Addendum: The Indian Republics and the Rise of the Warrior Class 700–300 BC (Part 3)
The Middle Vedic Age is a political experiment of governance and value system with competing teachings from Gautama Buddha.
Dear Reader,
I must admit I was stuck this week with the assignment. Partly, I had problems with the available materials as most of them were over-reaching with so few citations. If there were any citations, I found some of them doubtful. I was very hesitant in affirming the analysis, portraying these kingdoms or warriors for who they are not. It is difficult.
And so, one way out is I discuss the difficulty rather than despair that I do not have the answers.
Sometimes it happens.
Good food alert this week: frying and then grinding shrimp heads and shells into a paste is a great idea. Great to add to your noodle dish!
Melanie
Political Evolution to Kingdoms
The rise of the sixteen kingdoms in the period around 600 BC or so called the Mahajanapadas did not come out of nowhere. This localisation trend, a term Patrick Wyman uses in his podcast episode, began with the success and survival of small mobile groups and communities after the end of the Indus Valley Civilisation in 1300 BC.
Although philologists Jamison and Brereton have cautioned us against interpolating too much from the Rigveda, the oldest written among the Veda poetry books, there are indications of what was valuable among the elites.
Cattle - as a semi-nomadic group, animal husbandry and especially cattle are the stored wealth; hymns and spells were outlined in the Book X of the Atharvaveda used for healing and magic; it is the second oldest text in the Rigveda - the two verses here are recited for the safe return of cows when they go to pasture
Book X.169. Cows.
Let the wind, joy itself, blow to the ruddy ones. Let them crop plants full of nourishment.
Let them drink (waters) full of fat, providing riches to the living. Set them loose Rudra, be merciful to our food on the hoof.
Those who are of the same color, of different colors, of one color, whose names Agni knows because of the sacrifice,
whom the Aṅgirases brought here by their fervent heat to those,— Prjanya extend great shelter
warrior/ leader - it is a shifting role between periods of peacetime (as a ruler) and warfare (as a warrior) when the individual occupies these dual expectations indravaruna; this is supported by ritual practice invoking the gods of Varuṇa (lord of dharma) and into battle ready Indra (smasher of Vrtra)
Book IV.42
author is King Trasadasyu as recorded by Anukramani
I, Varuna, am Indra. By my greatness, these two realms, wide and deep, have strong support.
Like Tvastar, knowing all living beings, I pressed together the two world-halves and upheld them.
[As Indra:] Men call upon me as they race to victory with their good horses; surrounded in battle they call upon me.
I make the contest—I who am generous Indra. Of overwhelming power, I raise the dust.
warfare - the Rigveda also has a lot of references to raids whether for cattle or location (likely pasture lands); Indra is invoked against people with similar beliefs
Book VIII.16 Indra
Start up the praise anew with songs to the sovereign king of the seaparate peoples, Indra,
the man who overpowers men, the most munificent,
In whom recitations find their joy, and all (deeds) worthy of fame, as the aid of the waters does in the sea.
With my good praise I seek to entice him, the preeminent king, effective at raiding,
the prizewinner, for the gains of the great (prize?).
To whom belong the exhilirating drinks—unfailing, deep, wide, overwhelming—
that produce his excitement at the contest of champions…
Just upon him do they call for intercession when the stakes are set. Whoever has Indra—they win.
The three components of cattle, kings/warriors, and warfare set the context for why multiple small kingdoms emerged. Though they may share a common belief in what would form the Vedas, groups still opt to distinguish between themselves and form different canons.
Political creativity (800 - 300 BC)
Almost five hundred years will have passed before a second urbanisation sprung in the Ganges-Yamuna basin. This area became a creative soup of political organisations. The literature labels this period as the Janapadas (smaller regional entities composed of families or clans) and Mahajanapadas (aggregation of the smaller entities into a larger confederacy). This makes them quite difficult to classify easily (and so, the solution is not to.)
