Indian History Congress Proceedings of The Indian History Congress

GENERAL PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS
Author(s): Romila Thapar

Source: Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 44 (1983), pp. 1, 3-22
Published by: Indian History Congress
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44139820
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Professor Romila Thapar
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to begin by thanking the Executive Committee and

members of the Indian History Congress for electing me to this
office. Being Sectional President in 1969 seemed honour enough a
time, so now the General Presidentship gives all the more pleasure
always reassuring to receive an indication of confidence from
professional colleagues. For those of us who are associated in v
circ es of the profession with unorthodox ideas such a gesture is
cularly encouraging.
It ifc customary on these occasions to speak of the state of pl

the discipline. One would be expected to pronounce on Indian histo
general or deal thematically with areas and issues which cover the
past. May I plead my inability to do so; largely because in the last
years the more worthwhile studies in Indian history have been of
high order that it would seem fatuous to pronounce on them, and
because the history of periods and institutions has become so det
that it would be difficult to consider the range in a short addres
the tortoise, therefore, I intend to keep within the carapace of my
interest- the ancient period. I am not, however, indulging in withd
symptoms, for, I would also like to maintain that many of the th
which relate to the ancient period are relevant to later times as w
Given the wide spectrum of social formations included in the
'Indian society', the questions raised with reference to the more r
past remain pertinent to many of the less evident but nonetheless
ficant aspects of contemporary India.
The scope of ancient Indian history is undergoing some modific

and the erstwhile ancient period, which stretched from Harappan ti
the early second millennium A. D. is now being sub-divided in
ancient and the early medieval period. The nomenclature 'early me
does little towards either explaining itself or the subsequent med
4
period: but the differentiation between pre-Gupta and post-Gupta history

is a necessary ^nd welcome change as also is the continuity between the
late first millennium and the second millennium A. D.
Harappan society remains enigmatic. There have been few attempts

at detailed reconstruction from the archaeological evidence. This is in
part because the variety of data required from studies such as paleo-
botany, ecology and hydrology remains limited for such a reconstruction
and partially also because there are few archaeologists working on India
willing to attempt a theoretical reconstruction in which the use of
concepts from other disciplines such as anthropology, demoraphy and
statistics would be a prerequisite.1 Such a reconstruction is especially
required with the fading of the so-called 'dark age' between the Harappa
Culture and Vedic society.2 The question as to how far Vedic society is
entirely Indo- Aryan or draws on . the Harappan tradition in language,
ritual and institutions becomes even more apposite than before.3
It is in the study of the many sub-periods within the broad

boundaries of the ancient period that fundamental questions arise,
providing scope for wide-ranging discussion. For a better definition of
these sub-periods and in the intrests of historical clarity a considerable
refining of concepts and theories becomes necessary. Many of the crucial
terms used in the definitions have been applied to such diveres social
forms that they cease to have a specific meaning and tend to mask the
diversities. This sharpening of focus becomes particularly necessary with
the growing interest in social and economic history. It will also help in
understanding the process of historical mutation over time. Although
there is now a rich literature describing segments of the period, the
explanation of change from one to the next and the linkages between
these require a fuller consideration. A creatively critical discussion is
called for on the terms used to translate categories mentioned in the
sources since much of the interpretation depends on such discussion.
The ninteenth century was the age of the grand edifices of historical
explanation and theoretical construction. While some of these edifices
still stand firm, other are tottering. Even those which still stand often
require repair and renovation, sometimes of a structural kind, in the light
of new knowledge and fresh theories. The refining of concepts and
theories therefore becomes a necessary part of the historical exercise and
is particularly incumbent on those who, as conscientous historians, build
5
their explanations on the basis of theoretical frameworks.4 It is of this

need for the refining of concepts that I would like to speak.5
Among the early sub-periods, Vedic society has been described as a

tribal one. The term 'tribal', which we have all used in the past, has
rightly come in for some questioning.6 In its precise meaning it refers
to a community of people claiming descent from a common ancestor. In
its application however, it has been used to cover a variety of social and
economic forms, not to mention claims to biological and racial identities
and this tends to confuse the original meaning. Even as a convention it
has lost much of its precision. The more recently preferred term, lineage
narrows the focus. Although the economic range remains, lineage does
emphasise succession and descent with the implication that these are
decisive in determining social status and control over economic resources.
It also helps differentiate between chiefships where lineage dominates and
kingship, which as a different category, evokes a larger number of
impersonal sanctions. The concept of vamsa (succession) carries a
meaning similar to lineage and is central to Vedic society with its
emphasis on succession even as a simulated lineage. Thus vamsa is used
to mean lineage or descent group among the rajanyas and ksatriyas but
is also used in the list of Upanisadic teachers where succession does not
appear to be by birth but by the passing on of a tradition of knowledge.7
Lineage also becomes important in the structure of each varna , defined
by permitted rules of marriage and kinship and by ranking in an order
of status, the control over .resources being implicit. The emergence of
the four varnas is thus closely allied to the essentials of a lineage-based
society.8
In a stratified society the reinforcing of status is necessary. But

