From the Mesolithic to the Mahajanpadas (The March Towards Urbanization in the Ganga Basin)

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About the Book The 6th-5th centuries before the Common Era witnessed an outburst of urbanization in the Ganga Basin. Cities sprang up with houses built of kiln-fired bricks and oriented along the cardinal directions. Sanitation was taken due care of, with soakage jars, 'ring wells' and public drains. Water-supply was ensured by constructing wells and reservoirs.

Surplus agricultural produce and storage thereof in granaries testified to basic economic health. Trade was in full swing and there were long-distance trade-routes, such as Uttarapatha and Daksinapatha. Systems of weights and coinage emerged and that of writing was not left behind.

All this coincided with the emergence of Sodasa Mahajanapadas (Sixteen Big States), which throws light on the contemporary political set-up. Matrimonial alliances on the one hand and wars on the other became common features. A striking point about the Ganga Civilization is that whereas the Harappan Civilization was confined to the north-western part of India, this civilization covered the entire sub-continent -from Pakistan to Bangladesh and down south even to Sri Lanka.

But, as they say, 'Rome was not built in a day'. It took four millennia for the Ganga Civilization to evolve from a Neolithic base in the 4th millennium BCE. On this foundation impinged a chalcolithic culture, followed by the emergence of iron. Signs of an incipient urbanization began to appear with the Painted Grey Ware Culture towards the end of 2nd millennium BCE. The book deals with this 'march towards urbanization' in the Ganga basin.

About the Author A world-renowned archaeologist, Prof. B.B. Lal was the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India from 1968 to 1972. In the latter year he took voluntary retirement to pursue his research programmes independently. First he joined Jiwaji University, Gwalior, as a Professor and later the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, of which he was also the Director.

Professor Lal's excavations cover a very wide range - from Paleolithic times to early historical. At Kalibangan, Rajasthan, he unearthed a prosperous city of the Harappan Civilization. The excavations at Hastinapura, Indraprastha, etc. have established that there was a kernel of truth in the Mahabharata, even though the epic is full of interpolations. Likewise, his excavations at Ayodhya, Sringaverapura, etc. have indicated that the Ramayana too has a basis in history. In 1961, he conducted excavations in Egypt also, which threw welcome light on Egyptian prehistory.

His publications include over 150 seminal research papers, published in scientific journals, both in India and abroad: USA, UK, France, Italy, Russia, Egypt, Afghanistan, Japan, etc. Amongst his latest books are: Historicity of the Mahabharata: Evidence of Literature, Art and Archaeology (2013); The Rigvedic People: 'Invaders'? f Immigrants'? Or Indigenous (Evidence of Archaeology and Literature) (2015); Kausambi Revisited (2017).

In 1994, Prof. Lal was awarded D. Litt. (Honoris causa) by Institute of Archaeology, St. Petersburg, Russia. The same year he presided over World Archaeological Congress. He has been Chairman and member of several committees of UNESCO. In 1982, Mithila Visvavidyalaya honoured him with the title of Mahamahopadhyaya. In 2014, the Deccan College, Postgraduate and Research Institute, Pune (Deemed to be University) conferred on him D. Litt. (Honoris causa). In 2019, the Vice President of India honoured Prof Lal by releasing a three-volume set of a book titled Felicitating a Legendary Archaeologist: Prof B.B. Lal.

In recognition of his contribution to archaeology, the President of India honoured him in 2000 with the award of Padma Bhusana.

Foreword I am, indeed, very happy to put on record that this publication is the outcome of rigorous research of Prof. B.B. Lal, completed under ICHR's latest scheme, 'Gurukul Fellowship. Keeping in mind the Indian traditional knowledge system, this fellowship was started by ICHR in 2017-18. Prof. Lal was one of the first two doyens of the subject who kindly agreed to accept the honourable position, and to work on a subject of his choice.

Taking up the work along with his disciple, he decided to dispel the prevailing belief of the so-called 'Dark Age' that loomed between the phases -the Harappan Civilization around 2000 BCE and the beginning of Early Historical Period around the 6th century BCE. The subject chosen by him is From the Mesolithic to the Mahajanapadas: The March towards Urbanization in Ganga Basin.

I must thank him for accepting our proposal, and at the same time, congratulate him for vividly describing the evolution of different Pottery Cultures, in corroboration of other researches done by many scholars on the Ganga Basin, from the Neolithic-Chalcolithic times to the emergence of Sixteen Mighty States (Sodasa Mahajanapada).

I compliment the officials and staff of the ICHR for extending their services in bringing out this publication with care and attention. My thanks are also due to Prof. Kumar Ratnam, Member Secretary, Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Director (Journal, Publication & Library), Dr. Omjee Upadhyay, Director (Research & Administration) and Dr. Md Naushad Ali, Deputy Director (Publication), and Dr. Saurabh Kumar Mishra, Editor-cum-Project Officer for the sincere efforts they have put in during the process of this publication. Last but not least, I thank Mr. Vikas Arya of Aryan Books International for giving his personal attention in bringing out the publication in a neat and presentable format.

Preface Around the middle of the 20th century, it was commonly believed that there was a 'Dark Age' between the end of Harappan Civilization around 2000 BCE and the beginning of the Early Historical Period around the 6th century BCE. To unravel this mystery was a great challenge. Within a few years of my joining the Archaeological Survey of India, I took up the challenge and started exploring sites which could possibly yield remains of a period prior to circa 600 BCE. Amongst the sites I chose for the purpose were those traditionally associated with the Mahabharata story, such as Hastinapura, the capital of the Kauravas, Mathura, from where Lord Krishna hailed and the five villages which the Pandavas asked the Kauravas to give to the former if the War was to be averted. According to the local tradition, these are: Panipat, Sonipat, Indrapat, Tilpat and Baghpat. At these and many other sites, I discovered a very distinctive pottery comprising bowls and dishes of fine grey ware painted with linear and curvilinear designs in black pigment. This pottery, now going by the name of Painted Grey Ware (PGW), was found to well precede the Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW) whose beginning (as acceptable in 1950s) was circa 600 BCE. The PGW, therefore, was assignable to a period going back to the end of the second/beginning of the first millennium BCE.

But there still remained a gap between the end of the Harappan Civilization and the beginning of the PGW period. This further challenge was taken up by a host of archaeologists, variously from the universities of Allahabad, Banaras, Gorakhpur and Patna and the Departments of Archaeology in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. As a result of their untiring efforts, we have today a reasonably clear picture of what transpired in the Ganga basin during this period. Thank God, the 'Dark Age' has almost vanished!

The present book seeks to narrate the story of this evolution in the Gang basin, from the Neolithic-Chalcolithic times to the early historical when the well-known Sixteen Mighty States (Sodasa Mahajanapadas) appeared on the horizon.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages