Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c16.s2: Malwa Culture
Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c16.s2
- Language
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Contents
- v1.c16.s2.t1 Navdatoli — 17 parts
- v1.c16.s2.t2 Eran — 3 parts
- v1.c16.s2.t3 Nāgdā — 1 part
- v1.c16.s2.t4 Prakash — 22 parts
- v1.c16.s2.t5 Some General Observations on Malwa Culture — 8 parts
Malwa Culture
v1.c16.s2.1
The succeeding farming culture that flourished in Malwa in Central India has been named as the Malwa Culture. The region was justly famous in the ancient past as it is now for its fertile soil. Its chequered history bears eloquent testimony to its prosperity because time and again battles were fought for the supremacy over Malwa. It is therefore in the fitness of things that it should have attracted the early farmers of Central India whose settlements have been subjected to scientific excavation at Navdatoli, Maheswar, Eran, Mandasore, Nāgdā, etc. Not only this, even in the main Jorwe sites also such as Prakash, Nevasa, Bahal, Nasik, Chandoli and Inamgaon, traces of this culture have been unearthed.
Navdatoli
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The Malwa Culture has been well defined by the large scale excavations at Navdatoli which is by far the most extensive settlements of this culture. The site is situated on the southern bank of Narmadā just on the opposite bank of Maheswar. The extensive chalcolithic occupation at Navdatoli is represented by four mounds. The excavations (1953-54, 1957-59) have revealed two main periods. The first chalcolithic phase is further divisible into four sub-phases I-IV. The later period represents early Iron Age. According to C-14 determination the initial occupation begins around 1600 BC or may be even slightly earlier and it continued up to 1300 BC, when the site was deserted only to be occupied later in the Kuṣāṇa period. (Dhavalikar In Agarwal, 1979: 236-37; Sankalia, 1971: 42)
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The stone objects from Navdatoli have been divided into six types or groups. These are ring stones, sling stones, hammer stones, hammer stone-anvils, grinding stones and querns. Apart from this among other stone objects there are 620 balls. The stone tools which are predominant are all made on blades and over 23,000 such tools have been reported. Pen knife, blunted backed, serrated and parallel side blades, trapezes and lunates were the main tool types. The material of which these blades have been made is almost invariably milky chalcedony and very rarely carnelian, agate, jasper and quartz. (Dhavalikar In Agarwal, 1979: 240; Sankalia, 1971: 323) It is evident that each household made its own tools for agriculture etc. The chalcolithic technology was not capable of agriculturally producing much from the black cotton soil. Broad alluvial stretches were chosen and stone implements were used till the advent of the iron age.
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The large scale excavation at Navdatoli yielded a rich harvest of beads totalling 2799. Twenty-one types of materials might be broadly grouped into six categories: semi-precious stones, metals, artificial materials, bone, shell and terracotta. Thus the different materials of beads found from Navdatoli are agate, amazonite, bone, carnelian, chalcedony, copper, coral, crystal, faience, glass, gold, jasper, lapis, opal, quartz, sand stone, regular shells, shell, sand- stone, steatite, terracotta, and red glazed terracotta. Thus it is observed that beads were concentrated mostly in the IInd and IIIrd phase of proto-historic occupation at Navdatoli, and secondly the steatite contributed 56 per cent, faience 13 per cent, terracotta 11 per cent and shell 8 per cent. Thus there is an overall dominance of non-stone material.
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The lapidaries of proto-historic Navdatoli excelled in the making of beads of faience and steatite. Tiny micro-beads of steatite were fashioned probably on a thread as in the workshops of Chanhu-Daro. The thread got burnt during firing. 95 per cent of the faience beads must have been dipped in liquid glazes before firing. The coating was either a white or a bluish glaze, the latter dominating. Shell beads were found in association with scores of waste pieces of the columella of shells.
