Book: Ancient India
Author: R.S. Sharma,
For Class XI
(a) page 7
A band of scholars took upon themselves not only the mission to reform Indian society but also to reconstructancient Indian history in such a manner as to make case for social reforms and, more importantly, forself-government. In doing so most historians were guided by the nationalist ideas of Hindu revivalism, butthere was no dearth of scholars who adopted a rationalist and objective approach. To the second categorybelongs Rajendra Lal Mitra (1822 - 1891), who published some Vedic texts and wrote a book entitledIndo-Aryans. A great lover of ancient heritage, he took a rational view of ancient society and produced aforceful tract to show that in ancient times people took beef. Others tried to prove that in spite of itspeculiarities the caste system was not basically different from the class system based on division of labourfound in pre-industrial and ancient societies of Europe.
(b) page 20-21
Archaeological evidence should be considered far more important than long family trees given in Puranas.The Puranic tradition could be used to date Rama of Ayodhya around 2000 B.C., but diggings and extensiveexplorations in Ayodhya do not show any settlement around that date. Similarly, although Krishna plays animportant part in the Mahabharata, the earliest inscriptions and sculptural pieces found in Mathura between200 B.C. and A.D. 300 do not attest his presence. Because of such difficulties the ideas of an epic age basedon the Ramayana and Mahabharata has to be discarded, although in the past it formed a chapter in most surveybooks on ancient India. Of course several stages of social evolution in both the Ramayana and Mahabharata canbe detected. This is so because the epics do not belong to a single phase of social evolution; they haveundergone several editions, as has been shown earlier in the present chapter.
(c) page 45
The people living in the chalcolithic age in south-eastern Rajasthan, western Madhya Pradesh, westernMaharashtra and elsewhere domesticated animals and practised agriculture. They kept cows, sheep, goats, pigsand buffaloes, and hunted deer. Remains of the camel have also been found. But generally they were notacquainted with the horse. Some animal remains are identified as belonging either to the horse or donkey orwild ass. People certainly ate beef, but they did not take pork on any considerable scale. What is remarkableis that these people produced wheat and rice. In addition to these staple crops, they also cultivated bajra.They produced several pulses such as the lentil (masur), black gram, green gram , and grass pea. Almost allthese foodgrains have been found at Navdatoli situated on the bank of the Narmada in Maharashtra. Perhaps atno other place in India so many cereals have been discovered as a result of digging. The people of Navdatolialso produced ber and linseed. Cotton was produced in the black cotton soil of the Deccan, and ragi, bajra andseveral millets were cultivated in the lower Deccan. In eastern India, fish hooks have been found in Bihar andwest Bengal, where we also find rice. This suggests that the chalcolithic people in the eastern regions livedon fish and rice, which is still a popular diet in that part of the country. Most settlements in the Banasvalley in Rajasthan are small but Ahar and Gilund spread over an area of nearly four hectares.
(d) page 90
The agricultural economy based on the iron ploughshare required the use of bullocks, and it could not flourishwithout animal husbandry. But the Vedic practice of killing cattle indiscriminately in sacrifices stood in theway of the progress of new agriculture. The cattle wealth slowly decimated because the cows and bullockswere killed in numerous Vedic sacrifices. The tribal people living on the southern and eastern fringes of Magadha also killed cattle for food. But ifthe new agrarian economy had to be stable, this killing had to be stopped.
(e) page 91-92
According to the Jainas, the origin of Jainism goes back to very ancient times. They believe in twenty-fourtirthankaras or great teachers or leaders of their religion. The first tirthankara is believed to beRishabhadev who was born in Ayodhya. He is said to have laid the foundations for orderly human society. Thelast, tewenty-fourth, tirthankara, was Vardhamana Mahavira who was a contemporary of Gautama Buddha. Accordingto the Jaina tradition, most of the early tirthankaras were born in the middle Ganga basin and attainednirvana in Bihar. The twenty-third tirthankara was Parshvanath who was born in Varanasi. He gave up royal lifeand became an ascetic. Many teachings of Jainism are attributed to him. According to Jaina tradition, he livedtwo hundred years before Mahavira. Mahavir is said to be the twenty-fourth.
