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The Personality of India: Pre- and Proto-historic Foundation of India and Pakistan c14: VI. The Proto-Historic Era

The Personality of India: Pre- and Proto-historic Foundation of India and Pakistan c14

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Contents

VI. The Proto-Historic Era

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When we leave prehistory, our story becomes more precise, since a large number of ancient sites have been systematically explored and excavated. Besides, culturally, we pass into the age of metals and the consequent socio-economic changes. The chief among these is the appearance of a large number of town and village sites in the main river basins of the country, probably supporting large-scale agricultural communities. The most significant feature of these proto-historic cultures in different parts of the country is the variation in their aesthetic and technological traditions, but at the same time showing certain mutual influences and contacts. The second anomaly, if one were allowed to use the term, is the diversity in the cultural stage in different parts of the country. We have the highly developed urban civilizations comparable to those of Western Asia in time and stature, while on the other hand we have the survival of primitive stone age cultures right into the early historic period. This differential development can to a great extent be explained by the ecology and geography of these cultural regions. We have already described the various perennial nuclear regions, where large-scale agricultural communities could flourish and carry forward the torch of civilization, and the areas of relative isolation where progress was somewhat halting. Finally, we discussed and defined the areas of repulsion or isolation, the blind alleys of civilization in India. Hence in the following pages, the development of material culture in these three categories of zones will be discussed in the light of the results of archaeological excavations and explorations, and other relevant ethnological data.

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Important excavations near the ancient city sites of Taxila, Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Ahichchatra etc., were carried out before 1944. But, as aids for reconstructing the cultural sequence in the country, we have to depend on a large number of vertical excavations carried out in different parts of the country. It must be said to the credit of Sir Mortimer, that the idea of correlating the regions to get at a historical sequence is his. The following list of excavated sites conveys a full idea of the nature of the evidence on which this reconstruction is built (Fig. 23).

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**Indus Basin** Kili Ghul Mohammed, Mohenjo Daro, Chanhu Daro, Kot-Diji, Rupar, Taxila, and a number of other sites where trial digs were conducted earlier.

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**Gangetic Valley** Jagatram, Hastinapur, Ahichchatra, Kanouj, Kausambi, Vaisali, Rajgir, Patna, Sonepur, Bangarh and Tamluk.

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RECENT EXCAVATONS IN INDIA

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Fig. 23.

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Malwa plateau and Central India Maheshvar, Navdatoli, Nagda, Tripuri and Ujjain.

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Gujarat and Rajputana Lothal, Rangpur, Amreli, Somnath, Vasai, Amra, Lakhabawal, Langhnaj, Akhaj, Amrapur, Baroda, Variavi, Timbarva, Bhinnamal and Rangmahal.

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Maharashtra Prakash, Bahal, Nasik, Jorwe, Nevasa and Kolhapur.

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Krishna Basin (Andhra-Karnatak) Brahmagiri, Maski, Sanganakallu, Piklihal, Chandravalli, Nagarjunakonda.

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Northen Andhra Salihundam, Kottur.

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Tamilnad Arikamedu, Sanur, Sengamedu, Pallavamedu, Kunnattur.

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Orissa Sisupalgarh, Bhuvasuni, Jaugada, Dhauli.

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These excavations were generally preceded and followed by explorations. For our purpose, it is not necessary, nor possible with such an amount of unpublished material, to go into the details of individual sequence. But taking a few stratigraphic columns from selected type sites, I propose to draw an outline of the development of material culture in the sub-continent. In the course of this treatment, the emphasis will be laid on the development of large-scale agricultural communities, with more or less permanent settlements, and at the same time correlating the regions with the archaeological material (Fig. 8). The details of sequence and chronology in individual regions may slightly differ, but the general picture emerges quite clearly. Again, it is necessary to repeat that this picture lacks many details and is very tentative. If this provisional interpretation is followed by a critical examination, based on more work, this survey will have more than fulfilled its purpose. Now let us briefly review the development in the areas.

Areas of Attraction

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Indus Basin and the Indo-Iranian Border lands: It is most remarkable that the whole Indus basin should show a great homogeneity in its early cultures, whilst diverging in the later. In one way, as Spate has pointed out, one of the most important structure lines of Indian historical geography runs from the divide between the Indus and Ganges systems ( Bist doab, Sirhind, Ghaggar Delhi ) along the Aravallis to the Gulf of Cambay. This would help us understand the significance of the distribution of the Indus Valley culture. At the dawn of civilization in Western Asia, we have indisputable evidence of better climatic conditions than today. Inspite of the pioneer efforts of Sir Aurel Stein, Sir John Marshall, N. G. Majumdar, E. J. Mackay, Sir Mortimer Wheeler, Stuart Piggot, M. S. Vats, A. Ghosh and number of other explorers, the main sequence of cultures leading to the Harappan still lacks definition. Certainties are few and the guesses are too many. It is most unfortunate that so few of the large number of sites have been systematically excavated. Most of the correlations are based on fabrics and decorative patterns of pottery from the surface and other associated objects, but very rarely from excavation. It should be clearly understood, that these provide only a series of terminal and central dates, and detailed chronology and correlation will have to await further excavations. A heroic attempt has been made by D. H. Gordon to introduce some order into this chaos. But the sequence can only be confirmed by intensive work in Pakistan.¹

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¹ GORDON, D. H., "Pottery Industries of the Indo-Iranian border", *Ancient India*, No. 10-11, 1954-55.

