TNPSC GROUP–I & II - Vetrii IAS Study Circle€¦ · VETRII IAS STUDY CIRCLE Ancient India TNPSC GROUP–I & II An ISO 9001 : 2015 Institution | Providing Excellence Since 2011

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My Dear Aspirants,

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CONTENTS1. Pre–Historic Period...................................................

1.1 Paleolithic Age1.2 Mesolithic Age1.3 Neolithic Age1.4 Metal Age

1

2. The Harappan Civilization.......................................2.1 Important Indus Valley Sites2.2 Origin & Evolution2.3 Salient Features of the Harappan Culture2.4 Living Pattern of Harappans2.5 Religion

12

3. The Vedic Age.........................................................3.1 Vedic Literature3.2 Early Vedic Period3.3 Later Vedic Period

23

4. Mahajanapadas & The Rise of Magadhan Empire....4.1 Buddhist and Jain Texts4.2 Mahajanapadas 4.3 Magadha Dynasties

34

5. Jainism & Buddhism (6th Century BC).....................5.1 Causes Behind Emergence5.2 Jainism5.3 Buddhism

43

CONTENTS6. The Mauryan Empire................................................

6.1 Literary Source6.2 Persian and Macedonian Invasions6.3 Political History of The Mauryas6.4 Mauryan Administration6.5 Mauryan Art & Architecture

61

7. Post–Mauryan India.................................................7.1 Sunga Dynasty7.2 Bactrians/Indo-Greeks7.3 Sakas/Scythians7.4 Kushanas

77

8. Sangam Age (300 BC–200 AD)................................8.1 Sangam Literature8.2 Cheras8.3 Cholas8.4 Pandyas8.5 Salient Feature of Sangam Peroid

87

9. Gupta Empire and Harshavardhana.........................9.1 Source Regarding Gupta Empire9.2 Gupta Lineage9.3 Salient Features of Gupta’s Rule9.4 Harshavardhana

97

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■ Defining proto-history is rather difficult as it has different connotations. Generally, it refers to a period between prehistory and history, during which a culture or civilisation has not yet developed writing but are mentioned in the written records of a contemporary literate civilisation.

■ For example, the script of the Harappan civilisation remains undeciphered; however, since its existence is noted in Mesopotamian writings, it is considered a part of proto-history.

■ Similarly, the Vedic civilisation from 1500–600 BCE had an oral literary tradition, though they did not take

to literary writing—they can thus be considered a part of proto-history as well.

■ Archaeologists consider Neolithic and Chalcolithic cultures to be a part of proto- history.

■ The study of the past after the invention of writing and the study of literate societies based on the written and archaeological sources constitutes history.

■ The history and identity of human settlements in India go back to prehistoric times.

■ The credit for doing an early extensive study of Indian pre-history go to Robert Bruce Foote, who discovered what

Chapter

1 Pre–Historic Period

▌ INTRODUCTION

The English word ‘history’ comes from the Greek historia, meaning “inquiry, knowledge acquired by investigation”. It corresponds to the study of the past and

throws light on various past events of significance which shaped and evolved human experiences. History is further divided into

• Pre-History • Proto-History • History

Events occurring before the invention of writing are considered the domain of pre-history, which is generally represented by the three stone ages.

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Vetrii IAS Study Circle Pre – Historic Period

was probably the first palaeolithic tool discovered in India—the Pallavaram handaxe.

■ Later, he discovered a large number of pre-historic sites in South India.

■ The contribution of Sir Mortimer Wheeler is equally significant, as his efforts greatly contributed towards our knowledge of the pre-historical cultures of India and their sequence.

TECHNIQUES FOR THE DATING OF THE PRE–HISTORICAL PERIOD

Radio–Carbon Dating

■ The technique of radio–carbon dating is commonly used for this purpose.

■ It is based on measuring the loss of carbon in organic materials over a period of time.

Dendro–Chronology

■ It refers to the number of tree rings in the wood, the date of the wood is arrived at. The development of archeology helps much to understand the life and culture of the people who lived in this period.

