Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

A History of Agriculture in India v1.c33: Chapter 27. From Sungas to the Śātavāhanas and Kushans

A History of Agriculture in India v1.c33

Language
English

Contents

Chapter 27. From Sungas to the Śātavāhanas and Kushans

v1.c33.1

FROM SUNGAS TO THE ŚĀTAVĀHANAS AND KUSHANS 200 B.C. — A.D. 300 BRICK-WELLS AND IMPROVED AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS OF IRON CULTIVATION OF RICE AND COCONUT PALMS

v1.c33.2

ASOKA died in 232 B.C. and was followed by a number of weak successors. After the Mauryans, the Sungas ruled India. The Sunga Dynasty was founded by Pushyamitra, the Commander-in-Chief of the last Maurya ruler Brihadratha. He moved the capital from Pataliputra to Malwa. Kalinga became independent under Kharavela who invaded Magadha and captured Pataliputra. The Andhras (the Śātavāhanas) occupied the north of the peninsula. The southern half of the peninsula was ruled by the Cholas, Pandyas and Cheras. Northern India was ruled by the Indo-Greek kings.

v1.c33.3

The Sungas ruled from 184 B.C. to 72 B.C. The last Sunga ruler was Devabhuti. He was assassinated by Vasudeva, his minister, who founded the Kanva Dynasty. There were four Kanva kings who ruled from 72 B.C. to 27 B.C. Susarman, the last Kanva ruler, was overthrown by the Andhras.

v1.c33.4

When the Sunga power waned, the Kshatriya tribes of the Punjab, Haryana and northern Rajasthan who were living between the Ravi and the Jumna became independent and set up Republics. Panini describes them as professional warriors. Of these, Yaudheyas inhabited the country between the Sutlej and the Jumna, and the Arjunayanas lived south-west of Mathura. These tribes were the ancestors of the Rajputs.

Indo-Greeks—Coinage and Sculpture

v1.c33.s1.1

In 250 B.C., Diodotus, the governor of the Greek colony of Bactria, set himself as an independent ruler. In 190 B.C., Demetrius invaded north-western India and conquered Taxila. In 175 B.C., Eucratides, the ruler of Bactria, defeated Demetrius and conquered the Punjab. He laid the foundation of the City of Sirkap near Taxila. The greatest of the Indo-Greek kings of the Punjab was Menander (180 B.C.-160 B.C.), who became a Buddhist. His capital was at Sagala, the present-day Sialkot. The Pali work Milindapanha (Questions of Milinda) is in the form of a dialogue between Milinda (Menander) and the Buddhist monk Nagasena (Nagarjuna), in which problems of the Buddhist religion are discussed. The dominion of Menander comprised the central parts of Afghanistan, North-West Frontier Province, the Punjab, Sind, Rajasthan and Kathiawar and probably western Uttar Pradesh. Coins of Menander are found in large numbers from Afghanistan to the western districts of Uttar Pradesh.

v1.c33.s1.2

Menander died in 130 B.C., mourned by the masses, and many cities desired to get a share of his ashes.

v1.c33.s1.3

It is the Bactrian Greeks who first introduced coins with names and portraits of the rulers. The figure of the king on the obverse and of a deity or other symbols on the reverse are executed with a high degree of artistic skill. The credit for injecting art into the coinage of India goes to these Greek rulers. Their coins are infinitely superior in design to the punch-marked coins which existed in India in the Mauryan peroid. The foreign hordes who invaded India, and the Indian rulers adopted the system and issued coins of similar type, though the execution is inferior.¹

