THE ORIGIN OF CITIES IN THE

GANGES VALLEY

BY

GEORGE ERDOSY

Introduction

In contrast to the vast literature on Harappan Urbanisation, the

.
cities of the Ganges Valley, which emerged in the first millennium
B.C., have received little attention 1 ) .
Even historians who otherwise
treat the Early Historic2) period in considerable detail show little con-
cern for the problem of urbanisation3), while the output of archaeo-
logists is limited to a single monograph on the subject4), notable both

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for its valuable summary of the relevant data, and for its author's
refusal to construct any hypotheses regarding the origin of Early
Historic cities, based on the information so painstakingly assembled.
Yet the second flowering of civilisation on the Subcontinent was no
less spectacular than the first; it was also more durable as its effects
are being felt to this day. Its neglect by scholars can only partly be ex-
plained by the scarcity of data. It is suggested here that a more fun-
damental reason lies in the limited view of urbanisation entertained

by students of the Early Historic period, who regard cities merely as

the by-product of isolated cultural processes, which can be disposed of

summarily once the latter are identified. By contrast, viewing cities as

an integral aspect of the developments of complex societies we could
not only offer a more satisfactory explanation of their origins, but at
the same time gain a better insight into the rise of civilisations, from
which phenomenon urbanisation can not be isolated. To demonstrate
the value of this approach, andto give more careful consideration to
the archaeological evidence, especially to its conflicts with literary
sources, will be the main objectives of this paper. Although the pover-

ty of the evidence frustrates at this stage any attempt at offering final

solutions, the hypotheses advanced here should provide guidelines for
future research, which is sorely needed.

Previous Approaches to the Study of Early Historic Urbanisation

Before
the approach just suggested can be outlined, and the prob-
lem reexamined in that light, certain aspects of past research must be
discussed, in particular the prevalent view of the nature of urbanisa-
tion, which is the greatest impediment to understanding the cities of
the Ganges Valley. Statements such as "cities...must have grown up
in response to demands made by increasing activities in arts and
crafts and trade and
commerce"5) illustrate the habit of crediting
isolated cultural processes for bringing about urbanisation. The
origin of this view is not difficult to trace; it can be found in the

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tendency of scholars to regard cities as a loose agglomeration of traits,

whose roles within a culture are rarely assessed. Such an approach,
since it cannot determine the function of cities-trait lists being by
their naturedescriptive-will inevitably lead to the selection of a
single characteristic as dominant, to be followed by an appeal to the
most suitable process to account for the rise of cities, generally trade
or administrative necessity). Why such processes result in the ap-
pearance of urban centres, or how they originate in the first place are
seldom discussed. Furthermore, the possibility that cities themselves
contribute to cultural
evolution, and change through their participa-
tion in that
process is ignored; this is not surprising, since trait
lists-especially if they are based on morphological regularities-are
capable only of delineating cities at a particular stage of their develop-
ment and can not encapsulate their changing character 6). For this
reason the utility of trait lists in understanding urbanisation must be
denied, which obviates the necessity of discussing in any detail the
urban characteristics preferred by various scholars. We must stress
instead, that in order to study our problem properly we ought to
regard urban centres as participants in cultural evolution in order to
bring out their essential properties, a task which will be attempted in
the next section.
The use of literary sources also poses a number of problems which
invite discussion. Most scholars have uncritically accepted the elo-
quent descriptions of cities to be found in the Epics, and in Buddhist
literature, as proof of the existence of fully developed urban centres in
the Buddha's lifetime. Consequently, they overlook the archaeo-
logical evidence, which suggests only the presence of a few fortified
settlements, such as Kausambi, none of which exhibits the magnifi-
cence attributed to them in the literature. Clearly, this apparent con-
tradiction in our sources must be reconciled, and the appearance of
cities accurately dated, if we are to explain the latter's origins. The