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During the last few years, important work carried out by Fairservis (Jr.),² and F. A. Khan³ in Pakistan and Casal in Afghanistan⁴ is helping us to get a somewhat clearer picture, and if these efforts are continued, the prospects are very encouraging indeed. The broad studies of Piggot,⁵ Wheeler,⁶ McCown,⁷ Gordon⁸ and Ross⁹ have laid the foundations for the survey attempted here. The Late Prof. Childe, in his *Prehistory of European Society*, faced with the problem of slightly divergent groups of cultures, which are associated with each other and with different types in each province, suggested the use of the term "cycle of cultures". The recent studies of Fairservis in the Baluchistan area show extensive contacts between the various divergent groups that are spread over the Indus basin and the Indo-Iranian border lands. Hence it is proposed to attempt a critical survey of the culture sequence, after dividing them into three culture cycles :

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² FAIRSERVIS (Jr.), WALTER, A. *Excavations in the Quetta Valley West Pakistan*. Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History. Vol. XXXV, Pt. 2. New York, 1956.

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³ KHAN, F. A., At a press conference at Karachi on 26th Feb., 1958—Release by the Press Service of Pakistan.

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⁴ CASAL, J. M., "Mundigak", *Illustrated London News*, 7th May, 1955. pp. 832-35.

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⁵ PIGGOT, STUART. *Prehistoric India*. Pelican book. 1950.

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⁶ WHEELER, MORTIMER. *The Indus Civilization*. The Cambridge History of India—Supplementary Volume. Cambridge. 1953.

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⁷ EHRICH, ROBERT W. (Ed.), *Relative chronologies in Old World Archaeology*, Chicago. 1954.

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⁸ GORDON, *op. cit.*

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⁹ ROSS, E. J. "A chalcolithic site in Northern Baluchistan", *Journal of the Near Eastern Studies* V. 1946.

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1. Pre-Harappan
2. Harappan
3. Post-Harappan

Pre-Harappan Cycle

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Before we proceed further, it is better to remember a few general principles that guide our approach to the problem. Firstly, we have already emphasized, at great length, the environmental diversity between the main alluvial plain of the Indus and the hilly areas to the west, which separate it from the Iranian plateau. Fairservis has well-compared the Indus plains to a beach, and while the upland plateaus constitute the surf, the hills behind are the waves.¹ "The arid basins and hills of Baluchistan," writes Spate, "form the eastern portion of the great Iranian plateau, sharply marked off from the Indus plains by the Kirthar and Sulaiman ramparts...... Looped between the Toba Kakar and Sulaiman ranges lie the trellis-patterned basins of the Zhob and the Beji : nested folds of Cretaceous and Eocene limestones and sandstones producing in Loralai an extraordinary landscape of innumerable scraps and hogsbacks, small plateau and mesas, steep craggy outcrops with talus slops......and set in these arid hills, grey and dun and ochre, a few greener patches in small alluvial and detrital basins" (italics mine).²

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¹ FAIRSERVIS op. cit. p. 183.

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² SPATE op. cit. pp. 424-25.

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It is no wonder that these oases of plains among the hills supported the first peasant communities who brought to India some of the elements of the higher cultures from Iran. The valleys of Zhob, Beji, Pishin Lora, Dasht, Kel, Hingoli and Hub, in addition to the main stream of the Indus supported various cultures which can only be distinguished by their pottery industries, and a few other traits like burials etc. The careful comparative studies of Piggot, Gordon and Fairservis have shown that all these cultures have contacts between themselves, and where stratigraphic evidence is available even overlap with each other. As already explained, our evidence mainly consists of large surface collections, interrelated with the help of fabrics and designs of pottery. A tentative relative chronology is provided by a few trial excavations and the remarkable scraping of the sections as at Ranaghundai. A new light has been shed by the latest excavations, where the evidence of Radio-carbon dates has been made available to us. Hence the following account is a mere summary of the works already alluded to. Besides it is not possible, nor intelligible at this stage of our knowledge, to give a detailed catalogue of ceramic forms and patterns. But for convenience, the diagrammatic sketches of Stuart Piggot and a few distribution maps of Wheeler are reproduced here. (Figs. 24, 25.).

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The earliest culture identified is a Pre-pottery Neolithic culture with flint chips and Fairservis suggests a long Early Pre-historic period. The most interesting account of their economy comes from the animal remains. They already domesticated sheep, goat and an ox or bull.

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ZHOB ▲ & TOGAU ● WARES

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TOGAU

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ZHOB

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NAL ▲ & AMRI ● WARES

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NAL

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AMRI

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Fig. 24. Maps of Village-cultures of Baluchistan. (After Wheeler)

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KULLI WARE

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[Figure: QUETTA WARE Scale 50 0 50 100 150 Miles H = HARAPPA M = MOHENJO DARO ARABIAN SEA R. INDUS KARACHI]

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Fig. 25. Maps of Village-cultures of Baluchistan. (After Wheeler)

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" Surprisingly, there was no greater representation of wild fauna in Period J " (K.G.I.). They were familiar with the Indian bull, but its teeth found in the excavation were somewhat larger than the normal teeth of *Bos Indicus* and a suggestion has been made that the Brahma bull of the Indus valley is a cross-breed of *Bos Indicus* and the West Asian Urus. They were also familiar with some species of *Equus*.³ Thus it is very interesting to see the spread of the "incipient agricultural communities" and pastoral herdsmen in the 4th Millennium B.C. The tools included bone awls, blades varying in length between 3.⁴ to 5.8 cms., stone scrapers and a limestone slab with a triangular cross-section, probably used "as a grind stone". Finally, according to the excavator, "as these neolithic assemblages become better known, a sub-division of Period J (K.G.I.), or the addition of a Period K, or other changes can be expected".² Technologically this phase is comparable, according to Childe with the Pre-pottery and Early Neolithic cultures of Jericho, Jarmo, Hassuna etc.³ A piece of Charcoal, from one of the upper levels of this phase, gave a C-14 date of 5300 plus or minus 200 *i.e.* 3500-3100 B.C., thus pushing the beginnings of agriculture to the early 4th Millennium or even 5th Millennium B.C. Further excavation is needed to throw additional light on this very early culture of the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent.

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² FAIRSERVE, *ibid.* p. 335.

