Ancient India Chapter 2 - Prehistory and Protohistory

Ancient India Chapter 2 - Prehistory and Protohistory 

 

What were the social and economic consequences of the beginning of agriculture? Explain with the help of suitable examples from Indian pre-history.

Background Discussion 1

This question pertains to the following parts of the syllabus – 

•  Beginning of agriculture (neolithic and chalcolithic)

•  Distribution of pastoral and farming cultures outside the Indus, Development of community life, Settlements, Development of agriculture, Crafts, Pottery, and Iron industry.

This is an oft-neglected area by the students. Only if you see the kind of questions asked by UPSC in the past few years, you will notice the increasing importance the topic and expected depth required by the UPSC from the aspirants – 

1.  Describe the distinguishing features of important archaeological cultures of the Indian subcontinent datable between c. 2000 B.C. and c. 500 B.C. [1995, 60m]

2.  Assess the pattern of settlement, economy, social organization and religion of India during 2000 to 500 BC from archaeological evidences. [2003, 60m]

3.  Discuss the distribution and significance of farming cultures outside the Indus system. [2008, 60m]  

4.  To what extent archaeological materials are useful in understanding the progress of Neolithic man in India? [2010, 30m]

5.  In the absence of a written script Chalcolithic pottery gives us a fascinating insight into the culture and life styles of the people of those times. Comment critically. [2013, 15m]

6.  Delineate and account for the regional characteristics of the Neolithic period in India. [2016, 15 Marks]

7.  The emergence of Non-Harappan Chalcolithic cultures in Central India and the Deccan mark a change not only in the subsistence pattern of people but an overall transition from pre to proto historic period. Critically analyze. [2017, 15 Marks]

So, if we try to analyse these questions, we come to know that we are expected to prepare four dimensions of the beginning and development of agriculture in India – 

1.  Why the beginning of food production – various theories, models and causes (e.g. the problem of climate change)

2.  Distribution of early food producing sites in India – regional features and differences (there are different zones for wheat, rice, barley, millets etc)

3.  Nature of the relationship between Harappan and non-Harappan food producing communities – during mature and post-urban Harappan phases

4.  Social, economic and cultural changes it brought in its wake – with the help of archaeological material (tools, pottery, bones, site characteristics, crops/food etc)

PS - There are two more associated dimensions. We will deal with them separately. These are - issues of neo-chalco continuum and of iron technology.

What were the social and economic consequences of the beginning of agriculture? Explain with the help of suitable examples from Indian pre-history.

Higher Order Analysis

As far as the fourth point is concerned, it’s a three-level debate: In the Neolithic Revolution debate that was started by V Gordon Childe, we generally study the reasons given by Childe as per crude Marxian materialistic perspective as to why to call it a revolution. 

We then counter it by saying that the beginning of agriculture was indeed a fundamental change but it was not sudden. So, it was a significant change of revolutionary proportions but it didn’t occur as a revolution, rather it was spread out over centuries. A kind of an evolution instead, if one can call it. 

Then there is the third view – does the beginning of agriculture even denote any progressive step at all, which the first two views seem to presume? If one goes by diseases, nutrition, mortality, efforts etc (both quantity and quality of life) – then the life seems to have become worse for an individual while for the community it’s a path towards development. 

This contrast is not yet given due importance by our regular History text books. So far, the questions asked by the UPSC also are limited to the arguments and counters between the first two views only.

What were the social and economic consequences of the beginning of agriculture? Explain with the help of suitable examples from Indian pre-history.

Answer Discussion 1

The transition from foraging to farming is one of the turning points in human history. The seasonally mobile life of hunter-gatherers, who obtained their food from wild plants and animals, was replaced by the settled life of farmers, who cultivated crops and raised domesticated livestock. This shift from nomadic to sedentary life led to the growth of population and village settlement, the development of crafts such as pottery and metallurgy, and eventually to centralised city states and urbanization.

The origin of agriculture is related to the birth of village. Hunter-gatherers depended on the seasonal migration but agriculture encourages settling down in one place. That is why the large-scale emergence of villages dates to the coming of agriculture.

The coming of agriculture meant there was an artificial extension of the production niche. While hunter-gatherers depended on nature to provide them food, agriculturists actively colonized many new areas by cutting down trees, planting seeds and arranging for water supply.

Agriculture also led to an increase in the carrying capacity of land. Various calculations suggest that a hunter-gather would need roughly four square kilometers of land to feed himself in a year’s time. A very small chunk of land could support large number of agriculturists.

Coming of agriculture is also related to the emergence of long-term patterns of cooperation. Hunting-gathering groups need short term cooperation mostly for organizing hunt only. The basic unit of social organization remains loose nomadic bands of fifteen to fifty people related by kinship which tend to spend part of the year dispersed into small foraging units. On the other hand, agriculturists need cooperation from sowing to harvesting across the year. Thus they are characterized by large kinship networks. It also gives rise to exchange networks of various types.

Population growth is higher among sedentary farming communities. Crops provided farmers with more dependable supplies of grain based weaning foods such as gruel and porridge. The average interval between births would have been reduced, leading to increase in population. Also, agricultural activities like harvesting and sowing can be done by children too, whereas hunting requires full grown adults. The possibility of early induction into the production process creates desire for more children.

To this, one may add following aspects – 

•  Transition from band society to tribal society

•  Diseases and morbidities, health and nutrition pattern

•  Gender division of labour

•  Post-mesolithic development in art and other activities of leisure

•  Language development

•  Later on – with increase in productivity  surplus, stratification, differentiation, emergence of urbanisation and incipient/early state formation

What were the social and economic consequences of the beginning of agriculture? Explain with the help of suitable examples from Indian pre-history.

