The Personality of India: Pre- and Proto-historic Foundation of India and Pakistan c10: II. Regions and Regionalism

The Personality of India: Pre- and Proto-historic Foundation of India and Pakistan c10

Language: English

II. Regions and Regionalism

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Introduction—Geographic Approach—Its value—Geographic factors—India and Eurasia—Geographic factors—Indo-Pakistan Sub-continent—Physical and cultural regions—Centripetal and Centrifugal forces in Indian history—Genesis of linguistic regions in India—a few examples—Historical aspects of regionalism—Development of Indian languages—Ethnic Social and Religious aspects—Conclusion.

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History without Geography is like a picture without a frame. We are familiar with the slogan—unity in diversity of the Indian sub-continent. The recent studies in Indian archaeology again show certain very significant diversities in the different parts of the country and suggest a more fundamental relation between the physical and cultural regions. This diversity in the material culture of the first large scale agricultural communities seems to operate as a sub-cultural continuum throughout the Historical periods with certain modifications. The essence of human civilization is the progressive emancipation of Man from the clutches of Nature as a result of a persistent analysis of its processes and agencies and his final mastery and escape from its adversities. Hence the environment looses its strangle-hold on man with the gradual evolution of technology. Thus it is quite natural, that as we move back in time, the archaeological regions coincide with physical regions. If one extends this study to the Historical periods, we see the conflict between the centripetal forces released by horizontal spread of techniques and other cultural traits and the their reaction on the resident or local traits within the various primary foci representing the main physical regions. The latter may be described as the basis of the centrifugal forces. A study of the centripetal and centrifugal forces would thus throw a great light on the origin, development and function of the physical and cultural regions. The former particularly form an essential background for the study of the distribution pattern of individual or collective cultural traits. Depending on the nature of the traits, they may overlap in space. Of all the various indices which lend themselves for such an analysis, language is a very important manifestation of the social cohesion of a region, as it reacts on the other modes of thinking also. Hence, in the following pages, an attempt is made to correlate archaeological and physical regions with the cultural. Indian history, in one sense, is a struggle between the centripetal and the centrifugal forces. In the course of this study the writer tries to analyse forces operating behind the cultural diversity to understand our history and archaeology in better light.

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For an intelligent understanding of the pattern of development of cultures in India, one should begin with the geographic factors. Before proceeding further on the analysis of these factors, it may be stated, that the writer does not believe in the "Sovereign influence of the environment". A rigid determinism cannot stand, as the *idea* intervenes between *man* and the *natural products*, and as Febvre put it, the natural regions are areas of possibilities for human groups.¹ Yet, Man cannot escape from his environment. The relation has been very well defined by Griffith Taylor. "....Nature in large measure determines the plan, it is, of course, obvious that the man is the agent whereby the civilization progresses. He is of great importance, and as his technology improves, he develops a region farther along the lines of the obvious plan.... In such exploitation, Nature determines the route of development, while Man determines the rate and the stage."² Thus the stage and the technological attainments of the society, at any time, determine the relative influence of the environment, at that period. The importance of this environmental limitation is very important for the tropical and semi-tropical areas, where the communities were technologically inferior to their contemporary higher civilizations, at any point of time. The luxuriant tropical forests were a hindrance, rather than an aid to large scale agriculture, and as Meggers has put it, ".... the level to which a culture can develop is dependent upon the agricultural potentiality of the environment it occupies".³ To a large extent, environmental diversity and the way in which it has reacted on the thinking of the people plays a very major role in the cultural diversity of the Indo-Pakistan Sub-continent.

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¹ POUNDS, N. J. G. *An Historical and Political Geography of Europe*, London, 1947, p. 521.

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² TAYLOR GRIFFITH (Ed.) *Geography in the Twentieth Century*, London, 1953, pp. 14-15. For an interesting explanation of what is called 'Possibilism' in contrast to 'Environmentalism', read Tatham's chapter in the same book.

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³ MEGGERS BETTY, J. "Environmental limitations on the development of Culture", *American Anthropologist*, Vol. 56, Part I No. 5, pp. 801-824.

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Besides, the archaeologist unlike the anthropologist, though conscious of the position of Culture between Man and Nature, has to rely more on the physical environment. He deals with extinct societies and also on account of the limitation of his material evidence, there is a methodological handicap. Hence an attempt has been made in the following pages to correlate geography, geology and archaeology with this limitation in mind.

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III

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The pioneer of the geographic studies in India was F. J. Richards, who indicated the main trans-continental communication system and the pattern of migration based on it, by a brilliant analysis of Indian history.⁴ Outside the sub-continent the most important region, at the "dawn of civilization", was the Afrasian dry zone, covering the great river valleys of Western Asia and N. Africa. The great cultural developments in that area, and the progressive desiccation, has resulted in radial migrations of people to the east. This position has made India a zone of constant immigration, owing to its location on the margin of the Eurasian Continent. As pointed out by Panikkar, India's position, somewhat away from the Trans-continental communication of Eurasia, has encouraged a comparative stability. Referring to the great nomadic outbursts that revolutionized the history of Asia, Panikkar writes, "those countries which stand directly in the way of these nomads are destroyed and broken up from time to time. Those that are protected by geography received a backwash and after a turmoil settled down again".¹ This in brief may be stated to be the character of most of the invasions and cultural influences that so vitally affected the course of Indian history. Besides, the magnitude of the alluvial plains of the Indus and the Ganges and the relative solidity of the physical barriers have, to a great extent, offset the disadvantage of her location. It is idle to speculate at the present stage of our knowledge of human evolution in general, and that of Early Man in India in particular, about the beginnings of human life in this sub-continent. But in the subsequent periods it is well-known that every new wave of people, who entered the Indo-Gangetic plains as conquerors or fugitives very rapidly lost their individuality in this melting pot of cultures and added their own indistinguishable element to the make up of this culture complex. It is very difficult to isolate these various strands. A few dominant traits have left very deep imprints, but the others represent a sort of backwash and have to remain unidentified and unaccounted. The greatest example of this is the Indus Civilization itself with its obvious affinities, specially at the initial stages, to those of Western Asia, but with the distinct stamp of the great river valley in whose lap it flourished. Yet, it left its deep imprint on the whole development of Indian civilization in the succeeding ages.

