UNIT 1

HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE PRE-COLONIAL ECONOMY ANCIENT

Structure
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Introduction Ideas and Economy Pre-1950s Historiographical Trends The New Historiography Recent Researches Summary Exercises Suggested Readings

1.1 INTRODUCTION
The last forty years have witnessed numerous publications on the economic history of early India, on themes ranging from landownership, revenue system and rural settlements to urbanisation, crafts, money and trade. This heightened interest in the study of early Indian economy has been the result of the shift in focus from political or dynastic history towards an understanding of material culture and economic life. Though there were earlier efforts in this direction the decisive shift came only with the influential writings of D.D. Kosambi and R.S. Sharma in the 1950s and 1960s. In their writings they began to explain change with reference to environment, technology and economic life. Ancient or early India came to be visualized not as a static epoch, but in terms of stages in relation to the dominant social and economic patterns prevailing during the various periods. Early India is broadly divided into two phases i.e., the early historical and the early medieval. While the first extends up to and includes the Gupta period, the second covers the succeeding six to seven centuries. Within these two phases a number of other stages have also been worked out. To elaborate, while the Age of the Buddha is seen to have been characterized by peasant production and urbanisation, the Mauryan period is perceived to have been marked by state control of the economy. Between the middle of the twentieth century and now, there have been changes in the ways of seeing and explaining the economic history of early India. Perspectives tend to vary depending on the kind of questions historians ask, the range of sources they use and the methods they adopt. Conventionally the Mauryan economy, deriving from the Arthashastra, has been characterized in terms of centralized state control over all sectors of the economy. However, recent research, by moving away from traditional treatment of the sources and looking at the regional material cultures brought to light by archaeology, has modified our understanding. Archaeology has revealed the coexistence and interaction of cultures at different levels of technological and social development. Prosperity during the said period was spread largely over Gangetic northern India and its fringes. It is being increasingly recognized that empires by their very nature accommodated varied social formations and differentiated spaces, accounting for the uneven depth of administration across regions. Similarly, the post-

Historiography, Environment and Economy

Mauryan centuries instead of being identified only with urban growth, networks of trade and money economy are also beginning to be understood in terms of different stages of state formation and agrarian expansion in regions outside the Ganga valley.

1.2 IDEAS AND ECONOMY

Before discussing other aspects related to the theme it is necessary to briefly dwell on economic ideas inherent in our sources. It is necessary to mention that here we are concerned with the ideas of economy, as distinguished from economic thought, available in texts. We may proceed by citing some examples. In the middle of the first millennium B.C. we come across numerous crops and cereals such as barley, wheat, rice, sesamum, mustard, lentils, sugarcane, banana and mangoes in Sanskrit and Pali literature. Similarly, the spread of plough cultivation, paddy transplantation and knowledge of varieties of rice, with sali being a generic term, is attested. While kedara means a prepared plot, terms like ropana and ropeti are related to transplantation. These activities together with the demarcation of village space into khetta (cultivable land), ushara (waste land) and gocara (grazing units) unmistakably suggest the increasing importance and preoccupation with land and agriculture in the said period. The fields, it is said, appeared like the robe of a monk, clearly indicating their uneven, differentiated, patch-work pattern. The description of cattle in the Suttanipata, an early Pali text, as annada (giver of food), vannada (giver of beauty) and sukhada (giver of happiness) again demonstrates the importance of cattle in a situation dominated by peasant units of production. Like the visible frequency of terms related to the root word go (cattle) in the Rig Vedic period, when pastoralism was important, the changed economic conditions in the Age of the Buddha are reflected in the above mentioned references to crops, types of land and agricultural operations. In the Arthashastra the section dealing with the settlement of villages (janapadanivesha) brings out the importance of rural settlements and agriculture as the basis of the revenue of the state. The text preferred the habitation of shudras in newly founded agrarian settlements or the rehabilitated decaying ones, largely because they were capable of hard work and amenable to exploitation. In newly settled areas peasants were allowed tax remissions and state help in terms of the supply of seeds, money and cattle. These were intended to bring virgin land under cultivation and extend the orbit of revenue collection for the state. Similarly, farmers were not allowed to keep their plots unused. Royal control of non-agricultural production, including mining and metallurgy, and trade is envisaged in the text with a view to maximizing revenue. The relationship between mines and metals, the treasury and the consolidation and expansion of state power is clearly brought out in the Arthashastra. The Milinda-panho and Manusmriti, dating to the post-Mauryan centuries, suggest that the field belonged to him who cleared it of the forest cover and made it fit for cultivation. Such allusions reflect on the question of land-ownership and provide insights into the phased history of agrarian expansion. Post-Mauryan texts provide information about a large number of occupations and workers, with implications for craft production, specialisation and trade. The said period was marked by varieties of guilds, including those of craftsmen and merchants, and longdistance inter-regional and maritime trade. Inscriptions at Mathura, Sanchi and such other places mentioning the names and occupations of the donors bear testimony to their economic competence and the prosperity of the regions they represent. Coins in gold, silver, copper and even lead and potin issued by several dynasties and gana-samghas during this period bear testimony to the extent and depth of

