander
in the jungle till he dies. For other faults besides these, a small fine is
exacted in lieu of punishment. In investigating crimes, the rod is not used
to extort proofs of guilt. In questioning the accused, if he answers frankly,
his punishment is proportioned accordingly, but if he obstinately denies
his fault, in order to probe the truth to the bottom, trial by ordeal is resor-
ted to.
r As the administration of the governinent is founded on benign princi-
ples, the executive is simple. The families are not entered on registers,
and the people are not subjected to forced labour. The Crown-lands are
divided into four parts. The first is for carrying out the affairs of State;
the second, for paying the ministers and officers of the Crown; the third,
for rewarding men of genius; the fourth, for giving alms to religious com~
munities. In this way, the taxes on the people are light, and the services
required of them are moderate. Every' one keeps his worldly goods in
peace, and all till the soil for their subsistence. Those who cultivate the
royal estates pay a sixth part of their produce as tribute. The merchants
who engage in commerce travel to and fro in pursuit of their calling.
Rivers and toll~bars are opened -for travellers on payment of a small sum.
When the public works require it, labour is exacted but paid for. The
payment is in strict proportion to the work done.'
PEOPLE OF MAGADHA, MALWA, KUTCHH AND SAURASHTRA
Hiuen Tsang made the following observations on the people ofMagadha,

Malwa, Kutchh and Saurashtra:
Magadha and Malwa. 'The soil is rich and fertile, and produces abun-
dant harvests. Shrubs and trees are numerous and flourishing' flowers
and fruits are met with in great quantities. The soil is suitable in an
especial manner for winter wheat. They mostly eat biscuits made of
parched corn-flour. The disposition of the men is virtuous and docile,
and they are, in general, of remarkable intelligence. Their language
is elegant and clear, and their learning is wide and profound.
424 A HISTORY OF AORICULTUR1': IN INDIA
'Two countries in India, on the borders, are remarkable for the great
learning of the people, viz. Malwa on the south-west, and Magadha
on the north-east. In this they esteem virtue and respect politeness (huma-
nity). They are of an intelligent mind and exceedingly studious; neverthe-
less the men of this country are given to heretical belief as well as the true
faith, and so live together.'
Kutchh. 'The population is dense; the quality of gems and precious
substances stored up is very great; the produce of the land is sufficient for
all purposes, yet commerce. is their principal occupation. The soil is salty
and sandy, the fruits and flowers are not plentiful. The country produces
the hu-tsian tree. The leaves of this tree are like those of the Sz'chuen
pepper (Shuh tsiau); it also produces the hiun-lu perfume tree, the leaf of
which is like the thang-li. The climate is warm, windy, and dusty. The
disposition of the people is cold and indifferent. They esteem riches and
despise virtue.'
Saurashtra. <The soil is impregnated with salt; flowers and fruits
are rare. Although the climate is equable, yet there is no cessation of
tempests. The manners of the people are careless and indifferent; their
disposition light and frivolous. They do not love learning and are attached
both to the true faith and also to heretical doctrine.'5
TOWNS AND BUILDINGS
Hiuen Tsang made the following observation bn the towns and villages
of India. "The towns and Villages have inner gates; the walls are wide
and high; the streets and lanes are tortuous, and the roads winding. The
thoroughfares are dirty and the stalls arranged on both sides of the road
with appropriate signs. Butchers, fishers, dancers, executioners, and scav-
engers) and so on, have their abodes without the city. In coming and
going these persons are bound to keep on the left side of the road till
they arrive at their homes. Their houses are surrounded by low walls and
form the suburbs. The. earth being soft and muddy, the walls of the towns
are mostly built of bricks or tiles. The towers on the walls are construc-
ted of wood or bamboo; the houses have balconies and belvederes, which
are made of wood, with a coating ofHme or mortar and covered with tiles.
The different buildings have the same form as those in China: rushes, or
dry branches, or tiles, or boards are used for covering them. The walls
are covered with lime and mud, mixed with cow's dung for purity. At
different seasons they scatter flowers about. Such are some of their different
customs.
"The sangharmas are constructed with extraordinaty skill. A three-
storeyed tower is erected at each of the four angles. The beams and the
aBeal, S. Chinese .Accounts oj India; Vol. II, pp. 452, 453, 456 and 459
projecting heads are carved with great skill in different shapes. The doors,
windows, and the low walls are painted profusely; the monks' cells are
ornamental on the inside and plain on the outside. In the very middle of
the building is the hall, high and wide. There are various storeyed cham-
bers and turrets of different height and shape without any fixed rule. The
doors open towards the east; the royal throne also faces the east.
SEATS, CLOTHING ETC.
"When they sit or rest they all use mats; the royal family and the great
personages and 'assistant officers use mats variously ornamented, but in
size they are the same. The throne of the reigning sovereign is large and
high, and much adorned with precious gems; it is called the Lion-throne
(simhasana). It is covered with extremely fine drapery; the footstool is
adorned with gems. The nobility use beautifully painted and enriched
seats, according to their tastes.
DRESS, HABITS E'l'C.
"Their clothing is not cu t or fashioned i they mostly affect fresh-white

garments; they esteem little those of mixed colour or ornamented. The
men wind their garments round their middle, then gather them under the
armpits, and let them fall down across the body, hanging to the right. The
robes of the women fall down to the ground; they completely cover their
shoulders. They wear a little knot of hair on their crowns, and let the
rest of their hair fall loose. Some of the men cut off their moustaches,
and have other odd customs. On their heads the people wear caps
(crowns), with flower-wreaths and jewelled necklets. Their garments
are made of Kiau-she-ye (kausrya) and of cotton. Kau-she-ye is the pro-
duct of the wild silkworm.
"In North India, where the air is cold, they wear short and close-
fitting garments, like the Hu people. The dress and ornaments worn by
non-believers are varied and mixed. Some wear peacocks' feathers; some
wear as ornaments necklaces made of skull bones (the Kapaladharinas);
some have no clothing, but go naked (Nirgranthas); some wear leaf or bark
garments; some pull out their hair and cut off their moustaches; others
have bushy whiskers and their hair braided on the top of their heads. The
custom is not uniform, and the colour, whether red or white, not constant.
"The Kshatriyas and the Brahmans are cleanly and wholesome in
their dress, and they live in a homely and frugal way. The king of the
country and the great ministers wear garments and ornaments different
in their character. They use flowers for decorating their hair, with
gem-decked caps; they ornament themselves with bracelets and necklaces.
"There are rich merchants who deal exclusively in gold trinkets, and
so on. They mostly go bare-footed; few wear sandals. They stain their
teeth red or black; they bind up their hair and pierce their ears; they
ornament their noses, and have large eyes. Such is their
appearance.
CLEANUNESS, ABLUTIONS ETC.
"They are very particular in their personal cleanliness, and allow no

remissness in this particular. All wash themselves before eating; they never
use that which has been left over (from a former meal); they do not pass
the dishes. Wooden and stone vessels, when used, must be destroyed;
vessels of gold, silver, copper, or iron after each meal must be rubbed and
polished. After eating they cleanse their teeth with a willow stick, and
wash their hands and mouth.
"Until these ablutions are finished they do not touch one another.
Every time they perform the functions of nature they wash their bodies
and use perfumes of sandal~wood or turmeric."6
COTTAGE INDUSTRIES-TEXTILES, LEATHER AND IVORY
In the Harshacharita we find a mention of pulakabandha (gaily coloured

cloth) and puslzpapatta (flowered silk), and bark used by ascetics .. Ajanta
frescoes reveal four distinct weaving techniques, namely gold or silver
brocade, cctie-and~dye work", weaving after separate dyeing of the warp
and the woof, and the spotted muslin.
From a passage in Santideva's Siksha~samuchcho:ya (a work of the
seventh century of the Christian Era) we learn that Banaras retained its
reputation as tpe producer of the best silk garments. A slight reference
in the Harshacharita proves that the kshauma cloth of the Pundra country
was sufficiently well known to find its way into the author's village home.
Hiuen Tsang states that Mathura produced a fine striped variety of cotton
cloth in his time. Indirect evidence of the advanced condition of the
textile industry in Kamarupa is found in the list of presents sent by its King
to Harsha. The list comprised bundle of kshauma, jatipattika (woven silk)
and chitrapata (figured textiles).
'Among the industries dealing with animal products there are two
deserving special mention. As regards the leather industry the Amarakosa
has synonyms for leather~fan, It:ather~bottle for containing oil, leather
shoes and boots, Representations of human or divine figures in leather
boots or shoes are found in the contemporary sculptures and paintings.
As regards ivory work, repeated references are found in the literary works
of this period.'?
-Beal, S. Chinese Accounts oj India, Vol. II, pp. 132, 133

7Majumdar, A.K. (Ed.), The History and Culture of tIle Indian People; The Classical Age, pp.
592. 593, 594
THE KANAUJ EMPIRE OF HARSHA VARDHANA 427
AGRICULTURE
Crops. Hiuen Tsang also mentions the characteristic products of the
regions visited by him. From his account, it appears that cereals like
wheat, rice and millets and fruits were extensively cultivated. He speci.
fically mentions a dozen states which were remarkable for their fertile
soil, good farming and rich crops. In Poonch and Mathura, fruits were
grown in orchards adjoining homesteads. Paryatra (Bairat) produced a
variety of rice which was ready for harvesting in sixty days while Magadha
grew another variety with large grains of extraordinary fragrance which
was called 'rice for grandees.'
Shaman Hwui Li, the disciple of Hiuen Tsang, referrring to his guru's
residence at Nalanda monastery, states, 'After this he went to reside in a
dwelling to the north of the abode of Dharmpala Bodhisattva, where he
was provided with every sort of charitable offering. Each day he received
120 jambiras, 20 pin~long-sten (puga, arecanut), 20 tan~k'an (nutmegs), an
ounce (tael) of camphor and a ching (peck) of Mahasali rice. This rice
is as large as the black bean and when cooked is aromatic and shining,
like no other rice at all. It grows only in Magadha, and nowhere else.
It is offered only to the King or to religious persons of great distinction
and hence the name Kung-ta-jin~mai (i.e. rice offered to the great house-
holder).'s
Fruit Plants. The Amala fruit (Ngan-mi-Io), the Madhuka fruit
(Mo-tu-kia), the Bhadra fruit (po-ta-Io), the Kapittha fruit (kie-pi-ta), the
Mocha fruit (Mau~che), the Narikela fruit (Na-li-ki-lo), the Panasa fruit
(Panna-so). It would be difficult to enumerate all the kinds of fruits; we
have briefly named those most esteemed by the people. As for the date
(Tsau), the chestnut (Lih), the loquat (P'i), and the persimmon (Thi) they
are not known. The pear (Li), the wild plum (Nai» the peach (T'au),
the apricot (Hand or Mui), the grape (Po~tau)., etc., these all have been
brought from the country of Kashmir, and are found growing on every
side. Pomegranates and sweet oranges are grown everywhere.
Vegetables. In cultivating the land, those whose duty is to sow and
reap, plough and harrow (weed), and plant according to the season; and
after their labour they rest a while. With respect to edible herbs and
plants, we may name ginger and mustard, melons and pumpkins, the Heun-
10 (Kandu?) plant, and others. Onions and garlic are little grown; and
few persons eat them; if anyone uses them for food, they are expelled
beyond the walls of the town.
The most usual food is milk, butter, cream, soft sugar, sugar-candy,
the oil of the mustard-seed; and all sorts of cakes made of corn are used
as food. Fish, mutton, gazelle, and deer they eat generally fresh.
BGode, P.K. Studies in Indian Cultural History, Vol. I, p. 260

428 A HISTORY OF AGRIOULTURE IN INDIA
UTENSILS
They have many vessels made of dried clay; they seldom use red copper
vessels: they eat from one vessel, mixing all sorts of condiments together,
which they take up with their fingers. They have no spoons or cups, and
in short no sort of chopstick.
DRINKS
With respect to the different kinds of wine and liquors, there are
various sorts. The juice of the grape and sugarcane, these are used by
the Kshattriyas as drink; the Vaisyas use strong fermented drinks; the
Sramans anel Brahmans drink a sort of syrup made from the grape or
sugarcane, but not of the nature of fermented wine.
LAND REVENUE ADMINISTRATION
Commenting on administration and land revenue Hiuen Tsang ob-

serves, "As the government is tolerant, administrative duties are simple.
There is no registration of households, nor is there corvee for individuals.
Royal land is divided generally into four parts. .. (for defraying various
expenses). For this reason, tax and corvee are light, and the people are
happy to follow the calling of their forefathers. Those who work as
tenant farmers on the royal estate hotd land in proportion to the number
of persons in the family, and they pay a tax of one part in SiX."1
BANA'S OBSERVATIONS ON AGRICULTURE
IN HARSHACH..,6.lUTA
Bana's Harshacharita provides a vivid picture of Indian society, manners
and customs, climate, crops, ornamental plants and domestic animals.
These are based on inside knowledge of a native with a keen sense of
observation.
AUTUMN
Bana thus describes autumn, when the rains stop and paddy ripens.
tIt was the beginning of autumn, when the clouds are thinned, when the
cataka is distressed, when the kadamba duck gives voice-the season deadly
to frogs, robbing the peacock of its pride. Then the caravans of ha1[lsas
are welcomed back, the sky is like a whetted sword, the sun brilliant,
the moon at her clearest, tender the array of stars. The rainbow of Indra
fades, the girdling lightning is at rest, the waters run hued like lapis lazuli,
the clouds rolling light as mists leave Indra unemployed. Then closes the
Nipa, the Kutaja has no flower; budless is the plantain, soft the red lotus, the
blue lotus exudes honey; the water~1i1y is a joy, the nights are cool with
-Beal, S. Chinm Accounts oj India, Vol. II, p. 143

the CephalikaJ the jasmine becomes fragrant; the ten regions are all ablaze
with opening night lotuses, grey are the winds with Saptacchada pollen, lovely
clustering Bandhukas form an unexpected evening glow. The horses have
undergone lustration, the elephants are wild, the herds of oxen intoxi~
cated with ferocity. The range of mud diminishes, young sand isles bud
forth by the river banks. The wild rice is parched to ripeness, the pollen
is formed in the Priyangu blossoms, the cucumber's skin is hardened, and
the reed grass smiles with flowers.'
PRODUCTS OF ASSAM
Bana describes in detail the presents sent to Harsha by the heir

apparent of Assam through a messenger, Hamsavega by name. The king
inspected an elaborate umbrella brought by the messenger. Bana states,
(This having been first inspected by the king, the servants in due order
displayed the remaining presents. Among them were famous ornaments
inherited from Bhagadatta and other renowned kings, ornaments which
crimsoned the heavenly spaces with the light of the finest gems: the prime
of sheeny crest jewels: pearl necklaces: silken towels, pure as the autumn
moon's light, rolled up in baskets of variously coloured reeds: quantities
of pearl, shell, sapphire, and other drinking vessels, embossed by skilful
artists: loads of Kardaranga leather bucklers with charming borders,
bright gold-leaf work winding about them, and cases to preserve their
colour: soft loin-clothes smooth as birch bark: pillows of samuruka leatht:r~
and other kinds of smooth figured textures: cane stools with the bark yellow
as the ear of millet: volumes of fine writing with leaves made from aloe
bark and of the hue of the ripe pink cucumber: luscious milky betel nut
fruit, hanging from its sprays and green as young harita doves; thick bamboo
tubes containing mango sap and black aloes oil, and fenced round with
sheaths of Kapotika leaves, tawny as an angry ape's cheeks: bundles con-
tained in sacks of woven silk and consisting of black aloe dark as pounded
collyrium, Go(!ir~a sandal stealing the fiercest inflammation away, camphor
cool, pure, and white as bits of ice, scent bags of musk oxen, Kakkola sprays,
clove flower bunches, an:! nutmeg clusters, all bristling with masses of ripe
fruit: cups of ullaka, diffusing a fragrance of sweetest wine: heaps of black
and white chowries: carved boxes of panels for painting, with brushes
and gourds attached to hold the paints: curious pairs of Kinnaras,
ourang-outangs, jivanjivaka birds, and mermen, with necks bound
in golden fetters: musk deer scenting the space all round them with
their perfume: female chamara deer, used to running about the house:
parrots, carikas, and other birds enclosed in gold-painted bamboo cages
and chattering copious wit: partridges in cages of coral: and rings of
hippopotamus ivory, encrusted with rows of huge pearls from the brows
of elephants.'
THE ECONOMY of A FOREST SETTLEMENT IN CENTRAL INDIA

Harsha had marched into Central India to recover his sister, Raj~
yashri. Bana describes in detail the economy of a forest village in the
black cotton soil region of Madhya Pradesh. Bana states, 'The next day
he set out with the horse in search of his sister, and in a comparatively few
days' march reached the Vindhya forest. Entering, he saw while still at
some distance a forest settlement, distinguished by woodland districts
turned grey by the smoke from granaries of wild grain in which heaps of
burning $a.,tika chaff sent up ablaze. Wherein were huge banyans,
encircled with cowpens formed of a quantity of dry branches; tiger~traps,
constructed in fury at the slaughter of young calves; zealous foresters
violently seizing the axes of trespassing wood cutters; and Durga arbours
built of tree clumps in the thickets. The outskirts being for the most part
forest, many parcels of rice-land, thrcshing~ground, and tilth were being
apportioned by small farmers, and that with no little vigour of language,
since it was mainly spade culture and they were anxious for the support
of their falililies. No great amount of coming and going tramped the earth
owing to the difficulty of ploughing the sparsely scattere::l fields covere.:l
with /(aca grass, with their few clear spaces, their black soil stiff as black
iron, the branches bursting from the tree trunks set up here and there,
their growths of impenetrable Cyamaka, their wealth of AlambusaJ and their
Kokilaksa bushes not yet cleared away. Near the tillage scaffolds cons-
tructed above ground suggested incursions of wild beasts.
tIn every direction at the entrance to the forests were drinking
arbours made of wayside trees, which by their coolness seemed to dispel
the summer heat: arbours, where the shade was dappled by fresh shoots
made grey by the dust of travellers' stamping feet, where were Nagasphuta
bushes- planted in the vicinity of freshly dug tanks bedecked with bunches
of Sal flowers e'asiIy obtained from the woods, tiny huts formed of close-
woven wattles, heaps of crocks dotted with meal and encircled by twisted
braids of flies, stones of rose-apples (jamun) which travelling folk had
eaten scattered over the ground about them, masses of Dhuli-Kadamba
flowers with the pollen formed, wooden stands surmounted by an array of
bristling water jars to steal away thirst, cool porous vessels with dripping
bases for allaying weariness, pitchers black with moist aquatic plants for
the purpose of keeping the water cold, bits of pink gravel taken from ewers
to cool the air, cups having pink flowers tied by straw whisps about their
necks, tree trunks bristling with bunches of juicy young mango fruit for-
bidden to wither by bundles of dew-besprent twigs, and successive troops
of resting pilgrims drinking the water.
(In other places again blacksmiths were almost intensifying the heat
by burning heaps of wood for charcoal. On every side the prospect was
filled with the inhabitants of the district, who dwelt in the surrounding
THE KANAUJ EMPIRE OF EARSHAVARDHANA 431
country, entering woods to collect timber and enveloped in the provisions

guarded for them by old men stationed in the hamlet houses of the
vicinity. Their bodies they had anointed to prepare themselves for their
hard sylvan toils. On their shoulders were set strong axes, and about
their necks hung their breakfast bundles. They wore ragged clothes for fear
of thieves. Their water they bore in jars having mouths covered with
corks of leaves and attached to their necks which were encircled by triple
collars of black cane. Strong oxen marched before them in couples.
<Ranging on the outskirts were hunters, who grasped snares with
intricate loops formed of animals' sinews, and bore coiled traps and
netted nooses fastened to a quantity of screens used in sh.ooting wild beasts.
Fowlers roamed hither and thither, loaded with cages for falcons, partrid~
ges, kapinjalas, and the like, while their boys loitered about with aviaries
hanging from their shoulders. Troops of childish trappers wandered in
eager pursuit of female sparrows caught with twigs whereon a little cast~
away pulse broth was smeared. Young hunters, practising bird-catching,
coaxed on a tribe of dogs frightened at partridges hidden in clumps of grass.
<There were people moving along with bundles of Cidhu bark, hued
like an old ruddy~goose's neck, countless sacks of recently uprooted Dhataki
flowers of the colour of red ore and of cotton plants, plentiful loads of flax
and hemp bundles, quantities of honey, peacocks' tail-feathers, wreaths of
compressed wax, barkless Khadira logs frilled with hanging LamaJjaka grass,
large bundles of KU.J{ha, and Rodhra yellow as a fullgrown lion's. mane.
Village wives hastened en route for neighbouring villages, all intent on
thoughts of sale and bearing on their heads baskets filled with various
gathered forest fruits.
<Here and there the preparation of unsightly fields of barren soil
was being effected by numerous lines of wagons, bearing heaps of manure
from old dust heaps and yoked to strong young steers, while to the creaking
of their loose and noisy wheels were added the angry cries of the dust-grey
ploughboys who sitting on the poles urged them on. The surrounding
country was black with numerous sugarcane enclosures, showing wide
carefully tended branches, buffalo skeletons fixed on stakes to scare with
their sharp points the rabbits which devastated the rising buds, and high
bamboo fences which the antelopes lightly leapt when startled by ox~
drivers' sticks which the watchers hurled at them.
At very wide intervals were the dwellings of the forest householders,
girt with orchards of emerald-bright Snuha, entangled with thickets of
bamboo suitable for bows, and difficult or access owing to rows of thorny
Karanja. They had garden enclosures with clumps of Garmut, Gavedhuka,
Granthiparna, Cigru, Surana, Surasa, Vangaka, Vaca, and the castor plant, and
a network of Kasthaluka creepers, reared upon tall planted uprights, provi~
deel a shade. Young calves were tied to Khadira stakes fixed in the ground
432 A HISTORY OF AGRICUI;TURE IN INDIA
in circular jujube arbours, and crowing cocks more or less indicated the
positions of the houses. At the foot of Agasti trees in the yards tanks and
drinking vessels for birds had been constructed, and pink masses of jujube
were scattered around. The walls were formed of partitions made of
slips of bamboo, leaves, stalks, and reeds, while for ornament Gorocana
pigment and Kimcuka flowers were used. There were piles of charcoal
tied with Valvaja grass, numerous heaps of cotton from the seemul tree
fruit, stores of Nala rice, waterlily roots, candied sugar, white lotus seed,
bamboos, and threshed rice ready at hand; also collections of Tamala
seeds, mats worn from being used to pound ashes and disposed upon heaps
of Kacmarya, a wealth of withered Rajadana and Madana fruit, abundance
of Madhuka fruit decoctions, pots of safflower in excellent cupboards, no
lack of Rajamasha, cucumber, Karkatika, and gourd seeds, and collections
of living pets, such as wild-cats, maludlzana snakes, ichneumons, caliJatakas,
and the like.'
CROPS OF SRIKANTHA (THANESAR TRACT)
Bana thus describes the products of Srikantha region (comprising

the Thanesar tract in Haryana). 'Listen. There is a certain region
named Shrikantha, peopled by the good, a heaven of Indra. Owing to
the number of its land lotuses the ploughs, whose shares uproot the fibres
as they scar the acres, excite a tumult of bees, singing, as it were, the
excellencies of the good soil. Unbroken llnes of Pundra sugarcane en-
closures seem besprinkled by the clouds. On every side its marches are
packed with corn heaps, like extemporized mountains, distributed among
the threshing floors. Throughout it is adorned with rice crops extending
beyond their fields, where the ground bristles with cumin beds watered by
the pots of the Persian wheel. Upon its lordly uplands are wheat
crops variegated with Rajamasha patches ripe to bursting and yellow with
the split bean pods. Attended by singing herdsmen mounted on buffaloes,
pursued by sparrows greedy for swarms of flies, gay with the tinkle of bells
bound to their necks, roaming herds of cows make white its forests, revelling
on Vaspachedya grass and dropping milk. Thousands of spotted deer dot
the districts. Regions, pale with the dust of Kctaki beds emitting white
pollen, gleam like the approaches of Shiva's City when made grey
by the sprinklings of the Pramathas. Pot-herbs and plantains blacken
the soil around the villages. At every step are groups of young camels.
The exits are made attractive by vine-arbours and pomegranate orchards;
arbours, ablaze with Pilu sprays, btsmeared with the juice of hand-pressed
citron leaves, having flower bunches formed of spontaneously gathered
saffron filaments, and travellers blissfully sleeping after drinking the juice
of fresh fruit, orchards, where the fruit" ripe to bursting, seems coloured
by the beaks of the parrots attacking the seeds, and the flowers are tinged
THE KANAU] EMPIRE OF HARSHAVARDHANA 433
by the cheeks of climbing monkey tribes. There are lovely groves where
travelling folks plunder the date-trees, monkeys lick sweet-scented date
juice, and partridges tear the Aruka to pieces with their beaks. Not barren
are the sylvan hollows· of forest pools, refuge of myriad travellers, encircled
with avenues of tall Arjulla trees and turbid at the edges through the descent
of herds of kine. Troops of camels arid flocks of sheep form in hordes
under the guardianship of camel boys. Wandering droves of mares,
besmeared with the sap of crushed saffron beds, where they roll, with
snorting nostrils and uplifted heads drinking in the air~ as it were to beget
speed in the young lying in their wombs.
'In such a country is a certain district called Slhanvicuara, blessed, like
the world's first youth, with sweet fragrance of lovely flowers in diverse
pleasances; bedecked, like the road to Dharma's gynaeceum, with many
myriads of buffaloes stained from rolling in saffron; surpassing Tripura,
as it were, in having all its people unacquainted with the devastating
might of Shiva's arrow; bright, like a replica of the moon world, with rows
of white houses plastered with stucco.'
ANIMALS USED FOR TRANSPORT AND WARFARE
Harsha gives an order to his army to get ready and march towards
Central India. Bana thus describes how the order was carried out. Incidentally
we get an idea of domestic animals used for transport and warfare. 'Wicked
elephants were loaded with a cargo of utensils hurriedly tossed upon them
by travel-practised domestics. Amid the laughter of the crowd helpless
corpulent bawds lagged as they were with difficulty dragged along with
hands and legs sprawling sideways. Many huge and savage elephants
trumpeted as the free play of their limbs was checked by the tightening of
the girth-bands of their gaudy housings. A jangling of bells taking place
in the elephant troop inflamed all ears with fever. Camels, as sacks were
set on their backs, bellowed at the outrage. The carriages of the high-
born nobles' wives were thronged with roguish emissaries sent by princes
of rank. Elephant riders, deceived as to the time of starting, searched
for new servants. Highly honoured footmen led the fine horses of the
king's favourites. An array of gay gallants employed thick unguents to
draw circular lines of camphor on their persons. To the saddles of mar-
shals were fastened martingales with wooden figures of deer, bells, and reeds
attached. Apes were placed among troops of horses whose grooms were
entangled in a network of coiled reins. Stablemen dragged along half-
eaten shoots to be eaten at the morning manoeuvres. Loud grew the
uproar of foragers shouting to one another. Much crashing of stables
resounded as the young rearing horses swerved in the confusion of starting.
Women, hastening at the call of riders whose elephants were in readiness,
presented unguents for the animals' heads. The low people of the neigh-
434 A mSTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
bourhood, running up as the elephants and horses started, looted heaps of

abandoned grain. Donkeys ridden by throngs of boys accompanied the
march. Crowds of carts with creaking wheels occupied the trampled
roads. Oxen were laden with utensils momentarily put upon them.
Stout steers, driven on in advance, lagged out of greed for fodder lying
near them. Despairing merchan'ts saw the oxen bearing their wealth
flee before the onset of the tumult. A troop of seraglio elephants advanced
where the press of people gave way before the glare of their runners'
torches. Horsemen shouted to dogs tied behind them. Old people
sang the praises of tall Tangana horses which by the steady motion of
their quick footfalls provided a comfortable seat. Dcckhan riders dis-
consolately contended with fallen mules.'lo
LAND REVENUE
Regarding the incidence of land revenue, Devahuti observes, 'It was

an ancient practice to measure villages for purposes of land-tax ill plough
measures, i.e. the area that could be turned over with a plough pulled by
a given number of oxen. Tax was then fixed on each ploug'h measure.
Inscriptions sometimes append numerical adjectives after the names of
villages (Sakambhara sapada-laksha). Apparently, the numbers denote
plough measures in the territory and the tax from it in a silver panas. Bana's
reference to the area of village in terms of siras indicates that the land
unit was also known by this name among others. The sira of Harsha's
time was probably equal to the Klllya-vapa of the Gupta days. Sankara's
commentary on the Harshacharita describes sira as hala (plough). The latter
term was employed for land units in Andhra in the third century A.D. Manu's
commentators state that as much land as could be cultivated by twelve
oxen (double of a 'middling plough') was called kula. Bana's reference
also suggests that an average village measured 1,000 plough units, which
according to a late text, the Sllkraniti-saraJ comprised one square praJa-patya
krosa, or approximately 13333 acres [450 hectares].
Land-tax was. calculated per plough unit (one and a third acres at one
silver karsha-pana a month). As a benedictory beginning to his march of
conquest Harsha donated to brahmans a hundred villages, each delimited
by a thousand ploughs and therefore capable of yielding tax of a thousand
silver panas a month.ll
lOCowell, E. B. and Thomas, F. W. (trans.). The Harsllacharila of Bana, pp. 70,71, 213-
215 225-229, 79·82 and 200-201.
IlDevahuti, D. Harsha, a Political Stu4y, p. 203
REFERENCES
Allan,J. Haig, T.W. and DodweU, H.H, The Cambriage ShoTter History of Inaia, Cambridge,
1943
Beal, S. Chinese Accounts of India, Vol. II, Calcutta, n.d,
Beal, S. Life rif Hiusn Tsang, London, 1914
Bose, D.M. and others. A Concise History qfScience in India, INSA, New Delhi, 1971
Devahuti, D. Harsha, a Political Stucly, Oxford, 1"970
Edwardes, M. A History ofIlldiafrom ti,e Earliest Times to the Present Day, Bombay, 1961
Majumdar, R.C. The Classical Age, Vol. III, History ana Culture of the Indian People (HCIP),
Bombay, 1954
Mookerji, R.K. Harsha, Oxford, 1925
Sastri, N. and Srinivasachari, G. Advanced Hislory rif Inaia, Bombay, 1970
Sharma, R.S. Ancient Illdia, New Delhi, 1977
Tripathi, R.S. History of Kanll~, Benares, 1937
CHAPTER 31