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fact that none of the works mentioning cities predates, in its present
form, the Maurya period is often overlooked, even though it should
caution us against the literal acceptance of their contents').
Moreover, there is solid archaeological evidence for the presence of
flourishing urban centres in the time of the Mauryas, in contrast to its
absence for earlier
periods. In spite of limited excavations at most
sites the archaeological evidence is consistent, as we shall see, and
should not be ignored. Therefore it is difficult to escape the conclu-
sion that the eloquent descriptions of cities, which abound in the
literature, were inspired by the urban centres of the Maurya and
post-Maurya periods whose images were projected into an earlier
age. Such a view is supported by the stereotyped image of cities in
literary texts, which makes the latter so uninformative 8). The
presence of urban centres in the sixth century B.C.
thereby is not
denied, merely their precocious development; indeed our chief objec-
tive in examining literary sources is the extraction of information
regarding the changing nature of Early Historic cities from the time
of their appearance, which is assuredly even before the time of the
Buddha. This is a prerequisite to any proper study of Early Historic
urbanisation.
It only remains to deal with the treatment hitherto meted out to the
archaeological evidence by scholars. In spite of a growing concern
with archaeological theory among South Asian specialists, the inter-
pretation of the events of the Early Historical period has been
dominated by diffusionist thinking. Cultures, just as cities, are
viewed as assemblages of traits, whose roles within the total cultural-
system are ignored9). As each culture is said to consist of

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characteristic traits, the presence of foreign elements in any

assemblage is easily detected, leaving the archaeologist merely to find
the origin of the foreign trait, and the route of its diffusion, which
would suffice for an explanation10). Such "explanations" often
ignore even the nature of thediffusionary mechanism and reveal
nothing about cultural evolution; they also depend on the-often im-
plicit-assumption that the diffusion of one element is a solid basis for
postulating the
parallel movement of other traits, which has never
been convincingly demonstrated.
In the case of the Early Historic period the most extreme case of
diffusionism is employed, namely the equation of cultures with pot-
tery types. Any trait found with a diagnostic pottery type is im-
mediately attributed to the culture producing that ware; for example,
iron was attributed to the "Painted Grey Ware people", even though
at several sites it appeared later than the said ware11). The distribu-
tion, in space and time, of ceramic types, associated with ill-defined
social groups-generally called "people"-thus becomes the basis of
the explanation of cultural developments. As the theoretical basis of
this paradigm has already been criticised in the Indian context by
Allchinl2), I shall limit my discussion to a specific example to show
the dangers of the method. The Painted Grey and Northern Black

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Polished Wares have

long been used to distinguish the two major
cultural entities of the Early Historic period. It has now been
demonstrated, however, that these wares are merely variations of the
same ceramic type, with an alkaline substance used in the slip of the
NBP Ware to give it its characteristic gloss13). Thus, far from being a
"very important material cultural determinant" 14), this ware merely
represents an innovation in ceramic technology, not related to any
other-and certainly more
important-cultural processes.
Clearly, then, any grouping of traits on the basis of their juxtaposi-
tion with particular ceramic types in stratigraphic contexts will
severely distort our picture of the cultural development of the Ganges
Valley, which should instead be treated as one entity within which the
nature and precise date of each cultural process must be

established 15) . Having accomplished that task the cultural develop-

ment of the area can be reconstructed in a framework that
recognises
the integrated nature of culture, in which a change in any sector may
affect all others. In this manner both the factors initiating certain pro-
cesses, and the latter's implications can be properly evaluated.

The Nature of Urbanisation

Having outlined the major shortcomings of previous research one

must offer alternative methods, and once again a discussion on
theories of urbanisation must take precedence. Fortunately several

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important case studies of primary urbanisation can be consulted, and

the conclusions reached here have been influenced by their
authors 16). Although the Ganges Valley has not been counted among
areas of primary urbanisation, using Wheatley's criterion-namely
that primary urbanisation took place unaffected by the presence of
urban forms elsewhere-we must place it in that category 17) . The in-
fluence of Harappan cities must be denied, as they are separated from
cities in the Ganges Valley by a wide spatial and temporal gap; this
has been convincingly demonstrated by Ghoshl8). Although the in-
trusion of Aryan tribes into the area represents a serious dislocation
in cultural development, it did not result in the importation of urban
traits. Thus we must view urbanisation in the Ganges Valley as an
indigenous development, for whose understanding an examination of
primary urbanisation is necessary.
In spite of the complexity of the problem we must first find a defini-
tion of urbanisation, and by emphasizing the functions of early cities,
instead of physical properties, we may greatly facilitate our task. It
thus becomes clear that the earliest urban centres acted above all as
agents of social
change, and their great variety is the result of subse-
quent development and of a similar variety in their cultural and

physical environments. The stage in social evolution which

necessitates the presence of cities has seldom been defined, yet several
regularities can be observed. Adams, for example, noted both in

