Subject: EVOLUTION OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE IN INDIA: THROUGH THE AGES Credits: 4 SYLLABUS Introductory & Cultures in Transition Harappan Civilisation and other Chalcolithic Cultures, Hunting-Gathering, Early Farming Society, Pastoralism, Reconstructing Ancient Society with Special Reference to Sources, Emergence of Buddhist Central And Peninsular India, Socio-Religious Ferment In North India: Buddhism And Jainism, Iron Age Cultures, Societies Represented In Vedic Literature Early Medieval Societies & Early Historic Societies: 6th Century - 4th Century A.D Religion in Society, Proliferation and consolidation of Castes and Jatis, The Problem of Urban Decline: Agrarian Expansion, Land Grants and Growth of Intermediaries, Transition To Early Medieval Societies, Marriage and Family Life,Notions of Untouchability, Changing Patterns in Varna and Jati, Early Tamil Society –Regions and Their Cultures and Cult of Hero Worship, Chaityas, Viharas and Their Interaction with Tribal Groups, Urban Classes: Traders and Artisans, Extension of Agricultural Settlements Medieval Society & Society on the Eve of Colonialism Rural Society: Peninsular India, Rural Society: North India, Village Community, The Eighteenth Century Society in Transition, Socio Religious Movements, Changing Social Structure in Peninsular India, Urban Social Groups in North India, Modern Society & Social Questions under Colonialism Social Structure in The Urban and Rural Areas, Pattern of Rural-Urban Mobility: Overseas Migration, Studying Castes in The New Historical Context, Perceptions of The Indian Social Structure by The Nationalists and Social Reformers, Clans and Confederacies in Western India, Studying Tribes Under Colonialism, Popular Protests and Social Structures, Social Discrimination, Gender/Women Under Colonialism, Colonial Forest Policies and Criminal Tribes Suggested Reading: 1. Nation, Nationalism and Social Structure in Ancient India : Shiva Acharya 2. The Social Structure Of Patidar Caste In India : Jayprakash M. Trivedi 3. Gender, Social Structure and Empowerment: Status Report of Women in India : Sangeeta Bharadwaj-Badal CHAPTER 1 Introduction STRUCTURE Learning objective Reconstructing ancient society with special reference to sources Hunting-gathering, early farming society, pastoralism Harappan civilization and other chalcolithic cultures Review questions LEARNING OBJECTIVES After reading this chapter, you should be able to: Understand the Ancient Society: Anthropological Readings. Understand the nature of archaeology. Explain the archaeological evidence for Paleolithic societies Understand the Harappan Culture RECONSTRUCTING ANCIENT SOCIETY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SOURCES Sources Here we introduce you to dissimilar types of sources that help us reconstruct the social structure. Epigraphy Epigraphy is the revise of inscriptions. Epigraphic proof form one of the mainly reliable sources of ancient history. Inscriptions are engraved on stone tablets, metal plates, pillars, walls of caves, etc. The inscriptions symbolize several languages at dissimilar spaces and era of time. Some inscriptions provide details in relation to the political and religious behaviors of that time. Others are official, commemorative, and historical. The edicts of Asoka, the pillars of Samudragupta and Rudradaman I are religious and administrative inscriptions. Bilingual inscriptions at Delhi and Berhampur and musical rules establish in the Pudukottai, treatise on architecture inscribed on a tower at Chittor is some other motivating examples of inscriptions. Inscriptions on metal plates also cast light on the historical era. The Mandasor copper plates, the Sohgaura plate from Gorakhpur district, the Aihole inscription of Mahendra-Varman, the Uttiramerur inscriptions of Cholas cast light on deal, taxes, and currency. Some of these dated in the Saka and Vikrama period reflect on the social condition of India. They provide knowledge in relation to the boundaries of kingdoms and empire. Epigraphy throws light on the life existed in the past, the nature of society and economy, and the common state of life. Inscriptions in the South Indian context establish on the hero stones for instance open up a dissimilar dimension of a rustic economy for our consideration. Numismatics Numismatics is the revise of coins. The coins made of gold, silver, and copper speak of the economic situation of that era. Coins provide us information in relation to the some chronological issues as well. They also provide us information in relation to the extent of power of scrupulous ruler or kingdom and its dealings with the distant regions. Roman coins exposed in India provide us and thought in relation to the subsistence of contacts with the Roman Empire. Portraits and