THE BIRTH OF INDIAN CIVILIZATION India and Pakistan before 500 2.0, BRIDGET AND RAYMOND. ALLCHIN ®‘eoulsBos Aun i Ringwood, Vic ae ' Pin potted 68 oor © Budeerané Reymond Mein oft by Rib Ci (Te Cate Fran) Lt ‘Unda srr he tains nao CONTENTS, Introduction “tory of the subjeet ~ Aim of the present work —"Termi= pology adopted Geographical and human background ‘General geopraphieal factors — Regional divisions ~ People sand cultare~ Physical characteristics ~ Princip! languages The Karly aud Middle Stone Age Introduction ~ Geological and climatic contect ~ Early Stone Age ~ Ravy materiale ~ Byolution ~ Middle Stone Age: genoral chacter ~ Regional divisions ~ Later induction |. The Late Stone Age Tnrrodaction ~ Regional divisions: Gyjarr ~ West (Cental India ~ Bosteen Cental India ~ Westcoast nd the Deccan ~ Southern quarts industries ~ Ceylon Earliest settlements of Baluchistan and the Indus plains a Inttacuetion ~ ares setslemnents of Bakichistan ~ Bali= cist around the close ofthe fourth millenninm ~ Pre= Herappan setdemeats of Sind, Punjab and Norsh Reipa The Indus Civilization and the Aryan invasions Tntroduesion ~ Extent and distsbusion ~ General fararez af the civilization ~ Cheonclogy snd internal development "The Acjun invasions ~ The evidence of the Rigveda —— 15 9 52 e 126Contents lithic Chalealthie settlements of India Beyond the | Indus system — Nellie Fouprand catures~ Northen group ~Southen sraup ~ Esser end other erovps ~ Expotion of te Tngppan stlesene: wert fin - Mbarara ond te Decne and emern cout India = Ganges ey The. and the Beginnings of history TIntsoduoton of iron ~ Information from lies Veli texts = North India ~ West and Cantal India ~ South India — South Indian burial complex Patterns of settlement Introduction ~ Sone Age ~ Baluchistan ~ Inds valley = ‘Kashmir ~ South India Maharmahtrs aad Wert India ~ Ganges valley Begnomy and agricul Introduction — Sione Age - Neotithie-Chateoithis plant and animal remains — Agrcaltare of the Inds valley = South India ~ Maharastra and Saureshten — Ganges valley ~ Bvidence of trade ~ Harappan trade ~ "Trade with ‘Mesopotamia Craft and technology Introduction ~ Stone technolony: Early and Middle Stone Age ~ Late Stone alge ~ Neolithic snd. Choleoithie = Coppes and bronze techoologs ~ Gold and silver ~ Iron — Pottery ~ Minor ertts Art and religion Rock art ~ Painted potsry ~ Tersnentas~ Stone seulpture ~ Metal seulprar ~ Sel ctting ~ Religion Concho DIX, Select st of tndiocasbon dates from Indic id Pakistan 87 207 233 25. 274 296 319 333 339 340 LIST OF PLATES 4 Bazhal Khor rock sheltes, Mirespur distict (photograph ‘Allekiny 2 Veda family encamped in sock shelter, Ceslon Gourtesr ‘of Butsh Museo) 15.4 Charior group, from same site (photograph Allein) 4 Rock panting of a herd of sais, ‘Morkana Phas, ‘Mirzapur district (photogenph lenin) 4¢a'Seulptored. ead in. limestone, Mundignk, pesiod 1V (photograph Cosa, couitey of Munda Guieact) > Palace bulding from Mondigak, period 1V, Afghanistn (Photograph Casa, courtesy of Munte Gue!) 454 Painted povtery fom Mundigak, period TIL6 (photograph Cau, courtesy of Manse Guim) Painted poteey from Munsigak, period IV (photograph (Can, courtesy of Nase Girne) 6 Female Bgusines of termscotte, Mundignk (photograph (Casal, courtesy of Musée Guim) 7a Crile figurines of terracora, Mundigak (photograph (Casal coureny of Musée Guimes) » Stone button sels, Mundlgal (photograph Cal, courtesy oF Murce Gime) 8.4 PresHlarappan pointed pottery from Kalibangan (courtesy fof Archotologiel Survey of Indi) Kor Dif, general view of excnvations (courtesy of Pakistan, Archaeologial Department) 9 PreHlamppan witiment beneath Harappan citadel, “Kalbengn (courteey of Archnesigical Survey of Ine) roa Street and houses of Harappan period, Kaibangan (courtesy of Archacologieal Survey of Tad) 2 Remains af brek ramp of Haroppan efi, Kalbang, (courtesy of Archacologied Servey of India) xx Mohenjo-daroz the great bath (ater Wheeler, courtesy Arenacologiel Suevey of Tin) 14.0 Mohenjo-doo: reprecontation of hip on sone seal (afer ‘Mackey, courtesy Archneslogial Survey of fei) 1b Mohenjondnro: representation of ship on terracotta amulet {photomraph Dal, courtesy of University Museu, Pennsvleenis) ¢ Lothal: gonctal view of Harappan dockyard (courtesy of Archacologeal Survey of Ind)8 List of Plates els with enimal motifs (afer Mackay, ological Survey of ind) 14 Mohenp-daro: ses wth myles or eisiou content (lle Mach, courary of Archaeological Suey of Tn) 1s Maldon sate of red heat (phon gzaph Beer) 164 Hlawppe: two views of small stone figure (ater Whecte, sourttsy of Archacalzgical Suivey of Inds) 2 Mohenjo-diro: bone aur of daocag gi fter Whcler, pureny of Archaeological Survey of esis) ¢ Harppe: sone dancing figure (courtesy of National ‘Museum, New Delhi and Themes © Herison) 17 Mohenjo-dero:teractts Ding and animals (ter ‘Maclay, courtesy Atchatoloiel Sutvey of Inde) 138 0 Latha seal of "Persian Gull ype (otstey of Archaco- opel Surrey of Ina) 4 Lotta: ural and double busist of Harappan period (Goureey of Archeologisa! Survey of Ind). « Moheaje-daro: terooota cart Ghotograph Morley, 2e- mnstrused at Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cote - F 19 Lota: pained pottery of Hassppan pesiod (courtesy of Arehacolgial Serey of Toda) = 20.4 Moheno-daro fermlc Sigivie of terracotta (courtesy of ‘Thames & Biadcon and Nation! Mscum of Pasty} 28 Mohenjo-dro;jesey (courte of Thames & Hudson) 41 a Hoaed of copper obec, Khel, Nagnur dsticn Rape tana (conten of Jodhpur Museums and Dirceor of Arcee: flags, Rajentn) ‘Bronte swords discovered netr Kallus, Rel district (onesy of HylesbndArchselogeal Departmen) 28 0 Bone and antl: tools from Burzahom, Kashi (ecurery ‘of Archaeological Survey of Inia) Ground and pecked stone tools from Burzshom (courtesy f Atchecologieal Survey of Indy 23@ Neolithic burial fom phate Tl, Tekalakots (photograph Nagaraja Ras) ‘Pia, Rechur ditrct: Gael view of Neolithic setement (photoren Allehiny 244 Movierm Boye hoe in ‘eohots vilge (ehotograph “Xazarajs Roo) ' Byervaton of Neolithic hut or in hl setdement above ‘Teddsatot vilage (photograph Naan ts) 25 «Fils Yemaeota om Nels pera (hota Allin) #Palanprest of sok bruised bale, Meski (photogrph alii List of Plates 9 26 0 Host impresion: fom floor of exh mound (Ghotogaph ‘cin 4 Bremton of Uinur exh mound, Mabbuboasee dict, (Ghote Allein . 27a Cini de inuney rm Chand, Poon dc {Gouresy of Decean Cale, Poon) Gkanncspouted bowl or prod TED, Now (Geatery of Deon Colege, Poona) as Sued pl oi Ded, meen i tet (ony of Archaeal Suey of Ina bs Nivdanlibhenciod vend! rom Ghleslihc lvl (Couresy of Dasara allege, Pons) «arama ner poof Tore ware (ourtesy of Dassen (alee, Foor 29 4 Novos pened pote of Malwa aod white sipped ‘eres psi HI) (Coury of Dresn Clogs, Foor) 4 Nowa pinted peer of Bs re oer (Courtesy of Bestan Caege, Pans) a0 Bindean red wate from rover st ellosvaam (eutey af Diecor of Sechnslony, Goverment ok Anh Prades Rudckoalor: brome Hd nd gore of dog. fom om inti corey of Madar Covetsmest Mase 1 0 Points of bon, hom snd Sor Chand, Som Obie, Biker (courtenyof Director of Archarlogy anf Niseure Esp Bb Adiganallu: brones thd and fewe of cock from um inti (array of Madras Coveramene Maem) 4 ¢ Brahman Moore dat prevent ron Age. howe bol and ive good entry of Arcaetogi Suey of Tai) a Rin, chor dit: Hon Age pit ur with extend thcetin andave anode (omneny of Arctaclogi Serve of aLIST OF FIGURES 1. Map ofthe cultural regions of India and Pakistan 2 Map of Stone Age sites 3: Early Stone Age tools from various sites (Museum of Archae= oleuy ant Ethnolors, Carbide) 4, Midle Stone Age ous from Central and pening nin {5 Middle Stone Age toot from Novasa (afer Senki) 6, Mile Stone Age tol fom the Pano afer De Tetra and Paterson) 17 Middle Sone Age tools feom Sanghao (now in University of Pechawar) 8, Lnte Stone Age tole fram Langhngj (afte Sankala) 9, Late Stone Age tools from Adarsgurh (afer Josh) 2, Lote Stone Age tole fom Hirbhanpr (afer BB. Lad) 18 Late Stone Age tools from Bendarawela Ceylon (Museum of Archaeology and Eehnology, Cambri) 12, Map of pre-Harappun seloments of the Indus system and Balochistan 23. Pousery fram Mundigak I (ater Cal) 34. Potery from Munda 11 (after Casal) 45, Pottery from Mundigak TV (ater Casal) 46. Terracotta Bgurines from Demi Sadaat IT and 11 (afer Friervs) 12, Clay seals fom Domb Sadaat 11 and TIT (eter Pairservis) 1 Pottery frm Anni TA (after Cast) 19, Pottery from Ame TB and TC fer Casal) 28, Potery from Kot Di (ator Pakistan Archaeology) 231. BreHlarappun pottery from Kalibangan (tern) 22, Preclarappan bow! fom Ralibangan (ater Thapa) 25 PreHarappan and Hiaeppen sequonee of Baluchistn, Sind and Puniab (care) ‘24, Map of principal sites ofthe Harappan civilization 25. Copper and bronae tools and wespone, Miohenjo-daro (atte Mackey) 26, Harappinstone-blade industey (Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cabri) 2 ter om Harp ote Whee 38, Pottery from Hrappa (afte Wheel 4p. Power fom Cemetery 1 Herappe er Ves) 30. Copper dist from Fore Munro (ter Piggot) 3H. Copper and bronze objects ofthe Weotern group 3 g 87 % wor Eo Hg 8 19 13g2 List of Figures 42, Fonery from Bureshom and 11 (eter Indian Archaolagy) 2a Stone axes from Hear district, south nin ‘34. Neolitie poy fom Piklhal and Beshmagich 3s. Neolthe Blade Industry, Pkthal 36, Neolithic bide industey, Mash (after 'Thapas) 237. Potery headeens, T. Novsipar 36, Neolthie-Chateolithic sequence of Kashar, Karnatske, wes: (chart) 439, Stone axes fom Assam (after, C, Sharms) 42. Stone aus from Central Inds (now in the Brith Museum) 4. Stone axes from Senta! Pargana, easter Centeal Inds 42. Map of Neolithic and Chaleolithe sites eat of the Zndus 49. Poster from Rengpur TIA (after SR. Rao) 44: Posey from Rangpur U5, IIC and Tl (ter S. R. Rao) 45. Whtepsinted Blackeandered) wate tum’ Akar after Senki) 46. Porery from Navdatol, Malws (afer Sania) 437. Pottery from Nevdeto, Matwe(efce Sankaie) ‘. Chateolihie sequence of syst and Centen! India (cha 5) 49. lade industry from Chondall and Nevaca (ater Sania ‘and §. 