HISTORY. Subject : History (For under graduate student) Unit No. & Title : Unit- 1 Geographical Background

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1 History of India 1 HISTORY Subject : History (For under graduate student) Paper No. : Paper - 1 History of India Unit No. & Title : Unit- 1 Geographical Background Topic No. & Title : Topic - 2 Major Routes of Communication in India up to c. A.D. 650 Lecture No. & Title : Lecture - 1 Major Routes of Communication in India up to c. A.D. 650 Script Possible routes of communications linking various parts of India and the outside world are many and varied. The itinerant monks and merchants must have used wellestablished routes during their journeys. Baveru, according to the Suttanipata started on an extensive overland journey from Pratishthana (modern Paithan, Maharashtra) to Sravasti (Uttar Pradesh). He passed Mahissati (Mahishmati,

2 History of India 2 modern Mandhata, Madhya Pradesh), Ujeni (Ujjayini, Madhya Pradesh), Vedisha (near Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh), Tumbavana (Tumain, eastern Madhya Pradesh) and Kausambi (near Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh) during the journey. This has been described as the north-south trunk road of antiquity. Jivaka, a great physician of early India hailed from Rajagriha (in Bihar) and undertook his training in medicine in Taxila (now in Pakistan). The Buddha on his last journey, according to the Mahaparinibbanasuttanta, started from Rajagriha and passed through Ambalaththika, Nalanda, Pataligama, Kotigama, Vaisali, and Pava to Kusinagara where he attained his parinirvana. These examples clearly suggest brisk communication network among various places of India as early as the 6 th century BCE. The two major overland routes of early India were known as Uttarapatha and Dakshinapatha. Apart from these routes, the Silk Route and the maritime routes used during the period of Indo-Roman trade were very important.

3 History of India 3 Uttarapatha The grand route in northern India, which cut across the subcontinent originating in the western regions beyond India and sweeping across the Indus and Gangetic plains to the port of Tamralipti on the eastern coast, is known as Uttarapatha. Panini in his Ashtadhyayi christened it for the first time as Uttarapathenahritam. Uttarapatha is referred to also in the Buddhist literatures like Jataka and Vinaya texts. We find that Uttarapatha had two major sectors, the northern route moving from Lahore through Jullundhar across to Saharanpur and along the Ganges plain, through Bijnor, Gorakhpur towards Bihar and Bengal; the southern route proceeded from Lahore to Bhatinda, Delhi, Hastinapur, Kanpur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Allahabad towards Pataliputra and Rajagriha. Literary and epigraphic associations with the Uttarāpatha and long-distance travel, trade, and conquest in a northern or northwestern direction correspond fairly well with archaeological evidence of trans-regional contact and intercultural relationships with inhabitants of the northwestern borderlands of South Asia.

4 History of India 4 Although the Northern Route is not explicitly mentioned in inscriptions of Aśoka, the distribution of his rock edicts at junctions of trade routes and in the border areas of the Mauryan Empire demonstrates an extensive system for trans-regional mobility in the middle of the third century BCE. Passages in the 2nd Major Rock Edict and the 7th Pillar Edict in which Aśoka ordered wells excavated and trees planted for both humans and animals along routes, demonstrate that facilities for long-distance travellers, including his administrative agents and armies as well as merchants and Buddhist monks, were provided on this imperial road network. Megasthenes report of a royal road with pillars to mark distances and junctions is quoted by Strabo. This network was also used for military and political expansion by other northern Indian dynasties and by groups of foreign rulers from the Northwest such as the Indo-Greeks, Śakas, and the Kuṣāṇas. Epigraphic and literary references show that the geographical position of the Northern Route was not fixed within specific territorial boundaries, but fluctuated according to the viewpoints of particular sources. The claim by the eastern Indian Mahāmeghavāhana ruler Khāravela to

5 History of India 5 have terrified the kings of the Uttarāpatha in an inscription at Hāthīgumphā (probably belonging to the late first century BCE) indicates that the location of Uttarāpatha was understood in relation to his own domain. Although the identity of the northern kings is unclear due to the poor condition of the inscription, the glorification of Khāravela s campaigns against Magadha suggests a geographical location in the middle Ganges. In epigraphic eulogies of the Chālukyas and their feudatories, Pulakeśin II (died 642 CE) is praised for defeating Harṣavardhana, the master of all of Uttarāpatha (sakalottarāpatheśvara), presumably meaning the areas north of the Narmada River. However, in Bāṇa's literary composition of Harṣa's deeds (Harṣacarita), a distinction is made between his family's domain and the territories of the Uttarāpatha, since Harṣavardhana's older brother Rājyavardhana died while fighting the Hūṇas in Uttārapatha, which seems to refer to the Punjab or Kashmir. A ninth century inscription found near Nalanda records the life journey of a Buddhist monk named Vīradeva who travelled from the northwest to Buddhist shrines and monasteries in northeastern India. His birthplace in

