Vital Villages, Thriving Towns Class 6 History Notes

Iron tools and agriculture

Things made of iron (and steel) are a part of our daily lives.
The use of iron began in the subcontinent around 3000 years ago.
The largest collections of iron tools and weapons were found in the megalithic burials, about which
Around 2500 years ago, there is evidence for the growing use of iron tools.
These included axes for clearing forests, and the iron ploughshare.
The ploughshare was useful for increasing agricultural production.

Other steps to increase pr ease production: irrigation

The kings and kingdoms you have been reading about could not have existed without the support of flourishing villages.
New tools and the system of transplantation increased production, irrigation was also used.
Irrigation works that were built during this time included canals, wells, tanks, and artificial lakes.

Who lived in the villages?

There were at least three different kinds of people living in most villages in the southern and northern parts of the subcontinent.
In the Tamil region, large landowners were known as vellalar, ordinary ploughmen were known as uzhavar, and landless labourers, including slaves, were known as kadaisiyar and adimai.
In the northern part of the country, the village headman was known as the grama bhojaka.
Men from the same family held the position for generations.

The post was hereditary.
The grama bhojaka was often the largest landowner.
He had slaves and hired workers to cultivate the land.
He was powerful, the king often used him to collect taxes from the village. He also functioned as a judge, and sometimes as a policeman.
Apart from the gramabhojaka, there were other independent farmers, known as grihapatis, most of whom were smaller landowners.
And then there were men and women such as the dasa karmakara, who did not own land, and had to earn a living working on the fields owned by others.
In most villages there were also some crafts persons such as the blacksmith, potter, carpenter and weaver.

The earliest Tamil compositions

Some of the earliest works in Tamil, known as Sangam literature, were composed around 2300 years ago.
These texts were called Sangam because they were supposed to have been composed and compiled in assemblies (known as sangams) of poets that were held in the city of Madurai
The Tamil terms mentioned above are found in Sangam literature.

Finding out about cities: stories, trtories, tr tories, travellers, ellers, sculpture and archaeology

Jatakas were stories that were probably composed by ordinary people, and then written down and preserved by Buddhist monks.

2. Stories in Sculpture

Sculptors carved scenes depicting peoples’ lives in towns and villages, as well as in the forest.
Many of sculptures were used to decorate railings, pillars and gateways of buildings that were visited by people.

3. Cities

Many of the cities that developed from about 2500 years ago were capitals of the mahajanapadas that you learnt about in
These cities were surrounded by massive fortification walls.
Archaeologists have found rows of pots, or ceramic rings arranged one on top of the other.
These are known as ring wells.
These seem to have been used as toilets in some cases, and as drains and garbage dumps.
These ring wells are usually found in individual houses.
The accounts of sailors and travellers who visited them is a great source to find about cities.
One of the most detailed accounts that has been found was by an unknown Greek sailor.
He described all the ports he visited.

Punch-marked Coins marked Coins

Punch-marked coins were generally rectangular or sometimes square or round in shape, either cut out of metal
sheets or made out of flattened metal globules (a small spherical body).
The coins were not inscribed, but were stamped with symbols using dies or punches.
Hence, they are called punch-marked coins.
These coins are found over most parts of the subcontinent andremained in circulation till the early centuries CE

Coins

The earliest coins which were in use for about 500 years were punch marked coins

Cities with many functions y functions

Mathura has been an important settlement for more than 2500 years.
It was important because it was located at the cross roads of two major routes of travel and trade — from the northwest to the east and from north to south.
There were fortifications around the city, and several shrines.
Farmers and herders from adjoining areas provided food for people in the city.
Mathura was also a centre where some extremely fine sculpture was produced.

2. Importance Of Mathura

Around 2000 years ago Mathura became the second capital of the Kushanas
Mathura was also a religious centre — there were Buddhist monasteries, Jaina shrines, and it was an important centre for the worship of Krishna.
Several inscriptions on surfaces such as stone slabs and statues have been found in Mathura.
Generally, these are short inscriptions, recording gifts made by men (and sometimes women) to monasteries and shrines.
hese were made by kings and queens, officers, merchants, and crafts persons who lived in the city.
Inscriptions from Mathura mention goldsmiths, blacksmiths, weavers, basket makers, garland makers, perfumers.

Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW)

NBPW is a hard, wheel made, metallic looking ware with a shiny black sur face.
The potter used to expose the earthenware to very high temperature in his kiln which resulted in the lackening of its outer surface.
A fine black slip was also applied on this, which gave the pottery a mirror-like shine.

Crafts and crafts persons

Crafts include extremely fine pottery, known as the Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW).
It gets its name from the fact that it is generally found in the northern part of the subcontinent.
There were famous centres such as Varanasi in the north, and Madurai in the south.
Both men and women worked in these centres.
Many crafts persons and merchants now formed associations known as shrenis.
These shrenis of crafts persons provided training, procured raw material, and distributed the finished product.
Then shrenis of merchants organised the trade.
Shrenis also served as banks, where rich men and women deposited money.
This was invested, and part of the interest was returned or used to support religious institutions such as monasteries.

A closer look — Arikamedu

Arikamedu was a coastal settlement where ships unloaded goods from distant lands.
A massive brick structure, which may have been a warehouse, was found at the site.
Other finds include pottery from the Mediterranean region, such as amphorae (tall double-handled jars that contained liquids such as wine or oil) and stamped red-glazed pottery, known as Arretine Ware, which was named after a city in Italy.
This was made by pressing wet clay into a stamped mould.
There was yet another kind of pottery which was made locally, though Roman designs were used.
Roman lamps, glassware and gems have also been found at the site.
Small tanks have been found that were probably dyeing vats, used to dye cloth.
There is plenty of evidence for the making of beads from semi-precious stones and glass.

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