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Among the semi-precious stones, agate forms 2 per cent, with carnelian and amazonite closely following. Beads of metal like gold and copper were represented by a few specimens. Navdatoli must have been not only a bead-making centre but also a centre of trade. Rajasthan possibly supplied copper, quartz and steatite; coral and amazonite possibly came from Gujarat, sandstone from Vindhyan range, lapis from Persia etc. Jasper, agate and carnelian were available locally. For bead-making, mostly banded agate of attractive colourful scheme were chosen. Sharp drills must have been used.
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Bead-making was practised up to the early historic level; in this period, a reasonable quantity of glass slag was recovered from which the beads came. The colour of the slag is identical with some of the finished beads and as such some of these may be waste pieces. (Sankalia, 1971: 351-70)
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A large number of terracotta objects were recovered from Navdatoli. The categories of objects common to different levels were discs, skin, rubbers, lamps, ear-studs, balls or marbles, stoppers, whorls, toys and figurines. In addition to this, terracotta rings, decorated pieces, cakes, and sharpeners were also found. (Sankalia, 1971: 373)
v1.c16.s2.t1.8
Objects of three metals — copper, iron and lead were found. Those of iron belonged to the early historical period while lead entirely to proto-historic levels and copper mostly to the same. But tools of copper were also used albeit on a restricted scale for the simple reason that the metal was scarce. The copper objects comprised of tools, weapons and ornaments; those of lead were fragments, whereas those of iron comprised of tools and weapons and objects of household use.
v1.c16.s2.t1.9
The copper objects, a large number of them in the Phase III of the proto-historic period, could be grouped under tools and weapons like celts, chisels, arrowheads and sword. The celts are flat, and have a convex cutting edge. One of them however is a shouldered celt. Some specimens have shallow groups of circles which were deliberately made. Copper was also used for ornamental purpose such as beads etc. and for light use like poker pointed rods, point-cum-engraver, fish-hook, nails and fragments. (Sankalia, 1971: 390-402)
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K.T.M. Hegde analysed an axe, a chisel and a bangle obtained from Navdatoli. There was no evidence of copper smelting, metallurgical furnace or slag in the area. Hegde suggested that some itinerant metal-working tribe had brought the metallic ingots from the Aravalli area and processed the end artefacts.
v1.c16.s2.t1.11
Elemental analysis showed 91.6-93.2 per cent copper and 3.1-4.4 per cent tin. This amount of tin could not come as chance impurity, and deliberate alloying must have been done to improve casting property, hardness and malleability of the low-tin-bronze.
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In both the metallic artefacts as well as in a sample of Khetri (Rajasthan) ore, the following trace elements were detected: Pb, Ni, Co, Bi, Fe, Mn, Zn, Al, Co, Mo, V, Gd and As. On the other hand several elements found in the Khetri ore such as W, Mg, P, Si, Ca and Sb were not detected in the Navdatoli samples. Hegde’s conclusion that the source of the copper artefacts was from the Aravalli (Khetri) deposits cannot be unequivocally supported.
v1.c16.s2.t1.13
The Navdatoli axe has a smooth surface finish, free from casting fins. This seems to be cast in a well-ventilated closed mould as revealed from the absence of porosity, cracks or cuprous oxide globules. There were small grey globules of lead in the alloy.
v1.c16.s2.t1.14
The microstructure of the metal revealed equiaxial grains and twinning of the grains. The recrystallised grains prove that after casting, the axe was heated above the recrystallisation temperature, about 500°C. Twinning of the grains indicates that it was subjected to intermittent anneals. These thermal and mechanical treatments were given to the object to produce its smooth surface finish and bevell the cutting edge. Absence of strain lines in the microstructure of the butt end of the axe indicates that this portion of the axe was finally annealed. Although the blade end of this Navdatoli axe was not examined, Hegde showed that in a similar bronze axe from Somnath, the cutting edge was finally forged and work hardened while the body was left in an annealed condition.
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The study shows that the metallurgical knowledge of the smiths was advanced and better than that of the Aharian copper-smiths who did not alloy tin with copper, and thus could not produce bronze, and whose moulds were crude and unventillated. (Hegde In Sankalia, Deo and Ansari, 1971: 449-56) At Navdatoli, tin was alloyed up to 3 per cent and lead up to 2 per cent. No arsenical copper was produced.