Mesopotamia and Mesoamerica the gradual replacement of kin

groups with territorial units, with the former clinging on to its

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customary functions of marshalling manpower for public works and

war. This development was parallelled by increasing status differen-
tiation first within the kin groups-resulting in the appearance of
so-called conical clans-and then in the newly organised society, as
shown by burial customs, and in later times, literature'9). Wheatley,
using Fried's scheme2°), noted a similar connection between the rise
of cities and the development of stratified societies. Once more the
latter are distinguished from simpler stages-egalitarian and rank
societies-by stratification, on the basis of differential access to
strategic resources"), and by their organisation on a territorial basis.
These two characteristics thus represent the critical developments
whose origins must be studied.
Examining the impact of the above changes in a systemic
framework it is easy to see why they led to the rise of cities22). Clearly
the development of differential access to strategic resources creates
tensions, which are amplified by the loosening of kinship ties, itself no
doubt a result of the rise of inequality. In order to maintain control in
society and protect the emerging social order new instruments of con-
trol are required, and this results in the rise of territorially organised
states, whose leaders are now sanctioned to use physical as well as
moral resources to protect the rule of the It is the need for con-
centrating these resources in an effort to ensure obedience that results
in the birth of cities, whose first function is to be centres of ad-
ministration.

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Clearly, these first urban centres differed little from villages, as on-
ly after a considerable accumulation of resources could they assume a
more durable and monumental aspect, for which they are now
known. Many features now associated with cities, such as markets
and workshops were not present at their inception. However, it is
justifiable to characterise these early administrative centres as urban,
simply because they had the power to attract the surplus of producers,
which was needed for proper control of the emerging society, and
which in time laid the basis for the economic and ideological functions
so commonly ascribed to cities. One may, however, search for a
suitable term to characterise this formative stage, which is both
different from, and ancestral to, mature urban centres. In this
connection Wheatley's suggestion to call it a ceremonial centre, as
"providing the expanded ethical framework capable of encompassing
the transformation from ascriptive, kin-oriented groups, to stratified,
territorially based societies, and from reciprocative to superordinately
redistributive economic integration, was a religious symboliza-
tion ... ' ' 24) should be carefully considered.
Having defined the first stage of the development of cities, one
must analyse the character of mature urban settlements. As stated
already, the capacity of administrative centres to attract the produced
surplus enabled the development of economic and ideological func-
tions, which were added to the already existing administrative one. It
is this diversity of roles, all of which can ultimately be traced to the
need for protecting a stratified social order, which best characterises
mature urban centres, apart from the more obvious physical
attributes of increased size and wealth. Along with this development
we can discern for the first time differences between the function of
various cities, depending on which sphere-economic, ad-
ministrative, or ideological-dominates. That most cities show an
increasingly economic bias is due to the fact, that economic
measures-especially the allocation of resources-are often employed

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to reinforce social relationships; hence cities are above all the pivots of
redistributive economic systems, from which they incidentally derive
the greatest benefit. Finally, mature urban forms vary from culture to
culture, while preserving some regularities, as Adams has so ably
demonstrated in his comparative survey of Mesopotamia and

Mesoamerica25).

The City in Ancient Indian Literature

In spite of abundant references to cities, scholars have often

despaired of the difficulties of extracting any useful information from
the literature. Persistent exaggerations of scale, and constant repeti-
tion of certain features combine to hide the true character of Early
Historic cities.
Unfortunately the eloquent passages are designed
rather to embellish stories, than to convey useful information about
specific cities. As a representative sample, the following description of

Ayodhya may be quoted in an appropriately fanciful translation:

"There, famous in her old renown

Ayodhya stands, the royal town.
In bygone ages built and planned
By saluted Manu's princely hand.
Imperial seat; her walls extend
Twelve measured leagues from end to end,
And three in width from side to side,
With square and palace beautified.
Her gates at even distance stand;
Her ample roads are wisely planned.
'
Right glorious is her royal street
Where streams allay the dust and heat.
On level ground in even row
Her houses in a goodly show:
Terrace and palace, arch and gate
The queenly city decorate.
High are her ramparts, strong and vast,
By ways at even distance passed,
With circling moat, both deep and wide,

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And store of weapons fortified...

