CHAPTER Z INTRODUCTION

The period of the 1st four centuries of the Christian era is a very iiiqportant and interesting period to study. The early medieval period of India was characterised as the 'dark period' (Chattopadhaya 1983:29) of India due to the 'absence' of the vast territorial empires in the period after the fall of the Gupta empire. The early Christian centuries witnessed similar conditions after the breakup of the Mauryan enqpire. Actually the period was one in which significant changes were taking place. The inroads made by the Central Asian tribes brought about a decentralised government as opposed to the highly centralised Mauryan government. The political conditions of the post-Mauryan period were drastically changed from those of the earlier years. The period of the early centuries of the Christian Era saw the establishment of a state in nuclear regions from the geographical and resource base point of view. The geological and topographical features of are different from that of the Deccan. The Satavahanas ruled over the Deccan the same time as the Kardamaka Kshatrapas ruled over Gujarat. Both traded extensively with the west, i.e. the Romans, the Persian gulf, and the Arabian peninsula, etc (Schoff 1912: 3- 5) . Due to their geological, geographical and topographical differences, both regions offered differing resources and different trading conditions. Since this study is an archaeological one, the sites, their material culture and other influencing conditions will have to be taken into consideration.

This thesis is a historico-archaeological study of a dynamic period in early Indian history. The aim of this thesis is to reconstruct the lifeways, political and economic conditions of the people in Gujarat during the period when India was in a state of flux after the break up of the Mauryan empire. There were a series of invasions in north India by foreigners. Some of them stayed behind to rule over various parts of India, others like the Indo-Greeks were defeated by the tribes coming in from the north and were also driven out of India by Kharavela in the 1st c. B.C. The ancestors of the Kardamakas and the Kshaharatas were among these invaders. The Kushans ruled over north India till the third century A.D. The Satavahanas ruled in the Deccan.

The Kshatrapas ruled from the 1st c. AD to the 4th c. AD. They consisted mainly of two families, the Kshaharatas which was the earlier family led by Bhumaka and Nahapana who ruled over mainly Maharashtra as their inscriptions were found from Junnar, Nasik and Karle caves. The later family was the Kardamaka line founded by Chashtana who was a later contemporary of Nahapana.

The inscriptions of the Kardamaka family are all from Gujarat, majority of which are from Kutch and . Only one inscription of the family is found from East Gujarat which is of Viradman's reign. Hence the sphere of our study includes only the Kardamaka family. Therefore Gujarat is the area of our study which is also connected with the Deccan area due to its geographical orientation, and therefore, the sites of the Deccan of the 1st four centuries A.D. will also be mentioned along with the sites of Gujarat. It was found in the course of these studies that there was a geographical grouping of the inscriptions of each of the families of the Western Kshatrapas. This will be explained further in Chapter II. The other kshatrapa families will also be mentioned and described in Chapter II since they were also known as the Western Kshatrapas.

Each region of Gujarat state has a characteristic orientation towards land and sea which is often governed by geographical conditions like location in relation to land and sea, physical features and resources. Therefore, the settlement patterns and functions will be different form region to region.

Of the material culture found in the Early Historic times from the various sites of Gujarat, the Red Polished ware is the most profuse. It is also found in the 5th c. AD layers at the excavated site of Amreli. This is after the end of Kshatrapa rule in Gujarat. However, this thesis is termed as Kshatrapa period because the earliest inscriptions of Gujarat are of the Kardamaka Kshatrapa rulers. Hence

3 Gujarat is considered to be of Kshatrapa domain which was taken over by the Maitrakas and then the Bhattarakas who are believed to have been the feudatories of the Guptas. Silver coins of the Guptas have been found from Amreli (Rao 1966: 81-88) which do not necessarily indicate the rule of a particular dynasty- over an area, in this case Gujarat.

History of Research The earlier works done on the Western Kshatrapas are all mostly on Kshatrapa inscriptions and coins. None of the works are archaeologically oriented i.e. the study of the daily living of the people of the areas over which the above families ruled.

Numerous district-wise explorations have been carried out in Saurashtra and Gujarat as shown in this thesis. A number of sites of the Early Historic period in Eastern Gujarat and Saurashtra have been excavated and reported, viz. (Subbarao 1953), Devnimori (Mehta and Chowdhary 1964), Shamalaji (Mehta and Patel 1967), Dhatva (Mehta and Chowdhary 1975), (lAR 1963-64), Nagara (Mehta and Shah 1968) etc. An article by Dr. R.N. Mehta C1983) on East Gujarat trade connections has been written. These works have appropriately been utilised in this thesis.