THE CHALUKYAS AND RASHTRAKUTAS OF THE DECCAN
THE PALLAVAS, PANDYAS, HOYSALAS AND KAKATIYAS
.A..D. 535-.A..D. 1300
PEOPLE, CROPS AND CATTLE
THE Narmada is the conventional boundary between the north and south
India. The southern states are subdivided into two groups, viz. the king-
doms of the Deccan Plateau and the Tamil group of Kingdoms.
THE CHALUKYAS
The kingdoms of the Deccan Plateau were confined to the present-day

territory of the Maharashtra State with the rivers Krishna and Tungabha-
dra as their southern boundary. The region of Karnataka was more closely
connected with the Decccan kingdoms than with the Tamil States. Ins-
criptions on stone or copper plates, written in Sanskrit and Kannada,
are our main source of information regarding the history of the Deccan
kingdoms.
Pulakesin I (c. A.D. 535 to 566) was the founder of the Chalukya Dyna-
sty. His capital was Badami (Vatapi) in the Bijapur District, where he
built a hill fortress, A.D. 543. His successor Kirtivarman I (A.D. 566-
597) beautified Vatapi with temples and other buildings. The next king
Mangalesha (A.D. 597) completed the carving of Vaishnava cave temple
of Badami started by his father. The rock-cut sculptures of Vishnu in
Badami caves are monumental jn proportion. Some sculptures with
genre themes are also of interest. On a bracket, a loving couple is shown
standing below the branches of a mango laden with fruit (Fig. 1941
right). A similar type of couple can be seen in a seventh-century temple at
Pattadakal (Fig. 194, left). These sculptures indicate that mango was
a favourite fruit of Indians in the south too.
The Durga and Ladkhan temples at Aiholli, well known for their
beautiful Shaivite sculpture, were built in the sixth century. The slab
on which the Flying Gandharvas are sculpted was in the Durga temple.
Now it is in the National Museum, New Delhi, and is a masterpiece of
Indian sculpture.
Pulakesin II (A,D. 609-642) successfully resisted Harsha, and about
A.D. 620 the Narmada was recognized as the boundary between the nor-
thern kingdom of Harsha and the southern kingdom of Chalukyas. Pula-
kesin II sent an embassy to the court of the Persian king, Khusrau II, A.D.
620. He carried o?- warfare with the Pallava king Narasimha and this
THE KINGDOMS 011 SOUTH INDIA 437
feud was carried on by his successors. Another group of temples was con-
structed at Pattadakal, 16 kilometres from Badami. Out of these, Papa-
nath (A.D. 680) and Virupaksha temples have some exquisite sculptures.
Kirtivarman II, who succeeded to the throne in 744, was overthrown by
Dantidurga, the founder of the Rashtrakuta Dynasty.
THE RASHTRAKUTAS
The Rashtrakutas belonged to Lattalura (modern Latur), a town in

the Usmanabad District of Andhra Pradesh. The founder of the dynasty
was Dantidurga, an official of the Chalukyas of Badami. Realizing the
weakness of his overlord, Kirtivarman II, Dantidurga made himself the
master of Maharashtra and also annexed Gujarat and parts of Madhya
Pradesh. In A.D. 753, he proclaimed himself the paramount ruler of the
Deccan. In A.D. 756, he was succeeded by his uncle Krishna I, who defea-
ted the Gangas of Karnataka. The monolithic KaiIasha temple at Ellora
was excavated under his patronage. It was cut out of rock from top
downwards, and the precision of its architecture and the beauty of its
sculptures remain unrivalled. Krishna I died in A.D. 773, and was succee-
ded by his son Govinda. Amoghavarsha I (A.D. 814-880) was the builder
of the Manyakheta City. He built a palace at Manyakheta which was
famous for its fine workmanship. The next kings were Krishna II, Indra
III, and Krishna III. The last invaded the Chola territory and defeated
the Chola king at Takkolam (A.D. 949).
THE PALLAVAS
Simhavarman (A.D. 550-558) was the founder of the Pallava Dynasty,
which had its capital at Kanchi (Conjevaram). His son Mahendra-
varman I (c. A.D. 600-630) was a poet, musician and great builder of
temples. He introduced the rock-cut temple architecture in Tamil coun-
try. One of his titles was Vichitrachitta, a tribute to the imaginative quality
of his mind. Reliefs of Mahendravarman I and his two queens are found
on the walls of a rock-cut temple at Mamalapuram, and it seems he pionee-
red the carving of these temples.
Narasimhavarman Mahamalla (A.D. 630-668), a wrestler and warrior,
succeeded Mahendravarman 1. One of Narasimhavarman's achieve-
ments was a successful naval expedition to Ceylon to reinstate the Sinhalese
prince Manaverma. Narashnhavarman beautified the port of MamaIIa-
puram. It was during his reign about A.D. 640 that Hiuen Tsang travelled
in the south. He found Jainism flourishing in the Pallava and Pandya
kingdoms. Hiuen Tsang states, 'Kanchi was about six miles [9.6 kilo-
metres] in circumference. There were more than one hundred Buddhist
monasteries housing over 10,000 Theravadin monks. The majority of
the eighty non-Buddhist temples belonged to Digambara Jains. Though
Buddhism was declining in South India, its position in TOl1da-mandalam

was conspicuous. The people (of Ta~to-p 'i-t' u or Tonda-mandalam)
esteemed great learning. .•. Not far from the south of the capital was a
large monastery which was a rendezvous for the most eminent men of the
country.'l
Parmeshvara-Varman was succeeded by his son Narasimhavarman
II Rajasimha (c. A.D. 699 -722). He built the Kailashl1atha temple at
Kanchi and the Shore temple at Mahabalipuram. The next king was
Nandi-Varman II Pallavamalla (A.D. 730-800). He built the Muktesh.
wara and Vaikuntha-perumal temples at Kanchi. He was a scholar who
patronized learning. Saint Tirumangal Alvar flourished during his reign.
Sittannav"sal. In the sixth or seventh century, a rock-cut Jain san-
ctuary was quilt at Sittannavasal near Pudukottai. It is a square hall with
a vestibule before it, and is noted especially for its frescoes, which are stylis..
tically akin to those in the caves of Ajanta. The most remarkable of these
frescoes, on the ceiling of the vestibule, depicts animals drinking from
a lotus pool.
Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram). Mamallapuram, or "the Seven Pago-
das", is on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. Early in the Christian Era, it
waS an important port which maintained trade relations with the Roman
Empire, as is· proved by the Roman coins found here. The city is cited
in the Periplus oj the Erythracan Sea and Ptolemy'S Geography. The existing
monuments date from the Pallava period, with the earliest going back to
the first half of the seventh century. Not far from the shore are five mono~
lithic temples (rathas), bearing the name of the five Pandavas, heroes of the
epic Mahabharata. Each of these temples, cut from a single block of
granite, has an individual form: a square plan with pyramidal covering,
supporting small-scale models of buildings, as in the Dharmaraja Ratha
and the Arjuna Ratha; a square plan, with a roof imitating that of a that~
ched cottage, as in the Draupadi Ratha; a rectangular plan with one storey
adorned with niche~, as in the Bhima Ratha; and an apsidal plan as in
the Buddhist chaitya (Sabadeva Ratha). Large monolithic animals-
lions, elephants, and oxen-are found among these temples.
About the same time, cmerns were cut in the rock. The principal
ones are those of the Trimurti, . which has three cells, each containing an
image of a god; the cave of Durga, in which are carved Vishnu on the ser-
pent Sheshanag and Durga combating the demon Maheshasura; and the
most important is that of Varaha (whose peristyle is adorned with pillars
supported by kneeling lions), which is decorated with four bas-reliefs of
the goddesses Lakshmi. and Durga.· and the Varaha and Trivikrama
incarnations of Vishnu,
lMajumdar, R.C. The History and Culture ojthe Indian People: The Classical Age, p. 261
THE KINGDOMS OF SOUTH INDIA. 439
The most distinguished relief is the one carved into the living rock
that depicts the descent of the Ganga to the earth; the water which gushes
from a natural fissure in the rock represents the Ganga. Many detaiIs-
ascetics at prayer, pilgrims, animals of all kinds heading towards the sacred
water-constitute the charm of this splendid composition. Along each
side of the current of the Ganga are grouped ascetics, nagas and animals.
The animals commonly depicted are deer and lions which must have aboun~
ded in the jungles of South India (Fig. 195) . It is to be noted that tigers
are not depicted.
THE PANDYAS
The genealogy and chronology of the Pandyas, who ruled the extreme
south, is very confused. The Pandyas of the post-Sangam age ruled
from the seventh to tenth centuries. R. Sathianathaier thus fixes their
chronology. 'Kadungon, A.D. 590-620; Maravarman Avanisulamani,
A.D. 620-645; Sendan, A.D. 645-670; Arikesari Maravarman, A.D.
670-710; Kochchadaiyan Ranadhira, A.D. 710-740; and Maravarman
Rajasimha, A.D. 740-765.' Hiuen Tsang describes the Malakuta or
Pandya country as follows: 'It was a depot for sea-pearls; its people
were 'black... harsh and impetuous, of .mixed religions, indifferent to
culture and only good at trade.' There were many Buddhist monasteries
in ruins but only a few monks. The destruction of the ancient cultural
tradition of Madura may be attributed to the Kalabhra occupation of the
country.' Maravarman Rajasimha I was also a vety powerful ruler. The
Velvikudi grant mentions Rajasimha's renovation of the palaces and forti-
fications of Kudal (Madura), Vanji (the Chera capital) and Koli (Uraiyur).S
THE HOYSJ\LAS
The Hoysalas who belonged to the clan of Yadavas were the feudatories
of the Chalukyas. They ruled the central Mysore country, which served
as a buffer between the Chalukya and Chola empires. The Hoysala Dy~
nasty was estabHshed by Vishnuvardhana (A.D. 1111.1191), who is also
known by the name of Bittiga. Originally a Jaina, he became a Vaish-
nava under the influence of Ramanuja. The Hoysala capital was Dvara~
samudra (modern Halebid). The temples at Belur and Halebid with their
elaborate carvings and bracket figures of damsels with bulging bosoms
were constructed under the patronage of Bittiga.
THE KAKATIY AS
The Kakatiyas were feudatories of the western Chalukyas. ProIa II

SMajumdar, R.C. (Ed.), The History and Culture of Ihe Indian People,' The Classical Age.
p.267,268
·Sastri, K.A.N. Th, Panc[yan Kingdom, p. 41
A HISTORY OF AGRICUI. TURE IN INDIA
was the first independent Kakatiya ruler, and his territory comprised
districts between the Godavari and the Krishna, and Warangal was his
capital. Ganapati was the Kakatiya (A.D. 1199-1263) who led expedi-
tions against Kalinga and western Andhra. Par tap Rudra (A.D. 1295-
1326) conquered Adoni and Raichur from. the Yadavas. He was an
efficient administrator and divided his territory into 77 Nayakships. Malik
Kafur extinguished the Kakatiya kingdom in A.D. 1310, and Partap Rudra
.died as a prisoner of the Muslims.
THE PEOPLE
Hiuen Tsang made very perceptive observations on the people in

different States of South India, which are true even now after the lapse of
so many centuries. He travelled from Bihar to Orissa, Andhra, Dravida,
and Maharashtra.
About Kalinga and its people he writes, 'The forests and jungle are
continuous fot' many hundred ii. It produces the great tawny wild ele-
phants, which are much prized by neighbouring provinces. The climate
is burning; the disposition of the people vehement and impetuous. Though
the men are mostly tough and uncivilised, they still keep their word and
are trustworthy. The language is light and tripping, and their pronun-
ciation distinct and correct.'
On Andhra and on the people of Andhra, he commented, 'The soil
is rich and fertile; it is regularly cultivated, and produces abundance of
cereals. The temperature is hot, and the manners of the people fierce and
impulsive. The language and arrangement of Sentences differ from Mid-
India.'
About Dravida, he states, 'The soil is fertile and regularly cultivated,
and produces abundance of grain. There are also many flowers and fruits.
It produces precious gems and other articles. The climate is hot, the
character of the people courageous. They are deeply attached to the
principles of honesty and truth, and highly esteem learning; in respect of
their language and written characters~ they differ but little from those of
Mid-India. '
Hiuen Tsang visited Pulakesin at Nasik, A.n. 641-642. Describing the
king he says, 'His ideas are large and profound, and he extends widely his
sympathy and benefactions.' About Maharashtra, he commented, 'The
soil is rich and fertile; it is regularly cultivated and very productive. The
climate is hot; the disposition of the people is honest and simple; they
are tall of stature, and of a stern, vindictive character. To their benefa-
ctors they are grateful; to their enemies relentless. If they are insulted,
they will risk their life to avenge themselves. If they are asked to help
one in distress, they will forget themselves in their haste to render assis~
tance. If they are going to seek revenge, they first give their enemy
'tHE KINGDOMS OF SOUTH INDIA 441
warning; then, each being armed, they attack each other with lances
(spears). When one turns to flee, the other pursues him, but they do not
kill a man down (a person who submits). If a general loses a battle, they
do not inflict punishment, but present him with woman's clothes, and so
he is driven to seek death for himself. The country provides for a band
of champions to the number of several hundred. Each time they are
about to engage in conflict they intoxicate themselves with wine, and then
one man with lance in hand will meet ten thousand and challenge
them in fight. If one of these champions meets a man and kills him, the
laws of the country do not punish him. Every time they go forth they
beat drums before them. Moreover, they inebriate many hundred head
of elephants, aud taking them out to fight, they themselves first drink their
wine, and then, rushing forward in mass, they trample everything down,
so that nO enemy can stand before them.'4,
SOCIETY
'The independent landholder, artisan or trader commanded greater

esteem in society than officials of the State, states Sastri. In the enjoyment
of the social amenities, there was a wide gap between the wealthy section
of the nobles and the rest of the population. In spite of their poverty the
brahmanas commanded the goodwill of the kings and respect of the people
by their character and learning. Women enjoyed freedom in thci~ move-
ments and were held in great honour. Often a courtesan was a formidable
rival to the wedded wife in the families of kings and nobles.
'A select body of troops who shared a meal with the king at the time of
his accession and were sworn to defend him with their lives on all occasions
were known by different names in different courts-Sahavasis under the Cha-
lukyas, Velaikkarar under the Cholas, Garudas under the Hoysalas, and
Apattudavigal under the Pandyas.'
EDUCATION
'The village teacher got a share of the village land besides other pre-
sents on festive and ceremonial occasions from the pareuts of the children.
Skill in the crafts was passed from father to son. The building of a large
temple or a palace not only gave employment to men of proved ability but
also provided opportunity of discovering fresh talent. Artisans had an
innate sense of beauty and some of them were very skilful. The literary
quality of the inscriptiom on temple walls and on copper plates attests
that the level of the general education was fairly high. Adult education
was carried on by means of oral expositions of the epics and PUl'anas. The
singing of the devotional songs in temples by well-trained choirs of singers
4Beal, S. Chinese Ac~oul\ts of India, Vol. II, pp. 413, 4.21, 450, 45~, 459
promoted religious fervour and aesthetic sense among the people. The
mathas, pallis and viharas played a large part in education. The basic value
of Sanskrit learning was realiled and generous endowments were made to
institutions to impart Sanskrit learning. The Brahmapuri at Belgaum,
the Ghatika of Kanchi, and the college at Bahu! are examples from the
age of the Chalukyas of Badami and Pallavas of Kanchi. A minister of
Krishna III endowed in A.D. 945 a college at Salatgi in Karnataka to which
pupils came from differentjanapadas. There was a ghatika at Nagai (A.D,
1058) which had a provision for 200 Veda students and 50 students of
Shastras. The institution had six tca:::hers and a library. At Ennayiram
in South Arcot, Chola Rajendra I endowed a college to take in two
hundred and seventy junior students and seventy seniors with a teaching
staff of fourteen persons. At Tirumukkudal (Chingleput District) there
was a hostel for students and a hospital as revealecl in the records of Virara-
jendra (A.D. 1067). At Tiruvaduturai there was a medical school and
here the students were taught Ashtangahridaya and Charakasamlzita. There
was a school for the study of Panini's grammar at Tiruvorriyur. The
Yadavas of Devagiri very much encouraged the study of law ani astro-
nomy.'5
TilE TEMPLE-THE SEAT OF RELIGION AND EDUCATION
The temple played a pivotal role in the social and cultural life of the
people. It was usually located in the centre of the habitation. Its pillared
mandapams were crowded with pilgrims on the occasion of festivals. The
pilgrims had a dip in the sacred tank which adjoined the temple. Leading
to the sanctum sane/orum were many shops in which garlands and flowers
were sold to devotees. In the evening the deity, Vishnu or Shiva, was
worshipped with the lighting of oil-lamps amidst great religious fervour.
The dClJa-dasi's, the dancing-girls, also displayed their art to the accompani-
ment of an orchestra of drums and flutes. The temple was not only a place
of worship, but also a school, where children of the villagers came to receive
education in Sanskrit from the learned priests. It also provided employ-
ment to a large number of masons and stone-carvers, who carved the images
which decorated the mandapams and gopurams. In times of civil unrest or
war,the temple served as a citadel fortress in which people took shelter.
COINAGE
The Gupta coins show the influence of the Greek and Kushan coinage.
The earliest Gupta gold coins follow the Kushan standard of about 121
grains and were known as dinara (from Latin denarius). Skandagupta's
coins were struck on two standards, one following a local standard of 132
'Sastri,K.A.N. andSrinivruachari, G. AdvQntcd History ifIndta, 1970, pp. 303,304

grains, and the other, probably the suvarna standard of 146.4 grains. In
South India, foreign influence is hardly noticeable. Here, gold and copper
were almost exclusively used, though silver was not altogether unknown.
Roman coins-gold, silver and probably also copper-have been found in
the south in such a large number that it is probable that they were actually
used as currency in South India.
TRADE BETWEEN INDIA AND CHINA
The T'ang period witnessed a great development of the sea-borne

trade between India and China. An account written about A.D. 749
refers to the numerous merchantmen belonging to the Polomen, i.e. Brah-
manas of India, and other countries, on the River of Canton. The
same account refers to three Brahmana monasteries at Oanton where
Brahmanas were residing. It is evident that Hindu merchants sailed in
large number to this Chinese port, and had built temples there for worship
during their stay. According to Harshacharita, Chinese cuirasses were used
by the chiefs of Harsha's army. The discovery of coins of the T'ang
Dynasty in South India may also be regarded as an interesting relic of the
commercial relations between India and China during this period.
The foreign ships in Oanton are said to be 18 to 21 metres deep.
Another Chinese work says that the foreign ships visiting Canton "were
very large, and so high out of the water that ladders, several tens of feet in
length, had to be used to get aboard. "8 Such a ship is depicted in an eighth-
century relief of Borobuddur in Java (Fig. 196).
In another Borobuddur relief a man is shown ploughing (Fig. 203, top).
The wooden plough he is handling resembles a plough still in use in Jorhat,
Assam (Fig. 203, bottom).
EXPORTS
Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum), produced in southern India, was

highly prized in the Middle East. Costus-root (Saussurea lappa) was, like
cinnamon and cardamom, processed in Syria and wa..q used as incense.
Then came the different kinds of nard, of which spikenard was the
most costly (nalada in Sanskrit), but which inc1udea C!)lmhopogon .rchoenan-
thus and Vetiveria ~izanioides (Andropogon muricatus). Their roots and their
leaves were used in perfumery, in cooking and in medicine; the oil extrac-
ted from the plants was so precious that it was kept in small jars of alabaster
or onyx. Southern India had the competition of Ethiopia and southern
Arabia in the preparation of this aromatic essence. Mention should also
be made of cloves (Syzygium aromaticum); sesame (Sesamull. inditum); indigo
'Majumdar,A.K. (Ed.), The History and Culture ofthe Indian People: TheClassi~al,AC6Bombay,
1970, pp. 626, 627 .
A HlSTOllY OF AGlUCULTUllE IN INDIA
(which was used not only for paints and dyes but also for the preparation
of medicines), varieties of barberry (Berberis jloribuncla~ B. aristata~ B. {y_
dum); opium and rhubarb were exported. Sugar was exported in small
quantities, as were rice (vrhi in Sanskrit, arisi in Tamil), millet and oats.
These commodities were in demand by Indian expeditions abroad. Ghee
(clarified butter) was exported to East Africa. Fruits, such as coconuts,
bananas, melons, peaches and apricots, and vegetables, such as cucumber
and onion, reached the Mediterranean ports from India.
Other merchandise sent abroad consisted of animals: talking parrots,
tame monkeys, pheasants, snakes and elephants, all of which "found places
in the private zoos of Western kings and emperors. Since sea-travel affected
them adversely, they were usually transported overland by caravans.
Slaves, too, constituted a profitable item of trade. The major part
of it was under the control of the Arabs, who furnished Greek women to
the IndianS and Indian women to the Greeks, the greater the distance of
their supposed place of origin the higher being the price to the buyer.
Most of the women brought to India in this way were dancers or musicians,
or else were imported specially to act as military guards in the royal harems. 7
IMPORTS
Chiria sent musk, tung-oil, amber, cinnabar, raw and woven silk, hemp
matting and cloth, ceramics, lacquered and copper objects, wooden combs,
paper, parasols, iron cooking-vessels, sieves, needles and saddles. From
the Khmer country, many valuable products were imported to supplement
India's own output, particularly sandalwood, teak and aloes, cardamom,
beeswax, kapok and kingfishers' feathers. Sumatra and Java furnished
gold and musk. The Malay Peninsula exported silver and tin (called
'white lead' in those times) from its well-developed mines; it also sold the
finest nutmeg, logwood and ivory.
During the entire period covered by the expansion of Rome, products
of Mediterranean origin continued to come into India. These included
red coral from Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, the Balearic Islands, Spain and
North Africa; copper, tin, antimony, realgar, silver vessels and lamps,
bronze containers; yellow amber, which came also from the Baltic and was
usually exchanged for precious stones; Egyptian emeralds; glassware from
Alexandria, Tyre and Sidon.'8
MANASOLLASA OF SOMESHV.AllI\
Here a reference may be made to the Sanskrit encyclopaedia, the

Manasollasa. composed by Someshvara (c. A.D. 1127), the Chalukya king.
It deals with subjects like drawing, painting, casting of metal images, ico-
' ..Auboyer,J. Daily.Life ill Anei,nt India, pp. 84-86

1'HE KINGDOMS OF SOUTH INDIA 445
nography, cookery, cock-fighting, hunting, fishing and gardening. It

also deals with the blending of perfumes, which were .used for royal baths
as well as for the ritual of worship. Its fourteenth chapter deals with
zoology of fishes. Thirty-four varieties of fishes are named, and their
habitat and food are described. Someshvara also describes lines, hooks
and baits. I Manasollasa is rich in factual and deductive knowledge which
in some respect remains unsurpassed even now', comments Hora. g
'While describing the horses being made ready for the royal polo,
Someshvara refers to "Padadharai"~ or stirrups of gold, hanging down on both
the sides of the horse. The use of the stirrup in the game of polo as pIa.yed
at the Chalukya court about A.D. 1130 is important as it proves the currency
of the stirrup in Indian horsemanship more than 800 years ago.
CROPS
With the expansion in irrigation, rice cultivation was extended over a
larger area. Millets continued to be cultivated in the rain-fed areas of the
Deccan and Mysore plateaus. There is, however, scant mention of crops
in history. Perhaps people took them for granted. There were possibly
no food shortages as population was sparse.
The names of crops are mentioned in relation to the land revenue
payable to the government and the rent payable to the land-owner. These
are paddy, gingeUy, millets and sugarcane. The fruits mentioned are
mango, coconut, plantain and jack-fruit. The vegetables are ginger,
pumpkin and yams.
We come across a specific mention of an arecanut garden. A stone-
slab inscription, A.D. 1028, at Hosur in the Gadag Taluka of the Dharwar
District of the reign of Jagadekamalladeva I records the grant of an are-
canut garden and house sites by Aycha-gavunda to the basadi constructed
by him in memory of Ws wife.10
CA'ITLE
Hallikar cattle. The predominant breed of cattle in south India is the

Hallikar. In the well-known sculpture in the so-called Gopis Cave at Maha-
balipuram, Krishna is shown milking a cow (Fig. 197). This sculpture relates
to the Pallava period of the seventh century. The cow with long horns
pointing backwards is of the Hallikar breed. This shows that the Hallikar
is an ancient breed of cattle. In the Halebid temple is also the famous
sculpture of Krishna holding the mountain Govardhana. The cattle shelter
ing below the mountain resemble those of the Hallikar breed (Fig. 199).
·Hora. S.L. Knowledge of the Ancient Hindu. concerning Fi.h and Fisheries of India-
Matsyallinotla or a chapter on Angling in Manasollasa by king Someshvara (A.D. 1127),
JASB Lett., 17, 1951
lOGode, P.K. StudilS in Intlian Cultural History, Vol. If p. 116
446 A lnS'l'OkV ()}7 AGluaUL'l'URE iN INbIA
The Hallikar cattle are-grey to dark grey in colour. T'heir horns emerge
near each other from the top of the poll and are carried backwards, each
in a straight line for nearly half t.heir length and then with a gentle and
graceful sweep bend forwards, usually lightly reclining inwards towards
their points, which are usually black-tipped and sharp. When the animal
is feeding with its head downwanls, the horns alm03t tOllch the neck in front
of the hump. The eyes an! small, clear and intelligent and in some cases
bloodshot. The ears are small, tapering to a point and are c4\.rried firmly
in. a horizontal position. The neck is long, tl,!in for the size of the cattle,
and sinewy. The dewlap is thin and moderately developed. The hump
is also moderately developed, and in the bulls it is around eight inches
(20 centimetres) high. The sheath is very srnall and close to the body.
The forequarters arc well developed and the legs arc strong and set apart,
permitting good chest development. The hooves are slrong, small, tightly
set and black. The back is straight and slrong. l1
The Hallikar is a draft breed. The bullocks al'e strong, spirited, quick
and steady in the fields and on the road. The cows are poor milkers. This
breed is found in the Tumkur, Hassan and Mysore districts of Karnataka.
Young cattle are kept in large herds almost in a semiwild state. They arc
extremely unruly and it is only after many months of patient training
that they develop into bullocks. A herd of the Hallikars is shown in Fig.
198. The pointed horns of the Hallikal's, sloping backwards, lend
character to this photograph.
0llgo/e cattle. The Ongole breed of cattle, found in the Nellore and
Guntur districts of Andhl'a Pradesh is valued by the farmers of South India.
The bullocks are muscular, long-limbed, large and heavy. They arc white,
with dark-grey markings on the head. neck and hump. There are black
points 011 the knee, pasterns of fore- and hindlegs. The forehead is broad
between the eyes and the horns al'e stumpy. The bullocks are powel'~
ful and are suitable for heavy ploughing and for draft. The cows are good
milkers. A large sculpture of the Nandi Bull at Mysore is modelled after
the Ongole breed (Fig. 200). An Ongolc bull from the Guntur District
of Andhra Pradesh is shown in Fig. 201 for comparison. But for its
stumpy horns, it resembles the Hariana breed. Possibly, it derives from
the Hariana breed as a result of a mutation.
HORSE TRADE WITH ARABIA FROM A.D. 800 TO A.D. 1300

One of the greatest gifts of Arabia to the world is the Arabian horse.
I t is spirited and intelligent, is very strong and is able to stand galloping
for hours, and lives up to the ripe old age of thirty-five years Or so. Its
development by the Bedouins of Arabia is a great achievement in anin1.al-
llJoshi, N.R. Zebu Catlle of bldi« mId Pakistan, p. 209

TIlE KlNGDOMS Ol~ SOUTH INDlA 447
Fig. I!.H . M:llI go, a favoUl'ill: frllit of lhe 1ntii:lIl s. T he ('()tJpks shown s t an din ~ bdow tIl(:
branehes oi'J'l'uit-beal'ing ll1r1ngocs a rc (right ) li'on) Badall:i (A.n, 57U) and (lcJt) Ii'om Palla-
dakal; Bijapur D isl ri et, K.:1J'll'1taka J s('v<':lIlh ce ll tury
A 11lSTOltY (.)10' A tTlUCUI.:l'lJlU: IN INDIA
Fig. 195. It,·lid· showi llg th .. d escent oj' (;nn ga, Ma li ah.dil'ur:llll, Tamil Na d\l , " all ava,
seventh centul'Y. A llulllIll'1' of :lIIillials, illC'h,clil'g dl'I'I" an d l illllS. arC' showll
llig. InG. A sh ip with $:1ils . Sou th India lls s;til(·d ill swh VI'SS l'IS Crlllli ]J ldia loJ ava durillg
thl' Chola nl'l·inr1. HOl'nhllrlriul'. T:lva ...irrhlh ,·,'<l11II'v
'('Ill'; KING 1)( lMS OF SOlJTH [NJJJA
Fig. 197. Krishml uli]Hllg a ('ow . M;,lwiJnlipllram , I'allavtI, sl'v"n lh rellllll'Y. Th,' ("l)\,
is of llll' Hallikal' bl'l'f'rJ

A lIlS'fORY 01, AUR1CUr:rtnn: IN INnt...
Fig, 19B. A herd of Hallikar rallie in K :lI'll atak:l

TIli, KINGUOMS 01·' SOUTH INDiA
l,'ig. 199. Krishna h oldi ng the 1Il000lJ'Itaill .;ovartlh:Ul:l. IItly~al('H hw;\J'a '1'(')11[11(' ,
Halchicl, Kama laka. Hoysala , twelfth Clil.lIl'y. '1'11<' cnttle slwit('ring Illldl'l'
the moulitain nre of the HalJikal' IJl'c('d
fl!i2 l\ 11lST(mY OF AOH.Il:lILTtTRE IN INlltA
Fig, ZOO, SClIlpIIlJ'('O{' the Na Jldi BIIII , My~()J'(' . 11 is h; I~('(l oil lll<' Oligo],' 1)I'('('d of lldlll'[\
Pri1rksh
nm KINGDOMS OF SOUTH INI HA
Fig. 201. 1\1) Ongoic- bull fl'(Jll1 tit!' (;lIlIltlr District oi"\lldhm J'lTIchh, wi lli (·III·rgl'lir bod)"
whiH' sl<in, large dewlap ,lIld ~ IUll1py h()l'1l ~
Fig, 202 . 1\ pant'! li<-pil'ling it P''I'siali wheel from NI:lI1<101', R:cja~ th:cn , cI"VI'llth (·(·lIIlll·),.
Thi~ is the (,,,"'iest rccord ofa Pcrsian whe(·1 in ]lIdia, II is j)1'I'-hlalllir a)lt! j>J'OV(,S Ihal il
is an Jndiall wheel and )IOt :111 impol't from Iran
(Co urtesy: Jodhpm Museum)
A HISTORY 01" AUIUUULTUH,E IN INDIA
Iljg, 203, 7i'/I, 1\ ploughman, The plough is similar II> IIII' lllliinli dl's; [l IOIl)(lt, HOl'qill.ddlll
Java, dghLh ('(' l1ll1ry; flat/om, '1'111' plough Il-rml.Jorliat , I\SS:l llI, ",'s" 'llbl,'s 11ll' plough shown
in the l~orohllrldllr sc ulptllre "buy,'
~HA
.,"SAI\
CHOW
MUNA PLOUGH
THE Klr-:tODOMS Ol~ SOU'fIt INDIA 4-55
breeding. The success of the Arab" 'annies in Sind was partly due to their
horses. This factor created great interest in these horses among the Hindu
rulers of India. Arabian, Turkish and other foreign breeds of horses were
imported into India from A.D. 800 to 1300. This trauc appears to have
attained a phcnolU(;nal proportion in. the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
The Indian authorities of this period agree in assjgning the l1rsl rank in theil'
classified list of horses to the foreign breeds (specially those of "Vanayu"
or Arabia and Persia) and the lowest rank to the indigenous breeds, such as
those ofTrigartta, GUljara, Avanti, Saurashtra and Pariyatra.
The following account of the horse-trade about A.D. 1290 at the Mala-
bar POft of Kaya1 was recorded by 8.K. Aiyangar.
'Kaya! was a port at the mouth of Tamaraparani in the Gulf of ManaI'
not far from the far-famed Korkai. There was a prominent trade-settlement
at Kayal-about A.D. 1290, where an agency was established by an Arab
Chieftain, Malilm-Islam Jamal-ud-din, ruler of Kis. According to Wassaf,
about this time ten thousand horses were importeu into Kayal and other
ports of India of which one thousand and four hundred were of Jamal-ud-
din's own breed. The average cost of each horse was 220 dinars of (red
gold'. The cost of even those that died on the way was paid by the Pandya
King for whom they were imported. The Arab agent had his headquar-
ters at Kayal. It indicates that he was the agent-general for the import
trade of the Arab horses in this pal't of the country. The b'ude of this
region in those days was very great, both in volume and value. In the words
of Wassaf "Ma'bar extends in length from Kulam to Nilawar (Nellore)
nearly three hundred parasangs along the sea-coast, and in the language
of the country the king is called Dewar, which signifi('..3 the lord of empire.
The curiosities of Chin and Machin, and the product<_; of Hind and Sill.d
laden on large ships (which they call junks) sailing like mountains with the
wings of winds on the surface of the water, always arrived there. The
wealth of the islands of the Persian Gulrin particular a.nd in part the beauty
and adornments of other countries, fi'om 'Irak and Khurasan as far as Rum
and Europe are derived from Ma'bar, which is so situated as to be the
Key of Hind.'l11
Marco Polo says, .A.D. 1300, that Arabian. horses were "greatly in
demand in southern India and werc shipped there from Aden and Hurmuz.
He claims that every year 2,000 horses were imported by the five rajas and
that cach horse cost 500 dinars. The Mongol historian Rashid~ucl-din
(A..D. 1318) confirms this import of a great number of horses from the
Persian Gulf to the Malabal'.lD
The necessity for this extravagant demand from the Indians for the
UGode, P.K. Studies itl India" Literary History, Vol. III, pp. 179, 130
18Jairazbhoy, R.A. Foreign Iliflutllce ill Atlcidnlllldia. p. 171
456 A ntSTOn.Y OF AGRICULTuRE IN ll\lDIA
horses from the West is traced by the foreign observers chiefly to the
Indians' ignorance of the art of managing the animals. According to
Wassaf, the Indians were so ignorant of training horses that even the best
animals under their management were soon disabled for active work.
Marco Polo, while lamenting the waste of a great part of the wealth of the
country in the purchase of horses, gives three reasons for the same. Firstly,
no horses were hred in the country. Secondly, the Indians had no farriers,
and the foreign merchants prevented any farrier from going to that country
for fear of losing their highly profitable trade. Thirdly, and lastly, the
Indians, in their ignorance of the treatment of horses, fed them with boiled
rice and boiled meat and various other cooked food. n
UMajumdal', R.C. History and Cult"" qflh' em/ian P,opl~J Vol. IV, p. 523
CHAPTER 32