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³ CHILDE, *op. cit.*

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The second period has a wider distribution. At Kili Ghul Mohammed, the second phase (II) is characterized by hand made wares including basket marked pottery with a fine wheel-made pottery. All agree that these crude wares are akin to Rana Ghundai I wares (with very little decoration). At Rana Ghundai, Ross found the bones of the domesticated horse, *Equus Caballus* and Piggot suggests "a nomadic horse riding herdsman" as the new settlers.⁴

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⁴ PIGGOT, *op. cit.* p. 121.

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The third period, corresponding to K. G. III, is characterized by the Black-on-red slip and red-painted wares (type A wares of Ross R. G. II). In the Quetta valley, there are nearly 17 sites of this phase. At Ranaghundai, phase II is marked by the advent of new people who built houses with boulder footings. The most characteristic pottery is the so-called "Bull ware" which has also been found at Zhob and Surjangal. The other animal painted is the black-buck. It is noteworthy that the Loralai region is not the region of black-buck and the presence of humped ox, *Bos Indicus* also suggests an eastern rather than a western influence, indicating the possibility of settlements further east in the main basin.

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This phase shows close affinities to Hissar I. This contact with the regions further east is clearly definable in the next phase K. G. IV. "Rana Ghundai III 'a' and 'b', with their Amri affinities", says Fairservis, "are certainly akin to Kili Ghul Mohammed IV and Damb Sadaat I".¹ This period is very important, as it links a number of other sites in Baluchistan and Sind. This phase shows affinities to Kechibeg, Amri, Togau and Sur Jangal. A sample of charcoal from Damb Sadaat I gave C-14 range between 2400-1900 B.C. (4150 plus or minus 250).

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¹ FAIRSERVE, *op. cit.* 382.

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¹ FAIRSERVIS, *op. cit.* 354.

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In view of the extent of these cultures which begin to spread down into the plains, it is possible to visualise a series of cultures. Similarly the relation of the group of cultures of Nal and Nundara type with Amri links up the entire cycle of cultures, which preceded the Harappan in the Indus basin and the Indo-Iranian border lands.

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Coming further east, we find Amri providing a link with Harappan. While the former appears to underlie the latter at Amri, Lohri, Ghazi Shah and Pandiwahi, there is an evidence of an overlap or mixture at Pai-jo-kotiro in the Gaj Valley. But the more crucial culture, which shows more Harappan traits is that of Kulli *i.e.*, the presence of goddess figurines, bull figurines, and pipal leaf motif on pottery. In view of the curious combination of Harappan motifs, as well as the mixture of bulls, ibex, sigmas and comb patterns, Gordon thinks that "Kulli culture was of considerable duration and it had its contact with Harappa." According to Casal,² a culture with affinities to Kulli has been dated to 2650 plus or minus 300 B.C. In view of the great distance of Afghanistan from the sites we have been dealing with, one has to be cautious. But on the whole it again emphasizes that by the first half of the III Millennium B.C. the whole cycle of Pre-Harappan, peasant cultures were flourishing all over the Indus basin.

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² CASAL, *op. cit.*

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Piggot, Gordon and Fairservis have demonstrated the indebtedness of these cultures to their neighbours in Iran. The Quetta valley and the Pishin plain are traversed by major routes linking Baluchistan, Sistan, and Sind. It is, therefore, not unexpected that all these isolated river valleys, dissected by hills, should show contacts as well as divergences.

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Hence we can draw for ourselves a picture of these roving herdsmen and cultivators trying to exploit the little green valleys among these deserts of barren rock. In view of the present-day aridity and the precarious life which these areas support, Stein paid special attention to this environmental problem. He noticed large series of stone-built artificial dams and terraces known as *Gabarbands*. There is no knowing whether some of these belong to these early agricultural communities. "Yet," writes Piggot, "their presence is important in indicating greater rainfall in antiquity, and it is by no means improbable that they do, in fact, date back to the Pre-historic occupation of the Baluchi Hills".³ Dr. Hora has shown, on the basis of his study of fish drawings on Nal Pottery "that wetter conditions are likely to have prevailed in the Baluchistan hills during the period of Nal culture".¹

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³ PIGGOT, *op. cit.* p. 70.

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¹ HORA, S.—"Fish Paintings of the third Millennium B. C. from Nal (Baluchistan) and their Zoo-geographical significance" Memoirs of the Indian Museum, XIV, No. 2. pp. 73-84. Calcutta. 1256.

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The complex pattern of multiple origin, or localization or Indianization of certain foreign traits, is emphasized by Fairservis.

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"The assemblages we have described were primarily derived from Iran. It is true that some design elements on the pottery were derived from designs characteristic of the Indus valley, such as the Brahma bull and Pipal leaf, but in addition, the desert ibex and the desert antelope of the Iranian plateau, are also depicted. The Iranian orientation is therefore clear. The Iranian character of these Baluchi assemblages was probably further reinforced by continued and augmented contacts with Iranian cultures in Sistan and Southern Baluchistan. The wide distribution of characteristic wares, such as those of Amri and Quetta, indicates the extent of the contacts".²

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² FAIRSERVIS, op. cit. p. 360.

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It is these very contacts that have helped us understand the relations between the various cultures. Similarly, the detailed study of the blade industries suggests the infiltration of the mass technique of crested guiding ridges, which appears for the first time at Jericho in the Neolithic levels. Its further spread eastwards as well as westwards has been pointed out by the writer.³ Hence this technique which appears in the Harappan culture might have been brought into India by some of these communities. In this connection the long blades (5.8 cms.) of Kili Ghul Mohammed I are worth watching.

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³ SUBBARAO, B., "Chalcolithic Blade Industry......", op. cit.

