2. The Mahabharata in the Light of the Archaeological Evidences

The date of the Mahabharata war has been variously suggested as 3100 B.C., 1900 B.C., 1400 B.C. and 900 B.C. While we tend to favour the last two dates 1400-900 B.C., we also agree with Joshi (1987:20) that the kind of war that was described in

VI-4 - the epic, with the full range of iron weapons, could not have been fought before 600 B.C. Inevitably, the conclusion, as drawn by Lad (1983), emerges that there was a core of the story existing before 800 B.C., essentially as a folklore and orally transmitted, which became heavily padded with the later-day experiences. Additions to the text were made in several instalments during 500-100 B.C., 100 B.C. 100 A.D. and 100 A.D. 400 A.D. Thus, instead of discussing minerals and metals mentioned in the epic Mahabharata as a coherent subject or referring to them as the material resources. in India during any particular epoch, we should rather follow Lad (1983:66) in relating the specific references to minerals and metals with the different era during which such references were introduced in the text as additional extravaganza and distortions. Lad (1983: 66-68) pointed out several reasons to believe. in the antiquity of the epic. Some of the heroes of the epic such as Vasudeva Krishna, Arjuna etc. have been mentioned in the Chandogya Upanishad (3.17.6) and Astadhyayi of Panini (4.3.98) which correspond to the 8 th century and 6 th-5 th century B.C. period respectively. Asvatayana Grhya Sutra (3.4.4) eulogized the epic and Sankhayana Srauta Sutra (15,16) referred to the Kurukshetra war. These Sutras may be dated around 6 th century B.C. Kautilya and Patanjali have also referred to the epic. It is quite possible therefore that a small core of the epic was in circulation before the 8 th century B.C An early version of the epic probably referred to the pastoral economy and unsophisficated agro-rural set up as in vogue

VI-5 during the in Bhagwanpura and Hastinpura OCP and early PGW era. As a matter of fact, several archaic features, not only of language and construction, but also of culture contained in the epic 'have managed to escape the Some of the akward and scrubbing and polishing of later centuries'. conspicuous examples have been cited by Lad (1983: 66). The The food habits of some of the princely heroes are almost primtive they cook their own meat-broths. They dress simply in cotton cloth and hardly wear decorative shoes. Sugar, quite common in India by 400 B.C., is nowhere on the scene in the epic. complete absence of coins and money economy (niska is more of a gold ornament than a piece of coin) proves the distant origins of the epic. Conch-shell bangles were of Harappan tradition and pearls were mentioned in the Vedas. Glass (kaca) and quartz crystal (kacamani) were rarely mentioned. Although Ahichchhatra and Girivraja (modern Rajgir) occur in the epic, Pataliputra founded in the 6 th century B.C. is not mentioned, proving the antiquity of the epic. At several places in the epic, the modest descriptions fit in with the early PGW cultures in Hastinapur etc., which were hardly urban, and were at best large agro-rural settlements resembling that in the Late Harappan Bhagwanpura (Ghosh, 1973: 9-11; Sharma, 1983:172-73 and Joshi 1987: 27).