where there is no recognised private property in land and no effective
state such reinforoing has to be done by sanctions which often take a
ritual or religious form. In the absence of taxation as a system of
control in the Vedic period, sacrificial ritual functioned as the occasion
for renewing the status of the yajamana> initially a rajanya or a ksatriya.
Apart from its religious and social role, sacrificial ritual also has an
economic function. It was the occasion when wealth which had been
channelled to the yajamana was distributed by him in the form of gifts to
the brahman priests which strengthened their social rank and ensured
them wealth. The ritual served to restrict the distribution of wealth to
6
to the brahmans and the ksatriyas but at the same time prevented a subs-
tantial accumulation of wealth by either, for whatever came in the form
of gifts and prestations from the lesser clans, the vis , to the ruling clans,
the ksatriyas , was largely consumed in the ritual and the remainder
gifted to the brahmans . Generosity being important to the office of the
chief, wealth was not hoarded. The display, consuming and distribution
of wealth at the major rituals such as the rajasuya and the asvamedha,
wag in turn a stimulus to production, for the ritual was also seen as a
communication with and sanction from the supernatural. Embedded in
the sacrificial ritual therefore were important facets of the economy. This
may be a partial explanation of why a major change to the state system
and a peasant economy occurred initially in the mid-first millennium B.C.
not in the western Ganga valley but in the adjoining area of the middle
Ganga valley. This change was occasioned not only by an increase in
economic production and a greater social disparity but also by the fact
that the prestaion economy associated with the lineage-based society
became more and more marginal in the latter region and in some areas
was altogether absent.
The term cpeasant econom>' is frowned upon by some scholars as an

imprecise concept.9 However it is of some use as a measurement of
change. The label of 'peasant' has been applied to a variety of categories
some of which are dissimilar. The use of a single word as a portman-
teau description confuses the categories and therefore a differentiation
is necessary. Eric Wolf defines peasants as:10
"...rural cultivators whose surpluses are transferred to a dominant

group of rulers that uses the surpluses both to underwrite its own stan-
dard of living and to distribute the remainder to groups in society that
do not farm but must be fed for their specific goods and services in turn.''
This definition seems to me inadequate, for the important point is
not merely the existence of a surplus but the mechanism by which it is
transferred and it is to this that I would relate the emergence of a peasant
economy. That the recognition of an incipient peasant economy in various
parts of India is significant to the study of social history hardly needs
stressing, since, concomitant with this is also the establishing of particular
kinds of state system, varient forms of jatis and new religious and cultural
idioms in the area.
For the early period of Indian history the term peasant has been
7
used to translate both the Rgvedic v/s11 as well as the gahapati of Pali
sources. But some distinction is called for. The Vedic vis was primarily
a member of a clan although this did not preclude him for being a culti-
vator as well. The transferring of surpluses, in this case the voluntary
prestations of the vis to the ksatriya , points to a stratified rather than an
egalitarian society and the simile of the ksatriya eating the vis like the
deer eating the grain12 would indicate greater pressures for larger
prestations. But the transfer was not through an enforced system of
taxation. In the absence of private ownership of land, the relationship
of the vis to the ksatriya would have been less contrapuntal with little
need of an enforced collection of the surplus. The context of Vedic
references to bali , bhaga and sulka (the terms used in later periods %for
taxes) suggests that they were voluntary and random although the rando-
mness gradually changed to required prestations, particularly at sacrificial
rituals. However the three major prerequisites governing a system of
taxation - a contracted amount, collected at stipulated periods by persons
designated as tax collectors - are absent in ihe Vedic texts. The recogni-
tion of these prerequisites in the post-Vedic period and the collection of
taxes from the cultivators by the state would seem decisive in registering
the change from cultivators to peasants in which the existence of an
economy based on peasant agriculture becomes clear.
The introduction of taxation presupposes the impersonal authority
of the state and some degree of alienation of the cultivator from the
authority to whom the surplus is given, unlike the lineage based society
where prestations are more personalised. Taxation reduced the quanitity
of prestations and became the more substantial part of what was taken
from the peasant, but prestations were not terminated. The sanction of
the religious ritual becomes more marginal and that of the state more
central, the change occurring gradually over time. The formation of
the state is therefore tied into this change. For the cultivator land
becomes property or a legal entity and the pressures on cultivation have
to do not only with subsistence but also with a provision for ensuring a
surplus. This highlights the difference between appropriation in the
earlier system and exploitation in the latter.
The Vedic vis was more a generalised term in which herding, culti-
vation and minimal crafts adequate to a household were included. Such
groups were germane to the later peasant household. In effect, because
the relationship with the dominant ksatriya was based on gifts and pres-
8
tations rather than on taxes, these cultivators would seem part of a

lineage society in which their subservience to a dominant group arises
more out of the exigencies of kinship or the ordering of clans than out
of exploited labour, although the latter can be scento increase in time.
The gradual mutation which took place becomes evident from the
frequent references in the Pali sources to the gahapati. The existence of
the gahapati focuses more sharply on the presence of what might be
called a peasant economy. But to translate gahapati as peasant is to
provide a mere slice of its total meaning. Derived from grhapati , the
head of the household, the term gahapati includes^ a range of meanings
such as the wealthy mahasala brahmans addressed as gahapatis by the
Buddha,13 who had received as donations extensive, tax-free, arable land,
as well as those who paid taxes - the wealthy land-owners who cultivated
their large farms with the help of slavés and hired labourers ( dasa -
bhrtaka ).u Those at the lower end of scale who either owned small
plots of land or were professional ploughmen are more often referred to
as the kassakas ,15 An intermediate group is also implied in one of the
Dharmasutras ,16 The Arthasastra mentions tenants as upavasa and also
refers to another category, the sudra cultivators, settled by the state on
cultivable or waste land on a different system of tenure from the above;
as also the range of cultivators employed on the state farms supervised
by the overseers of agriculture, the sitadhyaksa.11
Gahapati , therefore, is perhaps better translated as the landowner of
some substance who would generally pay taxes to the state except" when
the land which he owned was a religious benefice. Private land owner-
ship and the payment of taxes demarcates this period as one in which a
peasant-based economy is evident. Traces of the lineage-based society
continued in the marking of status by varna and the performance,
although by now of marginal economic significance, of the sacrificial
rituals.
That the gahapati was not even just a land-owner but more a man
of means is supported by the fact that it was from the ranks of the
gahapatis that there emerged the s etthis or financiers.18 The two terms
are often associated in the literature and this is further attested in the
votive inscriptions recording donations to the sangha in central India and
the western and eastern Deccan from the late first millennium B. C;1®
Gahapati fathers have setthi sonsas well as the other way round. It
would seem that gahapati status was aequired through the practice of
9
any respectable profession which provided a decent income, although