She seems a painted city, fair
with chess-board line and even square.
And cool boughs shade the lovely lake
Where weary men their thirst may slake.
There guilded chariots gleam and shine,
And stately piles the gods enshrine.
There gay sleek people ever throng
To festival and dance and song....
With envoys sent by distant kings,
And merchants with their precious things
With banners o'er her roofs that play,
And weapons that a hundred slay;
All warlike engines framed by man,
And every class of artisan.
A city rich beyond compare
With bards and minstrels gathered there,
And men and damsels who entrance
The soul with play and song and dance
That such statements were no mere
flights of imagination is proved

by the artistic representation of cities with towering walls, lofty

palaces, and crowded streets2'). Since the earliest of these depic-

tions-mostly railings of stupas-themselves appear in the second

century B.C., they provide additional evidence for the suggestion
that the cities of the Maurya and post-Maurya periods acted as
models the literary images. While the latter are thus devoid of infor-
mation on the earliest urban forms, they may be profitably studied by
excavators of later cities, since most of the features mentioned in the
literature-palaces, pillared halls, wide avenues, tanks, and
shrines-have been encountered in excavations as well.
However, other, hitherto neglected, evidence may be utilised.
That the earliest cities were royal capitals is suggested by literary
evidence, as well as popular tradition28), which both ascribe the foun-

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dation of cities to certain kings. While we may share Ghosh's scep-

ticism regarding the historicity of some of the founders-for example
Kusamba or Visala need hardly have been the founders of Kausambi
or Vaisali29)-we need not doubt the underlying historical tradition.
The fact that even during the Maurya period the cities of the Ganges

Valley were almost without capitals

exception of former states lends

powerful support to it. Viewing the scene from a different angle we

may add that few of the headquarters of the traditional janapadas
failed to attain urban status3o).
Further information can be elicited from a study of the terms used
at various times to designate a city, although many of them still elude
precise definition. In the Vedic period the population lived in
villages, though fortified settlements,
pur, are mentioned even in the
Rgveda. Macdonnell Keith) and reason that such settlements were
probably temporary places of refuge, or even simply cattlepens. On
the other hand durga, which in the Arthasastra denotes a fortified
capital, may already have acquired this meaning when it appeared in
Vedic literature, though the appearance of such settlements can not
be dated on the basis of such slender evidence. Significantly,
however, nagara, which became the commonest expression for
" city," , occurs only in later Vedic literature, after the appearance of
the terms pur and durga; this may also suggest the presence of fortified
capitals before the rise of cities. Finally the fact that only two
terms-possibly three if pur is taken to have an urban connota-
tion-were used for urban settlements also presents a picture of mere-

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ly incipient urban development for the late Vedic period, ending in

the sixth century B.C.
By contrast words for urban settlements proliferate in later
literature, especially in the Arthasastra. Towns can now be classified
into administrative and economic centres, though these functions
were doubtless combined, as the description of a fortified town in Ar-
thafiistra 2.4. suggests. In the first category fall the various seats of
government, namely, in descending order
of importance, sthaniya,
dronamukha, karaatika and samgrahana.
In the latter group belong pat-
tana-a port-town, pa?zyapu.tabhedana-an inland trading post, and
nigama, which Ghosh translates as a trading centre32). All this sug-
gests a greater diversity of urban centres by the third century B.C.,
and thus a mature stage of urban development.
Having already discussed the chief physical features of cities of this
period, something must be said of their functions,
and our chief
source is again the Artha?dstra 33 ). Although each city may have a
variety of roles, which may account for the generalised picture in the
minds of those studying them, there is one overriding purpose behind
all their activities, namely the enrichment of the treasury. This takes
place through the collection of surplus raw materials from the coun-
tryside, and through their processing into saleable commodities. The
proceeds from the resulting trade-both private and state-run-are
then hoarded by the treasury in the form of taxes and direct revenue,
and are spentin public works, war and general administration. Even
the newly-founded administrative centres, listed above, are con-
cerned chiefly with the collection and processing of surplus produce,
thus strengthening both the state and the social system it defends.
While the maintenance of social order, whose
principles are reflected
in town-planning, is thus ensured, it is also overshadowed by the
need to strengthen the state as a whole in order to pursue a succesful

foreign policy. The formative influences of this excessive centrali-

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sation will be discussed in due

course; in the meantime we must
lament the fact that the principles of townplanning have never been
tested by archaeological excavations, to whose results we must now
turn34).