8. Deo) 40. Copper aod ore tools fom peninsular Indi 51, Pottery from Nevase and Jorwe (after Sankalis) $5. Dural from Novae after Sans) 53. Chalenlthic sequence ofthe Deccan (chart 4) 54, Palnted bow! from Pasped 155. Map of finds of copper snd bronze implements 6: Tools from the Doab copper hoards (after Lal) 457, Port-Hareppan an Iron Age science of Pith, Doab and ‘Midte Ganges rxions (chore 5) 58. Painted grey wate fom Hostoapus (ater Lal) $9. Bone and Wory points, Kessel ant IH] (after G, R. Stara) 0, Mop of nor Indian fron Aa fr blnck-and-red ware from Brabemnct (after Wheeler) ‘62 Section of pit grave, Maki (after Thapar) 45. Section of stone cist grave, Brahmagit (eter Whecle) 6g: Tron objects from south Tnaian graves 6g. Map of sath Indian Irom Age sites and gravee 6: Outine plant of Tadus valley sites (attr Pigor) 7, Outline plan of Lovial town and dock (tter 8. R. Ran) 5B: Mohenjo-deo, plan of part of lower city ater Wheeler) 6 The citadel at Monenjondaro (fer Woeser) 7. Onttine plan of Kaltengon (afer Lal and Thar) Fe, Section 9F Kerdtin shemesnd 4m Late Stone Age tous from Rarkaccha (Allchin collection) soa 164 rd Be 330 an 25 2S 263 aa List of Pigures 3 173. Copper an bronze vente, Motenjo-daro (ater Mackas) 82 414 Copper tables from MohenjoedaroGtter Marshall) 302 75 Patel ‘decoration. tom Cemetery Ef pottery, Herappe (alse Vat) asPREFACE ‘Tas book isa joint production and the authors claim joine responsibilty for its contents throughout, both for anything that may be regarded as an original contribution and for any mistakes itmay contain, The booksecks to present adigest ofthe results of a great body of research, much of it barely completed, as far as possible in terms of the data themselves athe authors see them, Within these confines we have necessarily had to ‘exclude much discussion of the views of other scholars where they differ from our own, or where there are matters of wider controversy. We believe *hat the references for each chapter are fairly comprehensive and those who wish to discover sch ‘views may best do so by referring to the original publications, Indian prehistory and protohistory are still a relatively new field of study and inevitably some parts are more developed than others. This uneven development is inescapably reflected in the book a a wholes there are still so many gaps to be filled nd questions to be answered. As a result some chapters can be presented in a more digested form than others. The recent spate of radiocarbon datings makes it possible to place some periods in a more or less independent framework, while for others even the sequence remains largely hypothetical, or at best circumstantial One of the most vital gaps of this kind, which we hope may shortly be filled, isthe absence of carbon datings for later Stone Age industries, This means that it is extremely difficult to assess the relationship between the frst settled communities in any region and groups reaponsible for the Late Stone Age industries, whom we aastme to have lived bby hunting and collecting, with the possible addition of pastoralism, or even shifting agriculture I collecting the material for this book we are indebted to ‘great many people and institutions, Fiet, there are all those whose published works we have used, or who have supplied us with as yet unpublished information, or who have in discussion to the formation of our ideas. Second, there are those individuals and bodies who have assisted us in various16 Preface \ways, particularly in supplying illustrative material and in per- itting us to use illustrations of which they bold the copyright. ‘Weare indebted to many individuals: to Sit Mortimer Wheeler for help and advice over many years; to officers of the Archae~ ological Survey of India for their continuous help and colla boration at every level from discussion of their recent dis~ coveries to practical arrangements which enabled us to visit so ‘many sites throughout the country. Among them we would like tothank particularly B. B, Lal, M. N. Deshpande, B.K. Thapar, 8. R. Roo, R. V. Joshi, K, D, Bunerji,J-P. Joshi, LK. Sharma, K. 8. Ramachendran, R’ Gupta, and many more besides. We are likewise indebted to Harunur Rashid ofthe Pakistan Archae~ ological Department, We gratefully acknowledge tbe help and collaboration of Professor HD. Sankalla and his colleagues of the Deccan College, Poona; D. P, Agrawal of the'Tata Institute of Fundamental Research; Professor M. Seshadri of Mysore University; Dr'T. C. Sharma of Gauhati University; Mr Farid Khan of Peshawar University; Professor W. Fairservis of Washington University; Dr George Dales of Pennsylvania University M. J.-M. Casal of the French Mision Arché- ologique de "Indus; Mise Beatrice de Cardi of the Council for British Archaeology; Mr J. Kinnier-Wilson of Cambridge University, and Mr A. C. Pal, We also gratefully acknowledge the kindness and help of Shri 8. P. Gupta of the National ‘Muscum, New Delhi. A special acknowledgement is due to Dr Nagaraja Rao of the Karnatak University, who bas not only contribnted unpublished research material of his own, but hnag also read the manuscript and mace many valuable sngges- tions, ‘The book ovtes a great deal to the active participation and criticism of all our students in Cambridge during the time it ‘was being written and particularly to Dr S. Settar and Mr B, Chattopadhyaya for their assistance in making the index. Perhaps our greatest debt in all respects is to the Archae- ological Survey of India. They have supplied us with many of ur photographs and allowed us to reproduce numerous dravr= ings from their publications. We are also indebted to the Archaeological Department of Pakistan. Among other bodies ‘who have helped ws are: the Archaeological Depactments of the State Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Preface y Bihar; the Indian National Museum, New Delhi; National ‘Museum of Pakistan, Karachi; the British Museum; the Musée Guimet, Paris; Government Museum, Madras; Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge; the University Museum, Pennsylvania; the Decean College, Poona; Univer- sity of Peshawar; Délégation Archéologique Frangaise en Afghanistan; and! the Mission Arcbéologique de "Indus, ‘Thames and Hudson have been kind enough to supply us with previously published photographs and drawings from their archives. For permission to use illustrations previously pub- lisbed we are grateful to the editor ofthe Journal ofthe Royal Anthropological Institute; Man; Bulletin’ of the Institute of Archaeology, London; Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London; and Antiquity. Finally we grateflly acknowledge a Leverhulme research award which contributed to a visit to Tndia and Pakistan for the purpore of collecting materials for this hookCHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ‘Cue civilization of India ~ that is to say of the area now com= prising the moder states of India, Pakistan, Ceylon and ‘Nepal ~ presents to the outside observer ~ be he casual or serious ~ a number of perplexing contrasts and problems. For ‘example, there is on the one hand a sense of overriding unity throughout the whole swoep of her histor there is a baffling degree of local and regiomal va ‘conception of the unity and therefore the distinctness of Indian civilization has long been recognized by outsiders, and. fas become # commonplace in European thought; indeed it i= implicit in the stereotypes which have beon handed down since the times of Alexander the Great. ‘The past century and a half have witnessed a remarkable rediscovery of ancient India, and it is now possible to examine such concepts in the light of the evidence afforded not only by modern observation of all kinds, but also by history and archacology: our purpose in writing this book isto examine the archaeological evidenee for the pre- historic period, ‘The rediscovery of ancient India was in origin almost en- ticely European, indeed to a large extent British, It began from the early days of European exploration and colonization, and reached its fist coherent form in the programme of research laid before the Asiatic Society of Bengal by Sit William Jones, in the last decades of the eighteenth century. Not surprisingly the earliest attention vas centred upon Sanskrit and its ancient literature, snd upon the reading ofthe largely forgotten scripts. ‘To James Prinsep goes the credit for reading the earliest of these, the Braluni script of the time of Asoia, and for the in- ception of the study of Indian aumismatics, From such re~ searches it became possible for Christian Lassen, in 2847, to publish the frst edition of his Indiche Alterthumskunde (Indian Antiquity), stteropting to bring together whatever information hnad been thus far gleaned about Indian history and civilization,20 The Birth of Indian Civilization Dring the fiat decades of the nineteenth exntory the reeord- ing of monuments had begun, and these records led up to James Ferguston’s successive studies of Indian architecture. ‘The diseovery and publication of accounts of prehistoric re mains alto began in the fist decades ofthe nineteenth century “Among, the first to receiveattention were the megalithic graves of the peninsula, stray hoards of bronze weapons from the Ganges-Jamuna Doab, and the ash-mounds of Mysore. Tbe fist recorded find of stone implements was in 384, when a certin Dr Prioaose discovered “bagiul” of stone knives and ‘zrow-heads during the clearing of his garden in the Raiehur district, but it was eleven year later that John Evans published the fist account of worked flits discovered on the Narbada er neat Jabalpur, “The second half ofthe nineteenth century witnessed notable advances, In 1861 Major Gencral Alexander Cunningharn, a theage of forty-seven, retired Irom the army to become the fst Surveyor General of the Archaeological Survey. During the next to decades hie unilagging energy lei him to explore hundreds of sites throughout North Incia irom the frontiers of Afghanistan to Bengsl. Among those which he discovered ‘wap the city of Harappa, and he published a plate of ilustra- fons of stone blades and a typical seal inscribed in the un own Harappan script. He visited site aftr site, recording plans