Harappan culture

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As one moves eastwards, leaving these inhospitable highland valleys, into the plains of the Indus, one sees a marked change: the higher cultures flourishing in the main valley of the Indus. "The Iranian aspect of the society has disappeared", says Fairservis, "and another influence, the Indian in ritual, artifacts, architecture can be clearly discerned." But unfortunately for us, the Pre-Harappan cultures in the main basin are yet shrouded in obscurity. Earlier, Mackay noticed sherds of the Quetta wet ware in the "lower levels" of Mohenjo-Daro.⁴ Similarly Wheeler found a few sherds in: (1) occupation layer underlying the defences, (2) from the material accumulated during the construction, and (3) from the material of the rampart and incidental platforms. They show affinities to pottery from Periano Ghundai, and Pre-Harappa layers of Amri. "In these groups, the contrast, between the true Harappa sherds introduced at the time of construction, and the non-Harappa sherds of the preceding or lingering occupation, is so marked as to indicate the probability of a basic difference of culture...... The provisional inference, is that the building of the defences marked the first impact of Harappa culture on this site, and that the builders were preceded hereby a town—or village—occupation representing a variant or even alien culture".¹

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⁴ MACKAY, E. J. Further excavation at Mohenjo-Daro, Vol. II. pl. 67. Nos. 1 and 2; Vol. I. p. 184.

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¹ WHEELER, R. E. M. "Harappa, 1946: The Defences and Cemetery R. 37", *Ancient India* No. 3. New Delhi. Jan., 47 p. 91.

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Similarly F. A. Khan claimed a mature Pre-Harappan culture at Kot-Diji² in the Khairapur district of Sind, "Indeed there are strong indications to support the view that the early settlers whom we shall call Kot-Dijians, possessed a highly developed culture of their own, from whom the people of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro borrowed certain artistic and other ideas including the systems of town-planning and fortifications, which are the most extraordinary systems known to Indo-Pakistan pre-history". About the pottery, he reports that there is difference in fabric, form and decoration from the Harappan. Pending further studies it is difficult to make any comment on this. *The possibility of a late movement of the Harappans southwards into Sind cannot be over-ruled.*

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² At a press conference on February 26th, 1958 at Karachi and circulated by the Director General of Archaeology in India. New Delhi.

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Let it be stated straight away, that in the present stage of our studies, the formative stages, if any, of this great Urban civilization have yet to be explored. Even the so-called "Pre-Harappan" Kot-Diji casts the same burden on the archaeologist. Hence the relation of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa to the "Upland communities" of the Pre-Harappa period, cannot be specified, inspite of certain common artistic and ceramic elements.³ At present it appears to us like Minerva born in a panoply. As Sir Mortimer put it, "the integrity of the Indus civilization stands unchallenged". The greatest challenge to the archaeologist, is to explain the origin of this great urban civilization, with its "impressive bulk" of inter-relationship with those of Western Asia and its "abundant and significant variation" in its sculpture, art, seals, terra-cottas, language and script.⁴ Only the spade, discriminately used, can cut this Gordian knot, and help us understand this jumble of words without a meaning. The true epi-centre of the Harappa culture needs to be ascertained.

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³ The relation between the Upland communities and the Urban folk of the river basin requires further investigation. But it is very interesting to recall in this connection the position of the "Fertile Crescent" and the Sumerian and Babylonian plains. There the "incipient agriculturists" did not move into the plains till their collective organization was developed to the extent of handling problems of irrigation after its initial discovery. BRAIDWOOD, R. J., *Near East and the Foundations of Civilisation*, Eugene, Oregon, 1952.

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⁴ WHEELER, MORTIMER, *Indus Civilization*, Supplement to Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, 1954, p. 94.

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In recent years, with the remarkable discoveries of Lothal in Kathiawad by S. R. Rao, we know the true extent of the Indus valley civilization from the foot-hills of the Himalayas to the south coast of Kathiawad. Similarly the studies of Fairservis throw a new light on the chronology. As a result of careful assessment, Dr. Wheeler suggested the limits of this great civilization between 2500 and 1500 B.C. From the appearance of Harappan influences at Damb Sadaat in phase III, dated to 2050 plus or minus 200, Fairservis rightly comments: "The archaeological evidence at this stage, indicates that the Harappan civilization was in swing during the period represented by Damb Sadaat II—III in the Quetta valley, and Surjangal—Rana Ghundai III in Loralai, that it was expanding northwards into Baluchistan in Damb Sadaat III times and after the occupation of Surjangal......This would mean that Harappa was occupied after 2000 B.C. Considering the chronology as a whole, it seems that 1500 B.C. for the end of Harappan is too early. A date nearer 1200 B.C., or later is probably more accurate since it allows for the not inconsiderable expansion, and establishment of that civilization in areas remote from its apparent place of origin".¹ In his latest work, he suggests, that in view of the Carbon dating, he would put the limits of the Harappan from 2100-1200 B.C.² In view of the Saragon link, this revised date can be applied only to the Baluchi area, on the periphery of the Indus Basin. Does it represent a back wash or a survival?

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¹ FAIRSERVIS: "The chronology of the Harappan civilization and the Aryan invasions". Recent archaeological research. Man. LVI. Art. 173. Nov. 1956.

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² FAIRSERVIS: op. cit. p. 357.

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Considering the wide extent of this civilization in space, we cannot accept any single arbitrary date for the whole area. It is not improbable that the Harappan might have survived in the peripheral zones of Baluchistan, W. Rajputana for a longer time than in its epi-centre. For example, we have such an evidence in its southern periphery. With the excavations at Lothal, Rangpur, Somnath, Amra and Lakhabawal, we have very good reason for believing that Harappan survived in a pure form for a longer time in Kathiawad, and continued in a decayed State with new elements right upto about 500 B.C. We shall discuss this in greater detail, while dealing with Gujarat. (See Chapter VII)

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Post-Harappan cycle

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We are as much ignorant about the origin of the Harappa, as about its final extinction. But two remarkable facts stand clear: the advent of a new people and the desiccation of the Rajputana desert. The later half of the II Millennium B.C. was a period of turbulent movements of peoples, destruction and the appearance of new languages all over Western Asia. Right from the Anatolian plains of Turkey, this is due to the advent of Indo-Europeans and India has not Fig. 26. (After Piggott)

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HARAPPA CULTURE

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STRATUM I

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STRATUM II

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HARAPPA CEMETERY H

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JHANGAR CULTURE

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JHUKAR

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escaped this impact. But it is necessary to remember one important fact, that these violent semi-nomadic people adopted a major portion of the cultural traits of their victims, whom they conquered and subjugated. *Thus all over the Old World, the Aryans have proved to be vague and obscure, though the legacy of their languages has contributed to the history of civilization.* Hence it is not out of place to discuss a few points about the authors of the destruction of the Harappa civilization and the Aryans.

