Manoj Kumar Dubey
The Northern India has played a significant role in
the origin and development of the history of India. Northern India
geographically also has been an important feature in Indian subcontinent. It
was a nerve centre of the political, economic and religious upheavals of 6th
century B.C. and witnessed the second urbanization of the subcontinent. It is
during the recent years that there has been an increasing awareness amongst
historians to discuss in specific terms the impact of the use of
iron-technology on the development of agriculture and as a force of social
change in Northern India.
It should be interesting to
study that what exactly may be logically deduced about the immediate social
impact of the beginning of iron in Northern India from the relevant recent and
basic archaeological data. In the present research paper we seek to study the
development of agriculture during the early iron age (Painted Grey Ware) and
thereby the role of iron in it; and to analyse the social change occurred
during this period in Northern India.
The North India has played a significant role in the origin
and development of the history and archaeology of India. Entire North-Indian
plain basically known as Ganga plain geographically also has been an important
feature in Indian-subcontinent. It has a slope from North-West to South-East.
It may be divided in to three main portions, i.e., Upper Ganga Plain, Middle
Ganga Plain and Lower Ganga Plain. The geologists and geographers now in their
studies have divided the on basis of some distinctive geomorphic feature,
slightly differently.1 The entire Ganga plain was a meeting point of
different cultures of North, South, East and West. It is now credited with on
of the early centres of origin of agriculture and domestication, which paved
the way for development of chalcolithic cultures and civilization in the early
Iron Age in the region.
It is during the recent years that there has been an
awareness amongst historians of the need to study and discuss the impact of the
origin of iron and development of agriculture as a tool of socio-economic
changes in North-India. Ghosh2 held the view that the effect of iron
was not significant, that the metal did not produce any result in the material
prosperity of the society and that the introduction of iron did not immediately
transforms the society towards urbanizations. Sharma3 ascribes the
rise of Magadha power to the availability of iron around it in 600 B.C.
Chakrabarti 4 is of the opinion that iron did make the already
existing village structure economically more productive but he is not prepared
to ascribe any revolutionary role to it in social change. Following Sharma, Thakur5
hold that the much discussed iron aided extensive agriculture is a myth in the
context of the economy of the 6th century B.C.
The iron using painted grey ware (P.G.W.) people were not the first
to settle in the Gangetic Valley. The cultural sequence of the doabs begins
with the Harappans, though their link with the succeeding cultural stages is
not clear. After the Harappans the first settlers were the users of the Ochre
Colour Pottery (O.C.P.). Their link with the Gangetic valley copper hoards are
now established, and as excavations at the site of Lal Qila indicate, they
possessed mud floors, a general use of mud bricks along with a limited one of
burnt bricks, a reasonably wide range of pottery, bone points and arrowheads
and several other miscellaneous objects. The data quite clearly suggests that
the ochre coloured pottery (O.C.P.) people adapted them selves well to
the geographical setting of the Gangetic Valley. At Noh, however iron is
supposed to occur in this level but the evidence is not yet clear. The next
stage is characterized by the painted grey ware (P.G.W.) with which begins the
first unmistakable use of iron in Ganga valley. The types of iron objects
include slay arrowheads, spearhead, knife, spade, crowbar, fish hook, tong and
adze. This phase is likely to have begun around 1000B.C. or slightly later and
this led straight to the historic Northern Black Polished Ware(N.B.P.W.) level of c. 600-500B.C. As the data reveal the
use of iron became an essential part of agriculture activities in the Ganga
valley during this phase. None of the painted grey ware (P.G.W.) sites horizontally
excavated.
No specific reference regarding the socio-economic
effects of iron in this level can thus be meaningfull. Considered as a whole,
however this level seems to mark a better agricultural utilization of the
Gangetic valley. The number of sites seems to be greater and when excavated
most of them reveal firm signs of occupation, a fact which can not be said
about most of the ochre colour pottery settlements. The point is that the
village settlements were possible in the Gangetic valley even without a
knowledge of iron but they could become deep rooted and expand only with its
use without an elaborate village base made possible by the use of iron these
would have been no urban growth in the
Gangetic valley from about 600 B.C.
