Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

A History of Agriculture in India v1.c23: Chapter 17. Neolithic Culture of Eastern India

A History of Agriculture in India v1.c23

Language
English

Contents

Chapter 17. Neolithic Culture of Eastern India

v1.c23.2

CULTIVATION OF RICE, BANANAS, SUGARCANE AND YAMS

v1.c23.3

2000 B.C.

v1.c23.4

RICE is the most extensively cultivated crop in the world, and serves as the staple food for the largest population. China is the largest producer of rice in the world, followed by India. India accounts for nearly 21 per cent of the world production of this cereal. Other important rice-producing countries are Bangladesh, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand and Burma.

v1.c23.5

In India, rice has the largest area under it, i.e. about 30 per cent of the total area under all foodgrains. Though it is grown in all the States, its principal concentration is in eastern India, viz. Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.

v1.c23.6

The Neolithic cultures of eastern India, viz. Assam (excavated site, Daojali Hading), north Bihar (excavated site, Chirand), West Bengal (excavated site, Pandu Rajar Dhibi), and Orissa (excavated site, Kuchai) have particular importance when we consider the problem of the origin of cultivation of rice.

v1.c23.7

According to Sankalia, the whole of eastern India, comprising Assam, Bengal and Bihar are pure Neolithic cultures, with ground stone axes as the basic industry. Ground tools of stone and bone are abundant in eastern India, with hand-made pottery in small quantities. The stone tools are of three main types, viz. triangular, rectangular and shouldered.

Assam and North-Eastern Region

v1.c23.s1.1

The Garo Hills. Nearly 1,000 tools were collected from Rongram, Rengchangiri, Rangchigiri, Chitra Abri, Rongchugate, Rombhagiri, Tura and Phalbari. These sites are situated on the north-western face of the Arbela Range, 762 and 609 metres above sea-level.

v1.c23.s1.2

The present distribution of these tools suggests that people in some areas in the Garo Hills preferred to make simple celts, whereas others made tanged or shouldered ones, though the purpose or function of both was probably the same, viz. hoeing. Thus it was essentially an agricultural tool.

v1.c23.s1.3

The North Cachar Hills. There are three classes of Neolithic pottery found in the stratified site of Daojali Hading in the North Cachar Hills. Of these, the cord-impressed pottery is the most numerous and shows distinct influence from the Szechwan region in China.

v1.c23.s1.4

Among the ground tools, the fully ground are by far the most numerous in the Garo Hills. Shouldered axes again form a major or dominant group among the various types of tools (Fig. 145). These have been found for the first time in stratified context at Deojali Hading, where they occur along with small axes, flat or round on the sides, quadrangular adzes and cord-impressed pottery. According to Sankalia, ‘The Assam Neolithic primarily drew its inspiration from Southwest China and Indo-China, and the Deojali Hading assemblage was comparable with the Late Bacsonian of Southeast Asia. The major role was played by the Upper Yangtze Valley of Szechwan and Yunnan in developing the Neolithic cultures of Assam.’

v1.c23.s1.5

The Naga Hills. The pecked and edge-ground axes of the Naga Hills compare with the excavated specimens from Yang Shao Taun in Honan, North China. The pecking technique seems to have been introduced into this region from China, whence also came the jadeite axes.

v1.c23.s1.6

The pointed butt axes of the Naga Hills, being associated with shouldered axes, are derived from East Asia (Fig. 146).

v1.c23.s1.7

Sharma has shown that the shouldered axes have affinity with the Hoabinhian of Thailand.

v1.c23.s1.8

According to Sankalia, ‘The life of these Neolithic people could not have been much different from that of most of the present pre-literates some 50 years ago, when modern civilizations had not reached them. Even now cord-impressed pottery and bark cloth are made by the Agaro, who also practise shifting cultivation.’¹

v1.c23.s1.9

¹ Sankalia, H.D. *The Prehistory and Protohistory of India and Pakistan*, pp. 297, 298

v1.c23.s1.10

No direct evidence for the domestication of animals has been obtained in eastern India. From circumstantial evidence it can be inferred that jhooming or slash-and-burn shifting cultivation must have been prevalent. This is a system which is widely prevalent even now in Assam, and contributes to the flood problem of that State. The tribals live on the hilltops and when they burn the forest, a good deal of fertile soil is washed away during the rains.