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⁴ RICHARDS, F. J. "Geographic Factors in Indian Archaeology", *Indian Antiquary*, LXII, 1932, pp. 231-43.

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¹ PANIKKAR, K. M. Geographical Factors in Indian History, Bombay, 1955, pp. 5-6.

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The next important factor is India's long coast line with its convenient anchorages. This has played no mean role in the interchange of cultures, as it has kept a window open to the great civilization of Western Asia and the Mediterranean region. The earliest evidence of such contact has been recently demonstrated by the excavations at Bahrein.² We already know the links between the Indus basin and Mesopotamia. In the excavations conducted by P. V. Glob, seals with designs bearing some similarity to those of the Indus valley were found at this great cemetery site, identified with Dilmun of the Mesopotamian records. With the evidence of Harappan and Late Harappan sites in Kathiawad and on the Gulf of Cambay, it may not be unreasonable to postulate a maritime contact. The nature and intensity of this contact remains vague and obscure and calls for an intensive investigation. For the succeeding periods till the discovery of monsoons by Hippalus, our knowledge is based on vague references in literature—Indian and foreign—and in the present state of our knowledge of Indian archaeology, we are not in a position to corroborate.¹ At the beginning of the Christian Era, however, we get extensive evidence of contact with the Mediterranean world in the form of antiquities found all over the country. The remarkable coincidence of the discovery of monsoons, and the blocking of the 'silk route' of China by the Roman and Parthian wars, seem to be an important landmark.² Can this be attributed to the increased navigation techniques opened by the monsoons, in contrast to the slow coastal trade?

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² GLOB, P. V. "Excavating a Bahrein citadel of 5000 years ago and seal links with Ur and Mohenjo-daro," Illustrated London News, Jan. 11, 1958, pp. 54-55.

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² A similar, but more brilliant interpretation of the Pre-historic basis of European Society is given by the late Gordon Childe. He has demonstrated the main movements and impacts of Western Asia and North Africa to Europe and their slow spread, influencing and at the same time being influenced by it. CHILDE, GORDON V., *Pre-history of European Society* Penguin Series, 1958.

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Within the country, the wide inviting alluvial plains, opening on to the main gateways to Western Asia, abut on an older land mass of Peninsular India, cut up into important river basins separated by ridges of hills and forests. This feature, in particular, has enabled the earlier inhabitants to isolate themselves in what may be called *culs de sac* or refuge zones. These factors account for certain peculiarities, or indeed anomalies, of Indian archaeology, which clearly show the features of a zone of immigration, where "the first appearance of a form is rapidly followed by the maximum, after which, the form lingers on in a gradually diminishing proportion".³

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³ WRIGHT, W. B. *Tools and the Man*. London. p. 160.

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In this feature, India stands midway between Europe on the one hand, and Africa and Australia and Oceania on the other. In Europe, there were continuous cultural impacts from Western Asia and the Mediterranean region. Besides, "....every dominant civilization imposed its cultural pattern on all people within its orbit", and as pointed out by Haimendorf,⁴ "the geographic conditions did not favour isolation of refuge areas". In Africa, on the other hand, the two wide deserts of Sahara and Kalahari, on either side of the huge Equatorial forest, have

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⁴ HAIMENDORF, CHRISTOPH VON FURER. "Problems and prospects of Indian Anthropology". Presidential Address, XXXVII Indian Science Congress, Anthropology and Archaeology Section, Poona. 1950. p.

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1. MOOKERJI, R. K., *Indian Shipping-Sea-faring and Maritime Activities of the Hindus from the earliest times*, 2nd Ed., Bombay, 1957. "Again, as the dates of most of the Indian literary works to which reference will be made are unhappily not yet a matter of certainty, I could not make the evidence drawn from them the basis of any historical treatment of the subject or regard them as any help to a chronological arrangement of the facts regarding the shipping, sea borne trade, and maritime activity of India."

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2. PANIKKAR, K. M. *India and the Indian Ocean*. London. 1951. "With Hippalus's discovery of the monsoons, the navigation of the Indian Ocean underwent a revolutionary change. Egypt had become a Roman province seventy-five years earlier (in 30 B.C.) and with the authority of the Empire established on the Isthmus, Roman trade in India had, even before the time of Hippalus, increased greatly in volume and range. We have Pliny's evidence that after the occupation of Egypt, Romans came 'to control a compendious route whereby India was brought near, that trade thither became lucrative'", p. 23.