The impact of the use of iron tools is also reflected in
the multiplicity of cereals and grains and beginning of cultivation of an
important cereal (wheat) evidenced at Atranjikhera and hitherto unknown in the
Gangetic valley during the copper-bronze age. The excavations at Hastinapur and
Noh brought to light the remains of rice form the P.G.W. levels. It may be noted
that barley and rice were the staple food of the Gangetic plain during the
copper Bronze Age. The two cereals are reported from Hulas (Harappan), Lal
Qila, Atranjikhera, Noh and Sringaverapur in the O.C.P. context Evidence from
Atranjikhera6 clearly establishes that besides rice and barley the P.G.W.
people
started cultivation of wheat (Iriticum compactum). From these facts one could
be led to presume that production of cereal was then not only enough to meet
the requirements of the entire community but there was also some surplus.
About the cultivation of wheat Watt7 observes
that during the rains in June-July the land is ploughed 2-3 times and smoothed.
It implies that iron tools were usefull in breaking the hard alluvium of the
Gangetic plain. Though this the P.G.W. culture definitely reveals very
stable agricultural base with agricultural tools like sickle obtained from the
proto P.G.W. phase at Jakhera and Atranjikhera. On the basis of testimony
of sources it may be concluded that before the introduction of iron in the
Gangetic valley agriculture was extensive without proper ploughing and that
irrigational facilities made it more intensive after the introduction of the
iron tools leading to multifarious agricultural activities, producing some new
crops, wheat being one of the most important.
The
socio-economic effects of the beginning of iron can only be guessed. The
historic India begins with a number of territorial units, each of them
politically centralized, an extensive craft-specialisation and trade, and a
social scene which was generally well stratified. It may not, however, be
logical to attribute all these to the advent of iron. Changes in the
social-institutional sphere might have played a more significant part. On the
nature of these changes, however, the present limited archaeological data can
not throw any light8. In a stimulating paper R.S. Sharma has
discussed the material milieu of the birth of Buddhism. One of his assumptions
is ‘The primary factor that revolutionised the material life of the people
around 700 B.C. in eastern U.P.
and Bihar was the beginning of use of iron’. In the archaeological record one,
however notices that the earlier chalcolithic elements continue to occur in a
significant quantity at all the sites even after the beginning of the use of
iron. In no case did iron bring about a noticeable change in the material
prosperity of the people soon after its appearance. Iron did make the already
existing village structure economically more productive but we prefer not to
attribute any revolutionary role to it in the social changes preceding the
sixth century B.C. This is of
course, not to deny that iron was the basic technological element from the
sixth century B.C. onwards. We only
suggest that no undue emphasis should be given to it before the growth of
civilization in the sixth century B.C..
Reference-
1. Singh I.B. 'Landform
Development and Palaeovegetation in Late Quaternary of Ganga Plain ;
Implication for Anthropegenic Activity'. Pragdhara, 2004-05, Vol. 15, pg.
5-3.
2. Ghosh A., 'The
City in Early Historical India'. New Delhi, 1982, pg. 10.
3. Sharma R.S., 'Iron and Urbanisation in the Ganga Basin', IHR, vol.1, no.1, pg.
100.
4. Chakrbarti D.K., 'Beginning of Iron and Social Changes in India; Indian studies Past and
Present'. Vol. XIV, No.4 pg. 329.
5. Thakur V.K., 'Urbanisation in Ancient India', Patna, 1981, pg. 63.
6. Choudhury A.K., et al, 'Ancient Agriculture and Forestry in North India', pg. 63-66.
7. Watt G., 'Dictionary
of Economic Product of India', Vol. VI, p. IV, pg. 125.
8. Sharma R.S,'Material Milieu of the Birth of Buddhism',
29th Int. Cong. of Orientalists, Paris,16-22July, 1973
Dr. Manoj Kumar Dubey
H.No.-A/M-2, Katju Colony,Allahabad