Classification of Indian Stone Age

■ On the basis of geological age, the type and technology of stone tools, and subsistence base, the Indian Stone Age is classified primarily into three types:

• Old stone Age, Paleolithic Age (5,00,000−10,000 BCE)

• Late Stone Age, Mesolithic Age (10,000−6000 BCE)

• New Stone Age, Neolithic Age (6,000−4000 BCE)

Metal Age

The new technology of smelting metal ore & crafting metal aircrafts in an important development in human civilization.

It is divided in to1. Chalcolithic (or) copper age

(3000 BC−1500 BC)2. Iron age - (1500 BC−600 BC)

1.1 PALEOLITHIC (OR) OLD STONE AGE (10,000 BC YEARS AGO)

■ In the beginning people did not know how to grow food. They were basically food gatherers and hunters.

■ The art of hunting & stalking wild animals individually & later in groups led to these people making stone weapons & tools.

■ They used tools for hunting animals, chopping meat; cutting wood & digging roots & tubes etc.

■ The basic technique of making these crude tools was by taking a stone and flaking its sides with a heavier stone.

■ By this time, human beigns had come to make & use fire.Tree ring records (Dendro-Chronology).

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1.1.1 Living Pattern

Nomadic Life

■ They moved from place to place in search of food & shelter food was obtained by hunting animals & gathering edible plants & tubers.

■ Men, women, & children lived in groups to protect themselves from ferocious animals.

■ These peoples are called as hunter– gatherers.

Shelter: They lived in caves & rock shelters.

Cloth: He wore dresses made out of leaves, skin of animals & barks of trees.

Art

■ They spent their leisure time in painting & carving on the surface of caves.

■ These paintings and carvings give us valuable information about their life.

■ In the Bhimbetka cave in Madhya Pradesh, we see a painting.

Painting Shows

• Animal groups, • Men & women dancing, • Hunting & food gathering, and • It depicts a woman with her child tied

to her waist throwing an arrow.

Tools

■ They used stone tools, hand–sized and flaked–off large pebbles for hunting,

■ Large stone axes, ■ Stone implements are made of a hard

rock known as quartzite, ■ Bones & horns of animals, ■ Branches of trees.

Use of Fire

■ For cooking, ■ To keep warm during the winter, ■ They gathered around it & listened to the

stories from elders, ■ Protected them from wild animals.

Some of the famous sites of Old Stone Age in India are

1. The Soan valley & Potwar plateau on the northwest–India

2. The Siwalik hills on the north India3. Bhimpetka in Madhya Pradesh4. Adamgarh hill in Narmada valley

Tools of Old Stone Age Period.

Bhimbetka cave in Madhya Pradesh.

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5. Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh & Attirampakkam near Chennai.

1.2 MESOLITHIC AGE (OR) MIDDLE STONE AGE (10,000 BC. TO 6000 BC)

■ The next stage of human life is called Mesolithic age,

■ It was the transitional phase, ■ In the Mesolithic age, the stone tools

began to be made more pointed and sharp. To ensure a life that had abundance of food & clothing, the stone tools began to appear in increasingly specialized way.


■ They began to a tendency to settle for longer periods in an area.

■ Domestication of animals. ■ Horticulture. ■ Primitive cultivation started.

Tools

■ A different types of stone tools is found. ■ Tiny stone artifacts; often not more than

five centimeters in size, & therefore called microliths.

■ Use of bow & arrow also began during this period.

Sub-classification of Paleolithic Period

Early or lower Palaeolithic Middle Palaeolithic Late or Upper Palaeolithic

Use of hand axes, choppers, and cleavers, mainly for chopping, digging, and skinning.

Use of stone tools made of flakes, mainly scrapers, borers, points, and blade like tools.

Parallel-sided blades, burins, and some instances of bone tools.

Found in Soan and Sohan river valley (now in Pakistan), Kashmir, Thar Desert (Didwana, Rajasthan), Hiran Valley (Gujarat), rockshelters of Bhimbetka (MP), and Belan Valley Mirzapur (UP)

Found in Soan, Narmada and Tungabhadra river valleys, Potwar plateau (between Indus and Jhelum), Sanghao Cave (near peshawar, Pakistan).

Found in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Central MP, Southern UP and Chhotanagpur Plateau. Bone tools found only at cave sites of Kurnool and Muchchatla Chintamani Gavi in Andhra Pradesh.

5,00,000 BCE−50,000 BCE 50,000 BCE−40,000 BCE 40,000 BCE−10,000 BCE

Covers the greater part of the Ice Age.

