● ● ● H I S T O R Y ●

t is said that when John trade route in medieval times, must Marshall, the first Director of have been so in ancient times as well. the Archaeological Survey of The pillars, on the other hand, have finished his tenure, he left Older than the been moved several times and their India three thousand years older physical appearance has also changed. than when he found her—due Singh’s opinion on this issue throws to the innumerable excavations light on an important aspect of he conducted. Upinder Singh’s old city historical monuments—that the varied book does the same for , taking course of history brings about changes Ius nearly 100,000 years further back ● and redefinitions of what monuments in our knowledge of the city’s history. mean and what they stand for. The , as the book Ancient Delhi Singh has synthesised the available outlines, begins with the lower material on Delhi by weaving together Palaeolithic age. It was around the old By Upinder Singh individual pieces of evidence which courses of the temperamental were until now extremely scattered. river and the Aravalli Hills that many Oxford University Press, , 1999, 114 pp., Rs 295 This is a ubiquitous problem any of the ancient stone tool sites (there ISBN 019564919-2 historian attempting to reconstruct the are around 43 of them) were found. ancient past faces. Historians as varied What Singh’s book does is to fill a vital as Thucydides, Gibbon, Macauley and gap in Delhi’s history hitherto Finley have all overcome the modest overlooked by historians and writers APARNA VAIDIK amount of historical data at their alike, by pushing its origins back in command by borrowing from a variety time and emphasising the urgent need of sources such as archaeology, to carefully and meticulously survey However, the archaeological evidence Unlike the spotty archaeological mythology and bardic traditions to and document details of sites, is eminently evasive on this point. So available evidence from the earlier construct their narratives. structures, and surface finds, and instead she turns to the local period, that from the NBPW levels is Upinder Singh attempts to deal record local memories and traditions traditions, which claim connections enough to give an insight into the day- with this paradox in her book by reflected in oral testimony. with the epic. to-day lives of its contemporary placing a special emphasis on the issue The earliest reference heretofore For instance, large quantities of old people. The evidence ranges from of memory. She asserts that we should available on Delhi was from the iron slag were discovered at the Sihi brick houses, drains, terracotta ring not ignore what people remember of Mahabharata in which the city is mound, which, according to the local wells to terracotta figurines of humans their past, how they interpret it and mentioned as the village of Indra- tradition, are the remains of the bones and animals. However, one wishes that connect themselves with it. Thus, her prastha. The next reference comes of snakes killed in the sacrifice of the writer had elaborated on the narrative of Ancient Delhi is peppered after nearly two thousand years of Janamejaya (a descendent of the possible connotations and inter- with interesting references to epics, hiatus, in the eighth century AD, from Pandavas) to avenge the death of his relations of these findings. ballads and bardic traditions relating the times of the Tomara who to the area under study. She interlaces built a citadel of Lal Kot near the ● the evidence from archaeology and present Qutub Minar complex. This numismatics with religious literature tells us that Delhi acquired its What Singh’s book does is to fill a vital gap in and legends, vindicating what Arnold centrality in the historical imagination Delhi’s history hitherto overlooked by historians Toynbee once said, that History, like in medieval times. drama and the novel, grew out of In the Ancient times it was cities and writers alike, by pushing its origins back in mythology, a primitive form of such as Pataliputra (ancient Patna), time and emphasising the urgent need to carefully apprehension and expression in which Mathura and Banaras which were in and meticulously survey and document details of the line between fact and fiction is left prominence. Singh’s book puts undrawn. forward this point with help of rich sites, structures, and surface finds, and record local The book is a part of a larger series data on archaeological findings in and memories and traditions reflected in oral testimony of books planned by Oxford Univer- around modern Delhi and the co- sity Press to make works of historians relative inscriptional and literary ● available to a wider audience than evidence. However, the fact that these professional historians and other insights are indeed insights is not made father Parikshit. Singh recounts the Besides the archaeological findings academics. While this book is a serious explicit in the book and it is left to the belief of practitioners of traditional from the period, Delhi is home to one, it takes nothing for granted and reader to tease out the finer details of medicine, that this slag has miraculous three of Asoka’s edicts, which consist explains terms such as ‘cultural the analysis. healing properties, particularly as an of an edict-bearing rock at Bahapur, sequence’, and ‘Palaeolithic factory After a discussion of the Palaeo- antidote for poison. near Shrinivaspuri in site’ to its target audience. It has many lithic sites in and around Delhi and the The Northern Black Polished Ware (which is in situ); and two pillar edicts, maps and photographs which provide particular importance of the stone tool (NBPW) levels at the one on the and the other helpful visual accompaniment to the findings in them (as compared to mark the transition to the early at Firoz Shah Kotla, carrying nearly six narrative. paintings, etchings and figurines that historical period, which begins to seven edicts. We know from the But the very attempt to cater to two have been found from other parts of according to Singh, in the sixth century general history of the period that the different types of reader is the book’s India) Singh moves on to a discussion BC. In this chapter Singh relates how rock edicts were engraved on sites biggest strength and weakness. For of pottery as the most important the Delhi region was part of the which were in full public view or places while it succeeds in explaining the archaeological evidence we have. Her Magadhan Empire, with its seat in on the trade routes. archaeological terminology which book elucidates the manner in which Bihar under the Nandas and then the Singh establishes with much clarity facilitates reading and makes it different ceramic traditions, such as Mauryas. that Bahapur, which was on a major interesting, it does not sufficiently Painted Grey Ware and Northern inform the reader about Black Polished Ware, serve as useful the significance of a markers of broad cultural phases of particular finding in a Delhi by contextualising the findings given context. For in Delhi in the broader context of instance, a jug con- Indian History. Students of Ancient taining bells, ghunghroos history might be interested to know (anklets with bells), and that Late Harappan remains have been various other objects of found in Delhi as well in other places. copper were discovered Mandoli and Bhorgarh, villages in east at the levels at and north of Delhi respectively, have the Purana Qila. A lay provided the most spectacular sites, reader would not with evidence of wheel-made pottery, understand the impor- house floors made of rammed earth tance of these findings with post-holes arranged in a circular for the contemporary and arc pattern, and grave goods. culture or the society or Singh next looks at the archaeo- for that matter for the logical evidence in Delhi from the history of the period. Vedic period, found mainly at the The book also suff- Purana Qila excavations and in the ers from glaring spell- villages of , Sihi and Bisrakh. She ing mistakes, which is tries to establish that the site found at disappointing for a Purana Qila can be identified with the book from Oxford of the Mahabharata. Terracotta ring wells at Purana Qila University Press. ■

B I B L I O : J U L Y - A U G U S T 2 0 0 0 33