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completely isolated a large portion of the continent, and the inhabitants have not advanced beyond the stages of primitive agriculture, stock-raising and hunting. Only the coastal belts, facing the Mediterranean and the Indian ocean, have to some extent escaped this fate. Besides, with the intensive exploitation of the N. African belt prior and during the Roman Empire, Man lent his evil hand to Nature in turning it into a desert, making it more or less a blind alley of civilization. Australia and Oceania were completely isolated, and, but for small scale island-hopping adventures, their isolation was broken only by the much later European colonial expansion.

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India displays both these phenomena and stands midway. The chief river basins of the country: the Indus, Ganges, Narbada, Tapi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri, were in turn penetrated and exploited by large scale agricultural communities, driving the older and static people in a more primitive economy into the forested mountains, where they have survived to this day. The main river basins of the country, with a rainfall between 20 and 40 inches, which can sustain large scale agricultural communities, have been colonized or occupied. One can notice a fine correlation between this optimal rainfall zone and the vegetation map of the country showing the areas cleared for cultivation. (Fig. 3).

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In between these two categories of areas of attraction or *perennial nuclear regions* and the areas of isolation or *culs de sac*, we have what may be called areas of relative isolation. This classification can ultimately be linked with the system of trans-continental communication. The areas of relative isolation are characterized by their distance from the main highways for the movement of peoples and cultures. Hence they display a different and complicated culture pattern, since their isolation was frequently broken by fresh movements and we see a curious pattern of survival of the older with the new.

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Accepting this fundamental concept of areas of attraction, relative isolation and isolation, the whole pattern of development of material culture in India may be defined as one of the horizontal expansion of the higher cultures, leading to a displacement, contraction, and isolation of the lower cultures, in different parts of the country, at different periods, and at different cultural levels. The divergence in the country is due to the difference in the cultural *milieu* of the first large scale agricultural communities in the different regions. Naturally, this cultural development, in space and time, was controlled by the geographic features of the individual regions and the relative effectiveness of the barriers—physical and human. The interaction has given rise to a very interesting pattern which can be seen in the fundamental unity of Indian culture with its associated variety. Following Ratzel and Vidal de la Blanche, we can describe these smaller nuclear zones as '*Provincial States*' within a '*National State*'. The former may be defined as "complicated economic units opening on to the same routes, converging on the same river, Fig. 3. Note the relation between the optimal rainfall and areas cleared for large scale agriculture communities.

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FOREST TYPES

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RAIN FALL

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commanding one another and finding it necessary to exchange their produce and their means of defence : in short, societies for mutual protection, moral and physical solidarity".¹

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¹ FEBVRE. Geographical introduction to History, 1925. p. 311.

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Before we proceed further let us define the physical and cultural regions of the sub-continent. What is the criterion of this sub-division ? Various methods have been tried by different authors. This old concept of regions has received a new life in the hands of modern geographers. According to E.W. Gilbert, " Geography is the art of recognizing and describing the personalities of regions ".² Among the systems based on pure geo-morphological features, the most satisfactory one seems to be that of M.B. Pithawala.³ It is based on the main physiographic sub-divisions : Himalayan uplands, Indo-Gangetic plains and Peninsular India. These are again sub-divided on geological or morphological features. (Fig. 4). From the point of view of cultural studies, the first analysis of Indian geographic regions is that of Spate.⁴ But, since we have already explained the function of hill and jungle belts, we can proceed on that basis. It is very difficult to determine the linear boundaries, and hence an attempt is made here to determine the foci of the various zones. This system has the advantage of finding regions academically and not to suit the convenience of the politicians.

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² TAYLOR, GRIFFITH (Ed.) Geography in the twentieth century, 1953. See "Geography and Regionalism". p. 346.

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³ PITHAWALA, M. B. "Physiographic divisions of India, Burma and Ceylon". Science and Culture, VII. May 1942. pp. 533-43.

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⁴ SPATE, O. H. K. India and Pakistan,—A general regional Geography, London. 1954. A very interesting analysis of India's agricultural regions was attempted by the Reserve Bank of India (Rural credit survey), Dr. Chen Han-seng and Dr. Daniel Thorner. They have defined various criteria like—Socio-Economic systems, types of land holding, concentration of control, labour supply, control of credit market, geographic factors like soil, climate, water supply, drainage etc., economic organization and over-all degree of modernization. Yet the main regions arrived at do not very much differ from the physical regions of Spate. "The demarcation of the Agrarian regions of India" by Daniel Thorner. Rationale of regional variations in Agrarian structure of India. Seminar Series 1 of the Indian Society of Agricultural economics, Bombay. 1956.

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The most important belt running right across the country from the West coast to the Delta of Bengal may be described as the Vindhyan complex comprising the Satpuras, Vindhyas, Mahadeo hills, Gawali-garh, Maikal range, Hazaribagh range, the Chota-Nagpur, the Singhbhum and Manbhum plateaux. This is also the most populous tribal belt sheltering Bhils, Dangs, Gonds, Santhals, Uraons, Baigas, Gadabas, Marias and a host of other tribes. Running almost at right angles to this system, at its western end, is the Western belt, beginning with the Aravallis (almost touching Delhi), the Sahyadris and long chain of Western Ghats down to the southern tip of the peninsula. Beginning in a geographic order, we have Bhils, Dangs, Worlis, Toda, Kurumbar, Kadar, Puliyan Muthuvan, etc., inhabiting this zone. At its eastern end, the Vindhyan Complex is joined by the Eastern Ghats, which run right across, more or less parallel to the east coast, upto 13 N Latitude, and then take an oblique turn south-westwards to join the Western Ghats south of the Mysore plateau. The most important tribes living in this belt are the Savara, Baiga, Chenchu, Reddi, Irulas and Yenadis etc.