of ancient cities, monuments of all kinds, inscriptions and other noteworthy discoveries, and he produced apart from the voluminous reports of his tours a number of special ‘volumes on ancient geography, numiamatics, cc. ‘The work of Ganningham was lgely in the field of historic archacology, tout the foundations he fd contributed to the later develop” rent of the Archaeological Survey of Tndia, Tn prehistory two other names stand out ffom this time. Tho first is Colonc! Meadows Taylor who during the fifties earied ‘out and published a number of outstanding excavations of tmogalithic graves in Hyderabad. ‘Phe excellence of hi exea tion technique was perhaps outstanding in any eountry at thet date, The other is the geologist Robert Bruce Foote, who has, rightly boon called the father of Indian prehistory. During the fisties, seventies and eighties he worked unccasingly in the! 4 Introduction 2 field, and wherever his geological duties took bim, he dis covered archaeological treagure in the sbape of Stone Age remains. In 1949 it was still true to say that almost every i= portant prehistoric site in peninsular India owed its discovery to him, During the past decade Indian archaeologists have celebrated the centenaries of two great events: the foundation ‘of the Archaeological Survey, and the discovery by Bruce Foote in 1863 of the first Indian Palaeolithic artifact from laterite deposits nesr Madrae, ‘We pase rapidly over the nest decades. In xgor the Archaeo- logical Survey wae reconstituted under the direction of Sir John Marshall, as @ many-cided Government Department, ‘equally concerned (in Curzon’s striking words) ‘to dig and to discover, to classify, reproduce and deseribe, and to cherish and conserve’. Marchall instituted a new series of Annual Reports, and an impreasive ceries of excavations of historia sites, culminating in his work at Sarath, Taxila and Sanchi, He filed the museums with the sculptures and other anti- quities he discovered, and organized the first consistent work ‘of conservation of the principal monuments of all parts of the ‘country. Without doubt he may be said to have achioved Curzon’s aims, but be did so with one notable exception, for apart from the excavations of Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and Chanhu-daro, during the years preceding to4s the Archaco- logical Survey almost totally neglected exploration and research in prehistory and protobistory. What work was accomplished in this field was largely done by outsiders and amateurs, During this time however great advances were made in our knowledge of the Barly Historie period and of Indian art and architecture. Tbe excavations of the Indus valley cities are ‘mamuments of large-scale work, and anyone reading this book will cealize how much we still ome to Sir John Matshall and his collaborators, but the Indus cities stood in isolation until 1945, and great histus intervened between them and the civilization of the Ganges valley from the third century 1.c, onwards, Moreover, in spite or perhaps because of their ‘enormous scale, the excavations lacked precision, and to-a large extent were undertaken without the framing of clear-cut ‘objectives. Hence when they failed to answer such outstandingza The Birth of Indian Civilization aueations as these of chronology oF sequence, it was all too fften beesuse auch problems had not heen clestly posed at the outset of the work. “Two events of the 19398 stand out in terms of prehistoric research: in 1930 Mr ME. C. Burkitt of Cambridge University Published an account of the collections of a magistrate, L. Cammiade, from the Keishna basin, and in 1935 Professors H. De Terra and. '. Paterson ied the Yale~Cambridge Expedition to study the glacial sequence of Kashne and the Panjab and to selate their Endings to the prehistorie industries of the Panjab, the Narbada and Madras. One other develop ment of Siz John Marsball’s term of ofice deserves mention: it witnessed the Gest appointments of Indians to positions of responsibilty in the Survey. Notable among those thus appointed were R. D. Bane, to whom goes the honour of the first discovery of Mohenjo-daro, Pandit M. 8. Vats, the ex cavator of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, Daya Ram Sabni, the first Indian to become Director General of Archaeology, and N. G. Majumdar, che first excavator of Ami, Another man \who contributed greatly to our knowledge of Indian prehistory during these decades was Sit Aorel Stein, whose continuing expeditions led him to Baluchistan and’ eastern Tran, the Panjab and the North West Frontier Province, no leas than to the more remote regions of central Asia. ‘The last yoots of British rule in India coincided with a revolution in her archaeology, produced by the dypsamie per of Sir Mortimer Wheeler. The revult ofthis revolt tion are sill being experienced. Basically the most important innovations introduced by Wheeler were the organization of the excavations branch, and his insistence that research was hrenceforwand to be linked with intelligent planning. Tn a stiring address deivered tothe Anthropology and Archeology scetion of the Indian Science Congress in 2946, be act ot the need for ongonized and coordinated planning, and for the selection of clearcut objective for research. Te ito envisaged the need to bring in scientfe and specialized techniques broaden the scope of India’ archaeology. He set about training 2 body of younger field archaeologists to exceute the work. BY and large the achievement of this new planing has been the Introduction 3 ‘extension, period by period and region by region, of our know ledge of the entire prehistoric culture sequence of the sub- continent, and there can be no argument as to where the credit {or initiating this campaign Tes. Another symptom of the new approach to India’s past was ‘the publication in 1950 of Professor Stuart Piggott’s Prekitorie India, Here an archaeologist set out to produce 2 critical survey of the whole range of Indian prebistory, in terms of the actual Indian evidence, but in the Hight of archacological methods current in western Europe. If the resulting volume is com= pared with Panchanan Mitra’s pioneering hook of the sime ‘ame, published a quarter ofa century earlier, the fundamental reorientation which it involved will become clear. Less than twenty years have passed since Piggott's Prehistoric India fest appeared. Tt remains a notable milestone in its field, still un- surpassed in its treatment of the prehistory of Baluchistan specially. During the intervening years the picture of the whole subcontinent has changed out of all recogsition, and whole regions which were then almost blank have now come into clearer focus. ‘This indeed is the main reason for the present work, which does not aim to supplant, but rather to extend the seope of the former, "The partition of India and Pekistan in xo47 and the im dependence of Ceylon found the three countties in a very different state, so far as archaeology was concerned. Since that ‘time litle research has been done on any aspect of prehistory in Ceylon excepting the work of Dr P. E. P, Deraniyagala. ‘The old Archueofogical Survey of India was divided into two parts, The newly formed Pakistan Archaeological Department hus enrtied out excavations at. Mohenjo-daro and Ket Dij, 4s well as a nuraber of historieal sites, and in recent years hns ‘begun to publish a journal, Pakistan Archaeology. In the same petiod a number of American, French, Italian and British teame have worked in Pakistan and made useful eontributions Peshawar University has lately inaugurated Pakistan's first teaching department of archaeology, which has already been responsible for a number of important researches in the former North West Frontier Province. Tn India the Archaeological Survey has carried out a most impressive series of excavations24 ‘The Birth of Indian Civilization and other research activities in almost every Stats, including ‘excavations atsuch sites as Lotbal, Kalibangan and Fastinapur, and has published two series of reports in Anciont Traia and. Tndian Archaeology ~— a Review. Several of the Tndian State governments also have Archaeological Departments of their ‘own. Further, many universities have appointed archaeolo- sists and some, foremost among them the Doccan College, Pons, have large, well-equipped texching departments of archaeology, and many published excavations to their credit ‘The Archatological Survey of India has also set up 2 School of Archacology in Delhi. For the coordination of the work of all these diverse bodies and growing numbers of active field workers, the Tadian Archaeological Survey hae instituted a Central Advisory Board whose annual meetings coincide with 1 symposium on the results of the preceding eax. This body thas already shown its usefulness in checking the progress of rescarch programmes and digeeting attention to corrent pro- lems. Archacology in the Indian subcontinent formerly suffered particularly from the paucity of historical chronology for dating points, and the development of the radiocarbon lating technique has therefore been of peculiar importance. ‘The establishment of 2 radiocarbon-dating laboratory in the ‘Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bombay, and the periodical lst of dates which the lshoratory produces, are therefore among the prime lactors enabling us in 1966 to reach amore definite chronological framework for the prehistory of South Asia, ‘Asa result of the growing tempo of discovery, there is an obvious need for books which provide a general picture of Indian prehistoric cultures. The difficulty in writing a book ‘of this ind, which aims to give hoth a general, overall picture, and also some account of the factual basis from which it is Uerived, is one of selection and compression. ‘The writer must try to stand back sufficiently far to be able to see the sole ‘wood, but not so fer that he eannot distinguish the individual ‘tr0cs."To achiove is aim, such a book must never remain 00 long in the siry realms of interpretation, important as they may be, but must for ever come back to earth to examine a stone flake, a