v1.c33.s1.4

¹ Majumdar, R.C. Ancient India, p. 119

v1.c33.s1.5

The Indo-Greeks also encouraged sculpture. The northern region called Gandhara, comprised Afghanistan, North-West Frontier Province and the Potwar plateau of the Punjab. Through the medium of sculpture, the chief events of the life of the Buddha were depicted by the sculptors. The Gandhara sculpture is Graeco-Roman in style, and it derived its inspiration from Buddhism. Financial support for the construction of stupas and monasteries was provided by wealthy merchants, and they also commissioned sculptors for carving statues of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. A number of stupas and monasteries dot the hillsides of Peshawar, Swat, and the Kabul Valley. The sculptors adapted the ‘face of Apollo’ to represent the Buddha. Later on, about the second century of the Christian Era, the real Indian Buddha image evolved at Mathura. The Indian sculptors of Mathura and Amaravati, however, adopted Graeco-Roman drapery from the Gandhara sculpture for their statues of the Buddha. Thus the Buddha image is the product of a true cultural fusion between two streams of art, viz. Indian and Graeco-Roman.

The Śātavāhanas (Andhras): The First Century B.C. to the Second Century of the Christian Era

v1.c33.s2.1

During the first century B.C. to the second century of the Christian Era, when northern India was ruled by the Indo-Greeks, followed by the Kushans, the Deccan was ruled by the Brahman Dynasty of Śātavāhanās (Andhras). The coins and inscriptions of the Śātavāhanās are concentrated in the region around Paithan in the Aurangabad District of Maharashtra. Gradually, the Śātavāhanās extended their power over Karnataka and Andhra.

v1.c33.s2.2

The first Śātavāhanās ruler was Simuka. The third ruler Satakarni I conquered western Malwa. Satakarni II conquered eastern Malwa from the Sungas. The seventh king Hala (A.D. 20-24) is remembered as the author of the Sattasai. Gautamiputra Satakarni (A.D. 80-104) extended the empire to western Rajasthan and Vidarbha. Sri Yajna Satakarni Fig. 183. Coins and seals with animal and bird motifs from the second century to the tenth century : *Top row, left*; Vasudeva, Kushan, gold, second century ; *right*, Chandragupta I, Gupta, gold, fourth century; *Second row; left*, Kumaragupta I, Gupta, peacock type, gold, fifth century; *centre*, a bull, seal, fourth century, Sanghol, Punjab; *right*, Samudragupta, Gupta, gold, fourth century; *Third row, left*, a bull, seal, Gupta period, fifth century, Sanghol; *right*, an elephant trampling a lion, seal, Gupta, sixth century; *Bottom row, left*, Sashanka, King of Gauda (central Bengal), gold, seventh century; *right*, a horse and a bull, Shahi dynasty, Kabul, tenth century (A.D. 165-194) defeated the Sakas and recovered much of the lost territory.

v1.c33.s2.12

Fig. 184. A man and a woman feeding a parrot. Below is a blossoming asoka (Saraca asoca). Kushan, first century (Courtesy: Mathura Museum)

v1.c33.s2.13

Though iron hoes are known from the third century B.C. in South India, their number increased substantially in the first and second centuries of the Christian Era. This increased number indicates greater agricultural activity. The people of the Deccan cultivated cotton, and Andhra was known for its cotton cloth. According to R.S. Sharma, the art of transplanting rice seedlings was widely practised in the first two centuries in the deltas of the Krishna and the Godavari, which became the rice bowl of South India.² Through contact with the north, the Deccanis learnt the use of bricks and ringwells.

v1.c33.s2.14

² Sharma, R.S. *Ancient India*, p. 109

Brahmins as Pioneers of Progressive Agriculture

v1.c33.s3.1

The Śātavāhanās were the first rulers to make land grants to the Brahmins. Owing to their knowledge of astrology and ability to forecast rain, the Brahmins enjoyed respect among the rural people. Besides, they were the educated class of that age, and also pioneers of culture and progressive agriculture in the South. Kosambi states, ‘The brahmins acted as pioneers in undeveloped localities; they first brought plough agriculture to replace slash-and-burn cultivation, or food-gathering. New crops, knowledge of distant markets, organisation of village settlements and trade also came with them. As a result, kings or kings-to-be invited brahmins, generally from the distant Gangetic basin, to settle in un-opened localities. Almost all extant copper plates (which have been discovered all over the country by the ton) are charters which—from the fourth century onwards—record land-grants to brahmins unconnected with any temple. In addition, every village would set apart a lot or two of land plus a fixed though small share of village harvests for the cults and priests, brahmin or not. Brahmins, however, claimed and generally received exemption from all taxes; they even claimed a specially low rate of interest on loans, and other privileges.’³