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The pottery of the Malwa Culture is extremely rich in form and the painted ornament. According to Sankalia, among all the painted pottery found in India so far, that at Navdatoli has given the largest repertory of designs. The repertory has more than six hundred motifs. Mainly there are four main potteries of this site. The earliest is characterized by the white painted black- and red-ware belonging to the Ahar Culture of south-east Rajasthan. Next comes a black-on-red painted pottery and in the final phase of occupation a coarse red-ware occurs in association with the Lustrous Red Ware which is characteristic of the post-Harappan Culture of Gujarat. But during all these phases, the black-on-red painted pottery, i.e., Malwa ware occurs abundantly.
v1.c16.s2.t1.17
This Malwa ware occurs at Malwa sites in great profusion, so much so that at Navdatoli, nearly three-fourths of the pottery yield is this ware. The fossil forms in the ware comprise a water vessel, the typical Indian *loṭā* channel spouted cups and pedestalled goblets. The excavator thinks that the channel spouted cups appear to have been copied from a metal prototype which must be very similar to that from the Khurdi copper hoard in Rajasthan. The drinking goblets or champagne glasses have turned up only from Navdatoli and not from any other site of Malwa Culture. Thus, on the basis of this evidence, Sankalia suggests a foreign (West Asian) contact or influence with this culture. However an indigenous development from the pinched lip to the channel spout through the short channel cannot be ruled out. The idea of a direct influence from Iran is not warranted and not suggested even by Sankalia.
Eran
v1.c16.s2.t2.1
On the basis of C-14 determination, Eran, situated on the river bank of Bina, a tributary of Betwa river, has been suggested to be the earliest home of the black painted red ware or the black-on-red ware, known hitherto as the Malwa ware. The site is located 300 km north-east of Navdatoli and at Tripuri near Jabalpur on the Narmada river. The C-14 determination indicates that the Chalcolithic Culture at this site extended from c. 1700-1170 BC. (Allchins, 1983: 269)
v1.c16.s2.t2.2
The Chalcolithic deposit here is said to be divisible into three phases: early, middle and late on the basis of pottery. While the black painted red, grey and white painted black- and red-wares occurred throughout the three phases, a ware with deep red slip and shining surface appeared in Phase II and the channel spouted vase appeared in Phase III.
v1.c16.s2.t2.3
As the excavation was small and not of a horizontal nature, so the findings were not also large. The plan of houses at Eran has got some resemblance with that of Navdatoli and Inamgaon. But due to the lack of any detail report it became difficult to know about their daily belongings. How far this culture was developed and what type of minerals and metals they were habituated to use, is still an enigma to us. But on the basis of pottery and their shapes, we can venture to say that they had some connection with the Inamgaon and Navdatoli people.
Nāgdā
v1.c16.s2.t3.1
Nāgdā on Chambal was another important settlement. Like Kayatha it has thick debris of the Chalcolithic period. The various pottery shapes and designs are typically ‘Malwa’. Nāgdā like Eran was fortified. According to Sankalia fuller details about this is generally available from the excavations at Navdatoli. (Sankalia, 1974: 434) The use of copper was limited but the chalcedony blade industry was fairly well established.
Prakash
v1.c16.s2.t4.1
Prakash is situated on the Shahada Taluk of Dhulia district in Maharashtra state. The mound overlooks the confluence of the rivers Tapti and Gomai. (Thapar, 1964-65)
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The excavation has revealed the following cultural sequence. Period I (Chalcolithic) 1700-1300 with sub-period IA-1700-1500 BC and IB 1500-1300 BC Period II (Early Iron Age) c. 600-100 BC, Period III (Early Historical) middle of the second century BC to the end of sixth century AD and Period IV (Historical) about the end of sixth century AD to the eleventh century AD. At present, our period of interest lies on the Period I and its sub-divisions.