6 History of India 6 Nagarāhāra (modern Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan) is praised as an ornament to Uttarāpatha. After coming from the Kaniṣka vihāra in modern Peshawar to Bodh Gaya, he was appointed to supervise a monastery in Nalanda. In this record, Uttarāpatha refers to the northwestern heartland of ancient Gandhāra, which remained a major Buddhist cultural centre since monks like Vīradeva continued to travel from there to northeastern India as late as the ninth century. The Archaeological correlates and the common cultural traits along this axis are the following: a) The distribution of PGW settlements from the end of the 1 st millennium BCE onwards suggests a broadly common cultural zone cutting across various sub-regions of the northern section of the Indian subcontinent. b) Distribution of NBP and other related potteries, artefacts like beads, spindle whorls etc. could be seen along this axis in the early historical period. c) Certain artefacts of non-local origin found in the archaeological repertoires of the sites along this

7 History of India 7 axis also help in amplifying the nature of movement along this route. d) Coins are uniformly found in most of the subregions along this axis. e) There was a general movement of raw materials Thus by the first phase of the early historic period the Uttarapatha of literary tradition had become an archaeological reality. Dakshinapatha The term Dakshinapatha occurs in the sense of a trade route to the south, bringing precious stones, shells, pearls and gold. It is mentioned in the Arthasastra of Kautilya. Buddhist literature also mentions a number of merchants going from Pataliputra and Kaushambi to Pratishthana on the Godavari. The clearest outline of the Dakshinapatha is found in the Suttanipata, which contains the story of Baveru who built a hermitage on the banks of the Godavari. Dakshinapatha as an arterial route through which peoples, cultures and commerce moved is very much present in Sanskrit literature but the literary picture is not as sharp or well defined as that of the northern trans-regional

8 History of India 8 Uttarapatha. Thus there is considerable vagueness surrounding the great Southern route and its specific alignment. The geography of Rama s exile, which was basically along the Dakshinapatha is one such example, with many of the place names and spots in the Deccan significant in that context, still not having been satisfactorily identified. Often, although journeys and campaigns along the Dakshinapatha are mentioned in the Mahabharata and in Buddhist literature, no details are given. Even in Buddhist literature, originally, Dakshinapatha signified no grand trade route but a remote settlement of the Aryans on the upper Godavari. That Dakshinapatha was used as a territorial term is also evident from the Nanaghat inscription of Naganika in which Simuka Satavahana is described as Dakshinapathapati (Lord of Dakshinapatha). Stretching from Pataliputra in Magadha to Pratishthana on the Godavari delta terminating at Bharukachchha and/or Sopara on the western coast, the literary image of Dakshinapatha is saturated with cultural, mythological and political meanings. On the one hand, movement into the Vindhyas from Allahabad southwards has been seen in epic literature in the context of a reducing cultural barrier when

9 History of India 9 Aryan movement towards the south along with Agastya is narrated. On the other hand, the literature is replete with references to pygmies as well as rakshasas from regions to the south of the Vindhyas, suggesting that along Dakshinapatha the Sanskrit based culture met an autochthonous basal cultural element here. Dakshinapatha embraced both the Deccan region and the far south. In the far south, the major janapadas referred to were Pandya, Kerala, Chola, Kavera, Kumara and Setuka. The Pandya kingdom had its core area in the Madurai- Ramanathapuram-Tirunelveli region of South India. It was centred around the basin of river Vaigai and Madurai was its capital. Kerela of the Puranas corresponds to modern Kerala. The core area of the Chola country was the middle Kaveri basin with Karur and Tiruchirapalli as its main centres. Kavera probably referred to the valley of the river Kaveri and Kumara was the KanyaKumari in the Tirunelveli district. Setuka was the Setubandha-Ramesvara region of South India. The janapadas of importance in the Deccan are Musika, Maharashtra, Vidarbha, Maulika, Asmaka, Kalinga, Andhra, Sabara, etc. Musika probably belonged to the upper valley of the river Musi, a tributary of the Krishna. The