THE CHOLAS
A.D. 985 -A.D. 1205
THEIR IRRIGATION SYSTEMS
ThE Cholas ushered in the most glorious phase in the history of South
India in the tenth century. They unified the warring States of South
India, and improved their agriculture by building up new types of irriga-
tion systems. The prosperity which resulted from irrigated agriculture
ultimately led to efflorescence in art. Magnificent temples were built,
and beautiful images were cast in bronze and carved in stone.
The Chola King Rajaraja I (A.D. 985-1013) was a dynamic leader.
He subjugated the Pandyas and Cheras of Kerala. He sent a naval ex-
pedition to Sri Lanka and conquered the northern half of the island, which
became a Chola province. He conquered the bulk of the Mysore country,
and the Eastern Chalukya kingdom of Vengi became his protectorate.
The Western Chalukya kingdom was next subjugated.
Rajendra Chola (A.D. 1014-1044) succeeded his father Rajaraja I,
A.D. 1014. He completed the conquest of Sri Lanka. The Pandya and
Kerala territories were integrated into a separate viceroyalty with head-
quarters at Madura. He defeated the King of Kalinga. As an act of
devotion to Shiva, he built the Brihadisvara Temple at Tanjavur. In
one of the niches of the temple he is shown sitting at the feet of Shiva, who
is winding a garland around his head. The art of temple~building and
metal and stone sculpture attained a high level during his reign.
The next Chola ruler of importance is Kulottunga I (A.D. 1070-
1118). The extent of his territory is shown in Fig. 204. To promote
trade, an embassy of seventy-two merchants was sent to China in A.D. 1077.
The Chola kingdom also maintained diplomatic relations with the rulers
of Burma and Kambojas in Indo-China.
Vikrama Chola (A.D. 1118) remodelled the Temple of Nataraja at
Chidambaram and also improved the Ranganatha Temple of Srirangam.
Kulottunga II (A.D. 1135-1173) reconstructed the famous Chidalllbaram
Temple, in which dance poses based on Bharata's Natyashastra are shown.
Kulottunga III (A.D. 1178-1205) was the last ruler of the Chola Dynasty.
IRRIGATION
(i) Anicuts. Irrigation systems by building anicuts across rivers) and tht"
chains of tanks in the courses of small streams are the proud achievements
of southern India. As already stated, the Chola king Karikala (c. A.D.
458 A :HISTORY 01' AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
THE CHOtA EMpIRE

UNDER
KUlOTTUNCA I
C 1100
Fig. 204. Map showing the Chola Empire under Kulottunga I Ie. 1100
190) and his successors constructed the irrigation canals Vennara and Arasil,
which take off from the Cauvery.
The Cauvery and its tributaries support an extensive system of irriga-
tion by means of channels drawn from dams, called the anicuts (Kanarese
ans katte, dam, dyke or embankment), which retain the upper waters at
a high level and permit only the overflow to pass downstream. These
works are of great antiquity. Tradition attributes to the Chola kings the
construction of the famous anicuts across the River Cauvery in the Tanjore
District. The most famous of the Ohola public works is the Great
Anicut below the island of Srirangarn, consisting of a massive dam of unhewn
stone, 329 metres long and from 12 to 18 metres broad. The large Talkad
Anicut, the lowest one down on the Cauvery, was constructed in the tenth
century. The most recent, with a few exceptions, are not less than three
centuries old. "The dreams which revealed to favoured mortals the plans
of these ingenious works", says Wilks, "have each their appropriate legend,
which is related with reverence and received with implicit belief." The
THE CHOLAS AND HlElRo mRIGATION SYSTEMS 459
channels, thence drawn, meander over the adjoining tracts of country on

each bank, following all the sinuosities of the ground, the total length run-
ning in Karnataka being upwards of 1,915 kilometres.
(ii) Chain-tanks in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The topography
of Telangana and Karnataka is well suited for the construction of storage
reservoirs. Telangana, where most of the irrigation tanks are located,.is
known as "The Land of Thousand Tanks'. A special feature of the tanks
in these tracts is their construction in series, by bunding the same valley
at several points. The surplus water escaping over the waste-weir from one
tank feeds the tank lower down and so on. Not only does the surplus
water escape into it but the surplus irrigation water from the fields under
the upper tank seeps through the subsoil and flows into the lower tank.
Owing to the porous nature of the soil and the sloping terrain, often large
quantities of water are drained into the lower reservoir in this manner.
This improves the tank duty. During the dry crop season, when the waste-
weirs do not surplus, the effect is quite marked.
The main advantage of the series of tank irrigation is that the benefits
of irrigation are distributed over the entire watershed. In a big storage
tank the catchment area does not derive any benefit and the entire irriga-
tion is localized downstream of the tank.
The disadvantage of the series of tanks is the breaching of the entire
system during heavy rains. If due to excessive floods any tank in the chain
breaches, the tank lower down is unable to bear the strain of the rushing
waters from above and it also breaches. This process continues and the
entire system downstream is destroyed.
TANKS IN TAMIL NADU
The Pallava King Mahendravarman I excavated the first tank in the

Tamil country in early seventh century. His great-grandson is credited
with the construction of the Paramesvara-tataka late in the seventh century.
The land irrigated by the tank was divided into twenty-five parts, five of
which were meant for public purposes. The Tiraiyaneri Tank referred
to in an inscription of Nandivarman Pallava (eighth century A.D.) was
probably built by an earlier king. Another inscription of Nandivarman
refers to water-levers (jalayantra). The tank at Uttaramallur. called
Vayiramega-tataka, was constructed by one of the Pallava kings. King
Dantivikramavarman (ninth century) excavated a tank at Gudimallam in
North Arcot. King Kampavarman of the Ganga-Pallava line constructed
one at Ukkal. The tank Kanakavallieri at Solapuram dated from the
ninth century. The Kaveripak Tank, the most extensive in the district, with
a bund about 6.4 kilometres long stretching from north to south, was dug
about the latter half of the ninth century. To this period also belong the
Chitrameghatataka in Arcot as well as the sluices of the tank at Tun,dalaIIl.
460 . ·k HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
In the tenth century, a number of tanks were excavated, e.g. the Ohola-
varidhi by Parantaka I, the tanks at Sodiyambakkam and Takkolam in
Areot, the feeding-channel of the tank at Vinnamangalam, the tanks at
Tanagunda (Karnataka) and Chikballapur (Kolar), the tank referred to
in the inscription of Rajakesarivarman and Parantaka I, as well as the
Uyyakkondan channel attributed to Rajaraja I or one of his ancestors. An
iru;cription of Rajendra Chola I refers to a tank called Madhurantakappe.
reri. The 'Big Tank' at Bahur near Pondicherry mentioned in an inserip"
tion of Rajaraja Chola I (A.D. 985-1013) belongs to this period. In the
eleventh century, the tank at Arikesarimangalam was excavated, as refer-
red to in an inscription of Rajaraja I. In the twelfth century, the tank at
Anamkonda, attributed to the Kakatiya minister Beta, and the tank at
Sindhuvalli in Karnataka, were excavated during the reign of Kulottunga. 1
TANK SYSTEM IN KAR.NATAKA
There are no natural lakes in Karnataka, but the streams which
gather from the hillsides and fertilize the valleys are, at every favourable
point, embanked in such a manner as to form a series or chain of reservoirs,
called tanks, the outflow from one at a higher level supplying the next at a
lower level, and so on, all down the course of the stream. These tanks,
varying in size from small ponds to extensive lakes, are dispersed through-
out the country and number 38,080. One of the largest tanks is Sulekera,
64 kilometres in circumference. Other large ones are the Ayyankere,
Madagakere, Masur-Madagakere, Vyasa-samudra, Ramasagara, and
Moti Talab.
Major Sankey, one of the first Engineers of the Mysore State, who
devoted his attention to the systematic repairs of tanks, stated that Uto such
an extent has the principle of storage been followed that it would now require
some ingenuity to discover a site within this great area suitable for a new
tank. While restorations are of course feasible, any absolutely new work
of this description would, within this area, be almost certainly found to
cut off the supply of another, lower down the same basin, and to interfere
with vested interests."·
Although there are many isolated tanks in particular localities, the
vast majority are constructed on a connected system of streams and their
feeders which are abundant in the undulating plateau of Karnataka. In
fact, most of these tanks have been classified according to the main valleys.
sub-valleys, etc. As an instance of the chain of tanks may be mentioned
the ralar. system, which has one thousand tanks in the valley, the last one
being the large Ramasagara Tank.
IGupta, K.M. Th, Land Syst.m in Sauth India, pp. 219, 200, 221
'Rao, C.H. M_"sare GQZfltefY, Voi.III,1929, p. 157
THE CHOLAS AND THEIR IRRIGATION SYSTEMS 461
MAINTENANCE OF TANKS
The village assembly and especially its executive committee, the
Tank Supervision Committee (eri-variyam), looked after the maintenance
of the irrigation works of a village, by repairing breaches and dams, remov-
ing silt and regulating the distribution of water-supply.
CHAPTER.S!!
VILLAGES OF SOUTH INDIA DURING

THE CHOLA RULE·
TENTH CENTURY TO TWELFTH CENTURY
TENURE, LAND REVENUE AND RENT
ECONOMIC CONDITION OF THE RURAL PEOPLE
THE villages of South India were known under different names according
to their character. Thus a rescript from king Uttama~Choladeva, of the
early twelfth century is addressed to the inhabitants of the Brahmacleya
villages, i.e. the villages granted to the Brahmanas; the Devadana villages,
i.e. the villages attached to some gods or goddesses or temples; Pallichchanda
villages, i.e. the villages attached to Jaina religious foundation; Kani (or
Gani) murruttu villages, i.e. the villages meant for the support of astrolo-
gers; and Vettapperru villages, probably villages connected in some way
with the supply of labour, i.e. service-tenure villages. Again, a village
tenanted by Brahmanas only, or rather the proprietary right of which be-
longs to the Brahmanas only, was known as an agrahara or mangalam, as
distinguished from kudi (an ordinary village) or ur or Vellalan (i.e. Sudra)
village. An ordinary village (kudi) when made over to a Brahmana as a
gift underwent a change in name as well as in other respects.
A Brahmadeya was sometimes changed into a Vellan-Vagai village,
i.e. into an ordinary cultivators' village. Thus an inscription of the reign
of Rajendra Choladeva I records that Palaiyanur, a Brahmadeya viilage
of the assembly of Singalantaka-Chaturvedimangalam, is to be withdrawn
from the latter and become Vellan·Vagai village, but, unlike the other
Vellan-Vagais, should pay a standing fixed tax in money and kind, and
become a Devadana of the temple ofPalaiyanur-Tiruvalangadu.
A system of naming the villages according to the caste of their inhabi-
tants was in vogue in later times. Thus in the Madura District, a village
inhabited by the Telugu and Kanarese people was called an ur; a small
KalIa village, patti or kurichi; a fortified village, kottei (kottai); a Brahmana
village, mangalam or agraharam j and an oridinary village, kudz·. In
Chingleput the villages were known as nattams, a name subsequently applied
to Sudra villages.
VILLAGES ON SAMUDAYAM, PALABHOGAM AND EKABHOGAM TENURES
The threefold classification of the villages according to the forms of the

privileges enjoyed by the inhabitants, and which were believed to have
existed from time immemorial, is as follows: These three modes of enjoy-
ment.lof privileges were known as samudayam (lit. common propery) or
VILLAGES OF SOUTH INDIA DURING THE CHOLA RULE 463
pasungarai or sumohi, palabhogam or aclzandrarkam (lit. permanent property) or

arudik-karai, and ekabhogam or ejaman or yajaman gramam (lit. sole enjoyment
villages). Samudayam is regarded as the earliest form of enjoyment. It was of
two kinds, namely the absolute samudaya and karafpidu. Under the former, the
whole of the cultivated area of a village, together with the common waste-
land and the common fallow land, belonged to the whole body of the
mirasidars or owners. The lands were cultivated either by the whole body
jointly or separately by each member, but the entire produce in both cases
was shared by the members of the community according to their respective
shares. The ownership was communal, so far as the arable and waste-
lands were concerned. The house-sites (nattam), along with the gardens
or backyards only, belo;nged to the members severally. In this form, thus,
there wa~ no separate allotment of land to individuals; and the property
was a right to a certain share or pangu or a number of shares in the produce.
Each member of the community contributed his share of labour. Under
the form known as karaiyidu (lit. field-division), 'lands were temporarily
in separate shares by the co-sharers forming the members of the community
and were subject to redistribution at stated intervals.' These intervals
were of 8, 12, 27 or 30 years. In both the samudqya forms, there was the
joint liability of the co-sharers for the government revenue. The share of
the government called the melvaram as well as the local dues and cesses were
deducted from the gross produce before distribution. The co-sharers could
alienate their shares by way of mortgage, sale or otherwise. In the absolute
samudaya form, sale or mortgage meant the sale of the right to an undivided
share in the common enjoyment: in the karafpidu form the land was liable
to redistribution at the end of the stated interval. In the case of sales, the
members of the community had a right of pre-emption, the owners of the
neighbouring lands having the first claim. Under the palabhoga tenure,
all the cultivated lands, warapat (i.e. lands yielding a share of the produce)
and tirwapat (i.e. lands paying a fixed money~tax), were permanently dis~
tributed, but all the other rights and privileges were held in common as also
the wastelands reclaimed since the general division. The cultivated lands
were held in severalty with individual ownership and individual liability
for the payment of the government revenue. The ekabhogam or yajamana~
gramam system differed from the other joint village types chiefly in that
the proprietor distributed the cultivable lands among a number of joint-
holders farming in common and levied cesses on their produce. He usually
held a manyam or tax-free estate and conducted the village assembly. He
was not a public officer like the headman of the villages of North India, and
he could alienate his land and the attached privileges at his will. No sales
could" be made without his permission, nor any stranger could settle in the
village without his permission. The possession of shares in the samudaya
form of villages in Aroot and Chingleput carried with it peculiar hereditary
464 A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 1N INDIA
rights in the village lands and waste and their produce. The owners took
cesses in kind, such as the kanz·-merai collected by their labourers before
threshing the gross produce of paddy, the kuppattunz taken by them after
threshing, and the svamibhogam or tunduvaram levied only on their tenant's
produce. They often received, in addition to these shares, manyams Or
honorary estates which they held either wholly or in part free of taxes together
with the right to the services of the Paraiyans or serfs living either in the
suburb attached to each joint-village or scattered over the wastelands.
An ekabllOga is defined as 'a plot of land granted to a single Brahman
for his sole enjoyment and having on it his mansion and the houses of his
dependents and farmers.' A Chola inscription tells us that queen Tribhu-
vana-Mahadeviyar made a devadana grant of a piece of land belonging to
a Brahman village, after paying the purvacharam (lit. former usage) to the
Brahman owners.
Some of the inscriptions refer to committees of the village assembly,
which were elected for arranging distribution of lands in the village. This
system shows that it was on account of the existence of the karaiyidu tenure
that such distribution of the village lands was needed. An inscription of
about the twelfth century records that Tondaimanar Samantanarayana,
having purchased a village, divided it into 108 shares, out of which he gave
106 to the Brahmans and two shares to a temple.
THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF A VILLAGE
The lands attached to a village were carefully classified for the purpose
of taxation, and every detail was entered into the village register (pottagam).
All land was carefully surveyed and classified into the tax-bearing
and non-taxable lands. The taxable lands were graded according to their
natural fertility and the nature of the crops raised. Immunities in favour
of the individuals and institutions were common and carefully recorded.
The village was assessed as a whole for the land tax, and the work of collec-
tion sometimes involved harsh processes. The right of cultivating the
lands of defaulters of revenue was sold by the village assemblies to realize
the arrears payable to the State. The people made a common cause in
resisting arbitrary and unusual imposts. Revenue was payable in cash
or in kind.
The most remarkable feature of the administration of the time was
the self-government of the villagers. The village assemblies were autono-
mous institutions which functioned with unexampled vigour and efficiency.
A highly developed committee system (varfyams) for the executive of the
assemblies came into existence. The sabha ofUttaramerur is a good example
of a large number of similar attempts throughout South India to evolve
arrangements suited to local conditions in the light of experience. Justice
was administered by the village courts, caste panchayats1 and the king's courts
VILLAGES OF SOUTH INDIA DURING mE CHOLA RULE 465
(dharmasanas). For the purpose of revenue administration, the village was
divided into four parts-cultivated lands yielding a share of the produce;
lands paying a fixed money tax; waste or uncultivated lands, which were
divided into cultivable waste, and immemorial waste; and poram6oke, viz.
lands set apart for various communal purposes, e.g. village-site, temple-site
and crematorium. The cultivated land was classified into wetlands and
drylands.
THE CONSTITUTION OF VILLAGES
Broadly speaking, we come across the following types of villages in

the South in accordance with the inscriptions in southern India: the joint
villages, in which the controlling power was exercised by the community
of the Brahmanas, besides whom there were people of the lower castes mostly
Vellalans; joint villages belonging to Vellalan or farmers with subordinates
of the same or lower castes; and villages assigned to single individuals. So
far as local affairs, and especially transactions relating to land, were con-
cerned, these villages acted on most republican lines through the assemblies
known as Sabhai, Maha-sabhai, Perunguri-sabhai, Parudai or Paradai or Mula-
parudai in the case of the Brahmana villages, and ur in the case of the Vella-
Ian villages. Though the king occasionally interfered in the affairs of
the villages, they seem to have had no headman of the type familiar in
North India who acted as an intermediary between the community of the:
village and the government. Some of the inscriptions speak of a kitan (Jr
kilavan, who appears like a headman, but who really seems to be a senior
burgess of a Brahmadeya. His functions are not like those of the villaR;e
headman of the North. A record of Kaviripakkam mentions a gentleman,
named Arumbakilan, who was a kangani or government supervisor, along
with the so-called <administrator of the town' (Ur-alkinra), acting' jointly
with the executive committee of the township in affairs which affected the
interests of both the crown and the burgesses.
Besides these officials, the village body politic: according to the South
Indian inscriptions, contained an astrologer, a vetti who swept public
buildings and kept them in order, a constable, a potter, a smith, a carpenter.
a tanner, and, sometimes, a physician. The assembies and their executive
committees, called the variyam, were intimately connected with the land-
system.
CULTIVATION OF LAND CONDUOTED UNDER THE SUPERVISION
OF THE VILLAGE ASSEMBLIES
In the villages, where the ownership of the cultivated land was joint,
cultivation was looked after by the assemblies. The share of the assembly
as landlords was two-thirds of the produce and that of the tillers of the soil
one-third (c£ Brihaspati). A record of the reign of Parantaka I, dated the
466 A HISTOR.Y OF AGIUC:ULTURE IN INOlA
early part of the tenth century, tells us that the assembly had a piece of
land 'cultivated on the terms of two to one obtaining in this village', that is,
on Ca system of contract by which two shares of the produce were assigned
to the landlord and one to the cultivator or vice versa. Probably, this division
of the produce was effected after the deduction of the meluaram or the govern-
ment revenue. This inscription indicates that there was no hard-and-fast
rule about the exact sharing of the produce. It depended on the local
customs as well as on the fertility of the soil. On the evidence of a record
of the time of the Ganga-Pallava King Dantivikramavarman (c. ninth
century), we learn that the assembly used to resume the land when the
cultivators failed to pay the due taxes. From an inscription of Rajendra
Chola I it appears that the assembly sometimes made over the right of
collecting the taxes from the cultivators to private individuals. With regard
to the temple lands, the village assembly looked after them in return for a
sum of money. Thus in return for an annual payment of 18 Ilakkasu by the
local temple, the village assembly of Narasimhamangalam agreed to look
after the temple lands and to discharge certain other functions.
MELv ARAM (LAND REVENUE)
When the temple lands were under the direct management of the
Devakanmis or temple trustees, they used to fix the rate of melvaram that
the cultivators, or the individual to whom the land was made over, had to
pay. Thus a record of the Pandya King Jatavarman Sundara-Pandya
(1270-1310) tells us that the Maheshvaras, Shri~rudras, Devakanmis and
. the temple accountants granted certain temple lands as kanippidipadu to
an individual on the condition that he would enjoy them, after repairing
the tanks in disuse and bringing under cultivation such of the lands as were
covered with jungle, and that, so long as he would enjoy them under these
circumstances, he would have to pay a melvaram at the following rate:
One-third for Pasan.
One-fifth for crops, such as tinai (a kind of grain), yaragu~ ellu
(gingelly), payaru (a kind of gram), kuruuai (a kind of paddy), karambu
(sugarcane), kolundu. (a kind of scented leaf), karunai (yams), manjal
(saffron), inji (ginger), sengalunir (? red coconut), valai (plantain), valudalai,
pusani (pumpkin).
One-fifth from trees like mango, jack~fruit, natta£, lime, kulaviruli,
Tlelli and iluppai.
One.seventh for coconut and areca palms .
. One-seventh for dry crops (according to yield).
A progressive rate of tax was levied on land brought under cultivation
by clearing jungles: one-tenth first year; one-ninth second year; one-eighth
third year; one-seventh fourth year; and one-third for the subsequent
periods, permanently (cf. Brihaspati). A record of the Pandya King
Maravarman-Vira-Pandya (c. 1303) fixes the melvaram of a Devadana at

one-third for the pasanam (harvest?), one-fifth for the garden crops Mavadai
and Maravadai, and one-seventh for dry crops. An inscription of the
fifteenth century records an agreement arrived at by the temple-manager
and the tenants of the temple land as to the mtlvaram on areca, coconut,
mallgi and other trees grown on the 'Tiruvidaiyattam' lands of the temple.
It was formerly three-fourths, but it was now reduced to two-thirds, so that
one-third now went to the share of the tenants. In the case of sesamum,
green-gram and sugarcane, the rates obtaining in the neighbouring villages
were adopted, and in cases where betel, plantain and other quick-yielding
crops were reared side by side in the newly planted areca and coconut groves,
the metvaram was fixed at three-fourths of the old rates.
RENT
An inscription of the early part of the fourteenth century fixes the
following apportionment of the produce of the soil between the landlord
and the tenant in an Ekabhoga Bralllnadeya village: as to kadamai (i.e.
taxes paid in kind), in cases of kar paddy (paddy in wet fields), for both the
crops of the year, the landlord is to get one-twentieth; that the dues, palli,
pad-kaval, perum-padikaval, sudu (sheaves of corn) given to servants, arat'vadai
and alkuli should be charged on the whole village in common (i.e. on the
whole body of the cultivators) and that the remainder should be distributed
in the ratio of 1:4 between the landlord and the tenant; the straw and the
green grass (payaru), generally sown just before or after the harvest, have
to be equally divided between them. As to the kudimai right, i.e. payment
in money, the rate is as follows: as to kar, half a panam for the first crop and
one.fourth for the second for every plot ofland. As to the threshing expen~
ses, which are to be borne equally by the landlord and the tenant, one tuni
or one padakku for the first crop per plot and half of it for the second crop.
In the case of dry crops, such as turmeric, castor-seeds, cotton and gingelly,
the seed-grain is to be supplied by the landlord, and the yield is to be divided
equally. The supply oflabour, the storing of grain in the landlord's granary
and the work of repairing ridges in the fields devolved on the landlord ex-
clusively.
ROYA.L FEE FOR SHIFTING OULTIVATION
Shifting cultivation was in vogue among the hill tribes of South India. A
record of the Chola King Rajendradeva II, dated A.D. 1072 tells us that a
cloth (? pudavari) was to be given to the government for every 1,500 kuli of
land on which shifting cultivation was carried on by the hill tribes.1
lGupta; K.M. The Land System in Soulh India, pp. 61 to 65 Ilnd 208 to 213
468 A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDlA
ECONOMIO CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE

C.H. Rao has given an excellent account of the economic condition
and village administration in the Ohola period, based on the study of
inscriptions. He states, 'the Tanjore inscriptions throw light on the econo-
mic condition of the people of the Chola country about the beginning of
the II th century. The land assessment (kanikkadan) was roughly one
hundred kalam of paddy for each veli of land. Paddy was sold at the rate
of two kalam for each kasu and ,three ewes could be purchased for one kasu,
The rate of interest was apparently 12! per cent. It was actually i
kasu per year for each kasu of three kuruni of paddy for each kasu per year.
For Sivayogins who had to attend the temple on certain festive occasions
and who may be taken to represent the average middle-class men of the
time, the allotment made for each meal is one kuruni and two nari of paddy.
Assuming that a middle-class man took two meals a day, the consum-
ption for each man would be 2i kuruni of paddy per day. The parasol-
carrier may be taken as the type of the lowest class of manual labourers
and each of them got 40 kalam of paddy per year and this would yield It
kuruni of paddy for each day. It is worthy of note that chillies are not
mentioned and coconuts seem to have been unknown at least in the vicinity
of Tanjore, if not in the Chola country.
VILLAGE AOMINISTRATION
The-following portions of villages were communal and as such free

from assessment: the village site, the village tank arid its banks; the portion
occupied by the artisans and the pariahs; the burning-ground; the irrigation
channels; temples; the shrines of Aiyan, Kadugal, Durgaiyar and Kala"
Pidariyar; the temple of Settai (Jyeshtha), the shrines of the Pidaris Tiruvalu-
daiyal. Kuduraivattam-udaiyal, Punnaitturainangai and Poduvagai-
urudaiyal; ponds in the middle of fields; flower-gardens; streams; the por·
tion occupied by toddy-drawers; the portion ocupied by washermen; the
water-pond used by pariahs; the portion occupied by the polluting castes;
highroads; rivers; the sacred courts (i.e. temples); the cremation-ground of
the pariahs, the stone fence (for cattle); the stables (kottagram); the village
threshing-floor; grazing-ground for calves; wells and cisterns.
THE VILLAGE SABRA AND ITS COMMITTEES
A large number of villages in the Chola country had sablzas or regularly

constituted village cdrporations which watched jealously over the internal
affairs of the village. The Uttaramallur inscriptions of Parantaka I lay
down rules for the selection of the members to the village committ~es, which
were apparently controlled by the village assemblies. During the reign
of Rajaraja I, certain changes appear to have been introduced in these
rules. In the 11th year of his reign (or. A.D. 996) it was laid .down that
only those who wcre capable of reciting the Mantrabrahmana (Hymns of

Brahmanas ) could be elected members of the Village Supervision Committee
(urvariyam) and take part in the deliberations of the village assembly.
Those who were guilty of misappropriation of property and of other heinous
crimes were debarred from election. It was further ruled that anyone
chosen in contravention of these rules would be accorded the same punish-
ment as was usually meted out to transgressors of royal orders. An inscrip-
tion of Raj araj a dated in his 16th year (A.D. 1001) indicates that the members
of a village assembly were called together by the blowing of a trumpet, and
that the herald was entitled to get a fee (2 soru) from the village. The
members appear to have met together and transacted business even during
night, though in the generality of cases it is found that business was conduct-
ed during daytime. We may presume that the same rules were in force
in other village sabhas. There were also villages where the villagers manag-
ed the business of the village without having been constituted into a regular
corporation. Wherever the village assemblies existed, their transactions
must have been quite lively as there were periodical changes of members
on these bodies. They seem to have been entrusted with civil and magisterial
powers. In fact, each village seems to have been a self-contained body
jealously watching over its own interests as well as over those of its members.
The village assemblies generally managed temples and were trustees of
public charities. A number of village assemblies are said to have received
money on interest from the Rajarajesvara temple at Taqjore. In all
probability, the money thus borrowed was used in bringing wastelands under
cultivatio~. From the produce of these lands, the interest on the money
borrowed was paid. Village assemblies could alienate lands whenever the
liabilities incurred by them could not be otherwise discharged.
LIMITS ON POWERS OF TAXATION OF THE: VILLAGE: SABHA
These village assemblies appear to have been invested with the power
of taxation. This is inferable from many inscriptions, a few of which may
be referred to here. From an inscription dated, A.D. 996, in the 12th
regnal year, we see a l!Yavastai issued which says that the assembly of a village
should not levy any tax other than the siddhaya, dandaya and panchavara.
They should not levy any sillirai (or miscellaneous) taxes not mentioned in
the rates already fixed. It would seem as though they could not levy tax
which was not included in the royal schedule. In an inscription of his
9th year, the great assembly Uttiramerur was convened to put an end to
inequality in taxation. Though the inscription is incomplete, it may be
inferred that resentment was felt at some partiality shown to some particular
communities in the matter of taxation. Accordingly, the assembly enacted
that the employees of the royal house-hold, Brahmans,Merchants and Vellalas
(agriculturists) should individually be responsible for the payment of the
fines imposed upon their respective classes. From another inscription, we

get to know how the defaulters were dealt with. The assembly concerned,
apparently, sent out its order to the Adhikari of the place where the defaulters
were, and he was requested to execute the order there. The property of
the defaulter was, accordingly, sold away for any price it could fetch and
the proceeds were credited to the talam (temple treasury) concerned, after
obtaining a receipt. If necessary, the Adhikari, in his turn, sent out the order
to the sabha of the village or to all the people of the place Cur) in order that
they might openly bid for the land. The price for which the latter bid
was called urlJiiai. Where no bidders came forward and it was knocked
down: to the temple itself, it was called ajnayakrayam (Le. upset price).
RESTRIOTIONS ON EXACTIONS
Well-defined restrictions were evidently laid on any exactions or

pretended claims of the members of the different committees. The members
of the Annual Tank or Village Supervision were not entitled to any kind
of payment in rice or paddy as amanji (without payment or cash). If
anyone claimed such payment, he was to be fined 25 kalanju of gold. The
fine was to be collected by the Deua Kanmis or managers of the temple.
Even after paying this fine, the defaulters were liable to a fine to the
Dharmasana (the court of justice). The accountant of the committee who
allowed unlawful collection was also asked to pay vetti (a fine). Anybody
who said "nay" to this order and anybody who instigated others into saying
so were to pay a fine of 15 kalanju to the Dharmasana and they were there~
after to obey the same order. Anybody who ran away without paying the
taxes due was pursued to the vmage or hamlet concerned and there the
order was executed. The case of one Kilakkil Avanipa Bhatta is in point.
He was thus deptived of bhaUsvam in a particular village.
REFERENCES
Auboyer,J. Daily Lifo in Ancilnllrldia, London, 1961
Christy, A.E. (Ed.), Th, Asian Lega", and Am"ican Life, New York, 194:5
Gode, P.K. StudilS in Indian Cultural History, Vo1s I, II, Poona, 1960
Code, P .K. Studies in Indian Lit.rory Hi.rlory, Vol. HI, Poona, 1956
Gupta, K.M. The Land System in Soulh India 6etooeen c. 800 A.D. to 1200 A.D., Lahore, 1933
J airazbhoy, R.S. F~reign I1Ifluence in Ancient India, Bombay, 1963
Kosambi,D.D. The C~ltur, and Civilization oj.Ancient India in Historical O~tline, London, 1965
Majumdar, R.O. History and Culture of Indian People, thl Cla.f,ficol Age, Bombay, 1970
Rao, C.H. M,Ysor. Gazelleer, Vol. I, Bangalore, 1927
Rao, C.H. M'ysore GtZJ:etteer, Vol. II • Part II, Bangalore, 1930
Sastri, K.A.N. and Srinivasachari, K •. Advanced History of India, Bombay, 1970
Sivaramamurti, C. Indian Sculpturl,New Delhi, 1961
CHAPTER 34
RAJPUT KINGDOMS OF NORTHERN INDIA