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GEOLOGICAL MAP OF INDIA

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PHYSIOGRAPHIC DIVISION OF INDIA After M.B. Pithawala

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(1) (2) (3) MAJOR DIVISIONS I II III IV VPROVINCES A B C D E F GSECTIONS

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Fig. 4

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Ethnographic studies in India based on modern methods have not yet made sufficient progress. But one can see the close relation between the thick jungle and tropical forests and the main centres of the so called primitive tribes. There is a harmonious adjustment of their physical and cultural environment, which has enabled them to survive. (Fig. 5). The significance of these belts of jungles and hills cannot be exaggerated. Depending on the depth of these belts they have managed to survive the expansion of the people from the plains. A series of studies, carried out by the Sociology Department of the M. S. University of Baroda, have shown the remarkable difference in settlement patterns between the plains and the uplands still sheltering the tribal communities. While the villages of the plains are generally nucleated, we get the dispersed type of settlement in the uplands.¹

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¹ SHAH, A. M. "Caste, Economy and Territory in Central Panchmahals". Journal of the M. S. University, Baroda. IV. March 1955. p. 67.

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Now working on this system, we can easily define the regions and their foci. Bounded by the Aravallis and the desert of Rajputana in the east, and the Sulaiman and Kirthar ranges in the west, is the Indus basin, draining the central Himalayas. This can be roughly subdivided at the point where the hills from the west and the desert in the east converge near the Bugti country, into the lower and the upper, corresponding to the Sind and Punjab respectively. Beginning with Delhi, where the Aravallis converge towards the Himalayas, the Gangetic basin runs east from the narrow divide. On its southern flanks lies the Vindhyan complex. The lower deltaic region of the Ganges, as it leaves the Vindhyan complex, is Bengal. The valley of the Brahmaputra is Assam. Forming, as it were, a little triangle constituted by the Aravallis in the west, and the Vindhyas running obliquely towards the Gangetic basin, is the plateau of Malwa, drained by the rivers—Chambal, Banas, Sipra, Narbada and Son. Lying south of the Vindhyas, and constituting the upper basins of the rivers Krishna and Godavary, and more or less co-extensive with the Deccan Trap area, is Maharashtra. The lower basins of these two great rivers constitute Andhra. The southern part of the Krishna basin, more or less constituting the ‘rocky triangle’ formed by the Eastern and the Western Ghats viz. the Mysore plateau, is Karnatak. At its southern end, it is drained by the river Kaveri. Beginning from the constriction of the Nagar hills and Pulicat lake, and running right along the East coast is Tamilnad. The narrow coastal plain on either side of the Palghat gap in the Western Ghats is Kerala. The valley of the Mahanadi, surrounded by hills and plateau, constitutes Orissa. The northern part of the West coast and the peninsula of Saurashtra, abutting on the desert of Rajaputana is Gujarat. Rajaputana really consists of two natural divisions : Mewar and Marwar on either side of the Aravalli ranges. Mewar drained by the river Banas falls into the Gangetic basin and is more or less an extension of the Malwa Plateau. The semi-arid desert country, Marwar, lies to the west of the mountain range. (Fig. 6)

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ETHNIC MAP OF INDIA showing The Distribution of main tribes After Von Eickstedt

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FOREST COVER

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Dense or open forest or dense scrub Small trees or open scrub

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B Bastar C Chhattisgarh CN Chota Nagpur CR Cuddapah Ranges J Javadis M Maikal N Nilgiris O Orissa Hills S Sind Sagar Doab SP Shillong Plateau SR Salt Range V Vindhyan Hills

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Indid Race Northindid Type Melanid Race Kolid Type Gondid Race Malid Type Progressive Primitive

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Fig. 5. Note the coincidence between the forested mountains and tribal areas. (See also fig. 10)

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Due to political exigencies, it has become a fashion, of late, to decry centrifugal forces without a proper assessment of their origin and significance. It is difficult to get a true perspective of Indian history without the recognition of the centripetal and centrifugal forces, the inter-action of which constitutes Indian history. The story of India, based on conventional literary and historical material, is one of an expanding vista of a continent, which was colonized, physically and culturally, by higher communities displacing their predecessors. The most important of such movements that vitally affected our history was that of the Aryans. They designated their first region of settlement as 'aryavarta' and as they moved into the land, spreading their influence and culture, they enlarged the connotation of their term for homeland. With the result that, while Aryavarta meant the upper valleys of the Punjab and N. W. frontier at the beginning of their expansion, by the 3rd century B. C. it denoted the land between the Himalayas and the 'Southern Sea'. The conventional slogan of unity in diversity does not fully bring out the true significance of the vertical forces representing the complex development of regional cultures in their local or provincial framework, and the impact of the horizontal forces that affected the various regional cultures. When these regional forces consolidated themselves, they tried to expand at the expense of their neighbours, giving rise to supra-regional forces. When 'political conditions settled, and a full-fledged State-system came into existence, this expansionist urge resulted in the emergence of larger and larger States culminating in the empires of Indian history. For example, with the consolidation of Magadha in the heart-land of India at the end of the 5th century B. C., the first empire in Indian history appeared under the aegis of the Mauryans at the beginning of the 4th century B. C. This was facilitated by the earlier attempts at colonization and expansion of the North Indian Aryan culture into the southern peninsula. Thus the establishment of the Mauryan empire incorporating the whole of India as far as the northern borders of Mysore more or less represents the first concrete evidence of the emergence of political and cultural homogeneity of the country. This pure political complexion has to a very extent been counteracted by the nature and process of the aryanization of India. It was not a mere folk-movement or immigra- [Figure: AREAS OF ATTRACTION or NUCLEAR REGIONS AREAS OF RELATIVE ISOLATION AREAS OF ISOLATION or CUL DE SACS PENETRATED IN RECENT TIMES]