10 History of India 10 Puranic janapada named Maharashtra appears to indicate only that region which is covered by the basin of the river Bhima, since the other regions included in the present Maharashtra are mentioned as separate janapadas. Vidarbha was the modern Berar, a name derived from Varada-tata (the valley of the Wardha). Maulika probably referred to the people of Mulaka, which had its capital at Pratishthana, modern Paithan. Asmaka was on the Godavari. Kalinga janapada occupied the narrower eastern coastal plain from the delta of the Godavari to that of the Mahanadi. The capital originally was Tosali (modern Dhauli) and the later capital was Kalinganagara near Srikakulam in Andhra region. Andhra was the region comprising the Krishna-Guntur districts of Andhra Pradesh together with the neighbouring areas. Sabara janapada was in the Eastern Ghats. The historical importance of the route from Magadha and Kausambi to Pratishthana and Bharukachchha, which basically constitutes the Dakshinapatha of Indian literature is also evident from the archaeological sources. The presence of PGW at a number of sites in the Morena and Ujjain districts is indicative of cultural elements travelling

11 History of India 11 from northern India into the Malwa plateau prior to the early historic period. In the first phase of early historic, such archaeological elements were more wide spread. In the Vindhyachal-Bundelkhand, NBP pottery types have been found in the Guna, Rewa and Bhind districts. The literary image of Dakshinapatha broadly stops somewhere along an east west line stretching from Vidarbha to Aurangabad and the Konkan coast. Silk route and Maritime Route during the Indo-Roman Trade Since ancient times the two routes to the East, the landroute commonly called the Silk Road and the maritime route called the Spice Road, were known to early traders and navigators. The Silk Road was used in prehistoric times for the exchange of bronze and furs, it stretched from the shores of the Mediterranean to the end of the Gobi desert and the Jade Gate, marking the northwestern extremity of the Great Wall of China. In the first century BCE, Rome became a valuable customer for Indian trade. The merchants of northwestern India concentrated on central and West Asian trade. Those of

12 History of India 12 Western India and Southern India turned their attention to the trading marts in Southern Arabia, the Red Sea and Alexandria the part, which handled the Roman trade. Strabo informs us that Egypt under the Ptolemies had not developed a sea-borne trade with Indians whereas the Periplus states that the Egyptian ships came only as far as Eudemon Arabria (Aden) where it received cargo from both countries. As the Romans faced many hazards on the land routes to India they were compelled to open a sea-route. The new kingdom of Auxum secured the Roman alliance and trading ports of Guardafui were now free from Arab control. Strabo also refers to the entry of a Roman army to Arabia, Felix, which made the traffic more secure for the Romans. This enabled the Romans to put their own ships to sea and to sail for India. The Periplus informs as that these ships did not go across the Indian Ocean to India but along the coastal waters to Arabia and Karmaria to the Indus and then to Barygaza and to the ports in the southern part of the peninsula. With the help of Pliny s graphic account, historians are able to trace the development of the sea-route to the west coast of India in four stages. Pliny states that the earliest point of

13 History of India 13 maritime contacts between India and the west was Patalene in the Indus delta; the subsequent point was the port of Barbaricum on the middle of the Indus. The third stage made Sigerius or Jaigarh on the Konkan coast the most convenient harbour and finally, Muziris became the most important part of call. Thus, the most developed route, which was also the shortest and safest, began from the Red Sea port of Myos Hormos and / or Berenice and reached the famous Malabar port of Muziris (Muciri of the Tamil Sangam texts) in forty days by following the Hippalus or the southwestern monsoon wind. It is noteworthy, that with the greater utilization of the monsoons, the sea-borne route gradually shifted more to the southern part of the west coast. The Naturalis Historia of Pliny dated to 77CE refers to the direct sailing of Roman ships to Muziris. But the testimonies of the Periplus and the Hou-Han-Shu clearly suggest that the discovery of the new routes did not minimize overnight the importance of the ports of the Lower Indus country. The Periplus indicates that at least for sometime three sea-routes including the one leading to Scythia and the other reaching Damirica (in South India) were frequented. Again, the ports of the Lower Indus