PRATIHARAS. GAHADVALAS, CHAUHANS, PRAMARAS AND CHANDELLAS
THE PAtA AND SENA DYNASTIES OF BENGAL
EIGHTH: CENTURY TO ELEVENTH CENTURY
OBSERVATIONS OF AtBERUNI ON INDIA AND INDIANS
INDUSTRY, TRADE AND AGRICULTURE
THE Rajputs are the descendants of the Huns, and Gurjara tribes of Central
Asia, who were ennobled and assimilated in the Hindu society. From the
eighth to eleventh centuries, four Rajput clans, viz. Pawar (Pramara),
Parihar (Pratihara), Chauhan and Solanki became prominent in northern
India.
THE PRATIHARA5
The Pratihara Rajputs were of the Gurjara stock. The Pratihara

Dynasty was founded by Nagabhatta I in 650. Nagabhatta II (A.D.
800-833) conquered Kanauj and made it his capital. The most distinguish-
ed Pratihara was Bhoja (A.D. 840-890), who became a legendary figure in
Indian history. He ruled over a vast territory bounded by the Sutlej to
the north-west, the Hakra to the west, the Narmada to the south, and
Bihar and Bengal to the east.
Mahendrapala I (A.D. 890-908), the successor of Bhoja, preserved the
vast empire he inherited from his father. In 961, the Pratiharas lost
Gujarat to the Chalukyas of Anhilvara.
The Pratihara Empire was the last great Hindu empire in northern
India. According to Majumdar, the chief credit of the Pratihara kingdom
lies in the successful resistance to the Moslem invasions from the west.
While Islamic armies made rapid progress in the Middle East, Mrica and
Europe, thl. Pratiharas stopped their advance beyond the boundaries of
Sindh, their first conquest in India. for nearly three centuries.
THE PRAMARAS
The Pramara Dynasty of Dhar was founded by Krishnaraja early in the

tenth century. Of the Pramaras. the most distinguished was Bhoja (A.D.
1018-1060), a warrior, a scholar and a patron of learning. lIe wrote a
number of books on astronomy, architecture and poetics. He founded a
Sanskrit college. One of his achievements was the creation of
the Bhojpur lake to the south-east of Bhopal, which covered an area
of 647 square kilometres. Irrigation from this lake insured Malwa against
famines.
472 A HISTORY OF AGRIOULTURE IN lNDIA
THE CHANDELLAS
The Chandellas were a clan of aboriginal chiefs related to the Gonds,
who were ennobled as Kshatriyas, who ruled Bundelkhand. Their principal
towns were Chhatarput, Mahoba, Kalanjara and Khajuraho. Their most
remarkable ruler was Dhanga (A.D. 954-1002), under whose patronage
the famous temples of Khajuraho, so well known for their sculptures, were
erected. His son Ganda joined the confederacy of Anandapal against
Mahmud of Ghazna.
The last Chand ella ruler was Paramaradideva (Parmal), who ruled
from A.D. 1165 to 1203. He defeated Prithviraj Chauhan in 1182. In
1203 he was defeated by Kutb-ud-din, who captured the Fort of Ka1al1iara.
THE SOLA'NKIS
The Solanki Dynasty was founded by Mularaj (A.D. 974-995), with

Anhilvara as its capital. Mularaj conquered Saurashtra. His son Chamun-
daraja defeated SindhUl'aja, the Pawar ruler ofDhar. Bhimadeva I (A.D. 1022)
reconstructed the temple of Somanath, which had been earlier destroyed
by Mahmud of Ghazna. Bhimadeva II (A.D. 1199-1238) fought Kutb-ud-
din and drove him back to Ajmer in 1196. In 1197, Anhilvara fell to
Moslems.
THE GAHADVALAS AND CHAUHANS
In 1090, Chandradev, the third king of Gahadvala clan, took Kanauj

from the Pratiharas. Govindachandra (A.D. 1104-1155), the grandson
of Chandradev, was the greatest king of Gahadvala Dynasty, and under him
Kanauj regained its importance. Govindachandra's grandson was Jaichand,
so well known in history. His daughter Sunjogata was carried off by Rai
Pithora Chauhan (Prithviraj) of Ajmer. It was the resultant feud between
the Gahadvalas and Chauhans which resulted in the weakening of the
Rajputs. Prithviraj was defeated by Shihab-ud-din at Tarain, a place
betWeen Thanesar and Karnal.
PALAS AND SE'NAS OF BENGAL
Here a reference to the Pala and Sena dynasties of Bengal, Gauda or

Vanga, as it was known in the past, is pertinent. The Pala Dynasty was
founded by Gopala about A.D. 760. He extended his power to Magadha,
and the rulers of northern Orissa were his vassals. The next ruler was
Dh~\rmapala (A.D. 776-810), a devout Buddhist who founded the monas-
teries of Vikramashila and Paharpur. The third Pala monarch was
Devapala (A.D. 810-850). Monghyr was his capital. He had close contact
with the Srivijay Empire of Sumatra and there was a lively trade between
Bengal and the islands ofJava and Sumatra. The next ruler was Mahipala
I (A.D. 970-1030). It was during his reign that a BudcJhjst mission headed
RA.JPUT KINGDOMS OF NORTHERN INDIA 473
by Dharmapala was sent to Tibet. Ramapala (A.D. 1080-1123) built many

temples and established the famous Buddhist monastery of Jagadalla.
The rural area was prosperous and mansions of merchant princes studded
the high banks of the rivers and waterways of Bengal. We read of fine
clothes made of cotton that were transparent as dew, and lovely pieces of
cloth, blue~tinted like a cloud (meghadambara), and with rainbow colours of
peacock plumes (mayura pekham). The last Pala ruler was Indradyamnapala.
Richly ornamented sculpture in black stone on Buddhist themes is
characteristic of the Pala period. The painting of this period is character-
ized by mellowness and fluid grace. The Pala kings excavated numerous
lakes and tanks which preserve their memory.
The Senas were Brahma-Kshatdyas from Karnataka. They settled in
northern Orissa and gradually extended their kingdom to Bengal. Vallala-
sena (A.D. llOB-lll9) reorganized the caste-system and introduced
kulinism among the Brahmanas, Vaidyas and Kayastl_l.as.
Lakshmansena (A.D. 1178~1205) was the last ruler of Bengal. He was
a scholar and patron oflearning. Jayadeva, the author of the Gila Govinda,
the Sanskrit poem, was his court poet.
TliE PEOPLE
A reliable source of information on India and Indians in the early

eleventh century is Alberuni's Kitab-ul-Ht'nd. Born in the territory of
Khiva, in 973, in central Asia, he travelled in India from 1017 to 1030
as a political hostage of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna. He studied the
works of Hindu astronomers and mathematicians as well as the Pouranas.
He was a master of astrology, both according to the Greek and Hindu systems.
The net result of his study and observations is a veritable encyclopaedia
of Hindu religion~ philosophy .and science-the Kitab-ul-Hind.
Alberuni observes that the Hindu scholars were complacent, proud
and sdf-satisfied. They believed that there was no country but theirs,
and no science like theirs I
Alberuni thus described the physical appearance of the Hindus, their
dress and habits.
'They do not cut any of the hair of the body. Originally they went
naked in consequence of the heat, and by not cutting the hair of the head they
intended to prevent sunstroke.
'They divide the moustache into single plaits in order to preserve it.
As regards their not cutting the hair of the genitals, they try to make people
believe that the cutting of it incites to lust and increases carnal desire.
Therefore, such of them as feel a strong desire for cohabitation never cut
the hair of the genitals.
'They let the nails grow long, glorying in their idleness, since they do
not use them for any business or work, but only while living a doice jar
hiente life, they scratch their heads with them and examine the hair for lice.
'The Hindus eat singly, one by one, on a tablecloth of dung. They
do not make use of the remainder of a meal, and the plates from which
they have eaten are thrown away if they are earthen.
'They have red teeth in consequence of chewing arecanuts with betel-
leaves and lime.
'They drink wine before having eaten anything, then they take their
meal. They sip the stall of cows, but they do not eat their meat. .
'They beat the cymbals with a stick.
'They use turbans for trousers. Those who want little dress are con-
tent to dress in a rag of two fingers' breadth, which they bind over their
loins with two cords; but those who like much dress wear trousers lined with
so much cotton as would suffice to make a number of counter-panes and
saddle-rugs. These trousers have no (visible) openings, and they are so
huge that the feet are not visible. The string by which the trousers are
fastened is at the back.
'Their sidar (a piece of dress covering the head and the upper part of
breast and neck) is similar to the trousel's, being also fastened at the back
by buttons.
'The lappets of the kurtakas (short shirts from the shoulders to the middle
of the body with sleeves, a female dress) have slashes both on the right and
left sides.
'In washing they begin with the feet, and then wash the face. They
wash themselves before cohabiting with their wives.
'On festive days they besmear their bodies with dung instead of per-
fumes.
'The men wear articles of female dress; they use cosmetics, wear ear-
rings, arm-rings, golden seal-rings on the ring-finger as well as on the toes
of the feet.
'They ride without a saddle, but if they put on a saddle, they mount
the horse from its right side. In travelling they like to have somebody
riding behind them.
'They fasten the kuthara, i.e. the dagger, at the waist on the right side.
'They wear a girdle called yajnQPavita, passing from the left shoulder
to. the right side of the waist.
'In all consultations and emergencies they take the advice of the women.
'When a child is born people show particular attention to the man, not
to. the woman.
. 'Of two children they give the preference to the younger, particularly
in the eastern parts of the country; for they maintain that the elder owes
his birth to predominant lust, whilst the younger owed his origin to mature
reflection and a calm proceeding.
'In shaking hands they grasp the hand of a man from the convex side.
RAJI'UT KINGDOMS OF NORTHERN lNDlA 475
'They do not ask permission to enter a house, but when they leave it
they ask permission to do so.
'In their meetings they sit cross-legged.
'They spit out and blow their noses without any respect for the elder
ones present, and they crack their lice before them. They consider the
crepitus ventris as a good omen, sneezing as a bad omen.
'They use black tablets for the children in the schools, and write upon .
them along the long side, not the broad side, writing with a white material
from the left to the right.
'They write the title of a book at the end of it, not at the beginning.'
Alberuni also observed that the Hindus had a predilection for versifi-
cation. This was due to the fact that there was more reliance on memory
than on a written record. He states, 'Grammar is followed by another
science, called chandas, i.e. the metrical form of poetry, corresponding to our
metrics-a science indispensable to them, since all their books are in verse.
By composing their books in metres they intend to facilitate their being learn-
ed by heart, and to prevent people in all questions of a science ever referring
to a written text, save in a case of bare necessity. For th«y think that the mind
of man sympathises with everything in which there is symmetry and order,
and has an aversion to everything in which there is no order. Therefore,
most Hindus are passionately fond of their verses, and always desirous of
reciting them, even if they do not understand the meaning of the words, and
the audience will snap their fingers in token of joy and applause. They do
not want prose compositions, although it is much easier to understand them.'
BOOKS
About the writing material of the Hindus and their books, Alberuni
states, 'The Hindus are not in the habit of writing on hides like the Greeks
in ancient times. Socrates, on being asked why he did not compose books,
gave this reply: "I do not transfer knowledge from the living hearts of men
to the dead hides of sheep." Muslims, too, used in the early times of Islam
to write on hides, e.g. the treaty between the Prophet and the Jews of
Khaibar and his letter to Kisra. The copies of the Koran were written
on the hides of gazelles, as are still now~a"days the copies of the Thora.
Written on this material, the orders of the:: Khalifs went out into all the
world until shortly before our time. Papyrus has this advantage over
vellum, that you can neither rub out nor change anything on it, because
thereby it would be destroyed. I t was in China that paper was first manu-
factured. Chinese prisoners introduced the fabrication of paper into
Samarkand, and thereupon it was made in various places, so as to meet
the existing want.
'The Hindus have in the south of their country a slender tree like the
date and cocoa-nut palms~ bearing edible fruits and leaves of the length of
476 A mSTORY OF AOltICULTURE IN INDIA
one yard. and as broad as three fingers one put beside the other. They
call these leaves tari (tala or tar, Borassusjlabelli-fer), and write on them. They
bind a book of thes~ leaves together by a cord on which they are arranged,
the cord going through all the leaves by a hole in the middle of each.
'In Central and Northern India people use the bark of the tuz-tree,
one kind of which is used as a cover for bows. It is called bhurja. They
take a piece one yard long and as broad as the outstretched fingers of the
hand, or somewhat less, and prepare it in various ways. They oil and
polish it 50 as to make it hard and smooth, and then they write on it. The
proper order of the single leaves is marked by numbers. The whole book
is wrapped up in a piece of clQth and fastened between two tablets of the
same size. Such a book is called puthi (cf. pusta~ pustaka). Their letters,
and whatever else they have to write, they write on the bark of the
tuZ'-tree/1
INPUS'IRIAL AND MERCANTILE GUILDS
Our main source of information on b'ldustry and trade in the ninth

century is Medhatithi. We. learn from him that both industrial and mer-
cantile guilds functioned in his time. He defines the guild (shreni) as consist-
ing of people following common professions, such as tradesmen, artisans,
money-lenders, coach-drivers, and so forth. Besides the shreni and the
sangha, there. were associations of labourers. Illustrating Manu's law on
the subject, Medhatithi lays down the rule that among architects, masons,
carpenters, and the like, the wages shall be distributed on the principle
that lie who does the most difficult part of the job shall receive more, and
he who does the easier part shall get less.
In the inscriptions of this period we have concrete e:x:amples of different
classes of guilds and their constitution and functions. Among the guilds
specially. mentioned are those of weavers, potters, gardeners, and artisans.
Mention is made of single as well as multiple headmen (mahattaras) who
evidently foI'Ihed the executive of these bodies. The guilds collectively
made endowments for pious objects or received them on trust to provide
for such objects out of the accruing interest. In each case, they arranged for
distributing the task among themselves, evidently in accordance with the old
Smriti rule giving legal authority to~the agreement of guilds.
llfrEREST
The old legal rate of interest, laid down in Vasishtha at 15 per cent
per annum, had ceased to be binding, and the usage had outgrown even
the somewhat flexible rules of the later Smriti texts. But Medhatithi gene-
rally upholds the older law rdating to usury against later interpretations.
lSachau, E.C. Alhuuni's India, pp. IS6. 137. 174, 179-183

RAJPUT KINGDOMS OF NORTHERN INDIA 477
As regards Manu's higher scale of rates (2 , 3, 4, and 5 per cent per month)
to be paid respectively by Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras,
Medhatithi says that these alternatives are allowable to a money~lender who
cannot maintain his family at the 1t per cent rate, or to one who has only
a small capital or in the case of the borrower not being a specially righteous
person.
WAGES
The Smriti law relating to wages can be gleaned from Medhatithi.

The wages which were paid in cash or in kind were fixed by contract accord~
ing to the nature of the work to be done, the contract sometimes extending
over a period of six. months or even a year. A wilful breach of the contract
rendered the labourer liable to forfeiture of his wages as well as to payment
of compensation to his employer.
TEXTILE INDUSTRV AND METAL~WORKING
One of the oldest Indian industries is the textile. The records of this
period mention a great variety and different qualities of textiles such as
woollen and hempen yarns, garments made of silk and of Ranku deer's
hair, and of sheep's and goat's wool. The professions of the weaver, the
tailor, and the dyer (in three different colours, viz. red, blue, and yellow),
are mentioned in contemporary literature. Medhatithi says that wives
left unprovided for by their husbands are to live by such unobjectionable
occupations as spinning (kartana) and lace~making (jalikawkarana), and
widows forced to live by their own labour are to subsist by the same
occupations.
The working of metals was pursued with as much success as in the
preceding epoch. The list of metals found in contemporary literature
includes copper, bell-metal (or brass), iron, lead, tin, silver and gold.
From the synonyms given in the Abhidhanaratnamala, we learn that Saura-
shtra was famous for its bell-metal, whereas Vanga was well known for its
tin industry. Five centres for manufacturing swords are mentioned in
Agni Purana, along with the distinctive qualities of their products. These
are Khatikhattara and Rishika (unidentified), Surparaka (Sopara), Vanga
(Eas~ Bengal), and Anga (Monghyr and Bhagalpur Districts). Ibn Haukal
mentions the City of Debal in Sindh as famous for the manufacture of
swords.
TRADE
Scattered references indicate that India's trade with the outside world
was carried on both by land and sea. Enterprising Arab merchants from
southern Arabia had built up by this time extensive trade relations with
India, and with the countries of the Far East as· far as China. According
478 ,A HISTORY 011' AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
to Mas'udi, ships from India, along with those from Basra, Sirar and Oman,
from Djawaga and Champa, ascended the Khanfu River to reach Khanfu
(Canton) at a distance of seven days' journey from its junction with the
sea. In Trikandasesha is a list of names (hodaJ tarandhu, and vahana) for vessels
plying on the high seas. More important are the reminiscences of voyages
by daring Indian merchants to the rich lands of South-East Asia, which
are found in the contemporary ballads of Bengal.
It is chiefly from the accounts of the early Arab geographers that we
get a list of the principal Indian sea-ports. On the coast of Sindh, near
the mouths of the Sindhu, lay Debal, a large mart and port. On the Guja-
rat coast were Kambay, Thana, and Sopara, and farther south lay Sind an
(modern Sanjan, 142 kilometres north of Bombay), from which pepper
was exported. On the Malabar coast lay the important port of Kaulam
Malaya (modern Quilon), where the ships sailing from Muscat took in
fresh water before crossing the Bay of Bengal.
AORIOULTURE
Persian wheel. An. evidence in a Hindu sculpture of the use of a

Persian wheel is in a panel from Mandor, near Jodhpur in Rajasthan (Fig.
202). This panel depicts a Persian wheel and is ascribed to the eleventh
centUlY. A wheel with a chain of terracotta buckets is clearly shown.
On one side of the wheel, an animal is depicted drinking water from a
trough, and on the other side are soldiers carrying swords and shields. Irfan
Habiba is of the view that the device shown is merely a noria or wheel
carrying pots, worked manually, as no gearing mechanism is shown. This
sculpture shows a Persian wheel in profile, and the gearing mechanism
would be on the other side. Hence there is no valid reason for doubting that
it depicts a Persian wheel. That this $culpture is pre-Islamic proves that
the so-called Persian wheel is an Indian wheel, and is not an import from Iran.
Crops. A number of cereals as well as edible vegetables and plants are
mentioned in Sanskrit lexicons. In the description of the king's dietary in
the Manasollasa, reference is made to eight varieties of rice, distinguished by
their colour, odour, size, and period of growth, and seven different kinds of
beans. The cereals were classified under three heads, viz. those in pods
(samidhanya), the awned grains (sukadhanya), and rice of different varieties.
For cereals, Magadha is mentioned for its richness in rice, whereas the
rice of the KaUnga country is included in the list of varieties suitable for
the king's dietary. Grapes are mentioned by Kalhana as a product of
Kashmir. From Idrisi we learn that date- and coconut-palms grow at
Sandan (Sindhudurga in the Ratnagiri D.istrict) and that coconut-palms
-Habib, lrfan. Jatts of Punjab and Sind, in Punjab Past and Pment-Essa'ys in Honour of Dr
Gonda Singh, pp. 97 ~ 98
RAJPUT KINGDOMS OF NORTHERN INDIA 479
grow in abundance at Saymur (Sirur in South Canara). Ginger and
cinnamon were produced in large quantities in the Pandya kingdom accord-
ing to Marco Polo. Camphor grew on the mountain~slopes between
Quilon and Madura, according to Yaqut. Marco Polo observes that
"Bengala" (Bengal) produced spikenard and other spices, ginger, sugar,
and other articles. According to Idrisi, cardamom grew on the hill-slopes
at Fandarina (Pandalayani in Malabar). According to Ibn Sa'id, Malabar
was the country of pepper. It was grown at Sandan, Fandarina, Jurbatan
and Quilon (all in Malabar), according to Idrisi, Yaqut, and Qazwini.
Bamboo grew at Kuli (in the Gulf of Cambay), Tana (Thana in the Salsette
Island), Sandan and Saymur. Sandalwood was a product of the Malaya
hill (the southern part of the Western Ghats), whereas Kashmir produced
yellow sandal which was used as an unguent by kings in the rainy season.
Saffron is mentioned by Kalhana as one of the products of Kashmir.
Cotton-trees of a very great height and almost twenty years old grew in
Gujarat. Marco Polo states that cotton grew in Bengal. Indigo was
produced in great quantities in Gujarat and at Quilon. "Brazil wood"
(sappan) of very fine quality as well as teak grew at Kulam (Quilon).
EXPORTS OF AORICULTURAL AND FOREST PRODUCTS
'Ibn Khordadbah, writing towards the end of the ninth century, men..
tions Indian exports consisting of aloe-wood, sandalwood, camphor, nut-
meg, clovepink, cubde, coconut, vegetable stuffs, and cotton. Costus,
rattan, camphor-water, indigo, and bamboos were exported from Sindh.
It appears that costus from the Himalayas and indigo from G~arat, as
well as camphor and rattan, probably from Malay and Sumatra, were
brought to the pIJrts of Sindh for export. According to Kavyamimamsa,
pine- and deodar-trees, grapes, saffron, and jujube (ber) were the products
of Uttarapatha (North~West India), while birch-bark (bhojapatra) is men~
tioned as a product of the Himalayas. According to Ibn Rosteh, teak
was exported from the Rashtrakuta kingdom of Western India, where it
was extensively grown. Pepper was ,exported from Sind an, and sandal
from Cambay. Kavyamimamsa mentions among products of Western India
varieties of bamboos, palm~trees, bdellium, and date-trees. The charac-
teristic products of Malaya Hill (Western Ghats below the Cauvery) in
South India consisted of sandalwood, pepper, cardamom and various per-
fume-bearing plants. From the extensive reference to the use of sandal-
wood which is found in the literature of this period we can infer that a large
trade in this article was carried on by South India with the rest of the
country. As regards Eastern India, the land to the east of Banaras grew,
according to Kavyamimamsa, different species of fragrant plants and trees
(lavali creeper and granthiparnaka-tree) as well as aloes and grapes.
'Of the kingdom called RahmaJ the Pala kingdom, we are told that
480 .A Hl8T01W OF .AG1UCUL'l'ORE IN INDIA
it produced Indian aloe-wood and a remarkably fine variety of cotton

fabric. The textiles of Rahma, according to Ibn Khordadbah, were of
velvety cotton, whereas Sulaiman declared them to be so light and fine
that a robe made of that cloth could be passed through a signet ring.
'As regards animals and animal products, Ka'I!Jamimamsa includes skins
and chowries made of chamara deer's tail among the products of Uttarapatha,
and musk among those of Purvadesa. In the extreme south, the Tamra-
parui River in the Pandya kingdom, at the point of its junction with the
sea, was still famous for its pearl fisheries.
•According to Medhatithi, precious stones and pearls in the South,
horses in the West, elephants in the East, as well as saffron, silks, and
woollens in Kashmir were royal monopolies, and private trading in them
was punished with confiscation of the property of the offender.
'As for mineral products, antimony (srotonjana) , rock-salt (saindhava) ,
and beryl (vaidurya) are mentioned by Rajasekhara among the characteri-
stic products of Uttarapatha. The rock-salt must have come from the
Khewra mines in the Salt Range in the Punjab.
IMPORTS
'The import of wine from Kapisa is hinted at by the synonym Kapi-

sayana given for wines in Abhidhanaratnamala. Ibn Said, an Arab writer
of a later date, mentions the import of dates from Basra into DebaI in Sindh.
The phrase chinamsuka (Chinese silk), found in the literature of this period
as in former times, suggests that this fine stuff was still being brought from
China.
.ANruAL PRODUQ'l'S
'The preparation of silk from the cocoons of the silkworm and of wool
from the hair of the hill sheep was widely known. Equally familiar was
the use of the bushy tail of the Himalayan yak for preparing flywhisks and
of musk from the musk-deer. Elephant's tusks are mentioned by Chan
Ju-Kua among the products of the Chola kingdom. The manufacture
ofleather was greatly developed in some regions during this period. From
Marco Polo we learn that Tana had a great export trade in quality leather.
Cambay had a great trade in hides. Gujarat produced dressed $kins of
different kinds (those of goats, of domestic and wild oxen, of buffaloes
and so forth) as well as "beautiful mats in red and blue leather, exquisitely
inlaid with figures of birds and beasts and skilfully embroidered with gold
and silver wire." It also produced leather cushions embroidered with gold.
These articles were in demand in Western lands. The «sleeping mats",
which were "marvellously beautiful things", and the cushions were sold
for ten and, six silver marks a piece respectively.
'A valuable industry dating from ancient times was that of the pearl-
.RAJPU'l' KINGDOMS OP NORTHBIW INDIA 481
fisheries at Subara (Suparem or Supara in the north of Bombay) and

Fufal (Bekal, 34 miles [55 kilometres] south-south-east from Mangalore).
Ohau Ju-Kua includes pearls among the native products in the Chola
kingdom. The great seat of the pearl-fisheries was the Pandya kingdom.
Marco Polo, writing at the close of the thirteenth century. observes that
pearls were fished in great quantities in the kingdom of Malabar which in
fact was the place from which they were spread all over the world. The
pear1-shells~ he says. were found in the gulf between India and Ceylon
during the season from the beginning of April to the middle of May every
year. He gives a vivid description of the fishing operations conducted
by the pearl-fishers. They engaged the services of fish-charmers as well
as of a large number of divers and paid royalty of ten per cent for their
finds to the king. 'I
"MaJumdar, R.C, Th' History antI Cuitllf' of the Indian Peoplr, Vol. IV. pp. 399 to 406.
516,511
CHAPTER 35
OBSERVATIONS OF MEDHATITHI,
PARASHARA AND KASHY AP A ON AGRI CtJL TURE
NINTH CENTURY TO ELEVENTH CENTURY
THE sources of information on agriculture in India during the period

from the ninth to eleventh centuries are the writings of Medhatithi, Paras-
hara. Kashyapa and early Arab writers.
Medhatithi was a Kashmiri scholar who lived during the period
from A.D. 825 to 900, and is known for his commentary on the Manu-Smriti.
He stresses the need of irrigation works to make people less dependent on
rains. As regards taxation, he states that taxes should be light on small
holdings, and heavy on those which yield large profits. About drinking,
hunting and gambling, being a man with practical coqunon sense, he
says that it is neither possible nor desirable to prohibit them.
Medhatithi's view of the relative status of different occupations is
similar to that of Manu and he views agriculture as a profession with dis-
favour. He says that among the Vaishya's occupations, agriculture is
the worst for a Brahmana, then comes trade, and next the tending of cattle
and 80 forth.
SOIL
In Abhidhanaratnamala, soils were classified as fertile (uroara) , barren

(irina), fallow (khila), desert (maru). and excellent (mritsa or mritsna), as well
as those green with grass (sadvala) or abounding in reeds (nadvala) , those
which were black or yellow, and those which owed their fertility to rivers or
rains. The Abhidhanaratnamala further states that different kinds of fields
were selected for different classes of crops. It includes terms for fields pro-
ducing several varieties of rice (orihi, sali, kodrava, and a variety ripening
in 60 days), of beans (mudga and masha), of oilseeds (sesame and linseed)
as well as those producing hemp, barley and vegetables.
IMPLEMENTS
Machines (yantra) for crushing sugarcanes are mentioned in a descri-
ption of the winter season in the Upamitibhavaprapanchakatha. Fields
irrigated with Persian wheels (arahata) and with leather buckets (charsa)
are mentioned in a record of A.D. 946. Again. it appears from Medhatithi
that the Vaishya (the agriculturist par excellence) was expected to know,
among other things, what seed was to be sown thickly and what thinly,
what soil was suitable for a particular kind of seed, and what harvest was
expected from a. special variety of seed.
AOlUcut:ruRE FlWM THE NlN'rli 1'0 Ei..EVEN'rH CENTUlUES 483
CROPS
The early Arab writers of the ninth and tenth centuries refer to the
fertility of the soil and the cultivation of grain and fruits in Western India.
Some cities in Gujarat grew mangoes, coconuts, lemons, and rice in great
quantities. One such city also grew sugarcane and teak-trees. Malabar
produced pepper and bamboo.
The Abhidhanaratnamala mentions a large variety of cereals and other
foodgrains along with their synonyms. The list comprises sali rice of three
varieties, coarse grain (kodrava), mustard (sarshapa) of two varieties, pepper
or saffron or ({Italian millet" (priyangu), wild sesamum (iartila), wild rice
(nivaTa), as well as pulses of four different kinds (masura. kalaya, ralla. and
adhaka). A group of seventeen articles (including rice and barley) is in-
cluded by the Smritis in the category of grain (dhanya). Again, Medha-
tithi mentions sugar-candy (ikshukhanda) and sugar (sarkara) , along with
sweetmeats and milk products. The excellence of pundra sugarcane which
yielded juice even without a pressing instrument in contrast to a variety
of sugarcane (kosakara) with its mass of flowers, is pointed out in a Verse
of the Kavyamimamsa. Similarly, the Vishnudharmottara, gives a list of five
kinds of grains (dha11:Ja) , viz. barley, wheat, paddy, sesamum, and· edible
grains of two varieties (kangu or syamaka and chinaka). Among other agri~
cultural products, camphor and aguru arc given as examples of costly arti-
cles by Medhatithi.1
PARASHARA
Who is the author of Krishi-Parasharar Was the author of the Krishi-

Paraslzara the same as the author of the well-known Parashara-smritl~ regarded
as the highest authority on agriculture in the Kali Age. Whereas there
is no external evidence on the matter, the internal evidence fails to prove
anything conclusively. According to Raychaudhuri, rOne may safely place
the author of the Krishi-Parashara in the period between A.D. 950 and 1I 00.
The Krishi-Parashara deals with the then existing knowledge and prac-
tice relating to agriculture such as soil classification and land-use, manur-
ing, rotation of crops, irrigation, tillage implements, protection of crops
from pests and diseases, and agricultural meteorology. It also deals with
the care of draught animals and the grazing of cattle.
KASHYAPA
Kashyapa, in Indian tradition, appears to be an appellation to different

personages who belonged to different periods from the Vedic period On-
wards. Some among them attained pre-eminence in the fields of medi-
lMajumdar, R.C. Tnl lIistoryandCulturI of tlleI"dian Peopl" Vol. IV, Th,Ag, of Imperial
lCona,g, pp. 399 to 406
A !!IS'l'Olty Oll' AGlUCULTURE IN !NDIA
cine, astrology, plant science and architecture.

