A brief of human settlements urbanization, city plans, science and economics needed for it

City development or urbanizing happened as a natural process and flourished in the Ancient India when a place of exchange for trade and commerce was needed. There was the concentration of artisans in the towns who had specialization in skills due to an indigenous idea of varna vyavstha which also led to specialization, expertise and perpetualtion in the crafts. ‘It also encouraged artisans working on a particular craft to live in the same part of the town, which facilitated the obtaining of raw materials or selling the finished product to merchants.’ (from https://www.importantindia.com/2910/trade-and-commerce-in-ancient-india/)

The Ancient Indian merchants had a unique role of going from village to village to collect cotton, textile, grains, spices from the village producers and then taking that to markets to sale them in lands near and far. 

The earlier ideas of barter was considered tough as scales increased and so currencies came into picture, coins were introduced as it was easy to store currency, say gold or silver punched pieces, and again allowed trade to be conducted in far and wide areas from Ganga to Taxila to Punjab to Vindhya and Baruch.

Introduction of iron and wide spreading of iron implements facilitated the settlement and cultivation of the Ganges valley and even taking  three annual harvests was common in many areas for Crops like  rice, wheat and barley were common eg Magadha was known for rice and southern areas with dry and arid land Millet was more common. construction and maintenance of irrigation systems was effectively done by the state. In the second half of the 1st millennium B.C. the urban centers of crafts and trade began to develop in the Ganges valley with  lot of variety of quality handicrafts, especially weaving, metal-working, jewelry-making and by the fifth century Indians made the iron column, seven meters high and weighing more than seven tons which was erected in Meharauli near Delhi in the Gupta era and is still stainless Indian iron and steel products were of very high quality and widely exported and swords of Indian make ( Damascus swords and Woonz steel from Tamil sources) were used by rest of the world to large extent. The non corrosive properties, malleability, strength of the iron products is a testimony of the high metallurgical, chemical, alloying know how which was productively possessed by Indians.

We are told about Mohenjodaro and Harappa civilization as our earlier history wherein cities were well –planned with granary stores, civil amenities, a sort of municipal corporation and drainage systems, giant bathrooms and so on.

 

 

 

Harappa Culture people used to plough their fields using wooden plough. Kalibangan and Banwali excavations prove it. They had excellent irrigation systems and built embankments in

The Harappan pottery was wheel turned, and was mass produced. With its red outside and black inside, painted with black in designs of animals, fish, plants, and even geometry. Terracotta working was a major craft and terracotta masks and faience bangles is seen in several places.

Stone working was important and in  Dholavira has many  stone masonry and stone pillars  were found and are polished. Copper and bronze gold, silver making were important for crafts and tools, Seal making and Bead making out of precious stones, metals, terracotta were common things. The cotton and woolen textilesis seen even in the images in ancient maonuments or caves with persons wearing clothes. In fact  Mesopotamia mentions cotton as one of the main imports from India and weights and measures were used to high degree of standard.

 

A Stone tool factory sites have been found in Rohri Hills in Sind and it indicates trading  with other settlements. ‘Copper, lead, zinc was traded From India esp from Rajasthan while Tin may have come from Afghanistan and Central Asia and gold from Kolar or sands of Indus.’

An indication of trade routes is foundand one was Punjab --> Cholistan --> Rajasthan. Baluchistan --> Kirthar Mountains --> Sind. And then Afghanistan --> Gomal Valley --> Multan --> Taxila. Sea route Lothal --> Sutkajendor.

Trade with Central Asia is evident from the Harappan objects in far away Turkmenistan (including one containing the script). Harappan seals have been found in Bahrain and Mesopotamia albeit not so much in quantity are the reverse of it.

However, from that age then we are taken to colonial period abruptly, skipping several centuries wherein equally sound ideas of urbanization existed. The fact is that there is a  continuous history of urban living and contacts with other civilized world and we enjoyed high reputation  at global level. There was an excellent network with the Roman, Persian and other renowned as well as new global cultures and not just business but also art, litearure, architecture, and scienceas well as city development  flourished during these centuries. This in fact attracted global powers and tempted them to greedily come here and plunder India.

Elaborate  production system existed (especially of textile, spices, and silk) and got transmitted world over and that in turn encouraged spread and growth of more urban centers. There were more than 36 urban centers or cities  during the Satavahana period in the area of Andhra alone. The area known as Deccan  which covered East-West of India and was active and  had excellent  centers for learning, habitation, markets, and arguably even better urbanization than the old cities during Mauryas, Kushanas and others. This was followed by Agra, Delhi, Shahajanabad, Aurangabad and other towns in later Mughal times which continued till British rule.

‘Dividing the urbanization in India into three phases, Smith (2006) establishes through cultural cohesion, archaeological evidences and artifacts of social, ritual and economic activity, distinctive periods of urbanization, namely, Indus Valley (2500-1900 BC); Early Historic Period (3^rd Century BC to 4^th Century AD) – when cities are tied to their administrative or political boundedness; and third the medival period (after the 9^th Century AD) when urban growth occurred in sync with the political dominance of a particular place (Smith:2006, p.97)’.