Bihar

v1.c23.s2.1

Chirand: District Saran. In eastern India, the lower layers of Chirand, District Saran, a site about 8 kilometres east of Chapra and situated near the confluence of the Ghagra and the Ganga, has given a truly Neolithic assemblage. The discovery only underlines the importance of the earlier but mixed assemblages from Sonpur (District Gaya), Uriup (District Bhagalpur) and a few other sites. Three things are noteworthy at Chirand. First, the earliest settlement rests under a thick debris of the Early Historic town and is 3.5 metres thick. Secondly, it is situated in the plain over the old reddish silt. Thirdly, ground or polished tools are few but there is an abundance and variety of bone tools. A ¹⁴C determination from the topmost level of the Neolithic had given a date of 1650 B.C.

v1.c23.s2.2

but there is an earlier date 1755 ± 155 B.C. It is, therefore, expected that the lowest deposit might go back to c. 2500 B.C.

v1.c23.s2.3

The houses were circular, about 2 metres in diameter. The floors were paved and the walls were made of clay or mud, plastered over a bamboo screen from outside and inside. It is also thought that there were roofed "pit houses". The roofs were presumably conical and thatched. Villages with such circular huts may even now be seen on the way to Chirand.

v1.c23.s2.4

The inhabitants used pots and pans. Though the details are not yet available, it seems there were four main fabrics: red, pale and deep grey, black and black-and-red. These are either hand-made or made with the help of a turntable.

v1.c23.s2.5

It is said that the microliths made on chert, chalcedony and siliceous stones obtained from the Son were used by the Neolithic people.

v1.c23.s2.6

A distinguishing feature is the repertory of tools made from bone and antler. These include picks, chisels with broad and narrow end, hammer, dagger, bar celt, shaft straightener, side- and end-scrapers, needle, bodkin, awl and drill.

v1.c23.s2.7

There are also arrowheads, both tanged and socketed.

v1.c23.s2.8

For cutting stalks of wild grasses, these Neolithic men employed microliths, set in bone, wood or clay hafts or used the larger parallel-sided blades.

v1.c23.s2.9

Terracotta figurines, showing humped bulls, birds and toy-cart wheels, were also recovered. The ceramics associated with this culture included hand-made red, grey-black and black-and-red wares. The occurrence of mat impressions on a sherd indicate the knowledge of the technique of preparing mats out of reeds.

v1.c23.s2.10

So far, no harpoons or fish-hooks have been found, though certain objects have been recognized as net-knitting tools. The only effective weapons of offence were bows and arrows, tipped with stone and bone points and terracotta sling balls.

v1.c23.s2.11

The site has also yielded a number of ground stone artefact including hammerstones and rubberstones.²

v1.c23.s2.12

² Sankalia, H.D. *The Prehistory and Protohistory of India and Pakistan*, pp. 304-307.

v1.c23.s2.13

It appears that the earliest Chirandians were not merely hunter-gatherers. They also cultivated foodgrains. Among the debris occur charred grains of rice, paddy husk, wheat, barley, pea and green-gram. Paddy-husk impressions on some of the pieces of burnt clay as also some grains of charred rice indicate the use of that cereal by the inhabitants. The rice grains belong to both the cultivated and wild *Oryza sativa* and *O. rufipogon*. The assemblage, as a whole, indicates an advanced stage of neolithic economy.

West Bengal

v1.c23.s3.1

Pandu Rajar Dhibi. A fairly extensive, early rice-growing, riverain culture, with maritime contacts, once existed in West Bengal. Pandu Rajar Dhibi is one of the largest settlements in West Bengal. As the name connotes, it is reputed to be the home of King Pandu.

v1.c23.s3.2

Pandu Rajar Dhibi is set in beautiful surroundings. Situated on the banks of the Ajay, it has banana groves, occasional tall coconut and sal trees, their greenery contrasting with the red, lateritic, undulating plain.

v1.c23.s3.3

At Pandu Rajar Dhibi we see a gradual growth of a Chalcolithic culture.

v1.c23.s3.4

In Period I, besides hand-made, thick grey ware, with impressions of paddy-husk, were found a wheel-turned thin ware of plain and sandy fabric, a pale-red ware and black-and-red ware.