the most frequent references are to land-ownership and commerce.
This is not to suggest that trade originated with the land-owning

groups, but rather that the large-scale commercialisation of exchange
was tied to the emergence of the gapahiti. In examining the origins of
trade it is necessary to define more clearly the nature of the exchange
involved. Broadly, there are some recognisable forms of exchange which
can either develop into commercialised exchange or supplement it. There
is evidence of luxury goods exchanged by ruling groups as a part of gift-
exchange. Marriage alliances between ksatrlya families involved an
exchange of gifts. Thus when Bharata visits his maternal kinsmen, he
returns with gifts.20 This is not an exchange based on need but is a
channel through which status and kinship is confirmed. It may in
addition lead to other forms of exchange. The major royal sacrifices
required tributes and gifts and the rajasuya oí Yudhisthira provides an
interesting invento« y of valued items.21 The more ordinary sacrificial
rituals involved the giving of gifts such of cattle, horses, gold, dasis and
chariots by the yaja nana to the priests.22 These gifts became part of a
distribution and exchange of wealth which in íhe lineage based societies
formed the salient part of the wealth of those who rulęd, whereas in the
change to an economy based on pea ant agriculture they were merely a
part of the wealth accumulated by the ruling families and íhe more
wealthy gahapatis .
Less spectacular but more essential was another from of exchange,

that of raw materials and commodities brought by itinerant groups such
as smiths and pastoralists. It has been arg'.ted that the itinerant metal
smiths formed a network of connections between villages.23 Metal,
particularly iron, was also a major item of regular iride. The role of
pastoralists in trading circuits is now comming in for considerable atten-
tion, particularly with reference to those groups which had a regular
pattern of transhumance.24 Exchange through sources of itinerant profe-
ssionals was probably the stai ting point of the beat of pedlars which is
a continuing feature of one level of exchange in India.
Yet another category is what might be called exchange between one
settlement and the next. This is a useful basis for plotting the gradual
diffusion of an item, as for example, the better quality varieties of
pottery from excavations. Such an exchange provides evidence not only
on local trade but also on the geographical reach of intra-regional
10
contacts. Some of these settlements may then have come to play the
role of local markets, the equivalent perhaps of what the Pali texts refer
to as ni gama. These in turn are likely to have been the nuclei of urban
growth as in the case of Rajagrha and Sravasti.25
Distinct from all these is the familiar picture of trade which domi-
nates the scene in the post-Mauryan period. This is the commercial
exchange between two or more centres processing and producing commo-
dities specifically destined for trade. The organisation of this more
complex form involved a hierarchy of producers and traders some of
whom were sedentary while others were carriers of the items traded but
of a d ff rent order from pedlars and pastoralists. The picture of
commercialised exchange emerges from Buddhist texts and, by the time
of the Arthasastra , it is regarded as a legitimate source of revenue for the
state. The question then arose of the degree of state interference and
control which would be conducive to increasing the finances of the
state.26 The major artefact in this trade (other than the commodities)
is coined metallic money, providing evidence of the degree of complexity
and the extent of such trade and trading circuits. These early coins in
some instances were issued by the nigama and in other cases may have
been issued by local authorities or possibly by ruling families. In the
post-Mauryan period dynastic issues gain currency, a clear pointer to
the importance of commercialised exchange. However, even in this
period local issues remain in circulation, suggessting multiple levels of
exchange.
With such commercialised exchange the control of trade routes
becomes a significant factor in political policy and military annexa-
tions. A recent analysis of the Silk Trade,27 involving a variety
of levels of exchange from gift-exchange to sophisticated emporia,
in the context of political relations between tiibal groups and established
centres of political power, suggests ways in which the complicated
question of trade, often treated as a uniform monolith by historians of
ancient India, may be investigated. The Roman trade with India, as is
clear both from the commodities and the function of money, also spans a
similar range. Diverse forms of exchange within a larger trading system
suggest the coexistence of various economic levels within that system and
sharpen the social contours of the groups involved.
The analysis of trade also requires locating those involved in these
exchanges in the social hierarchy of the time. In the production of goods
11
for exchange, artisans, whether individuals or in guilds, relate to merc-