The most valuable works on Saurashtra are by Burgess (1876) and Sankalia (1941). Burgess (1876) has given an account of the various caves of Saurashtra and all the architectural features of Gujarat including the temples and gateways of ancient towns found in Gujarat. This has not been included in the thesis except in connection with the new trends in motifs used to decorate the architecture. These works deal purely with architecture which is not needed in the thesis since it studies the settlements of Gujarat during Kshatrapa times. Sankalia's work also includes architecture but most of it is on the prehistory of Gujarat which does not concern us at all. Altekar (1926) enumerates the ancient towns found in Gujarat and Kathiawad in connection with towns like Boradaxima and others mentioned in the Periplus (Schoff 1912), towns like Valabhipur and Chara along the coast of Saurashtra and others which flourished as ports.

Three major published excavations are Amreli (Rao 1966), Prabhas Patan (Nanavati £t &1. 1971) and at Dwarka (Mate and Ansari 1966). These three works are excavation reports which described the trenches dug and the material culture like pottery, coins, structures etc found in each exqavated layer and trench.

The history of the Western Kshatrapas by ^apson (1967, Reprint) and Mirashi (1981) are the two well known works on the history of the Western Kshatrapas; the former has dealt with the coins of the families and the latter with their inscriptions.

5 Almost all the inscriptions have been dealt with by Mirashi. An inscription of Chashtana dated in his llth regnal y-ear, i.e. 89 AD (Gokhale 1968: 104) gives a good cultural account of the locality of Andhau in Khavda in northern Kutch. Jamindar (1975; 1994) has also deciphered a number of Kshatrap inscriptions. Jamindar has written a book on Kshatrap history in Gujarati (1975). Recently a new book has been written dealing with the coinage and the history of all the families of the Western Kshatrapa rulers in detail (Jha ajcid Rajgor 1994) . The date of Nahapana has also been fixed by them for 94 AD.

For the region of Kutch, Thakkar (1877) gives an architectural account along with ethnoarchaeological aspects and Mrs Postans (1839) has given a traveller's account of Western India including that of Kutch. Joshi (1972; 1990) has reported on his explorations of Kutch which mainly deal with Harappan sites and has only fleeting references to Early Historic pottery which have been found from the same sites. It however provides a valuable description of the area surrounding the sites which were difficult to visit.

The most valuable information on Gujarat's archaeological material is available from the various unpublished theses from M.S. University, Vadodara, on district wise archaeological explorations. The sites of district have been described in detail by Bhan (1983). The other districts which also have been taken into account for this thesis are district in (Momin 1981) , north district (Jairath 1981), district (Mirchandani 1983), Panchmahals district (Sonawane 1979). These works are an account of all the sites found in their particular areas irrespective of the period and deal with the occupation of the area from prehistory to medieval times depending upon the number of sites belonging to each period. The Bombay Presidency Gazetteers provide a mine of information on flora, fauna, natural resources, history and the native peoples residing in the area along with topographical description and historical finds from the various areas of Gujarat.

The sites of the other areas like and districts have been known from Ghosh (1989) and Indian Archaeology: A Review which gives a list of sites along with pottery found from them, most of this pottery is Red Polished ware, a typical pottery found during the Early Historic period.

The pattern seen in the Kshatrap inscriptional chronology found in Gujarat coincides with the pottery and other aspects of material culture patterns of Gujarat. The pottery from Kutch was described fleetingly as painted ware, and did not give evidence of why it was Early Historic. This has led to the exploration in Kutch, specially around Andhau where seven of the ten inscriptions from Kutch have been found. The other areas of Gujarat particularly Saurashtra and East Gujarat were relatively well explored and information was available on the material culture of Saurashtra and East Guj arat.

The information availcJDle on the other areas of Gujarat provided a base to form a possible settlement pattern in its various areas taking into account the different orientation of the various areas of Gujarat i.e. Kutch, Saurashtra and East Gujarat.

The information on material culture of East Gujarat in relation to trade with the west has already been published by Mehta (1983). Another important work on East Gujarat has been done by Stiles (1993) which deals with trade in forest products.