Varaharnihira (c. fifth century) in B That Samhita mentions Kashyapa
versed in astrology among the three other risMs, namely Parashara, Garga
and Vajra, as prognosticator of rainfall. Bhattotpala (tenth century),
the commentator of the Brhat Samhita, frequently cited Kashyapa's views
on various aspects of plants while commenting on the chapter entitled
'Vrikshyurveda'. If these two Kashyapas of the Brhat Samllila are the one
and the same person, then the probable date of Kashyapa versed in plant
science dates before the :fifth century. If not, Kashyapa the plant-scientist
appears to belong to a period before the tenth century. The Krishi-sukti,
a comprehensive text on agricultual science, is attributed to Kashyapa.
It is likely that he was a native of Kosala, for he shows keen insight into
rice cultivation and also mentions Kosala by name when describing rice
culture. He also mentions tropical crops, such as arecanut, coconut and
bread-fruit.
IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURlt
Unlike Medhatithi, Kashyapa realizes the importance of agriculture

and advocates its practice by the rulers, their advisers and officials so that
they realize the difficulties which the fanners face. Says Kashyapa, 'Both
bipeds and quadrupeds on the face of the earth would face misery if there
were no cultivation. Hence, for pleasing the gods and protecting the people
the king should take keen interest in <!.griculture. Agriculture should also
be practised by priests, Brahmanas and ministers particularly.
(Having mined iron, copper, gold, silver, red ochre, etc., the king should
have the VarlOUS war-weapons and agricultural implements prepared by
expert ironsmiths, cutters, and goldsmiths in the villages and cities. The
fonner he should distribute among the soldiers and also keep at the army
headquarters for the protection of towns, palaces and fortresses, and the
latter he should distribute among the village people.'
MANAGEMENT
Kashyapa stresses the importance of efficient and good management

in agriculture. He states, 'By continued vigilance- over their paddy-fields,
by holding cultivation in esteem, and doing it methodically and by the
care of their cattle, the cultivators get richer rewards as well as peace of
mind. Hence experienced cultivators, having cordial relations among
themselves and intent on having two crops every year, should consider it
their first duty .to protect their cattle, servants, seeds, water-channels,
reservoirs, tanks, lakes, etc., spades, sickles, etc., threshing-floors, fences
and fields diligently and practising the bountiful art of cultivation accord.
ing to their local custom, snug in the fulfilment of the three aims of their
life, live in great happiness.'
AORlCUJ.:rURt;: FROM THE NINTH TO ELt;:VEN'tH CENTURIES 485
CROPS
Apart from rice, Kashyapa mentions other crops. He says, 'Culti-
vation of beans and pulses like maska (Vigna radiata), chana (gram), mudga
(Vigna mungo), kuluttha (Dolichos biflorus), tila (sesamum), and of seeds of
pepper and ciraka should also be done at some places.'
MARKETING
Recognizing the importance of marketing, Kashyapa says, 'The king

should collect the produce of vegetables, grains, adhakas, grams, sesamum,
ma.rha, mustard, grapes and the various seasonal fruits and stock them for
the benefit of the people in shops, market-places, stalls Dr other places
especially built for the purpose on the cross-roads and provided with a
spacious yard with or without a shed.'
'All the commodities mentioned above and useful necessities such as
blankets, cloth. curds, milk and other articles of food, jaggery, oil and other
useful products of agriculture, the king should place in the market·places of
the villages, towns, cities and particularly of the capital. There he should
appoint rich vaishyas who are well-versed in trade for the sale and purchase
of these commodities.'
RIm;:
Observations of Kashyapa on the cultivation of rice are remarkable
for their accuracy. From the raising of the nursery, he describes the trans-
planting of seedlings, weeding, irrigation, protection against pests,threshing
and storage.
'Of the cultivable commodities the varieties of rice occupy the fil,'st
place, the pulses the second, and the vegetables ·the third', says Kashyapa.
In the fourth place come ghee, milk, curds, etc. These four kinds of pro-
ducts comprise the entire food-stuff. This stuff l?romotes the happiness
of all the gods and is the means of sustenance of man-kind. This gives
nourishment, health and long-life and was created by Brahma at the
beginning of creation all over the earth.
'The sages have said that the cultivation of paddy is best done in coun-
tries like Kosala where the fields are irrigated with river-water. There-
fore, wise husbandmen who have decided upon reaping ~ harvest of diff-
erent kinds of rice like Kalama and Vrihi should first irrigate their fields
well by means of channels drawn from reservoirs, rivers or lakes and then
till them with the help of oxen.
Transplanting seedlings. 'Then the cultivator should order the uprooting
of the wisps of paddy seedlings which have already been grown closely in a
separate nursery, and then, tying together each wisp, he should, on an
auspicious hour, have them transplanted by servants in rows evenly in the
paddy field in which the clay has become soft by tilling and has been
486 A hISTORY Oli' AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
carefully dressed with the dung of cows or goats or with decayed vegetable
matter.
(Afterwards only a small quantity of water should be allowed to remain
in the field and care be taken to provide an outlet for superfluous water.
'In this manner, the paddy seedlings transplanted in rows in a well-
ploughed paddy field full of water, in a village, town, forest or wood-
land, irrigated by a canal and provided with several outlets for draining
away the surplus water, are made to take root by the Creator (i.e. Nature)
after the lapse of seven or ten days and then the new shoots sprout forth and
make their blessed appearance. Then the land shines forth with that
fascinating bloom which is found on the plumage of parrots or on the body
of a damsel in the prime of her youth.
'In this way at the expiry of the first month gradual growth of the paddy
blades is discernible.
'There is an all-round growth of shoots and increase of splendour on
the plants which feed on water daily and hold out a promise of rich harvest.
Weeding. 'Therefore the cultivators should systematically and assi-
duously weed out the wild grass and weeds and other injurious rushes like
munja from their fields. It is best to destroy the wild grasses, rushes, weeds,
etc., which affect the growth of grain and reduce the yield of crops, from
their very roots. An experienced person should first fill the paddy fields
with water and then gradually root out the weeds, etc., row by row. Or it is
best to have the pest removed daily by the servants. When the weeds have
been eliminated by the cultivators their fields shine forth. lustrous and
luxuriant.
'The cultivation of all the various kinds of rice like the white Sali, red
Sali, Kalama, etc., which have been enumerated above is done in the same
manner.
'When the ears at the top of the rows of plants gradually grow solid
and full of milky-juice (or sap) and appear to be somewhat bent, then they
should be protected, especially from the parrots. This caution applies
equally to all countries.
Irrigation. 'Then by and by the juicy grains in the ear would become
harder at the core and would· finally ripen into the rice. Till then regular
irrigation oftheJields is advisable and beneficial; otherwise there would be
the loss of crop.
'Therefore, the cultivators should continue to observe the development
of sap frequently, and should regularly water their fields at the proper times
for the sake of increasing the sap.
Protection against pests. (It is extremely beneficial if the crop is protected
from rats, locusts, parrots, and other pests.
'The ripe paddy, which is so beneficial to the living beings, should be
honoured by those who live on it, with circumambulatiollS, and then pre-
AGRIOULTURE FROM TllE NINTH TO ELEVENTH CENTURIES 487
served by them after having determined the period of life of the grain from
its appearance, the stamina of its seed and the quality of the soil from which
it is produced or from actual experience.
'Therefore, the cultivators should be alert to protect their crop at the
time of ripening against all sorts of depredations.
Harvesting. 'When the ears of the paddy have gradually ripened according
to their respective duration of time, then water should not be let into the
fields. This is the advice of the agricultural experts and should be followed
in the case of all paddy~fie1ds.
'When the ears at top of the plants become ripe then their stalks bend
their head very low to the ground. Seeing them bend so, the husbandman
should himself or through his servants protect them in the field for a period
of twenty days. Now, when the stalks have become ripe and assumed a
golden hue, the cultivators should then reap them with sickles etc. They
may have the harvest mown in one day or in several days successively with
the help of their dependants and servants working in co-operation.
'But reaping would be useful only if care is taken that the stalks are
not damaged during the operations nor the harvest spoiled by rain or
carried away by thieves.
Threshing. <The cultivators should have the reaped plants with their ears
stacked on threshing~floors with the help of their servants and attendants.
It is advisable to keep the harvest lying on the threshing-floors for three to
five days. By threshing the ripe stalks from which the ears become loosened,
the grains drop on the threshing-floor and sparkle like heaps of bright pearls.
On the second round of threshing done by having the crop trodden over
by bullocks and buffaloes; the remaining quantity of the grain also drops
on the floor. After having the paddy threshed in this way on the threshing~
floor, the cultivators should gather the assorted stuff that is thick and sub-
stantial.
Selection of seed. 'The cultivators should carefully sift the superior grain
from the inferior stuff by means of the winnowing-fans, etc., and gather the
former into a heap. A wiseman should then dry them in the sun and get
them cleaned of impurities. He should then, having apportioned one share
to the gods, one to the king, one as a gift to a Brahmana learned in the Vedas,
and one for the maintenance of the servants, keep the remaining stock of
paddy in his own house.
Storage. tHe should carefully preserve the grain in suitable receptacles
like kathinya or in well-baked clay pots or in vessels of strong glass, or in con-
tainers woven of ropes and plastered with mud, according to the custom
of the locality. At some places, the farmer should dig a pit in the hard
earth, provide it with descending steps and store the paddy into it, taking
care that it is safe from the hazard of damp, thieves, parrots, rats and other
noxious animals.'
VEGETABLES
Regarding the cultivation of vegetables, Kashyapa states, tIn spite
of the various species of rice and other provisions like adhaka, etc., want
of food is still felt all over the world. Therefore, the farmers should culti-
vate delicious vegetables like jatika, rasijatika, valkika, vanavalika, patolilea,
egg-plants, savaka, pumpkin-gourd, kalata, kustumburu, surana sakuta, and
turmeric and ginger-both cultivated and wild-as well as various other
luscious plants for the sake of cooking. In the writer's opinion these are
the principal vegetables.
'The cultivators should grow vine, Indian spikenard, cardamom,
etc., in their respective regions of cultivation.
tSometimes parasitic vermin grow on the leaves of the vegetables like
the egg-plant, patolika, valte, savaka, cucurbits, kalatas, surana, sakuta,
turmeric, ginger, etc. In order to kill the vermin, the cultivators should
sprinkle the leaves with ashes, dust or lime-water according to the local
usage.
'For the sake of obtaining luscious edibles wisemen should undertake
the cultivation of patolika, egg-plant, gourds, jambir (citron), lakuca, carda-
mom, vine, date-palm, etc., according to the local custom and proper
season. Of these vegetables, either leaves, flowers, fruit, unripe fruit
or bulbous roots are taken for use either at the beginning of efflorescence,
or in the middle or end of it, as the case may be.
'Some of the fruits are. delicious to eat, and others good in sucking
their juice. Of the plantain tree in particular all the parts-roots, stem,
flower, unripe fruit and ripe fruit-are delicious and agreeable to eat. It
is recommended as an excellent food by the sages.
'The cultivators should preseve the art of cultivation by practising it
in their homes, pleasure groves, land, :field~beds, on the banks of ponds
and lakes, below the water-reservoirs or near to their sluices.
'They should also grow in a proper manner the plantain, arecanut
palm, punnaga (Rothlrna tinctoria), coconut, mango, bread-fruit, cardamom,
vine and malati (jasmine) as well as egg-plants, valte, gourds, etc.'
GAlIDEN CROPS
Kashyapa mentions a number of garden plants. He says, t A wise man

may grow plantain, sugarcane, piper~petel and arecanut in a low land, a
garden or a pleasure grove. He may also grow the plantain (Musa paradi-
siaca [M. sapientum], mocha), bread-fruit (panasa) tree, likucha (Artocarpus
lakoocha), the rasala and amra varieties of mango, rose-apple (jamun) and
cocoanut trees in the house-orchards, in gardens, or on high or low land.'
GARDENS
(A wise king should grow a pleasure grove or a garden in a suitable

AGRICULTURE FROM THE NINTH TO ELEVENTH OENTURIES 489
place in the village, city and particularly in the capital', says Kashyapa.
'He should have a grove of trees planted outside or inside the town. He
should also have a garden planted especially for the diversion of the ladies of
his harem. He may have a grove of trees grown on the precincts of a forest.
'By growing trees like the sara (sal) and sandal he should provide
material for house-building for his subjects.
'In his palace garden he should grow various kinds of beautiful and
fruits-bearing trees such as the different species of the plantain (rambha,
mocha, etc.) and citron (jambira, matulunga, etc.) and the Indian spikenard.
'He should also encourage the cultivation of the various species of
grass (such as kusa, kasa), basil, the wood-apple and the fragrant and seaso-
nal flowers which may be suitable for worship and household remedies.
'For religious festiva1s he should have a garden planted on the temple
land inside or outside the village according to the availability of land or
local custom.
'In his palace he should have an excellent pleasure grove attached to
the gynaeceum bristling with beautiful trees and flowers like the malati. He
may also have one such grove planted outside his capital for the diversion
of the people.'
FOMSTS
Kashyapa further enJoms that the king should encourage forestry.

He says, 'their precincts and on the top and slopes of the hills he should
grow forests radiant with many kinds of trees. There he should also order
the preservation of the seeds of all kinds of trees.
'From these trees the people get flowers, fruits and wood for the con-
struction of their houses.
'Therefore, the king, taking upon himself the responsibility of protect-
ing his kingdom, should grow on vast tracts of land or with walled enclo-
sures trees and plants like the following: viz. karanjaka (Pongamia glabra);
bhurjaka or birch (Betula utilis [B.bhojapatraJ), arjuna (Terminalia arjuna),
kadamba (Anthocephalus chinensis [A.cadamba]), sigru (Moringa oleifera [M.
pterygospermaJ), ornamental flowering trees; tinduka (Diospyros peregrina [D.
embryopterisJ), vata-the banyan; Plaksa (Ficus lacor [F. inftctoriaJ), vibhitaka
(Terminalia bellerica), Amalaka (Em[Jlica ojjicinalis) [Phyllanthus emblica], karni-
kara (Pterospermum acerifolium), likuca (Artoe,arpus lakoocha), nimba (Azadiracllta
indica), margosa; ashoka (Saraca asoca) [Jonesia asoka], sirisa (Albizia lebbec"),
gampeyaka (Michelia champaca), vamsa-bamboo; kuta; rasola, amra (varie-
ties of mango); madhuka (Madhuca indica) [Bassia latifolia], punnaga
(Caloplryllum incphyllum), kovidara (Bauhinia purpurea), paribhadra (Erythrina
variegata var. oriBntalis) [E. indica,.
'In this manner, he should have great forests, radiant with groves of
trees, planted by the cultivators and other people on river-banks and in
490 A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN' INDIA
various countries like Gandhara, Kunti, Panch ala, Kashmira, Avanti,

Sindhu, Nepala, Nishadha, Kosala, Anga, Dhurjara (Gurjara) and Saura-
shtra, on fertile land provided all round with tanks, canals or ponds, etc.
He should have them well guarded by brave soldiers and fighters for the
benefit of the people.'
The forests yielded a large variety of edible fruits-mango, pomegranate,
jack, banana, date, vilva~ kapittha, rose-apple, jujube, mascot, coconut-
these being the commonest and best.. Vines, dates and palms were specially
grown in the Punjab and the North-West Frontier. Panini speaks of Kapisa
as the premier vine-growing district of India.
REFERENCES
Bose, D.M. (C. Ed.). A Con~ise History ofScience in India, New Delhi, 1971
Habib,1. J atts of Punjab and Sind, in EssiJys in Honour of Dr Ganda Singh, Patiala, 1976
Majumdar, R.C. (Gen. Ed.). The History and Culture of the Indian People, The Age of
Imperial Kanuaj, Vol. IV. Bombay, 1955
Paul, P.L. The History of Bengal, Vol. I. Calcutta, 1936
Raycnaudhuri, S.P. Agriculturdn Ancient India, New Delhi, 1964
Sachau, E.C. Alberuni's India. London, 1910
APPENDIX I
LANDMARKS IN THE EVOLUTION OF MAN

HIS CULTURE AND AGRICULTURE
70 Million Years Ago Prosirnians, earliest primates, develop
in trees.
40 Monkeys and apes evolve.
20 " DryopithecusJ a giant ape in the Siwaliks,
" India.
15 RamapithccusJ oldest-known primate with
" apparently man-like traits, evolves in India
and Mrica.
5 Australopithecus, closest primate ancestor to
" man, appears.in Africa.
3 Oldest known tool fashioned by man in
" Africa.
Ii First true man, Homo erectus, emerges in
" Indonesia and Africa.
Homo erectus migrates throughout Old
" World tropic~.
800 Thousand Years Ago Homo erectus populates temperate zones.
500 Homo erectus pekinensis learns to control
" and use fire.
400 Man hegins to make artificial shelters from
" branches.
90 II Neanderthal man emerges in Europe.
60 Ritual burials in Middle East suggest belief
" in afterlife.
32 Oro-Magnon man arises in Europe.
28 "
II Man reaches Australia.
22 First artists decorate walls and ceilings of
"
caves in France and Spain.
19 Invention of needle makes sewing possible.
10 " Dog domesticated in Iraq.
9000 Years "
B.C. .Jericho settled as the first town.
8700 Sheep domesticated in Middle East.
7700 " Goat domesticated in Iran.
7500 "
II Invention of polished stone implements.
Man cultivates his first crops, wheat and
barley, in Middle East.
6400 ~, Loom, basketry and hand-made pottery
492 .A. HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
invented in Middle East.

6000 Cattle and pigs domesticated In Middle
" East.
5000 Cave paintings at Adamgarh, Madhya
" Pradesh.
4400 Maize cultivated in Mexico.
3500 " First potatoes grown in South America.
3400 " Wheel invented in Sumer.
3000 " Bronze used to make tools in Middle East.
2900 " Plough invented in Middle East.
" Irrigated farming in Iraq.
2800 Sumerians invent potter's wheel.
2700 " Silk-moth domesticated in China.
2300 " Harappan Chalcolithic Culture.
" Cities rise in the Indus Valley.
Cultivation of wheat, barley, grams, peas,
sarson and cotton.
Poultry, buffalo and elephant domesticated
in Indus Valley. '
2200 Harappan culture spreads to East Punjab,
" Rajasthan and Gujarat.
Cultivation of rice in Lothal and Rangpur,
Gujarat.
1800 Ragi (Eleusine coracana) cultivated at Halluf,
" Karnataka.
1780 Kulth;, (Dolichos biflorus) cultivated III
Tekkalkota, Karnataka.
1725 Jowar (Sorghum bicolor) cultivated at Ahar,
Rajasthan.
1700 Herdsmen of Central Asia learn to tame and
" ride horses.
1600 Aryans in North India. They bring wheeled
" rathas drawn by horses.
Pulses (urd~ moong and masurY cultivated at
Navdatoli, Madhya Pradesh.
1500 TUsseT silk in use at Nevasa, Maharashtra.
" Vedic Aryans in India.
Cultivation of barley, rice and sugarcane.
Irrigation from wells.
1400 Iron in use in Middle East.
" B.O.
1000 B.a. to 600 Later Vedic Period.
Second wave of Aryan migrants in India.
The age of iron and painted grey pottery.
LANDMARKS IN CULTURE AND AGRICULTURE 493
Invention of iron ploughshare and axe.
Olearance of jungles and expansion of
cultivation in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and
Bihar.
Note
While the diffusionists believe that iron technology diffused from the
Hittite empire to Iran and other countries, some believe that it could have
a multiple origin. D.K. Chakrabarti1 is of the view that early iron-using
centres in India could have developed in many places where iron ore was
available. According to him, the iron age sites in India date from 1100 B.C.
to 700 B.C. The earliest date is however much later than for Anatolia.
It seems that while in North India iron technology diffused from Anatolia
via Iran, in South India it may have been discovered independently.
lD.K. Chakrabarti, 'Distribution af iron ores and the archaeological evidence of early
iron in India.' Jour. of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. <,x, Part II
APPENDIX II
RADIOCARBON DATES OF IMPORTANT AROHAEO-

LOGICAL SITES IN INDIA AND PAKISTAN
TABLE 1. lila DATES OF MIOROLITHIC SITES
Site 14 0 dates, based

on half-life = 5730
years, in years B.O.
Bagor (Rajasthan) TF-I0ll, 3285± 90
& 1012
TF~786 4480±200
TABLE 2. 1'0 DATES OF NEOLITHIO SITES

---------------,-------,---
on half-life = 5730
years, in years B.C.
BarudlUh (Bihar) TF-llOl, 595± 90

TF-IIOO 1055±21O
Burzahom (Kashmir) TF-128, 2375±120
TF-15 1535±110
Chirand (Bihar) TF-I035, 1270±105
TF-I032 1755±155
Ghaligai (Pakistan) R-379, 2422± 55
R-377a 1608± 50
Hallur (Karnataka) TF-580, 171O±105
TF-573 955±1001
Kill Ghul Mohammad (Pakistan) P-524, 3690± 85
UW-61 3470± 83
Paiyampalli (Tamil Nadu) TF-833, 1360±210
TF-B27 1725±1l0
Sangankallu (Karnataka) TF-359, 1550± 105
TF-354 1590±11O
Tekk.alakota. (Karnataka) TF-266, 1780±105
TF-239 1540±105
Utnur (Andhra Pradesh) TF-168, 2040±1l5
BM-54 2295+155
RADIOCARBON DATES OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES 495
TABLE 3. 14C DATES OF PRE-HARAPPAN AND HARAPPAN SITES
_---------- 14 0
Site dates, based
on half-life = 5730
years, in years B.O.
-~------------
Balakot (Pakistan) UCLA-1924D, 23S6± 82

UOLA-1923A 3406±137
Bara(Punjab) TF-1207, 1645± 90
TF-1205 1890± 95
Damb Sadaat (Pakistan) P-523, 2200± 75
P-522 2550±200
Kalibangan Pd.I (Rajasthan) TF-240, 1765±115
TF-I55 2370±120
Kalibangan Pd.II (Rajasthan) TF-160, 2230±l05
TF-143 1665±llO
Kot Diji (Pakistan) P-196, 2600±145
P.195 2100±140
Lothal (Gujarat) TF-136, 2080±135
TF-19 1800±140
Mohenjodaro (Pakistan) P-ll77, 2155± 65
TF-75 1755±1l5
Mundigak (Afghanistan) TF-1l31, 2755±105
TF-1120 3145±110
Surkotada (Gujarat) TF-1307. 1660±110
PRL-85 2315±135
A HISTORY OF AGRIOULTURE iN iNDtA
TABLE 4. THE 14 0 DATES OF OHALCOLITHIC SITES
Site
""--------
14
0 dates, based
on half-life = 5730
years, In years B.C.
Ahar (Rajasthan) V-57, 2145±100
TF-31 1270±110
Chandoli (Maharashtra) P-473, 1330± 70
TF·43 1040±105
Chirand (Bihar) TF.445, 1650± 100
TF-444 715± 105
Eran (Madhya Pradesh) TF-331, 1500± 95
TF.326 1040±1l0
Inamgaon (Maharashtra) TF-IOOl, 1565± 95
PRL-78 870±1I5
Kayatha (Madhya Pradesh) TF-680, 2015±110
TF·679 1300± 135
Mahishadal (West Bengal) TF.391, 1380±105
TF-390 855±100
Prabhas Patan (Gujarat) TF-1287, 2455±1l0
PRL-19 1235±165
Sonegaon (Maharashtra) TF-384, 1565±1l0
TF-379 1290± 95
. TABLE 5. THE 140 DATES OF PAINTED GREY WARE SITES
Site 14C dates, based

on half-life· = 5730
Hastinapur (Uttar Pradesh) TF-91 , 570±125
TF·83 335±115
Khalua (Uttar Pradesh) PRL-68. 485±170
PRL-67 570±160
Noh (Rajasthan) TF-ll44, 490± 90
UCLA-703B 820±225
RADIOCARBON DATES OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES 497
TABLE 6. THE 14 0 DATES OF NORTHERN BLAOK POLISHED WARE SITES
on half-life = 5730
Atranjikhera (Uttar Pradesh) TF-284, 295±lOO
TF-194 530± 8S
Hastinapur (Uttar Pradesh) TF-88, 340±115
TF-80,82 50±11S
Kausambi (Uttar Pradesh) TF-226, 220±100
TF-221 SOO±10S
Abbreviations
P. Pennsylvania U.C.L.A. University of California.
T.F. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bombay
P.R.L. Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad
B.M. British Museum.
U. UppsaJa R. Rome.
U.W. University of Washington.
After D.:P Agarwal, S. Kusumgar and R.K. Pant, RadiOC:lrbo" and
Indian Archaeology.
APPENDIX III
CHRONOLOGY
ANCIENT INDIA
DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND AGRICULTURE
AND IMPORTANT PERSONALITIES AND EVENTS
B.C.
Gautama~ the Buddha 563-483
Bimbisara, King of Magadha 543-491
Buddhist literature in Pall
Kullal'agga and Mahavagga
(reference to farming operations)
The N andas of Magadha 422-322
Campaigns of Alexander in Punjab and Sind 327-325
Chandragupta Maurya 322
(possibly earlier, 298)
The Arthashastra of Kautil ya; 322-186
Mining. metal-working.
agriculture and irrigation
Increased and widespread use of iron;
Use of bellows for forging iron
Construction of the Sudarshana Lake
Bindusara 298-273
Asoka 274-237
Sacred groves, tree-worship;
planting of road-side avenues
and gardens
The Sunga dynasty 184-72

Brick-wells
A.D.
Kadphises I, Kushan, King of the Great Yueh-chi C. 40 - c. 77
Kadphises II c. 78 - c. 110
Kanishka c. 120 - c. 160
Huvishka c. 160 - c. 182
Vasudeva I c. 182 - c. 220
The Kingdoms of South India 1st century to A.D. 300
Pandyas, Cheras and Cholas;
Age of Sangam in the Tamil country
Colonization of South-East Asia by South Indians
Cultivation of rice, ragi, sugarcane,
CHRONOLOGY 499
pepper and turmeric

Chandragupta I 320 - c. 330
Samudragupta c. 330 - c. 380
Chandragupta II c. 380 - 415
Fa-hien in India 401 - 410
Kumaragupta I c. 415 - 455
First Hun attack on Gupta empire 450
Skandagupta 455 - c. 480
Kumaragupta II 473
Metal-working; art of jewellery;
iron pillar at Mehrauli
High level of iron technology
Kalidasa-observations on vegetation in 5th century
K umarasambhava
Brhat Samhita ofVarahamihira: c. 500
a number of chemical processes;
plant and animal classifications.
Amarakoslw; classification and synonYlll$ c. 500
of plants and animals, minerals and metals
Classification of rocks, references to
agricultural implements
Aryabhata I writes Ar)'abhati)'a 499
Pulakesin I Chalukya, builds Badami 543 - 544
Vatsyayana's Kamasutra 500

Harshavardhana 600 - c. 647
Bhaskara I 600
Brahmagupta's Brahmasphuta-siddhanta 628
Travels of Hiuen Tsang in India 629 - 643
Bana's Harshacharita c. 646
I-tsing's travels in India and the eastern islands 671 - 695
Vz'shnudharmottara Mahapurana 700
Arab conquest of Sind 711 - 712
Rashtrakuta Dantidurga in occupation of Ellora 742
Beginning of Pala rule in Bengal 750 - 760
Nagabhata I, founder of Gurjara Pratihara dynasty 756
Krishna I (6th in succession) c. 760 - 800
Kailasha rock-cut temple at Ellora
Use of the Persian water-wheel (araghatta)
Medhatithi - commentary on Manusmriti 825 - 900
and observations on Agriculture
Chalukya Taila II 973
Rajaraja I (the Great), Chola 985 - 1018
500 A HISTORl( Ol" AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
Construction of anicuts and tanks

Krishi-Parashara and Vrikshayurveda 9th - 10th century
Manuals on agriculture and botany
Kashyapa's Krishi-Jukti~ lOth century

a text on agricultural science
Mahipala I of Bengal 978 - 1030
Mahmud of Ghazna invades Mathura and Kanauj 1018
Alberum in India 1017 - 1030
:Bhoja of Dhara 1018 - 1060
Rajendra I, Chola 1018 - 1044
Rajendra III, Chalukya 1070 - 1122
Kulottunga I, Chola 1070
Chalukya Vikramaditya VI 1076
Upavana-vinoda of Sarangadhara 1120 - 1330
Manasollasa of Somadeva: 1131
Encyclopaedic work; alchemical ideas;
iron-casting;. perfumery; treatment of diseases
of horses and elephants
Kulottunga III, .Ohola 1178
Oontemporary poet Kamban
Rajaraja III, Chola 1216 - 1256
Rajendra Ill, Chola 1246 - 1270
Marco Polo in .South India 1293
APPENDIX IV
CULTIVATED PLANTS IN INDIA, AND THEIR

PLACES OF ORIGIN
CULTIVATED plants in India belong to two categories, viz. indigenous, and

those introduced from other countries, viz. Western Asia, Africa, China,
Southeast Asia and Pacific Islands, the New World and Europe.
1. SELECT LIST OF INDIGENOUS CULTIVATED PLANTS OF INDIA.
These are the plants which had their origin in India and have been
cultivated over a long period of time. Only a select list is given below,
and it is by no means. exhaustive.
CEREALS
Oryza sativa Linn., Rice, Dhan, Chaval
Paspalum scrobiculatum Linn., Kado-millet, Kodon
Panicum miliare Lam., Little-millet, Kutki (some consider it to be P. sumatrensa
Roth. & Schutt.)
Digitaria ,ruciata (Nees) A. Camus, Raishan.
Coix lacryma-johi Linn., Job's Tears, Gurlu
PULSES
Cajanus cajan (Linn.) Millsp., Pigeonpea, Arhar
Dolichos biflorus Linn., Horse-gram, Kulthi
Vigna mungo (Linn.) Hepper (syn. Phaseolus mungo Linn.), Blackgram, Urd
V. radiata (Linn.) Wilczek (syn. Phaseolus aureus Roxb.), Greengram,
Moong
ROOT CROPS
Alocasia macrorrhiza Schott, Giant Taro, Boromon Ka(;hu

Colocasia esculenta' (Linn.) Schott, Taro, Kachalu, Arvi
Dioscorea alata Linn" Greater Yam, Khamalu
Amorphophallus campanulatus (Roxb.) Blume ex Dene, Elephant-foot Yam,
Zamin-kand
:(,ingiber ojJicinale Rose., Ginger, Adrak
OILSEEDS
Brassica Juncea (Linn.) Czern. & Coss. Indian mustard, Sarson, Rai
FRUITS
Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam., Jack-fruit, Kathal
Borassus jiahellifer Linn., Palmyra-palm, Tari
Syzygium cumzmz (Linn.) Skeels, Jambolana, Jamu1Z