v1.c23.s3.5

Rice, fish and meat of nilgai, deer and pig were the staple diet of the inhabitants from the very beginning of the settlement.

v1.c23.s3.6

Pandu Rajar Dhibi is not a solitary agricultural village of the Chalcolithic period in West Bengal. Small excavations at Mahisdal, Nanur, Haraipur, District Birbhum, and Tulsipur, District Bankura, have yielded similar evidence.

v1.c23.s3.7

The objects from these small excavations not only confirm the evidence from Pandu Rajar Dhibi, with regard to the nature of the houses, pottery, and burial practices in Period I, but complement it in several ways. Among the microliths are lunates and short blades, a flat copper celt with convex cutting edge, tetrahedral stone weights, and a large quantity of charred rice. The impressions of paddy husks from Pandu Rajar Dhibi were identified by the Economic Botanist to the West Bengal Government as those of cultivated paddy, Oryza sativa.³

v1.c23.s3.8

³ Sankalia, H.D. *The Prehistory and Protohistory of India and Pakistan*, pp. 309 to 312

Orissa

v1.c23.s4.1

Kuchai. Kuchai Baidapur (District Mayurbhanj), Kiching, Kurkutie, Sini (District Singhbhum) are Neolithic sites in Orissa. At all these places grey-black, brownish red pottery, comparable with that of Pandu Rajar Dhibi, Period I, along with polished stone tools of phyllite, have been found.⁴

v1.c23.s4.2

⁴ Sankalia, H.D. *The Prehistory and Protohistory of India and Pakistan*, p. 312

Thailand

v1.c23.s5.1

Chester Gorman⁵, in a review of the latest evidence from the mainland sites in Southeast Asia, including his own excavations in the Spirit Cave and at Non Nok Tha and Ban Kao in Thailand, has shown that the initial date for the Hoabinhian occupation culture might be placed in the Late Pleistocene, about 13000 to 14000 B.P., as the four ¹⁴C dates range from 455 ± 360 to 11690 ± 560 B.P. The oldest date derives from a mid-layer 4, and the samples from layer 5 are under analysis. The cultural and other remains continue until about 3500 to 3000 B.C. From here the story is brought forward by the two sites, Non Nok Tha and Ban Kao up to the historical period. Thus a unique time span from 12000 B.C. to 2000 B.C. is provided during which we witness "the shift from upland to lowland settlement and a concomitant shift in the subsistence base from hunting and gathering to early cereal agriculture."

v1.c23.s5.2

⁵ Gorman, Chester, "The Hoabinhian and after....," *World Archaeology*, February 1971, pp. 300-320

v1.c23.s5.3

It is worth noting in this context that 15 of the 18 sites cited by Gorman are located in the upland Karstic formations near small streams or in forest-clad submontane areas in close proximity to streams. An identical situation is found in Meghalaya (Garo Hills) and other hilly areas of Assam.

v1.c23.s5.4

The discovery by Gorman of Hoabinhian culture in Thailand dating back to 12000 B.C. confirms Carl Sauer's guess that the earliest agriculture was in Southeast Asia. Sauer states, "As the cradle of earliest agriculture, I have proposed South-eastern Asia. It meets the requirements of high physical and organic diversity, of mild climate with reversed monsoons giving abundant rainy and dry periods, of many waters inviting to fishing, of location at the hub of the Old World for communication by water or by land. No other area is equally well situated or equally well furnished for the rise of a fishing farming culture."

Earliest Agriculture Was by Vegetative Propagation

v1.c23.s6.1

(Bananas, Sugarcane, Yams, Sago Palm, etc.)

v1.c23.s6.2

Sauer is of the view that the earliest agriculture was by vegetative propagation of parts of plants. He states, 'The creative curiosity of man in the monsoon lands has operated strongly with asexual plant reproduction. Multiplication and selection is from clones. A piece of a plant is set into the ground to make a new plant. This may be by an offset or sprout from the parent, by dividing a root stock, by a stem cutting, or by a piece of underground stem or tuber. An individual plant is divided and multiplied indefinitely.'

