Kings, Farmers and Towns: Early States and Economies (c. 600 BCE - 600 CE)

Political trends: from janapadas to empires

The 6th century BCE is a turning point: early states, cities, iron tools, coins and new religions like Buddhism and Jainism.

Sixteen mahajanapadas

Buddhist and Jaina texts list 16 mahajanapadas (great states), such as Vajji, Magadha, Koshala, Kuru, Panchala, Gandhara and Avanti. Most were ruled by kings. Some, called ganas or sanghas, were ruled by a group of men (for example the Vajji). Each had a fortified capital. Rulers collected taxes and tribute and kept armies. Brahmanas wrote Dharmasutras with rules for kings, who were ideally Kshatriyas.

Why Magadha became powerful

• Very fertile farmland in the Ganga valley.
• Iron mines (in present-day Jharkhand) for tools and weapons.
• Elephants from forests for the army.
• The Ganga and its branches for cheap transport.
• Ambitious rulers (Bimbisara, Ajatasattu, Mahapadma Nanda) and able ministers.

Capital: Rajagaha (Rajgir), a hill fort, later Pataliputra (Patna) in the 4th century BCE.

The Mauryan empire

Chandragupta Maurya founded it about 321 BCE. Sources: Megasthenes' account (Indica, in fragments), the Arthashastra (parts linked to Kautilya), later Buddhist, Jaina and Puranic texts, and Ashoka's inscriptions. Five major political centres: Pataliputra, Taxila, Ujjayini, Tosali and Suvarnagiri. A committee of six subcommittees ran the army (navy, transport, infantry, cavalry, chariots, elephants). Control was strongest near the capital and weaker far away.

Ashoka (the first ruler to speak to people through inscriptions) spread dhamma: respect for elders, kindness to slaves and servants, generosity to Brahmanas and monks, and respect for other religions. Special officers, dhamma mahamattas, spread it. In the 19th and 20th centuries historians saw the Mauryas as a great early empire, but it lasted only about 150 years.

New notions of kingship

• In the far south: chiefdoms of the Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas (Tamil Sangam poems); the Satavahanas in the Deccan.
• Kushanas (c. 1st century BCE-1st century CE) claimed divine status: title devaputra (son of god), huge statues (Mat, near Mathura).
• Guptas (from 4th century CE): known from coins, inscriptions and prashastis, like the Allahabad Pillar inscription by Harishena praising Samudragupta.
• Many rulers were supported by samantas, local lords who gave military help.

Economic trends: farmers, land grants and towns

Growing more crops

Kings needed more tax, so farming changed: the iron-tipped plough in fertile valleys, transplanting paddy for bigger yields, the spade in hard soil, and irrigation by wells, tanks and some canals.

Differences in rural society

Buddhist texts speak of gahapatis (big landowners), small farmers and landless labourers (dasa-kammakara). Tamil texts use vellalar (landowners), uzhavar (ploughmen) and adimai (slaves). The village headman's post was often hereditary.

Land grants

From about the early centuries CE, kings gave land grants, mostly to religious institutions and Brahmanas, recorded on copper plates. Example: Prabhavati Gupta, a queen, granted land. Historians debate whether grants spread farming to new areas or showed kings losing control to local lords.

Towns and trade

Towns grew along rivers and routes (Pataliputra, Ujjayini, Puhar). Craft and trade groups called shrenis (guilds) organised work. Trade reached Rome, Southeast Asia and Central Asia (spices, cloth, gems).

Coins

Punch-marked coins of silver and copper (c. 6th century BCE) are the first. Indo-Greeks put kings' images on coins; Kushanas issued the first large gold coins; Gupta gold coins are very fine. Tribal republics like the Yaudheyas also issued coins. Fewer gold coins after the 6th century CE led some to think trade declined.

Reading inscriptions

An inscription is writing carved on a hard surface like stone, metal or pottery. It records who ordered it, what was done and sometimes the date.

Deciphering Brahmi and Kharosthi

Most Ashokan inscriptions are in Prakrit in the Brahmi script (written left to right). In the north-west, Kharosthi was used (right to left). In 1838 James Prinsep, an officer of the East India Company mint, deciphered them, helped by coins that had Greek and Kharosthi versions of the same kings' names. Most inscriptions call the king Devanampiya Piyadassi (beloved of the gods, pleasant to look at); a few name Ashoka directly, which confirmed who he was.

How historians read them

Words in brackets are added by translators; phrases like 'beloved of the gods' are titles. Historians compare inscriptions with texts and coins.

Limits of inscriptions

• Letters may be faint, broken or missing.
• The exact meaning of words is not always clear.
• Not all inscriptions are found or read.
• They record what rulers wanted to say; everyday farming and ordinary lives are mostly absent.

Key formulas and definitions

• Mahajanapada = great state (16 listed, c. 600 BCE)
• Gana / sangha = state ruled by a group
• Magadha's rise = land + iron + elephants + Ganga + able rulers
• Mauryan empire = c. 321-185 BCE; 5 major centres
• Dhamma = Ashoka's moral code for all
• Prashasti = poem praising a king
• Punch-marked coin = first coins, silver/copper
• Brahmi = script read by James Prinsep, 1838

Worked examples

Common mistakes

• Thinking all mahajanapadas had kings. Some were ganas ruled by groups.
• Calling Ashoka's dhamma a new religion. It was a moral code, not a religion with gods or rituals.
• Believing prashastis are neutral history. They are praise poems.
• Thinking inscriptions tell the whole story. They mostly show rulers' views.