v1.c33.s3.2

³ Kosambi, D.D. *The Culture and Civilization of Ancient India in Historical Outline*, p. 172

v1.c33.s3.3

Here a reference to the Saka sataraps of western India is necessary. The greatest of them was Nahapana. He ruled over Gujarat, Kathiawar, and northern Maharashtra. His capital was Minnagara, which has been identified as Dohad, half-way between Ujjain and Broach. About A.D. 100 Nahapana was defeated by Gautamiputra Satkarni.

Coconut Cultivation on the West Coast

v1.c33.s4.1

The coconut (*Cocos nucifera*) is the most useful of the tropical palms.

v1.c33.s4.2

The nuts give copra, oil, oilcake and fibre. Its juice is converted into vinegar and toddy. Trunks of mature trees are used as timber for constructing houses, and matted leaves as thatch for roofs. According to Harlan⁴ the coconut palm is a plant of the South Pacific Islands. The largest production of coconuts in the world is in the Philippines, with 3,997 million nuts from nearly a million hectares (1958). India follows, with a production of 3,540 million nuts from 0.6 million hectares (1958). Kerala is the largest producer of coconuts in India, followed by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

v1.c33.s4.3

⁴ Harlan, J.R. *Crops and Man*, p. 75

v1.c33.s4.4

'The real cause of development of the west coast was the coconut', states Kosambi. 'Coconut tree, which forms the basis of the whole coastal economy today, seems to be an import from Malaysia. It was being propagated on the east coast about the middle of the first century B.C. and reached the west coast a century later. By A.D. 120 the Saka Ushavadata, son of Dinika and son-in-law of the reigning king Nahapana, began to give away whole plantations to brahmins, each one containing several thousand coconut trees. Ushavadata was generous to the Buddhists as well, but there were no cave monasteries on the coast within his reach. The coconut, now to be found in every Indian ceremony and ritual, was rather poorly known in many parts of India before the sixth century A.D. This provides a useful comment upon 'timeless and immutable' Indian customs. The wood, fibre, wine, and other products of this tree are also of the utmost value; the nut itself provides 'meat' for cooking and when dried an excellent food oil, used also for soap-making. The western coastal strip (where the coconut can grow well because of heavy rainfall and hot climate) could not have been profitably cleared of its dense forest, let alone settled with its present crowded population, without this tree and the heavy commodity production based upon its exploitation in full. The trade up the few passes of the sheer Deccan scarp gave a longer lease of life to caravans; they took salt and coconuts up to the plateau to exchange for cloth and metal vessels, as well as for the grain of the uplands'.⁵

v1.c33.s4.5

⁵ Kosambi, D.D. *The Culture and Civilization of Ancient India in Historical Outline*, p. 189

Kushans

v1.c33.s5.1

The close of the second century B.C. was a period of great turmoil in central Asia. On account of a severe drought, the tribes were fighting for their survival and there was a keen competition for the possession of pasturelands. In such a struggle, a tribe known as the Yueh-Chi was pushed out by the Hiung-nu tribe. They, in their turn, pushed out the Sakas from Bactria where they settled.

v1.c33.s5.2

Kushan was the name of one of the five Yueh-Chi subtribes. About A.D. 40 arose a leader among the Kushans, Kadphises I, who conquered the Kabul Valley and all the area west of the Indus. His successor Kadphises II

v1.c33.s5.3

IRON OBJECTS

v1.c33.s5.4

Fig. 185. Iron agricultural implements excavated from the Bhir mound, Taxila, 300 B.C. to A.D. 100; 182-190 are hoes with chisel-like blades; 191-197 are spuds with broad blades like that of khurpa; 198, a true spade; 200-202 are weeding-forks; 203-206 are sickles (From Taxila, Vol. III, by Sir John Marshall)