v1.c23.s6.3

The list of such man-made plants, or cultigens, is large, with eastern India in the first place as regards origin. Botanically, it includes many and important monocotyledons: Southeast Asia is the original home of the bananas and ginger. Musaceae and Zingiberaceae are predominantly Southeast Asian. The principal area of diversity of Musaceae is Assam-Thailand with 10-20 species, followed by Borneo-Indonesia with 11-13 species. Genetic studies lately have resolved the variations in the Asiatic bananas with the result that the old distinction between bananas and plantains must be abandoned. One cultigen line derives directly from Musa balbisiana, native from Bihar, up to the Himalayas, another from the Malayan *M. acuminata*, and the third main line involves hybrids between the two.⁶ *Musa acuminata* in the broad sense is geographically nearly coextensive with the genus as a whole, and its centre of diversity lies in the Malayan area, where four out of the known five subspecies overlap. This area was also the primary centre of origin of the cultivated bananas, which sprang from *M. acuminata*.

v1.c23.s6.4

⁶ Cheesman, E.E. On the Nomenclature of Edible Bananas, *Jour. Genetics*, Vol. 48, 1948, pp. 293-296

v1.c23.s6.5

Discussing the evolution of edible bananas, Cheesman observes, ‘The early cultivators seized upon the first signs of parthenocarpy and female sterility. Thus began the evolution of edible bananas, and jungle weeds were transformed into a fruit crop with sweet, moist and aromatic flesh. There was selection in favour of triploidy, because of the vigour, yield and sterility. The AAB group has 20 clones in India and eastern Malaysia. There are many mutants in India. The dispersal of the edible bananas outside Asia was accomplished by the transport of vegetative planting material by human agencies. The first movement was across the Pacific. The second movement was across the Indian ocean to Africa.’⁷ According to Murdock, the Indian element entered Africa by the Sabean lane during the first millennium B.C. The Malaysian elements, which include the bananas, taros, yams, breadfruit and coconut, were introduced by the Indonesian migrants about the time of Christ in Kenya and Uganda, from where they diffused across the African continent to western Sudan. The Bantus carried these crops westwards and southwards. It was followed by a population explosion.

v1.c23.s6.6

⁷ Cheesman, E.E. *The Evolution of Bananas*, pp. 132, 143, 144

v1.c23.s6.7

The domesticated forms of the ginger family, such as turmeric, appear to be mainly Indian. For the home of the greater yam (*Dioscorea alata*), Burkill favours the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal; for *D. esculenta*, Indochina.⁸ ‘A half-dozen species of cultivated yams, some of them carried to the farthest Pacific Islands, throw important light on cultural radiation from the Southeast Asiatic mainland. Certain palms, especially the sago palm, pandanus, bamboos, and sugarcane, have been widely carried out of India and Indochina and greatly altered by man.’

v1.c23.s6.8

⁸ Burkill, I.A. *Dictionary of Economic Products of the Malay Peninsula*, 159

v1.c23.s6.9

It may be noted that no archaeological evidence of such plants would be available as climate precludes the preservation of herbaceous cultigens.

v1.c23.s6.10

Who were the earliest farmers in South-Eastern Asia. According to Sauer, ‘The improvement of plants by selection for better utility to man was accomplished only by a people who lived at a comfortable margin above the level of want. The needy and miserable societies are not inventive, for they lack the leisure for reflection, experimentation, and discussion.

v1.c23.s6.11

‘The hearths of domestication are to be sought in areas of marked diversity of plants or animals, where there were varied and good raw materials to experiment with, or, in other words, where there was a large reservoir of genes to be sorted out and recombined. This implies well-diversified terrain and perhaps also variety of climate.

v1.c23.s6.12

'Primitive cultivators could not establish themselves in large river valleys subject to lengthy floods and requiring protective dams, drainage, or irrigation. Thus earliest agriculture had its origin in hill and mountain lands.

v1.c23.s6.13

'Above all, the founders of agriculture were sedentary folk. Groups move as little as their needs of food, water, fuel, and shelter require. Mobility as a dominant character goes with specialized hunting economies or with life in meagre environments. Growing crops require constant attention. I have never seen primitive plantings that are not closely watched over until the crop is secured. A planted clearing anywhere is a feast set for all manner of wild creatures that fly, walk, and crawl to come in and raid fruits, leaves, and roots. What is food for man is feast for beasts. And, therefore, by day and night someone must drive off the unbidden wild guests. Planting a field and then leaving it until the harvest would mean loss of harvest.