The archaeological evidence for Early Historic Urbanisation

Although the utility of trait lists in determining the nature of cities

has been rejected, they must be resorted to when discussing the
material remains of the past. After all, assemblages of discrete
phenomena constitute the raw material of archaeology, and the
challenge is to reconstruct the dynamics of the past from these, a pro-
cedure which consists of several stages35). In the case of the Ganges
Valley the difficulties involved due to the nature of archaeological re-
mains in general-which are already considerable-are compounded
by limited excavations and poor publication of even what meagre
evidence is recovered. It is thus that such invaluable indices of
cultural evolution as settlement patterns can not be reconstructed.
For the greater part we must depend, instead, on a short list of ex-
cavated artefacts even whose own spatial contexts are generally in
doubt.
As stated above, the earliest urban forms will be difficult to recover
from the
ground, since the first cities may have differed little from

villages; it is precisely at this point that settlement patterns would be

of the greatest value. Thus the earliest signs of urbanisation come in
the shape of massive fortifications, found at Kausambi, Ujjain, Raj-

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ghat (ancient Varanasi), Campa, and possibly Rajgir36). These for-

tifications can all be dated to the sixth century B.C., except Ujjain's,
which was dated to 650 B. C. by its excavator. They clearly represent
enormous investments of manpower, testifying to the organising
capacity of the Janapadas, whose capitals they were built to protect. On
the other hand, there is a conspicuous absence of contemporary
building activity within these forts, as well as at other sites. Thus the
fabled cities of the literature could hardly have existed at this time.
The argument that wood wascommonly used in high-class
residences3') is not convincing, since even wooden buildings leave
recognisable remains, such as postholes; in fact massive quantities of
wood were found at Pataliputra. Thus, had wood been used exten-
sively in the sixth century B.C., its traces would have been found.
It is therefore tempting to see in these fortified settlements the for-
mative stage of urbanisation, where cities were royal capitals. It is
significant that instead of finding a flourishing settlement within the
walls of Ujjain, the excavator unearthed evidence of occupation
without, in the form of mud houses and a limited range of copper and
bone tools, as well as ornaments; significantly, iron was used only for
weapons3$). The excavator surmises that the fortifications enclosed a

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citadel with a cluster of settlements around it. A similar function may

be attributed to the stone-built enclosure wall within the outer ram-

parts of Kausambi, thus both these sites attest to an early stage of ur-
ban development at the time of the Buddha. It is no coincidence that
the fortified settlements were capitals of the kingdoms which were at
the centre of the civil war fought for control of the Ganges
Valley-Campa of Anga, Rajghat of Kasi, Rajgir of Magadha,
Kausambi of Vatsa, and Ujjain of Avanti. The massive fortifications
could well have been an anomalous development at this stage, the
result of external rivalries. An early stage of social evolution is also
indicated by the lack of evidence for significant changes in material
culture at the time of their construction.
Signs of maturing appear only between 500 and 300 B.C. with a
somewhat abrupt appearance of flourishing urban settlements around
300 B.C.39). As stated earlier, cities strive to concentrate surplus and
this accounts for the fact that their most obvious physical features are
their size and wealth. Needless to say, no single attribute can signify a
mature urbancentre, but the changes occurring in the Ganges Valley
around 300 B.C. all point to their presence. Not only do fortified set-
tlements proliferate4°), often enclosing over one hundred hectares,
but many sites also show a frenzied structural activity in baked
bricks, in contrast to earlier periods4l). Soakage jars are replaced with
elaborate systems of wells and drainage, and fine houses and well-
paved roads also appear. Even traces of monumental architecture can
be found at Pataliputra, where it would be most expected, but
perhaps the clearest evidence of prosperity are the numerous religious

