Question

Write a note on the historiographical traditions in early india

Answer 1

In the later part of the 1970s and the early 1980s some discomfort with the historiography under discussion was visible. It was being realized that economic developments could be influenced by factors other than economic. Stratification of society, social requirements, and the distribution and channelization of resources were as important as their production and availability. Explanations based on technology and economic factors alone had to make way for the interplay of multiple forces. The shift in perspectives on early India can be seen in the writings of Romila Thapar, B. D. Chattopadhyaya and Hermann Kulke. Perspectives tend to change depending on the kind of questions historians ask, the variety of sources they use and the methods they adopt. The Mauryan economy was usually seen in terms of state control over all sectors across the empire, largely drawing on theArthashastra. Recent researches, by looking at the regional material cultures brought to light by archaeology and moving away from the traditional treatment of literary sources, have modified our understanding of the period. Archaeology has revealed the coexistence and interaction between multiple cultures at different levels of growth. Prosperity during the said period was largely limited to Gangetic northern India and its fringes. It is also being recognized that empires by their nature accommodated different spaces and varied societies, resulting in the uneven depth of administration across regions. There is a tendency to equate a state system such as the Mauryan state or the Satavahana state with a socio-economic system or to generalize from the perspective of Gangetic northern India for the whole country. What is missed is the unevenness in material culture between regions, and even sub-regions. Historians are beginning to recognize these differences and working out the patterns of social and cultural changes in different regions. To elaborate, in post-Mauryan Deccan while coastal Andhra owed its prosperity to agriculture, the economy of the central Deccan (Telengana region) was largely sustained by artisanal production, including the smelting and forging of iron tools, and trade. Similarly the post-Mauryan centuries instead of being seen only in terms of money, trade and towns are also beginning to be understood in terms of agrarian expansion, local state formation and the spread of Vedic-shastric ideas in regions outside the Gangetic plains. This period is perceived as being crucial to the consolidation and spread of Brahmanical ideas. In the Gupta and post-Gupta period the process of continuous agrarian expansion created conditions for the coexistence of developing and developed areas in many regions of the country. Settled areas (janapada) and forests (aranya), in spite of representing different kinds of spaces, existed in a relationship of interaction and change and not necessarily in opposition to each other. Settlements were dependent on forests for a variety of resources and the former could with the passage of time induce spatial and social changes in the latter.