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Urban Contraction

The document discusses the period between the 4th and 8th centuries CE in India. It examines whether this time was marked by agrarian expansion and urban contraction. It provides evidence from texts and archaeology that describes urban centers, trade, and agriculture. While some argue cities declined, the document questions this by citing descriptions of thriving cities in texts from the period.

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48 views4 pages

Urban Contraction

The document discusses the period between the 4th and 8th centuries CE in India. It examines whether this time was marked by agrarian expansion and urban contraction. It provides evidence from texts and archaeology that describes urban centers, trade, and agriculture. While some argue cities declined, the document questions this by citing descriptions of thriving cities in texts from the period.

Uploaded by

sjuhi1805
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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594 A HISTORY OF ANCIENT AND EARLY MEDIEVAL INDIA

Q: the period between 4 t h century and 8 t h century CE was marked by agrarian expansion and
urban contraction. Examine the statement.

R. S. Sharma (1987) has argued that the peak of early historical urbanism in the sub continent
occurred between c. 200 BCE and 300 C E . This was followed by two phases of urban decay—
the first in the later half of the 3rd or in the 4th century C E , and the second after the 6th
century C E . According to Sharma, archaeological evidence from all over the subcontinent
reflects the phenomenon of urban decline. He also points to a decrease in references to artisans
and merchants in inscriptions. Sharma admits the literary evidence for urban decay is not
strong, but cites the gloomy prophecy made in Varahamihira's Brihatsamhita that various towns
will either be destroyed or will fall on evil days, the Valmiki Ramayana's description of
Ayodhya after Rama's exile, and the picture of the city's desolation in Kalidasa's Raghuvamsha.
He explains the urban decay as the result of a decline in long-distance trade and asserts that it
lasted for at least seven centuries. A mild urban renewal occurred in some parts of the
subcontinent in the 11th century, and by the 14th century, urbanism became a recognizable
process.
With specific reference to the Vakataka kingdom, Shrimali (1987: 30) argues for a decline
in trade, traders, and the urban economy, and asserts that the inscriptions convey a picture of a
non-monetary, small-scale village economy, an expansion of rural settle ments, a contraction of
urbanism, and an early onset of feudalism. There are scarcely any references to urban centres
(this is actually not surprising, given that they are grants of rural land). Only about 16
settlements can be tentatively identified as having some sort of urbanness—on the basis of
suffixes such as 'pura', 'puraka', and 'nagara'.

The hypothesis that there was a subcontinental urban decay during c. 300-600 CE, can be
questioned on several grounds. 1 Texts of the time abound in lengthy, poetic de scriptions of
cities and citydwellers that need not be taken literally, but certainly reflect an idea and
awareness of flourishing urban centres. The Brihatsamhita mentions the opulent paraphernalia of
kings and courts and mansions of kings, officials, and other wealthy people. The
Mrichchhakatika gives a vivid description of the heroine Vasantasena's mag nificent house in
Ujjayini, its lofty portal and gold doors studded with diamonds, and its lavishly decorated
rooms. The Amarakosha offers lists of words for various kinds of ornaments and elaborate
articles of clothing. The descriptions of the wealthy, educated, refined, and sophisticated man-
about-town—referred to in the Kamasutra as the naga- raka—are similarly connected with an
urban milieu. And the very production of a so phisticated range of literature of various genres,
as well as the architectural and sculptural products of this period, point to an urban milieu and
urban sources of patronage.
The vivid descriptions of cities and city life in the Tamil epics clearly indicate
that urbanism was an on-going process in the far south. The Silappadikaram
describes the busy and bustling markets of Puhar and Madurai, with sellers of
flowers, garlands, aromatic powder, betel nut, shell bangles, wines, cloth, and
garments. There were also shopkeepers, gem workers, and various kinds of
skilled workers.

The archaeological data on cities of this period is extremely meagre. At Purana


Qila in Delhi, there were remains of structures made of reused bricks. There
was moulded pottery, including a lid with a kinnara motif (half man, half horse)
and a damaged terracotta female figurine.
At Hulaskhera (Lucknow district), there are remains of a Gupta period citadel. Among
the sites in the middle Ganga valley, a seal of the city administration of Varanasi in Brahmi of
the Gupta period was found at Rajghat. . In the lower Ganga valley, burnt brick fortifications

1 The problems in accepting this theory for the subsequent centuries will be discussed in
Chapter 10.
595 A HISTORY OF ANCIENT AND EARLY MEDIEVAL INDIA

of this period were found at Mahasthangarh (in Bagura district of Bangladesh).

In the 1903-04 excavations (Bloch, 1903-04) structural remains unearthed in


the Basarh fort (known as Raja Bisal-ka-garh) were assigned to the Gupta and
post-Gupta periods on the basis of the palaeography of the seals. In one of the
trenches, a large number of inscribed seals and sealings of the early Gupta
kings were found in a square room, along with pottery and burnt wood. Acord-
ing to Bloch, the room seems to have been an underground chamber used to
store important letters and other documents, to which the seals were fixed.
Bloch discovered about 72 0 seals and sealings and over 1,100 seal impressions
at the site, most of them from this chamber.. There were references to
individuals described as kulika (artisan or merchant), sreshthi (banker), and
sarthavaha (caravan trader). One seal referred to the shreshthi-kulika-nigama (the guild
of bankers and artisans/merchants).

AGRARIAN EXPANSION

Bhita near Allahabad revealed structures of various periods, including those of


c. 300-600 CE , mostly made of re-used or broken bricks (Marshall, 1915).The
excavators commented that the structures of the Gupta period, though fairly
large, were made of broken bricks, unlike those of the Shunga and Kushana
periods, which were made of substantial bricks. The excavations revealed 98
sealings, tokens, etc.The Nitisara (2.20) describes cattle-rearing, farming, and
trade as the three sources of livelihood (varta). In inscriptions, the term kshetra is
used for a field, especially a cultivated field. Khila means untilled land or
cultivable wasteland. Aprahata too means cultivable wasteland. Texts such as the
Amarakosha mention various types of cereals. Varahamihiras Brihatsamhita mentions
the astrological portents of bad harvests and famine. Various types of
waterworks for providing drinking water and irrigation, e.g., wells, canals,
tanks, and embankments are mentioned in texts. The role of the state in
building and maintaining some of these is indicated by the Junagarh
inscription.

The expansion of the agrarian economy was the result of various factors such
as the extension of the margin of agriculture through land reclamation, the
spread of irrigation techniques, and an expansion in the range of crops. The
increase in the area under cultivation can be inferred from the fact that donees
of land grants were sometimes given rights over forested area, references to
forests in the vicinity of gifted land, and the mention of the transfer of
wasteland to the donee. There is some direct evidence as well. A 6th century
inscription of the Kadambas (who ruled over the Goa area) gave the Brah-
mana donee the right to engage labourers in order to clear a piece of forested
area and bring it under cultivation. It also mentions the reclamation of a tract
of coastal land, and its conversion to rice fields by damming up seawater.

The use of the araghatta (Persian wheel) spread to South India in the
early medieval period. Inscriptions mention sluices which distributed
the water of rivers and tanks. Nandi (2 00 0: 91 -9 4) has described the
596 A HISTORY OF ANCIENT AND EARLY MEDIEVAL INDIA

various improvements in agricultural technol ogy in the Karnataka


region. An inscription of 890 CE from the Hiriyur taluk states that
farmers of a village constructed a large tank provided with four sluices.
The practice of building channels connecting tanks with river waters
also took off, and there seems to have been a spurt in the building of
tanks.Some Chola kings are credited with initiating tank and canal
construction. For instance, Rajendra I is supposed to have begun the
construction of the Cholag- anga tank and canal network. Members of
the village community, Brahmanas, kings, and chieftains played a role
in the maintenance of irrigation works. However, when it came to the
construction and maintenance of the more numerous small-scale
irrigation works, members of the village community played a central
role.
there was an increasing emphasis on various types of millets such as priyangu
(panicum italicum), ragi (eleusine coracana), jowar (sorghum vulgare), and bajra
(bulrush millet). Also increasingly grown were inferior varieties of rice such
as shyamaka, nivara, kangu, kodrava, and karadusha. There was an increase in the
cultivation of cash crops such as sugarcane, betel leaves and areca nuts,
coconuts, oranges, and spices such as black pepper and ginger.
597 A HISTORY OF ANCIENT AND EARLY MEDIEVAL INDIA

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