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establishments, often incorporating exceptional works of art42). They

testify to the existence of specialist craftsmen with a tradition of cater-

ing for demands of luxury. Although many of the religious
establishments predate the Maurya age, only in the latter period were
they established in durable forms43).
Of the layout and function of cities little is known, due to the ex-
cavators' preference for narrow and deep trenches. Only Marshall,
who had a different set of priorities, succeeded in uncovering large
areas, at Bhita. He found some fine houses, with
up to ten rooms
around a central courtyard, and proper drainage; similar dwellings
were encountered at Kausambi44). At the former site a more crowded
inner quarter was also found, and, one suspects, quickly abandoned
for fear of not finding a sufficiently attractive sample of artefacts; it
nevertheless provides some evidence of social stratification. Equally
significant is Marshall's suggestion-based partly on modern
analogues, and partly on the finding of seals, sealings and coins-that
the fronts of the large houses on the main roads leading to the city
gates housed shops. This is our clearest evidence for economic ac-
tivities, though large workshops manufacturing iron tools-at Ujjain,
beads-at Campa and Ujjain, and bone arrowheads-at Ujjain and
Rajghat were also encountered. Though no idea of their size and
market can be obtained, the raw materials used by these shops would
themselves initiate brisk trading as most of the raw materials
of in-
dustry were found on the fringes of the Ganges Valley at best45). In
this context the location of all urban centres, except Rajgir, on major

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rivers, and the presence of coins of the various janapadas throughout

the Ganges Basin are equally significant signs of trade. Consequent-
ly, the evidence for the date of 300 B.C. as the time of the culmina-
tion of the urban development of the Ganges Valley is conclusive, in
spite of the limitations of fieldwork. Although much of the fine detail
will have to be worked out after the acquisition of new data, which
may take years, a brief reconstruction of the cultural evolution of the
Ganges Valley may be attempted, since it is needed in order to put
urbanisation in proper perspective.

Explanation of the Origin of Early Historic Cities

It has thus far been demonstrated, within the limits allowed by the
evidence, that the earliest urban centres appeared sometime before
600 B. C., by which time they took the shape of fortified capitals. Be-
tween the sixth and third centuries B . C . these and other settlements
evolved into mature urban a variety
centres with of functions, of
which commodity production and trade for the benefit of the royal
treasury were paramount. In the archaeological record these pros-
perous urban centres appear somewhat abruptly around 300 B.C., as
we have seen.
In explaining these developments we must first find the forces
responsible for the rise of stratified and territorially based societies
which, as we suggested, prompted the appearance of cities. It is
interesting to note that Buddhist thinkers of our period
already were
interested in this problem. In the remarkable Book of Genesis of the
Dialogues of the Buddha46) the rise of kingship and of castes is
ultimately traced to man's greed, which first drives him to exhaust
the supply of many wild food-producing plants, then induces him to
hoard grains of wild rice, and finally leaves him no option but to
cultivate rice on his private plot as he can not resist taking more than
his fair share of the communal grain supply. With the rise of private

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property the institution of kingship was established in order to stamp

out crime and its bearer's services were rewarded with a portion of
the produce.
Of chief interest to us is the fact that the author of the above work
sees society as capable of internal evolution without any outside
stimulus. This is also the favoured view of contemporary ar-

chaeologists, although the

vexing question social
of what initiates
evolution is nowhere near a solution in spite of some interesting

attempts4'). In the case of the Ganges Valley it must be emphasized,

that regardless of the theoretical merits of stressing socities' capacity
for internal evolution, the intrusion of the Aryan tribes into the in-

digenous cultural system, for which unassailable evidence exists,

forces us to give prominence to an extraneous factor. To some extent
this will save us considerable embarrassment, since so little is known
of the indigenous cultures of the Ganges Valley that to base any
theories on their internal development would be preposterous. It is

equally clear, however, that the latters' presence, which has

been
established through archaeological fieldwork alone 48), can no longer
be ignored, as in the past49). On the other hand much more fieldwork
is required before a thoroughly documented explanation of the
cultural evolution of the Ganges Valley can be offered.

