Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh (early history)
by Prakash Narayan | 2011 | 63,517 words
This study deals with the history of Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh (Northern India) taking into account the history and philosophy of Buddhism. Since the sixth century B.C. many developments took place in these regions, in terms of society, economic life, religion and arts and crafts....
Expansion of Agriculture
The immense expansion of the economy is the most conspicuous characteristic of the economic and social system of the period. The basis for the kind of economic development that occurred over the next 500 years was given by the period in many ways. Significant agrarian changes depicted it which helped in affecting the social and political forces of the economy densely. Various archaeological excavations and their historical analyses certified the fact that the clearing of the land and its preparation for cultivation were made convenient by the increasing availability and use of iron. It was pointed out by Kosambi[1] that without the use of iron[2] the large-scale clearing of forests in the Gangetic Valley could not have been undertaken and so a lot of attention has been centred on the theme. Other scholars restated the point since then and we need to focus on the summary of the findings of archaeologists and historians on this theme.
Y.D. Sharma[3] recommended early recognition of the relationship between iron and the beginning of a new civilization. The archaeological evidence for iron predating the arising of Northern Black Polished ware (hereafter NBP ware) pottery in the Ganga Valley[4], and that NBP ware itself connected with the second urbanization in India have been emphasized later on. NBP ware is also characteristic of the age of the Budha, Sharma asserts: ‘In upper India a number of widely distributed sites of this period are marked by the occurrence of a highly individual shiny ware, often black, known to archaeologists as NBP ware’. Its duration is roughly defined between 500 and 300 B.C. (although some archaeologists now tend to push the date back by a couple of centuries), and it was pointed out by Sharma that the Ganges plan was the pivot of its dispersal. He further asserts that it was co-eval with the supremacy of Magadha.[5]
The association of expansion in agricultural produce concerning the enhanced use of iron implements with the inclusion of ploughshares, the sickle, hoe and chopper, which are aided by an archaeological evidence[6] is the same. The association of iron with the common people and with agriculture in the Gangetic by about 700 B.C.[7] have been revealed beyond dispute by a survey of references relating to iron in early Indian literature. In addition, it has been recommended that the initiantions of the use of iron in the Indo-Gangetic divide to about 800 B.C.[8] has been put due to certain cases. The use of the iron plough for cultivation has been mentioned in the Buddhist literature as well. The analogy of a ploughshare after getting heated during the day sizzles and smokes when immersed into water[9] has been given by the Kasibharadvaja Sutta of the Sutta Nipata. The Mahavagga[10] repeats the analogy. Its familiar use with the iron plough has been indicated and recommends that by the time of the Buddha its use was frequent in agriculture.
The reflection of the extension of agriculture in the middle Ganga plains is in ample ways in Buddhist literature. G.S.P. Misra has systematized a large range of crops, and or the basis of references in the Vinaya Pitaka[11] has gathered information on the classification of land, the implements used, and the cycle of operations. The significance of agriculture in society has been strengthened by the regular use of agricultural similies.[12] Numerous Vinaya rules themselves relate to crops, and when people started complaining against the damage caused to the new crops by the bhikku’s increasing touring in the rainy season[13], the Buddha permitted the institution of the vassa-vasa or the rain retreat. Cattle keeping became a secondary and auxiliary occupation of agriculture. The Buddha’s realization of the significance of agriculture has been demonstrated in a passage in the samyutta Nikaya. In a conversation between a deva (diety) and the Buddha, the deva supports the traditional view and reflects on the importance of cattle. On the other side, the Buddha was in favour of agriculture as against pastoralism and this shows his obvious reflection on the new values of the period.[14] As a result, the possession of fields become an ultimately worthwhile strength and is regularly mentioned in the Buddhist texts.[15]
The mid Ganga plain was suitable for rice cultivation because the supply of water from the river Ganga was perennial. It has been presumed that during this period[16], the method of paddy transplantation was learnt. Major dietary changes took place due to the increase in rice cultivation and the deterioration in cattle rearing. Ling has recommended on the basis of population research that there is a definite relationship between rice growing areas and a higher fertility rate, since the consumption of rice gruel allows children to be weaned earlier, thus enabling the mother to conceive again.[17] The increase in population signifies development and happiness as has been recommended in the Buddhist literature. The narratives tell of teeming cities with people jostling each other and of various settlements in the countryside, all of which are an index of a developing and thriving kingdom.[18] The kingdom of Magadha consists of 80,000/-gamas but the remarkable point is that the economy could support the population even as it expanded.[19]
The second urbanization of India has been noticed by the period as well. The connection of a number of historical sites in the central Gangetic basin with the Buddhist tradition has been confirmed by archaeological evidence and it is also to be noticed that most of them expose the presence of NBP ware.[20] Buddhist literature refers to the identification of some excavations in place such as Jetavana at savatthi (sahet-Maheth) and the Ghositarama at Kosambi.[21]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
D.D. Kosambi, ‘Ancient Kosala and Magadha’, J.B.B.R.A.S., Vol.XXVII, 1952, pp.180-213; and ‘The Beginning of the Iron Age in India’, J.E.S.H.O., Vol.VI, Pt. III, 1963, pp. 309-18.