potsherd or a section of stratified soil, Another Introduction 25 Ailficulry is t0 Keep pace with the current rate of discoveries, The ullimate object of archaeological research must be to reconstruct as fully as posible the cultural development ofthe past. But this cultural interpretation only becomes posible as and when « sufficient volume of information is availble 10 establish chronological and sequential relationships between sites and regions. The prehistory of India and Pakistanis stil ‘a atage where this is only partly possible: for some areas and cultures reasonably complete picture can he obtained, but for ‘others ee have almost no evidence, or no more than a sketchy outline ofthe culture sequence which we cannot as yetintesprct in human terms. ‘The comparative novelty of this new pattern of research in the Indian subcontinent means moreover that the problems with which we shall be dealing are still tan carly stage, and that some ofthe refinements of technique and interpretation long familiarin western Asia, Europe or America are scarcely appropriate as yet. We do not mean to cast doubt on the value of such new techniques, but rather to point to the need for keeping their importance in perspective at the present stage of esearch. The plan which we bave adopted in this situation, therefore, is to divide the book into two parts. "The first (Chapters 2 to 8) gives an outline of the culture sequence of the subcontinent, as far as itis known, region by region, In the second part (Chapters 9 10 12) we attempt 10 give an account of certain aspects of ancient cultures in so far 1 the present archaeological reeord permits. In the first part of the book, our method is broadly os follows. The size and diversity of the subeontinent makes it necessary to establish the basic geographical regions. As our Knowledge advances it becomes increasingly clear that each region is distinct, and that only by fist establishing. the cultural history of each can inter-regional relationships be understood. Some grasp of the physical and human geography of the subcontinent is thus an essential prerequisite for any understanding of its archaeological past, and the basic division of our material is therefore given in terms of geographical regions. ‘The recognition of the importance of the regional framework was first suggested by F. }. Richards, but was only worked out on @ continental basis by the late Professor26 ‘The Birth of Indian Civilization Subburao, who used it with increasing success in the two editions of his Personality of India (F956 and 1938). His untimely death robbed India of one of her most promising ‘younger archaeologiets, ‘So many excavations have been maade, in many regions, that it ie now possible — at lemt for the Neolithic an Inter periods ~ to base the regional sequences entirely upon them. Here, too, ‘ne ia struck by the enormous advances that have been made since Piggott wrote. We have, as far as possible relied upon excavations throughout, and only been forced to fall back ‘upon other methods of establishing sequences when this sort of evidence is not yet available. Again, to establish a chrono logical framework, Piggott had to rely upon crose-datings often over very great distances to the sites of Mesopotamia or Tran, which were often themselves imprecisely dated by similar ‘means. We have heen able to employ the new fund of radio ‘carbon dates from heth India and Pakistan to provide an absolute chronology, and thus to have a scale of dating un- dreamt of twenty years ago. It goes without saying that runs of dates from single sites are more likely to give accurate in~ formation than unique dates. We have unashamedly ignored dates which stand out of such runs as out of place, and also dates or even runs of dates which give consistently meaning- less results: happily such dates are not common, and in some instances they seem to reflect the unreliability of the excavation rather than the fallblity of the method, The dates we bave ‘wed have all been published, either in the annual volumes of Radiocarbon, or in the preliminary notes of the radiocarbon Jaboratory at the Tata Institute. We have found, in common with others, that for our purposes, for determination of later prehistoric dates, the calculation according to the half-life of radiocarbon of 5730 4: 4o years gives better results than the previously used half-life of 568-30 years. We have thus used the former throughout. Alko we have in general not quoted the -£ principle of error, but only the central date. The principle of error and the calculation acearding to both fale lives are however listed in the sclect Hist on pages 333-8. It follows that we have needed to place relatively less reliance upon cross-datings to establish chronology, and we have Introduction 7 rnainly used comparisons ofthis kind over only relatively short, distances and within single cultsral region, where they may bbe employed with reasonable confidence, We have, however, ako indicated certain of the more emote crose-datings when they appear relevant or of interest Inthe several comparative sequence charts we have indicated divisions between periods ‘witha frm Hine-when they are related to radigeathon datings, snd with a dotted lin in other eases. Ta recert years there has been a certain amount of discussion of the tems which may most fitingly be used for the pre- history of India and Pakistan. Although it may be argued that such discussion becomes all oo soon mete verbalism, we have been faced with a number of dificul choices, and hence we ‘wish to explain the terms we have adopted. Protoistorie has often been used in to main senses: ether to describe the Hharappan civilization for which writen records are available, even though not yet deciphered, or to describe the mainly post-Harappan cultures and periods about which cerzain inferences may be made on the basis of texts handed down, orally, or only written at 2 much lator date. We admit the value of both these usages, but we have not altogether fol- lowe them. We have red he Hiei peri ws beginning nly when written documents or records of an bistor hater bowme walable in ay repent this & ‘ay that it bepins in many regions with the edicts of Asoka in the third century .c, hut there is body of nenr-historical material in for example the early Buddhist criptaes, fo parta cof north India from the tine ofthe Buddha (¢, g00 8.) and the Historic period may be extended back in such areas about that time, We have called ll eultares which precede the Historie period Prehistoric. This doce not imply any diserpect for their levels of cultarsl achievement, but simply that they demand our attention as archacologists rather thn as histor. jana. When, as happens ia the Punjeb, the Ganges-Jamuna Don, and even the Central Ganges region, there isa growing cortaity ofthe archaeological cultures to whieh the Rigveda or later Vedi literature eriginaly belonged, we accspl the relevance of the term Protchistorie ‘With regard tothe Stone Age, agroement was reached atthe28 The Birth of Indian Civilization CCongeéss of Asian Archaeology in New Delhi in 1961 hat in the existing state of knowledge the most satisfactory terms-were Barly, Middle and Late Stone Age. hese were used to refer to the three major groups of stone industries recognized in the Indian subcontinent: the hand-axe industries; the flake in ddastries which corresponds in very general terms to. the Levalloi~ Mousterian industries of Burope and western Asin; and the various mierolithusing hunting cultures. ‘The Iss sgoup corresponds, again very generally, tothe Mesolithic of Europe and the Medusrrancan. ‘Thus ia India there is no rajor pbace corresponding othe Upper Paleolithic blade and borin industries of Europe and westeen Asia. In this respect ‘the main industrial groupings seen in Indio resemble those of sub-Saharan Aiea? convereely one might say that een from a south Aan standpoint, the blade end burin industries are a spovialived feature of temperate Europe and western Asia at the end of the Tee Age. This docs not of course preclude the possibilty that occasional blade and burin industries may be found in India, contemporary with the Iter ake industries, a8 thoy have been in East Afriea and the Caspian region, The value of the terminology agreed in 196r is that it rightly stresses in broad torms the threefold soquence of stone in- distries: thie is oF greater importance than the actual terms ‘used. The terms Early and Middle Palaalithic and Mesofithic, although they have often heen used, and are readily under stondable in our context, none the les carry strong European overtones, which can be misleading in themselves, and more- ‘over eacry the verbal implication that Upper Palaeolithic ddostics should follow those of the Middle Palaeolithic as « snjor cutaral phase “There has alto been extensive discussion of the way in which the terms Neolithic and Choloolthe are to be used in outh Asia, In our view they largely overlap ad therefore we have frequently used them in combination. However, the present data suggest shat in Baluchistan, the southern Deccan Sind pethaps also Kashmir, t any rte, there is a period during Which settled life, animal husbandry, and some form of = cultivation, depended solely upon the use of stone, and these may thus be said to constitute primary Neolithie phases. Introduction 29 Equally there is a subsequent phase, beginning in Baluchistan ling through the subcontinent, in which eopper ingly early date, bronze, augment stone. This ‘we may call Chalcolthic. In’ the south for instance the quantities of metal are very often small and stone still pre- dominates, and it is 2 moot point — and not of very serious significance ~ whether we describe such cultures as Neolithie or Chaleolithi ‘The quantity, importance and technological significance of bronze has never been on anything like the acale secn in the Bronze Age of Europe and many parts of Asia, and therefore swe have rarely used this term. ‘The terms Hlarappan, pre- “arsppan and post-Harappen are used in two related senses, more narzowly for the eulture of the Indus civilization and for that which