monetisation of society. It ties up well with the contemporary history of towns and trade. The importance of categories such as peasants, artisans and merchants, and their requirements, is highlighted in the sources from the Age of the Buddha onwards. With the coming of the Guptas and beyond land grant inscriptions become the major source of information for the writing of economic history. The remissions to the donee or donees suggest the possible sources of revenue. On the basis of the preponderance of agriculture-related terms in such records, among other reasons, it is argued that the Gupta and post-Gupta periods witnessed the decline of trade, decay of towns and paucity of metallic money. This is a much debated theme to which we shall return later. That all land grants were not made in virgin territories nor were they in all cases meant to extend the area under cultivation is obvious from the evidence in the records. In the context of the demarcation of the donated space reference to natural boundaries like anthills, rivers and forests, instead of neighbouring plots or settlements, would suggest sparse settlements or an early stage in the history of the area. Similarly, varying references to the addresses of the grants are also replete with possibilities for rural society. Inscriptions also provide information on types of settlements and their constituents, indicating differentiation and immense variety rather than all of them being alike. References to plants and crops like jamun, mango, cotton, paddy, oil seeds, etc. have implications for the history of agriculture and environment. Contemporary works like Harshacarita furnish evidence of the agrarian prosperity of Shrikantha and contrast it with the forest and forest life in the Vindhyas, in the wider context of narrating the story of Harsha. The incidental yet vivid description of the two regions and the contrasting economic pursuits are a delight for the historian.

Historiography of the Pre-Colonial Economy Ancient

1.3 PRE-1950s HISTORIOGRAPHICAL TRENDS

Ancient Indian economic history up to the middle of the twentieth century was largely dependent on incidental references in literary texts. U.N. Ghoshals Agrarian System of Northern India and A.N. Boses Social and Rural Economy of Northern India (c. 600 B.C. - A.D. 200), for example, are essentially based on textual material, despite the use of inscriptional data. Most works of this variety brought together factual details from different sources, cutting across time and space. It made it difficult to work out processes of change with regard to any institution. The analysis and explanation of economic life and institutions within incorporative concepts were unknown. Perspectives on early India have undergone significant changes from the middle of the 1950s and since then economic history, with bearings on society and polity, has occupied centre stage. From being a matter of marginal concern, economic history came to occupy an important position. Early India instead of being seen as a period dominated by numerous dynasties and their wars came to be perceived in terms of socio-economic stages. Explanations of change, including prosperity and decline, centering around political authority made way for another kind of analysis. Whether the Harappans had a plough or not or the Vedic people had access to iron or not or why it was that the rise of Magadha, emergence of urban centers and heterodox sects happened to coincide in the middle of the first millennium B.C. were the types of questions that began to be asked and addressed. In brief, there was a significant shift in perspective. In the process some cherished notions were disturbed, and that was inevitable. With the illumination of the wide ranging economic activities in the post-Maurya centuries and the comparative decline or stagnation in the Gupta period the idea of the Golden Age of the Guptas received a set-back and the Guptas lost some of their lusture. The shift from dynastic to economic history

Historiography, Environment and Economy

made common people visible and, instead of kings and dynasties, it invested them with agency.

1.4 THE NEW HISTORIOGRAPHY

The new historiography which became the dominant historiography through the 1960s and 70s emphasized technological and economic changes and their significance. Briefly stated, it characterized the early historical and early medieval periods in opposition to each other. The early historical period is seen as marked by wideranging exchange networks, horizontal spread of urban centres, monetisation of the economy and comparatively less unequal distribution of land, if not produce. Although society was stratified, it was more open and less exploitative than the later times. The vaishyas as the principal tax payers and shudras as the basic source of labour bore the brunt of production activities. The formation of the early medieval period, which is characterized as feudal, is perceived in terms of the decline of longdistance and maritime trade, urban decay, dearth of metallic money, fragmentation of authority ( related to the phenomenon of land grants), the relative shifts in the fortunes of the vaishyas and shudras, localisation of crafts, loss of mobility of artisans, traders and peasants and the emergence of closed, self-sufficient economic units. The rise of a dominant class of rent collecting landlords and a servile peasantry, suffering numerous constraints, it is said, finally manifested itself in violent agrarian conflicts and rural revolts. It is necessary to note that the details of this summarised picture have not remained static over the years nor do all the exponents of the Indian feudalism school hold similar views. Explanations of the transition to the early medieval phase have shifted from the decline of long-distance and maritime trade to decline of towns and even a social crisis. Historians differ in their treatment of the post-Gupta centuries. While some characterise the eleventh-twelfth centuries as a categorically distinct phase compared to the seventh-tenth centuries, which were marked by economic decline, others locate growth in the rural economy within the early feudal context, with long-term consequences for markets, merchants, trade and towns. The idea of general decline as envisaged within the dominant historiography for early medieval India, notwithstanding the acknowledgement of agrarian expansion in certain regions during the same period, has been questioned in recent years. Though it is admitted that early medieval India experienced many interrelated processes of change it is treated in continuity with the early historical phase. The focus is on the historical transformation of regions outside Gangetic northern India and the changes coming from within local societies, leading to the making of agrarian regions. Agrarian expansion and peasantisation of tribes, local state formation and the extension of state society as well as caste formation and the hierarchical placement of different groups in society are seen as major developments characterising early medieval India. Instead of generalising across regions and periods this alternative historiography shows regional variations and changes over time. Rural settlements, for example, are shown to be of many types: village (grama), hamlet (palli), herders settlement (ghosha), etc. Every village not necessarily had all the requirements such as a tank, temple and cremation ground. This situation compelled inter-village interaction. Similarly, the social composition of the villages varied. It is shown that rural settlements changed with time. They could and in fact did change from one category to another. A grama could at some point become a centre of exchange, a hatta, and move on to become a commercial node, known as mandapika in the north and pentha in the south. Such centres many a time attracted political attention

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as sources of resource generation. As in the case of rural settlements and rural society, it is said, there were typological distinctions between trade centres and traders; and yet these hierarchies did not hinder interactions. Vanikas (petty traders), banjaras (peddlers), sarthavahas (caravan traders), shresthis (rich merchants) and rajashresthis (royal merchants) represent the range of traders in early India. The historical complexity and variety across regions, instead of being subsumed under generalisations, receive their due in this more recent historiography, which also questions stereotypes associated with the village community (as closed, selfsufficient and homogeneous entities) and the decline of trade and urban centres in early medieval India. Like all informed debates the debate on characterising early medieval India has opened up new possibilities.

Historiography of the Pre-Colonial Economy Ancient

1.5 RECENT RESEARCHES

Recent researches on the economic history of ancient India seem to have contributed substantially to our better understanding of the past. This has been made possible not necessarily because of the availability of new data but largely owing to new perspectives and, flowing from it, new sets of questions which have been brought to bear upon the evidence. There have been some efforts towards the use of statistical methods in analysing stone tools and pottery, bearing on resource use and settlement history, and early medieval south Indian inscriptions for discerning patterns in economic and administrative histories. Having said that, it needs to be mentioned that given the nature of the source materials in most cases it is not easy to quantify. The assessments of the economic historian of early India of production, prices, agrarian expansion, the ratio of donated land to land under cultivation, etc., continue to remain at the best tentative. At the most one can speak about certain trends. Usually there is a tendency to equate a political formation such as the Mauryan state or Satavahana Deccan with a social formation or to generalise from the perspective of a region like Gangetic northern India for the entire country. What is ignored in such instances is the unevenness in levels of material cultures across regions, and even sub-regions. Historians are beginning to recognise these disparities and charting the pattern of economic and cultural transformations in the varied regions. Althrough Indian history communities at different levels of technological and economic development have co-existed. The Neolithic cattle-keepers of the Deccan, the Mesolithic or middle stone age hunter-gatherers of Langhnaj (in Gujarat) and the Harappan agriculturists and craftsmen coexisted in a seemingly symbiotic relationship. The recognition of these differences helps us to understand the phased manner of economic growth in the sub-continent. Indian archaeology provides evidence for such uneven patterns of growth from the protohistoric period onwards. Even in Mauryan times, as mentioned above, much of the progress was largely confined to Gangetic northern India and adjoining regions. Parts of Peninsular India experienced comparable growth during and after the Mauryas. To elaborate, in post-Mauryan Deccan while coastal Andhra owed its prosperity to agriculture, the economy of the central Deccan (Telengana) was sustained by artisanal production, including the smelting and forging of iron tools, and trade. In Gupta and post-Gupta centuries the process of continuous agrarian expansion ensured the co-existence of economically interrelated developing and developed areas in many regions of the country. Forests and settlements, despite representing different kinds of spaces, existed in a relationship of interaction and change and not necessarily opposition in early India. Archaeology has enriched our understanding of early India insofar as it has given rise to new sets of questions bearing on the expansion of agriculture, urbanisation, 11

