History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c39.s3.8

v1.c39.s3.8

The process of second urbanization in India, initiated after the seventh century B.C., is well-described through the terms jana, janapada and mahājanapada, used by Pāṇini (dated around the middle of the fifth century B.C., Agrawala, 1953). Whereas jana meant a compact clan, the emergence of janapada was characterised by aggregation of people of different languages, faiths and professions (Atharvaveda, Pṛthvi Sukta, 12.1.45). Pāṇini equated citizens or janapadis as professionals practising different trades (Aṣṭādhyāyī, 4.1.42; also Yāska’s Nirukta 1.1.5). Pāṇini’s ten (later sixteen) mahājanapadas were big states with capitals in the cities which promoted diverse trades such as those of potter, blacksmith, carpenter, barber, washerman, bow-and-arrow maker, weaver, blanket-maker, dyer, gem- maker and jeweller, miner, goldsmith etc. Patañjali wrote that each village must have the first five. The last few ones were closer to the cities and met the requirements of the king and the state. The literary and archaeological sources broadly agree in placing the innovative period of Indian coinage in the 6th-5th century B.C. (Mukherjee and Lee, 1988, vide Appendix on Emergence of Coinage).