Depending on which sources you examine, there are different numbers and some have difficulty prescribing the criteria for classification (to be properly cited). I found this period difficult due to the lack of archaeological findings to support evidence for this period. The most common sources are from three historical works.
The Pali Canon (600/500 BC - 29 BC) — an oral tradition of the words and the disciples of Gautama Buddha written in a language from North India; it was written around 29 BC, several hundred years after his death and formed the basis of the Theravada Buddhist tradition
The Grammar of Panini (500/400 BC) — recognised as the leading ancient Indian Sanskrit philologist and grammarian whose work, the Astadhyayi provided grammatical and syntactic rules to preserve the Sanskrit/Vedas literature
Kautilya’s Arthrasastra (350-275 BC)— was a philosopher and jurist to the first Mauryan emperor and is credited as the author of Arthashashtra the ancient political, economic and military strategy and policy tome
One pottery complex attributed to this period is the Northern Black Polished Ware. It is noted for the sheen of black and the valued craftsmanship compared to other wares in the period. It is considered a deluxe good and is found buried alongside the first coins which gave it its date.
Again, the archaeological evidence is thin on the ground with little connection with what is in the text. One of the problems is that the archaeological sites have been continually occupied for millennia. This makes it difficult for further investigations. Another is the separation of religious interpretation or nationalism which has been the more common approach to analysis. Of course, my ignorance of the whole field is another challenge.
What we do know is that classifying these and trying to fit these groups as kingdoms, chiefdoms, or confederacy is unnecessary. This is one glaring analytical framework that has been much criticised in the field and is now being rethought.
If we suspend this framework, we can think of this experimental period in Indian history as:
Unfollowing the typical evolutionary stance from growing small to large societies. Often, the analysis at this point is that clans moved into larger groups. I put forward the view that these groups occasionally reverted to small groups. Group size and strength then are variable depending on unknown conditions one of which might be leadership charisma or protection common in warrior-led societies.
The choice between a king-ship and a sangha or council which I will discuss more next week is one of those interesting experiments in governance. The period was marked by real and possibly mythological clashes of value systems.
How did the kingdoms begin to look like Greek and Roman societies toward the end? Why was the monarchial model the winner?
The paradox of the elite and state councils
Briefly, in both monarchial and council systems, governance was largely the domain of the elite. Was it democratic? Or were both systems autocratic, anyway? Our interest here is to check why warfare accelerated and if there are clues that could help us answer the rise of the soldier professional class.
We will finally meet up where Graeber starts his discussion.
Round-Up
Our knowledge of the middle Vedic culture in 700 - 300 BC relies primarily on three written sources:
The Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism was written in 29 BC several hundred years after the death of Gautama Buddha.
The observations made by Panini the philologist and grammarian of ancient Sanskrit
Kautilya who was one of the officials of the court of the Maurya kingdom wrote the Arthashastra, a policy and strategy tome
Given the limited archaeological support, these are our primary sources. The challenge is to look at the original material to double-check and counter dominant narratives around the political structure of these groups.
We do know that the cattle, ruler/warriors, and warfare from the Rigveda are important matters to be communicated to the gods. It appears that warfare, both small-scale and larger-scale, has become more intense as more communities grow in the region. This may be one reason why the role of rulers/warriors is even more important than before.
Re-read the previous post
Sources:
One hypothesis is that this period is a democracy experiment put forward by Stephen Muhlberger, Republics and Quasi-Democratic Institutions in Ancient India.
Muhlberger, S. (2011). Republics and Quasi-Democratic Institutions in Ancient India. In: Isakhan, B., Stockwell, S. (eds) The Secret History of Democracy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230299467_4
It is helpful to read Witzel, Michael. 1995. Early Sanskritization: Origin and Development of the Kuru State. Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies, Vol. 1-4, pp. 1-26.
Check out the wonderful podcast of Patrick Wyman, Ph.D. on the Axial Age, he has a series on the Indus Valley Civilisation and the Rigveda. We both have the same position over the limited analysis you can make for this period. Also he has wonderful origin theories on the pod.