Established only in 1960 by H.D. Sankalia and was named Nevasan industry after the site of Nevasa (Maharastra).

Homo sapiens first appeared at the end of this phase. Coincided with the last phase of the Ice Age, when the climate became comparatively warm and less humid.

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■ The simple handheld stone tools were now attached to thick branches from trees with rope made from animal skin & sinew; known as hand axes.

■ Apart from hand axes, they also produced crude stone-tipped wooden spears, borers, and burins.

Art

■ The Mesolithic era initiated rock art in pre-history.

■ In 1867, the first rock paintings in India were discovered at Sohagighat (Kaimur Hills, UP).

■ Now, over 150 Mesolithic rock art sites have been discovered across India, with rich concentration in Central India such as the Bhimbetka Caves, Kharwar, Jaora, and Kathotia (M.P.), Sundargarh and Sambalpur (Orissa), Ezhuthu Guha (Kerala).

■ Animals dominate the scenes at most Mesolithic rock art sites. However, no snakes are depicted in Mesolithic Paintings.

■ Burials and rock paintings give us ideas about the development of religious practices and also reflect the division of labour on the basis of gender.

Some of the other aspects of the Mesolithic Age are

■ Pottery is absent at most Mesolithic sites, but it is present at Langhnaj in Gujarat and in the Kaimur region of Mirzapur (UP).

■ The last phase of this age saw the beginning of plant cultivation.

Important Mesolithic sites are

■ Bagor, Rajasthan on River Kothari is one of the largest and best documented Mesolithic sites in India.

■ Chhotanagpur Region, Central India. Both Adamgarh, M.P. and Bagor provide the earliest evidence for the domestication of animals

■ South of River Krishna, Tinnevelly in Tamil Nadu

■ Birbhanpur in West Bengal ■ Sarai Nahar Rai, near Allahabad,

Pratapgarh area ■ Mahadaha, U.P., where bone artifacts are

found, including arrowheads and bone ornaments.

1.3 NEOLITHIC AGE (OR) NEW STONE AGE (6000 BC TO 4000 BC)

■ A Remarkable progress in noticed in human civilization in the Neolithic age.

■ It is approximately dated from 6000 BC to 4000 BC.

■ The chief characteristic features of the Neolithic culture are the practice of agriculture, domestication of animals, polishing of stone tools, and the manufacture of pottery.

Microliths of Mesolithic Age.

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■ In fact, the cultivation of plants and domestication of animals led to the emergence of village communities based on sedentary life.

1.3.1 Notable changes during Neolithic Period

i) Advent of Food Production: The Neolithic man cultivated land and grew fruits & corn like ragi and horse gram (kulathi). He domesticated cattle, sheep, and goats.ii) Innovations in Technology: The Neolithic man innovated in the production of stone tools, producing implements such as polished, pecked, and ground stone tools.

■ They depended on polished stones other than quartzite for making tools.

■ The use of celts was especially important for ground and polished handaxes.

Based on the types of axes used, three important areas of Neolithic Settlements can be identified:

a) North-Western: Rectangular axes with curved cutting edge

b) North-Eastern: Polished stone axes with rectangular butt, has occasional shouldered hoes.

c) Southern: Axes with oval sides and pointed butt.

iii) Invention of Pottery: The Neolithic era communities first made pottery by hand and then with the help of the potter’s wheel. Their pottery included black burnished ware, grey ware, and mat-impressed ware. It can therefore be said that pottery on a large-scale appeared in this phase.

iv) Emergence of Self-sufficient Village Communities: In the later phases of the Neolithic era, people led a more settled life. They lived in circular and rectangular houses made of mud and reed. They also knew how to make boats and could spin cotton and wool and weave cloth.

v) Division of Labour based on Sex and Age: As society was progressing,the need for additional labour was recognised and thus labour was procured from other non kin groups too.


Shelters: Mud brick houses were built instead of grass huts.

Clothes: The people of Neolithic age used clothes made of cotton & wool.

Food: They started learning to produce their own food,

■ They learned how to cultivate grains, such as rice, wheat, & barley, millet. Rice cultivation was extensive in eastern India.

■ It was discovered that by Putting seeds in the soil & watering it, plants would grow.

■ This marked the beginning of agriculture. ■ Pottery was used for cooking & as well as

storage of food grains.

1.3.3 Occupation

■ Agriculture was their main occupation. ■ They domesticated & reared animals like

goat, sheep, cattle & pig.

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Techniques they learned

■ Technique of making vessels and jars out of clay & baskets from bamboo, & kept the grains in them.

■ Sometimes they made pits and plastered lime from inside & used it as a storage bin.

■ In the beginning, clay pots were made by hand. They were then dried in the sun or baked in kilns to make them hard.

■ Later, wheels like today were used to make pots.

■ The discovery of the wheel made a significant difference. It was also used to spin cotton & wool & weave cloth.

■ After, wheel, was used in making transport vehicles like bullock carts & chariots.

1.3.3 Their Practices

■ The earth was regarded as a mother who feeds and sustains the life of her children.

■ Small clay images of earth in the form of mother goddess were worshipped.

■ They had the practice of burying the dead, the dead were buried in graves (or) sometimes in a large pot (or) urn which was buried.

■ The dead were buried along with pots, beads, tools & with their tamed animals in the front yard of their houses.

1.3.5 Tools

■ There was a great improvement in technology of making tools & other equipments used by man.

■ The polished axes were found to be more effective tools for hunting & cutting trees.

Some of the tools which they used were

■ Digging stick–for digging the ground ■ Axe–for cutting & felling trees ■ Sickle–for cutting crops & grass ■ Grinding stone–for grinding grains

Many Neolithic Settlements have been found in

• Kashmir valley • Chirand in Bihar • Belan valley in uttar Pradesh • Several places of the Deccan

Some of the important sites: Excavated in South India

• Maski, Brahmagiri, Hallur & Kodekal in Karnataka,

Neolithic Implements.

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• Paiyampalli in Tamil Nadu, • Utnur in Andhra Pradesh.

1.4 METAL AGE

■ After the beginning of agriculture, Progress in the life style of people was fast. Soon they learnt the use of metals to make tools & weapons, the first metal that came to be used was copper.

■ After some time they learnt to add a little tin to copper to make it harder than the copper, which is very soft & brittle. This is known as bronze.

1.4.1 Chalcolithic Age (or) Copper Age: (3000 BC to 15000 BC)

■ Chalcolithic cultures had grown in river valleys.

■ The harappan culture is considered as a part of chalcolithic culture.

Living Pattern

■ People began to travel for a long distance to obtain metal ores.

■ This led to a network of chalcolithic cultures & this chalcolithic cultures were found in many parts of India.

Tools

■ Use of copper tools

■ Microlithic tools continued to be essential items

■ Use of stone tools also was not given up

Some Evidences

■ The harappan culture is considered as a part of chalcolithic culture. In south India the river valleys of the Godavari, Krishna, Tungabhadra, Pennar & Kaveri were settled by farming communities during this period.

■ Although they were not using metals in the beginning of the metal age, there is evidence of copper and bronze artifacts by the end of second millennium BC.

■ Several bronze & copper objects, beads, terracotta figurines and pottery were found at paiyampalli in Tamil Nadu.

1.4.2 Iron Age (15000 BC–600 BC)

■ The chalcolithic age is followed by Iron age.

Difference between Chalcolithic Culture and Harappan Culture

Chalcolithic Culture Harappan Culture

Primarily rural Primarily urban

Used mostly copper Used bronze

Lived near hilly land or rivers Attained urbanisation on the basis of produce from flood plains in Indus valley

Chalcolithic Implements.

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■ The period when the tools were made up of iron was called iron age.

■ Vedic period is belonging to the Iron Age. Iron is frequently referred to in the vedas.

Techniques they Learned

■ They learnt to melt the metal & make weapons.

■ They were creative. ■ House hold articles and agricultural

implements were made out of iron.

Megalith

■ The Iron Age of the southern peninsula is often related to megalithic Burials.

■ Megalith means large stone. ■ The burial pits were covered with these

stones. ■ Such graves are extensively found in

south India.

Some of the important Megalithic sites are

■ Hallur & maski in Karnataka ■ Nagarjanakonda in Andhra Pradesh ■ Adichanallur in Tamil Nadu.

Iron Age Tools.

Archaeological Excavations in India.

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