v1.c23.s6.14

'The progenitors of the earliest agriculturists I have sought in some well-situated, progressive fishing folk living in a mild climate along fresh waters. Fresh water is postulated rather than salt because seaside vegetation has contributed little to the making of crop plants. For sedentary living there must have been available a long season or year-round staple resource in fish and other aquatic life. Clustering of groups in permanent villages was made possible at sites continually advantageous for fishing, such as stream junctions, lake outlets, rapids. Waterways served as lines of communication with other villages and so for the exchange and growth of ideas. Waterfowl, riparian mammals, water-side plants gave diversity to food. Basts and fibers were used to make nets and lines and suitable woods were at hand for boats and paddles.'⁹

v1.c23.s6.15

⁹ Sauer, O.C. Agricultural Origins and Dispersals, pp 24 to 26

v1.c23.s6.16

Sauer states that the art of seeding is relatively recent in the Old World and marginal to the art of planting. Archaeological excavations in the Fertile Crescent area of the Near East have shown that the art of seeding is as old as 7000 B.C. In the lands with cold winters the art of seeding is not marginal. Here vegetative propagation of crop plants is marginal. In tropical areas no doubt vegetative propagation is of prime importance.

Hearths of Agriculture

v1.c23.s7.1

Sauer's theory of diffusion of agriculture from one centre suffers from overstatement. Sauer states, the Near East and Mediterranean regions are no more than recent peripheral developments of the dispersal from the original hearth in Southeast Asia. Agriculture did not diffuse from one centre to the rest of the world. In fact, there were seven hearths in the Old World, and four in the New World, from which diffusion of crop plants took place. The oldest centre of diversity and origin of cultivated plants is South-East Asia comprising Thailand, Malaya and adjoining areas. In this centre, rice, sugarcane, banana, coconut, cardamom and turmeric were cultivated. The second oldest centre is that of the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East where wheats, forage crops, olive, grapes and almonds were cultivated. The third centre is in South India which is the home of rice, jute, desi cotton, pulses, mango, citrus fruits and black pepper. The fourth centre is the Chinese, the home of soybean, loquat, litchi, some citrus fruits and tea. North India, Afghanistan and Iran comprise another centre which is regarded as the home of bread wheats, rye, linseed, apple, pear, and walnut. The countries bordering the Mediterranean Ocean are the home of oats, temperate fruits and vegetables like cabbages, cauliflowers, etc. Abyssinia is the home of wheats, sorghum, castor, barley, coffee, and water-melon. The new world has four centres of origin of cultivated plants. Of these one is in Mexico in Central America, which is regarded as a home of maize, sweet-potato, cotton, chilli, papaya, guava, pumpkin, and beans. The other centre is in Peru and Bolivia in South America, which is the home of potato, tomato and tobacco. Argentina and Brazil are the home of rubber, groundnut, pineapple, cashew, tapioca and cocoa (Fig.143).

Rice—Origin and Cultivation

v1.c23.s8.1

The genus *Oryza*, to which rice belongs, has 28 species and subspecies, of which 26 are wild and two, *O. sativa* and *O. glaberrima*, are cultivated. All the rice varieties of Asia, Europe, and America belong to *O. sativa*, and of West Africa to *O. glaberrima*. India has five wild species, of which *O. sativa* var. *fatua* is a common weed in many states. *O. perennis*, found wild in Orissa, has a short rhizome, a branched floating stem and perennial habit. In wild rices, grains shatter easily and are difficult to harvest.

v1.c23.s8.2

Among the wild species, there has been a regular trend of evolution from perennial to annual habit, from cross-pollination to self-pollination and from lesser to greater fecundity.

v1.c23.s8.3

Looking back in history and considering the evolution of cultivated rices it must be supposed that man took annual wild types (*nivara*, *breviligulata*), subjected them to the selection pressure of cultivation, harvesting and sowing and thereby gave rise to the *sativa* cultivars in Asia. The west African rice, *O. glaberrima*, represents the cultivated member of a series parallel to that occurring in Asia. There is no evidence of exchange between Asia and west Africa in prehistoric times to account for the existence of *O. glaberrima* and it must be accepted as a separate domestication.