Feronia limonia (Linn.) Swingle, Elephant-apple, Wood-apple, Kapittha
Mangifera indica Linn., Mango, Am
Musa paradisiaca Linn., and M. balbisiana Colla, Plantain, Banana, Kela
Emblica qJficinalis Gaertn., Emblic, Amla
Phoenix sylvestris (Linn.) Roxb., Date-palm, Khajur
Tamarindus indica Linn., Tamarind, Imli (some consider it to be indigenous to
tropical Africa)
Ziziphus (sphalmate Zizyphus) nummularia (Burro. f.) Wight & Arn., Wild
Jujube, Ber
VEGETABLES
Amaranthus spp.
Cucumis sativus Linn., Cucumber, Khira
Solanum melongena Linn., BrinjaI, Eggplant, Baingan
Momordita ckarantia Linn., Bitter-gourd, Karela
Raphanus caudatus Linn., Rat-tail Radish, Songri, Newari Muli .
Lagenaria sicerana (Mol.) Stand1., Bottle-gourd, Ghia, Kaddu, Lauki
LuJfa acutangula (Linn.) Roxb., Ridged-gourd, Jhinga, Kali Torai
Trichosanthes anguina Linn.) Snake-gourd, ChacJzinda
Basella rubra Linn., Indian Spinach, Poi
SPIcEs
Curcuma domestica Valet. (syn. Curcuma longa Linn.), Turmeric, Haldi
Piper nigrum Linn., Black-pepper, Kali Mireh
Piper bette Linn., Betel-pepper) Pan
Piper longum Linn., Long-pepper, Pippal
Elettaria cardamomum (Linn.) Maton var. minor Watt, Cardamom, ()hoti
Elachi
SUGAR PLAN.S
Saccharum officinarum Linn., Sugarcane, Ganna

FIBRE PLANTS
Corchorus capsularis Linn., White Jute, Pat

Corchorus alitorius Linn., Tossa Jute, Costa
Crotalari'a Juncea Linn., Sannhemp, San
Gossypium arboreum Linn., Tree-cotton. Kapas
Hibiscus cannabinus Linn., Mesta, Patsan
Hibiscus sabdarijfa Linn., .Roselle, Patwa, Lalambari
MEDICINAL PLANTS
Cannabis sativa Linn., Hemp, Bhang, Gonja

CULTIVATED PLANTS IN INDIA 503
II. CULTIVATED PLANTS INTRODUCED INTO INDIA FROM OTHER
COUNTRIES
I. Cultivated Plants Introduced into India from Western Asia
CEREALS
Hordeum vulgare Linn. emend. Bowden, Barley, Jau

Triticum dicoccum Schub!., Emmer wheat, Gehun
T. aestivum Linn. emend. TheIl., Bread.wheat, Gehun
PULSES
Gieer arietinum Linn., Chick~pea, Ghana

Lens culinaris Medic. (L. esculenta Moench), Lentil, Masur
Pisum sativum Linn., Pea, Mattar
ViC'la jaba Linn., Broad-bean, Bakla
VEGETABLES
Allium cepa Linn., Onion, Pyaz

A. sativum Linn., Garlic, Lehson
Beta vulgaris Linn., Beet, Chukander
Brassica rapa (Linn.) TheIl. emend. Metzger, Turnip, Shalgam
Brassica oleracea Linn. var. capitata Linn., Cabbage, Bandh Gobi
DauGus carota Linn., Carrot, Gazar
Raphanus sativus Linn., Radish, Muli
T rigonella joenum-graecum Linn., Fenugreek, Methi
SPICES
Coriandrum sativum Linn., Coriander, lJlzania

Cuminum cyminum Linn., Cumin, Zira
Foeniculum vulgare Mill., Fennel, Saunf
FODDER CROPS
Medicago sativa Linn., Alfalfa, Lucerne, Hal, Vilaiti Gawuth

FIBRE CROPS
Linum usitatissimum Linn., Flax, Alsi

MEDICINAL PLANTS
Atropa belladonna Linn., Belladonna, Sagangur, Angurshefa

Digitalis purpurea Linn" Digitalis, Foxglove
Glycyrrht'4a glahra Linn., Licorice, Mullzatti
Papaver somniferum Linn., Poppy, Post, Afim
Plantago p.ryllium Linn., Black Psyllium, Kala Isabgol
II. Cultivated Plants Introduced into India from Africa

CEREALS
Eleusine coracana (Linn.) Gaertn., Finger-millet, Ragi

Pennisetum typhoides (Burm. £) Stapf & G.E.. Hubb. [some consider it to be
P. americanum (Linn. ) Schum.], Pearlmillet, Bajra
Sorghum bicolor (Linn.) Moench, Sorghum, Jowar
PULSES
Vigna unguiculata (Linn.) Walp., Cowpea, Lobia~ Chowli

OILSEEDS
Ricinus communis Linn., Castor, Arind

Sesamum indicum Linn., Sesamum, Til
VEGET.A:BLES
Abelmoschus esculentus (Linn.) Moench, Okra, Bhindi

FODDER CROPS
Panicum maximum Jacq., Guinea-grass, Gini-ghas

Pennisetum purpureum Schum., Elephant-grass, Napier-grass
BEVERAGES
Coffia arabica Linn., Coffee, Kafi

W. Cultivated Plants ID.troduced into India from China
CEREALS
Panicum miliaceum Linn., Proso-millet, Hog-millet, Chin, Morha, Anu

Setaria italica (Linn.) Beauv., Italian millet, Kangni
PULS)!S
Grycine max (Linn.) Merrill, Soybean, Blzat, Ramkurthi

OnSEEDS
Aleurites flrdii Hems!., Tung-oil

Sapium sebiferum (Linn.) Roxb., Tallow-tree; Pippalyang, Vilaiti Shish am
FRUITS
Eriohotrya japonica (Thunb.) Lindl., Loquat, Lokat

Juglans regia Linn., Walnut, Akhrut
Litchi chinensis Sonner., Litchi, Liclzi
Prunus armeniaca Linn., Apricot, Khumbani
P. persica Batsch, Peach, Aru
BEVERAGES
Camellia sinensis (Linn.) Kuntze, Tea, Gha

CULTIVATED PLANTS IN INDIA 505
IV. Cultivated Plants Introduced into India from Southeast Asia and
Pacific Islands
ROOT AND TOBER CROPS
Amorphophallus Spp.
Dioscorea alata Linn., Greater Yam, Klzamalu, Clzuprialu
FRUITS
Artocarpus communis Forst., Breadfruit

Averrhoa bilimbi Linn., Bilimbi, Bilimbi
A. carambola Linn., Carambola, Kamrakh, Karmal
Citrus aurantifolia Swingle, Lime, Nimbu
C. aurantium Linn., Sour-orange, Khatta
C. decumanus Linn., Shaddock, Pamela, Chakotara
C. limon (Linn.) Burm. f., Lemon, Barabimbu
C. medica Linn., Citron
C. nobilis Lour., Tangerine
C. paradisi Macfad., Grapefruit
C. sinensis (Linn.) Osbeck, Sweet-orange, Musambi, Malta
Durio -eibethinus Murr., Durian, Civet-fruit
Garcinia mangostana Linn., Mangosteen, Mangustan
PALMS
Arenga pinnata (Wurumb.) Merr., Sugar-palm

Cocos nucifera Linn., Coconut, Nari,.yal
Metroxylon sagus Rottb., Sago-palm, Sago
CHEWING
Areca catechu Linn., Arecanut, Supan

Piper betle Linn., Betel-pepper, Pan
TOILET
Lawsonia inermis Linn., Henna, Mehndi

Note: Lists of cultivated plants introduced into India from Europe and the
New World would be given in subsequent volumes.
APPENDIX V
SELECT LIST OF PLANTS

MENTIONED IN SANSKRIT LITERATURE
(for a detailed list see Wealth of India: Raw Materials, Vol. II, Cumulative
Indexes. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi)
Name of plant in Botanical name A brief description

Sanskrit
Aguru Aquilaria agallocha A large evergreen tree with
Roxb. fragrant heart-wood
Arjuna Terminalt"a arJuna A large shady tree
(Roxb. ex. DO.)
Wight & Am.
A~oka Saraca asoca (Roxb.) A herald of spring, it produces
De Wilde scarlet crimson bunches of
flowers in early March. Said
to flower on the touch of a
beautiful woman's feet
Atimukta Jasminum sp.
Bandhuka Pentapetes phoanicea
Linn. (or Leucas
lavenduliifolia Rees)
Bimba Coccinia cordijolia A climber whose unripe fruits,
(Linn.) Gogn. (syn. smooth and bright green, often
C. indica Wight & with white stripe.~, are used
Am.) as vegetable. When ripe they
become bright scarlet-reel
Bel, Sriphala Aegle marmelos Cor- 'Bengal quince', a large round
rea fruit
GaQaka Cicer arietinum Linn. Ohickpea, gram
Champaka Michelia champaca A large tree commonly grown
Linn. in temples, with light yellow
fragrant flowers
Chuta Mangiflra indica Linn. Mango. Flowers in early
March in north India
Devadaru Cedrus deodara The Himalayan cedar

(Roxb.) Loud.
Gandharaja Gardenia jasminoides A shrub with highly fragrant
Ellis white flowers
PLANTS MENTIONED IN SANSKRIT LITERATURE 507
Godhama Triticum Wheat

Gunja Abrus jJrecatorius Linn. Seeds used as jeweller's
weights
Hare\1u A pulse
Ik~u Saccharum Sugarcane
Kadamba Anthocephalus cada- Ball-like flowers during the
mba Miq. rainy season, favourite· of
Krishna
Kandali Aneilema vaginatum R. An annual herb with blue-
Br. purple flowers during the
rainy season
Karnikara Pterospermum acon- A large tree with broad leaves
folium Willd.
Kaila (Plantain) Afusa paradisiaca Smooth straight stem,
Linn. symbol of female beauty
Kamala Nelumbo nucifera Day-flowering, common lotus
Gaertn.
Karpasa, Tala Gossypium arboreum Tree-cotton
Linn.
Ka§a Saccharum spontaneum A tall grass
Linn.
Kesara Crocus sativus Linn. A herald of spring
Ketaki Pandanus odoratissi- Screw-pine - a highly fra-
mus Linn. grant plant with spinous
sword-like pointed leaves
Kimsuka Butsa mOJ!osperma (PalasG J Dhak) Tree with
(Lam.) Taub. beautiful crimson-red flowers,
a herald of spring
Kovidara Bauhinia purpurea A small tree bearing pink
Linn. flowers in November
Kulattha A pulse
Kumuda Nymphaea esculenta A waterlily with white flowers
Roxb. opening at night time, and
dosing during the day
Kunda Jasminum multi/lormn A jasmine
(Burm. [) And!' .
Kurabaka .Lawsonia inmnis Li~n. (Mehndi) Crushed leaves
used for dyeing pulms of
hands
Kuruvinda, Ma:?l\ Vigna mUllgo (Linn.) Blackgram
Hepper
Kutaja Wrigh#a ze,ylanica A small tree with white
R.Br. , flowers
Lavanga-Lata Luvunga scanden.s A herald of spring

(Roxb.) Buch.-Ham.
ex Weight
Lodhra Symplocos racemosa Pollen used as face powder in
Roxb. ancient India
Madhavi Hiptage benghalensis A scandent shrubby climber,

(Linn.) Kurz herald of spring, and lover of
the mango tree
Mahua Madhuca indica J.F. A common shade tree in Cen-
Gmel. ral India. An alcoholic be-
verage is distilled from its
flowers
Malad Jasminum flexile VahI A twining shrub with fragrant
white flowers
Mandara Erythrina variegata Small tree with red flowers
Linn. in leafless condition in early
March
Masa, Kuruvinda Vigna mungo (Linn.) Blackgram
Hepper
Mastlra Lens culinaris Medic. Lentil
Mudga A pulse
N aga-Kesara Mesua ferrea Linn. A forest tree of Eastern India
with white flowers with yellow
interior
N~:Iika, Na:li Pennisetum f:yphoides PearImilIet
(Burm.) f. Stapf &
a.E. Hubb.
Narikela Cocos nucifera Linn. The coconut palm
N avamallika Jasminum arborescens A shrubby jasmine
Roxb.
Padam Prunus cerasoides Wild. cherry found in the tem-
D.Don perate Himalayas at altitudes
from 900 to 1,830 metres
Parijataka Nyctantltes arbor- Har-singhar. Drops its flowers
tristis Linn. in the morning
Patala. Stereospermum suaveolens Tr\lmpet-flower, herald of
DC. spring
Pipal Ficus religiosa Linn. A large tree with glossy, dark-
green, poplar-like leaves
Pital A yellow flower not identified
Priyangu Setaria italica (Linn.) Millet
P. Beauv.
PLANTS MENTIONED IN SANSKRIT LITERATURE 509
Punnaga Calophyllum inophyl- A tree with glabrous leaves,

lum Linn. and fragrant white flowers
Sala, Sarja Sliorea robusta Gaer- A tall timber tree, one of the
tn. f. trees associated with the birth
of the Buddha
Saptachchhada Alstonia scholaris R. A handsome shade tree
Br.
Sar~apa Brassica juncea Linn. Leaf mustard, Rai '
Sernal, Salmali Bombax ceiba Linn. Silk-cotton tree. Beautiful cup-
like red flowers in early March
Sirisha Albizia lebbeck (Linn.) Fragrant flowers during the
Benth. early rainy-season
Sriphala, Bel Aegle marmelos Cor- Honey-apple, 'Bengal quince',
rea a large round fruit
Tala Borassus flabellifer Palmyra-round purple
Linn. fruits, symbol of female charm
Tarnala Garcinia xanthochymus Straight stem, dark fragrant
Hook.f., or Cinnarno- leaves, symbol of Krishna
mum tarnala (Buch.-
Ham.) Nees & Ebe-
rm.
Tarnbula, pan Piper betle Linn. Betel. A climber; leaves used
for chewing
Tila Sesarnum indicum Sesame
Linn.
Tala, Kitrplrsa Gossypium arboreum Tree-cotton
Linn.
Utpala Nymplzaea caerulea The blue waterlily
Sav. i N. stellata Wil-
Id.
Vakula Mimusops elengi Linn. (Moulsari) A dwarf tree, bears
highly fragrant flowers during
the rainy season
Vrihi Oryza sativa Linn. Rice
Yava Hordeum vulgare Linn. Barley
emend. Bowden
Yavanilla Sorghum bicolor Sorghum
(Linn.) Moench
Yuthika Jasrninurn auricula turn A jasmine with fragrant white
Vahl flowers tinged with purple
APPENDIX VI
PRINCIPAL CROPS OF INDIA AND

THEIR SANSKRIT NAMES
Sanskrit Name bllglish Name
Vrlhi, SlIli Rice

Yava Barley
Godhnma Wheat
CaQaka Chickpea, Gram
Ik~hu Sugarcane
Tila Sesame
Sar~apa Mustard
Tula, KlJrpasa Tree-cotton
HareQu, Kulattha, Mudga, f;tC. Pulses
Kuruvinda, Mlr~a Blackgram
Bhadramustl! Moth-bean, Dew-grall'
Masara Lentil
Ya:vanltla Sorghum
Nalika:, Nrul Pearlmillet
APPENDIX V rr
PRINOIPAL DOMESTIC ANIMALS OF INDIA AND
THEIR SANSKRIT NAMES
Sanskrit Name English Name
Dhenu, Go Cow
Mahi~a Baffalo
Sakara Pig
Asva, Hari Horse
U~htra Camel
Hastin Elephant
Camara Yak
GlIrdabha Ass
Avi, Me~ha Sheep
Aja, Ch~ga Goat
SVlina Dog
Bi~ala Cat
GLOSSARY
AnBEVILLrAN, a culture representing the earliest hand-axe industry in
Europe, which flourished about 476 000 years ago, named after a site
on river Somme in France.
ACHEULIAN, a Stone-Age culture which existed about 230 000 to 200 000
years ago, named after the site of St Acheul in France.
AHAR-BANASIAN, a pre-historic Copper-Age culture whose ruins have been
found near village Ahar on Banas river in Rajasthan.
ANTHROPOIDS, most highly evolved sub-order of primates which includes
monkey, ape and man. They have nails and toes, instead of claws,
and grasping hands and feet.
ARCHAEOZOIC ERA, a period extending from more than 3 300 million years
ago to 1 300 million years ago, when first living things evolved.
ARYANS, a people who migrated in successive waves from South Russia and
Turkestan during 2nd millennium B.C. Their first invasion of India
took place in about 1 500 B.C., when they overwhelmed the Indus
Valley Civilization.
AUSTRALOlD, probably the oldest of all the surviving races of man; they
originated in Asia, but are now represented only by the aborigines of
Australia and some Dravidian tribes of South India.
AUSTRALOPITHECUS ('Southern ape'), a man-like creature which appeared
4 to 5 million years ago and whose remains have been found in Ethiopia
and East Africa; could make simple pebble tools.
BIPEDALISM, movement on two legs, an exclusive characteristic of man.
The hands were thus free to make tools.
:BHIMBETAKA, a Mesolithic site in Madhya Pradesh remarkable for its cave
paintings dating from 20 000 years to Chalcolithic Era.
:BRONZE AGE, the age following the Stone Age, characterized by the use of
an alloy of copper and tin as the chief material for making weapons
and tools. The years of its appearance differ from region to region.
}3uRZAHOM, a Megalithic site about 16 km NE of Srinagar, Kashmir, dis-
covered in 1936. The earliest settlers (c. 2375 B.a.) were pit-dwellers,
though the pits were later abandoned for mud-houses.
CAMBRIAN PERIOD, geological time of the first period of Palaeozoic Era
characterized by warm seas and desert land areas.
CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD, a division of the Palaeozoic Era characterized by
swamp formation and deposition of plant remains which later hardened
into coal.
CENOZOIO ERA, the latest era in Geological Time, which includes the
Tertiary and the Quaternary. It is characterized by the evolution of
mammals, birds, plants, modern continents, and glaciation.
GLOSSARY 513
CRALCOLITHIC PERIOD, period between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age
when both copper (chalcos) and stone (lithos) where being used. It
developed between 6000 and 3000 B.C.
CHALCOLI'l'HIC REVOLUTXON, 6000-3000 B.a., marks the invention of the
plough, and the wheeled cart, as also the use of oxen power. It ex-
tended from Nile river to Ganga.
CHOU-l<OU-TIEN, sites near Beijing in China where the fossils of Homo emtus
('Peking Man') were discovered. They date from 800 000 years, and
there is the evidence of the first use of fire.
CRETACEOUS PERIOD, period 135 to 65 million years ago, named after the
Latin word for chalk (creta). The end of the period saw the
emergence of mountains which resulted in the formation of the
Himalayas.
eRO-MAGNON, literally 'big hole', a site in south-western France where the
remains of the modern man (Homo sapiens sapiens) were first found.
They date from 35 000 years ago.
CULTIGEN, a cultivated plant, also a domestic animal, which is not known
to exist in natural, or wild, state. An organism dependent on man
for its existence.
DEVONI,AN PERIOD, the fourth period of Palaeozoic Era characterized by
the appearance of forests and amphibians.
DRYOPITHECUS, an extinct ape-like animal that was the ancestor of both the
modern apes and man. It apparently originated in Africa about
2 500 000 years ago.
EOCENE EpOCH, second oldest of the five epochs in the Tertiary Period, 53
million to 37 million years ago.
EpOCH, a unit of Geological Time, which is a division of a Period, e.g.
Holocene Epoch, a division of the Quaternary Period.
ERA, the longest division of Geological Time comprising one or mOre
periods, for example: Cenozoic Era, embracing Tertiary and Quaternary
Periods, extending from 58 000 000 to 11 000 years before the present.
FF.R'l'ILE CRESCENT, a well-watered and fertile area in West Asia which ex·
tends in the form of a crescent from the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers
in the east to the Nile in the west. It also includes parts of Syria,
Jordan and Israel. Man's earliest civilizations dating from about
8000 B.C, and also agriculture originated in this area.
GEOLOGICAL TIME SaALE, the time extending from the formation of earth
to the beginnings of the historical period. The scale is conveniently
divided into Eras, Periods, and Epochs.
GONDWANALAND, one of the two ancient super-continents formed by the
split of the still larger super-continent, Pangaea, about 2 000 million
years ago. Gondwanaland included what are now Africa, South
America, Australia, India, Arabia, and Indonesia.
514 A HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN iNDIA
HARAPPAN CULTURE, 2300-1600 D.C., a chalcolithic, pre-Aryan urban

culture .originaHy identified with excavations of Harappa, in Indus
Valley. ContempOl'ary sites have since been ctiscovered in Punjab,
Rajasthan, Gujarat and western D.P. The Harappan civilization is
believed to have been obliterated in the waves of Aryan invasions.
ROA BINH, plateau in the Southeast Asia forming the southwestern limit of
the Red River Delta. It is still a rice-growing centre.
HOLOCENE EpOCH, younger of the two epochs in the Quaternary Period
extending from the end of the last major Ice Age (10 000 years ago)
to the present. ,
HOMINlDS, family of primates evolved from ape-like ancestors of modern
man about 26 million years ago.
HOMO ERECTUS, ancestor of modern man (Homo sapiens) who lived in the
middle of the Pleistocene, more than 500 000 years ago. He made
hand-axes and pebble-tools, and knew the usc of fire. Remains have
been found at Chou-kou-ticn (China) and Olduvai (Tanzania) among
other places.
HOMO H.Al!ILIS, an' early type of man·like ape whose remains have been
discovered in OJduvai Gorge, Tanzania. He had a large brain, and
has been linked with modern man.
HOMO SAPIENS, a sfJecies of Hominid, the direct ancestor of modern man.
He l)robably lived 250 000 years ago.
HOMO SAPIENS SAPIENS, the 'modern man' distinguished from all other ex-
tinct sub-species of the Hominid in having a large brain, small teeth,
and chin, an.d· skill in making and using tools. He first appeared in
Asia about 35 000 years ago.
ICE AGES, a series of periods characterized by extensive glaciations alter-
nating with a period of relative warmth. The glaciers of Greenland
and the AntarCtica are the remnants of the most recent Icc Age.
INDUS,VALLEY, site of an early, pre.Aryan, city-based culture which deve-
loped in the valley of river Indus about 2300 B.C. See Harappan
Culture.
IRON AGE, the age when iron replaced bronze and copper as the chief
. material for making tools and implements. It appeared in different
areas in different times. It appeared in West Asia about 3000 years ago.
JARMO, a site in Iraq, dated about 6500 B.C., excavated between 1948 and
1955. I t is one of the earliest food-proclllcing settlements discovcl'ed-
the people cultivated wheat and barley, and also domesticated goats.
JURASSIC PERIOD, middle period of the Mesozoic Era, characterized by
morc abundant plants and animals, particularly ferns, rushes and
cycads, and countless varieties of insects and snails. It extended from
i 90 million to 135 million years ago.
KALIBANGAN, a prc-Harappan ehalcolithic site on the bank of the dry bed
(fLOSSARY 515
of ancient Saraswati in Rajasthan. Discovered in 1971, the settlement
was found fortified with mud-brick houses within the walls. The
place was probably abandoned in. about 1800 B.C.
LATER VEDrc PERIOD, 1000-600 B.a., marks the further penetration east-
ward of the Aryans, and the consolidation of their civilization in Inelia.
It is characterized by advancement in iron technology, invention of
iron-axe and ploughshare, as also the consolidation of the caste system.
LOTHAL, a Harappan site, north of Gulf of Oambay, Gujal'at, discovered.
in 1953. A large dockyard fol' ships from Egypt and Mesopotamia is
one of the most remarkable finds.
MADRAS-AmiEUL, or MADRAS HAND-AXE INDUSTRY, palaeolithic site
in South India, near Madras, marked by extensive finds of stone
hand-axes which Were used for digging roots and rhizomes.
MAYA CULTURE, pre-Columbian civilization of Central and South America.
The people domesticated llama and alpaca for transport, though
their agriculture was ploughlcss.
MEGALITHS, literally 'great stones', roughly hewn stone slabs of great size
used by the primitive man. for construction. A remarkable megali-
thic site is Burzahom in Kashmir.
Ml1.S0LnHIC PERIOD, a stage betwe~n Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods
which began about 12 000 years ago. It is associated with many
developments including taming of dogs, Cave paintings of Mirzapur,
U.P., belong to this period.
MESOZOIC ERA, era of geological time from the end the Palaeozoic to
the beginning of the Cenozoic, characterized by the reptilian life forms.
MIOCENE EpOCH, second youngest of the five epochs in the Tertiary Period,
26 million to 12 million years ago, characterized by the appearance of
primitive apes and grazing animals. Flll'ther developmcnt of the
horse took place; and cats, camels and rhinoceroses wel'e common, as
also a species of a great ape. Reduction in area occupied by forests
also took place.
MITTANIS, people of Asia Minor who were contemporary of the Rig-Vedic
Aryan.s. They frequently had Aryan names, and worshipped common
deities.
NATUFIAN, Mesolithic culture of Palestine and Syria, about 9000 D.C. Natu-
fians were hunters and food-gatherers. They had sickles for harvesting
the grain, but probably did not cultivate it.
NEANDERTHAL MAN, an extinct subspecies of Homo sa.piens named after
. Neanderthal Valley, West Germany, where the remains were· first dis-
covered, in 1857. He was chinless, and with receding forehead, but
with a brain as large as that of a· modern man. The remains have
since been discovered over a wide region, and date from 400 000 to
35 000 years ago.
516 A HtSTORY OF A(l.lUaUL'l'tlRE IN INDiA
NEOLITHlO PERIOD, the 'New Stone Age' is the period in which agriculture
and domestication of plants and animals began. It developed about
10 000 B.C. during the Holocene Epoch.
OLDUVAI GORGE, a gorge cut by a river in North Tanzania where remains
of a Palaeolithic culture and the fossils of Homa habilis have been found.
They date from two million years ago.
OLIGOCENE EpOCH, middle of the five epochs of the Tertiary Period, 37 to
26 million years ago. A more highly developed type of horse, the
earliest elephant and a primitive anthropoid ape made their appea-
rance.
ORDOVICIAN PERIOD, the second period of the Palaeozoic Era, characterized
by the appearance of primitive fishes and fishlike vertebrates.
PALAEOCENE EpOCH, oldest of the five epochs in the Tertiary Period, rang-
ing from 65 to 53 million years ago. It is characterized by the extinc-
tion of the dinosaurs and the rise of mammals. Primates became
relatively .abundant.
PALAEOLITHIC PERIOD, 'belonging to the Old Stone Age', earliest period
of human development and the longest period of human history, it
extends from about 750 000 years ago to the Mesolithic-about 15 000
years ago. The most remarkable event was the development of the
true Homo sapiens. Its characteristic was the distinctive stone tools.
PEKING MAN, see CHOU-KOU~TIEN
PENDA, or JRUMING, a form of a shifting cultivation still practised by some
tribals in India. A temporary site (penda) is ritually decided by felling
the trees. After two years of cultivation, the site is abandoned for a
fresh penda.
PElUOD, a unit of Geological Time longer than an Epoch, and shorter than
an Era. For example, Quaternary Period is longer than Pleistocene
Epoch, but is shorter than the Cenozoic Era.
PERMIAN PERIOD, last period of the Palaeozoic Era which began about
280 000 000 years ago and lasted about 55 000 000 years ago. While
several varieties of life became extinct, the reptiles developed rapidly,
and there was a radical change in vegetation.
PLEISTOCENE EpOCH, older of the two epochs of the Quaternary Period,
ranging from about 2 million years ago to the end of the last major Ice
Age (about 10 000 years ago). The epoch is also noted for the first
appearance of modern man.
PlLOOENE EpOCH, youngest of the five epochs of the Tertiary Period, 12
million to about 2 million years ago. The epoch is characterized
by distinctly modern plants and animals.
PRECAMBRIAN ERA, era from the beginning of the earth's history up to 570
million years ago. Life appeared in water, and the oldest fossils of
worms, sponges and algae date from this era.
GLOSSARY 517
PRIMATES, order ot mammals that include the most advanced mammals,
characterized chiefly by their adaptation to tree living. It includes
monkeys; apes and man.
PROTEROZOIC ERA, a division of the Precambrian comprising the less ancient
rocks of the system, lying about the Archaeozoic. The strata contains
the earliest traces of living things.
PRZEwALsKr's HORSE (Equus pr;:ewalski), wild horse of Asia, the only extant
wild horse, which in his full-bred state is not descended from the
domestic horse. It now survives only in the semi-desert plains of west
Mongolia .
. RAMAPITHECUS, earliest man-like creature on direct line of descent of man,
whose remains were first discovered in the Siwalik hills. Believed to
have lived 14 million years ago, he used his knuckles for moving, and
could break bones for food.
QUATERNARY PERlOD, the second period of the Cenozoic Era, from the end of
the Tertiary to the present, characterized by the appearance and the
development of man. It also saw extensive disturbances of the earth's
crust and the development of mountains and valleys.
SILURIAN PERIOD, the third period of the Palaeozoic Era characterized by
the appearance of land plants, and possibly of the first animals to live
on land.
SOAN CULTURE, a pre-historic culture associated with a site in the valley of
Soan river near its junction with Indus. Use of pebble-tools for break-
ing nuts and for making notches in the trees for climbing were the
chief characteristics. .
TERTIARY PERIOD, period ranging from 65 million to about 2 million years
ago. Though giant reptiles became extinct, there were amphibians
like frogs, and many giant varieties of birds. World's fossil fuel is
mostly derived from Tertiary rocks.
TETHYS OCEAN, the ocean which separated the northern continent, Laur-
asia, from the Gondwanaland during the Triassic Period. It covered
northern India and West Asia, and during the Cretaceous period it
was spread over a great part of Europe. The sediments were later
elevated into the Alps and the Himalayas.
a
THREE-AGE SYSTEM, scheme devised by a Danish archaeologist by which
pre-history was divided into Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age.
The Stone Age was subsequently divided into Old Stone Age (Palaeo-
lithic period), Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic period) and the New Stone
Age (Neolithic period).
TRIASSIC PERIOD, the first period of the Mesozoic Era when vertebrates
developed rapidly and reptiles were dominant. The period extends
from about 225 million to 190 million years ago.
VEDAS, literature of the Aryans compiled about 1000 B.C. They are of four
518 A HiSTORY OF AGRICULTuRE IN INDIA
types: Samhitas, Brahmanas, ArarrYokas, and Upanishads. The most

important are the four Satnhitas which form the basic Vedas. The
earliest is the Rig-Veda.
VEDIC AGE (1500-100013.0.), the period in Indian history from the first invas-
ion of the Aryans to the consolidation of th eir hold of the north-western
India. It was a pastoral culture, with organized agriculture, but rice
appears to be unknown. The latcr phase of the Vedic Age to about
500 B.C. is called Later Vedic Period.
ZINJANTHROPUS, a man-like creature whose fossil remains have been found
from OJduvai in Tanzania. He probably existed 2 million years ago.
INDEX
ABAYEV, V. Indo-European languages, Greek account; 340-1

280 sources of information, 340
Aborigines, and the casto system, 308 diffusion of, 268-69
sec alsa Tribes discovery of, 101-2
Abyssinia and domestication of animals, 183
diffusion of wheat, 103 earlicst, 266
hearth of agriculture, 269 Gupta Age, 416
origin of Pennisetum" 319 Harappan, 156-82
Acheulian Culture, 70, 78 hearths of 268-69
Madhya Pradesh, 83 Kann~1j empire, 428; Hillen Tsang,
Maharashtra, 70 423-24
South India, 71 Neolithic, 101-4
tools, 62 Kashmir, 219-20
Adamgarh, M. P. ninth century (India), 478
cave drawings, 83 Sanskrit equivalent, 280
Mesolithic finds, 78 Satavahanas, 381, 391
Adichanallul', Tamil Nadu South Indian king loms, 406
pottery finds, 306 Vedic Age, 297-300
rice-grains finds, 306 Agriculturists, later-Vedic, 308
Afghanistan, cultivated plants, 269 Ahar-Banasian culture, 150-51
Africa absence of stone tools, 151
centre of pearl-millet, 318, 319 jowlIr, 245
fossil man, 55; sites (map) 52 Ahichchhatra, U. P.
hominid evolution, 53 burnt bricks, 314
Homo 6rllclu.t, 64, 65 painted grey pottery, 305
Homo /tahitis, 54-55 Ajmer forests, 30
links with Indian fauna, 4G Alampirpur, Harappan site, 148
origin of sesame, 166 ALBERUNI
Aghatapura, sec Ahar-Banasian culture observations on India, 473-76
Agricultural implements observations on Indo-Gangetic alluvium
Buddhist period, 33B 7
Gupta Age, 41B Ali Rosh, Iran
Kushan period, 401-2 Neolithic site, 101
later-Vedic,3J7 cereal harvesting, 102
Mauryan period, 361 Alkaline soils, 20
Sanchi, 402 Alluviulll
Satavahanas, 401 Indo-Gangetic, 12-14
Agricultural practices and techniques see also Holocene
Chalcolithic cultures, 113 ALLCHIN, R. and ALLCHIN, B.
Egypt, 113-14 burial of dogs, 219
Jataka accounts, 361 hoof impressions, 235
later-Vedic, 317-19 Indus crops, 156-57
Agriculture introduction of iron, 307
and the Aryans, 315 South India Neolithic culture, 233
beginnings of, 112 Almonds
Buddhist period oldest centre, 269
native home, liZ as food, 183