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It is already clear, however, that many of the characteristic features

of Early Historic society are much more satisfactorily explained as the
result of the interaction of two cultural traditions, than as the internal
development of one. In this framework the system of the four varnas
may be seen as the vehicle employed by the Aryan invaders to subdue
the indigenous population, which was to be ruled by the combined
resources of priests and kings; that the paramount concern of the
ruler was the maintenance of social order through the enforcement of
caste obligations is clear from all the treatises on law. Certainly by
late Vedic times, approximately 1000-600 B.C., the appearance of
stratified society is indicated even if the details still elude our grasp.
The organisation of societies on a territorial basis is equally obvious
from the presence of several-traditionally sixteen-small states
possessing surprisingly a pugnacious character; their
origins lie at
least in part in the tribal divisions inherited from
the days of migra-
tion. As the Vedic tribes themselves had a time-honoured tradition of
bloody rivalries, it is not surprising that the states which supplanted
them also feuded bitterly50).
Amplifying these rivalries was the fact that many of the states,
organised as tribal oligarchies, were probably of indigenous origin,
and not the survivals of older Vedic institutions as has been claimed.
Nothing, in fact, indicates better the presence of two cultural tradi-
tions, than the presence of two different forms of state organisation,
monarchical and oligarchical. It is no coincidence that Buddhism,
whose institutions were modelled after the oligarchies, first spread in
the latter. Theses states, as Kosambi pointed out, did not accept the
superior position of the Brahmin class, and did not follow Vedic
rituals51), both of which were crucial aspects of the maintenance of
Vedic social order; in this respect also they parallelled Buddhism.
While the hostility of oligarchic institutions to the evolving Vedic

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society has long been recognised52), the view that they were the prod-
ucts of the latter persists53). However, now that the presence of an in-

digenous population in the Ganges Valley has been clearly proven by

archaeology, the view that the oligarchies and Buddhism were the
result of the clash of two cultural traditions, in fact an indigenous
response to the forced
spread of an alien ideology, should be given
consideration. It is this duality of two traditions existing more or less
over the same area that characterises the Ganges Valley in Early
Historic times, not the presence of two archaeological cultures that
happened to produce slightly different potS54).
The archaeological record of this period is particularly obscure,
nevertheless there is good evidence for crediting the Aryan intruders
with causing the instability which set the stage for the rise of cities.
Throughout the second millennium B.C., which is spanned by the
Neolithic and Chalcolithic stages of the Ganges Valley, the material
culture encountered shows little change. Village communities persist,
whose inhabitants lived in wattle-daub
houses, and produced a

severely limited range of artefacts, except for the profusion of ar-

rowheads. Although it has now been demonstrated that
agriculture
was possible on heavily forested alluvial lands even without iron
toolsss), it played a decidedly secondary role as shown by the scarcity
of agricultural tools in contrast to the abundance and elaboration of
arrowheads, found at Chirand for example. Even when iron was in-
troduced, it was used solely for weapons at first. Thisstability in
material culture is only disrupted around the sixth century B.C. in a
manner to be described below. However, by this time there is good

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evidence for the presence of Aryans who have already established

their kingdoms. Their traces are difficult to find in the archaeological
and have aroused countless controversies. The fact remains,
however, that the presence of iron and of horses still provides the best
evidence for their presence. As both of these traits appear around the
ninth century B.C., a date of about 1000 B.C. is suggested for their
introduction, allowing for time elapsed before they become visible in
the admittedly meagre archaeological record 56). This date significant-
ly coincides with the traditional dating of the earliest literary texts
whose geographical focus is the Upper and Middle Ganges Valley.
Solid reasons, therefore, can be provided for attributing the rise of
stratified and territorially organised societies to the interaction of two
cultural traditions, which took place subsequent to the Aryan intru-
sion. As it has already been explained how such societies require the
presence of urban centres, one must turn to the subsequent develop-
ment of mature cities. Perhaps the most striking development is the
speed of this process, as scarcely three centuries separate the first for-
tified centres from flourishing cities displaying great wealth. That the
underlying cause of the affluence of cities lay in their power to collect
the produced surplus has already been explained, and the profusion
of luxury goods found at urban sites shows the demands generated by
affluence. However, the demands of individual members of the ruling
classes could scarcely have produced such wealth by itself, and even
the need to preserve the social order
by economic means can not

explain it. We must credit the rapid cultural evolution of the Ganges
Valley rather to the additional pressures exerted by interstate
rivalries which persisted throughout the Early Historic period. As In-
dian statecraft recognised that the basis of a country's wealth, and