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Wheeler, Piggot and Childe, built up an elaborate hypothesis, based on the excavations conducted by Wheeler, at Harappa in 1946. He attributed the destruction to the authors of the Cemetery-H and adduced literary evidence to support the fact that the Rigvedic Aryans destroyed these cities. The first part of his contention that the Cemetery-H people destroyed Harappa is correct. But his more controversial identification of Cemetery-H folk with the Aryans cannot be accepted at the present stage of our knowledge since their pottery has not been identified with certainty from the rest of the Indus basin.

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Heine Geldern¹ and more recently Fairservis² have identified the other Post-Harappan culture of Jhukkar with the Aryans. Heine Geldern depends on the animal headed pin, trunnion axe, bronze dagger from Fort Munro and the antennae sword, which he derives from Luristan, for his contention that the Aryans moved into India about 1200-1000 B.C. According to Fairservis pottery found at a number of sites—Dabar Kot, Moghtul Kala and Kaudani (with broad black lines of black and red running horizontally above the body of the vessel, loops and hatching along the rim, and various geometric and curvilinear patterns, and belonging to Rana Ghundai IV), has Jhukkar affinities. Since the Jhukkar culture overlies the Harappan at Chanhudaro, the stratigraphic relation also supports their hypothesis.³

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¹ HEINE GELDERN, ROBERT. "The coming of the Aryans and the end of the Harappa civilization", Man, LVI, Art. 151. Oct. 1956.

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² FAIRSERVIS. 1956. op. cit.

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³ MACKAY, E. J. Chanhu-Daro excavations—1935-36. American Oriental Series 20. New Haven. 1943.

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However, in spite of a slightly greater distribution of these Jhukkar and its related industries, it also suffers from the same fact viz. its discontinuity further east into the Gangetic basin.

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Finally, a third claim has been put forward by B. B. Lal on the basis of a very substantial body of evidence. If the story of the Aryans, as revealed by our literary sources, has any validity, it speaks of a people who established their first homeland in the valleys of Sarasvati and Drishadvati after consolidating their hold in the upper valleys of the Indus basin. It was in this Brahmavarta that... gave us the Rigveda. Gradually, they spread into the Gangetic basin. On the strength of his excavations at Hastinapur and his extensive exploration in the upper Gangetic basin, he found a pottery called the "Painted Grey Ware at the lower levels of a number of sites, associated with Indian literary tradition. Since these settlers formed part of the early Aryan stock in India, he ascribed this ware to the Aryans. "May it, however, be emphasized", warns the author, "that the evidence is entirely circumstantial and until and unless positive ethnographic and epigraphic proofs are obtained to substantiate the conclusions they cannot but be considered provisional."¹

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¹ LAL, B. B. "Excavations at Hastinapura and other explorations in the Upper Ganga and Sutlej basins 1950-52. Ancient India 10 & 11, New Delhi.

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Before we close our summary of the problem of the Aryans, a slight digression into the Harappan will not be out of place. T. N. Ramachandran has put in a very powerful plea for identifying the Indus valley civilization itself with the Aryan. While he claims to have deciphered the script on the seals, he has continued the line of studies started by him earlier, the interpretation of art motifs with the help of literature. He interprets the seals—their pictographs, scriptographs and the script—with the help of corresponding verses from the Rigveda.² This is in line with Hronzy's earlier attempts, who also read the Indus valley language as Indo-Aryan.³ As already stated earlier, this hypothesis cannot be accepted nor completely refuted, till the script is deciphered with the help of some bi-lingual seals or inscriptions. It is therefore, a problem of methodology.

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² RAMACHANDRAN, T. N. Presidential Address of the Ancient India section, at the All India History Congress held at Agra—Dec. 1956.

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³ HRONZY, BEDRICH. Ancient History of Western Asia, India and Crete, Translated by Jindrach Prochaaka, Prague, 1952.

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Thus this problem of the Aryans has come to the forefront and at the present stage of our knowledge it is impossible to give a final answer. Of all the three or four hypotheses (including Ramachandran's) the best from the archaeological point of view is that of the "Painted Grey Ware folk". Further discussion of this problem will be attempted, after a consideration of the other areas, in Appendix 'I'.

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Our knowledge of the Upper Indus basin, above the confluence of the five great rivers of the Punjab and the Ghaggar, is clearer. Commanding the main communications into the Subcontinent, and with a better rainfall, on account of its existence at the foot of the Himalayan chain, and drained by rivers fed by the ice fields, the Punjab continuously supported large scale agricultural communities. We do not yet know the exact authors of the destruction of the Indus civilization. Nor do we know much about the Cemetery-H people, who have been credited with this role, unless they be one of the large groups of Post-Harappan people who moved into the plains of the Indus. Leaving these gaps, which the spade alone can ultimately fill up, we go little east towards the Indo-Gangetic divide. The explorations of Shri Ghosh and the excavations of Dr. Y. D. Sharma¹ at Rupar and of Shri B. B. Lal at Hastinapur have opened a new chapter in Indian archaeology. We are well on the way to bridge this yawning gulf between the Harappan and the Early Historic cultures of India. The rough outlines are emerging and only the links will have to be forged.

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¹ Sharma, Y. D. "Past Patterns in Living as Unfolded by Excavations of Rupar" *Lalitkala* Nos. 1 and 2, April 1955 to March 1956 pp. 121-129.