Additional information on trade and the development of sites of this region has been given in the present study including the settlement patterns and the possible role East Gujarat played not only in the economy of Gujarat but also in the economy of the whole of India.

Geography The three areas of Gujarat i.e. Kutch, Saurashtra and East Gujarat are different geographically. The inscriptional content and inscriptional distribution differed according to the region. For e.g. in Saurashtra, inscriptions are

8 eulogistic, religious and commemorative (memorial stones and records of wells dug) . In Kutch all the inscriptions are on Vl»emorial stones of the type described in Chapter II. It was

>*•*••, i' thought that these differences occurred due to the differences in geography and the differences may also be mirrored in the settlements of the 1st few centuries A.D. Therefore, the geography of Gujarat is described here before the aims have been enumerated.

The geography of Gujarat is extremely diverse and forms three regions i.e. Kutch, Saurashtra and East Gujarat, of which the last one is again divided into and since there is a difference in topography, slope and availability of water between the two areas. This difference will be described in detail in Chapter V. The three parts of Gujarat offer diverse resources and different activities which bring forth a diversity in the ways of man. The geographical material has been taken from the Gazetteer of India, Gujarat state series, viz districts of Kutch 1971, Jamnagar 1970, and Junagadh 1975; and the other books referred to are Spate and Learmoth (1972) and Deshpande (1992) .

Kutch The region of Kutch is a crescent shaped region which forms a part of north west Gujarat. The district stretches roughly from 22*44' 11" to 24* 41' 25" north latitude and 68* 09' 46" and 71 54' 47" east longitude. It is 44,000 sq km in area. Kutch in relie£ is almost isolated from the mainland by the surrounding Rann which in spite of its drying up during the summer season is an effective barrier to human contact (Deshpande 1992: 129).

Kutch is bounded on the north and northwest by (Pakistan) , on the northeast by , on the east, bordering the Little and the districts of Banaskantha. On the south south-east by , on the south by the and and on the south west and west by the Arabian sea (Fig. 1).

Though on the whole treeless, barren and rocky, the aspect of the region is varied by ranges of hills and isolated peaks, by rugged and deeply cut river beds and by well tilled valleys and tracts of rich pastureland. On the south, behind a high bank of sand that lines the sea coast, lies a low fertile, and well cultivated plain from 32 km - 48 km broad. Beyond this plain, the country is broken by three hill ranges, those of Kutch proper, of Vagad in the east, and contain one noticeable peak, Dhinodhar, about 387 m AMSL. In Pachham, the Kala Dungar is 458 m above the Rann and is the highest point in Kutch. <

The Rann of Kutch is a peculiar tract of territory. The entire expanse is covered with a thick salt layer mixed with

10 fine sand and clay, devoid of vegetation and habitation. It is divided into two parts, the Great Rann to the north and the Little Rann to the southeast. In appearance and general character, the two parts of the Rann differ but little. Except the four hilly elevations on the south edges of the Great Rann and plots of raised lands, some of them of considerable size, the Great Rann of Kutch gets filled to a depth of Ci.30 to 0.91 meters with sea water from April to October which is the season of strong south winds and occasional rain. The little Rann is wetter than the Great Rann of Kutch. The rivers flowing down from the Aravallis flow west into the little Rann, keeping it wet throughout the year. The main rivers are the Rupen, the Banas and the Sarasvati river (Patel 1971: 8).

The rivers of have certain characteristics. Firstly, all the rivers or streams of Kutch start from its central portion and flow towards the sea in the south and the Great Rann in the north and the little Rann in the southeast. The rivers flow northwards or southwards because of the ranges in the central area which serve as water sheds. Secondly there are physical contours on the earth varying from 16 km to 32 km which create independent flows of water. As a result, there is one river at every 24 km in the district. Thirdly, the Kutch rivers are non perennial rivers and due to scanty rainfall there is no flood problem in the district normally. The rivers have a steep gradient and are flashy.

11 12 jVft iJ^\ They have, therefore, formed deep cuts along their courses and rarely spill over their banks. Duration of flow of water is a question of a few hours in the monsoon. Therefore the rivers and streams of Kutch have no scope to change their original course.

Lastly, all of the rivers do not bear the same name through their courses (Patel 1971:7). The mouth of the rivers are estuarine and not deltaic. The normal dendritic pattern of the creeks of the sea have been interrupted by earthquakes, notably that of 1819 (Patel 1971: 7).