Historiography, Environment and Economy

crafts, money and trade. The numerous archaeological cultures (Black-and-Red Ware, Ochre Coloured Pottery, Copper Hoards, Painted Grey Ware, etc.) placed between the later half of the second millennium B.C. and the middle of the first millennium B.C. in indicating mutual contacts and adaptations have helped us in moving away from invasion and colonisation as explanatory categories for change. Further, the perspective provided by these chalcolithic and early iron age cultures assume importance in the context of the shift from the primacy of Vedic literature to a greater reliance on archaeological evidence to understand the long-term history of the spread of settlements, peasant units of production and the evolution of regions. The spread of iron technology at different stages into the varied cultural regions is usually seen to mark the transition to full-fledged peasant economy. This seems to have happened at different points of the first millennium B.C. across regions. The role of iron in shaping early historical north India has been questioned and there has been an interesting debate around the iron-productivity-surplus-complex society thesis. However, the origins of agriculture and the emergence of farming communities predate the coming of iron. The Neolithic-chalcolithic communities outside the orbit of Harappan civilisation produced the first farmers in different other parts of the Indian subcontinent, who domesticated such important crops as barley, wheat, rice and millets and animals like cattle, sheep and goat. Craft specialisation and exchange networks too did not begin with the historic period, their history can be traced to proto-historic cultures. The presence of high-value grave goods, including iron objects, at some megalithic sites in Vidarbha suggests social differentiation even in these early iron age cultures. The significance of the proto-historic data in any long-term perspective of resource-use, crafts production, exchange and social organisation cannot be missed. In fact, recent researches on the transition to the early historical phase in Gangetic north India, the Deccan and south India are underlining the importance of such evidence. Researches on early medieval India are tending to become inscription based and region centred. Apart from the numerical richness of the epigraphical material, the desire to move away from only theoretical and prescriptive positions on state, society and economy, leading to a better and comparative understanding of processes and structures across the variegated regions explains these developments. However, there is an unevenness in the volume and quality of regional studies. While studies on early medieval Bengal, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Kerala and Tamilnadu indicate the patterns quite well, the same cannot be said for the other regions.

1.6 SUMMARY
Finally, it needs to be mentioned that today economic history is seen as a part of a wider canvas of history and it is not treated in isolation. The practice of interdisciplinarity and the concern for opening up and addressing new dimensions of early Indian history have led to enhanced interest in issues like social differentiation, stratification, social mobility and state formation. Studies in these areas clearly indicate that economy is not the only agency of social change. Thus, it is realised that differentiation could emanate from multiple sources: access or absence of access to economic resources or political power. Upward social mobility was conditional upon acquiring economic or political power or both, which in turn were prerequisites for the observance and emulation of upper caste norms and rituals. The subject of state formation provides a good example of how one dimension of society cannot be studied to the exclusion of other dimensions. For the emergence of states an agrarian base, settlements and social differentiation of some kind are usually necessary. However, once states emerged they could, and in fact did, influence changes in each

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of the aforesaid areas. Examples such as these, and they can easily be multiplied, illustrate the continuous interplay of numerous forces in the making of history, while simultaneously drawing our attention to the overlap between economic history and other facets of history.

Historiography of the Pre-Colonial Economy Ancient

1.7 EXERCISES
1) Discuss the contemporary ideas on ancient Indian economic history. 2) Did the prevailing ideas on economic history of ancient India suggest pattern of growth or stagnation? 3) Analyse the new emerging trends in historiography during the early 1960s. 4) In what ways the post 1950s economic historical writings represent a departure from early 20th century historical writings? 5) Account for the recent trends in the economic history writings of ancient India.

1.8 SUGGESTED READINGS

Chattopadhyaya, B.D. (2003), Trends of Research on Ancient Indian Economic History, in B.D. Chattopadhyaya, Studying Early India: Archaeology, Texts and Historical Issues, Permanent Black, New Delhi, pp. 217-31. Jha, Vishwamohan (2002), Historiography of the Economy of Early Medieval North India: The Second Phase, Presidential Address, Historiography Section, Proceedings of Andhra Pradesh History Congress, 26th Session, Anaparti, pp. 198-216. Sahu, B.P. (ed) (1997), Land System and Rural Society in Early India, Manohar, Delhi, Introduction, pp. 1-58. Sharma, R.S. and D.N. Jha, (1974), The Economic History of India up to A.D. 1200: Trends and Prospects, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, vol. 17, pp. 48-80. Thapar, Romila (ed) (1995), Recent Perspectives of Early Indian History, Popular Prakashan.

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