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Abhyudaya Kelkar

This part deals with the coming of Aryans and beginning of Iron Age in India through various cultures succeeding the IVC.

It will consist of the following lessons:
1. The Aryans
2. The Initial Iron Age Cultures in India
3. Vedic Literature
4. Vedic Rituals and Beliefs
5. Vedic Culture and Society
6. Vedic Civilization - Other Aspects
7. The Mahajanapadas
8. Imperial Magadh
9. The Birth of Buddhism
10. The Birth of Jainism
11. Shramanic Cults and Other Personalities of the Era
12. Important Early Iron Age Sites

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Ancient History: The Beginning of Iron Age in India

General Awareness

Indian History

Later Vedic Period

Ancient History

History

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Let’s have an overview of this whole Course ‘Ancient India’, as well as the Part-III of it, ‘The Beginning of Iron Age in India’. 

First of all let me reiterate the contents of the whole course. We have already covered Part-I and Part-II. Now we will be talking about Part-III, the point from where the real history of India, or we must say, the history of present Indian Civilization begins.

It will be quite a longer part than the previous ones, consisting of twelve lessons. These can be broadly classified under two heads :

1.	The Vedic Period , i.e. the early Aryan Civilization, when Vedas were composed and a new pantheon of Gods and set of rituals introduced.
2.	The Mahajanapada Period : The expansion and imperialism through armies coupled by religious philosophical movement that shaped this Indian Civilization to a huge extent.

Overview: The Beginning of Iron Age in India

The current history of India has an ancestry of 3,500 years, which began with the coming of the Aryans from Central Asia. Whether it was an invasion or not, is a matter of intensive debate these days. However, it is almost certain that whatever the Genetic Continuity Theory suggests, there was a sizeable migration from beyond Afghanistan. 

There are many reasons to assume that and many evidences to prove the phenomena. That gave rise to many theories regarding the Aryan migration to Indian sub-continent and colonization.

In India, it is taught like a miracle of appearance. Coming of Aryans is viewed as coming of Aliens from an unknown region. Here, in this lesson we will clearly identify the place from where the Aryans came.

It was BMAC, which is rarely discussed or talked about in India. Now we will talk about it in considerable detail.

The Aryans

Whenever there is a migration, there emerges a series of cultures that follow in succession, a cultural continuum in more appropriate words. In India, it is a very poorly narrated story.

How Aryans really came and settled in India and what they did here is an interesting tale. Gandhara Grave Culture or Swat Culture is considered as the first episode of this whole process. But it was in far away Gandhara, the Pakistani province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, earlier known as North-west Frontier Province.

From GGC and indigenous Cemetry-H culture, perhaps a new tradition came into being, an ‘Aryan’ entity, a sequel of many other cultures, which are differentiated by the types of pottery they used.

These cultures, differentiated by the pattern of pottery in use, are briefly described in this lesson. It will be augmented by a separate lesson on maps of the sites. So please refer this lesson along with the final  lesson of this part, Lesson-12 ‘The Important Sites’

The Initial Iron Age Cultures in India

Pottery says nothing more than use. It doesn’t talk about what is going on in our mind, what do we think about soul, God, philosophies and spiritualism. On the contrary, the Vedic literature is hardly anything more than philosophical and religious compilations.
 
Although, no archaeological finds justify the existence of Vedic Period, the probable parallel co-existence may be considered as an almost inevitable fact.

So what items they used, is unearthed in the form of tangible objects while the system of beliefs, actions, thoughts, etc. is addressed by  Vedic Literatures. It is in the form of Vedas and supportive peripherals, Vedangas.

So in this lesson, we are going to clearly classify the Vedic Literature and talk about its necessary details.

The Vedic Literature

What Vedic people practiced in the form of religious rituals is a matter of curiosity and rightly so. After a span of three and a half millennia, many practices survive amidst severe foreign invasions, pillage and destruction, assimilation and addition. It is quite an incredible fact that despite of many odds, the practices survived and are still in vogue. 

But what was their initial or original form? Let us peep into the past and look for it.
The most important segment will be that of Vedic deities – the various Gods and Goddesses that Vedic people worshipped. That pantheon is substantially different from what we today see and practice.

Another important issue is the 16 samkaras we occasionally come across or mention in layman’s language. Here we will discuss it into detail too.

It is noteworthy that this lesson is also equally important for your preparation of ‘the Culture of India’ in GS. So it has double use in GS. One, as an ingredient of history and the other, as a segment of Indian Culture.

Vedic Rituals and Beliefs

Vedic society is still in existing within Hindu community, in some form or the other. Many principles are followed even today, although not in original or purest form, or after understanding the logic behind it.

So let us find out
Some extremely important issues addressed in this lesson are :
The four castes : The four sections of the society (classes)
The four ‘Ashramas’ : The four stages of life
The four ‘Purusharthas’ : The four ideal aims of life

Types of marriages : We know only one or two types of marriages today. But during the Vedic period, as many as eight kinds of marriage were practiced. We will talk about these here.

We will also see what social status the women of that era had.
So this will be one of the most important lessons of this series.

Vedic Culture and Society

There are certain stories and events associated with the Vedic period, which could not be covered in the previous lessons. So this residual lesson is created.
Dashrajnya War or the battle of ten kings, as it is known in English, is a poorly construed event. However it may be very much historical, as the pretext and course of war justify the Aryan diaspora and colonization of northern Indian sub-continent.

We will talk about the various aspects of this war in the lesson.

Some lesser known facts about Ramayana and Mahabharata and some unique observations out of the analysis will also be discussed.