Kutch has a discontinuous backbone of Jurassic-Miocene rocks, mainly of sandstone with intrusive and interbedded basalts, flanked by alluvial and aeolian (wind blown sand) deposits. The highest point, on Pachham island in the Rann is an alternation of little flat-topped steep-edged plateaus, much dissected around the margins and tiny alluvial basins. In Kutch the economy is more semi pastoral and only marginally agricultural. There is a lot of wasteland on the plains and hills. In Kutch the main vegetation is scrub or bushes and poor grass, almost desert in places (Spate and Learmoth 1972: 643- 646).

The region of Kutch has the largest amount of barren and uncultivable waste which is 73 %. The net sown area is 10.3 % which when compared to its area is the least agricultural. Permanent pasture is 1.9 % and areas under non agricultural use is 0.5 %.

13 In Kutch saline and alkaline soils cover the area to the north of lat 23® 1/2 N lat. A narrow strip below this consists of .red and brown soils. In the rest of the district, black soils prevail in the western half and medium elsewhere except for a narrow strip in the east with grey brown soils (Fig, 3)(National Commission on Agriculture 1976: 7).

The area of Kutch receives the lowest amount of rainfall which ranges from 26 - 40 cm. In Kutch there are belts of irrigated alluvium where wheat and cotton is grown, but livestock is the primary activity specially in the Banni area which is part dry rann in the north.

Kutch is or was noted for its breeds of horses and camels. Drinking water comes from wells 9 to 12 m deep, artesian water is too saline, streams flow only seasonally and shallow wells are short-lived.

Therefore all the above factors makes it very difficult to practice agriculture in Kutch. This is reflected in the archaeological material which has been described in Chapter III.-

Saurashtra The region of Saurashtra is set apart from the rest of Gujarat by its peninsular settings and its landforms influenced by basaltic and semi aridity. It is also distinguished by its cultural evolution and the way it was occupied by man. Hard pressed tribes from the north and

14 northwest, found in Kathiawad a safer niche surrounded by sea on the three sides and protected by the shallow Bhal and Nal lowlatid tracts which connect Saurashtra with East Gujarat (Deshpande 1992:126-127). It is made up of sheets of Deccan Lava intersected by swarms of trap dykes, in the north the Dhrangadhra-Wadhwan plateau is flanked by younger rocks, clays and sandy limestones in the extreme west (Dwarka) and east (Bhavnagar) . Between these two areas is a belt of 32 - 48 km wide of alluvium and miliolite. The miliolite is wind blown sand, foraminiferal (remains of marine animals) casts, in a calcareous matrix. It is found in about 40 km inland and 61 m thick. It is commonly known as * stone' . The actual edge of lava is marked by a discontinuous strip of laterite and is also a good deal of alluvium. Most of Kathiawad lies below 185 m but there are two hill-masses, east of Rajkot in the north (335 m) and the higher and bolder Gir range (upto 640 m) in the south. These two dissected plateaus have a perfect radial drainage patterns and are linked by a narrow and sinuous rock separating the two major rivers* of Kathiawad, the Bhadar flowing west and the Shetrunji flowing east. A few kilometers west of this watershed rises the remarkable circular group of the hills culminating in the Gorakhnath peak which is the highest point of Kathiawad at 1,117 m. It is an igneous complex which seems to have intruded through the Deccan lava (Spate and Learmoth 1972:645-46).

15 The lavas, numerous dykes and the range of younger rocks along with aeolian and alluvial deposits, introduce considersJale local diversity of terrain, soils and hydrology. The environment is generally arid enough but the region lies between the dry shores of Sind and the fluctuating flank of the Arabian sea branch of the monsoon, and there is some climatic variation. The natural cover of most of the region is dry thorn forest, very open and stunted, with small patches of dry deciduous on the Gir and Girnar hills, on the north coast of Kathiawad or the Halar region the scrub breaks down into poor grass and bush, almost desert. Mangroves are exploited for fuel along the coast (Spate and Learmoth 1972: 646) .