Right from the Paleolithic (old Stone age), Mesolithic(middle stone age), Neolithic (New Stone Age) and the Metal Age we can establish this gradual growth of urbanization (Source: http://holisticthought.com/india-during-pre-historic-period/ accessed on 15^th December, 2015). There are enough archaeological evidences to prove the pre-historic human settlements in Kalibangan, Rubai, (North India) Sisupalgarhi (East India- current Orissa), Maski, Anandpur, Prahmagari (Karnataka and Andhra), Pallavaram and Adichanallur (Tamil Nadu) part from the more known sites like Harappa Mohenjodaro and lothal. And Paleolithic people have left rock cuts, with water sources as they were skilled in wall etchings . Bhimbetaka in Madhya Pradesh, Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh.

‘Indus Valley Civilisation’ was an advanced civilization in terms of  ‘town planning and high standards of civil life’ (Singh and Srivastava:2015).  ‘It followed a grid system of town planning with roads crossing north-south and east-west at right angle. But now it is clear that it followed other geometric patterns and that also with mathematical precision which governed the urban design of the city.’

There was an excellent grip on geometry and mathematics in those days.The meticulously laid out drainage system were both covered and uncovered made out of burnt and unburnt bricks, and stones. (Singh and Srivastav (2015, p.74) ‘The Indus civilization followed a ‘Twin Mound System’ of settlements, in which the citadel was occupied by the rich and powerful people within the community, which are mostly non-residential such as great bath, granary, assembly hall, etc’ (Ibid:2015).  Apart from meticulous planning of drainage system, rainwater harvesting system and overall  water management system Included Public wells placed for every three houses quite deep, in addition to  private wells existed in each house (Ibid: 2015). The water drained from the houses went to agriculture.  They constructed dams to harness water even on streams such as Manhar and Mandsar to channelize water. In Dholavira alone 16 reservoirs were found during excavations.’

The Mesolithic settlements are found in  Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhra Pradesh with little spread over Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Linghanj in Gujarat, Andamgarth in Madhya Pradesh and other places in Rajasthan, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and it amply shows that Mesolithic civilization started agriculture, horticulture and domestication of animals. (10000 BC to 6000 BC)

 

In Neolithic age (pre-historic period in India)  6000 to 4000 BC therev were settlments in  Chirand in Bihar, Belan valley in Uttar Pradesh and several places such as Hallur and Kodekal  in Karnataka, Maski and Brahmagiri in Maharashtra, Utnur in Andhra, Paaiyampalli in Tamil Nadu

Metal age (pre-historic), also called chalcolithic culture it occurred mainly in river valleys such as Krishna, Godavari, Tungabhadra, Pennar and Kaveri. rice as dominant crop, emergence of iron in various forms. Nagarjunakonda in Andhra Pradesh, Hallur and Maski in Karnataka and Adichchanallur in Tamil Nadu, showed evidences of rend and black pottery, iron artifacts used as small weapons.

 ‘http://www.mapsofindia.com/history/’ (accessed on 20^th December, 2015) reveals the existence of 16 Republics’ or Mahajanapadas during the Vedic Period.   Persian routes xisted from North West India through which Alexander the great came to India. who reached the Indian subcontinent to conquer Punjab, which was well developed at that time.

Between 400 BC and 1300 AD, there was spread of Jainism and Buddhism which was more tunes to  smaller settlement generally on the hill tops, with  a source of water, Buddhism occurred all along the river valleys and needed human habitat and constant human interaction and was not just life shunning, reclusive and discouraged Life and urbanization in particular. Rather it influenced urbanization in entire Asia. In Mauryan Dynasty, Buddhismot impetus and the monasteries were established in the style of an university with 5000-10000 students capacity.Mauryas, Satavahanas, Ikshavahus and Chera, chola and Pandyas in the south east of India. with Pallavas wete to name a few among them.

 

Chakrabarti (2010, 2005), refers  Moti Chandra’s (1977) ‘Grand Route’ and illustrates  north India , Central and West Asia and China states and the advanced settlements that came along the trade routes. “Chandra (1977) quotes  Arthasastra of Kautilya about another route between Ganga Plains to Deccan, i.e. ‘Dakshinapatha’, a less  researched subject in History.Below Ganges till Krishna river populated with several kingdoms that ruled over it for many centuries and had strong links with the outside world namely Persians, Romans and Greek through trade links. Many cities had  advanced technology as well  in this region.  Suttanipata is a n ancient text in Buddhism which states about story of a sage Bavarin and in the process tells about the cities during his travel from Sravasti in Kosala to Dakshinapatha Pratisthana, Mahishmati, Ujjayanini, Gonarda, Vidisa, Vanasavhaya, Kausambi and Saketa (Chakrabarti: 2010,p.10). Between Vidisa and Kausambi was a city of Tumbavana or modern Tumain. Setavya, Kapilavastu, Jusinagara, Pawa, Bhoganagara and Vaisali, were not less known at that time as bavarin’s disciples also travelled through them.   Archaeological evidences show that Dakshinapatha is the current Godavari Valley. in the current day Andhra and Maharashtra. “