Further, there was a significant deterioration in the society by the end of the  Vedic period. Many malpractices appeared and became embedded in the social structure and Indian psyche that after more than two millennia, we are unable to get rid of these ‘sins’. 

So this lesson will deal with certain important events during the Vedic period and the changes that took place gradually in the Later Vedic Period.

Vedic Civilization - Other Aspects

Henceforth, a new chapter begins – a tale of historical legends. The characters that are too popular and evident to be denied and yet lacking substantial vital evidences to pull them out of legends.

There are at least four major lists of Mahajanpadas. Out of these, only Buddhist source Digha Nikaya of Sutta Pitaka of Tripitaka is the most reliable one. Accordingly, there were 16 Mahajanapadas. Jain sources  also mention16 Majahanapadas, but a different list with different pronunciations is available. 

We will examine both and locate each Mahajanapada along with its capital individually. Many tutors and students skip this part considering it as unnecessary. But to retain further information and understand the events properly, particularly Magadh’s expansion in the next lesson, and the lessons on Buddhism and Jainism, this description will be very beneficial.

So the students are advised to watch the map and read the table very carefully to really understand the forthcoming lessons, where maps will be extensively used.  If necessary, please pause the lecture for a while and try to memorize the location of each Mahajanapada individually. The retention of capitals’ names is equally important.

The Mahajanapadas

Out of the 16 Mahajanapadas discussed in the previous lesson, it was only Magadha which raised banner and arms against its neighbours. This all began with Bimbisara of Haryanka Dynasty.

This imperialism can be divided into three phases of individual dynasties :
1.	Haryanka Dynasty, the dynasty of Bimbisara and Ajatashatru, both contemporaries of Buddha.
2.	Shishunaga Dynasty, the second one 
3.	Nanda Dynasty, the final pre-Mauryan dynasty

These three will wipe out almost all the Mahajanpadas and capture most of the eastern and central India. The capital of Magadh also shifted from Rajagriha to Patliputra.

The Imperial Magadh

Gautama Buddha, also known as ‘The Light of Asia’, was born during the Mahajanapada Period on India Nepal Border somewhere in the 6th Century BC.

Many of us know about his early life, but what is the story behind his attainment of Nirvana and his later life are rarely talked about. We will have a glance at it. We will also recognize the various places where Buddha visited during his lifetime.

We will talk about Buddha’s main teachings, his disciples and the history of early Buddhism. 

This will consist of the period between Buddha’s death, the first two ‘Buddhist Councils’ and the status of Buddhism under Pre-Mauryan Magadhan dynasties. 

What happened to Buddhism during the Mauryan Period, will be covered in the next part, ‘The Mauryan Period ‘.

Buddha and Early Buddhism

Like Buddha, Mahavira was also a great preacher. He is considered the 24th Tirthankar by the Jain community. He was a contemporary of Buddha, but scholars are divided whether he should be placed before or after the Buddha. 

 Mahavira started a new religion Jainism. He had his own story, just like Buddha, but is less commonly depicted than that of Buddha. So we will take a glance at his early life, attainment of Kaivalya and life after that.

We will also discuss his basic teachings along with his initial disciples and some important events. This whole is known as the ‘History of Early Jainism’, i.e. Jainism as it existed before the Mauryan Period.

Some events of early Jainism will have to be detailed in the next Part, i.e. Mauryan Period, only because there are certain difficulties in placement of those events. So while going through the lesson, you will understand what these difficulties are.

Mahavira and Early Jainism

When Brahmanism became too oppressive, the common man felt the heat and they started to look for the alternatives. So during these two centuries viz. 6th and 5th centuries BC, many parallel philosophical, spiritual and religious movements came up. This whole is known as ‘The Shramanic Movement’.

Buddhism and Jainism were among those popular movements. Apart from these most quoted movements, several others also came into being and continued for a fairly long time. 

Among these movements, the highlighted ones were Ajivika, Charvaka, Agyan (Ajnan), teachings of Purana Kassapa, Pakudha Kachchayana. We will discuss them in considerable depth in this lesson.

Some noteworthy personalities from that era have also been mentioned in this lesson.

Shramanic Cults and Other Notable Personalities of the Era

We have talked about 11 different aspects of the beginning of Iron Age in India. It will be futile to make wild guesses about the various cultures unless we know the sites of these cultures.

So students are advised to refer these maps along with the respective individual lessons, to get a better understanding of these cultures.

The maps will cover the spread and sites of the following:
1.	Gandara Grave Culture (GGC)
2.	Cemetery-H Culture
3.	Copper Hoard Culture
4.	Ochre-coloured Pottery Culture ( OCP)
5.	Black and Red Ware Pottery Culture (BRW)
6.	Painted Grey Ware Pottery Sites (PGW)
7.	Northern Black Polished Ware (NBP) or (NBPW)
8.	Buddha’s route
9.	Mahavira’s route

Major Sites

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The Iron Age in India began with the coming of Aryans from Central Asia, as interpreted so far. It was a massive cultural shift. The beliefs, lifestyle, and polity saw the absolute change. Virtually nothing continued off the Indus Valley Civilization, as far as we know today.

But the succession was probably not sudden, but a continuation of various cultures that spanned almost a millennium. 

Then afterward Mahajanapada Era began and there arose a great spiritual movement, perhaps for the first time in human history. During that phase two great religious teachers - Buddha and Mahavira preached their new religions respectively. 

This again added new dimensions to the Indian culture as well as the concept of spirit and spiritualism.

In all, what we call Indian civilization today, actually was born during this time period, about a millennium of initial culture. In technical terms, it is the first chapter of Iron Age in Indian Sub-continent (South Asia).

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Lessons

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