It is difficult to fix the exact dates of birth and death of Vardhamana Mahavira and Gautama Buddha. Accordingto one tradition, Vardhamana Mahavira was born in 540 B.C. in a village called Kundagrama near Vaishali, whichis identical with Basarh in the district of Vaishali, in north Bihar. His father Siddhartha was the head of afamous kshatriya clan called Jnatrika and the ruler of his own area. Mahavira's mother was name Trishala,sister of the Lichchhavi chief Chetaka, whose daughter was wedded to Bimbisara. Thus Mahavira's family wasconnected with the royal family of Magadha.
In the beginning, Mahavira led the life of a householder, but in the search for truth he abandoned the worldat the age of 30 and became an ascetic. He would not stay for more than a day in a village and for more thanfive days in a town. During next twelve years he meditated, practised austerities of various kinds and enduredmany hardships. In the thirteenth year, when he had reached the age of 42, he attained Kaivalya (Juan).Through Kaivalya he conquered misery and happiness. Because of this conquest he is known as Mahavira or thegreat hero or jina, i.e. the conqueror, and his followers are known as Jainas. He propagated his religion for30 years, and his mission took him to Koshala, Magadha, Mithila, Champa, etc. He passed away at the age of 72in 468 B.C. at a place called Pavapuri near modern Rajgir. According to another tradition, he was born in 599B.C. and passed away in 527 B.C.
(f) page 137 – 138
Causes of the Fall of the Maurya Empire
The Magadhan empire, which had been reared by successive wars culminating in the conquest of Kalinga, began todisintegrate after the exit of Ashoka in 232 B.C. Several causes seem to have brought about the decline andfall of the Maurya empire.
Brahmanical Reaction
The brahmanical reaction began as a result of the policy of Ashoka. There is no doubt that Ashoka adopted atolerant policy and asked the people to respect even the brahmanas. But he prohibited killing of animals andbirds, and derided superfluous rituals performed by women. This naturally affected the income of the brahmanas.The anti-sacrifice attitude of Buddhism and of Ashoka naturally brought loss to the brahmanas, who lived onthe gifts made to them in various kinds of sacrifices. Hence in spite of the tolerant policy of Ashoka, thebrahmanas developed some kind of antipathy to him. Obviously they were not satisfied with his tolerant policy.They really wanted a policy that would favour them and uphold the existing interests and privileges. Some ofthe new kingdoms that arose on the ruins of the Maurya empire, were ruled by the brahmanas. The Shungas andthe Kanvas, who ruled in Madhya Pradesh and further east on the remnants of the Maurya empire, were brahmanas.Similarly the Satavahanas, who founded a lasting kingdom in the western Deccan and Andhra, claimed to bebrahmanas. These brahmana dynasties perfomed Vedic sacrifices, which were neglected by Ashoka.
(g) page 240 – 241
The Varna System
Religion influenced the formation of social classes in India in a peculiar way. In other ancient societies theduties and functions of social classes were fixed by law which was largely enforced by the state. But in Indiavarna laws enjoyed the sanction of both the state and religion. The functions of priests, warriors, peasantsand labourers were defined in law and supposed to have been laid down by divine agencies. Those who departedfrom their functions and were found guilty of offences were subjected to secular punishments. They had also toperform rituals and penances, all differing according to the varna. Each varna was given not only a social butalso a ritualistic recognition.In course of time varnas or social classes and jatis or castes were madehereditary by law and religion. All this was done to ensure that vaishyas produce and pay taxes and shudrasserve as labourers so that brahmanas act as priests and kshatriyas as rulers. Based on the division of labourand specialisation of occupations, the peculiar institution of the caste system certainly helped the growth ofsociety and economy at the initial stage. The varna system contributed to the development of the state. Theproducig and labouring classes were disarmed, and gradually each caste was pitted against the other in such amanner that the oppressed ones could not combine against the privileged classes.
The need of carrying out their respective functions was so strongly ingrained in the minds of the variousclasses that ordinarily they would never think of deviating from their dharma. The Bhagavadgita taught thatpeople should lay down their lives in defense of their own dharma rather than adopt the dharma of others,which would prove dangerous. The lower orders worked hard in the firm belief that they would deserve a betterlife in the next world or birth. This belief lessened the intensity and frequency of tensions and conflictsbetween those who actually produced and those who lived off these producers as princes, priests, officials,soldiers and big merchants. Hence the necessity for exercising coercion against the lower orders was not sostrong in ancient India. What was done by slaves and other producing sections in Greece and Rome under thethreat of whip was done by the vaishyas and shudras out of conviction formed through brahmanicalindoctrination and the varna system.