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PHYSICAL REGIONS of INDIA & PAKISTAN Adopted from Spate

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THRUSTS After Richards

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tion of colonists, but a slow spread of a people who freely adapted their Social and Cultural life as a result of contact with the new people whom they met. Thus various movements of peoples and cultures at different periods in our history have given rise to a synthetic or composite culture. Its origin, says Jawaharlal Nehru, "may be traced back, on the one hand to the Pre-Aryan period, the civilization of Mohenjo-daro etc., and the great Dravidian civilization. On the other hand, it received a powerful impress from the Aryans who came from Central Asia. Subsequently, it was influenced by repeated incursions from the North-west and later, by the people who came across the seas from the West. Thus this national culture gradually grew and took shape. It had a remarkable capacity for synthesis and of absorbing new elements."¹ It is the horizontal unity built by this cultural synthesis, that has given rise to the fundamental unity of this Sub-continent, as it is based on a common cultural heritage. Yet this very story of a fundamental unity is not complete nor true, if we ignore the counteracting centrifugal forces—representing the "Provincial State" within a "National State" or—to put it in another way—the forces of regionalism in contrast to a united state.

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¹ In a foreword to the work in Hindi of R. D. Sinha Dinkar—published separately in the *Times of India*, Feb. 21st., 1956.

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The very genesis of our modern linguistic units in their historical setting is one of the most important proofs of these latent and dormant geographic factors, which in a proper political environment led to the present pattern. This process resulted sometimes in the division of larger units (Krishna-Godavary basins)² and at other times in the fusion of contiguous units (Gujarat).³ Let us take these two type-areas. A very interesting example of the former type is the division of the Krishna-Godavary basins into Maharashtra and Andhra, as opposite ends of the valleys. As Spate puts it, ".....the boundary of Maratha State shows a striking accordance with the edge of the Lavas; hence the division of the State (Hyderabad) into Marathawada and Telangana, a rare instance of official recognition of regionalism".⁴

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² SUBBARAO, B. "Geographic factors in Andhra History and Archaeology." *Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute*, IX, pt. 1. 1949. p. 172.

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³ SUBBARAO, B. "New light on the Archaeology of Gujarat" Paper submitted at the II Gujarat Research Workers conference. 1952.

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⁴ SPATE, O. H. K. *op. cit.* p. 644.

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It is no accident, because these two geological formations have an important bearing on the soils, and consequently on the vegetation, food and economic life of the people. The Trappean fertile 'Black-soil' is the land of wheat, cotton, *bajra* and pulses. On the other hand, the red metamorphic loams of Andhra produce rice, sugar, sesamum, and millet. Telangana has a better but uncertain rainfall, yet, the soil cannot retain moisture. Hence it is a land of tanks and other means of artificial irrigation. As Law put it, "these differences in physical nature are associated with soil, economic and linguistic differences in the two natural divisions of the State."¹

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¹ LAW, JOHN. *Hyderabad*, Department of Information, Hyderabad, pp. 55-61.

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Recent archaeological work has shown the difference in the cultural *milieu* of the first extensive agricultural and pastoral settlements of both the areas. The more wooded upper reaches of the Godavary were first exploited by widely distributed Chalcolithic communities with heavy metal tools of copper and bronze,² which must have enabled them to clear the forests. The lower valleys, falling within the Gneissic-metamorphic zones supported wide-spread Neolithic agricultural folk, living on or near the granite outcrops overlooking their fields. There is interesting evidence, probably of trade or other contacts between the two regions. It will be discussed in greater detail at a later stage.

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² SANKALIA, H. D. and DEO, S. B. *Excavations of Nasik and Jorwe*, Deccan College Monograph series. 1956, Poona.

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Similarly, Gujarat shows the other pattern of the fusion of contiguous units. It consists of three natural divisions : Saurashtra, Anarta (N. Gujarat) and Lata (S. Gujarat). Anarta, more or less, coincides with the distribution of the semi-arid wind blown soils, and Lata corresponds to the fertile projection of the Western Littoral (Konkan coast).

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As the archaeological picture will show, Saurashtra on account of its proximity to the Indus Basin, shows an extension of the Harappan civilization. The semi-arid Anarta supported primitive hunting communities, who were gradually pushed to the hills on the eastern flanks of Gujarat. The South shows strong Central and South Indian influences. Very significantly, the Gujarat region begins to develop an individuality and homogeneity in the Early Centuries of the Christian Era. (See further details).