preceded or sueceeded it, and. chronologically to designate periods corresponding to these over a wider area. Tron Age is used basically as a technological term and in-n0 ‘way coincides or conficts with the boundaries between history and prehistory.cuapren 2 GEOGRAPHICAL AND HUMAN BACKGROUND BorH the fandamental unity and the internal yy of Indian culture accurately reflect her geographical sitation. India is unique and distinct from other great cultural entities of the world in the same sense that Europe or China are unique 1nd distinct. Tn all cases the frontiers between spheres of influence created by such major centres shift from time to time, and tend to be continually blurred. Tndie's cultural frontiers have proved to be remarkably constant and closely defined, partly no doubt beeanse her physical frontiers are correspondingly clesrly marked. To the south, south-east and south-west she is effectively contained by wide expanses of ‘ocean which, although they have sometimes facilitated trade, have always tended to isolate her culturally, ‘To the north= ‘west, north and north-east, mass cluding many of the highest mountains inthe world, divide her ‘deamatically from the rest of Asia, Not only have they always ‘prevented the easy passage of traders anc travellers and acted ae barriess to human contact generally, but they also sereen India from the arctie winds and air evtrents of eentral ‘As a result the climate of almost she entize subcontinent, even swhere ie lies technically outside the tropies, is hot and de- ‘pendent upon a monsoon eycle of seasonal zainfall, which is chiefly precipitated during the hotter months of the year. These northern mountains therefore form not only cultural frontiers Dut also a scries of major climatic frontiers. Within tbe sub- continent itself almost every type of tropical or near-tropicel climate ean be found, ranging from the arid expanses of the Thar ‘loser to the denae forests of the Eastern and Western Ghats "The Tndlian subcontinent is comparable in size to western urope, hut it is more decisively isolated from the rest of the world and not quite so clearly divided within. Throughout it is still presominantly agriealtural and the density of its rural Geographical and human background 3 population is very great; itis comparable only to that of China for Java, The population of India and Pakistan together in 1951 (1952 census) was reckoned «0 be 433 million and is by now considerably greater. The actual density ranges from six ‘persons per square mile in Baluchistan to well over a thousand in Kerala, on the south-west coast, where it sometimes rises vor small arcas to anything between two and four thousand. Tn the past the pendulum has swung from more or less com- plete continental unity to the local autonomy of regions or ‘groups of regions. Within India seperate nationalities have never developed with the same intensity as they have within Europe, but on the other hand overall unity and centralization have not been as strong as they have in China, ‘Over a large part of India all traces ofthe original vegetation cover have been lost, due to anything up to several mille of human activity, and one ean only speculate as to what cover may formerly have been, But the soils and the topography vary widely, and this, together with variations of climate and ‘especially of rainfall, creates a number of different regions each swith a distinct character of its own. Such regional and local character is partly natural and pactly man-aade as it must be in a densely populated country. In some eases the dominant features of a region are natural, such as high mountains, ox ‘extremes of climate: in others they are the result of human interference, the whole aspect ofthe landscape being created by a system of irrigation, or by the allocation of large areas to the cultivation of certain crops, For instance paddy fields, meti- culously levelled, terraced ond irrigated, and changing colour from the dark brown of wet earth to the vivid green of young rice, and then to pale gold as the erop ripens, form almost the ‘entire landscape of some of the most fertile parts of India, such ‘as Bengal or the Tamil plain. ‘Tea esextes have transformed the hillsides of large areas of Assam and Ceylon, The vale of Peshawar, although it is surrounded by spectacular ranges of mountains, of which one is always aware, presents an almost totally man-made landscape of villages, cultivated fields, ie rigation channels, gardens and plantations across the whole ‘estent of its alluvial floor. Viswally the only uncultivated reas are graveyards, and ancient settlements marked by32 The Birth of Indian Civilisation ‘mounds of mud-brick and other debris. Today the wide plains ‘of the Punjab and the Ganges valley and the Decean plateau also derive their character from patterns of haman settlement and agriculture, as indeed they must bave done for very long ‘ime past. Only in the foothills of the Himalayas, and in other ‘major mountain ranges, in the deserts, in paris of the Eastern and Western Ghats, and in the wilder regions of Central India tdocs some natural vezetation survives and only in such places cdo natural features contribute directly to the character of a region or a locality. "The structure ofthe subeontinent asa whole is the bass from ‘which all regional distinctions spring. Tt depends upon the interrelationship of the peninsula, a stable and extremely ancient Jand-mass, with the young folded mountains which form the northern frontiers. These mountains are consiclered ‘by many authorities to be still in process of active formation, and weathering and erosion are certainly taking place at great speed, As a result the mountsin zone is far from stable and vast quantities of alluvium are continually being carried down. into the plains. These plains have formed in two great river basins, that of the Indus and that of the Ganges, one flowing tw the southwest and the other to the east, Both are potentially | extremely fertile, and both are subject to fooding and to periodic’ changes in the course of their rivers. ‘The Indus ‘basin also appears to have been subject to minor tectonic ‘movements even in recont historic times; and the Ganges ‘trough is thought to be stil sinking as a result of the upward ‘thrust of the Himalayas. "The great block of Archean rocks which are the skeleton of peninsular India and Ceylon have also undergone certain Gisturbances, on a lesser scale, from time to time, but for the “3 ‘most part the peninsula shows every sign of stability. Mature, graded rivers flow across it, and much of its plateau surface. consists of ancient peneplains, Central India, the northern ‘edge of the block, is an area of hills and broken country, which divides the two great riverine plains from the plateau to the south and also partially divides them from each other. Te ‘consists of deep valleys and ranges of steep hills and escarp ‘ments, running generally from east to west, which are wild Geographical and human backgrownd 3 and inaccessible but of no. great height. ‘The platem itself slopes gently from veest to east; on the west it ends abroptly ‘with the escarpment of the Western Ghats, which falls away ¢0 the narrow coastal plain and the sca. On the east the Eastern Ghats consist of a rather irregular series of ranges of hills ‘which separate the plateau from the somewhat wider eastern coastal plain. The Nilgitis, the Cardamom Hills and the island of Ceylon are all outlying blocks of the same Archean rocks, which form the main body of peninsular Ind Ezom one point of view the young folded mountains of the north-west, north and north-east may be suid to form a single major zone, but the variation in rainfall, from che west, where it ib very low — parts of Baluchistan receive tess than ten inches per year — to the east, where itis ax high as 120 inches and ‘mare in Nepal and Aisom, is so great that this alone divides i into a number of minor zones. Te coutd also be divided into a series of narrow bands ronning roughly east-west according to the height and nature of the mountaina, Due to successive phases of folding and uplift of the Himalayas the whale cegion {is extremely complicated geologically, Rivers which were formerly part of one system have been eaprured, and ow form part of a completely different system. Over large areas the entire desinage pattern has been changed of even com= pletely reversed since tertiary times. ‘The instability of the ‘mountain zones in recent geological times also means that cach valley tends to have unique features. This is often caused by the local formation of 2 barrier, due to landslides or toctonie ‘movements, and its subsequent breaking down, followed by down-cutting and the regrading of the course of the river. In Tuman terms such mountainous country lends itself to the development of many small distinct communities, each valley being a micro-region, both in geographical and in. human terms, whose inhabitants form a largely sell-contained econo- sie and cultural entity (Figure 1). For our purposes it would be pointless to try to enumerate different regions according to any of these systems: it sufficient to divide the northern mountains into three major regions, westera, central and eastern, The eastern mountain rogion coneists of those mountains which lie to the east of the4 ‘The Birth of Indian Civilization Brahmaputra, and along the summit of which runs the frontier between India and Burma, ‘They are the first of a series of ranges which run from north to south and extend from Assam to south China. They are divided by a correspond- ing sevies of deep river valleys and covered for the most part with thick forest. Mucb of the aren has a high rainfall, and the eat sarah Figure #, Map of the culewal regions of India and Pakistan population ie concentrated in the valleys. Although India has obviously been subject to a certain amount of influence from Southeast Asia and south China both in prehistoric and ‘in histori times, the routes through the eastern mountains are dificult, as the Burson campaign during the last war shoved, land few major conquests oF movements of people into