In agriculture, water is the primary determinant. In Saurashtra too, like Kutch, much of the land is waste not only on the hills but also, at least in the north of Kathiawad along the Halar coastal belt, along the streams, the banks of which are often badly gullied on the plateau and marshy, are often saline, further down. There is no large irrigSition works in the area, but tanks, valley bunds and especially wells are used. Wells are often aligned along the dykes in the Deccan lavas. The southern coast (Sorath) is very unequal in agricultural potentiality; rich where alluvial, it is poor on the laterites and miliolites. Around Bhadar and Ojat rivers there are large areas of salt marsh, but above them the gher or 'sweet water' lands raise rich

16 crops of jowar and bajra, cotton and oil seeds. The Bhadar basin is perhaps the richest agricultural area of Kathiawad, owing to its regur soils and the numerous dykes: cotton oilseeds and jowar are the chief crops. Dwarka and the Halar coast in the north represent a transition to marginal agriculture like Kutch. Dwarka, almost cut off by the Okha Rann is formed largely of clay, under a third of the land is cultivated. Mainly bajra and the second crop is jowar.

The Halar is mainly marshy creeklands. Millets and oilseeds are grown, but pastoral activities predominate (Spate and Learmoth 1972: 646-648).

The various parts of Saurashtra will be described in order to get an idea of the physical features and geographical conditions present. A comparison between the geographical features and the plotted archaeological sites gives a good picture of the land use patterns. This comparison will also point out diversity in the settlement patterns, pottery, terracotta figurines and shell manufacturing waste between the three regions of Kutch, Saurashtra and East Gujarat.

Kathiawar peninsula of which forms a part was originally an island, cjuite unconnected with Gujarat and its present peninsular form is attributable to volcanic action. The physical features of the district also suggest that it forms a part of what might have once been an island or a group of islands of volcanic origin.

17 The topography of the district is uneven, broken at places by hill ranges, the Rann to the north and east and ranges of sand dunes along the coast to the north and west. The plain terrain has an average height of 76.22 m in Lalpur and 45.73 - 60.97 m in Khambalia. The Dwarka cliffs rise sheer off the sea to a height of 30.48 tn while the Okha Rann is a low lying marshy area. The Barda hills project into the district making Bhanvad taluka extremely hilly. The talukas of Jamjodhpur, Kalavad and Lalpur are partly hilly and partly plain terrain. The coastal track of Jodiya, Jamnagar, Khambalia and Okhamandal are covered by water during high tides and are very low lying territories (Patel 1970: 8).

The highest peaks are in the Barda hills in the southwest where they reach upto a height of 600 m. Although the Barda hills appear to be part of the central highlands of Saurashtra, they are actually isolated from both the north­ eastern and south-western series. The Gop hills also stand isolated from the Central Massif and reach to a height of 345 m. The hills being scattered in the several talukas, the plain area is not continuous nor uniform in height. The south-west and the central north are higher while the land gradually sinks to the north-east and west (Patel 1970: 9).

Of the hill ranges, the Barda, Alech and the isolated hills of Gop, Mount Venu, the highest summit of Barda is 640 m and Mount Bhipura is 395 m, while Gop attains 348 m, the Dalasa and the Alech hills ranges do not reach 300 m. Barda

IB hills form a circular cluster of about 48 km in circumference and are visible from a distance of about 40 - 48 km. Prom the north they appear grouped in three distinct peaks. The north and western face of these Barda hills are covered in excellent forest but the trees are not very large. Jamnagar, Jodhiya, Khambalia and Kalyanpur are mostly level country. Jamjodhpur and Lalpur talukas are hilly, while Bhanvad is exceedingly hilly and in part mountaineous. Okhamandal in the north-west corner is bounded on the north by the Gulf of Kutch, on the west by the Arabian sea, and on the east and south by the Rann of salt marsh that separates it from the rest of Jamnagar district. The Rann is formed by an inlet of the sea from the Gulf of Kutch, running south-west to the village of Madhi on the sea coast about 19 km south of Dwarka. The Rann at Madhi was formerly open to the sea but it is now closed by the foinnation of a sand bar across its mouth. The length of the rann is about 26 km and the breadth ranges from 8 km at the north end to 1 km at the south end. The physical aspect of Okhamandal is ' dull, and generally undiversified verdureless plain. The prevailing features are a few isolated hills and hillocks cropping up unpicturesquely over the land. Extensive patches of Thur jungles and tangled brushwood are scattered over the surface and low continuous ranges of dunes or sand banks run along the north and west coast (Patel 1970: 1-20).