Stone Objects

v1.c33.s6.1

a = No. 2 b = No. 9 c = No. 16 d = No. 12 f = No. 30a g = No. 30b h = No. 28 e = No. 30 i = No. 46 j = No. 43 k = No. 45 l = No. 37 m = No. 40 n = no. 54 o = No. 60 p = No. 42 q = No. 55 r = No. 58 s = No. 59 t = No. 61

v1.c33.s6.2

Fig. 186. Pivot stones, querns and mullers, pestles and mortars, grinding-mills from the Bhir mound and Sirkap, 300 B.C to A.D. 100 (From Taxila, Vol. III, by Sir John Marshall)

v1.c33.s6.3

Fig. 187. A farmer ploughing. The bullocks are of the Hariana breed, and the type of plough is still in use in Maharashtra. Gandhara relief, 200 A.D. (Courtesy: Lahore Museum)

v1.c33.s6.4

Fig. 188. Plough from Solan, Himachal Pradesh. It resembles the plough shown in the Gandhara relief above

v1.c33.s6.8

Fig. 189. Iron sickles, diameter 29.2 cm, the iron bhakhar, 54 cm in length, 88.9 cm in width, and iron trowels, used as khurpis, 200 A.D. (Courtesy: Sanchi Museum)

v1.c33.s6.9

advanced up to Mathura. A large number of gold and copper coins were issued in his reign, which bear the image of Shiva and his Nandi bull. The Kushans were the first rulers of India to issue gold coins on a large scale and there were no silver coins. Gold was received through trade with the Roman Empire. The Kushan Empire was situated between the Chinese and Roman Empires and controlled the Silk Route. Another source of gold was the Altai Mountains in central Asia.

v1.c33.s6.10

Kanishka, the greatest of Kushan rulers, ascended the throne A.D. 78. The Saka Era was started by him. His capital was Purushapur (Peshawar) in Gandhara and he ruled over Kashmir, the Punjab, Sind, Malwa, and the Gangetic Valley up to Patna. He summoned the Fourth Buddhist Council at Jalandhara which prepared an encyclopaedia of Buddhist philosophy.

v1.c33.s6.11

The successors of Kanishka were Huvishka (A.D. 107-138) and Vasudeva (A.D. 152-176). Vasudeva's coins bear the image of Shiva, holding a trident, standing near the Nandi bull (Fig. 183 *top row, left*).

Yakshis (Tree-Goddesses)

Small Population and Vast Land Resources

v1.c33.s8.1

Under the patronage of the Kushan rulers, a school of sculpture developed at Mathura whose favourite theme is depiction of *Yakshis*. The *Yakshis* or *vrikshakas* are auspicious emblems of vegetative fertility. The famous *salabhanjika* pose in which a woman is shown plucking flowers of a *sal* tree derives from the nativity legend of the Buddha in the Lumbini Garden, where Mayadevi, supported by the *sal*-tree, stretching her arm to catch the flowers, delivers the holy child. This seems to have provided the basis for the woman and tree motifs which are so frequently seen in the Buddhist sculptures of Bharhut, Sanchi, Amaravati and Mathura. From its association with the birth of the Buddha, the *vrikshaka* motif became a symbol of fertility and women prayed to it for gifts of children. *The Mahabharata* also speaks of dryads (*Vrikshaka* and *Vrikshi*) as "goddesses born in trees, to be worshipped by those desiring children".⁶ In the ancient city of Sravasti, Salabhanjika festival was celebrated with great zeal when the *sal*-trees flowered. The *sal*-trees in full blossom were worshipped for offspring.