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It may be stated at once that these cultural and linguistic zones have very often defied and survived political disturbances and events. As Spate has shown, there has been tendency throughout Indian history for political boundaries to coincide with nuclear regions, yet, this was not the case always, as the map prepared by Day shows. Look at the political fragmentation of the Krishna-Godavari basins ! (Fig. 7). But whenever they have coincided in the history of these zones, we see a fine flowering and consolidation of the regional cultural forces. For example, under the aegis of the Eastern Chalukyan Dynasty that ruled a major part of the Andhra for four centuries, the latent geographic forces have helped the assertion of its individuality. This manifested itself in the appearance of the Telugu language in the records of the 8th centruy, and by the 11th century, it assumed the status of a literature. This consolidated the cultural homogeneity of Andhra.

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Similarly at the end of the 10th century, we see the emergence of the first strong political power centred on the soil of Gujarat with the Solankis of Anhilwad Patan. They re-united the whole region and their rule of three centuries was followed by the Sultans of Delhi and Gujarat with their capital at Ahmedabad. Thus the unity that was forged earlier, by nature, was finally consolidated. Is it strange, that the 11th century should mark the beginning of the old Gujarati from the Western Apabhramsa? It is during this period, which may be called its "Golden Age", that Gujarat developed its distinct provincial character in art and architecture and significantly produced a large mass of literature.¹ The artistic traditions of the Solankis were blended with the Muslim during the Gujarat Sultanate, and it gave rise to the fine Indo-Sarcenic architecture of Western India.

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¹ SANKALIA, H. D. *Studies in the Historical Geography and cultural ethnography of Gujarat*, Deccan Monograph series. 3. Poona. 1945. SANDESARA, B. J. *Literary circle of Mahamarya Vastupala*, Singhi Jain series. 1953.

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VIII

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Let us try to trace the origin of this regionalism. We have already described the main foci of the various physical and cultural regions in India. It may be noted that each of these regions started with a well endowed focus, around which the neighbouring areas merged. Hence it is no accident that these physical regions correspond to the linguistic and cultural divisions of the country. "The State", said E. W. Gilbert, "is an artificial contrivance by which several or perhaps many geographic regions, some natural, some man-made, are welded into one working unit......regions can be regarded as separate limbs of the body-politic: regional diversity need not be a danger and it can strengthen the unity of the State".² Thus as already described, each of these areas in the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent were natural geographic regions with their frontiers marked by natural barriers. Owing to diverse historical reasons, each of these regions asserted their independent personality with the growth of population, rise of local dialects and vernacular languages. As Sunitkumar Chatterji pointed out, "....the economic milieu, and the special training which the mind receives in an organised community or corporate body of men, create a framework of civilization or ordered life which commonly finds expression in the language of that body of men: and hence we are more justified in speaking of language cultures than of racial cultures".³

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² GILBERT, E. W. *op. cit.*

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³ MAJUMDAR & PUSALKAR (Eds.) *Vedic Age*, Bombay. 1952. p. 145.

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One of the most important factors, operating behind the diversity, and the emergence of language cultures in India seems to be the slow spread, in space and time, of the large scale agri-

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DEVELOPMENT OF MATERIAL CULTURE IN INDIA

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A TENTATIVE CORRELATION IN TIME AND SPACE BASED ON MINIMAL TERMINAL DATES

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(EARLY HISTORIC) IRON

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(PROTO-HISTORIC) COPPER - CHALCOLITHIC

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(BLACK AND RED WARES)

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(BLACK-ON-RED PAINTED WARES)

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(NEOLITHIC)

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(LATE)

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(MIDDLE)

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(EARLY)

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cultural communities with or without the plough. Depending on the nature of the contact and the number of immigrants, the constitution of the local population should have differed. Recent studies in Indian archacology clearly demonstrate the technological and the consequent social and economic differences within the first agricultural settlers in each of the regions of India. This "historically derived sub-cultural continuum" has resulted from a series of events and facts, and these tended to maintain, in time and space, a special set of patterns and values.¹ Hence it will be very profitable to look at the material culture and technology of these first farmers. A very detailed discussion on the sequence of cultures in each of these regions is given in the main body of the text. But it will not be improper to anticipate and give, in brief, a short account to indicate the physical or the material basis of the personality of the culture regions in India.

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¹ VOGT, EVON Z. "American sub-cultural continua as exemplified by the Mormans & Texans", American Anthropologist LVII. No. 6. Dec. 1955; pp. 1163-70.

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The story of these regions in a "pre-agricultural economy" does not concern us, since environmental diversity reflects itself in the presence or absence of large agricultural populations. It is very remarkable that the entire sub-continent displays a uniformity in its stone age cultures. Significantly the differences emerge with the Neolithic and later phases of Indian history, where we have evidence of horizontal spread from different foci. A close study of the migrations, and the historical events that surround these spreads give a set of such historical continua for the various regions. We have already defined the pattern of the development of cultures as one of gradual displacement in time and space, by large scale cultivators, of the more primitive agricultural, hunting and fishing folk. A look at Fig. 8 will show the emergence of large scale agricultural economy in each of these regions. The first farmers in the Indus Basin and the Indo-Iranian borderlands belonged to the Pre-Harappan and Harappan cultures, which are partly derived from the higher cultures of Western Asia. In the Gangetic basin, they are represented by the "Grey Ware folk," probably the Aryan immigrants from the North-west. While the Vindhyan foot-hills were inhabited by Neolithic communities, the Malwa plateau and Maharashtra were first cleared of their virgin forests, by Chalcolithic folk who seem to carry with them some of the Late Harappan elements with some new Iranian influences. In the Central Deccan, (Andhra-Karnatak), widespread Neolithic communities preceded the advent of the Chalcolithic folk moving from Maharashtra. In the extreme tip of the peninsula (Tamilnad and Kerala), Megalithic folk in an Iron Age economy seem to be the first large scale settlers. While in Gujarat and Kathiawad a few Harappan elements seem to have survived for a longer time, in Eastern India on the other hand, (Orissa, Bengal and Assam), the Stone Age folk seem to have survived, till these areas were colonized in the Historic period. Thus the establishment of large scale agricultural economy in the main river basins of the country was spread over a span of 3000 years (3500 B.C. for the Kili Ghul Mohammad to about 500 B.C. for the Megalithic cultures of the South). Hence it is not surprising that this difference in the technology and socio-economic development of the various regions should have been at the root of the later cultural divergences.