14 History of India 14 country were among the most important Indian trading stations for sailors from the Persian Gulf. The Periplus alludes to brisk commercial activities in Scythia. In connection with the description of T ien chu or Shen-tu apparently of the time of the Yueh-Chih occupation, the Hou-Han-Shu indicates the existence of regular commercial relations between this region and Tachin the oriental possession of the Roman Empire. The Chien Han-Shu s chapter on the western regions does not appear to include any information of the time of Yen-Kao Chen ie. Vima Kadphises, refers to two roads running from China to the western countries. The southern one ran through inter alia So-chu (Yarkand), the S ungling mountains (the Pamir region), (the lands of) the Ta-Yueh- Chih, and An-hisi (Parthia). On the northern route lay Sholu (Kashgarh), the S ung-ling Mountains (the land of the) Ta-Yueh-Chih, Ta-yuan, K ang-chu and Yen-ts ia Articles of Sino-Roman Silk trade, began to be brought to Rome from the time of Augustus (27 BC 14 CE). It is noteworthy that the Hou-Han-Shu refers to the people of Kao-fu (ie Kabul) who were conquered by the father of Yen-Kao-Chen or V ima Kadphises, as excellent in commerce and wealthy. So

15 History of India 15 the Yueh-chih must have been aware of this trade and may have participated in it as intermediaries even before the reign of V ima. V ima had undertaken this venture, as he contemplated, this conquest would empower him to control completely at least one of the routes of the vital silk trade, lying beyond the area of the Chinese influence and up to the sea. B. N. Mukherjee is of the opinion that such a complete mastery would also increase the flow of international trade. For in the changed conditions the merchants would face a minimum number of tariff-posts while covering a great part of the Sino-Roman trade route. Moreover, articles of trade would move through a secure road protected by a strong central authority. The demand for the celebrated Chinese luxury item, silk, in the West was largely instrumental in the emergence and development of a far-flung overland network of routes called the Silk Road. The route began from Loyang in China and reached the two Mediterranean ports at Antioch and Alexandria by traversing through Central Asia, West Asia and Eurasia. From Dunhuang in China, the route bifurcated into two, the northern and the southern Silk Routes, located

16 History of India 16 respectively to the north and south of the Taklamakan desert. The two branches converged at Kashgarh in Xingchiang or Chinese Turkestan and passed through Afghanistan and Iran to reach the famous marts of Selencia and Palmyra, which were connected to the two Mediterranean ports Antioch and Alexandria. Of all the commodities that were traded along this route silk was the most important and costliest item. Hence, this route came to be known in history as the Silk Road. The important commodities that were in circulation in the maritime route were pepper, precious stones, nards, fabrics etc. Pepper is the most important of the spices. It is limited in its origin to India. Archaeological evidence for its domestic use as a condiment is provided by peppershakers, found in various parts of Italy. The black pepper of Malabar was the most sought after and has been aptly labelled as the black gold. In Indian texts it was known as Yavana priya. Precious stones were also associated with India. Among the stones that are explicitly marked as Indian are, the diamonds, emeralds, turquoise, onyx and some others. From Curtius Rufus we learn that the area of India was thought wealthy, not only for its gold but also for its

17 History of India 17 precious stones and pearls. Spikenard another important item is the same as nard. The word is derived from Greek nardos, referring to oils extracted from certain fragrant grasses, grown in the Himalayan mountainous regions of India. Nard leaves entered the gastronomical world of the rich Romans as these were used for preparing oyster sauce and another sauce for preparing venison. Spikenard is reported to have been kept in alabaster boxes and was also used as a drug. The Periplus speaks of three varieties of Indian nard exported from three different ports: from Barbaricum, the port of the Indus delta, from Barygaza, port at the mouth of the river Narmada and Gangetic nard shipped from Muziris in Kerela. The Periplus makes several references to the import of silk from the subcontinent, the major exporting regions being Muziris and Nelkynda on the south west coast (silk cloth), Barbarikon in the Indus delta (Chinese pelts, cloth and yarn), Barygaza (silk cloth and yarn) and the Ganges delta (muslin). There is some evidence that India had a silk industry of its own but silk was also imported from China. India was also a source for cotton. Herodotus associates cotton exclusively with India. Periplus, while speaking of the goods, brought to the port of

18 History of India 18 Barygaza from its hinterland, talks about Indian garments of cotton and a considerable amount of cloth of ordinary quality.