India appear to have taken place from this direction, Gengraphical and kuaman backgrownd 35 ‘The central Himalayan region, which extends from Bhutan ‘0 Chitral, differs from the mountains of both the east and ‘he west because behind it lis the great tableland of Tibet, cold, inhospitable and thinly populated. Trade contacts have Tong been kept up between India and Tibet but no major formative influences ean be seid to have come into Indix across this formidable frontier. In Bhutan and eastern Nepal the rainfall is as high and the forests as thick as in the eastern ‘mountain region, but by the time one has travelled a thousand ‘miles north-weatward to Sveat and Chitral the rainfall is much lower. The valley floors are fertile and intensely cultivated ‘with the aid of irrigation from the perennial snow-fed rivers, And theis sides are covered with small bushy plants and grasses, ‘and occasional groups of trecs which often extend to the tops of the mountain sidges. Following the mountains south-westwards from here into the former North West Frontier Province (the ancient Gand- haa), their slopes soon become almost completely bare. In this, the western mountain region, the valley floors ate still irrigated and cultivated wherever possible, but they look lke oases in a rocky desert, The mountains which enclose them are stark: and bare and their slopes often consist of nothing but rock and scree, The desert conditions become more intense as one ‘moves south-west into Baluchistan. But along these valleys ‘and over the passes in these inhospitable mountsins run the routes to central Asia and China on the one hand and to Persia fand the west on the other. They have been trade routes ‘throughout historic times and Jong before, and this isthe way that invaders have many times poured into India, With trade and military conguest, great nambers of people and all kinds ‘of external influences have also come, From the archacologist point of view, therefore, the western mountain region is by far the most interesting and most important part of the ‘mountain zone. ‘Among the great routes from Iran into the plains of Tndin swe may notice the Gamal pass leading down from northern Dalichistan, the Dolan pass lealing dawn from the fertile region of Kandahar (the ancient Arachosia) and the Quetta valley, the Kurram river and the Khyber pass leading from Kabul t036 ‘The Birth of Indian Civilization the north, and the routes of southern Baluchistan through the valleys of such rivers as the Ke} and the Dasht, The passes from the western mountains come down into the grest plains of the Indus basin, and these in turn fall naturally into two regions or provinces, Sind and the Punjab. Sind consists of the lower Indus valley and the delta, It is eontained between the mountains of Baluchistan on the north-west and the Thar ‘desert on the south-east. The rainfall is low, as in Baluchistan, ‘but the alluvial soil is potentially fertile. The Indus barrage at Sukkur (more correctly Sakhar), below the confluence of the major tributaries of the Indus, was completed in 1932 and provides perennial irrigation over a very wide area. When the ‘canal system is fully complete itis estimated that it will irrigate five and a half million acres. Sind on the whole is 2 highly proshictive province, produeing a considerable surplus of rice ‘nd wheat, but it is subject to extremes of temperature, and to the inroads of dust and sund from its desert surroundings. The Punjob, literally ‘the land of the five rivers’, has a rather different character. The fve rivers, the main tributaries of the Indus, flow across a vast alluvial plain from their sources in the Himalayas, carrying water both from the melting snows and from the monsoon rains. Like Sind, the southern Punjab is contained between the western mountains and the desert, and the northern Punjab abuts upon the foothills of the mein Himalayan ranges, On the cast the plains ofthe central Punjab merge almost imperceptibly into those of the Upper Ganges basin, ‘Thus the central Punjab has often served as a highway between the Kabul valley, one of the most important means of entry into India from the north-west, and the even more fertile plains of the Ganges-Jamuna Doab (literally ‘two rivers’). Irrigation has added greatly to the agricultural wealth of the Punjab in recent centuries With the exception of the northern Punjab, which enjoys a) higher rainfall than the rest of the Indus plains, the grester part of both Sind and the Panjab had a population density of Tess than a hundred to the square mile in the x947 census. Due to irrigation, this has been increasing steadily, in spite of the devastation and the great loss of human life caused by the pectition of India and Pakistan in 1947. ‘This is the region Geographical and human background 37 ‘which produced the Harappan culture during the third millen- nium s.¢. Its two major cities of this period, Harappa and ‘Mohenjo-daro, are of no mean dimensions, and this shows that the surrounding country must even then have produced enough food to support their inhabitants not only in a good year, But even in a bad one. It has been suggested that this was made possible by a slightly higher rainfall than today, but even if this were 80, it seems unlikely that it was ever possible to support such large comm yout some system of ierigation, either by simple inundation, or hy some other method, whose traces aze still undiscovered. Lambrick has recently pointed out that the population of one ofthese ancient 8 was probably not more than 35,000, equivalent to that ‘of a town the size of Shikarpur « century ago, Irrigation by simple inundation, in climatie conditions like those of today, could have supported such a population, given an effective system of organization ‘The climate of the Ganges basin is decidedly more humid than that of the Indus, and the rainfall increases steadily 25 fone moves from west £0 east rising from about 20 inches per annum in the Indo-Gangetic divide to well over 8o inches in ‘Bengal. Today this is onc of the most heavily populated rural areas in the world. ‘The population is aver 1,000 to the square smile in places and rarely less than soo. ‘The Ganges plains fll, Into three regions. In the west is the Doab of the Ganges anal Jemuna rivers, extending from Delhi to Allahabad and cor- ‘responding approximately to the state of Uttar Pradesh. The Central region corresponds approximately to the state of Bihar with part of eastern Uutar Pradesh. These two regions i between the Himalayas on the north and the Central Indias hills on the south, The Bastern region consists of the Ganges Brahmaputra delta and its hinterland ~ Bengal. ‘The fist eo regions have supported city life and been centees of the trade antl culture of north India since the time of the Buddha (eixth century 8.6.) and probably considerably eater. Evidence for the extension ofthe Harappan culture into the western Ganges basin is only now beginning to emerge, Archaeological nds however do suggest that settlement and city life began in the ‘western and central regions and later spread to Bengal. This38 ‘The Birth of Indian Civilisation is what one would expect, as the lowelying plains of Bengal ‘with their high rainfall must originally have consisted of forests and marshes, which would hae needed a considerable labour foree, equipped with effective tools, to bring them under cultivation, ‘The fectility of the alluvial soil, which now eup- ports such a large population, must have mule these areas ‘moze difficult to clear in the first place. ‘The situation probably analogous to that found in many parts of Europe Where heavier and sicher soils eould not be, of were not, utilized until well into the Tron Age. ‘Today the density of the population of the Ganges valley and the close proximity of villages to one another i almost oppressive, and already by the ‘Sith century the post Kalidae spoke of villages ae ‘a cock's fight” apart Prssing from the plains up the first escarpment of the ‘Vindhya hills one moves into a different world, Central Tndia consists of a wide, fattened triangle of hilly country. The hills are nowhere very high, but they ate steep and broken, with ‘many esearpments and intersected by precipitous valleys. The ranges of hills tend to run in an enst-west direction, except for the north-western extension of Central Tndia, ‘where the Aravalli hills run from south-west to north-east, These and certain other features are the result of eatlier movernents than those that formed the Himalayas, but some features are thought to be due to the secondary elects of the earlier phases of Himalayan folding. Due to its inaccessibility, and also to the relatively low fertility of much of its soil, Central India bas ‘been nll very zecently, and toa considerable extent sil, the _esort of people who represent ancient ethnic elements in the Indian population, and sleo preserve archaic ways of life, These ‘communities usually include certain later elements also, for in times of stress people from the more sought-after plains have found refuge with the ‘tribal’ people of the hills and have generally been abgorbed by them, ‘The hill tribes have also been subject to inluenees from adjoining regions from which traders and officials have come, and to which they go out a labourers. The Bhils of western Central India, for example, reflect the influence of several more advanced regions. The north-western Bhil groups, whose land adjoins Rajasthan, Geographical and human backgrowid 39 reflect its influence in their dress and in many other details of everyday life, while those farther south reflect the dress and ‘customs of their Marathi neighbours, Central India is crossed by a number of routes, which link the more advanced regions surrounding it. Along these routes are settlement sites and small enclaves of village agriculture, many of wbich, like Tsipuri on the Narbada near Jabalpur, go back to Chaleolithic times. ‘The Malwa platemt lies in the angle between the Aravall hills and those of Central India proper. Toclay part of the platean is included in the state of Rajasthan, Settlements of the Chaleolithic