The coastline of Jamnagar district is varied. The Arabian sea coast rises sheer off the sea and is a faulted

19 coast. The Barda hills are not very far from the coast. Parts of the shore there, is salt charged, while near Okhamandal it is a sandy waste.

The coast is generally flat and fringed with fringe of wind blown sand hills or made of aeolian soil. There are a few offshore cliffs and muddy stretches broken up by small creeks. Except for the Dwarka inlet, there are very few inlets of note on this coast. It presents a remarkably straight and unbroken line which slopes from the Central highland towards the margin. It is fringed with low parallel ridges of consolidated shore deposits and sand hills (Patel 1970: 1-30).

The gulf coast is a built up coast. Marshes, sand and mangroves are common features of this coast, alternating with rocky buttresses and islands in the Gulf (Patel 1970: 1-30).

The long coastline of Jamnagar has many ports. Bedi, Sikka and Okha and others like Jodiya, Salaya (Patel 1970: 26) are present day ports along the northern Jamnagar coastline or the Halar coast. The various sites of western Jamnagar also show similar functions. Positra point is nearly 6 km southeast of Beyt.

Positra village is situated on high ground nearly 3 km southwest of the point Positra harbour, and can afford deep shelter within a km of the mainland of Okhamandal (Patel 1970: 1-30).

20 Jamnagar district has the next large amount of barren and uncultivable waste next to Kutch, which is 15.4%, permanent pastures is 7.4% and net sown area is 57%. Jamnagar coastal strip has saline and alkaline soils and coastal alluvium elsewhere along the coast (National Commission For Agriculture 1976:7).

Okhamandal area gets rainfall less than 40 cm. East of the Alech hills is the Bhadar river and the district of Junagadh. The physical aspect of the district is hilly in certain parts, with dense forests and extensive undulating plains intersected by various rivers and streams. Except for the Girnar ranges and the Barda hills, the area is more or less flat with a fertile strip popularly known as the "Gher" (Rajyagor 1975:1-30). Except for the Girnar and Barda ranges, the topography of Junagadh is flat, sloping westward to the sea. The Girnar and the Barda ranges dominate the landscape for kilometers around in the north-east and north-western parts of the district (Rajyagor 1975:10).

Visavadar is 140 m above sea level in the Girnar range and enjoys the highest altitude in the district*. The Junagadh Gir forests form a solid block of 1,251.36 sq km. The forest area is rugged and broken and hills after hills extend from one end to the other. The hills are generally low. The highest hill in Junagadh Gir to the extreme south east is 530.66 m AMSL, In Sarasia Gir, Sakarla is the highest peak which is 641.60 m AMSL (Rajyagor 1975:1-20).

21 "Slopes are moderate though here and there steep inclines are met with. There are a few noteJsle plains in Junagadh Gir especially near Panvi, Kamleshwar, Janwadla, Dudhala etc. Similar plains occur near Ghantwad and Nagdala in Sarasia range. In general the topography of both the Gir forests is more or less similar (Rajyagor 197-5: 1-30). N

The forests are split up by a number of water sheds from which streams run in all directions and feed six principal rivers the Hiran, the Jatardi, the Singawada, the Machundari, the Ghodavadi and the Raval. The rivers have a perennial supply of water, except in the famine years (Rajyagor 1975: 1-30). The configuration of ground of Junagadh forest varies from rugged hilly terrain in the Gimar and Barda hills to the plains and sand dunes in many places, in the coastal forests. There are the Vidis or the undulating terrain which is the intermediate type (Rajyagor 1975:1-30).

From the Gimar hills, one gets a glimpse of that vast tract of forests and woodlands, the Gir, which runs in one continuous sweep from the south-east of Junagadh to the sea. The Gir forest, abounding in teak and many other types of trees supplies a large portion of Saurashtra with building timber. A particular type of wood known as Vankia is exported to far-off Arabia for shipbuilding. The Gimar hills are thickly wooded, which in many places, including Junagadh, fine groves of mango trees provide shade to the wayfarer. In past ages, dense forest covered the land adjacent to the sea board (Rajyagor 1975:1-30).

The district is well supplied with water, as it is full of rivers, reservoirs and lakes. The land sloped towards the south and most rivers flow north to south (Rajyagor 1975:1- 30) .

