Mahajanapadas: Towards State Formation

INTRODUCTION

To begin with, there existed political units like jana which later became janapada – mahajanapada. A jana was a region where there lived the people of the tribe. These tribes were named after a particular chieftain. Later, with the extension of territory, there was a change in the nature of political organization.

MAHAJANAPADAS
In the texts we find references to the emergence of sixteen mahajanapadas. Important among them were Magadha, Kosala, Kasi, Avanti, Vaishali, Licchavi, etc. Mahajanapadas were of two kinds, as discussed below.

Ancient Indian Religion: Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy:

.Ancient Indian Religion: Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy:

The vedic religion or Brahmanism was the orthodox religion. The new faiths established in 6th century B.C. like Jainism, Buddhism, Charvakas, Ajavikas, were heterodox religions.

VEDIC RELIGION
To begin with, Vedic religion always gave a lot of importance to animal sacrifices called yajnas. This practice was suitable in a cattle dominated economy. However, this practice of sacrificing cattle was not suitable for an agrarian economy as cattle was required for agricultural production.

After the 6th century B.C., there was transition from pastoralism to agricultural production. There was a need for more cattle. But the vedic sacrifices destroyed the cattle wealth. This was resented by common folk and the philosophy of new religions gave a solution to their grievances.

Emergence of Social Classes In Ancient India

Emergence of Social Classes In Ancient India

In ancient India we find reference to four classes or varnas. They are Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. The literary meaning of varnas is colour or complexion. These different varnas did not emerge at a single point of time. It took several years for these four varnas to emerge and exist in ancient India. Romila Thapar says that initially there existed certain lineages. Among them there were junior lineages and senior lineages. The latter were those which were able to dominate in the society.

BRAHMANAS
The most important sections were the brahmanas and the rajanyas. The brahmanas were the priestly class who performed cattle and other animal sacrifices for the benefit of society. They, in a way, supported the ruling class. The rajanyas were the ruling class. Out of this category later emerged kshatriyas. The word kshatra meant power. During this period there existed intra tribal and inter tribal conflicts. Out of these conflicts emerged certain important clans like kurus.

Ancient India in 4th Century B.C

Ancient India in 4th Century B.C.

Before 4th century B.C. there existed the major civilization called the Vedic civilization. The Vedic civilization is divided into two segments: 1. early vedic civilization and 2. later vedic civilization. The main source for studying this civilization is the Vedic literature.

In the early vedic civilization we get the picture of a society which depended on primitive economic activities like pastoralism, nomadic life and worship of different deities. It is said that the Vedi people gradually obtained the knowledge regarding the art of agricultural production. Now they started to migrate and settle on the fertile river valleys. The increased agricultural production led to competition among different dominant social groups to control economy and society. There emerged social divisions which led to the emergence of varna and jati system.

State Formation - South India

TOWARDS STATE FORMATION
In South India there was transformation in the polity, economy and society. Initially there existed the primitive society but later there was transformation of pre state society into state society. In the primitive society there did not exist the various features of the state system like a standing army, systematic revenue collection, territory, population, etc.

The reference to existence of megalithic settlements and existence of tribal set up as mentioned in Sangam literature indicates the prevalence of pre state society and polity. There were certain changes in the society and polity. Such transformation is recorded the group of Tamil literature called Sangam literature.

THE HORSE AND THE ARYAN DEBATE

THE HORSE

AND THE ARYAN DEBATE

The presence or absence of the horse in the Indus-Sarasvati civilization has beena bone of contention for decades, especially in the context of the Aryan invasiontheory. The argument is familiar: the Rig-Veda uses the wordashva over 200times,ergo the Vedic society must have been full of horses,ergo the Harappancivilization, from which the noble animal is conspicuously absent, must be pre-Vedic and non-Aryan. The horse must therefore have been brought into Indiaaround 1500 BCE by the invading Aryans, who used its speed to crushingadvantage in order to subdue the native, ox-driven populations. This line ofreasoning is regarded as so evident and foolproof that it is taken to be the finalword on the issue; as a result, we find it confidently repeated in reference booksand history textbooks dealing with India’s prehistory.

Theories Regarding the Origin of European Feudalism

Theories Regarding the Origin of European Feudalism

In 1887 a German Historian Brunner,concentrating on the military aspects, traced the genesis of feudalism to the horse stirrup. He argued that in 733 A.D, the emperor of France (then called Gaull, Charles Martin),defeated the Arabs in a battle at Poitiers near Paris. However, Martin could not pursue the Arabs because his army consisted primarily of infantry, whereas the Arab soldiers escaped on the far more mobile horsebacks.Martin realized the need for introducing a large segment of cavalry in his defence forcer.` Maintaining a cavalry, however, was after all a more expensive proposition than an infantry. For this Martel needed more resources. Land being the chief resource in pre-modern societies, the Emperor began by acquiring land from those who had a great deal of it - the Church for example.