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The pottery from Prakash falls into four major groups, each of which forms a diagnostic trait in the cultural assemblage of the period to which it belongs. Of these the first two are of special interest. The six principal industries are pale grey ware with a burnished surface, black painted red pottery of the Malwa ware, black painted red pottery of Jorwe ware, the Lustrous red ware, other decorated ware, showing distinctive incised and applied designs of varying complexity, and coarse wares, largely burnished varying from drab-grey to light brown in colour. All of these wares show similarities with the pottery of the comparable period found at some of the excavated sites in Central and Western India. A solitary sherd of the white painted black and red ware of the Ahar fabric is particularly noteworthy for a possible inter-relationship. Even a small influence from Rangpur in Saurashtra or from some intermediary site is suggested by a small quantity of Lustrous Red Ware, which is also a matter of importance.
v1.c16.s2.t4.4
The excavation yielded a good number of stone objects including artefacts.
v1.c16.s2.t4.5
The raw material employed for their manufacture comprised of chalcedony, agate, carnelian, rock crystal, quartz and jasper. The stone objects of interest are stone balls, saddle querns, mullers, etc.
v1.c16.s2.t4.6
Though the excavation was limited in its strength, still it yielded a total of one hundred and thirtythree beads including sixteen from Period I and forty-seven from Period II. The excavator thinks that the presence of a few unfinished specimens in various stages however, indicates that the beads were manufactured locally. The materials used for these beads include: semi-precious stones like quartz, rock crystal, carnelian, agate and jasper, coral, shell, glass, paste, bone and terracotta quartz; agate and jasper seem to have been sparingly employed. Amongst the remaining materials, terracotta, glass and shell show a fairly sizeable percentage.
v1.c16.s2.t4.7
Carnelian accounts for the largest number of beads (28% of total) and is found in all the periods starting from I or chalcolithic. In Phase I, the inhabitants were essentially farmers using stone tools, blades and microliths and very little copper or bronze. However they had leisure for arts and workmanship for producing beads of carnelian, coral, paste, shell (amulets) and bone styluses.
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Rock crystal and quartz were used more frequently in the Phase II or Early Iron Age in this site. Glass and terracotta beads were used more in Phase IV. (Thapar, 1964-65: 10-12, 109-11)
v1.c16.s2.t4.9
In the field of ornaments, mention may be made of total number of 248 bangle-fragments, mostly of shell and glass which were recovered from the excavation. Other materials represented are copper and iron, though very few in number. Of the forty-five glass bangles recovered from the excavation; two came from Period II, and four from Period III. The occurrence of monochrome bangles in the earliest levels of Period II is noteworthy. Shell bangles totalling 198 in number were distributed over all the periods, which indicates its popularity in the society. The occurrence of shell bangles in Chalcolithic assemblage is also attested at Navdatoli, Nevasa and Nagda, but curiously enough is not observed at the southern Deccan sites of Brahmagiri and Maski; probably the Gujarat tradition did not permeate down deep south.
v1.c16.s2.t4.10
Among the miscellaneous objects of bone, ivory and semi-precious stone, finds included bone stylus, awls or borers variously from Period I, II, III. A unique perfume casket of bone from Period II, an ivory comb, a carnelian stick with a square section from Period II deserve mention. The well-known pully-shaped ear-ornaments made of jasper, glass or crystal, black jasper, accounted for as many as five out of total yield of eight, the remaining three being one each of red jasper, crystal and glass.
v1.c16.s2.t4.11
Copper Objects in Prakash
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Phase I in Prakash ending in 1300 BC is nominally called ‘Chalcolithic’ in view of the find of a solitary shapeless bit of copper. The use of metal at Prakash was noticeable only six centuries later (Phase II) when use of copper and its alloys and of iron objects proceeded together. During this stage (600 BC onwards), we find also objects of lead, bronze, brass and leaded bronze and brass.
v1.c16.s2.t4.13
None of the copper/copper alloys objects were cast. The presence of sulphur/sulphide in certain objects showed that smelting of copper sulphide minerals was imperfect. Analysis of certain objects are provided in the Table 8.1.
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Item No. 5 is a bangle made of leaded brass. Lead particles have been microscopically observed to be uniformly distributed. Unevenly distributed phases are probably oxides of Fe and Al. There is the evidence of cold-working after re-crystallisation. For making such bangles, the metal may have been first formed into a plate, cut into a strip, and then given finishing operations to obtain the final shape. Item No. 6 is a bangle of leaded bronze which is in stressed condition although it has been re-crystallised prior to this. Items 7-9 are bells made of bronze. Existence of sulphur and Cu₂O and other oxides indicates that smelting had not been perfect. Item no. 11 is a coil-like ring made of brass. There is a random distribution of very fine particles which may be oxide grains, or minute quantity of lead. The metal has undergone permanent deformation but is now in the stress-free condition. It might have been annealed after hot or cold working.
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The fact that none of the metals — Sn, Pb or Zn — bear any constant weight ratio with respect to Cu proves that the high figures were on account of deliberate alloying of reasonable pure copper (vide object no. 2) with metallic samples of Sn, Pb and Zn. At least four different samples, enriched with four metallic elements, must have been used for the alloying process. It is quite likely that Pb and Zn were produced as separate metals in some smelter area such Zawar, Rajasthan. Item No. 5 contains very high (nearly 26) percentage of zinc and indicates conscious production and use of zinc in the pre-Christian era.
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From Period III in Prakash, two lead objects were obtained. These were basically the same type, the spool of coiled strip, possibly used for distending the ear-lobe. For the preparation of the spool, the strip was probably hammered to a chanelled section and closely wound.
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On the basis of a very careful record of pottery, Period I at Prakash is divided into IA and IB, and it may be said that the first inhabitants of Prakash were a people from Malwa. The assemblage of pots and pans, various types of narrow high-necked water pots which are witnessed at Prakash show resemblance with those of Navdatoli. The coarse sturdy red ware is similarly decorated with incised and applique figures, which is a characteristic feature of Navdatoli.
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Table 8.1
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Chemical and Metallurgical Analysis of Some Copper Objects from Prakash (600 BC)
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| Object No. | Description | Period | Chemical analysis per cent component | Metallographic observation |
| 1. | antimony-rod | II | Cu 95.1, Pb 2.2 | Twinned recrystallised grains; random distribution of lead particles |
| 2. | antimony-rod | III | Cu 98.5 | |
| 3. | antimony-rod | IV | Cu 95.6, Sn 1.5, Pb 1.2 | |
| 4. | bangle | III | Cu 63.5, Zn 25.9, Pb 8.3 oxide * 1.2 | Single phase of brass, distributed lead particles, evidence of cold-working after recrystallisation |
| 5. | bangle | II | Cu 85.1, Sn 9.1, Pb 1.5 | Single phase; twinning strain lines and bent twins showing permanent deformation after recrystallisation |
| 6. | bell | II/III | Cu 61.3, Sn 19.4, Pb 5.9 oxide * 2.7, S 0.3 | |
| 7. | bell | III | Cu 66.1, Sn 20.2, Pb 3.5 | |
| 8. | bell | III | Cu 58.9, Sn 19.0, oxide 1.3, S 0.2 | |
| 9. | ring (coil) | III | Cu 77.9, Zn 17.8, oxide 1.7 | Even distribution of very fine inclusions |
| 10. | Channel tube | II | Cu 66.6, Sn 4.2, oxide 6.3, S 1.2 | |
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*Oxide mainly SiO₂, Fe₂O₃ and Al₂O₃
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It is found that towards the close or middle phase of Period I at Prakash, arrived the Jorwe people with their characteristic pottery, and chronologically this Jorwe intrusion may be placed around c. 1500-1300 BC. Sankalia thinks that it is conceivable that the movement of people and cultural influence was gradual by stages, and this movement ultimately grasped the whole site.
Some General Observations on Malwa Culture
v1.c16.s2.t5.1
We have discussed the principal sites of Malwa culture viz., Navdatoli and Prakash. There are distinct evidences of few more sites of this type in Maharashtra. Let us make some general observations about those sites including the Malwa itself.
v1.c16.s2.t5.2
Now it is widely accepted that around 1600 BC, the Malwa Culture people, after establishing themselves in the Narmadā Valley, began to spread out from their habitat in Central India. After getting no opening in the north because of the Vindhyan barrier they began to move southwards in the northern Deccan, where they flourished for two to three centuries. Their occupations at Prakash, Dāimābād and Inamgaon were quite extensive, whereas in the Pravara-Godāvarī and Bhima Valleys their habitations were very thinly spread.
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That the people of Malwa Culture lived in large rectangular houses is clear from the Inamgaon evidence. They also built pit houses. This Malwa Culture is characterised by a painted ceramic which is rather thick in section and has a coarse, gritty fabric. It is wheel-turned and is treated with a thick orange to pink slip, over which the painted ornament is executed in dark brown or black. Although the Malwa ware, so characteristic of the Central Indian sites, is present in the Deccan, we find that its fabric in the Deccan is somewhat different.
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Generally the tools were of stone and copper. A majority of the tools are of stone of silicious variety such as chalcedony and agate and are made on blade flake. Copper was used for making tools such as knives, chisels, fish-hooks, axes etc. and also for making ornament like bangles and beads. Two copper objects, the knife blade and the pin from Daimabad need a special mention. The former has parallels from Harappan sites whereas the latter may be compared with a Harappan specimen from Chanhu-Daro. The mixed economy of the Chalcolithic farmers of the Malwa Culture was based on farming, hunting and fishing.
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Evidence from Daimabad and Inamgaon throws a welcome light on the religious beliefs of the Malwa people. The evidence is furnished by the recent discovery of a copper bronze hoard from Daimabad which consists of a bull chariot driven by a man, an elephant, a rhino and a buffalo. Dhavalikar thinks that all the objects from the hoard were probably used in some ritual procession and the man driving the chariot may be identified as Paśupati. At first there was a controversy regarding these bronze objects, the main point being whether these materials were from Late-Harappan level or later than that. Dhavalikar and several other archaeologists from Deccan College, have confirmed that these were from Late-Harappan level. The chemical composition also confirms this view; there is the presence of arsenic in those objects as in Harappan bronze objects. The Malwa people in the Deccan had faith in life after death as is testified to by their burials at Dāimābād and Ināmgāon. At Ināmgāon two twin burials of children were exposed. One of them was in a pit dwelling. This tradition was adopted from the neighbouring Jorwe Culture. (Agarwal and Chakrabarti, 1979: 248-50)
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It is generally admitted that the authors of the Kayatha Culture were the pioneering colonizers of Central India; their culture does not seem to have evolved on the soil of Malwa but had been earlier developed elsewhere. Their affinities with the Pre-Harappan Culture of Rajasthan has been suggested; the people of the Ahar Culture had settled at Kayatha and this indicates the link between the cultures of Kayatha and the Banas Valley in southeast Rajasthan.
v1.c16.s2.t5.7
The painted pottery of the Malwa Culture can be said to be derived from the red painted buff ware of the Kayatha Culture and the same holds good so far as the technology of copper and the specialized blade-flake industry are concerned.
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Dhavalikar suggests that by the middle of the second millennium BC some influences from Western Asia began to infiltrate through the north-western regions of the sub-continent. It is probably these people who introduced the West Asian elements in the Malwa Culture and it was only by assimilating such influences that the culture was enriched. However, he admits that the pottery cultures of Central and Western India and the Deccan owe a great deal to the Harappans, at least for their painted black-on-red pottery. Chakrabarti however strongly disagrees with the views of Sankalia and Dhavalikar. The suggested West Asiatic analogies ‘are too general to be of any use in a valid and meaningful comparison’. (Chakrabarti, 1977: 25; Agarwal, 1984: 243-44)