v1.c33.s8.2

⁶ Coomaraswamy, A. *History of Indian and Indonesian Art*, p. 64

v1.c33.s8.3

'Girls and young women are regarded as human embodiments of the maternal energy of nature', observes Zimmer. They are diminutive doubles of the great Mother of all life, vessels of fertility, life in full sap, potential sources of new offspring. By touching and kicking the tree they transfer into it their potency, and enable it to bring forth blossom and fruit. Hence, the goddess who represents the life energy and fertility of the tree is herself most aptly visualized in this magic posture of fertilization.⁷

v1.c33.s8.4

⁷ Zimmer, H. *Myth and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization*, p. 69

v1.c33.s8.5

During the Kushan age, the population of India was comparatively small and there were vast areas covered with forests which could be reclaimed. Hence more people were required. This explains the popularity of *Yakshi* cult and its necessity.

v1.c33.s8.6

The woman and the tree motif found its most elegant expression in red sandstone Mathura sculptures of the Kushan period. The leaves and flowers of *asoka* (*Saraca asoca*) (*S. indica*), were the most popular motif with the Mathura sculptors. We find numerous sculptures in the Mathura and Lucknow museums where the *asoka* is shown associated with female figures. These are not dancing-girls, but *vriksha devatas*, symbols of fertility, who were worshipped for gifts of children by childless women. On a railing pillar we see a woman standing under a flowering *asoka*-tree. A beautiful woman, with a happy face standing cross-legged on a crouching dwarf, fastens a lotus garland on her head. Behind her we see an exquisitely carved branch of *asoka*. In another Mathura sculpture, we see a couple feeding a parrot, and below the window are the leaves and flowers of *asoka*, which are so true to nature (Fig. 184).

v1.c33.s8.7

Apart from *asoka*, we find four other trees depicted in these sculptures. In one of these we see a woman under a *kadamba* tree (*Anthocephalus chinensis*) (*A. indicus*), holding a sword touching its ball-like flowers. The broad ovate leaves, with conspicuously marked venation and globose inflorescence, are prominent characters of the *kadamba*, and they have been faithfully carved by the sculptor.

v1.c33.s8.8

Their third unidentified tree which we find appears to be *champak* (*Michelia champaca*) and forms a background to a beautiful female figure wearing a peculiar head-dress.

v1.c33.s8.9

The fourth tree, with leaves like those of *asoka* and comparatively small axillary flowers, which we find in the sculpture behind the woman treading over the dwarf, resembles *Mesua ferrea*, the well-known Nagsura of Bengal and Assam. Its linear-lanceolate, acuminate, drooping opposite leaves, with short peduncles and axillary solitary flowers, resemble those of *Mesua ferrea*, rather than of any other Indian tree. *Mesua ferrea*, with its strikingly beautiful leaves and highly fragrant flowers, must have been as popular in ancient India as it is now in Bengal and Assam.

v1.c33.s8.10

The fifth tree in Kushan sculpture is possibly *Ixora arborea* (*I. parviflora*). We find it sculptured behind a woman carrying a basket.

v1.c33.s8.11

All these trees grow in humid tropical areas of India. Their presence at Mathura indicates that in the Kushan period this region had a higher rainfall.

Temple Gardens

v1.c33.s9.1

The Buddhist priests planted groves of flowering trees around their monasteries. They had plenty of leisure, and they lived in peaceful surroundings conducive to tranquility. Such conditions are ideal for the craft of gardening. In fact, the evolution of gardening is intimately associated with Buddhist temples and monasteries.

v1.c33.s9.2

Fig. 190. Top, Bhakhar a scraper in common use in the black-cotton-soil areas of Madhya Pradesh; Bottom, A closer view of the bhakhar

v1.c33.s9.3

Fig. 191. Black-pepper (Piper nigrum) was the favourite spice of Indians till the Portuguese introduced red-pepper (Capsicum frutescens) from Peru, South America, in the sixteenth century. Black-pepper is grown in Kerala, trained on posts of Erythrina variegata var. orientalis

v1.c33.s9.4

Fig. 192. Women drying berries of black-pepper in Kerala

v1.c33.s9.5

Brick-wells. The use of kiln-burnt bricks became popular in the Kushan period. In the sites which have been excavated in northern India, the use of kiln-burnt bricks for floors and tiles for floors and roofs is common. The Kushan bricks from Sanghol in the Punjab are large, 32 × 20 centimetres, and 6 to 8 centimetres thick. An agricultural innovation which can be attributed to the Kushans is the construction of brick-wells, which were used for irrigation.