Alpaca, domestication, 183 Harappa, 183-212
Alpine zone, 27, 28 as power, 183
Alps, formation, 4- remains from Payampalli, 237
Amarakosha representations in pre-Harappan culture,
agricultural implements, 418 117
classification of soils, 416 Sanskrit names of principal domesticat-
leather, 4·26 ed animals, 511
vegeta bl es, 418 sculptures, 445-46
America (pre-Columbian) in transport, 439-34
absence of draught animals, 183 in warfare, 433-34
alpaca, domestication, 183 Antelopes, 46
camels Anthropoid apes, fossils, 4·6-48
original home, 192 Apples, centre of origin, 269
migration, 282 Apupa calce, later-Vedic, 314
centres of origin of cultivated plants, Arabs, cultivated plants, 113
269 Arboriculture, see Tree-planting
horse Aranyakas, 303
evolution, 282 Arecanut garden, 445
migration, 282 Argali sheep, 120
llama" domestication, 183 Arthashastm
ploughle~s agriculture, 183 as source of information, 34,0
American Indians, 183 breeding bulls, 366
Amla (Embli.a officinalis), 246 crops, 362
Amriuar, Harappan finds, 142 duties ofgraziers, 371-72
Andaman Islands feed and fodder, 372
mangrove forests, 41, 42 irrigation, 363
Onge tribes, 96 milk and milling, 372
Andhra pastures, 371
Chain-tanks, 459 payment to workers, 357-58
cotton, 391 quality of elephants, 374
see also Satavahanas social security, 358
Andhra-Karnataka Neolithic cultures, villages, 352-54
233-36 Aridity and Harappan agriculture, 181
Anicuts, 457-58 Artisans, Aryan, 294
Animal bones, later-Vedic, 316 Arts and crafts, Buddhist period, 346
Animal husbandry ARYABHATA, 413
Aryan, 289 Aryan land (Saptsindhavah), 290
ass, 194 Aryans
development, 183 archaeological remains, 280, 291-92
11auryan age, S65-78 Bronze Age, 278-89
Sintashta, USSR, 281 camels unknown, 193
Animal products, 480 cultural and economic life, 308-16
Animal sacrifice, 338 destruction of Indus Valley civilization,
Animal toys, 184, 211 288-89
Animals domestic animals, 316-17
cave drawings, 83-95 dress, 293
deification, 84 ethnology, 292
domestication, 101, 104-5, 107,118, .183 Harappan civilization, 181-82
horse, 182, 283 home of, 278
Neolithic age, 101 and horses, 278-289
INDEX 521
and indigenous people, 290 Bajra (Pmnisefllm typhoides)
Iron Age, 316 archaeological sites in India, 321
invasion of India, 288-89 earliest record, 319
later-Vedic, 301 introduction in Jndi", 318-19
massacre of Harappans, 181 Bakin!!" Neolithic, 109
and the Mittanis, 291 Baluchistan
rapid transport, 288 earliest horse remains, 287
society. 291 pre.Harappan climate, 115
territory, 290 pre-Harappan culture, 115-29
Asia, migration of camels to, 192 BANABHATA,428
ASOKA Bananas
and arboriculture, 379~84 evolution, 287
and Bodhi tree, 379 original home, 266
and. horticulture, 379-84 Banasian culture, see Ahar-Banasian culture
Asoka tree (Saraca asoka), 324 BANERJEEE, N. R., Early Iron Age, 307
in sculpture, 398 BANERJEE, R. D.~ excavations at Mohenjo-
Ass, 193-94 daro, 130
and animal husbandry, 194 Banyan tree (Ficlls indica), 327, 328
Harappa, 183 Greek account, 360
Mauryan period, 373 and the Hindus, 327
pre-Harappan life, 129 Bara culture, 139
progenitor of the mule, 194 Barley
Assam ancestors of, 10 I
forests, 41 and Aryans, 299
Neolithic sites, 262-63 earliest finds, 103
products, 429 Hm:appan civilization, 162
and Tethys Ocean, I, 2 introduction ill India, 162
Assam Wedge, 6 Neolithic cultures, 104
Astrology, orJgin, 113 preparations, later-Vedic, 314
Atharva Veda, 301 sllra drink, 293
Hymn to Earth, 303 wild barley, 102
Atranji Khera, U. P. Barley sowing, 318
Hara;ppan site, 163 Barwal sheep, 121
Painted Grey Pottery, 305 Basmati rice, Ahar-Banasian, 151
rice finds, 271 Basketry
Auroeh, 185 development, 107
Australopithecines, 53-54 later-Vedic, 308
AVEBURY, Lod, 67 Beads, Chalcolithic culture, 130
Avesta, and society, 279 Beans, origin, 269
Axes Beasts of burden
ground-stone, 237 ass, 193-94
iron (socketed), 305 camels, 193
Neolithic, 221 Beef, Vedic-Age, 293-315
Bellary
cave drawings, 83
Bactrian camels, 192 Neolithic culture, 233
as beast of burden, 193 Belt Cave, Caspian Sea, 107
Central Asia, 193 BERNAL, J. D.
BAINI PRASAD bullock-cart, 158
domestication of the buffalo, 190 momentous inventions, 109
Harappan dog, 8 Ber (Zi;;iphus nummularia), 216
522 A HISTORY OF AGRXCULTURE IN INDIA
Beverages achievenlent~, 114

centres of Ol'igin, 504 Aryans, 2713-89
Bhagwanpura, Haryana, excavations, 142-47 gram (chickpea), 166
Bhang, and Aryans, 293 wheat, 111
BRARAT, and India, 296 Bronze sword and the Aryans, 289
Bharatas (Aryan tribe), 290 Buddhism
Bhahut Stupa sacred trees, 324-32
representation of dresses, 340 nnd vegetation, 325
representation of fruit plants, 381-83 Buddhist Period, 323-39
representation of trees, 328 dnily life, 345
Bheraghat, M. P., stone tools, 69 Greek account, 3<t6
Bhimbetaka, M. P. villages, 335-37
bone engravings, 95 Buffaloes, 187-91
cave drawings, 83, 95-96 ancient economy, 190
wild bees, 99 and Aryam, 296
Bhura, U. P., Harappan site, 147-48 breeds, 191
Bihar domestication, 187-91
Neolithic sites, 263, 64 India, 190
soils, 11 Har,lppa, H13, 1IH
Birds Mauryan age, 36fi
domestication, 212-15 spread of, !flO
as live meat, 214 wild, 1813
Black cotton soil, 14, 430-32 Buildings, Aryan, 29·1·
Bodhi-tree, 326 Bullock-carts
and Asoka, 379 Harappa, 157-58
sapling to Sri Lanka, 327 Lothal, 158
Bolivia solid wheels, )57
cultivated plants, 269 Bullocks
domeStication of animals, 183 Rariana breed, 401
Bone tools, 237 and plough, Vedic Age, 297
BOPP, F., and Indo-European languages, 278 Bulls
Borobudur, Java, 384 Mauryan age, 3GG-67
Boulder Conglomerate, 68 in Mohenjo-daro sC;lls, IIH
BOULE, M., Neolithic revolution, 274 pre-Harappan representations, 117,
Bows and arrows, Mesolithic, 80 118
Brahmagid, Karnataka Burials
excavations, 307 Burzahom, 217
Neolithic settlements, 233 Deccan, 307
BrahmailaS, 301-3 Ncandarthal man, 75
Brahmins and agriculture, 391 Nevasa site, 239
BRAIDWOOD, R. J., Bronze Age achieve- BUl'llla, Anyathillian culture, 71
ments, 114 Burzahom, Kashmir, Neolithic relic culture,
Brassica, sec Rape 216-31
Brazil, cultivated plants, 269 Bus Madeh, Iran, Neolithic sites, 101
Brewing, Neolithic, 109
Bricks
Deccan, 391 Cachar Hills, Neolithic sites, 262-63
later-Vedic, 314 Cambrian Period and India, 1
sun-dried, 131 Camels, 192 93
Brick-wells, 401 domestication, 193
Bronze Age. 66, I 11 Hatappa. 183
523
migration to Asia, 192, 282 Chalco lithic ReVOlution, 111
origin, 192 Chalcolithic sites
Cane, 314- Deccan, 238-61
Carbon-14 dating, see Radiocarbon dating West nengal; 264-65
Cardamoms, oldest centre, 269 Chalukyas; 436-37
Cashew, original home, 289 Cl/ampak tree (Michelia champata) in sculpture,
Caspian Sea, Belt Cave, 101 S98
Castor Chandigarh
discovery, 245 Bara and Harappan culture, 140'
in India, 246 cemetry, 140
Caste system, S08 saddle-quern, 163
Cats, 211 settlementS, 163 '
Cattle, 107, township, 140
ancestors of, 101 Museum of Evolution of Life, 231
and AWsla, 280 Chanhu-daro
breeds of, later-Vedic, 326-27 barley and wheat, 163
domestication, 107 discovery of rape seed, 179
by Aryans, 280 excavations, 130
dual purpose breed, 316-17 toy carts, 157
Hariana breed, 316 Chapa ties, Ahar-Banasian culture, 150-51
Kalibangan, 158 Chariots
Kmhan period, 401 Aryan, 288
management by horses, 289 horse-drawn, 2B3
Mewati breed, 316 horses, 288
pre-Harappan representation, 117 racing, 288
Cave drawings and paintings Aryan sport, 294
classification, 83 Sintashta, USSR, 281
Mesolithic, 78 Cheras, 404;-
India, 82 Cherries,' native home, 112
radiocarbon dating, 95 Chiclt-pea, see Gram
Celts, see Polished stone-axes CHILDE, Gordon, 107
Cenozoic Era, 44 Chalcolithic Revolution; 111
Central Asia, Bactrian camel, 193 wheeled vehicles, 283
Central Himalayas, see Great Himalayas Chillies, . origin, 269
Central India China
desid\lOus forests, 39 centre Qf' cultivated plants, 269
forest settlements, 430-33 Chou-kon-tien Cave, 71
vegetation, 39 influence on Neolithic cultures of lndia,
Cereals 263 .
centres of origin, 501, 50S, 504 introduction of fowl, 214
development from grasses, 103-4 Peking man, 64
Kanauj empire, 427 rice find, 271
later-Vedic, 317-19 trade with India, 443·
Neolithic, 101; 2.'37 Chirand, Bihar, Neolithic finds, 263
primitive, III Chir-pine forests, 26
Paiyampalli, Tamil Nadu, 237 Cholas, 404
Chalcolithic cultures irrigation system; 457-61
Egypt, 113-14 dams, 405
Harappan, India, 139-55 trade with Rome, 405
Pakistan, 130-38 Chopper-type pebble tools, 70; 71
Mesopotamia, 111-13 CHOPRA, S. R. K., 47, 48
524 A 1IlSTORY OF AGRlOULTURE IN INDIA
Chou-kou-tien Cave, China, 64, 71 Harappan agriculture, 179·-80

evidence of fire, 64 not mentioned in Vedas, 300
Peking man, 64 varieties, Harappan, 179-80
Citadels, se, Fortresses and citadels Cotton cloth and garments, Harappan,
Citrus 137, 179
and Arabs, 113 Cowdung as manure, 317
centre of origin, 269 Cow-killing
Cities, see Towns later-Vedic', 315
City-planning, see Town-planning Mauryall age, 366
Climate Cows
Harappa, 183 and Aryan wars, 290
Mesolithic period, 78~79 as daskhina, 295
Tertiary period, 45 favourite of Harappans, 185
Cloth, sed Textiles Mauryan age, 365-66
Clothing and dres$ and mille, 296
Alberuni's account, 474 pre-Harrappan representation, 117
Aryans punishment for stealing, 371
Vedic, .293 remains, Sintishta, USSR, 281
late~-Vedic, 314 symbol of wealth, 291
Greek account, 341-42 Cretaceous Period, 1-4
Neanderthal man, 74 Crete, wheeled vehicles, 283
COCKBURN, discovery of cave-shelters, 82 Cro-Magnon Man, 76
Cocoa, original home, 269 Crop growing, Indus Valley, 158
Coconut (Cocos nucifora), 391-92 Crop protection, Harappan, 158~59
Harappan culture, 180 Crop sharing, 357
introduction in India, 392 Crops
oldest centre, 269 growing and harvesting
region, 24- Mauryan Ilge, 362
COEURDOX, and language of the Aryans, Vedic period, 299
278 Indus Valley, 156-57
Coffee, home of, 269 later-Vedic, 317-19
Coins rotation of, 317
Indo-Greek, 349 Cultigens, origin, 266
Magadhan empire, 346-51 Cultivated plants
Copper centres of origin, 268, 501-5
imported by Sumerians, III history, 103
ornaments, 239 Cultivation
pre.Harappan Baluchistan, 115 and Jainism, 332
smelting, 111 Mauryall empire, 348, 356-57
Copper Age cl,tlture, Ahar-Banasian, 151 Cyclones, 23
Copper tools and implements
Cha1colithic age, 138
Gandhara grave culture, 292 Daimabad, Chalcolithic site, 259
Corn Dairy products, later-Vedic, 315; m /lira
grinding, Harappa, 163 Milk
growing, Neolithic, 117 Dams
Cottage industries, Kanauj empire, 426 Cholas, 405
Cotton, 179-80 pre-Harappan, 115
and Arabs, 113 Dashrajan battle, 290
centre of origin, 269 De TERRA, H.
Greek account, 360 discovery of Burzahom, 216
INDEX 525
pebble tools, 68 Drought and famine, see Famine and drought
Deccan Dryopithecus africanus, 50
deciduous forests, 39 Dryopithecus jJWljabicus, 49
Iron Age, 306-7 DUBOIS, and Java Man, 63
Deccan Trap, 2, 3 Ducks, Mohenjo-daro, 212
fomlation, 4 Dumba sheep, 121
map, 5 Dwelling pits
soils, B, 14-15 Burzahom, 216-17
Decimal system, 413 PayampaUi, 237
Deer.hunting, Mesolithic drawing, B4
Deforestation and Harappa, 181
Deities, Aryan, ·201 Eastern Himalayas, vegetation, 27-29
Delhi, Iron Pillar, 417 Eastern India
Desert soils, 20 Neolithic culture, 262-77
Deciduous forests, 30-40 origin of rice, 273
Date-palms Egypt, Chakolithic culture, 113-14
and Arabs, 113 Einkorn, 103
Harappan agriculture, 180 Elephants, 191-92
origin, 113 capture, 377
Dhaula Dhar Range, glaciers, 61 decline, 192
Diluvium, 56 later-Vedic period, 317
Dishakaka birds in terracotta, 130 Mauryan empire, 374
Dockyard, Lothal, 152 in warfare, 374
Dogs ELLERTON, and wheat species, 162
domestication, 80-82 Emmer, 103
Harappa, 183 Eocene, and the Himalayas, 4-
remains, 281 Epics, 303
ritual burial, 219 Euphtates Valley and Chalcolithic culture,
Dolmens, South India, 306 111-13
Domestic animals Evergreen rain forests, 40-41
IIarappa, 156, 183-212
later-Vedic, 316-17
and man, 183 FA-HSIEN, 410, 412
representations, 117 Famine and drought, 23
Sanskrit names of, 511 Buddhist period, 337
source of food, 107 Farming
Domestic fowl, 212-14 Aryans ofSilltashta, USSR, 281
Domestication of birds, Harappa, 212 Buddhist period, 337
Drains and drainage Calcoltthic period, 113
Harappa, 132 see also Agricultural practices and tech-
Mohenjo.daro, 132 niques
Rupar, 132 F armel's, Southeast Asia, 267-68
Draught animals, absence in America, 183 Fat, from sheep, 121
Dress, see Clothing and dress Fauna
Drinking-water, Vedic age, 298 Pleistocene, 62-63
Drinks, intoxicating Siwalik period, 46
Kanauj empire, 4,28 Tertiary period, 46
V cdic age, 293 see also Animals
Ddshadvo.ti river, 290 Felt-making, 122
in Harappun times, 14·2 Ferozepur, Punjab, Harappan finds, 141
Dromedary, sce Bactrian camel Fertile Crescent, 101-10
art of seeding, 268 tropical evergreen, 40-41

diffusion of agriculture, 109 tropical thorn, 29-30
hearth of agriculture, 269 Fortresses and citadels, Harappan
manufacture of stone blades, 130 destruction by Aryans, 289
Neolithic cultures 102 early Iron Age, 307
period of, 273 Kali1.>angan, 14-8-49
Festivals, Gupta Period, 4·14 Fossil finds
Fibre plants anthropoid apes, 4,7 -48
centres of origin, 502, 503 Hominids, 49-55
Fig, native borne, 112 Homo erectus, 63-66
Fire Homo sapiens sapiens, 75-76
cult of, 279 Neanderthal man, 71-75
human achievement, 64 FRASER, William, Neolithic sites, 233
Peking man, 64 Fruit-plants
Fishes and fishing, 211-12 Asokan Age, Sill
later-Vedic period, 309 in Bharhut sculptures, ::J1l1-83
Flax, 107 Hiuen Tsang, 427
Floods, Lothal, 152 Fruits
Flora, see Vegetation centres of origin, 2G9, 501-2, 504
Flower people, 73 Chalcolithic cultivation, 112-13
Fodder and feed I-Iarappan agriculture, 180
Arthashastra, 372 in Neolithic Deccan, 246-47
centres of origin, 503, 504 Funeral riles, Sintashta, USSR, 281
Food Furnaces, Harappan, 139
Kanauj empire, 4,27 Furrowing, 113
Veclic period, 293
later-Vedic period, 314
Food crops, Harappan, 161-79 Gabarballds, I 15
Fooci gatherers, Mesolithic, 78-B2 Gandhara, 388
Food habits Grave culture, 291-92
Aharians, 151 Gandharis (Aryan tribe), 290
Tribals of Madhya Pradesh, 97 Ganga, Descent of, in sculpture, 439
Foodgrains Gangetic plains, deciduous forests, 30-39
cultivation, Harappa, 163 Gardens
storage, Neolithic period, 107 Buddhist monasteri,~s and temples,
Food plants and the Vedas, 301-2 398-401
Forage crops Gupta age, 414
oldest centre, 269 KASHYAPA, 4U8-89
origin, 112 kitchen-garden, Gupta age, 4H:
Forced labour, 423 Lumbini grove, 325-26
Forests GAUR, R. C., excavations, 305
clearing of Geography, brginnings of, 158
Buddhist period, 323 Ghaggar, see Sal'asvali
Neolithic period, 221-22 Ghatsila, cave drawings, 82
depletion, 181 Ghe~
deciduous, 30-40 Mauryan age, 372-73
Central India, 39 Vedic Aryan, 293, 314
KASHYAPA on, 489-90 Gigalltopit/ieclIs, 47
Lothal, 152 Ginger
settlements in, 430-32 Indian origin, 2G7
soils, )9, 20 original home, 266
INDEX 527
Glacial age, see Pleistocene Greece
Glaciation, and Peninsular India, 61 introduction of fowls, 214
Glass manufacture, 30B wheeled vehicles, 283
Goats, 107 Greek account, Buddhist period, 340-46
ancestors of, 101 Greeks in India, 387-88
and Aryans, 296 coins, 349
difference from sheep, 122-29 Grinding slab, Neolithic, 102
domestication, 120 see also Saddle-quern
in Baluchistan, 118 Gupta Age, 96, 410-19
Harappa, 183, 184 agricultural implements, 418
Mauryan age, 366 crops, 418-19
pre-Harappan representation, 118-20 iron technology, 417-18
Godavari Valley rural economy, 415
late-Hal'appan sites, 259 Guavas, origin, 269
Pleistocene fauna, 62 Gujarat
GODWIN-AUSTEN, 69 camels, 193
Gold Harappan sites, 1515-3
as weight, 314 Gurdaspur, Punjab, 141
Indus Valley cities, 153
Lothal, 153
mines, 153 Hallikar cattle, 445-46
ornaments Hallur, Karnataka
Aryans, 292 earliest record of bajra, 319
later-Vedic, 314 introduction of iron, 307
Gondwanaland, 1-3 HAMMURABI. and horse, 284
disintegration, 44 Hand-axe complex
and the Himalayas, 3 Soan culture, 69
palaeographic map, 3 Madras, 70
soils, 8 Hand-axe finds
GORMAN, Chester, Hobinhian culture, Burzahom, 219
265, 266 Madhya Pradesh, 69, 83
Gourd, and the Aryans, 300 Maharashtra, 70
Gram (Gicer arietinum), 163-66 Sites (map), 72
earliest known occurrence, 166 Harappa
introduction in India, 166 Aryan invasion, 288-89
Granaries and grain storage ass, 193, 194
Harappa, 159- 61 camel remains, 193
Lothal, 161 city, 130-32
Navdatoli, 241 excavations, 130
Grapes (Vitis vinifera) fishing scenes from, 2 I 2
Chalcolithic age, 112 and Mesopotamia, 137
native home, 112 population increase, 180-81
oldest centre, 269 Harappan agriculture, 156-82
in sculpture, 383 cotton, 179-80
Graves and tombs food crops, 161-79
Central Asian influence, 307 barley, 162-62
Gandhara grave culture, 291-92 gram, 163-66
Megalithic, 306 peas, 166
rock-cut, 307 rape, 168-79
Grazicrs, duties of, 371 wheat, 161-62
Great Himalayas, 67 fruit, 180
Harappan civilization and culture, 137-55 Hipparioll, ancestor of horse, 281

achievements, 1!11-82 Hippopotamus, 46
cicstmction by the Aryans, 181 The Himalayas
llUllock.cart, 157 formation, 3, 4
decline, 181 glaciations, 61
domestic animal, 184:...212 still rising, 68
ass, 193-94 HIUEN TSANG, 421-.26
bullal0, 187-91 visit to Lumbini grove, 325-26
bull, 184-85 Hindus, and the banyan tree, 327
camel, 192- 93 Hobinclian culture, Thailand, 2G5-G6
cat, 211 Holocene, 56
elephant, 191-93 Homa and soma drinks, 279
horse, absence of, 287 HomirdJs, 4-9-53
pig, 195-211 Hominization, 48-55
zebu, 185-87 Homo habilis, 54-55
domestication ofbircis, 212 Homo cree/liS, 63-68
fowl, 212-13 Homo saJJicns lIeanacl'tharmsis, 71-75
India, 139-55 Homo sapiens sapiens, 75-76
Pakistan, 130-39 Honry, 315
:Mesopotamian influence, 132 f1'0111 wild bees, 99
use of wood, 181-82 Horse
Harappan irrigation system, 289 and andent civilization, 289
HaJ."appan .ites absence in Harappan civilization, 287
India, 139-51 centre of origin, 2f12
Gujarat, 151 earliest pictorial record, 287
Haryana, 142-47 and elephants, ID2
Jammu, 147 evolution, 283 -84
Mndhya Pradesh, 154 Horse-bones finds, 305-307
Punjab, 139-42 Horse-breeding, 284·, 278
Rajashthan, 148-51 Aryans, 278
West U.P., 147-48 Horse-flesh and the Aryans, 293
Pakistan, 130-39 Horse-harness, 288
HarappaIls, 132-37 Horses
JIarshacliarita, 428 domestication, 282-87
Haryana by Aryans, 280
camels in agriculture, 193 in India, 287-89
Harappan sites, 142-47 import, 420-21
Bhagwanpul''1, 142-43 Kushrm period, 401
soil, 14 bter-Vedic, 317
Harvests Hnd harvesting, 299, 317 Mauryan period, 373-74
Greek account, 3CO trade with Arabia, 44G-55
Jalakas, 3Gl Sintashta, USSR, 281
Hastinap~lr Horticulture
Iron Age site, 304, 308 Harappan agriculture, 180
Painted Grey Pottery, 305 Mesopotamia, 112
rice, 271,318 Houses
HAWKES, Jacquetta, 7G,' 109 Ahar-Banasian culture, 1.~0-51
pebble tools, 68- Kalibangan, 14-9
Hearths of agriculture, 2G8-69 later-Vedic, 314·
HELBACK, emergence of new plants, 111 Neolithic, 107, 2G4
Hemiones, 282 see also Dwelling phs
529
HROZNY, and Kikkuli Text, 284-87 Indo-Gangetic plain, 7
Hunters and hunting Indo-Gangetic soil, 12-H
Aryan sport, 296 Indus civilization, see Harappan civiliza-
early man, 82 tion and culture
Mesolithic, 78-82 Indus valley floods, 152
l)alaeolithic, 71 Industry and trade, ninth century, 471l
Interglacial age, Second, 69
In tertrappeans , 2-3
Ice Age, 56-62 Intoxicating drinks, Vedic, 315
Implements and tools Inventions, most momentous, 109
agricultural, see Agricultural imple- Iran
ments basketry, 107
Chalcolithic, Ill, 138 centre of cultivated plants, 269
Metal, Ahar culture, 151 homeland of Aryans, 280
pebble tools, 68, 71, 83 Neolithic sites, 101
stone tools, 64, 68 Iron Age, 66
India North India, 307-19
age of Fertile Crescent, 273 agriculture, 317-19
agricultural regions, 23-24 Buddhist period, 338
Alberuni's account, 473-76 cast system, 308
Aryan invasion, 278, 288-89 domestic animals, 316-17
birth of, 1-7 occupations, 30B-13
Chalcolithic culture, 139-54 pastoralism, 315-16
Gujarat, 151-54 social life, 313
Haryana, 142-47 Peninsular India, 306-7
JammU, 147 Iron-pillar, Delhi, 417
Madhya Pradesh, 154 Iron technology
Punjab, 139-42 Gupta age, 417-18
Rajasthan, 148-51 Kushan period, 401
Western U. P., 147-48 later-Vedic, 304-5
climatic regions, 21-24 Satavahanas, 401
excavated sites (map), 116 Irrigation
Greek account, 34 Artho.shastra, 363
Hiuen Tsang, 422-24 Chalcolithlc period, 113
industry and trade, 4·76 Cholas, 405, 457-61
maritime contacts, 307 earliest evidence in India, 259
meteorology, 8 Egypt, 113
natural divisions, 1 Gupta age, 418
palaeolithic sites (map), 60 Harappa, 289
populations, Harappan age, 181 Mauryan period, 362-63
relations with West Asia, 162 rice cultivation, 3DG
soils, 8-20 South Indian kingdoms, 403, 457-61
classification, 8-9 Vedic age, 298
formation, 9-12 Israel , Neanderthal finds J 7[)
map, 13 IVANOV, V., Indo-European languages,
types, 12-20 280
trade with china, 443 Ivory, KanalU empire, 426
vegetation, 25-43
India (Peninsula), 1-7
Indo-Australian culture, 82 Jainism, 303
Indobrahm river, 45 anti cultivation, 332
53() A WSTORY OF ACRlCl.IL TVRE IN INDIA
Jarmo, Iraq Neolithic relic culure, 216-·18