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hence of its power, lay in agricultural production, every effort was

made to increase the latter. This is especially evident from Arthasastra
2.1, dealing with settling the countryside; the increase in the number
of settlements, perceivable in the archaeological record, shows the
fruits of such a policy"). The introduction of iron tools, around 600
B.C. based on present evidence58), may also be attributed to the
desire to maximize production; this, incidentally, disposes of the view
of Kosambi that the technological advance represented by the in-
troduction of iron lay at the root of the cultural evolution of the
Ganges Valley59). The crucial point in connection with cities is that
civil war also led to a highly centralised administrative tradition,
which was required for the sustenance of war efforts. This ensured
that all activity which enhanced the royal treasury-in particular the
processing of primary products and trade-would be concentrated in
a few centres in order to facilitate control; after all, it was a matter of
survival to ensure the smooth functioning of the economy. This not
only explains the limited number of urban settlements, but also their
function of producing profits for the benefit of the treasury, which is
constantly stressed in the literature. Nor is it surprising that cities lay
along major rivers and were surrounded by impressive fortifications,
they needed to be on the major trade route in order to perform their
functions properly, and they also required protection in view of the
riches they contained.
While the geographical pattern of urbanisation is poorly known, it
is clear that the heaviest concentration of cities was in the Middle
Ganges Valley, which also enjoyed political supremacy. Such a

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development may well be explained by the pattern of rainfall; in a

monsoonal climate at least 40 inches of precipitation are required for
succesful dry-farming, and this amount
can only be relied upon in the
Middle Ganges Basin6°). Since irrigation would have required heavy
investment, and would have presupposed an already existing surplus
of some size, the areas wheredry-farming could be practised safely
naturally enjoyed an initial advantage which was quickly reflected in
their successes in warfare; this advantage was sustained until the fall
of the Maurya Empire. Finally, although the sudden appearance of
flourishing cities in the archaeological record may provide a distorted

picture, the possibility that the access of the Ganges Valley to the vast
resources of the entire subcontinent from the fourth century
B . C . -through the intermediary of the Maurya Empire-induced a
dramatic rise in the level of urban
development can not be excluded.
While much new data is required to settle this or any other issue, one
purpose of this paper has been to show that the archaeological record,
for all its limitations, is surprisingly consistent. It should therefore be
explained in all cases rather than ignored.

Conclusions

A paper which attempts to revise old approaches, without the

benefit of an expanded data base is bound to raise as many questions
as it answers, and if it provokes further research, in particular the ac-
quisition of new data to support or disprove specific views, it will have
served its purpose. While the explanations offered here may be
disputed the case for expanded fieldwork is unassailable, and clearly
the literature should also be reexamined in light of the archaeological
evidence. In the sphere of methodology the most important point to
make is the need for carefully designed research projects aiming to
solve specific problems. In particular, horizontal exposure is required
at Early Historic sites, since the vertical sequence of artefact distribu-

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tions has by now been securely established. Finally, the publication of

excavated material should include more than just a list of the types of
artefacts found at a site. Although the annual reports of the Ar-
chaeological Survey give an excellent cross-section of archaeological
research on the Subcontinent, for which every archaeologist should
be grateful, the cultural development of the Ganges Valley must be
documented through detailed excavation reports, of which few as yet
are available for Early Historic sites. Until
such improvements are ef-
fected only part of the task of explaining Early Historic urbani-
sation-the explanation of the phenomenon in its specific cultural
context-can Yet this subject deserves
be accomplished. more since it
is the only case of primary urbanisation where an abundant literature

augments the archaeological record, which, for all its shortcomings,

should contain invaluable evidence of social evolution, hardly
recoverable by excavation. Careful study of Early Historic urbanisa-
tion should thus reveal new information on the more general aspects
of urbanisation, instead ofmerely depending on the latter for
theories. Only when this promise is fulfilled will full justice be done to
the subject.

Acknowledgement

This paper represents a revised version of my M. Phil. disserta-

tion, written at the University of Cambridge. I am particularly

grateful to Dr. F. R. Allchin, who in his capacity as supervisor

proved to be a rich source of ideas; I have greatly benefited from
discussions with him. Professor A. L. Basham also read the
typescript, and kindly made valuable
suggestions. Needless to say, I
am alone responsible for the imperfections of this paper, however.

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