 

 

J.D. Beglar’s (Alexander Cunninham’s assistant) 1878, Chakrabarti (2010), and Chakrabarti, et al (2003) charted out  13 geographical routes of the great migration in the ancient India. There were 155 urban centers that existed and between Benares and Chunar there existed 10 major settlements (Chakrabarti: 2010, p.37) such as Audhe, Khanab, Rudauli, Kushaha, Belwa, Adaipura, Mahishasur, Jakhini, Dholapur, and Ashtabuja apart from Benares and Chunar themselves. 

“In Chattisgarh region as well several temple towns existed all along the trade routes. such as Durg, Mahasamund, Arang, Sirpur, Raipur, Malhar, Seorinarayan, Ambikapur, Ramgarh, Katghora, Korba, Pali, Ratanpur, Bilaspur, Akaltara, Baikunthapur, Sonhat and Mara (Chakrabarti:2010, p. 51) In Andhra and Telengana), which is considered as a major part of the Dakshinapatha, existed several fortified cities. Huang Zang’s travels reveals several towns in India. Singh (2015) described in detail  HuangZang’s travel which also further prove the trade and knowledge centers during the time of HuangZang’s travel in Indian sub-continent.  Buddhist centers in Deccan, became the cradle for Buddhist culture till 14^th Century AD. many of them were located again on the east coast and very near to port towns which enabled the Buddhism to spread through trade links to the entire east Asia.”

Schoff (1912) in his ‘Periplus of the Erythrean Sea’ lists the Kings of Satavahana such as Gautamputra Satakarni and his global reach including the trade between the Roman and Greek which flourished from 2^nd century BC to 4^th Century AD over Deccan. They shifted their capital at least twice from Srikakulam near current day Machilipatnam to Pratishtan (current day Paithan in Maharashtra) and to Amaravati (proposed capital city of new state of Andhra Pradesh).  Ray (1987).

Thus the two phases of urbanization include Harappan urbanization and its expansion to Deccan during the Satavahanas. Seven port towns, with several other settlements and passes came up in the western Ghats and Vindhyas  Mabbett(1993), analyzing the emergence of Danyakataka

Morrison (1997) wrote about the economic  changes in India and in South Asia and the development of markets, money, commercial production, urbanization, long-distance political and economic structure, significance of the role of  monasteries, temples and guilds (Ibid: 1997) from 500 BC to 1600 AD.    Heitzman (1987) explains the emergence of temple urbanism in medieval Chola Period (849-1279 AD), the functions of temple towns and  Skinner (2012) wrote about  the ecological, economic and political characteristics of urban centers which  emerged in northern South Asia.Champakalakshmi (1996) wrote about the historical urbanization in Tamil Nadu through her ‘Trade, Ideology and Urbanisation in South India’Which includes Tamil Nadu, Port Towns , Royal Centers, Nagaram, Craft Centers, Merchant centers, Port towns and Coastal Towns.

Shajahanabad, Agra, Lucknow, and Jaiselmer in the North and the temple towns of the South such as Srirangam, or Pondichery and Panaji, Thanjavur  existed and Stephen (2014, p.213) mentions about the ‘ullalai’ (inner town) and ‘purambadi’ (outer part of the town). ‘Stephen mentions about the transformation of Thanjavur town into a cosmopolitan metropolis through political and economic transformation. Mandi towns in Western Rajasthan (Devra:2014); Qasbas of Mewat (Bhardwaj:2014); Srinagar (Maurya:2014);Lucknow (Trivedi:2014); Orchha (Sharma:2014); Warangal (Lakshmi:2014); Sopara (ancient port town of Konkan: Fernandes: 1928)Mandvi and Mundra- Port Towns of Kachchh in Gujarat (Saxena:2014); and studies on Diu, Daman and Goa. These are rich in terms of inner city analysis as well as rurban inter-connectivity.  Chaudhuri ‘

 

The Dutch, French and British writers in their travelogues wrote about  various interior cities and towns with rich trading skills and social relations. Most notable are Sewell’s translation of Domingos Paes’s work on Vijayanagar from Portuguese, Oliver Optic’s work (1895) on ‘Across India’, Modern India by William Eleroy Curtis (year not known); and Commissioner Booth Tucker(1891), Russel’s ‘The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India’ (1916), apart from Government Gazetteers such as Gordon Mackenzie’s (1883) ‘Manual of the Krishna District’, Alexander Rea’s travels in Madras Presidency , etc. All these revel an intricate socio-economic and living conditions of the towns advancement of urban development.

 

 ***