v1.c23.s8.4

Fig. 143. Centres of diversity and origin of cultivated plants (general assignment after Vavilov, 1935, and Darlington and Janaki Ammal, 1945)

v1.c23.s8.5

It is considered that *O. sativa* evolved from the wild rices by mutation and selection. It is thought that rice cultivation originated in India, Burma or Indochina. India has more than 4,000 varieties of rice.

v1.c23.s8.6

Malayan migrants introduced rice cultivation in Indonesia in protohistoric times. Rice was introduced into the Philippines by immigrants from South China in the first millennium B.C. It is they who developed the vast terrace system in the mountains of the Philippines. On account of its heavy yields, rice could support a far denser population than any other cereal, and consequently population in rice lands increased at an explosive rate.

v1.c23.s8.7

According to Shastry and Sharma¹⁰, the genus *Oryza* started initially as a small plant growing in well-drained soils in the humid atmosphere of forests. The hydrophytic habitat with preference for open sunshine and a larger size of plant (e.g. *O. officinalis*) were later phylogenetic developments. The tuberculations on the surface of the fertile lemma and palea and the development of awns are also advanced characters in *Oryza*, though in the most advanced, cultivated species, *O. sativa* and *O. glaberrima*, the awns are often suppressed. Lastly, it follows that South-East Asia is the probable centre of origin of the genus, and its spread to the African and American continents was a later development.

v1.c23.s8.8

¹⁰Shastry, S.V.S. and Sharma, S.D. *Rice* in *Evolutionary Studies in World Crops* (Ed, Sir Joseph Hutchinson), pp. 56 to 58

v1.c23.s8.9

Most species of *Oryza* are diploid, with 2n=24 chromosomes. The diploids are distributed in the tropics of Asia and Africa, whereas the tetraploids are to be found in the tropics of America as well as of the Old World.

v1.c23.s8.10

The basic type is a wild perennial grassy species which grows in ponds, ditches and canals, and which sometimes occurs as a weed in rice cultivations. It has panicles which shatter on ripening and seeds with hard seed-coat and considerable dormancy. It is found throughout the Old World tropics from south China and the Philippines to west Africa and it has been recorded from Cuba and from South America.

v1.c23.s8.11

Numerous specific names have been given to the forms of this wild perennial from different geographical areas. In Asia, the names *O. perennis*, *O. balunga*, and *O. rufipogon* have been used, and in Africa *O. longistaminata* and *O. barthii*. The New World form is usually described as *O. cubensis*.

v1.c23.s8.12

The cultivated rices fall into two species, namely *O. sativa* in Asia and *O. glaberrima* in west Africa. The Asian species falls into two genetically and geographically distinct races, the *indica* race of the Indian subcontinent and the *japonica* race of Japan and north China.

v1.c23.s8.13

**Archaeobotanical Record of Rice.** The earliest archaeobotanical record of rice in India is from Lothal (2300 B.C.) and Rangpur (2000 to 1800 B.C.) in Gujarat. This is in the form of impressions of spikelets on potsherds. Gujarat, which is largely a dry area, is hardly the habitat for rice. It is what is known as an accident of archaeology and no attempt should be made to read too much in it. In due course, older sites may be discovered in eastern India, which is the true home of rice. It is the find of *Oryza sativa* from Neolithic Chirand in Bihar (2000 to 1300 B.C.) which is much more significant. *Oryza sativa* was also found from Pandu Rajar Dhibi (second millennium B.C.) from West Bengal. It is also recorded from Navdatoli (1550-1400 B.C.), Hastinapur (1100-800 B.C.) and Atranjikhera (1200-600 B.C.) in Uttar Pradesh. The location of these sites is shown in Fig. 144. Spikelets, husks and grains of rice found in an excavation at Hastinapur are shown in Fig. 147.

v1.c23.s8.14

The earliest record of rice in the world, however, comes from Non Nok Tha in Thailand, where it dates to 3500 B.C. Here, impressions of rice grains have been found on potsherds. It was also found in late Neolithic of China which dates to 1650 B.C.

