Unit ~'India:Physical Features
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UNIT ~'INDIA:PHYSICALFEATURES Structure 1.0 Objectives 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Physical Geography and History 1.2.1 Environment and Human Settlements 1.2.2 Arguing Against Geographical Determinism 1.3 Basic Physiographical Divisions 1.4 Regional Physical Features 1.4.1 The Himalayas and the Western Frontier 1.4.2 The Indus Plains 1.4.3 Gangetic Northern India 1.4.4 Eastern, Western and Central India 1.4.5 Peninsular India 1.4.6 The Extreme South 1.5 Let Us Sum Up 1.6 Key Words 1.7 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises 1.0 OBJECTIVES After reading this Unit you should be able to explain : Why in the study of the history of a country an understanding of its physical features is n-ry, how we look at the physical features as students of history, the relationship between environment, geography and history, and the uneven pattern of historical growth in the Indian sub-continent. 1.1 INTRODUCTION History without geography is largely incomplete and devoid of its vital substance for it loses focus in the absence of the concept of space. That is why history is regarded both as the history of mankind and the history of environment. It is difficult to separate the two. The history of humans and the history of environment mutually influence one another. Soil, rainfall, vegetation, climate and environment exercise considerable influence on the evolution of human cultures. In fact, the essence of human progress is the increasing emancipation of human beings from the clutches of nature or control of the vagaries of nature. In this regard technological progress helps human beings in conquering their environment. However, not until a very late stage in history were human beings able to control their environment effectively. Naturally, thus as we move back in time it becomes necessary to appreciate and understand the geography, environment and physical regions that had a bearing on Indian history. In this Unit, we shall try to acquaint you with the physical features of the Indian sub- continent, which have had an important bearing on historical developments. 1.2 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY Variations of soils, topography, rainfall and climate have created a number of distinctly different regions, with their separate characteristics and identities. Physical regions often / Environment and Early Patterns of Adaptation PHYSICAL REGIONS AREAS OF ATTRACTION 'SR NUCLEAR REGDNS AREAS OF ISOLATION OR CUL DE SACS 200 0 2w UD PENETRATED IN RECENT TIMES L - - - - Map 1. Physical Regions of India. correspond to culture zones or regions i.e., they tend to differ from one another at the level of Indla : Physical Features language, food, dress, crop pattern, population density, caste structure, etc. For example, in some areas like Uttar Pradesh and northern Bihar-the fertile plains of the Ganga Valley-population concentration is very high, while the mountainous tribal central India is sparsely populated. Similarlv, certain areas like Magadha, Kosala, Avanti. Maharashtra. Andhra, Kalinga and the Chola country emerged earlier as developed pockets while others lagged behind. Historically, the emergence of regions has therefore been uneven, and different regions have been characterised by differential characteristics, which are largely related to and influenced by geography and environment. To give another example, we find that wheat is the staple food of people in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, while rice is the principal crop and main component in the diet of people in eastern India viz. Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. Why is this so? This is so because : different crops have different natural habitat zones, they tend to grow in specific natural environments., and in course of time they influence the dietary habits of people there. Similarly, forms of irrigation differ from region to region : rivers and canals have been the m'ost important form of ifrigation in northern India, ponds have been very useful in eastern India, and tank irrigation has played a significant role in SouthIndian agriculture. These variations do not mean that rivers are not important in eastern and southern regions. But what they reflect is that people take recourse to different methods to augment additional water sources in different regions, depending on what method is most suitable for a particular region. Geography and environment play a major role in the pattern of dresses also. For example, we can compare and contrast the dress styles of the people of Kashmir, Rajasthan and those living along the coasts. This again reflects the climatic and environmental effects. While the riverine plains and deltas have given birth to and sustained advanced cultures through the ages, the mountainous intermediate zone of central India has retained heavy concentration of tribal 8populqtion in various pockets. Thus, while the riverine plains are liberally endowed by nature and have lives of their own the isolated regions remained unaffected by advances made in other regions. The co-existence of different forms of dress, . food-habits and cultures in the sub-continent, therefore, can be largely explained with reference to physical geography. Regional differences and related separate regional identities, greatly fostered bjr geography, have stood in the way of the rise of durable, pan-Indian states in Indian histdry. Never was the whole sub-continent a single political unit. This holds true for the Mauryan impire, the Delhi sultanate, the Moghul empire as well as British India. At the same time, it needs to be emphasised that though these differences between regions, which are geographically structured, have prevented the rise of pan-Indian states in our history, yet at no period have they created separate nationalities. 1.2.1. Environment and Human Settlements The relationship between physical geography, human settlements and settlement patterns is yet another important theme which deserves attention. For example, the Sind region today is relatively warm and dry because rainfall in the region is very low. However, we know that the Harappan Civilization flourished over large parts of the same region in the past. Some scholars opine that the region in the past had wetter climate with possibly higher rainfall and this enabled the civilization to give itself a high standard of living. It has also been argued by some scholars that over utilisation of the natural resources, leading to depletion of the natural vegetation cover, together with the onset of a drier climate led to the collapse of the civilization by adversely affecting its subsistence basis. (for a detailed discussion on this see Block-2, Unit-9). The inhospitable topography together with a possible population pressure on land and resources, forced people to migrate out of the core area of the civilization. The civilization, thus, faded out. On the other hand, one is struck by the success of the Magadhan Empire and by the kind of ,l\ironment and Farl Pattcbrnl political ascendancy it achieved. How do we account for it? It can be argued that it was a \(laplation product of the convergence of a number of factors : highly fertile soils, sufficient rainfall ensuring a rich annual paddy crop; proximity to iron ore mines and sources of stone and timber of Chotanagpur Plateau wbk is towards the south of Magadha; the rivers provided for comfortable communication and trade; the closeness and continuity of settlements, facilitated in no small way by these natural advantages, indicating great population density. A combination of these factors helped the comfortable conquest of the northern Gangetic plain. In fact, it was due to these reasons that the Indo-Gangetic plains as a region was way ahead of others in terms of agricultural productivity or population base. The territorial expansion over the northern plains then provided the basis for the exercise of unquestionable Indian supremacy. All this fits into a neat sequence-one deriving itself from the other. The supremacy achieved by Magadha was based on the conquest of the northern plains which wa blessed by the tavourable convergence of necessary variables such as soil, rainfall, vegetation, easy communication lines and availability of natural resources. With the political ascendency of Magadha, its capital Pataliputra became the capital of northern India or the imperial capital and it continued to remain important for many centuries. Geographical reasons have been put forward to explain both the rise and fall of pataliputra. While in its early history the surrounding rivers like the Ganga, Son and Gandak provided for natural defence and easy trade and transport, by the middle of the first millennium A.D. they had become positive liabilities owing to perennial floods. It is known that the Gupta and post-Gupta period was characterised by the decline of trade and the decay of towns. With the decline of north Indian trade and commerce, in the Gupta and post-Gupta periods, the curtailed human movements and the shifting away of the course of the river Ganga, the usefulness of the rivers was reduced. One may add that to explain the decay of towns in Gangetic northern India in the same period geographical explanations such as the deforestation of the hinterland and consequent reduction of rainfall have also been suggested. These explanations may not always be correct but the examples definitely suggest that the interrelationship between historical processes and geographical features and/or factors was always close. 1.2.2 Arguing Against Geographical Determinism At this point it is important to remember that it is one thing to see or appreciate the interrelationship between physical features and the unfolding of historical processes in a region but it is an entirely different matter to perceive history in terms of geographical determinism. Recognition of geographical factors helps in a better understanding of cultural developments. This also largely explains the different patterns of growth and development in divergent regions.