period have been found widely distributed there, and it must be regarded ss a separate subregion. Its position also means chat it must have played an important part in the interrelationship of the Harap~ pon culture with the Chalcolithic cultures of other regions, both to the south and east. On the exst the Chattisgarb plait is another minor zegion contained within the forest belt of Central India, It consists of the fertile basin of the upper ‘Mahanadi. The plain, which is surrounded by broken forest ‘country, is almost entirely covered with paddy fields, Tt has « rinfall of 55 inches per anmum, augmented by canal and well ievigation, and until the Maratha conquests in the eighteenth, ‘century if was an independent Gond kingdom. ‘Gujarat, lying at the western end of the Central Indian belt of hills is another region of ancient settlement, and is eich in sites of every period from the Harappan onwards. Tt has al~ ‘ways had considerable agricultural wealth, and today this is augmented by textile and other industries, Tt is centred upon the Gulf of Cambay, and consists ofa low-lying plain which is enriched by the alluvium brought down from the hills. of Central India by four great rivers, the Sabarmati, the Mali, the Narbada (ancient Narmada) and the Tapti (correctly Tapi), together with the two peninsulas of Cutch (Kuceh) and Kathiawat, Unlike the rivers which sie in the Himalayas, and carry a great deal of water derived from the melting snow in spring as well a that of the summer rains, the rivers of Central dia and the peninsula carry only the water of the monsoon rains, But, as the rainfall in Gujarat ranges from 20 inches to over 60 per annum, perennial irigution is not vital as i is in40 ‘The Bitth of Indian Civilization Sind and southern Punjab, ‘The climate of Gujarat is humid and hot for most of the year. In the past the plsin of thas formed a land corridor between the Indus basin and the peniosula, and as a result ofits sheltered position on the Gulf ‘of Cambay it has always had 2 number of ports through which both coastal and external trade have passed. In recent times ‘most of the external trade has gone to Bombay. ‘Orissa, at the extreme castern end of the Contral Indian hills, includes the coastal plains to the south-west of the Ganges delta, and the delta of the Mahanadi together with their hinterland which extends back into the hills of Central Indie and the eastern Deccan, as far south along the coast a5, Mahendragiri, a rocky outcrop which juts out towards the ‘sea and forms the boundary with Andhéa Pradesh, The rsin~ {all is almost as high as that of Bengal, and almost as reliable. Rice is grown everywhere on the coastal plain, and a certain amount of canal irigation is used, but with the high rainfall this is not as important in a normal year as i is farther south. Tsolated from the outside world between the hills of Central India and the aca, and with bad communications with both Bengal and the south until the building ofthe railway along the east coast in the ast century, Orissa has remained in some stays ly and economically backward. The chief ety, Pur, is a ‘great centre of pilgrimage, and Orissan culture and folk act have a strong individual character of their own. From some points of view the Chattisgarh plain which we have already ‘mentioned might be inchided as pact of the same region as Orissa, but its history and its general character remain distinet, and it seems better regarded therefore as a separate minor region within Central India. Peninsular India consists of the central plateau and the surrounding coastal plains as we have already described, ‘The plateau is a very old land surface sloping gently from west to ast, with mature graded rivers following this trend, in contrast to Central Indix where the rivers flow to both west and east. ‘The constal plains are broader on the east and in the extreme south, and at their narrowest from Bombay to Palghat, along the vest coast, The plateau falls into three major regions \which roughly correspond to the present states of Maharashtra, Geographical and human background 4 ‘Andhra and Mysore (Karnataka). Maharashtra consists of the Deovan proper, which means the north-western third of the plateau where the Archean granites and gneisses are masked by spreads of later basaltic lave known as Deecan trap. Today the corresponding section of the western eoastal plain is ‘cluded as part of the state of Maharashtra, for although it is, totaly diferent ecologically it i too small to form a separate political unit, and it also provides Maharashtra with ports, Iaking the whole a more viable economic and administrative ‘unit. Indeed this has been the siturtion for some time past, ‘and: the ties between upland Maharashtra and its seaboard are very close. The Deezan plateau has sufficient rainfall to make possible a eertain amount of dry cultivation (te. without ‘are growin in Maharashs, entton being one of iis major exports. South of Maharashtra is Mysore, otherwise known as Karnataka. Here the granites are no longer covered by lava rocks, except in small areas, and where intrusive trap dykes appear and cut through them a long narrow bands which Sometimes extend for many miles, ‘The countryside hae a stark appearance; ranges of rocky hills, or isolated outerops of granite rise from the phins, which, exeept where they are Tnrgated on a fairly large seale, are bare and dusty for much of ‘the year, Local irrigation hete is from susface drainage tanks sade by building bunds or dams across the shallow valleys, ote betveentvo granite hls. ‘The northern pert ofthe region hus the lowest aifallin peninsular dia, butt becomes beter watered and altogether more hospitable towards the south, The texttory of the former independent state of Myeore is out- standing in India forthe cate thet has been lavished on the countryside and on the villages, and its silks, produoed and ‘woven in numerous small factories, are justly famous. An appropriate section of the Western Ghats and the wostcrn constal plain are inchuded with the plateau in Mysore state, a8 jn Mabareehtra, lthough Mysore has no port equivalent to Bombay. "The principal arbour on this stretch of coasts Gor, ‘which until recently was @ Portuguese possession. Gos as2 ‘The Birth of Indian Civilisation never developed greatly as a port, having been outstripped by Bombay, which occupies a focal situation for both sea trade and land trade both withthe peninsula and with western India, land also via several long established routes with the Gangetic plains. Mysore has a long tradition of gold-mining which sgoes back at least to the heginning of the Christian era, and is still carried on, the eastern third of the plateau again is predominantly a ‘granite region, but it has a somewhat higher rainfall than any fof the western parts, and therefore has not the forbidding aspect of North Mysore, This part of the plateau, together with a stretch of the astern Ghats, and the eastern coastal plain, from the borders of Orissa in the north to Madras in the south, including the fertile soil of the combined Krisha: Godavari delta, all form one major cultural and linguistic unit. ‘This is the Telegu language area whic corresponds more or lese exactly to the State of Andhra Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tike Centrat India, includes a number of subregions, parti- caularly in the Eastern Ghats and other hilly tacts, each with ita own character, In the wilder parts of Andhra also a number of tribal groups are found, such ae the Chenchu of the lower Godavari hill, some of whom stil live only by hunting and gathering, The rainfall of coastal Andhra is considerably lovver than that of Orisa, but it has two brief wet seasons. As a result there is a much greater dependence upon irigation both from tanks and from canals which lead water off from the main rivers, Rice, millet and pulses are all grown in Andhra, Tn the extreme south the plateru breaks down into isolated blocks of hills, the chief of which are the Nilgiri and the Cardamom hills, which still partially divide the castern and ‘western coastal plains, The eastern coastal plain, which widens coat towards the south, forms, together with its immediate hinterland, a separate lowland region, known as the Tamil plain or the Tamilnad. Thie corresponds approximately sith the modern state of Madras, Here the climate, methods of irrigation, and crops resemble those of the most fertile and developed parts of coustal Andhra, The western coastal plain also widens out to form a separate region which has amach in common with the Tamilnad, Its often known as Malabar, and Geographical and human background 8 it now forms the state of Kerala, Both Madras and Kerala ore ‘extremely heavily populated like the Ganges plains. ‘Their fertile soil, with the aid of irrigation of various types, produces several crops per year. Both are primarily rice-producing, but grow considerable amounts of millet, pulses and other crops in addition. Kerala also produces pepper and spices, which have ‘been exported to the West since Roman times, Geologically Ceylon is an extension of the Deccan plateau, like the Nilgiris or the Cardamom hills. Tt is divided from India by twenty miles or so of shallow sea, and for some pur poses it can be regarded as the end of the Indian peninaulay the end ofa long cul-de-sac into which population and cultural Influences have poured from time to time from a general northerly or northwesterly direction. Its position in the Indian Ocean has made it a natural staging post on the sea routes between Europe and the Arab world on the one hand, ‘and the Far East and Australia on the other. Since the fifteenth century it has benefited increasingly from its position, but before that time also it must have been subject to more external influences of all kinds than India, ‘This and its situa tion as an island have caused Ceylon to develop along some- ‘what different lines from India, Its aboriginal population, now represented by the Vedda tribes of the south-east, closely resembles that of peninsular India, and indeed the name Veddoid is often taken to describe the Indian