v1.c23.s8.15

**Diffuse Origin of Rice.** Rice has had a diffuse origin (cf. Harlan, 1965) both in space and time. Several centres of origin have been proposed for Asian rice : southern India (Watt, 1892; Ramiah and Ghose, 1951; Nair *et al.*, 1964), Jeypore tract in Orissa, in south-eastern India (a secondary centre, Ramiah and Ghose, 1951), the Philippines (Ramiah and Ghose, 1951), China (de Candolle, 1886; Roschevicz, 1931; Ting, 1949), Indochina (Hamada, 1949) and the western Indo-Pacific area (Barrau, 1966). All [Figure: INDIA RICE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF RECORDS TOGETHER WITH DATES IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT]

v1.c23.s8.16

Fig. 144. Geographical distribution of records of rice, together with dates in the Indian subcontinent these areas show today considerable varietal diversity. In addition, the north-western and north-eastern foothills of the Himalayas (Ramiah and Ghose, 1951) and the Guyanas (Porteres, 1949) are known to show much variation. The difficulties resulting from considering the centres of diversity as centres of origin are well known by now (cf. Zohary, 1970). With the ancestral species present in its original habitat in all these regions of variability and with the knowledge that this species is found good enough even today for harvesting, the changeover from rice-gathering to rice-culture could have been attempted in each of these regions and at various times. This can be witnessed even today in some areas such as the Jeypore tract in Orissa in eastern India. Further, the transition from the wild to the cultivated form in rice is of a much lower magnitude than that involved in at least the principal cereals. And this ennoblement could have been effected by the people inhabiting these regions.¹¹

v1.c23.s8.17

¹¹ Nayar, N.M. Origin and Cytogenetics of Rice, in *Advances in Genetics*, Vol. 17, 1973, pp. 177-78

v1.c23.s8.18

Nayar seems to be correct when he says that rice had a diffuse origin both in space and time. Among centres of origin proposed in India are the Malabar Coast in Kerala, the Jeypore tract in Orissa, and the north-eastern foothills of the Himalayas. In these areas are several wild taxa, including both annual and perennial *rufipogon*, and high varietal diversity.

v1.c23.s8.19

When one examines rice cultivation in India at present, one finds that its largest concentration is in eastern India, viz. West Bengal, northern Bihar and Orissa (Fig. 144). This fact also lends support to the theory that this area is the main centre of the origin of rice in India.

Achievements of Neolithic Cultures

v1.c23.s9.1

It must be clearly understood that the term Neolithic denotes a stage in economic and technological development, and is not necessarily a period of time. While in the Fertile Crescent area in Western Asia it may date back to 7000 B.C. and in Thailand even earlier, in the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent it may extend from 3000 B.C. to 1300 B.C. Still in India there are inaccessible areas which are not far removed from the Neolithic stage.

v1.c23.s9.2

When we talk of Neolithic revolution, we should understand that it is a process and not an event. As such, it extends over a vast span of time. The major achievement of the Neolithic revolution was the discovery of agriculture, horticulture, vegeculture and animal husbandry.

v1.c23.s9.3

Concluding the account of the Neolithic cultures of India, we may as well review their achievements. With their polished stone axes, the Neolithic men cleared the jungles close to their sites of habitation. They built underground shelters or huts, thus creating the first villages. They made hand-made pottery for storing foodgrains. They invented textile-

Atranjikhera

v1.c23.s10.1

| 2000 BC | 1200 BC 600 BC | |
| | | Rice |
| | | Wheat |
| | | Barley |
| | | *Cicer arietinum* |
| | | *Lathyrus sativus* |
| | | *Boehmeria platyphylla* |

v1.c23.s10.2

Ahar

v1.c23.s10.3

| 1800 BC-1725 BC | 1200 BC | |
| | | Rice |
| | | Sorghum |
| | | *Pennisetum* |

v1.c23.s10.4

Fig. 148. Foodgrains discovered in the excavations at Atranjikhera and Ahar and their age (After Vishnu-Mittre)

v1.c23.s10.5

weaving and basketry. As Boule and Vollois observe, ‘The Neolithics were the first Men who succeeded in breaking away from a passive attitude towards their physical environment, who attempted to render nature subservient to their needs by exploiting the forests, cultivating the plains and capturing animals, in order to make of them valuable auxilliaries. Hence a new upsurge of the spirit of invention. Hence, too, new social organizations leading to fixed agglomerations of dwellings, that is to say, to true villages. We cannot lay too much stress on the moving grandeur of the changes that must have taken place in order to turn the more or less nomadic hunters of the Palaeolithic into cultivators, the first peasants living on their crops, henceforth attached to a soil which fed them and which therefore gave them, for the first time, the idea of a Country. We are in the presence of a major stage in the evolution of Humanity, at the very origin of true civilizations. This stage can only be compared with Fig. 147. Spikelets, husks and grains of rise found in an excavation at Hastinapur, Meerut District, Uttar Pradesh (Legend on facing page)