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This picture, based on archaeology, provides a sort of physical framework of regionalism. History based on literary sources does not belie this story. Since the Aryans gave us our extant literature, the earliest historical sources belong to them. That story begins with the Aryan settlements in the upper valleys of the Indus basin, and the region immediately to the east called the Brahmavarta in the Rigvedic age. In the Later Vedic period, we begin to see the emergence of small monarchies and States in the western Gangetic basin. About the 6th century B.C., the Buddhist literature finely sums up the political situation in the North by describing the 16 kingdoms or janapadas. Panini for the first time mentions Kalinga in the middle of the 5th century B.C. The kingdoms of the extreme South come to be mentioned only by Kautilya and Asoka. The real unified history of the sub-continent thus begins with the Mauryans who gave political unity to the country, the chief river basins of which were settled by large scale agricultural communities by about the 5th century B.C. Naturally this formative period of Indian history is not very firmly documented and it may be treated as the Proto-historic era of movements.

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In the historic period, we see the emergence of full-fledged States and the political history of India is one of struggles between the various States for power and hegemony. Of the 16 States that emerged in N. India in the 6th century B.C., Magadha, by a series of struggles and matrimonial alliances, controlled the whole Gangetic basin by the time of the advent of the Nanda rule in the 5th centurty B.C. According to the tradition, the Nandas conquered Kalinga and took away a Jaina image. This naturally paved the way for the conquest by the Mauryans of the Punjab which was earlier unified by the armies of Alexander. With their firm grip on the Indo-Gangetic basins, the Mauryan conquest of the rest of India became easy and, if we are to believe the tradition, parts of Mysore were acquired by Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the dynasty in the late 4th century B.C. Thus came into existence the first empire of Indian history. This political fabric led to a great development of communications within the country and is it surprising to find Asokan inscriptions in Brahmi spread over the whole empire at critical points along the ancient higways? The architect of the Mauryan imperialism was the great pioneer of Political economy in the country, Kautilya, who has left a treatise called the Arthasastra. He describes the whole land between the Himalayas and the sea as a " Chakravarti kshetra" (an emperor's realm) and that it is the supreme duty of king to proclaim his suzerainty over this land. Earlier, Buddhists developed the concept of an ideal, spiritual *chakravarti*, and it is based on the political concepts of *Samrat* and *Chakravarti* by the later vedic and Smriti writers, who elaborated royal and coronation rituals. Are not the elaborate *Rajasuyas* and *Asvamedhas* the political sanctions behind the story of imperialism, inaugurated by the Nandas and the Mauryas? Thus this ideal remained a vital force in Hindu political theory and it was the ambition of each and every ruler to become a *Samrat* or *Chakravarti*. Even as late as the 10th century, Rajasekhara defines a Samrat as the one who conquers the land from the Himalayas to the southern sea.¹ It is very amusing to go through the inscriptions of the Historic period, when even small rulers made highly exaggerated claims about the extent of their kingdoms and performed Asvamedhas as a symbol of their power over their neighbours (the greatest example being the mythical accounts of Sahadeva's protection of Yudhistira's horse, or the one of Kalidasa's description of Raghu's conquests where the whole country, with its geographic names of a later period, has been described as being conquered).

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¹ GANAPATI SASTRI (Ed.) Kautilya's Arthasastra. Trivendrum Sanskrit series. LXXIX. Vol. I p. 338. देशः पृथिवी तस्यां हिमवत्समुद्रान्तरमुदीचीने योजनासहस्रपरिमाणं तिर्यक्चक्रवर्तिक्षेत्रम्

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¹ RAMASWAMY SASTRY (Ed.) *Kavyamimamsa* of Rajasekhara, G.O.I. Series. 1. 3rd Edition. lines 9-14, p. 92.

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Going through Indian history in a rapid survey, one finds that the practical realization of this vital ideal suffered setbacks due to the strength of the centrifugal forces. In the 2500 years of corroborated history of India, there was a semblance of political unity in the sub-continent during short spells of Mauryan, Khilji, Mughal and British rule and today, after the advent of independence. The rest was a long dreary story of struggles between the various kingdoms. But, as Day has shown, there was a tendency for the various kingdoms—at least the nuclear areas—to coincide with the natural regions. The eastern and central Indian highlands (Tribal areas, the ancient Gondwana), and the extreme tip of the peninsula remained outside the pale of any strong central power. Similarly the Vindhyas managed to separate or localize the histories of Northern India and the Deccan peninsula. Another such semi-perennial border is provided by the Aravalli line extending from the mouth of the Gulf of Cambay to the Delhi gap. Thus, during very long periods, the lower Indus basin and Kathiawad have been *culs de sac* in absorbing the refugees of the Indo-Gangetic basins. Day's map shows the boundaries throughout the Indian history from Asoka to Aurangazeb. (See Fig. 7). To sum up, while centralized empires like those of the Mauryas, Satavahanas, Guptas, Harsha, Mughal and the British were short-lived, the ancient kingdoms like Kosala, Magadha, Avanti, Lata, Saurashtra, Kalinga, Andhra, Maharashtra, Karnatak, Chera, Chola, Pandya existed under one name or another, under one ruler or another.