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Following the Harappan, we have probably, what Ghosh has called the "Sothi Culture",² from a number of sites in the Drishadvati Valley, characterized by the widespread occurrence of a crude ill fired pottery, which for no better reason, has been called the "Ochre washed ware". While some forms show affinities to Harappan, the fabric is closer to that of Hastinapur, Bhadra-bad and other copper hoard sites in the Gangetic basin. Since its stratigraphic relation to either the Indus or the Gangetic valley cultures yet remains to be established, it is better to be wary.

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² Ghosh, A. Presidential Address, Archaeology Section, XVII Session, Oriental Conference, Ahmedabad, 1953.

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But of all the various Post-Harappan cultures, the most widely spread, and the movements of which can be directly traced into the Gangetic basin, is that of the Painted Grey Ware culture. At Rupar,³ on the Sutlej, the habitation begins with a Harappan and is succeeded after a distinct break by the Grey Ware culture. This sequence neatly ties up with the Early historic period, characterized by the advent of the Gangetic valley Northern Black Polished Ware. This Grey Ware culture seems to have a wide distribution in the Valleys of Sutlej, Sarasvati and Drishadvati in the Punjab-Bikaner area. We eagerly await some work on the other side of the Pakistan border.

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³ Government of India, *Indian Archaeology* 1953-54. A review published by the Archaeological survey of India, 1954.

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Finally, with the excavations at Rupar and Hastinapur, the gap (which is dramatically called the "Dark Period") is closing up. Ghosh well summed up the position of Grey Ware-Harappa relations when he said: "While it is admittedly premature to hold that the latter people (Grey Ware folk) were no other but the Aryans, it is doubly premature to say that the Aryans had nothing to do with the disappearance of the Harappans. Even if that be the future consensus, the possibility will remain that the descendants of the Harappans, after the end of their glorious days, lived somewhere in India, still holding to their culture, if in a modified form, to contribute its traits to the pattern of Indian culture, either directly or through the Aryans or some other agency. Otherwise, the existence of Harappan elements in Indian culture will remain unexplained".⁴

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⁴ Ghosh, A. "Notes", *Ancient India* No. 10 & 11, 1954-55. p. 3.

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Yes, it survives. In the pivotal point—the Proto-historic tri-junction—the old Brahmavarta (Sarasvati and Drishadvati valleys) and north-eastern Rajaputana, all the streams of Proto-historic cultures mingle, and our immediate task is to explore for overlaps and contacts. This is very well borne out by the recent discoveries at Ukhlina, near Meerut, of a thick red ware of "Harappan fabric" with typical terracotta cakes. A few sherds of the same type were also found in the Grey Ware levels of Kausambi. But for the cakes, the only other identifiable type is the dish-on-stand. So the possibility of these being either very late Harappan or being derived from the other Post-Harappan cultures has to be stressed. Kausambi seems to carry some of the architectural elements of Harappa like the fortifications and corbelled drain? From this point of view the occurrence of Grey Ware and black-and-red ware at Ukhlina make it very interesting. The survival of so many Indus valley symbols on our Punch-marked coins remains an enigma. Similarly the clear evidence for slightly later dates for the Harappan, and the close inter-links of its direct descendant Post-Harappan cultures of Kathiawad, with the Pre-N.B.P. proto-historic Chalcolithic cultures of Central India, suggest the possibility of a Harappan survival in the peripheral regions to the east, west and south of the main Indus basin. Thus Harappan might have direct contacts with some of the Post-Harappan cultures of the sub-continent. Does it not fit in with the geographic factors already enumerated?

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Finally, the story of the Indo-Iranian border lands is one of continuous contacts between both the countries, and it also serves its function as a bridge between the cultures of Iran and India. These cultural influences need very careful scrutiny and since we know sufficient surface-material, the more urgent need seems to be stratigraphic excavations. Col. Gordon has shown the close affinities of the material from the Moghul Ghundai cairns and Sialk B cemetery (about 1000 B.C.).¹ More evidence of this late contact with Iran has been brought forth by Beatrice de Cardi from Londo and other sites in Baluchistan. As Stuart Piggot puts it:

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¹ GORDON, D. H., "Sialk, Giyan, Hissar and the Indo-Iranian Connections", Man in India, XXVII, 1947, pp. 195-241.

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"It looks as though contacts between India and the West were either continuous for nearly a millennium after 2000 B.C., or more probably there were two movements of peoples from Northern Persia towards India, one (Shahi-tump, Jhukkar etc.) fairly soon after 2000 B.C., (the Indian evidence implies that it cannot be earlier), and the other (Mughul Ghundai, Jiwanri, Londo) round about 1100 or later".² (See Fig. 27)

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² Review of the above paper by Stuart Piggot in Antiquity, XXIV, No. 96, Dec. 1950.

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Gangetic Basin

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Now when we cross the Indo-Gangetic divide, we leave the Harappan in space and time. The most important, and intriguing relics of this region are the enigmatic copper hoards from the Gangetic basin, studied by Heine Geldern,¹ Stuart Piggot,² D. H. Gordon,³ and B. B. Lal.⁴ Lal, by a fine typological analysis has shown that they differ from the Western groups and also points out the circumstantial but yet unproven association of the so-called "Ochre washed pottery" with these hoards. The reported discovery of Grey Ware at the hoard site of Pariar in Unao District, U. P. is encouraging and I hope it will receive early attention. But one interesting fact emerges; with such highly specialized and evolved copper tools, testifying marked technological achievement, is it too much to conjecture that their advent marks the beginning of the clearance of the semi-tropical jungles of the Gangetic basin? (Fig. 28)

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¹ HEINE GELDERN, "Archaeological traces of the Vedic Aryans", *Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art*, IV, 1936, pp. 87-113.

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² PIGGOT, STUART, "Prehistoric Copper Hoards in the Gangetic Basin", *Antiquity*, XVIII, 1944.

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³ GORDON, D. H., "Early use of metals in India", *Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute*, LXXX, 1950.

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⁴ LAL, B. B., "Further Copper Hoards from the Gangetic basin and a review of the problem", *Ancient India*, No. 7, 1951.

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Fig. 27. (After Gordon)

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All along the flanks of the Vindhyas, particularly in Bundelkhand and Baghelkhand, we have extensive surface collections of Neolithic stone tools. These are typologically indistinguishable from the Bellary-Raichur ones, studied in detail already. The collections of these from the British Museum are being studied by Dr. F. R. Allchin. Could this mean the expansion of the early agricultural communities into the main riverine tracts after their mastery of metallurgy, which enabled them to clear the jungles and drain the swamps? But it is significant to note that this event more or less precedes the expansion into, and the establishment of the people using the Painted Grey Ware, identified very reasonably by the Aryans by Shri B. B. Lal.

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Hastinapur is the most important type site, in that it serves as a link with the east and the west.⁵ Here Lal discovered 5 phases of culture, the earliest of which shows circumstantial evidence of association with the Gangetic valley copper hoards. This fact is very important in the light of the excavations conducted at Maheshvar-Navdatoli in 1952-53 and 1957-58. As will be pointed later, the earliest agricultural communities in Malwa carry with them large number of Harappan and Post-Harappan (Western) traits. But in the latest excavations five copper-bronze (?) celts were found. Two of them have rounded and flared cutting edges and one of them has a deep shoulder, suggesting a Gangetic valley origin. Similarly at Kallur (Raichur District, Hyderabad State), we have the antannae swords. Hence there is a growing evidence of a Copper Age epi-centre in the Gangetic basin and the most urgent task seems to be to follow up Hastinapur with systematic explorations in the Gangetic basin. The second period marks a distinct break and is characterized by the Grey Ware. The people of this period built mud houses and practised [Figure: COPPER HOARDS
• FLAT CELT
- SHOULDERED CELT + BAR-CELT
* MID-RIB 'DAGGER'

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⁵ LAL, B. B., "Excavations at Hastinapur and other explorations in the Upper Ganga and Sotlej Basins", *Ancient India*, Nos. 10 & 11, 1955.

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After V. A. Smith.

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DOUBLE-EDGED AXE

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¤ ADZE ○ SAWN/HAMMERED RING ● HARPOON ⊗ ANTENNAE SWORD ⊚ BENT SPEARHEAD OTHERS
- FORT MUNRO SWORD
- TRUNION CELT
- SHAFT-HOLE AXE
- ASE/ADZE After B. B. Lal
• 'OCHRE-WASHED WARE
- STONE 'BAR-CELT'
- ROCK-PAINTING
- COPPER/BRONZE IMPLEMENT]

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Fig. 28. Typical group of copper and bronze implements from India, particularly from the Gangetic basin with an inset map showing the distribution of the main types.

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agriculture and cattle breeding. We have the earliest evidence of rice cultivation in this period. Other finds included copper arrowheads, nail parer, sickles, antimony rods, weights of chert and jasper, bangles and bone points. This occupation seems to have been abandoned owing to floods, indicated by the erosion of the face of the mound. After a break, the third period marks the advent of the N.B.P. and iron (barbed arrow heads, chisel, sickle, latch, etc.). The people built fine burnt brick houses. The next phase falls well into the historic period indicated by Sunga coins etc. At present the Grey ware seems to have spread over the Upper Indus and the Gangetic basins.

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The latest season's work at Kausambi (1957-58) has revealed a horizon of 'Painted Grey Ware' in a slightly modified form, significantly suggesting its eastward spread. But the most interesting evidence is the occurrence of a few 'Harappan' (?) red ware sherds, one of them being a portion of the base of a dish-on-stand. The fortifications and the corbelled drain is also taken as an indication of the survival of certain Harappan traits. As already mentioned at Ukhlina in the Meerut District was found Grey Ware and black-and-red ware in association with Late or Post-Harappan pottery with terracotta cakes. At Kanouj also a few sherds of black-and-red ware were found. The excavation conducted by Shri G. R. Sharma at Kausambi, by Shri Ghosh at Rajgir, by Shri Krishnadeva at Vaisali and by Shri Vijayakant Misra at Patna, have clearly demonstrated that the N.B.P. originated in the central Gangetic valley about the 6th century B.C. and rapidly spread all over India.

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The most significant discovery is the finding of black-and-red ware at the lowest levels of Sonepur below the N.B.P. in the Gaya District¹. Thus the excavations at Patna, Rajgir and Sonepur show that the black-and-red ware again provides a link between the Proto-historic grey wares and the Historic period represented by the N.B.P. Thus this entire problem of these black-and-red wares needs a careful study. Does it suggest a spread of this ware along the flanks of the Vindhyas south of the river Ganges? In that connection, the discovery of a few sherds at Kanouj, and the mention of megaliths by Cockburn in the Mirzapur District, indicate interesting possibilities.

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¹ Indian Archaeology, 1956-57.

Bengal

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The lower deltaic portion of the Ganges is, as yet, a *terra incognita* as far as archaeological evidence is concerned. But these enormous deltaic lowlands of Bengal are subjected to constant shifting of river beds to an extent unknown in any other part and, as Raychowdhary put it, "these changes have made and unmade flourishing cities and thriving marts, and sometimes changed the whole outlook of areas." It is not without significance, as we shall see, that the first literary records refer to the development of *Vardhamanabhukti* and *Kankagrama* between the Rajmahal hills and the *Bhagirathi* (Hooghly) and along the northern foot-hills or northern parts of *Pundra* or *Varendra* with the early inscription at Mahasthan on the banks of *Karatoya*.¹ Other evidence also tends to confirm the general belief of a slow spread of Aryan or Gangetic valley influences downstream along the river. There is evidence of a vague and indeterminable character about the possibility of terrestrial influences from S. E. Asia through Assam and maritime influences through the sea. But this probably was Pre-historic, and Pre-Aryan in character. Such evidence mainly consists of the infiltration of the South-east Asian Neolithic cultures.