Neolithic housing, 107 KASHYAPA, 483-84
settlements, 102 on rice cultivation, 485-B7
wheat, 103 Kayatha, M. P., 154
Jalakas Kerala
agriculture, 337, 361 coconut cultivation, 352
irrigation, 362-63 forests, 40-41
village organization, 355-56 soil, 19
Java man, 63-65 pepper plants, 406
JELINEK,J., Hominization, 48-49 Kenyapithecus, 49
Jericho, Jordon KHAZANCHI, T. N., and Burzahom, 216,
cultivation of gram, 166 217
Neolithic houses, 107 Kitab-1l1 Hi71d of AI-Bcruni, 472-76
Neolithic settlements, 101 Kitchen graclens, Gupta agc, 414
Jhumillg (Shifting agricultule) , 220-22 KOSAMBI, D. D., 391
Eastern India, 263 on caste system, 308
JONES, Sir William, 278 on coconut, 392
JORGENSEN, Savend, 222 on Yajur-Vcdic society, 315
.Jowar (Sorghum) K rishi-Parashara, 4·83
later-Vedic, 318 Kuchai, Neolithic site, 265
origin,2'!5 Kurnool, A. P., stOlle tools, 69
Julhmdur, Harappan findg, 142 Kushans, 392-97
Jurassic period, 1 agriculture, 401
Jute I centre of origin, 269 sculptures of trees. 398
Kutch, Gujarat, Harappan site, 153-54
Kutch, Rann of, wild aSses, 194
Kadamba tree (Antlwcephalus chinensis) , 398
Kalibangan, Harappan site
ass remains, 194 Labour, division of, 308
barley, 163 Labourers
desertion, 149 Harappan, 160
gram, 166 landless, Buddhist period, 338
pottery, 140 La-ChapeJlc-aux-Saint's Cave, 74
pre-Harappan ploughed fields, 156 Lake formation, 2
KALIDASA,413 LAL,B.B.
Kanauj elupire, 420-35 discovery of Kalibangan, 148
agriculture, 427 Microlithic people, 79
Kanchi (Conjeevara.m), 437 pebble tools, 69
KanIcar, 14 Pre-Harappan ploughed field, 156
Kankrej bull, 184- survival ofHarappan past, 14·9-50
Karnataka Land cultivation, Magadha, 356-57
chain-tanks,459 Land division, Magadha, 358
forests, 39 Land revenue, Hiuen Tsang, 428
Iron Age sites, 307 Landlords, emergence, 415
Neolithic agriculture, 235-36 Langhnaj people, 80
tank ~ystem,460-61 Later-Vedic Period, 301-19
vegetation, 39-40 agriculture, 317~19
Kashmir.Hazara region and Gondwanaland, 6 caste system, 308
Kashmir valley domestic animals, 316-17
glaciation, 6, 56 Epics, 303-4
Neolithic agriculture, 219-20 iron technolo,ll'v. 304-6
iNDE.X 531
North India, 307-19 Palaeolithic sites, 70
occupations, 308-13 soil, 14-15
pastoralism, 315-16 Maikop, USSR, pictorical records of
Samhitas, 301-3 horse, 287
social life, 313-15 Maize, hearth of, 269
South India, 306-7 Malabar coast
Laterite soil, 16-19 evergreen forests, 41
LEAKY, L. S. B. and LEAKY, Mary, -17 origin of rice, 273
discovery offossils, 49 rock-cut graves, 307
Homo ereetus, 65 Malwa"ware, 241
Homo habilis, 54 Mamallapuram, 438-39
Leather, 12 Mammoths, 71
and the Aryans, 294 Man, development of, 48-55
industry, Kanauj empire, 426 Australopithecines, 53-54
LE MESUIER, and South Indian neo- fossil man find, 55
lithic sites, 233 Homo habilis, 54
Lemon, and Harappan agriculture, 180 Parant/tropus, 54
Lemuria,2 Ramapithecus, 49
Lentils, see Pulses Manasollasa, of Someshvara, 444-45, 478-79
Lesser Himalayas, see Sub-Himalayan zone Man-made plants, see Cultigens
LEWIS, and Ramapithecus, 49 Manda, Jammu, Harappan site, 147
Litchi, centre of origin, 269 Mangoes, centre of origin, 269
Llama, domestication of, 183 Mangrove forests, 41-43
Loquat, centre of origin, 269 MANU, Laws of, 413, see also ArthashaJlra
Lothal, Gujarat, Harappan site, 151-53 Manure, 416
bullock cart, 158 MARCO POLO
cow seals, 184 horse trade, 455
granary, 161 leather, 480
rice, 271 Maria Gonds, and shifting agriculture, 220,
terracotta horse, 287 221
Lotus, Harappan culture, 180 Maritime trade, Sf4 Shipping and maritime
Lumbini grove, 325 trade
MARSHAL, Sir John
excavations in Sind, 130
MACKAY, E. J. H. Indus Valley finds, 81
excavations in Sind, 130 pigs in Mohenjo-daro, 211
fowls ill India, 213 Mash (pulse), Chalcolithic crop, 243
Madhya Pradesh Masur (pulse), spread of, 244
Chalcolithic sites, 150, 154, 240-42 Mauryan age, agdculture, 360-64
soil, 15 MAX MULLER, F., 278 .
Stone-Age paintings, 83-96 Maya culture, domestication of animals, 183
Madras Hand-axe complex, 70 Meat-eating
Magadhan empire, 340-59 later-Vedic period, 315
rural economy. 252-59 Neanderthal man. 74
Mahabharata, 303-4 Vedic age, 293
Mahajanapadas, 323 MEDHATITHI
Mahanadi basin, 14 on agriculture, 482-83
Maharashtra on industry and trade, 476-78
Chalcolithic sites, 238 Medicinal plants
Hiuen Tsang, 440 centres of origin, 502, 503
ostrich egg-shells, 95 in Vedas, 301-2
A HISTORY OF ACiuOUL'rtJRE iN iNblA
Mediterranean region from goat$, 122

centre of cultivated plants, 112, 269 Neolithic age, 107
horse, 287 preparations, 314, 315
Meerut, U. P., Harappan site, 148 Millet
Megalithic tombs, 306 earliest record, 245
MegalithS, 217, 307 later-Vedic period, 313
Megasthenes, 360 migration to India, 318
Melons Neolithic cullurcs of South India, 235-
Chalcolithic age, 112 36
Harappan agriculture, 180 region, 24
origin, 112 Mining, later-Vedic, 308
seeds from Rarappa, 180 see also Metals and metallurgy
MENANDER, 387 Miocene, and horse, 282
Meso-American civilization, 184 Miocene-Pliocene epochs, 44-45
Mesolithic age, 67 Mirzapur, U. P., cave shelters, 82
cave paintings, 82~96 Mittanis
age, 95 and Rig-Vedic Aryans, 291
Bhimbetaka, 84, 96 KikkuJic Text, 284-85
c1assilication, 83 Mohenjo-daro, 130
Madhya Pradesh, 94-95 barley and wheat finds, 162-63
wild animals, 94- camel remains, 193
climate, 79-80 destruction by the Aryans, 289
hunters and food~gatheret's, 78-B2 domestication of fowl, 213
social lif, 84 elephants, 191
Mesopotamia, Chalco lithic culture, 111-13 fish remains, 211
birth of agriculture, 111 granaries, 159-60
Chalcolithic Revolution, III horse figures, absence of, 287
and Egypt, 113 pig remains, 211
and Harappan culture, 132 terracotta duck, 212
horse, 283-84 wheat, 161, 162
horticulture, 112 MOlley and coinage
invention of plough, 111 Indo-Greek, 349
pottery sacrophagi, 307 later-Vedic period, 314-
wheat, 161, 162 Magadhan empirc, 348-51
wheeled cart, 111 Monsoon, 21-22
Metal work eastern depression, 22
Lothal, 152 western depression, 22-23
ninth century, 477 sec also Rainfall
Metals and metallurgy Mountain system, formation, 3
AryallB, 315 Museum of Evolution of Life, Chandigarh,
later-Vedic, 308 231
mining, 308 Mugharet es-Skhul, Israel, Neanderthal
Harappan age, 138 finds, 75
Mexico Mugharet et-Tabun, Israel, Neanderthal
cultivated planta, 269 finds, 75
domestication of llamas. 183 Mule, 129, 374-
origin. of maize, 269 and the ass, 194
Milk Musk,480
Arthashastra, 372 Mustard, 16B
and Aryans, 296, 315 Muzaf1arnagar, U. P., Harappan sitc,
churning, 295 147
Naga Hills, Neolithic sites, 263 Neolithic scttlcmellts
Nagda, l\tf. P., Chalcolithic site, 154 Burzahom, 216
Naianda University, 422 South India, 233-38
Nandi bull Paiyamapalli, 236-3B
Gupta seals, 412 Piklihal,235
sculptures, 446, 452 Utnur, 235
Nappes and the Himalayan chain, 4 West Asia, 101, 102
Narmada valley Nevasa, Chalcolithic site, 238-39
fossil finds, 2, 62 New Stone Age, see Neolithic period
horse, 282 Nile valley, see Egypt
stone tools, 69 N ilgiris, shola forests, 41
and Tethys Ocean, 1 NILSON, Sven, 67
N atufians, and agriculture, 101 Non Nok Tha, Thailand, earliest record of
Navdatoli, M. P, Chalcolithie site, 240-2 rice, 271
fruits, 246-53 North America, origin of horse, 282
inhabitants, 241-42
millets, 245
oilsceds, 245 Oats, centre of oirgin, 269
pulses, 242-45 Occupations, later-Vedic, 30B-9, 313
rice, 271 Oilseeds
Neanderthal Man, 71-75 and aryans, 299
distribution (map) 75 centres of origin, 501, 504
Neanderthal Valley, discovery ofskeietons, 71 Chalcolithic Deccan, 245-46
Near East, home of fruits, 112 Harappan agriculture, 166-79
Neolithic agricultural revolution rape, 168
as a process, 273 sarson, 168-79
major achievements, 214 sesame, 166-68
Western Asia, 101-9 Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
Neolithic cultures hominid site, 5S
Baluchistan, 115-29 Homo me/lis finds, 64
Bur zahom,231 Oligocene period, 46
characteristics, 214 Olives, 269
Eastern India, 62-77 Onge tribe, Andaman Islands, 96
Assam, 262-63 primitive economy, 22
Bihar, 263-64 Ongole cattle, 446
Orissa, 265 Orchards, 112
West Bengal, 264-65 Orissa, Neolithic sites, 265
relic culture, 216-3 I Orrtaments
South India, 233-42 and Aryans, 292
Andhra-Karnataka, 233-35 and Harappans, 137
Madhya Pradesh, 240-42 later-Vedic, 308
Maharashtra, 238-39 Ostriches
Tamil Nadu, 236-38 in eave drawings, 94
Southeast Asia, 265-66 eggshell finds, 94, 9S
West Asia, 101-9 Oxen, and Chalcolithic revolution, III
Neolithic period, 67 see also Bullocks
agricul ture J 101-4
millets, 235-36
pulses, 236 Pachmarhi, M.P., cave drawings, 94-95
cleflring- of forests, 221 Painted Grey Ware, 305
stone instruments, 130 later-Vedic, SOl
534 A IlIS'rORY OF AClRtCTJt..TURE 114 1ND1A
sites (map), 302 Peppel', 406

Paintings and drawings centre of origin, 269
Mesolithic, 82-96 Periplus of the Erythraen Sea, 403
Palaeolithic, 96 Persian wheel, 478
Paiyampalli, Tamil Nadu, 236-37 Peru
Pakistan centre of potato, 269
camels as beasts of burden, 193 domestication of llama, 183
domesticated horse, 287 Pests, 318
Harappan culture, 130-8 Philippines, introduction of rice, 270
Soan sites, 68 PIGGOT, S.
Palaeolithic Age, 67 classification of Baluchi culture, 115, 116
• cave drawings, 83-96 invasion of Aryans, 288
hunters, 69-71 origin of Aryans, 200
man, 66-67 Pigs, 194-210
sites (map), 60 domestication, 107
tooIs, 71 Harappan crop-robbers, 183
Pali text, all agriculture, 340 origin and spread, 101, 211
Palms, 40, 383, 506 PILGRIM, research on fossils, 47, 49
Pandu RajaI' Dhibi, West Bengal Pineapple, original home, 269
Neolithic site, 264-65 Piqjore, Punjab, slone axes, 231
rice, 271 Pipal tree (Ficus religiosa) , 324, 326, 328
Pandyas, 404 Bodhi tree, 326
Papaya, origin, 269 Pit-dwellings, 217
Paranthropus, 54 Pitheca/lthropus erel;tus J 63
Parashara, see Krishi-Parashara Plaksha tree (Butca monosperma) , 325
Parrots and parakeets, 212 Plants
Pastoralism cultivation
later-Vedic petiod, 315-16 centres of origin, 501~5
Vedic age, 290 Neolithic culture, 103~4
Pastures, Arthasllastra, 371 diseases, 363
Pataliputra, Greek accounts, 345-46 as food, 98-99
PATERSON, discovery of Burzahom, 216 immigration, 25
PEAKE, Harold, 280 mentioned in Sanskrit literature, 506-10
Pearl fisheries, 480-81 and rocks J 12
Pears Pleistocene epoch, 44-4-5
centre of origin, 269 buffalo, 188
native home, 1J 2 camel, 192
Peas, 166 fauna, 62-63
Peasants appearance of horse, 282
pl'e-Harappan Baluchistan, 115 Siwalik hills, 6
Harappan, 160 Pliocene-Miocene epoch, 44-45
Pebble tools, 68 Pliopitllecus, 47
Bhimbetaka, M. P., 83 Plough
Mallarashtra, 70 bullock-drawn, 111
Soan type, 83 Chalcolithic period, 113-4
South Africa, 71 development, 156-57
Peking man, 64-65, see also Homo euelu! Harappal1 agriculture, 156-57
Pentla (Shifting cultivation), 220 invention, 111, 113-J4.
PtnllisetlWI, g 18 later-Vedic, 317
centre of origin, 321 Mesopotamia, 115
see also Bajra odgin, 113
lNDEX 535
Sanskrit equivalent, 280 Punjab
Sumerian, J 14- Aryans, 290
Vedic age, 297 settlements, 282
Ploughed field discovery, 156 domestication of cats, 211
Ploughing and tilling, Vedic age, 297-98 Harappan sites, 139-42
Ploughshares, later·Vedic, 304 soil, 14
Polished stone-axes Stone Age culture (map), 73
discoveries in India, 23 I and Vedas, 282
N colithie man, 221 Punjab (Pakistan), Chalcolithie culture,
Pomegranate 130-9
Rarappan agriculture, 180 Punjab Wedge and the Himalayas, 6
native home, 112 Punjabis
Pondicherry-TiruchirapalJi sector, faulla, 2 and Iranians, 281-B2
Populalion and Southern Russia, 282
and food production, Harappa, IBO-81 Purana QUa, Delhi, pottery finds, 305
Stone Age, 181 Pure Sundari forest, 4·2
Potato, origin, 269
POller's wheel, invention of, 283
Pottery Quatcrnary period, 56-76
Aryan, 295 migration of horse, 2B2
Chalcolithic, 241 Querns
Egypt, 113 Ahar·Banasian culture, 150
Harappan Mohenjo-daro, 163
Chandigarh, 140
Lothal, 152
Rupal', 139 Radioactivity dating, 78-79
Neolithic, 107,217-18 Radiocarbon dating, 78-79
painted grey, see Painted Grey Ware of Ahar·Banasian culture, 151
South India, 306 of Lothal, 153
wheel.turned, pre.Rarappan, 115 of Mesolithic age, 78, 79
Prc.Harappan culture Ragi cultivation, 235
Baluchistan, 115-44 Rainfall
domestication of animals, 118-44 and forests
survival, 149-50 India, 21
Pre·Soan culture, 68 eastern rice region, 21
Primates Malabar coconut region, 24
evolution, 46-55 northern wheat rcgion, 24
fossils, 48 southern millet region, 24
Protection of crops, Harappa, 158-59 temperate Hhnalayan region, 23
PRUFER, Olaf, Palaeolithic sites, 69 and monsoon, 21, 22
Przewalskis horse, 282 Rain·forests, 40-41
Pulses, Rajasthan
centres of origin, 269, 50 I, 503, 504 Harappan sites, 148-51
cultivation, Navda.toli, M. P., 242-4·3 Sarasvati valley, 14-8, 149
finds, 236 Vegetation, 30
mash, 236 Raaput kingdoms, 471-81
masur agriculture, 478-80
history, 243 Chandellas, 4·72
spread,244 Chauhans, 4-72
71l1mg, 242 Gahadvalas, 472
Paiyampalli, 237 Pramaras, 471
536 A HiS1'ORY m' AGRiCULtURE iN INDIA
Solankis, 472 Rilusamhara, 413

textile industry, 477 River buffalo, 189, 190
RAMA DHAN SINGH, wheat species, 162 Rock-shelters
RamajJilhecus, 49-53 Madhya Pradesh, 78
Ramayana, 304 Orissa, 82
Rangpur, Gujarat, Hal'appan site, 153 Rocks
RAO, S, R., discoveries and atmosphere, 11
Lothal, 152-53 estimating the age, 78--79
bullock-cart, 158 and plants, 11-12
gold, 153 Rodent control and cats, 211
seed-drill, 157 Root crops
Rape seed, origin, 168-69 centres of origin, 501,504
Rashtrakutas, 4·37 Rubber, original home, 269
Ralh (Aryan chariot), 288 Rupar, PUl\iab, Harappan site, 139-40, 141
Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, soil, 19 drainage system, 132
Red Indians, and absence of animala, 183 Painted Grey Ware, 305
Red soil, 15-16 ring wells, 346
Regur soil, 14 Rural economy
Revenue administration, Magadha, 252, 357 Buddhist period, 332-35
Rice Gupta period, 415
archaeological record, 271 Magadhan empire, 362-69
centres of origin in India, 273 Russian steppes, and horse, 283
cultivation
irrigation, 306
Neolithic, 269-71 Saddle-quernB, 163
KASHYAPA on, 485-88 Ahar-Banasian culture, 150
South Indian kingdoms, 403 HarappallB, 163
husk and mud plaster, 3I4 Madhya Pradesh, 241
later-Vedic age, 317-18 Sahara, 1
Magadh variety, 427 Saharanpur, U. P., Harappan site, 147
oldest centre, 269 SAHNI, Daya Ram, excavations at
origin, 269-70, 271-73 Harappa, 130
Preparations, 314 Salabhanjika, 414
regions, 24 in Kushan sculpture, 397
species, 271 SALI, S. L., ostrich eggshells, 95
transplanting, Andhra, 391 Saline soils, 20
Vedas, not mentioned in, 300 Sal-tree (Shorca rohusta), 325
Rice-eating, Ahar-Banasian culture, 150-51 Sama Veda, 301
Rig-Veaa, 291, 301 Samhitas,301-3
agriculture, 297 Sanchi,288
chariots, 288 discovcry of agricultural implements, 402
and Greeks, 278 Sandalwood, 41
Harappans, destruction of, 289 Sangam age, 404, 406-9
honey, 315 Sanghol, Harappan finds, 140
horses, 287 SANKALIA, H. D.
Punjab,290 Assam, Neolithic, 263
Ring barking, deforestation, 221 Chalcolithic burial site, 239
Ring wells Langhnaj people, 80
Buddhist period, 346 Microliths, 70
Deccan, 391 Navdatoli excavations, 240
Rupar, 346 Neolithic cultures, 233, 262
INDEX 537
SANTIDEV, 426 later-Vedic period, 30n
Saptasindhavah (Land of Five Rivers), 290 Sickle (harvesting tool)
Sarasvati river Aryan, 299
Aryan settlement, 290 later-Vedic, 305
dry bed, 148 Neolithic, 101
I-Iarappan cui lure, 143 Siksha-samuchcnqya, 426
Valley, 142, 119 Silk, 239, 480
Sarson, centre of origin, 1GB Gupta age, 411
Satavahanas, 388-91, see also Andhra Hiuen Tsang, 4·26
Satapalha BrahmalZa, and meat-eating, 315 Sind
SAUER, O. C., diffusion of agriculture, 2G8 Chalcolithic culture, 130-39
Seals, Harappan civilization, 130 domestication of cat, 211
Mohenjo-daro, 184- see also Harappa
Seasons, 21 Singh, Ram Dhan, see RAM nHAN SINGH
described by Bana, 428 SINHA, Surajit, shifting agriculture, 220
Ritusalllhara, 413 Sintashta, USSR, Aryan site, 280-81
Seed-drill Sittannavasal frescoes, 43B
earliest, 114 Siwalik river, 45
Lothal, 157 . Siwaliks, G
Seeding, 268 early lnan, 68
Semites glaciation, 61
and Chalcolithic ph<lse, 113 and horses, 282
in Egypt, 113 Miocene-Pliocene epochs, 41-45
Sesame, 166 Neolithic settlements, 231
and Aryans, 299 prehistoric tools, 68
Harappan agriculture, 166-68 Si-ru-ki, see Hillen Tsang
intl'oduction in India, 168 Slaughter houses, Mauryun period, 377
origins, 177-78 Sling-balls and crop-protection, Harappan,
SHARMA, S. D" rice plant, 270 159
SHARMA, y, D, Snakebites, 363-64
Bara culture, 140 Soan culture, 68
Excavations at Rupar, 139 industry, 70
SHASTRY, S, V. S., ricc plant, 270 Social securi ty, Arthasliastra, 358
Sheep Soil fertility, Greek account, 360
ancestors, 101 Soils, 8-20
and Aryans, 296 classification, AlIlarakoslta, 416
difference from goals, 122-29 formation, 9-11
domestication, 120~29 action of animals, 12
by Aryans, 280 action of plants, 11
Baluchistan, 1111 foundations, 8-9
early man, 82 Hiuen Tsang, 423-:H
Harappa, IB3 map, 13
Mauryan age, 3GG types, 10-20
remains from Sintashta, USSR, 2Bl Solar calendar, Chalcolithic revolutiOll,
source of food, 107 1ll,113
Shifting agriculture, 220-21 SOLECKI, Ralph S., Neanderthal finds, H
Eastern India, 263 Solid-wheel cart, Indus Valicy, 157-58
Shipping and maritime tmdc, Harappa, 152 Soma drink, 279
Shipyard, Lothal, 152 and Aryans, 293
Shola forests, 4·1 Sorghum, 245, 269
Shudras, 200 South India
agriculture, 39 1 Sweet-potato, centre of origin, 269

Chalcolithic settlements, 233
kingdoms, 403-9
Iron Age, 306-7 Talkoli, bull drawing, 84
Neolithic settlements, 233-61 Tamil Nadu
third centre of cultivated plants, 269 Neolithic settlements, 233
Southeast Asia Puiampalli, 236-37
centre of rice origin, 270 soil, 14
hearth of agriculture, 266, 269 tanks, 459-60
home of cultigens, 266 Tandoor, Harappan survival, 150
Indian influence, 412 Tanks in irrigation, 459--61
Soviet Union, and Aryans, 280 Tapioca, original home, 269
Soyabean, centre of origin, 269 Tapti valley, I
Spices, 418, 443~45 TattiriYa Samltita, and sowing seasons, 318
centres of origin, 502, 503 Tea, centre of origin, 269
Sports and Aryans, 293, 314 Teak, 4·1
Srikantha region, crops, 432-33 forests, 40
STEIN,SirAurel,115 Harappa, Hli
Steppes, and horses, 283 Temple gardens, 398
Stone Age, 66, 67 Terracotlas, 159, 163
drawings, 83 Tertiary Period, 3-4·, 44-55
map, 73 Australopithecines, 53-55
Stone-axes, Neolithic, 102, 231 climate, 45
Stone tools and implements fauna, 46
Chalcolithic, 138 hominization, 48-53
Peking man, 64 primates, 46 ~4B
Siwaliks. 68 Siwalik system, 44-45
see also Mieroliths subdivisions, 44
Stone querns, 117 Tethys Ocean, 1-2
see also Saddle querns Textiles
Sub-Himalayan zone, 6 export to Mesopotamia, 180
Sudarshana lake, 363 Indus Valley, 179
Sugarcane Mohenjo-daro, 179
and Arabs, 113 ninth century, 477
and Aryans, 299 Thailand
centres of origin, 502 age of Fertile Crescent, 273
Greek account, 360 earliest rice record, 271
oldest centre, 269 Hoabinhian culture, 265-66
origin, 113 Thanesar tract, see Srikantha region
Sumerian civilization, III THAPAR, B. K., discoveries
decline, 114 Neolithic sites, 117
plough,156 pre-Harappan ploughed field, 156
Sunderbans, 41, 42. Thar desert, 29-30
Sungaa,367 Thoro forests, 29- 30
Sura drink, 293, 315 Three-Ages notion, GG
SURA] BEAN, Haryana Harappan sites, Tigris, Ill, 114
142 Timber, Harappa, 181
Surkolda, Gujarat see also Wood
Chalcolithic site, 153-54 TIWARI, D, K.,97
find of horse bones, 187 Tobacco, origin, 269
Swamp buffalo, 109 Toilet articles, 300
INDEX 539
Tomato, origin, 269 Tree planting by Asoka, 379-84
Tombs, see Graves and tombs Tree worship, Buddhism, 325
Tons valJey finds, 233 Asoka, 379
Tools and implements Trees
Abbevillian, 65 asoka tree, 324, 413
Acheulian, 70-71 banyan, 327, 328, 360
bronze, 281 beach forests, 43
BUl"zahom, 218 dhak, 413
Chalcolithic, 138 mangrove vegetation, 41-43
Deccan, 238 pipal, 326, 328
from graves, 306 sal, 325
later-Vedic, 317 teak, 41
Mesolithic, 78 Tribes, 96-99
Micolithic industry, 78, 79 food habits, 97-98
Neolithic, 102, 263 Triassic period, 1
blade industry, 79 Trinil deposits, 63, 64
Palaeolithic, 70-71 TROELS-SMITH, Jorgen, forest clearing,
sites (map), 60 221
pebble tools, 68, 70, 71, 83 Tropical evergreen forests, 40-41
pre-historic, 68 Tropical thorn forests, 29-30
Soan type, 69-70 Tuber crops see Root crops
stone, see Stone tools and implements Turkestan, domestication of horse, 283
Teri industry, 79 Turmeric (Gumma longa) , 267
Toria, 168 Turnip, 168
Town-planning
Harappan, 132
origin, 113 Umbrella stone, 306
Towns Upanishads, 303
Harappan, 130-2 Ur, Mesopotamia, III
Kalibimgan, 148-50 Utd, chalcolithic pulse crop, 243
Lothal, 151-53 Urban civiliZation, Harappan, 130-32, 138
Kanauj empire, 424-25 Uruk culture, wheeled vehicles, 283
origin, 113 Utensils, Lothal, 152
Toy cart, from Lothal, 158 Utnur-Nevasa, Neolithic culture, 233-35
TOYNBEE, Arnold and Sumerians, 114 Uttar Pradesh, Harappan sites, 147-48
Toys
Harappan, 159
plough, 158 VaisllYOs
Lothal, 152 Kanauj empire, 428
bullock cart, 158 later-Vedic, 308
model of a plough, 156 Vamas, Vedic, 30B
wheeled cart, 157 Vasant Panchami festival, 414
Trade, VATS, M. S.
Harappa, 137, 160 discoveries
Magadhan empire, 348 seeds of pea, 166
Transport sesame at Harappa, 166
and Aryans, 288 excavations
animals in, 533-34 in Punjab, 139
Tree, oldest historical, 327 in Sind, 130
Tree Goddess, 397 VAVILOV, N. I.
Tree of knowledge, 327 original home of maSllr, 243
wheat varieties, 162 VISHNU-MITTRE, and rice eating, 150

Vedas Viticulture, 112, see a/so Grapes
and fowl, 213 Volcanic eruptions, 2
Atharva Veda, 301, 303 VOELCKER, classification of soils, 12
Rig Veda, 278, 287, 288, 290, 291, 297, VOLLOIS, H. V" Neolithic revolution, 274
301, 315 VON KOENIGWALD, discovery of infant
Sama Veda, 30 I skull, 63
Tajur Veda, 301, 315, 317
VEDEL-SIMONSEN, 66
Vedic Age, 290-300 WAKANKAR, V. S,
agriculture, 297-300 Bhimbetaka cave, 84·, 05
archaeological remains, 291-92 Kayatha culture, 154·
Aryans, 292-97 Stone-Age paintings, 83
see also Vedic Period, I.ater Walnuts, 112,269
Vedic Period, Later, 301-20 Warfare, animals in, 433-34
agriculture, 317-19 elephants, 102
Brahrnanas, 301-3 Water-logging and Sumecians, 114
domestic animals, 316-17 \'" ntcr-mclon, 269
Epics, 303--4 Water storage, South India, 4·06-7
life in see also Tanks
Northern India, 307-16 Weapons
Southern India, 306-7 Aryan, 289
mastery of iron technology, 304-6 copper, 138
Vegetables Weaving
Amarakasha, 418 Aryans, 206
centres of origin, 2G9, 502, 503, 504 invention, i 09
Kanauj empire, 427 Neolithic, 107,274
Vegetation \¥eights and measures
alpine zone, 27 Harnppa, 130
central India, 39 later-Vedic, 314
Deccan, 39 Lothal, 152
destruction in Harappa, 181 masha, 243
India, 25-43 ''''ells, 29B, 401, see also Ring wells
regions, 25-26 West Asia
desiduous forests, 30-40 barley, 162
Eastern Himalayas, 27-29 Neolithic Agricultural Revolution, 101-4
mangrove forests, 41-43 spread of horse, 287
Temperate Himalayan Region, 26-27 \\' est Bengal
Tropical EvergL'een Rain forests, 40-41 Neolithic sites, 204-65
Vegetative propagation, 266 soils, 14
Veterinary services, Mauryan period, 377 Western Ghats, evergreen forests, 40
Vlllage life, later Vedic, 313 Western Himalayas, vegetation, 101
Villages Wheat
Aryan, 294 ancestors, 101
Buddhist period, 335-37 chapatiss, Ahar-Banasiun culture, 150
classification, 354 centre of origin, 269
formation, 352-54 Euphrates valley, 114
Kanauj empire, 424-25 Harappan agriculture, 157, 161-62
Nlagadhan, 352-56 later-Vedic, 317
parts of, 354-55 Neolithic culture, 103-4
South India, 470 Agricultural Rcvolution, 101
INDEX 541
oldest centre, 269 Wood
region, 24 Harappa, 181-82
varieties, 161-62 South Indian Neolithic sites, 261
vedas, 300 Wool, 290, 296
Wheeled cart workers, payment to, 357-58
Rarappan, 157-58 Writing, Harappan culture, 137
spread,283
WHEELER, Sir Mortimer
Yqjur-Veda, 301
granaries at Harappa, 159
and Aryan society, 315
Harappan cultul'e, 138, 181
drinks and beverages, 315
invasion of the Aryans, 289
reference to elephants, 317
iron industry and Aryans, 307
reference to horses, 317
WHYTE, R. 0., 112,fl4
YakshiS (Tree Goddesses), 397-98
Wheel, invention of, 111, 157,281
Yava grains, later-Vedic, 317
Wild animals
YUAN-CHWANG, SQQ RIVEN TSANG
cave drawings, 94
domestication, 118
as pests, 158-59 Zebu, 185
Wild ass, 194 and agriculture, 186-87
Wild plants as food, 99 domestication, 186
Wolves MOhenjo-daro seals, 184
pets of early man, 82 origin, 186
Mesolithic period, 80-81 vase paintings, 259
Women ZEUNER, F. E., 82
discovery of agriculture, 102 domestication of ass, 193-94
domestication of animals, 82 domestication of sheep, 121
position of, later-Vedic, 313 horse-drawn chariots, 253
sowing of crops, 102 ' silk,239
toiIet, 137,413 Zoroastrianism, 279

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A HISTORY OF

INDIAN COUNCIL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH

All Rights Resel'ved

over from a scientific background a precision of analysis and a cogency of

onward is. presented a history of agriculture and man's civilization which

New Delhi B. P. P.AL

AGRICULTURE is the source of perpetual creation on which civilization de-

Kharar (near Chandigarh) M. S. RANDHAWA

FOR a work of this nature, in which a multi-disciplinary approach is involved,

CHAPTER 1. BIRTH OF THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT

CHAPTER 3. CLIMATE AND AGRICULTURAJ~ REGIONS 21

CHAPTER 12. HARAPPAN CHALCOLITHIC CULTURE IN INDIA 139

CHAPTER 13. HARAPPAN AGRICULTURE 156

CHAPTER 22. THE MAGADHAN EMPIRE 340

CHAPTER 24.· AGRICULWRE IN THE MAURYANAGE 360

CHAPTER 25. ANIMAL HUSBANDRY IN THE MAURYAN AGE 365

CHAPTER 32. TIlE KINCr:OMS OF SOUTH INDIA 457

I. Landmarks in the Evolution of Man, his Culture 491

1. Palaeogeographic map of Gondwanaland in the middle and

large Kingiodendron pinnatum and Polyalthia sp. Shendurney

The roof is painted with hunting-scenes. 85

Madhya Pradesh: top, a giraffe, Bhimbetaka; middle, ostriches,

ted like a cork-screw, is found in Afghanistan and from Hazara

age (After (Vishnu-Mittre) 165

90. Carbonized wheat grains from Mohenjo-daro dated to 1755

117. Bone-tools discovered from Burzahom. The second and

being buried enclosed in a pitcher. On a slab are polished

148. Foodgrains discovered in the excavation at Atranjikhera and

in Tamil Nadu (Courtesy; ArChaeological Survey of India) 312

Bottom row, left, Punch-marked, silver, third century B.C.;

(After R. V. Sitholey) 382

pur Museum) 453

BIRTH OF THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT

.. -*.., ... _ ..... ~ .. ..... - ........

Fig. 1. PalaeogeogL'aphic map of Gondwanaland in the middle and upper Cretaceous

lSach!lu, E,C. Albemni's India, Vol. 1, p. 198.

Disintegration of rocks takes place by hydration, oxidation and physical

The Indo-Gangetic alluvium is by far the largest and most important

iill1 I Alfu\-'at E§J II. Mcdiwll bfat;k

rn AliuvllJl on r,':II;~tel alluvIum

Pcdoc,,' QJov.'fJ r·{'I11

25, MQl,lnta:rn meade ..... 50il

1m!! GIIW Md Brown

rn1l 9 OIlScrl SI)lI

• 10 Or.r.p bl.1d ~I'II

BLAOK COTTON SOILS

Madhya Pradesh, eastern Andhra Pradesh, Karnatalm, amI a m<jor part of

account of severe leaching and erosion.

In addition to the fOUl" principal groups of so ils described above,

CLIMATE AND AGRICULTURAL REGIONS

Fluctuations in the intensity of the monsoon are to a very large extent

During November to May, a series of western depressions enter India

1. TIlE TEMPERATE HIMALAYAN REGION

Bamboo thickets of Bambusa arundinacea, Dendrocalamus hamiltonii, Oxytenan~

3. THE DRY DECIDUOUS FORESTS

Fig. 13. A l'orcsl of kak (Teelolla g/,(lIldis) in lVfadhya Vradt.:~ll

Ditlenia jJentagyna, Kydia calycina, Lagerstroemia lanceolata, Adina cordijo!ia,

5. THE MANGROVE AND BEACH FORESTS

S. albaJ S. eascolaris (S. aaida) Scyphiphoya hydrophyllaceae, Aegiceras comiculatum,

_ 1 __ Sf ",' '!~ _ ._____ .c'