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From the point of view, the period from 700 to 1300 A.D. is very crucial in Indian history.

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[Figure: POLITICAL FRONTIERS IN INDIAN HISTORY ASOKA TO AURENGAZEB: NUCLEAR AREAS Boundaries (Width proportionate to frequency) Sultanate of Delhi (average extent) Never subject to a central power 0 200 400 MLS N.W. Daman PUNJAB Kirthar RAJPUTANA SIND GUJARAT MALWA Narbada KHANDESH KOSALA (OUDH) BIHAR MAGADHA GONDWANA ORISSA (KALINGA) BENGAL Balasore Gop Meghna Terai Tungabhadra VIJAYANAGAR Godavari Kistna Penner Cauvery]

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Fig. 7 : Note the coincidence between the nuclear areas and semi-perennial political boundaries. (After Spate)

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Looked at from the point of view of the whole sub-continent it is common-place to treat this period as one of decay. About the period from 985 to 1300 A.D., Dr. Majumdar writes,¹ "The three centuries dealt with in this volume witnessed not only decay of political authority, but also a definite set back in the progress of their culture. Except in the domain of art, particularly the temple architecture, we find a steady decline and decadence, which has already set in the preceding period." K. M. Munshi lets the cat out of the bag and agreeing with Dr. Majumdar complains that there was no "Aryavarta Consciousness" in this period, taking a narrow Pan-Indian outlook.² But as bird's eye view of Indian history shows, the strong and latent centrifugal forces remained dormant at times, only to resume their existence like the famous plant whose proverbial behaviour is described as *Vetasi vritti*. This aquatic plant survives a flood by bending in its direction to resume its upright posture after the subsidence of the flood. Whenever a strong and imperial power emerged in one of the focal regions, it soon expanded at the expense of its neighbours. It is superfluous to state that no empire in the whole range of Indian history ever ruled this entire sub-continent—not to say a large part of it—for more than a few centuries or even decades.

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¹ MAJUMDAR AND PUSALKAR: *The struggle for Empire*, History of the Indian people, Vol. V. Bombay, 1958, p. XLVII-XLVIII.

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² *ibid.* p. XIII.

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Yet, this attitude does no justice to Indian history, since its vital limbs remained active during the periods when there was no central power. In a broad political sense, the absence of a central power, while encouraging the suppressed regionalism, led to greater external dangers exposing the land to invasions from the frontiers. Yet, these so-called periods of decay represent very vital constructive epochs of regional language, art, architecture etc. For example the period from the 7th century after the Christian era has seen the rise and development of provincial languages and literatures, creative styles of temple architecture in the provinces—Gujarat, Orissa and Central India—(distinct provincial styles based on the fundamental elements and ideas spread from the Gangetic basin). The recent agitation for the establishment of unilingual States must have been a recurrent phenomenon throughout our Indian history. Our history as a struggle between the centripetal and centrifugal forces has not been adequately studied.

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Since language is one of the most important manifestations of the social cohesion of a community, it is not irrelevant to discuss the history of the development of Indian languages. Unfortunately, very little systematic studies in Indian linguistics have been made from the point of view of the social and cultural history of India. But what we know already, again points towards the operation of the centripetal and centrifugal forces that characterize Indian history. On the one hand, we see a distinct diversity at the base. It is well-known that all the modern languages of India fundamentally belong to the main groups: the Indo-Aryan, the Dravidian, the Austro-Asiatic and the Sino-Burman. On the one hand, we see the operation of the centripetal forces, which bring about "a chemical fusion, not a physical mixture, where the different components can be easily separated", as Dr. S. M. Katre put it.¹ He continues, "During the last three thousand years, each of these distinct groups of languages has come into close contact with the remaining groups, and out of this contact has arisen a vocabulary which shows a Pan-Indian characteristic."

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¹ KATRE, S. M. "Resemblance of World forms and Syntax" Talk broadcast from A.I.R. *Akashavani* July 13th, 1958.

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On the other hand we see the opposite process which again displays the centrifugal forces. Here our physical and cultural regions show their influence. Out of these very four groups of languages, have also arisen all the modern vernacular languages of India. As we shall show, it is the fragmentation and diversification, within the physical and cultural environments in the regions, that has created a strong barrier in the form of languages. Sometimes, the language, which reacts on the other modes of thinking, also accentuated the centrifugal forces. But one of the remarkable facts that support the geographic hypothesis is the designation at the various stages of our Indian languages and dialects, by the names of the regions where they were spoken.

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Linked texts (19)

Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit
Nāṭyaśāstra — Bharata, Sanskrit
Sāhityadarpaṇa — Viśvanātha Kavirāja, Sanskrit
Kāvyādarśa — Daṇḍin, Sanskrit
Mohenjo-daro
Prācya
Rangpur
Kauśāmbī
Nevasa
Sanganakallu
Maheswar
Vadnagar
Rupar
Bahal
Godavari
Vasai
Uri
Krishna
Kili Ghul Mohammad