Junagadh has the largest percentage of permanent pasture lands, viz. 13.2% and the six largest forests cover 17,9%. The net sown area is 57.6%. Southern portion of Junagadh have deep black soils. Coastal Junagadh, like Jamnagar has saline and alkaline soils. North-east Junagadh has mixed red and black soils. Junagadh district has the heaviest rainfall in Saurashtra 100 cm.

Part of the Gir hills lie in to the east of Junagadh district. The net sown area of Amreli district is 73.3%, and permanent pasture is 7.2%. Amreli has deep black soils. Coastal Amreli too has saline and alkaline soils (National Commission For Agriculture 1976:8) .

Bhavnagar district has 63% of net sown -area, 9.8% of permanent pasture, 7.0% barren and uncultivable waste. Excluding the coast, too has deep black soils. (National Commission for Agriculture 1976:7). The alluvial plain around Gogha is a rich agricultural region, but local outcrops of gravelly conglomerate and sandstone

23 yield a topography of low hills which is given to rough grazing (Deshpande 1992:127).

Bast dujarafc Kalra, Mehscuia, and Ahmedabad have grey brown soils. The remaining part of the region has black soils. Deep black soils exist in , Bharuch and adjoining Baroda or Vadodara (National Commission for Agriculture 1976:9).

Mehsana and Banaskantha districts are low in rainfall. East Gujarat is divided into three parts, Anarta or north Gujarat and Charotar or Central Gujarat which is the agricultural zone. North Gujarat is drained by the Rupen and Sabarmati rivers, the northern part of Gujarat is transitional to the more arid lands of Kutch. The sluggish alluvial drainage has been further impeded by wind blown fine sands and loess, giving the landscape a rather hummocky appearance, rounded hills and illdrained marshy hollows. The soil is rich and yields cotton euid millets as principal crops; "Somph" and "Isabgol" are commercially important crops. Cattle raising is also an important occupation in this area of Gujarat. The rainfall is relatively low in this area (Deshpande 1992:122-123). Central Gujarat or Charotar is the richest agricultural area.

There are two types of soil found, Goradu or brown soil and red soil. The soil of Gujarat is generally alluvial, except in the hilly parts. It is roughly divided into black

24 or kali, sandy or loamy or Gorat and the soil formed with the intermixture of the two, called Besar. The black soil ploughs itself, and is likened to a sponge, because it retains much moisture and in hot weather due to evaporation large fissures are caused. Black soil of moderate depth affords good natural drainage, if well irrigated and well cultivated all kinds of garden crops can be grown, cotton specially. The soils of Surat and Bharuch are alluvial in nature. There are no river courses in the red surface soils, north of the Vishvamitri river which is near Baroda. All country south of the Visvamitri river red soil exists or a light sandy loam. The red soil is of recent alluvial formation and is capedDle of producing all kinds of crops under intensive farming. The varieties of soil in different part of the land, among other circumstances have formed distinct and well marked regions known as Kanham, Charotar (the administrative group of 104 villages), Vakal, Bhal, Nagher, Coryasi, Atthavisi, Cumval etc, each with its own special agriculture, population, ways, customs, speech, dress, etc) (Majumdar 1965:15).

• The difference between black soil country and red soil country is interesting. The former is very rich, but strangely enough the country where the black soil predominates, looks very much like a desert and is flat. No gleaming rivers break the monotony of the landscape, for their courses are, for the most part very deep, rendering their flowing waters invisible to the eye of a distant

25 watcher. Scarcely a tree, but few bushes, can be seen for miles, except for small clusters round scattered villages, glimmering mirage like in the distance, or looking like islands in the midst of an ocean (Majumdar 1965:16).

The red surface soil country has the appearance of having changed. Although, still apparently level, it is cultivated from end to end, high hedges divide the field, and lofty trees sway in the breeze, obstmcting the view on every side, so that the villages, of which there are many, can be seen only when reached (Majumdar 1965:29).

In mountainous country and elevated plateaus, as in the hilly portions of Saurashtra and Panchmahals and South Gujarat, extreme of heat and cold and the lack of fertile soil make large amounts of food crops impossible; consequently such districts have but a sparse and scattered population. River valleys or plains that have, in the course of ages, been formed by the constant action of rain and streams, washing down the finer soil from the higher regions, are generally the most fertile, and therefore, also the best populated, as also the other parts of the province, where richness of soil and abundant rainfall is heaviest in the southernmost district, diminishing as the monsoon current travels northwards from the south, and a warm and temperate climate encourages a rapid growth of vegetation (Majumdar 1965: 29). Hence the area of Gujarat has many regions, each having a different culture A similar feature will be seen in the archaeological context (Majumdar 1965: 26-30).

