Settlements in The Yamuna-Hindon Doab An Archaeological Perspective

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The Book Settlements in the Yamuna Hindon Doab: An Archaeological Perspective reveals the settlement pattern of the Yamuna-Hindon Doab from the protohistoric to the early. historic period. However, the Gupta, post-Gupta and medieval sites that were brought to light during the study have also been given adequate consideration. and significance. The present work fills. some of the gaps that are faced in the reconstruction of ancient past created by the absence of horizontal excavations. Against a background of the history of the area, the study meticulously weaves together evidences from ancient mounds, pottery, sculpture, monuments, references in literature, legend, and folklore to reconstruct a comprehensive and lively historical narrative.

This work, written in a lucid and expressive style, is accompanied by several maps, analytical data, a large number of pottery illustrations and. photographs, References, Appendix and Index. The book will be of special interest to scholars and students of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology.

Rewant Vikram Singh (b. 1975) completed his graduation (B.A. History Honours) & post-graduation in History. (Specialisation in Ancient India) from Hansraj College, the University of Delhi, in 1996 and 1998 respectively. He secured first position in Hansraj College in M.A. Previous (1997) and M.A. Final (1998). He has also been awarded certificates and prizes on successful completion of the "India: Art and Culture Course" and "Art Appreciation Course" from the National Museum, New Delhi in 1994 and 1995 respectively. He was awarded the M.Phil. degree of the University of Delhi in 2001 for his study. on "Settlements in the Yamuna-Hindon Doab: An Archaeological Perspective".

He is deeply involved in the study of various aspects of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology. He is also working on means and mechanisms of integrating Indian History, Culture and Archaeology with information technology and computer science.

The present work is an attempt to comprehend the settlement history of the Yamuna-Hindon doab by studying the doab lying between the Baghpat-Meerut Road and the Delhi-Ghaziabad highway. Avillage-to-village survey, both along the river banks and away from the same has been undertaken, While the main focus is on the settlement pattern of this micro area, a comprehensive macro study of the Yamuna-Hindon doab has been done that would allow generalization of the entire doab. The emphasis is more on a study of the protohistoric and early historic cultures of the region, as very little of these periods has come to us through literary sources. Nevertheless, the Inter periods of history were also not at all ignored. The issues of the cultural continuity and discontinuity till the medieval period have been analysed, and besides a large number of ancient sites, an equally significant number of medieval sites have been discussed.

The methodology chosen for this work involves analyses of the archaeological data in the context of ecological factors and the technology available during various cultural periods. It is also based on exploration on a limited scale and the record of surface findings. The story, legends, myths and statements were collected by me during the field work in February-March 1999, October-November 2000 and again in February-March 2001. The recovery of the past through this methodology is also important because it intends to bring to notice the important archaeological sites that we might lose for always due to increasing population pressure in the area for new settlements and extension of agricultural lands, and mass urbanization, leading to large-scale destruction of archaeological sites. It is intended that an analysis of these sites would help the stream of archaeology and history in a constructive manner.

The preparation of this work owes innumerable debts of gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Nayanjot Lahiri. It is she who taught me the concept of archaeology and archaeological research and constantly encouraged me to take up the challenges of the field research. The discussions with her were always illuminating which broadened my horizon of thinking on the subject.

1. THE PROBLEM

In the literary sources, the earheat references from the Yamuna-Hindon doah is to be found in the famous Epic, the Mahabharata. B. B. Lal has identified several sites that have been referred in the Mahabharata in Ancient India, Vol. 10 & 11, 1954-55 However, in the literary sources, there is almost no reference of the social, economic, and political development in the area during the period before the legend of Mahabharata war. It has to be noted that the historicity of the Mahabharata war is itself controversial. Again, there is no reference of the developments during the centuries between the Mahabharata war and the settlement of Tomars in Delhi. Moreover, the ancient literary sources are religious in nature, engulfed with mythologies, while the dates of many literary sources are uncertain and disputed.

In such a background of paucity of references in the literary sources, an archaeological study of the Yamuna-Hindon doab occupies a significant place. The monuments, structures, and other artifacts or remains of the past that would reflect the history of the Yamuna-Hindon doab lie mostly covered by the soil and wreckage. We have lost most of these remains of the past forever due to massive scale: of urbanisation that has taken place in the area Pressed by the demands of rapidly increasing population, the sites, the mounds, and the structural remains were destroyed to clear land for shelter and for agricultural produce. However, at times this process of urbanization also brought into light, from the concealed layers of accumulated soil and debris, remains of the past. Wherever the sites have not been destroyed by activities such as the construction of roads, houses, and factories or farming one can still notice mounds that show their occupations over centuries. And whenever, some of these mounds are disturbed or cut away, such as when someone decides to install a handpump or build a house or a well or to level the ground to grow crops on, the remains of the past are exposed. We can notice most of these sites in the rural areas. This was one of the causes for my taking up the Yamuna-Hindon doab as the study area because much of this area is still rural and the process of urbanisation has not yet destroyed some of these sites. However, the urbanization is gradually penetrating this area day-by-day and we are losing these sites and with them the remains of the past are also lost forever. Consequently, over a period of time it is feared that we might have very little of the past in this area. This is particularly true of the ancient past, as the sites of the medieval period in most cases are continued to be occupied till date, while most of the deserted ancient sites have been destroyed.

The second factor for taking up the Yamuna-Hindon doab as the study area was identification of significant number of Late Harappans, PGW, NBP, and early historic, Gupta, post-Gupta and Medieval sites in the region. Most of the identified sites are in the Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad and Meerut districts of Uttar Pradesh, and east Delhi. I have taken up the study of settlement history of a micro area from the region. The micro study covers the doab below the Baghpat-Meerut Road and the Delhi-Ghaziabad highway. The significance of the area is highlightened by the identification of Baghpat, Loni, Kaseri and Mandoli as the sites of ancient past. This suggested that there might be some other sites of ancient past in the area that have not yet been identified. The possibility of locating unidentified sites in the area was further strengthened by the fact that people in their struggle for existence, within any region, will tend to settle down in places that are close to sources of water and food, and as far as possible, that are safe and pleasant. The Yamuna-Hindon doab was a right place in this context. Though there are exceptions to such generalizations.

**Contents and Sample Pages**