hants and financiers in forms as diverse as the various categories of
of cultivators to lan J -owners. The role of the silpin (artisan)
and the sreni (guild) is qaite distinct from the setthi. Their presence
registers a change in the nature of the trade as also does the
differentiation between categories of professionals such as the vanija , the
setthi and the sarthamha. Clearly there is a sea change when commer-
cialised exchange becomes active. The investment required for an elabo-
rate trade can only be provided by a well-eidowed social group which
can invest its surplus in risk-taking ventures. The obvious category was
the gahapati who could fall back on lan J if the venture failed. That it
turned out to be highly successful is clear from the fact that not only
did the setthls emerge from the ranks of the gahapatis , but, by the post-
Mauryan period, had an independent identity as financiers and gradually
superseded the gahapatis ,23 The wealth of the setthis became in turn an
avenue to power, for some of them were known to be the financiers of
kings and obtained in return rights to collect revenue,'49 perhaps the
proto-type of what was later to become the regular from of emoluments
to administrative officers. On the manifestations of trade, Buddhist and
Jaina sources together with epigraohic and archaeological evidence prov-
ide a useful counter point to the Dhirmasastra literature of this period.
The link between agriculture and commerce is important for unde-
rstanding the changes in the subsequent period. The opulence of those
involved in commerce was poured into the adornment of religious monu-
ments, monasteries and images and in the conspicuous consumption
which is associated with the wealthier town dwellers of these times. This
tends to obscure the agrarian scene where one notices less of mahasala
land-owners and large estates and more of those with small holdings.
Small plots of land could be purchased and donated to religious ben-
eficiaries and it seems unlikely, as has been argued, that such sales
were restricted to religious donations.80 Small-holdings together with the
alienation of land could point to some degree of impoverishment among
peasants. The inclusion of debt bondage ( ahitaka and atmavikreta ).
as a regular, if not frequent, category of slavery,31 as well as the increasing
references to visti (forced labour or a labour tax), suggest a different
rural scene from that of the preceding period. That oppressive taxation
had become a recognised evil is explicitly mentioned in various texts.32
This mutation was endemic to the evident change in the post- Gupta
12
period. Where trade flourished there the resources of the Urban centres and
the trade routes bouyed up the system; but this period points to a declining
trade in many areas.33 Internal commercialised trade requires the ballast
of agrarian settlements and where lineage based societies could be conv-
erted into peasant economies there the agrarian support to trade would be
strengthened. Earlier networks of exchange had permitted an easier
coexistence with lineagì-based societies. Their resources, generally raw
materials such as timber and gem-stones could, as items of exchange, be
easily tapped by traders through barter and direct exchange without
disturbing the social structure to any appreciable degree. On the other
hand, because of the requirement of land and labour, state systems more
heavily dependent on a peasant economy had to absorb these societies and
convert them into peasant economies in order to extract the benefits.
Where trade declined or where new states were established the need to
develop the agrarian economy became urgent, The granting of land
appears to have been the mechanism adopted for changing the agrarian si-
tuation. The reasons for this change in the post-Gupta period need more
detailed investigation, particularly at a regional level.34 In the very useful
work done so far, substantial data has surfaced. What is now required is a
sifting and classifying of the data to provide more precise answers and
to evoke fresh questions.35
It is curious that there is little resort to the policy recommended by

the Arthasastra and other texts of establishing colonies of cultivators on
land owned by the state so as to extend agriculture and thereby inerease
the revenue. 36 Was the státe unable to do so because it lacked the adm-
inistrative intrasfructure or was it because it did not have the power to
implement such a policy ? Instead, the state increases the grants of land
to religious beneficiaries and later to administrative officers in lieu of a
salary. This points to a need for an evaluation of the nature of »early
medieval' states with the possibility that their formation and structure
were different from the previous ones. Was this type of state attempting
to restructure the economy to an extent greater than the previous ones
which appear to have been more concerned with revenue collecting func-
tions, judging by the model advocated by Kautilya ? Did the system of
granting land predominate(perhaps initiaily)in areas where lineage based
societies were prevalent so as to facilitate their conversion to a peasant
economy (where lineage could also be used for economic control) and to
a varna and jati network ? The identification with varna status would
13
have acted as a bridge to a peasant economy and prevented a rupture

with the lineage system. Elements of lineage have often continued even
in soms areas where peasant agriculture became the norm.
Religious benefices were on the pattern of earlier grants and were

not strictly an innovation except that now grants were made increasingly
to brahmans, ostensibly in return for legitimising the dynasty,37 and
for acquiring religious merit. These were the stated reasons for the grant
but were not sufficient reasons. Grants of this nature, as has been pointed
out, were a channel of acculturation. They could also be used as focii of
political loyalty.
If the grants were made initially from state-owned lands they amou-
nted to a renouncing of revenue. It the state was unable to administer
the extension of agriculture, was the system of grants also introduced to
encourage settlements in new areas where the grant was of waste land, or
alternatively, of cultivated lands to stabilise the peasantry and induce inc-
reased production ? Given the fact that slaves were not used in any quan-
titative degree in agricultural production at this time, was the system of
grants an attempt at converting the peasantry into a stable productive
force through various mechanisms of subordination and a chain of inter-
mediaries ? Interestingly, the term gahapatijgrhapati drops out of currency
for the system had changed and terms ierms incorporating raja , samanta
and bhogin become frequent. The recipients of land grants had the right
to receive a range of taxes and dues previously collected by the state and
were soon given administrative powers as well. This permitted them to
act as a 'back-up' administration where the grant was in settled areas
and to introduce the system where new settlements were being established.
It may in origin have been a fiscal measure but in effect became the
means of controlling the peasantry. The apparent increase in debt
bondage and the fear of peasant migration would point to this being one
of the functions af the large-scale grants. That the possibility of peasant
migration to alleviate discontent was being slowly stifled is suggested by
the fact of peasants taking to revolt as well from ihe early second mille-
nnium onwards.38 A rise in brigandage may well have been a possibility
for this period.39 A qualitative change occurs when the state begins to
grant villages of substantial acreages of land already under cultivation:
a change which reflects both on the economy and on the nature of the
state.
14
The need to fetter the peasantry would seem an evident departure

from the earlier system and this in turn introduced a change in the relat-
ionship between the cultivator and the land now rivetted in legalities and
liabilities, with tax or rent no longer being the sole criterion of a peasant
economy. The karsaka of this period found himself in a d fferent situa-
tion from the kassaka of earlier times. Thev term 'peasant' therefore
cannot have a blanket usage of meaning since the variations within it
have to be distinguished.
The secular grantees were part of a hierarchical system iń which they
mirrored the court at the local level. This is evident from their attempts
to imitate the courtly style as depicted in the art and literature of the time.
Grants of land to the brahmans as the major religious grantees rehabilita-
ted them to a position of authority and their anguished invocation of Kalki
as a millennial figure becomes less urgent.40 A new religious ideology
gained popularity focussing on the image and the temple and asserting an
assimilative quality involving the cults and rituals of Puranic Hinduism
and the genesis of the bhakti tradition. Ideological assimilation is called
for when there is a need to knit to ether socially diverse groupsģ It is also
crucial when there is an increase in the distancing between such groups
as well as the power of some over others and the economic disparity
between them. The significance of these rew cults and sects may lie in
part in the focus on loyalty to a deity which has parallel to the loyalty
of peasants and others to an overlord. But it would be worth examin-
ing the rudiments of each sect in its regional dimension, its groping
towards a jati status and the use of an ostensibly cultural and religious
idiom to express a new social identity. Were these also mechanisms for
legitimising territorial identities drawing on sacred geography and
pilgrimage routes with the temple as the focal point41 ? The egalitarian
emphases of the devotees in the eyes of the deity has rightly been viewed
as the assertion of those lower down the social scale in favour of a more
egalitarian society. But its significance grows when the social background
to this belief is one of increasing disparity. Movements of dissent which
had religious forms were often gradually accommodated atd their
radical content slowly diluted. The move away from community parti-
cipation in a ritual to a personalised and private worship encourages the
notion of individual freedom, even if it is only at the ideological level.
In the justifiable emphasis on social and economic history there has
been too frequently a neglect among historians of analysis of ideology.
15
To study ideology without its historical context is to practice historical

hydroponics, for ideas and beliefs strike roots in the humus of historical
reality. To restrict the study of a society to its narrowly social and
economic forms alone is to see it in a limited two-dimensional profile.
The interaction of society and ideology takes a varied pattern and to
insist always on the primacy of the one over the other is to deny the
richness of a fullbodied historical explanation.
Ideas are sometimes analysed as a response tò social pressures and
needs, 'j This is particularly pertinent for those dealing with social history.
Some of the more important literature is suffused with a theoretical
representation of society even in symbolic or ideational fojms. Meanings
very often do not stem from just the vocabulary but require familiarity
with the cultural context of the word. Examples of this would be the
levels of meaning of words such as varna and jati as they travel through
time in texts such as the Dharmasastras. The ideological layers in the
latter as codes of behaviour have to be peeled in order to obtain a better
comprehension of their ordering of society.
Central to any concern with ideology in the ancient past is the
critique of religious thought (as distinct from religious practice or organi-
sation). Some analyses of the Upanisads for instance, can provide an
interesting example of this. One of the major strands in Upanisadic
thought is said to be a secret doctrine known only to a few ksatriyas who
teach it to select, trusted brahman A2. Even the most learned among the
latter, the mahasala mahasrotriya , are described as going to the ksatriyas
for instruction.43 The doctrine involves the idea of the soul, the atman
and its ultimate merging with the brahman as well as metampsychosis or
the transmigration of the soul: in fact a fundamental doctrine of this
age which was to have far reaching consequences on Indian society. That
it should have been secret and originally associated with the ksatriyas
raises many questions, some of which have been discussed by scholars.44
It is true that the brahmans and the ksatriyas were both members of the
'leisured classes' in Vedic society and could therefore indulge in idealistic
philosophy and discourse on the niceties of life after death. But this is
only a partial answer and much more remains to be explained. Was the
ritual of sacrifice so deeply imprinted on the brahman mind and so
neceassary to the profession at this point that it required non-brahmans
to introduce alternatives to salvation, other than the sacrificial ritual ?
The adoption of meditation and theories of transmigration had the
16
advantage of releasing the ksatriyas from the pressures of a prestation

economy and permitting them to accumulate wealth, power and leisure.
Alternatively, was the accumulation of these already present in the fringe
areas, described as the mleccha-desa (impure lands) in Vedic texts, where
the sacrificial rituals for various reasons had become less important ?
Thus Janaka of Mithila, Asvapati Kaikeya and Ajatasatru of Kasi could
reflect on alternative ways to salvation. This also places a different
emphasis on the function of the ksatriya who had now ceased to be
primarily a cattle-raiding, warrior chief.
These are not the only kinds of connections relevant to a history of
the period. Upper and lower groups or even classes treated as monoli-
thic, belie social reality. The tensions within these should a so be
noticed where the evidence suggests this. The competition for status
between brahmans and ksatriyas and the separation of their functions as
well as their mutual dependence is symbolised in the sacrificial ritual
which becomes a key articulation of the relationship. The new belief
was the reversal of the sacrificial ritual in that it required neither priests
nor deities but only self-discipline and meditation, At another level,
the transmigrating of the soul through the natural elements and plants
to its ultimate rebirth, carries an echo of shamanism which may have
remained popular outside priestly ritual.
There is, in the new belief, the first element of a shift from the clan
to the individual in as much as the sacrificial ritual involves the clan but
meditation and self-discipline, perhaps in opposition to the clan, involves
only the individual. It symbolises the breaking away of the individual
from the clan. It also introduces an element of anomie which becomes
more apparent in the later development of these beliefs by various sects.
These reflections were seminal to what became a major direction in
Indian thought and action, the opting out of the individual from society
and where renunciation is a method of self-discovery but can also carry
a message of dissent.45 That the new ideas were attiibuted to the ksatriyas
and yet included in a brahmanical text was probably because for the
brahmans to author a doctrine openly questioning the sacrificial ritual
would, at this stage, have been an anomaly. That the doctrine stimulated
philosophical discussion would in itself have required that it be recorded.
But its inclusion may also partially have been motivated by the fact that
when the doctrine was appropriated by heterodox teachers such as the
Buddha, it could be maintained that even the roots of heterodoxy
17
stemmed from the Vedic tradition. This was to become yet another
technique by which orthodox theory in subsequent centuries sought to
disguise ideas contradicting its own position. The Buddha not only
democratised the doctrine46 but also nurtured the idea of karma and
samsara and related it, among other things, to social iniquities. But his
negation of the soul (atman) introduces a contradiction of the doctrine
as visualised in the Upamsads. Such theoretical contradictions were
current at this time.47 The positing of a thesis and an anti-thesis becomes
a characteristic feature of philosophical debate and is reflected both in
empirical disciplines such as grammar as well as in more abstract
analysis.48
The relating of ideology to historical reality can result not only in

new ways of examining a historical situation and be used to extend or
modify the analysis from other sources but can also help in confirming
the reality as derived from other sources. (It might also stir the still
waters of contemporary interpretations of early Indian thought). Such a
study, incorporating elements of deconstruction, would sharpen the
awareness of concepts and theoretical framework. Historical explanation
then becomes an enterprise in which the refinements of concepts and
theories are a constant necessity, not only because of the availability of
fresh evidence from new sources but also because of greater precision in
our understanding of the categories which we use to analyse these
sources. It is a bi-focal situation where the frame of reference provided
by the analysis of ideology remains the distant view while the historian's
use of a theoretical explanation of the data indicates the nearer reading.
NOTES AND REFERENCES
1. An exceptio i to this is the recent study of Harappan and wjst Asian trade by
Sie reel Ritnigir, Eicoivttzrs : the Westerly Trade of the Harappan Civil i sat io tu
Delhi 1981. A primiry requirement relating to ecology and hydrology would be a
series af stuiie3 alo ig the lines of those of Robet, Mac. Adams on Mesopotamia,
pirticularly Tfi3 Heartland of Citie s, Chicago, 1931. Evidencí from other disci-
plines can be utilised m:>re effectively through a larger input of scientific
techniques into excavation and analyses as well as data gathered from such
disciplines. This may well happen in the near future now that archaeology the
world over is drawing increasingly on scientific sources and less on the study of
the classics. This calls for a little more theortical daring on the part of archaeo-
18
logists working on India and a concern with questions relating to the nature of
Harappan society. The decipherment of the Harappa script, still a long way off,
would of course be a help and would involve using the more conventional techni-
ques of linguistice and cultural symbols. But the reconstruction of Harappan
society could be met half-way by an approach which tries to intelligently recon-
stitute the society on the basis ojf material remains, environment and ecology.
That the interest in ecology and environment does not have a relevanee limited to
archacological data alone is clear from the recent Harris-versus-Hjston debate on
why the cow is sacred in India M. Harris, «The Cultural Ecology of India's
Sacred Cattle/ Current Anthropology 19 66, 7, pp. 51-60: A. Heston, «An Approach
to the Sacred cow of India,' Current Anthropology , 1971, 12, pp. 191-209; S.
Odend'hal, «Energetics of Indian Cattle in their Environment,' Human Ecology ,
1973, I. I. pp. 3-22€
2. Archaeological continuities are being discovered between Harappan and post-

Harappan societies as for example, in the repeated occurence of the Black-and-
red V are from Harappan to proto-historic times and more recently the overlap
in the Punjab between Late Harappan and the Painted Grey Ware culture
(generally associated with Vedic society) J. P- Joshi and Madhubala, «Life
During the period of Overlap af Late Harappan and PGW Cultures,' Journal aj
the Indian Society of Oriental Art, 1977-78, NS, IX pp. 20-9,
3. Romila Thapar, «The Archaeology of the Agnicayana,' in F. Staal (ed.) AGNI-
The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altar , Vol. I, Berkeley, 1982.
4. In the refining of concepts and theories the comparative method can be a useful
tool. This involves an awareness of the historical analyses of other cultures and
the use of specific categ >ries of explanation which may not be directly applicable
to early Indian history, but which would nevertheless generate questions and
comparisons which can in turn assist in fresh analysis. It is to be deeply regretted
that serious expertise on the ancient history of areas outside the Indian sub-
continent is generally unavailable in Indian centres of research.
5. I have elsewhere analysed in greater detail some of the themes which I am

touching upon here. Questions relating to lineage based societies, the sacrificial
ritual and the peasant economy were considered by me in the Heras Memorial
Lectures in 1980 which arc soon to be published under the title, From Lineage to
State. A summary of these ideas was contained in a paper, «State Formation in
Early India' International Social Science Journal , 1980, XXXil, No. 4, pp, 655-69.
6. M, H. Fried, The Notion of Tribe , Menlo Park, 1975.
7. Brhadaranyaka Upanisad , II. 6. 1 ff; IV. 6. 1 ff; VI. 5. 1 if.
8. Romila Thapar, From Lineage to State , pp. 37-69.
9. J, Ennew et al ., «Peasantry as an Economic Category/ Journal of Peasant Studies,

1977, IV, 4, pp. 295-322; M. Harrison, «The Peasant Mode of Production in the
work of A.V. Chayanov/ Journal of Peasant Studies , 1977, IV, 4, pp. 323-36; Utsa
Patnaik, «Neo-Populism and Marxism : The Chayanovian View of the Agraian
19
Question and its Fundamental Fallacy,' Journal of Peasant Studies, 1979, VI, 4,
pp, 375-420.
10. E. Wolf, Peasants , pp. 3-4, New Jersey, 1966.
11. This was popularised through A. A. Macdonell and A. B. Keith's Vedic Index of
Names and Subjects , 1912- The technical term for the cultivator was kinasa and
the root kn is used more frequently in association with cultivation.
12. Satapatha Brahmano , ' III. 71.2; VIII. 7.2.2; IX. 4.3.5.
13. e. g. Majjhima Nikaya, I. 401.
14. As for example the gahapati Mendaka, Mahavagga, VI 34.
15. Digha Nikaya , I. 61; Samyukta Nikaya , I. 172; III. 155; IV. 314; Anguttara Nikaya ,
I. 241; 229; 239.
16. The Baudhayana Dharmasutra III. 2. 1-4 refers to householders of the upper
varnas who can in some cases be tenants and who cultivate six nivartanas ( bighas )
of land. These were not poor peasants for they are also described as salina , living
in well-io-do home, and would probably constitute an intermediary category
between the gahapati and the kassaka. That this was a recognised category seems
evident from their mode of subsistance being described as sannivartana (six
nivartanas ).
17. III. 10.8; II. 1.1.

18. Anguttara Nikaya IV. 282: VIII. 1.16.
19. Epigraphia Indica, X. 1909-10. Luders List Nos ; 1056, 1062, 1073, 1075, 1121,
1127, 1209, 1281, etc. The inscriptions are later than the Pali texts and may
indiate the repetition of a process which had occurred earlier in the Ganga
valley.
20. Ramayana VII. 90 1-5. Among the gifts were horses, probabl> imparted from
Gandhar which was close enough to the Kekeya territory. The trade in horses
from the north-west would doubtless have been accelerated by such forms of
exchange. Romila Thapar, «The Ramayana • theme and variation,' in S. N.
Mukherjee (ed ), India History and Thought Calcutta, 1982. pp. 221-53.
21. Mahabharata, Sabha Parvnn, 47.5. Romila Thapar, «Some Aspects of the Econo-
mic Data in the Mahabharata.' ABORI% Poona, 1977-78, LIX, pp. ì>93-1007; «The
H/storian and the Epic,' ABO RI, 1979, LX, pp. 199-213
22. Romila Thapar, Ancient Indian Social History : some Interpretations , p. 105 fif.
23. D. D. Kosambi, Introduction to the Study of Indian History , Bombay, 1956. pp.
11,91.
24. Apart from the question of whether or not the Rgvedic Aryan speakers intro-
duced iron technology to northern India, it would be worth examining whether rs
pastoralists there were patterns of movement which permitted them to maintain
a symbiotic relationship with prs-existing agricultural communities. This would
pei haps explain the factor of bi-lingualism in Vedic Sanskrit.
20
25. N. Wagle. Society at the Time of the Buddha , Bombay 1966. p, 22.
26. Arthasastra IV. 2,
27. M. G. Raschke, «New Studies in Roman Commerce with the East/ in H.

Temporimand W.Haase (eds,) Aufsteig und Niedergang der Romischen Welt,
Berlin, 1978. The Silk Trade spanning central Asia, northern India and the
eastern Mediterranean drew on a variety of exchange systems and Raschke's
discussion on the role of silk as part of the exchange of gifts in central Asia
provides a new perspective on that section of the trade. An almost graphic
representation of the varieties of exchange comes from the recent discoveries of
rock engravings and inscriptions, the latter from the Kušana period onwards,
along the Karakorum Highway in Gilgit. K. Jettmar, Rock Carvings and Inscrip-
tions in the Northern areas of Pakistan , Islamabad, 1982; A. H. Dani, Chilas ,
Islamabad, 1983.
28. I. Fiser, «The Problem of the Setthi in Buddhist Jatakas,' Archiv Orientali
(Prague), 1954, XXII, pp. 238-66.
29. Ibid,, p. 261.
30. The Arthasastra refers clearly to the sale of land. II. 1.7; III. 9.3, 15-17; III. 10,9.
31. Arthasastra III. 2; Narada I. 128; V. 29; Manu XI. 59.
32. Visnu Purana IV. 24; Mahasupina Jataka No. 77; Mahabharhta Aranyaka Parvan
181.18 ff; Santi Parvan 254, 39 ff.
33. That the external trade- the Silk Trade and the Roman trade- played a signifi-
cant role in northern India is also clear from the negative evidence. Areas where
trade declined as in the Ganges valley show a decline in the urban economy
which has been pointed out by R. S. Sharma. Areas on the northern borders of
the sub-continent, arterial to the central Asian trade flourished in the pos/-Gupta
period.
34. A comparative regional analysis has become necessary with the recognition not
only cf regional environmental differences but also variations in the processes
of change and the nature of change, particularly the fact that not all changes
coincide chronologically and completely in form. This makes the study of
regional history significant not only in terms of regional variations but also as a
prerequisite to broader generalisations about ths history of the sub-continent.
35- This work ties in with the debate on feudalism in India, and studies of this period
such as those of D. D. Kosambi, R. S. Sharma, B. N. S. Yadava, B. D.
Chattopadhya, D. N. Jha and H. Mukhia, in addition to many detailed regional
studies of the post-Gupta period, too numerous to list here.
Much of the argument on the debate on feudalism in India so far has been of a
generalised form. Perhaps what is required at this stage is a comparat ve regio-
nal view which could better cope with the areas of investigation which call for
analysis. Initially a few selected regions could be analysed in depth for both the
urban and the agrarian aspects of the economy, but a start could be made with
the agrarian. A tabulation of the data might sharpen the focus. Grants in a
21
region could be classified in accordance with the type of grantee and the nature
of the grant. Categories could be defined such as grants of waste land or culti-
vated land, grants converting lineage-based societies into peasant economies
where the grant would be made to the lineage chief, or grants of state-owned
lands already cultivated where cultivators were transferred along with the land,
and other such categories where data is available. The chronological order and
quantum of each would be useful information. Proprietory rights could also be
part of this tabulation. At another level the analyses of the titles of grantees
and changes therein might provide clues. The question of whether the peasantry
was free hinges not only on the technical and legal definitions but also requires a
discussion of the actual status of the peasant. Rights, obligations and dues of the
grantees vis-a-vis the peasants would need to be tabulated in detail. These would
provide some indications of the essentials of the prevailing system.
A worm's eye view of agriculture also needs to be investigated since some aspects
of the debate involve questions relating to soil fertility and control over water
resources. Some of these qnestions could be better handled through inter-
disciplinary research if historians were to work jointly with specialists in soil
analysis, and hydrology. The expertise of a wide range of agricultural scientists
has entered into debates on the archaeological evidence relating to agriculture,
but curiously has not been invited by agrarian historians into their domain. Now
that the study or these subjects has become so specialised this reluctance as well
as the absence of field studies is to be regretted. Considering that the data from
survivals of various forms would be much richer for medieval history than for
the ancient period one can only hope that a trend in this direction will develop
soon. An increase in data of the technical kind can assist the quality of theore-
tical analysis. Questions more specif c to the history of agriculture relate to
investigating cultivation techniques, crop patterns, crop rotation, irrigation
systems and water cesses, the percentage of arable land available in an area
which would condition decisions about starting new settlements or intensifying
existing agriculture, variations in the system of fallow for particular crops, the
size of holdings in relation to the quality of the soil and the crops, the subsistence
level of the peasant, labour input into land and crops and other similar questions.
Many of these questions would involve extrapolating back from revenue records,
as well as codsiderable field work in the area under study, in order to sharpen
the questions and gain insights into possibilities for an earlier period. It is not
for nothing that R. H. Tawnev is believed to have said that the first essential of
research into agrarian history is a stout pair of boots.
36. Some grants are given of waste land and this would be a case of extending the
area under cultivation, but the revenue from this goes to the grantee and not to
the state, w ich makes it different from the situation described in the Arthasastra.
S udrà cultivators are mentioned but in some cases as labourers of land owners,
e. g. Manu IV. 253.
37. Legitimacy was necessary where the dynasty was of obscure origin or was descri-
bed as having served the previous one e. g., F. E. Pargiter, The Purana Text s of
the Dynasties of the Kali Age, Oxford, 19 13. pp. 38, 45, 47, 55, 56.
22
38. Instances of such revolts are mantioned in R. S. Sharma, Indian Feudalismy

Delhi 1980, pp. 127. 220; cf. N. K. rashima, South Indian History and Society
(forthcoming). Prior to this the more common form of protest was peasant
migration whieh is referred to in the Jataka literature and which is held out as a
threat to a king who demands excessive taxes. Romila Thapar, «Dissent and
Protest in the Early Indian Tradition,' Studies in History, 1979, 1. No. 2, p.
189 if.
39. The incseasing frequecy in hero-stones commemorating a heroic act in the defence
of a village would point to uncertain conditions in certain areas. These tend to
be in the interstices between kingdoms and between settled and forested areas.
Romila Thapar, «Death and the Hero,' in S. C. Humphreys and H. King (eds.),
Mortality and Immortality , London 1981.
40. Vfshu Purana IV. 24; Mahabharata , Santi Parvan, 254.39 ff.
41. This appears to have become important in a later period judging from the
Jagannatha cult at Puri and the Vithoba cult at Pandharpur. H. KuJke,
Jagannatha-kult and Gajapati Königtum , Weisbaden, 1979; G. A. Deleury, The
Cult of Vithoba , Poona, 1960.
42. S. Radhakrishnan , The Principal Upanisads , London, 1953. Introducth n.
43. Chandogya Upanisad, V. 11.1 ff.
44. P.Deussen, The Philosophy of the Upanisads , Edinburgh 1906, p. 17 ff;A.B,
Keith,, Religion and Philosophy of the Vedas , HOS» 1925, p. 495 ff; D. P.
Chattopadhyaya, Indian Philosophy , New Delhi, 196*, p. 85 ff.
45. Romila Thapar, «Rennunciation : the making of a Coun ter-Culture ?' Ancient
Indian Social History : some Interpretations , p 63 ff.
46. S* Radhakrishnan, op. cit .

47. K. N. Jayatilleke, The Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, London, 1963, p 49 ff.
48. S. D. Josh'(ed.) PatanjalVs Vyakarana Mahabhasya , Poona, 1968. pp. l.xiv. At the
more abstract level it is evident in the Brahmajalasutta in the Digha Nika.ya 1. 1.
The method of purvapaksa-uttarapaksa-siddhanta, although r^min scent of Hegel's
dialectic should not be taken a9 an equivalent as it appears to have been limited
to categories of logical analysis.

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GENERAL PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS

Author(s): Romila Thapar

Professor Romila Thapar

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to begin by thanking the Executive Committee and

It ifc customary on these occasions to speak of the state of pl

The scope of ancient Indian history is undergoing some modific

period: but the differentiation between pre-Gupta and post-Gupta history

Harappan society remains enigmatic. There have been few attempts

It is in the study of the many sub-periods within the broad

their explanations on the basis of theoretical frameworks.4 It is of this

Among the early sub-periods, Vedic society has been described as a

In a stratified society the reinforcing of status is necessary. But

The term cpeasant econom>' is frowned upon by some scholars as an

"...rural cultivators whose surpluses are transferred to a dominant

tations rather than on taxes, these cultivators would seem part of a

any respectable profession which provided a decent income, although

This is not to suggest that trade originated with the land-owning

Less spectacular but more essential was another from of exchange,

for exchange, artisans, whether individuals or in guilds, relate to merc-

It is curious that there is little resort to the policy recommended by

have acted as a bridge to a peasant economy and prevented a rupture

Religious benefices were on the pattern of earlier grants and were

The need to fetter the peasantry would seem an evident departure

To study ideology without its historical context is to practice historical

advantage of releasing the ksatriyas from the pressures of a prestation

The relating of ideology to historical reality can result not only in

NOTES AND REFERENCES

2. Archaeological continuities are being discovered between Harappan and post-

5. I have elsewhere analysed in greater detail some of the themes which I am

9. J, Ennew et al ., «Peasantry as an Economic Category/ Journal of Peasant Studies,

17. III. 10.8; II. 1.1.

27. M. G. Raschke, «New Studies in Roman Commerce with the East/ in H.

38. Instances of such revolts are mantioned in R. S. Sharma, Indian Feudalismy

46. S* Radhakrishnan, op. cit .

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