Settlement patterns according to Willey (1953) was " the way in which man disposes himself over the landscape on which he lived". These were affected and shaped by the environment, etc (Parsons 1972:128).

After having carried out an archaeological survey of Gujarat as a whole, the sites and material culture of each part of Gujarat have been found to differ from one another. Hence the need was felt to study the settlement patterns on a geographical regional basis. In the case of Kutch, the area was chosen as the field area due to the paucity of substantial written information on the area vis - a - vis the earliest and largest amount of Kshatrapa period inscriptions found in Kutch. Further, they were memorial stone inscriptions of a peculiar character. It was iii^ortant to know the nature of these peculiarities to form the character of the habitations of Kutch. Therefore, field work was carried out in Kutch. The Early Historic pottery of Kutch had to be identified, described and compared with the other areas of Gujarat to form a picture of cultural contacts Kutch may have had with other regions surrounding it. It was clear from the unpublished and published data on Gujarat that the primary pottery of the period from Gujarat was the Red

27 Polished ware. There was no information on the entire region of Gujarat as a whole, about the type of settlements in all of Gujarat during Kshatrapa rule.

The material from region to region was also not available. Since the inscriptions are found all over the state (modem boundaries) , and only in Gujarat, it has become clear that Gujarat was the area of Kardamaka control and was hence decided to study the whole of Gujarat.

The scope of this study is intended to focus upon the following points:- 1. To form a basic data bank on the historical material culture of the 1st four centuries of the Christian era against the backdrop of historical information of the time period. 2. To throw light on the material culture of Kutch during the period.

3. The establishment of a chronology for pottery found from Kutch in the absence of brick structures from the sites ' of Kutch of that period. 4. To reconstruct the lifeways of the people of Kutch during the period. 5. To reconstruct the culture contacts between Saurashtra and Kutch on the basis of data from explorations and excavations. 6. To determine the settlement patterns of Saurashtra.

28 7. To construct the functions and character of the sites of East Gujarat. 8. Since the areas are geographically diverse the three areas have different orientation and functions, which have to be reconstructed for each of the three areas. 9. A construction of the relationship between the sites of East Gujarat and the sites of the Satavahanas in the Deccan.

Methodology The areas of Gujarat i.e. Kutch, Saurashtra and East Gujarat are differently oriented from one another and have, therefore, been dealt with differently from one another, which have been described below.

As mentioned earlier, explorations were carried out in Kutch in the area around Andhau in Khavda taluka bordering the Great Rann of Kutch, which contains seven of the ten inscriptions found in Kutch. Several other sites, reported in the vo^lumes of Indian Archaeology: A Review and the sites reported in Ghosh (1989), were re-explored keeping in mind the character of the memorial inscriptions of* the Kshatrapa period found in Kutch and Saurashtra. The sites explored have revealed pottery on the surface which have been collected randomly and the designs on them could be compared with the excavated pottery of Saurashtra like those from Amreli and other places. Comparisons have also been made with pottery discovered and described by Bhan (1983) . According to the dates gleaned from these sources the pottery of Kutch has been dated.

The area of Saurashtra which is somewhat similar to Kutch in geography and culture has many previously explored, sites which have been plotted on maps. A comparison of the position of the various sites of Kutch, against the soil distribution of Kutch, and other physical features against the cultural features, like memorial stones, etc gives an insight into the character of the people who erected them and their lifeways. Conclusions on the settlement patterns of Saurashtra, and the functions of this region, have been reached against the geographical background.

The sites and finds from East Gujarat have been contpared with not only with the rest of Gujarat but also with the sites and finds of the Deccan. This is because of the different orientation of the various areas of Gujarat.

This thesis is an attempt to study the lifeways of people who lived during the 1st four centuries A.D. in Gujarat and its connections with the rest of India. Some of the conclusions of this thesis are tentative or hypothetical on account of the nature of the data. Since the area of study is quite large an attempt has been made to limit the scope and dimension of the work, in order to complete this thesis within the stipulated time. It is, however, to be noted that, in spite of the time limitation, all the available evidence directly or indirectly linked to the problem of this research have been utilised and analysed.

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