[2]:
N.R. Ray (‘Technology and Social Change in Early Indian History’, Purattatva, Vol. VIII, 1975-6, p.133) has questioned the conclusion that large scale clearing of the Gangetic Valley could not have taken place without the use of iron. He argues against the assumption that the introduction of iron technology and iron implements in the Ganga-Yamuna valley, before 320 B.C., were of such a scale as to induce the sort of social changes which are held to have been triggered off by the technological changes associated with the use of iron (R.S. Sharma, ‘Material Milieu of the Birth of Buddhism’, paper presented at the 29th International Congress of Orientalists, Paris, 16-22 July 1973). According to Ray, archaeological evidence available to date does not indicate any large scale clearance of the jungles through the use of iron technology. He argues that iron technology was neither qualitatively nor quantitatively diversified enough to bring about significant social changes. Earlier D.K. Chakrabarti had pointed out that iron was responsible for stabilizing agriculture rather than initiating it. According to him, it was the basic technological element only from the sixth century B.C. onwards and not before (D.K. Chakrabarti, ‘Beginning of Iron and Social Change in India’, Indian Studies Past and Present, Vol. XIV, No.4, 1973, pp.336-8.
[3]:
Y.D. Sharma, ‘Exploration of Historical Sites’, Ancient India, Vol. IX, 1956, pp. 118-9.
[5]:
Y.D. Sharma, ‘Exploration of Historical Sites’, Ancient India, Vol.IX, 1956, p.119.
[7]:
D.K. Chakrabarti, ‘Iron in Early Indian Literature’, J.R.A.S., 1979, No.I, p.24.
[8]:
Ibid.
[9]:
Sutta Nipata, Khuddaka Nikaya, Vol. I, p. 282.
[10]:
Mahavagga, p.241.
[11]:
G.S.P., Misra, The Age of the Vinaya, pp. 243-50.
[12]:
M.N., I, p.200; A.N., I, pp.213, 222, 224; S.N., II, pp. 77, 284, 370. See also J.W. de Jong, ‘The Background of Early Buddhism’, Journal of Indian Buddhist Studies, Vol. XII, 1964, p.39.
[13]:
Mahavagga, p. 144.
[14]:
S.N., I, p.8.
[15]:
[17]:
Trevor Ling, The Buddha, p.50.
[18]:
D.N., II, p. 130; G.S., III, p. 158.
[19]:
Mahavagga, p. 199.
[20]:
Y.D. Sharma, ‘Exploration of Historical Sites’, Ancient India, Vol. IX, 1956, p. 142. It has been suggested that Buddha’s alms bowl, seen by Fa-hien and described by him, was probably of NBP ware (M.D.N.) Sahi, ‘Stratigraphical Position of the NBP ware in the Upper Ganga Basin and its Date’, Puratattva, Vol. VI, 1974, p. 93).
[21]:
Ibid., p. 145.