Answer Discussion 2

When archaeologists talk about the beginning of food production, they refer to four associated features (apart from the remains of the grains and farmlands)

1.  Cooking and storing wheat and barley presents a new kind of problem. While meat can be roasted directly on fire, cereals will be lost in ash if they are not cooked in a utensil. Thus, utensils which could withstand the high temperature of oven were required for cooking wheat and barley. Earthen pots baked in fire were the earliest utensils for cooking food. 

2.  Wheat and barley were ground for making bread. Querns and pestles were used for grinding wheat and barley. Regular grinding created a smooth polished surface on the stone tools. Thus, the beginning of food production is associated with the use of polished stone tools. 

3.  The beginning of food production coincided with the domestication of goats and sheep too. 

4.  Although cultivation began earlier, in the Indian subcontinent most of the early agricultural communities used small quantities of copper tools. That is why they are referred to as chalcolithic communities meaning thereby that they used stone tools along with a few copper tools.

Therefore, to address the second part of the question – illustration through the examples – don’t just drop names like Mehergarh and Koldihawa, Damadama, Sarai Nahar Rai, Mahagara, Jorwe etc. We need to correlate the site with crop/settlement and either of the above four archaeological markers. 

In such type of questions where sources (literary or archaeological) are to be cited, don't just use them randomly. There is a method to it. And display of this method makes all the difference between 4/10 and 6/10.

Also, it is better to draw a map of Indian subcontinent, show river valley and indicate the sites’ locations. It improves presentation and also shortens the length of the answer at the same time. 

Also, try to give examples from varied parts of Indian subcontinent.

Ancient India - Prehistory and Protohistory

Discuss the extent, settlement patterns and subsistence economy of the megalithic cultures. [2012, 30m]

Background Discussion

Megalithic is an interesting topic with many open dimensions. Only after 2008/10, UPSC has started taking some interest in it. 

1.  How do recent “archaeological findings” and Sangam literary texts enlighten us about the early state and society in South India? [2008, 60m]

2.  Discuss the extent, settlement patterns and subsistence economy of the megalithic cultures. [2012, 30m]

3.  In what ways can the Megalithic culture be considered a foundational phase of the history of peninsular India? [2014, 15m]

Also, there are other and older questions which indirectly touch upon the megalithic aspect in the answer –

1.  What role did iron play in changing their political and economic life? [1998, 60m]

2.  Evaluate the introduction of iron technology in the development of human history of ancient India. [2011, 20m]

Megalithic has been a topic of a huge discussions in the past among archaeologists, historians and anthropologists when the diffusionist theories were considered valid. People tried to connect it with outside origin or at least external stimuli of certain kind. However, that era is gone. So, if you are referring to some old book and they have printed pages after pages about the origin debate, you don't need to memorise it.

Apart from already covered dimensions by UPSC, there is one more important yet untouched dimension of social structure and belief systems of megalithic peoples. Keep your note ready on this topic. (because the UPSC is not repeating the already asked dimensions of this topic, and a question on megalithic has not been asked since 2014, so we can consider it as important for 2020)

In our Optional preparation, the best available and almost sufficient source for this topic is Upinder Singh only. If we don’t want to read the technicalities and get only the meat of the issue then even Romila Thapar’s Early India is good. IGNOU also offers some insights (although not much in history booklets as much in anthropology booklets). Even if one reads only from Upinder Singh, it is more than adequate for our preparation.

Answer Discussion

There are 4 keywords here, and each one requires some conceptual clarity. Otherwise you will fall into the trap. Seemingly simple question also has some pitfalls. 

•  Extent – NCERT might give an impression that megalith is chiefly a peninsular phenomenon only. It is not so. If you read any updated book, you have to include non-peninsular sites in central India, north-west India etc. (the reason we focus on south Indian megalithic specially and separately is because it was only in South India that the megalithic was during iron age. In other places, it didn’t coincide with iron age as such.)

•  Settlement patterns – Megalithic becomes problematic only because these are only burial sites and not habitations. Habitations (supposedly located nearby) are difficult to locate because of a lot of reasons. Thus, answering the settlement pattern is not easy but we can talk about – location pattern of megaliths, sedentary nature, trade routes relations (based on exchange pattern derived from grave goods), access to water/pasture/caves/raw material. In-built into this question is also an old debate about to what extent the megalithic people lived the sedentary life. In general, we can also refer to the pattern of the contemporary village communities.

•  Subsistence economy – Focus not on the entire craft and trade networks (which are also important due to iron age) but only on subsistence economy. Writing 3/4 quality lines only on this is not easy. Take help of a site or two and explain. 

•  Megalithic cultures – It is not a singular culture but plural cultures. There is a reason behind it. The vast geographic extent, chronological span and internal structural diversity all mean only thing – there is substantial heterogeneity. Also, there is an old debate among historians whether to consider it as a separate archaeological culture as such or just a new burial method of the already known cultures? 

This question appears simple on the face of it. However, ability to score good marks in such seemingly factual question depends on three things – analytical approach, use of technical terms, mentioning/representing sites. 

1.  Technical terms – Megalighic culture comes with its own handful of terms. You should try to use the lingo/jargon in your answer. For that, some conceptual clarity is necessary.

2.  Sites – quickly draw a map showing some prominent sites. For regional extent, one can only demarcate the region if not able to recall the names of the sites. Don’t just mention the site names but also use their prominent features while supporting an argument (eg Watgal, Kupgal etc) Some people might try to draw illustrations/figures of megalithic structures. That is not a bad idea provided it doesn’t eat into your time and space. Practice it beforehand if you are planning to do so. 

3.  Analytical approach – it is the most crucial aspect. I have chosen this question specifically to show that even if the question looks like factual, its answer is not necessarily only so as explained above in 4 keywords.