v1.c23.s10.6

Fig. 145. Polished Neolithic axes from Deojali Hading, North Cachar Hills, Assam. The upper row contains shouldered ground stone-axes, with rectangular tang. These axes served as hoes for digging the soil (Courtesy: Archaeological Survey of India)

v1.c23.s10.7

Fig. 146. Palaeolithic and Neolithic tools from the Lohit District. In the last row at left is a fully ground sandstone Neolithic axe. In the middle is a shouldered axe, with a rounded rectangular section (Courtesy: Archaeological Survey of India)

v1.c23.s10.8

1

v1.c23.s10.9

2

v1.c23.s10.10

3

v1.c23.s10.11

4

v1.c23.s10.12

5

v1.c23.s10.13

6

v1.c23.s10.14

7

v1.c23.s10.15

8

v1.c23.s10.16

9

v1.c23.s10.17

10

v1.c23.s10.18

11

v1.c23.s10.19

12

v1.c23.s10.20

13

v1.c23.s10.21

14

v1.c23.s10.22

15

v1.c23.s10.23

that, infinitely older, of the conquest of fire.¹²

v1.c23.s10.24

¹² [Note text not present on page]

v1.c23.s10.25

Our civilization still rests on the discoveries made by the Neolithic people. Historic man has added no plant or animal of major importance to the domesticated forms on which he depends.

References

v1.c23.s11.1

Allchin, B. and R. *The Birth of Indian Civilization*, Pelican, 1968 Boule, M. and Vollois, H.V. *Fossil Men*, New York, 1957 Burkill, I.A. *Dictionary of Economic Products of the Malay Peninsula* Cheesman, E.E. On the nomenclature of Edible Bananas, *Journ. of Genetics*, Vol. 48, 1948 De Candolle, A. *Origin of Cultivated Plants*, New York, 1959 (Reprint) *Indian Archaeology*, 1962-63—A Review, A.S.I., New Delhi, 1965 *Indian Archaeology*, 1968-69—A Review, A.S.I., New Delhi, 1971 *Indian Archaeology*, 1969-70—A Review, A.S.I., New Delhi, 1973 Nayar, N.M. Origin and Cytogenetics of Rice, *Advances in Genetics*, Vol. 17, New York, 1973 Sankalia, H.D. *The Prehistory and Protohistory of India and Pakistan*, Poona, 1974 Sauer, C.O. *Agricultural Origin and Dispersals—The Domestication of Animals and Foodstuffs*, M.I.T., Boston, 1969 Shastry, S.V.S. and Sharma, S.D. Rice, in *Evolutionary Studies of World Crops* (Ed. Sir J. Hutchinson), London, 1974 Simmonds, N.W. *The Evolution of the Bananas*, London, 1962 Thapar, B.K. Problems of the Neolithic Cultures in India: a Retrospect, *Puratattva*, No. 7, 1974 Vishnu-Mittre. The Beginnings of Agriculture—Palaeobotanical Evidence in India, in *Evolutionary Studies of World Crops* (Ed. Sir. J. Hutchinson), London, 1974

v1.c23.s11.2

Fig. 147. Legend
1. Charred rice spikelets (s) and charcoal chips (c)
2. Broken spikelet with awn (a). The lower portion of the grain is exposed due to the breaking off of the husk
3. Another spikelet showing fertile lemma (fl) and palea (p)
4. Collapsed spikelet showing sterile lemma (sl) and expansion of rachilla(r)
5. Another flattened spikelet with awn
6. Grain embedded in tar-like substance
7. Part of spikelet showing tri-dentate nature of apiculus (ap)
8. Two spikelets, one with awn (a)
9. Outer surface of the paddy with chess-board pattern (cb)
10. Portion of the spikelet showing thickening of the rachilla (r)
11. Inside view of the husk with pericarp (pc) attached
12. Surface view of the husks
13. Grains of different shapes and sizes
14. Enlarged view of grains
15. Basal part of the grain showing embryonic region (e)

Linked texts (16)