figures, Hellenistic art and dates on the coins of the western satraps of Saurashtra are extra ordinary sources for reconstructing this era. The Puranic accounts of the Satavahanas are ascertained from the Jogalthambi hoard of coins. The circulation of coins in gold and silver Throughout the Gupta Empire imparts a thought of the healthy economic condition throughout the rule of the Guptas. Archaeology Archaeology is the revise of the material remnants of the past. They contain structures, monuments and other material leftovers that the inhabitants of that era were associated with. Besides all these pots, pottery, sticks, skeletal remnants all are inseparable parts of the reconstructing the context in which they were establish. Lord Curzon under the Director Generalship of Dr Marshall set up the Department of Archaeology. Excavations mannered at several sites in the valley of the river Indus, Lothal in Gujarat, Kalibangan in Rajasthan, at Sind and Punjab provide us knowledge of the culture throughout in relation to the 2700 BC. Excavations at Taxilla provide a thought in relation to the Kushanas. Parallel of monuments exhumed in India and abroad set up a dealings flanked by several regions Excavations at south Indian sites such as Adichanallur, Chandravalli, Brahmagiri highlight the prehistoric periods. The rock cut temples of Ajanta and Ellora with its sculptures and paintings express the artistic finery of that era. Literature Literature in the ancient era was not fuelled through the urge to preserve history but was a complication of experiences and rules of worship. The literature comprises the Vedas, the Brahmanas, the Aryankas, the Upanishads, the Epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, the Brahashastras, the Puranas. The Buddhist and Jain literature provides knowledge of the traditions prevalent in those periods. The literature of this era is in Sanskrit, Pali, and Prakrit. It provides us knowledge in relation to the music, dance, painting architecture and management of several kings. Kautilya‘s Arthasastra is an extra ordinary job on the organization of management. The Sangam literature in south is an elaborate record of life in South India. Interpretation Historical troubles can be discussed with open minds only. Rewriting of History is a continuous procedure into which historian brings to bear new methodological or ideological insights or employs a new analytical frame drawn upon hitherto strange facts. The historians‘ craft as Marc Bloch, has reminded us, is rooted in a method specific to history as a discipline, mainly of which has evolved through philosophical engagements and empirical investigations throughout the last many centuries. No methodology which historian invokes in pursuit of the knowledge of the past is really valid unless it compliments the method of the discipline. Even when methodologies fundamentally differ, they share sure general grounds, which constitute the field of the historian‘s craft. Notwithstanding the present skepticism in relation to the possible engagement with History, a strict adherence to the method of the discipline is observed in all usually accepted shapes of reconstruction of the past. The students of history should not be presenting definitive conclusions but suggesting possibilities that are based on the sound reading of the proof. Here we have taken into consideration anthropological, archaeological, and textual sources to illustrate the revise of ancient society. The anthropological reading of the source pertains to a reading of a tribe; the archaeological reading considers a chalcolithic resolution and the textual one seems at the Rig-Veda in conditions of an interpretation of a textual source. However we have not followed any definitive chronology here, yet there is a sure understanding of time sequencing. The colonial construction of India‘s past shapes the earlier contemporary writing of Indian history. European scholars searched for histories of India that would have conformed to their stereotype of history writing but could discover none. The only exception was Kalhana‘s Rajatarangini, a twelfth century history of Kashmir. There were primarily two strands of writing Indian history in the colonial perspective, the Utilitarian and the Orientalist. The Utilitarian perspective basically argued for a changeless society in the Indian subcontinent. It also suggested that this backward society can be changed through legislation which could be used through the British officers to bring in relation to the ‗progress‘ in the other wise stagnant and retrograde Indian society. James Mill therefore harped on the negative characteristics of Indian society. Although James Mill‘s periodisation of Indian history into Hindu and Muslim periods is usually pointed out as an instance of this colonial view,