Historical Atlas of India

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The idea of preparing a historical atlas was mooted due to the long felt demand of the scholars as well as students of a good and authentic atlas on the subject. The available information has not been integrated to meet this objective. In most of the cases, the books which are available have been prepared mainly keeping in view the requirements of the curriculum having limited objectives, particularly in depicting the historical details. Obviously, cartography or the science of map-making was accorded the least priority. Hence, it was felt by this Organization to prepare an atlas on the history of the country with cartographic excellence. The objective is also to provide an insight in to the historical developments of the country from spatial perspective.

History is often spatially misinterpreted. This is perhaps due to the lack of spatial knowledge of our past associated with history and culture. India represents varied types of culture, social customs, language and religion, but its uniqueness is its unity in diversity - the essence of it lies in our glorious historical past. In order to uphold the tradition, this volume is expected to help in re-exploring our historical tradition and our glorious past.

Information and data, as it was required for this volume, was collected in the form of charts, maps, atlas and different publications. Information was checked, cross-checked and finally the synthesis of it was adopted for the atlas. After processing the information the primary task was to incorporate the same in an appropriate geographical setting, mainly in terms of spatial extension of the kingdoms and to identify the historical sites. It may be mentioned here that for the place names, temporal spellings have been adopted which also indicate the gradual change of name of a particular location.

After. the primary drafting of the maps, an interactive workshop was arranged and the entire volume was presented before the distinguished scholars of the field of history and archeology. This was an enriching experience. The suggested modifications have been incorporated in the atlas. NATMO had the privilege to present the entire volume before the scholars who attended the Indian Historical Congress held in the month of December 2005 at Visva-Bharati, Shantiniketan and there this work has been acknowledged as a very useful contribution in the field of History as well. The feedback which we received helped us in further improving this publication.

My Joint Directors, Shri A.K. Malik and Dr T.K. Basu closely monitored the progress of the project. Dr. A.K. Dasgupta, Deputy Director made necessary arrangements for its publication. Dr. G.C. Debnath, Research Officer not only drafted the maps on the computers but also got the volume printed in the NATMO Press with the help of his colleagues in record time. The whole project was successfully completed under the supervision of Dr B.P. Singh, Deputy Director and Shri U. Chakravarty, Research Officer. They were assisted by Shri Amitava Chakrabarty, Smt. Mitra Kumar, Shri Satya Narayan Das, Smt. Sonali Saha-Bhattacharya, Shri Suvankar Bhattacharya and Smt. Anindita Sarkar.

We are extremely glad to bring out this publication during the Golden Jubilee year of the Organization.

India, the melting pot, has been blessed with a rich historical and cultural heritage. Today, India reflects the glimpses of its traditional glory regarding its diversified culture and its unity in diversity. From time immemorial, India has accepted different foreign migrants and culture, which in turn have been assimilated, developed and identified as a separate culture. This trend can be observed in the sphere of religion, architecture, social and othercustoms which can be summarized by our great poet and philosopher Rabindra Nath Tagore as, Sak Hun dal Pathan Mughal ek dehe halo leen (Sakas, Huns, Pathans and Mughals may have come from different areas, but after coming to India, they have lost their identities and have integrated with the very soul of this country).

The historical developments, from pre-historic age to present-date, have not been chronologically depicted through maps and atlases. Most of the available atlases are prepared keeping in mind the school curriculum which does not necessarily cover the entire chronology. Hence it was felt desirable to prepare a comprehensive atlas on the history of the country, which will not only unfold the historical developments from the pre-stoic period, but also give a broad insight into the different phases of the course of Indian history and associated developments. Here the objective is to depict the various facets of Indian history through maps in order to understand India in a spatio-temporal frame. The entire historical period has been divided into four parts.

(a) From early B.C. to 4th century AD. (dissolution or fall of the Gupta empire)
(b) From 5th century AD. to 11th century AD. (after the fall of Guptas and the rise of the regional powers, however, it was continued up to the advent of Islamic invasion)
(c) From 12th centurv AD. to 17th century AD. (from the Sultanate period to the fall of the Mughals)
(d) From 18th century AD. to 1947 A.D. (arrival of the foreign powers, mainly British up to the Indian independence)

In the first group ten maps have been included, starting with the stone age to the decline of the Gupta period, covering a vast time span from the pre-historic period to 4th century A.D. Three maps, namely Early, Middle and Late Stone age have been depicted on a single plate, wherein locational pattern of different stone age sites have been shown. Moreover, types of tools which were excavated from different sites have also been shown. The following two maps deal with the neolithic and chalcolithic periods with their sites and tools shown.