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¹ MAJUMDAR, R. C. (Ed.), *History of Bengal*, Vol. I. Decca, 1943, p. 3.

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The Asutosh Museum authorities at Calcutta have discovered a number of Early Historic sites in the lower delta of Bengal yielding among other things, N.B.P. and Rouletted ware.² Reliable evidence for the reconstruction of the sequence comes from the excavations at Bangarh on the *Punarbhava* (Dinajpur District) by Shri K. Goswami³ and of Tamluk (ancient *Tamralipti* in the Midnapore district) by Shri M. N. Deshpande.⁴ The former site has yielded definite evidence of the Northern Black Polished Ware in the lowest levels confirming the possibility of rapid development during the Mauryan Period. Its earliest beginnings, if any await the action of the spade. The excavation of Tamluk is very important for the fact that it furnishes evidence of a possibility of a Neolithic (?) culture characterized by the use of polished stone axes, being superceded by the higher cultures with definite influences in pottery, terracottas etc., from the Gangetic Valley. Apart from the earlier Indian literary references, Tamluk is mentioned by Ptolemy. The development of this eastern port by the beginning of the Christian era is also corroborated by the occurrence of Rouletted ware (similar to that of Sisupalgarh), also the sprinkler belonging typologically to the Red Polished Ware (Early centuries of the Christian era), and further distribution of the Rouletted ware is very remarkable.

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² *Indian Archaeology—A review*, 1956-57.

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³ GOSWAMI, K., *Excavations at Bengarh*, Calcutta.

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⁴ *Archaeology in India—A review* 1954-55.

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The most interesting feature is the obvious affinity between Sisupalgarh and Tamluk, suggesting the possibility of the development of the route along the east coast. This then explains the location of the inscriptions of Asoka along this highway to Kalinga.

Malwa Plateau

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Moving south-west from the Gangetic basin into Central India and the Malwa plateau, we find an altogether different sequence. The explorations of V. S. Wakankar and A. V. Pandya, followed by the large scale excavations at Maheshvar by the Deccan College Research Institute and the University of Baroda¹ and of Tripuri by M. G. Dikshit have enabled us to get a clear picture. Here we have very widespread settlements in the valleys of the Chambal and the Narbada of a people using a painted pottery characterized by black designs on red or cream slipped pottery and a highly specialized microlithic blade industry employing the technique of crested guiding ridges and the elaborate preparation of cores, simulating the well-known " *Grand Pressigny* " technique of Europe. From an analysis of nearly 7000 specimens from the excavations at Maheshvar the whole technique of manufacture of these blades was studied by the writer. It is essentially intended to mass-produce blades. This technique is definitely identified in Western Asia and the Aegian region. In India, it seems to be associated for the first time with the Indus Valley Civilization. This Proto-historic culture of Malwa can be approximately dated to the 1st half of the 1st millennium B.C. or earlier on account of its stratigraphic position below the deposits of N.B.P. Its contemporaneity with the Grey ware cultures is indicated by the common association with both of the black-and-red ( usually associated with megaliths in the South) in the Bikaner region. Near Udaipur, this black-and-red ware has been found with black-on-red painted ware. At Maheshvar, this ware occurs with the earliest painted pottery culture, but it becomes predominant in the following phase characterized by the appearance of iron (sickle, arrowheads, hoe spearheads, nails, etc.) and N.B.P. (Fig. 29)

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¹ SANKALIA, H. D., SUBBARAO, B., DEO, S. B., "Archaeological sequence of Central India", *South Western Journal of Anthropology*, New Mexico, Vol. IX, No. 4, 1953.

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These excavations at Maheshvar-Navdatoli were again renewed under the joint auspices of the Deccan College Research Institute, the University of Baroda and the Department of Archaeology, Madhya Pradesh (1957-58). During this season, the Chalcolithic settlement on the south bank of the river Narbada was excavated horizontally. It revealed nearly a dozen floor levels of prosperous agricultural communities cultivating cereals, grams and pulses (now being identified. They lived in square and round huts of wattle and daub construction and walls reinforced with thick round posts. As a result of conflagrations the settlement seems to have been disturbed at least thrice. On this basis, the occupation was divided into four phases. The earliest is characterized by the widespread use of cream slipped wares with black paintings, very reminiscent in forms and decorations to those of Sialk. With it occurs a painted variety of black-and-red pottery, suggesting contacts with Eastern Rajputana and the type site Ahar. Five large copper celts were found. While some of them have straight sides with convex edges, one has a distinct shoulder and crescentic-edge, suggesting affinity with the Gangetic valley. In the next phase, the black-and-red painted ware gradually declines in quantity and we see the appearance of certain

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NARMADA VALLEY EXPEDITION 1952-53

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MAHESHVAR

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| SEQUENCE OF CULTURES | TRENCH I | TRENCH II | TRENCH III | TRENCH III EXT. |
| MUSLIM-MARATHA VII | ʘ | ʘ | ʘ | |
| GAP | | | | |
| EARLY HISTORIC VI 200-500 AD | ʘ | ʘ ʘ | ʘ | |
| EARLY HISTORIC V 100 B.C-200 AD | ʘ | ʘ ʘ | ʘ | |
| EARLY HISTORIC IV 400 B.C-100 B.C | | ʘ ʘ | ʘ ʘ | ʘ ʘ |
| III PROTO HISTORIC | | ʘ ʘ ʘ ʘ ʘ ʘ ʘ | ʘ ʘ ʘ ʘ ʘ ʘ ʘ | ʘ ʘ |
| GAP | | | | |
| PREHISTORIC II | | | | |
| GAP | | | | |
| PREHISTORIC I | | | | |

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