aboriginal population as a whole, ‘To them were adiled in or after the fifth century 2.c a considerable body of population from north India, whose descendants, the Sinhalese, ae mainly Buddhists, ‘They’ live in the southern parts of the island and form one of the major sections of Ceylon’s population today, The other major part, the Tamils, most of whom are Hindus, inhat the more northerly part of the island, which i both lower- lying and drier than the south, ‘The Ceylon ‘Tamils have much in common with those of the ‘Tamilnad, and some ‘come to Ceylon within living memory, but the majority been there for an indefinite length of time, and there is no record of when the first ‘Tamilian settlers arrived. In all probability Tamil settlement of northern Ceylon has been ‘aking place for many centuries. East-wvest trade bas brought“4 The Birth of Indian Civilisation ‘many other communitic to Ceylon, Arab, Portuguese, Dutch, and British, to name only a few, and all these have added to the peculiar blend of the cosmopolitan and the parochial which constitutes her personality. Te climate and agriculture cof northern Ceylon art much like those of the Tamitnad. Tea and coffee are grown in the mountains of the south, which have a very high rainfall, and some minerals are mined in the ‘central part of the island, There are also parts of the centre of the island which are rich in gem stones. "The people of each of the regions of Tndix have theit own character, which is as clearly marked and as constant as that of the country in which they live. Naturally their character derives largely from the country, and from their mode of life init, which has developed over the course of time as they dis- covered ways of making their living fom the resources it offered. Many features of such regional cultures, therefore, are clearly related to practical day to day needs, and to the ‘materials locally available. Other features have no apparent relationship to local conditions. Some may have an historical ‘explanation, but many are simply the result of loca taste and tradition long established and often actively fostered. Anyone ‘who travels about in India will quickly become aware of these cultural differences, many of which have great forco and vital ‘and which leave one in no doubt when one has passed a regional frontier, Not only are there changes in the country- aide, but the dress and bearing of the people is different, and frequently also their language, for many but by no means all geographical and cultural frontiers correspond with linguistic frontiers. It is no exaggeration to say that the variation manners and taste between any two major cultural blocks ia Tndia are as marked as those between any two major European, om the point of view of the archscologist the different rogions of India have a twofold interest. Firstly many of their distinctive features are capable of being traced back in time, and the development and differentiation of regional cultuees is the very sto of archaeology. Secondly certain regions have advanced far more rapidly than others, nd the more backward, often preserve many features which elsewhere belong only to Geographical and human background 4s a distant past, For example, city life and a system of fairly intensive agricuture bave been established in the Ganges valley certainly for almost three millennia, and perhaps for somewhat longer. Yet in the adjacent hills and forests of Central India communities can still be found who five by primitive methods of shifting agsieulture, augmented by huat- ing, and by gathering the natural products ofthe forests, sich as honey, fruits, and various edible leaves and roots, Until the beginning ofthis century there were also communities who lived only by hunting and gathering, and small groups roay be found who still do so, althougb the majority of such people ov add to thei livelihood by occasional labour and by selling forest products such as honey, or baskets and other things hich they make, There are also communities such as the Bhils and Gonds who practise relatively advanced forms of agriculture, using ploughs, wheeled carts and draught oxen, and sometimes also irrigating ther land, but who are yet out= side the main body of Indian village life and peasant agricul~ ture, All such commusitcs are loosely known as peoples, Many formerly independent groups of this kind can bbe seen inthe process of being absorbed into the Indian village structure, For the vast majority of the population of India the village is the mainspring of life. In the pest it has supplied all the basic essentials of life for its inhabitants, and toa large estent it sill docs so. India’s economy is primarily based upoa agriculture: the subsistence agriculture of the peasant farmer ‘vithin the structure of the village. ‘The basic foods, rics, ‘vheat, millets and pulses, are predueed in varying quantities in different parts of India, and in many areas cotton is also produced for clothing snd export. Textiles and spices have bbeen Incla’s ebief exports since Roman times, and possibly algo since Harappan times, Other things such as jue, ta and coffee, to mention only 2 few, have been added to these. The mining and export of gold andl gem stones bave also played a part, which it is not easy to estimate. Peasant agriculture, however, has always been the bass. It has provided the con- tinuity and strength of Indian society in times of war and political stress, because any or every village can be entirely6 ‘The Birth of Indian Civilization self-sufficient for long periods, but its very self-sufficiency has also been its weakness in’ times of famine, when poor distribution and lack of social mobility, which both arise from the self-sufficient nature of village life, have proved almost insurmountable obstacles in dealing with the situation. Today industriaization is only beginning to make some impression fon the Indian economy. ‘The effects of cities and the wider eeonomie life implicit in their presence, and of centralized government and taxation, have long been felt, but next to the amily the village isthe most important factor in the life of the individual. Redueed to its simplest form the village could be said to consist of farmers and eraftemen, naturally dependent upon one another: in fact it has a highly complex structure into which it can abgorb outsiders at various levels. Indian society constantly overwhelms western observers by its complexity. Not only are there communities at every stage of development from long-established cities to virtually i dependent groups of hunters, living within a relatively short distanee of one another, but within the cities and even within the villages there are numerous groups and communities of people who arc wholly or partly self-contained, We have already mentioned hunting thes who have resorted to seling forest produce, or labouring for more advanced people. ‘This is usually the combined result of agriculturalists encroaching. upon their hunting grounds, and of their natural desire to buy food and cloth from village traders. Many of these tribal people make attractive mats and baskets and other objects, for which they find a market in towns and villages, and some Ihave established themselves upon the outskirts of larger settlements, where they live largely by labour and by their crafts, Such people are accepted in a wense by the rest of the ‘community, but no one will intermarey with them or eat with them, and they will marry only among themselves and with their tribal relatives, ‘The seceptance of the group as part of a lager community, but not of the individual with any degree of intimacy, runs very deep through Indian society. Self contained groups and hereditary specialists of many kinds are met with everywhere and cach is assigned a position in the caste hierarchy of their locality, and ultimately in the Indiae Geographical and human background ‘7 ‘wide network of castes. There are groups of people who specialize in almost every possible trade and occupation: potion, blaskmiths, goldsmiths, quarrymen, Inbourers, ballad-singers, acrobats, merchants of various’ kinds, and smoney-lenders. There are people who specialize in carrying goods from place to place, barbers, washermen, midwives, prostitutes ~ the lst ip endless. Even in traditional society however, one group may carry out several occupations which say or may not be closely related. ‘The great majority of the population, of course, are farmers. ‘The caste ystem, first described in the Purasha Sitkta ofthe Rigveda, probably around 1000 1c, divides society into four jor groups, Brahman, Kshatriva, Vaishya and Sidra. This division sll holds good today. The Brahmans or priestly caste are the highest, and were the traditional custodians of s, legal and ‘customary kaowledge, who knew the scriptures by heart, and officiated! on all oocasions such es ‘weddings, name-giving ceremonies, and s0 on. Today some Village Brahmans still contioue in this role, and some are the hereditary custodians of temples, but many have moved with the fimes and occupy all sorts of professional and administra- sj one might almost sxy they form a large part of ntsia of India. ‘The Kehatrvas are the traditional ‘warrior caste, to which many Jandowners belong, and they too have moved into a variety of occupations. Vaishyas include the majority of ‘respectable’ traders and artisans, and many ppemsant farmers. Sidrar include afew groups who are regarded as unclean, such a5 sweepers or village road-cleaners, and Jeather-workers, together with outcasts or people who for ‘various reasons are regarded as fling right outside the normal structure of society, like many of the tribal groups we have already mentioned, Within each of these major groups there are endless sub-groups and castes, each celf-contained, and cach occupying a special place in the caste hierarchy, with the reservation that the precise position oecupied by the same _proup or este indifferent regions may be somewbat different, Sccoeding to their economic postion, and the esteem in which they are held locally. Upan this ancient and immensely ints cate structure came