v1.c33.s9.6

Horses. The Kushans used riding horses on a large scale. In sculptures of the second century of the Christian Era, riding-horses are depicted with saddles and reins, though there are no stirrups. The early stirrup was possibly a rope with a loop.

v1.c33.s9.7

The Hariana Cattle. A Gandhara relief, now in the Lahore Museum, shows a farmer ploughing a field. The bullocks are humped and are of the Hariana breed. The plough is heavy and resembles a type of plough still used in the Solan area of Himachal Pradesh (Figs 187 and 188). Similar ploughs are also in use in the Junnar area of Maharashtra.

Agricultural Implements of Iron

v1.c33.s10.1

Taxila, 200 B.C.-A.D. 200. Iron technology made great progress in the age of Sātavāhanās and Kushans. Indian iron and steel weapons and cutlery were exported to western Asia where they enjoyed high esteem. In India it led to the manufacture of sturdy agricultural implements. A number of iron agricultural implements were recovered from the Bhir mound at Taxila. These include a variety of hoes with length varying from 18 to 30 centimetres, seven spuds, 15.5 to 18 centimetres in length, and five sickles. One sickle had a curved blade and the other a straight blade and a curved handle. The length of the blades varied from 12.5 to 18 centimetres. True spades were also discovered which are superior in design to those currently in use in rural India (Fig. 185). The workmanship of these iron agricultural implements indicates the high level of iron technology in India during 300 B.C. to A.D. 100.

v1.c33.s10.2

Improvement in the quality and strength of iron chisels and hammers led to improvement in the manufacture of stone objects, particularly grinding-mills (chakkis), which are still used in Indian homes for grinding foodgrains and spices. Now querns and mullers, and pestles and mortars could be manufactured with greater ease. Apart from these grinding devices, stone vases and cups of a variety of shapes and designs were manufactured at Taxila (Fig. 186).

v1.c33.s10.3

Sanchi—A.D. 200. A number of agricultural implements were discovered from Sanchi in 1920. These implements include a blade-harrow (bhakhar), sickles with curved blades, and iron trowels which were possibly used as hoes (Fig. 189). The bhakhar is even now in common use in the black cotton soil areas of Madhya Pradesh. It shows that an implement of proved utility continues unchanged over the centuries.

v1.c33.s10.4

Coomaraswamy, A. *History of Indian and Indonesian Art*, London, 1927 Dixit, K.N. Agricultural Implements in Ancient India, *Jour. U.P. Hist. Soc.*, Vol. XVII, 1970 Dodwell, H. H. *The Cambridge Shorter History of India*, Cambridge, 1943 Goetz, J.R. *Five Thousand Years of Indian Art*, Bombay, 1959 Harlan, J.R. *Crops and Man*, Wisconsin, 1975 Kosambi, D.D. *The Culture and Civilization of Ancient India in Historical Outline*, London, 1965 Majumdar, R.C. *Ancient India*, Delhi, 1960 Marshall, J. Sir, *A Guide to Taxila*, Delhi, 1936 Randhawa, M.S. *Gardens through the Ages*, Delhi, 1976 Randhawa M.S. *Agriculture and Animal Husbandry in India*, New Delhi, 1958 Sastri, K.A.N. and Srinivasachari, G. *Advanced History of India*, New Delhi, 1970 Sharma, R.S. *Ancient India*, New Delhi, 1977 Zimmer, H. *Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization*, New York, 1945

Linked texts (3)