The Personality of India: Pre- and Proto-historic Foundation of India and Pakistan c15.s3: The shifting foci of Indian Culture
The Personality of India: Pre- and Proto-historic Foundation of India and Pakistan c15.s3
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The shifting foci of Indian Culture
c15.s3.1
Looking at these broad movements of the Proto-historic period, it is interesting to recall that this east-ward shifting of the foci of Indian cultures coincides with a cultural and technological evolution. The first focus is the Indus basin, a physiographic extension of the Afrasian-Dry zone. Here Western Asian traits blended with the Indian to produce a typically Indian Civilization.
c15.s3.2
During this period the rest of the country was more primitive and the Gangetic basin was in the throes of a great technological evolution. When the new people, the Aryans appeared on the scene, coinciding more or less with the setting desiccation of Sind, the second focus shifts to the Indo-Gangetic divide, the traditional gateway to the heart of India. Probably, the stories of struggles and adventures reflected in the Early Vedic literature mark the consolidation and establishment of this Vedic Brahmavarta. With the further increase in the population and the fusion of the society, we see the eastward movement of the Aryans into the rich valley of the Ganges, marking the large-scale colonization of this great area.
c15.s3.3
It is very significant that at the end of this second period, we see the advent of iron. Both at Rupar and Hastinapur, traces of iron slag were found in the upper levels of the Grey Ware culture. We have already seen the infiltration of Sialk Cemetery influences into India. Since iron was known there, there is no reason why iron should not make its appearance in India also. Hastinapur, Rupar, Ujjain, and Maheshvar, where large scale excavations were carried out, show [Figure: EMERGENCE OF UNITY PRE-CHRISTIAN ERA ▲ ASOKAN INSCRIPTIONS ● NORTHERN BLACK POLISHED WARE 500-0 B.C. [Hatched area] BLACK & RED WARE AREA [Cross-hatched area] AREA OF Known 'MEGALITHIC' GRAVES (O) ALLEGED FIND SPOTS OF "MEGALITHS"
c15.s3.4
the advent of iron about 500 B.C. or earlier, and there is not a great typological difference between the northern and southern iron tools. In Central India and probably along the flanks of the Vindhyas ( south of the Ganges ) the iron occurs with the black-and-red ware. Actually N.B.P. appears in the intermediary levels of these black-and-red ware phases at Ujjain, Maheshvar and Somnath. Thus this great technological change shifts the focus to Magadha the richest area for minerals. Hence, it is the Iron Age focus, the third one in the evolution of Indian culture, that enabled the political expansion of Magadha over the rest of India, laying the foundations for the political and cultural homogeneity of the sub-continent.
c15.s3.5
With the appearance of iron, a new era begins. By about the 4th century B.C., the whole Peninsula displays a remarkable homogeneity of material culture, inspite of the diversity of their burial systems. The finest evidence for this is the uniformity in pottery forms and fabrics in a large part of the country from this time ( Fig. 40). The very rapid spread and colonization of the chief river valleys by these metal-using communities led to the displacement, contraction and concentration of the primitive people who led a life of hunting and primitive agriculture into the forests and hills of Central, Eastern and Southern India.