The map on the sites of the Harappan and contemporaneous cultures depicts the distribution of major and minor sites of Harappan culture and it also indicates the drift of the Harappan people from western Asia to mainland India. In Vedic India, the spatial extension of Vedic people has been shown from its early settlements to its gradual extension, with its temporal regional names. The development of sixteen Mahajanapadas which depicts the emergence of good number of regional powers with the presence of small regional existence and names of the temporal people, but due to the absence of any historical evidence, the spatial extension of Mahajanapadas could not be demarcated.

In the two maps on Mauryan empire, one depicts the entire Mauryan empire and the next map is wholly dedicated to the empire of great Ashok and subsequent steps taken for the propagation of Buddhism. After the decline of the Mauryas, another three dynasties, namely Satbahanas, Sakas and Kusanas emerged as the most powerful of all. The spatial extension with important locations, regions has been highlighted. Next comes the golden age of Indian historical era with the emergence of Gupta dynasty. In this period Guptas faced a good number of foreign invasions mainly from the Huns. Here also, gradual extension of Gupta empire under different kings of Gupta dynasty has been shown.

The second group consists of five maps. The first one depicts the rise of . Pushyabhutis, Sasanka, and Chalukys. After the disintegration of Gupta empire, three important dynasties emerged - Pushyabhutis in the north, Sasanka in the east and Chalukyas in the peninsular India as depicted in the map. Moreover, other small but powerful emerging dynasties have also been shown. After the fall of the Pushyabhutis, Chalukyas and Sasanka there was a period when the entire country was fragmented in to different small regional kingdoms, out of which some of the rulers became powerful during the passage of time and were eventually able to establish themselves as important rulers.

After a brief period, at the turn of 9th century, India again witnessed the emergence of some powerful rulers; they were Gurjara-Pratihars, Rastrakutas, Palas and Cholas. Their spatial extension with contemporary small realms has been depicted. During the advent of 10th century, India witnessed the rise of three major powers who dominated the scenario for nearly two centuries. They were Canandellas, Kalakuris and Paramars. They were restricted mainly in the northern and central India. Their core areas and maximum extension have been shown here as well.

The next two centuries noticed the gradual decline of the previous dynasties and the Indian state had, been occupied by six major ruling dynasties. They are Chalukyas, Gahadavals, Senas, Cholas and Cahamanas. But the central India remained under Candellas and Kalcuris although with much lesser strength. The third group, which has been represented by nine maps, is dominated by the Islamic rulers, namely the Slave dynasty, the Khiljis, the Tughluks and simultaneously, it is noticed that although the northern India was dominated by the Islamic rulers, but the local rulers were predominant in the south up to 1485 A.D. But the advent of the Mughals and their subsequent expansion to the whole of India changed completely the scenario of Indian history. Particularly during the reign of Akbar, the great the Mughal empire expanded up to the present day Assam in the east, the whole of western India, extended even beyond the Vindhyas, which was once considered as a natural barrier against any invasion and subsequently during the reign of Shajahan and Aurangzeb, the Mughal empire extended even to the extreme south.

The fourth group has been represented by eight maps. This period witnessed the gradual decline of the great Mughal empire, advent of foreign traders and rise of some regional powers. The most important of them is the rise of the Marathas, with a group of small but powerful rulers who took control of the entire central India and expanded from the east to west coast. Among the Maratha rulers rise of great Shivaji is a phenomenon of that period. But from this period, the Britishers gradually began to take control of the administrative power of India and within 1857 A.D. the Britishers took control of India, almost entirely, only leaving some local rulers to rule but under their control.

In the year 1857 A.D., the British government faced a revolt from the Indian people for the first time which was led by the native soldiers and supported by some local rulers. It has actually been termed by the historians as the first war of independence. But from the year 1879 to 1947 A.D., the year of independence, political parties tried to organize revolts against the foreign rulers. But Gandhiji's movement of non-violence against the British rulers gave a separate dimension to the Indian freedom struggle, and subsequently it has been acclaimed throughout the world. Finally, on the 15th of August 1947, India finally snatched her independence from the hands of the foreign rulers.

For this project, information from national and international publications was collected. A good number of maps, atlases, charts and periodicals were consulted. They were checked and crosschecked with facts; and before drafting the maps, geographical background was also taken into consideration. An interactive workshop was arranged in NATMO wherein a good number of scholars in the field of history and archeology attended and the entire volume of this atlas was presented before the experts who in turn put forward their valuable suggestions which have been incorporated in the atlas.

We had also the privilege to present this atlas at the Indian Historical Congress held in the month of December 2005 at Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan wherein a good number of scholars participated in the deliberation and came forward with valuable suggestions which have been incorporated as far as possible. The quality of the atlas has definitely improved by such interactions.

The entire data have been superimposed on a physical background of our country. By doing this, we had to depend upon the descriptions, such as spatial extension of a particular kingdom, anthropological aspects, language etc.; arid after considering the above aspects and geographical and physical setting of the country, the boundaries have been delineated. Nevertheless, the boundaries cannot be claimed to be extremely precise: