King farmers and towns

Question 1

n 1, Introduction
Rig veda
agricultural settlements
pastoral population
megaliths
empires and kingdoms
1st and 6th mil bce
agricultural production
range of sources

Question 2

2. Princep and piyadassi
   epigraphy
   james princep
   brahmi and kharosti
   piyadassi
   inscrption
   prakrit
   context of political history
3. The 16 mahajana padas
   a. The earliest states
   Janapadas
   6th c bce
   16 mahajanapadas
   ganas or sanghas
   rajas
   capital city
   Dharmasutras
   ogliarchy

c. first among the 16: Magadha
i. Agriculture
ii. iron mines
iii. elephants
iv. ganga and its tributaries
v. policy of individuals
vi. Rajagaha
vii. patliputra 4th ce
viii.

Question 3

3. An early empire
   i. prakrit and aramic and greeks
   ii. Mauryan empire
   iii. Chandra gupta Maurya (321 bce)
   a. Finding about the mauryas
   i. sources
   ii. Archerological finds
   iii. sculpture
   iv. account of megasthenes
   v. Arthashastra by kautaliya
   vi. Buddhists, puranic , Jaina and Sanskrit literature
   vi. inscriptions of asoka on rocks and pillars
   vii. asoka and stone surfaces
   viii. dhamma
   b. Administering the empire
   i. 5 major political centres
   ii. Taxila and Ujjayini
   iii. suvarnagiri
   iv. communication
   v. army for movement
   v, 6. sub committies unde a committee
   vi. 2nd sub committee
   vii. dhamma mahamatta

c. how important was the empire
i. major landmark
ii. British empire
iii. nationlist leaders
iv. 150 years
v. 2nd ce bce
vi. adminstrativr and military org.

Question 4

4. New Notions of kinship
   a. Chiefs and kings in south
   i. cholas Cheras and pandyas in tamilakam
   ii.chief and kinfolk
   iii. tamil sangam literature
   iv. satavahanas
   v. shakas
   vi.
   b. divine kings
   i. high status
   ii. kushanas
   iii. coins and sculpture
   iv.colossal staues
   v. mat near mathura
   vi. deva putra or son of god
   vii. silappadikaram
   viii.son of heavens
   ix. samantas
   x. literature , coins and inscription
   xi. prashastis
   xii. prayaga Prashasti (Allahabad pillar inscription)
   xiii. Sanskrit by harishena
   xiv. Samudragupta(4tc ce)

Question 5

5. Changing countryside
   i. sudharshana lake
   ii. shaka ruler rudraman
   iii. transplantation
   a. Popular perception of kings
   i. jatakas (Pali)
   ii. panchantatra
   iii. gandatindu jataka
   iii.

b. strategies for increasing production
i. Plough agriculture
ii. production of paddy
iii. iron ploughshare
iv. hoe agriculture
v. irrigation
(Manusmiriti: Legal text)
c. differences in rural society
i. technology
ii.landless agri laboures, small peasants and large landholders
iii. Gahapati (In Pali)
iv. large landowner (Vellalar)(tamil sangam texts)
v. ploughman (Uzhavar)
vi. slaves (adimai)
vii, access to land labor and technologies
viii. owner , amster and head of household
(Harshacharita Harshavardhana, Sanskrit banabhatta)
d. land grants and new rural elites
i. copper plates
ii. religious institutions or brahmanas
iii. Sanskrit
iv. Prabhavati gupta
v. Vakatakas
vi. rural population
vii. new lord
viii. land grants
ix. impact and reason of land grant
x. cultivators and state
xi. Agrahara
xii. gramakutumbinis
xiii. chakradasa

Question 6

6. Towns and Trade
   patliputra pataligrama xuan zhang
   a. new cities
   i. capitals of mahajanapadas
   ii. routes of communication
   iii. riverine routes
   iv. land routes
   v. sea routes
   vi. mathura
   b. urban population: Elites and craft persons
   i. artefacts
   ii. northern black polished ware
   iii. votive inscription
   iv. nagapiya
   v. guilds or shrenis
   vi. craftperson

c. trade in the subcontienent and beyond
periplus of the erthrean sea
6th ce bce
central asia and beyond
protection for a price
peddlers and merchants
seafarers
masattuvan in tamil
sethis and satthawahas in prakrit
wide range of goods
roman empire spices pepper
textile medicinal plants arabian sea mediterranean
d. coins and kings
i. exchanges
ii. coinage
iii. punched marked coins
iv. numismatists
v. symbols
vi. merchants bankers and townspeople
vii. indo greeks
viii. kushanas gold coin
ix. roman emperor and parthian rulers of iran
x. indication of gold coin
xi.hoards of roman coin in south ind
xii. tribal redpublics yaudheyas
xiii. copper coins
gupta rulers gold coins purity long distance transaction
gold coins tapper off

Question 7

7. Back to basics How are inscrptions deciphered

a. Dechipehreing brahmi
modern Indian languages
Asokan inscription
dewanagiri
prakrit
1838 deciphered
b. How kharoshti was read
inscription used in northwest
coins of indo Greek kings
name of kings in Greek and kharosti
apollodotos
c. historical evidence from inscription
devanampiya and piyadassi
orissa

Question 8

8. The limitation of inscriptional evidence.
   technical limitation
   damaged or letters missing
   exact meaning of words
   specific to time
   alternative ways of reading inscriptions
   not all deciphered
   many more existed but not survived
   fraction of what was inscribed
   not every thing recorded politically and ecomically