An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s18.1

v1.c9.s18.1

As has been stated above [4.1.2], while the Deccan and s. India were in the grip of the megalithic culture, n. India and the middle Ganga valley [4.18.1, 3] were witnessing the beginnings of the early historical period. It is difficult to pin-point the precise or even approximate time of this change, but the middle of the 1st millennium B.C. may be regarded as a convenient date. By this time some of the tribes mentioned in the later Vedic literature had carved out kingdoms for themselves, dominated by the Kṣatriya chiefs responsible for their establishment. The kingdoms comprised the existing local population as well, giving them a heterogeneity absent in tribal societies.