DDK HistoryF.p65 - Arvind Gupta

428 Pages·2006·1.93 MB·English

AN INTRODUCTION
TO THE STUDY OF INDIAN HISTORY
D. D. KOSAMBI
PREFACE TO THE
REVISED EDITION
IN the revision, I had expected to learn a great
deal more than has actually been possible from reviews by professional
historians. The paramount importance of field work in the study of
Indian history seems altogether to have escaped their attention. Such
work in the field falls into three inter-related classes : archaeology,
anthropology, and philology. All three need some preliminary knowledge
of local conditions, the ability to master local dialects, and to gain the
confidence of tribesmen as well as peasants. In all field work, it is
necessary to develop a technique and critical method during the course
of the investigation itself. Fitting observations into rigid, preconceived
moulds is ruinous. The technique of asking the right questions in the
proper way cannot be taught nor mastered except in the field.
Whatever transport is used to reach any given locality, the actual
fjeld work can only be done on foot.
Field archaeology differs from site archaeology in ,that the amount
of digging is negligible, but the ground covered extensive. The one
indispensable tool is a stout staff with a chisel ferrule for prying artifacts
out of the surface, used as a measuring and sighting rod, &c ; it serves also
to discourage the more ambitious village dogs and the occasional
marauder. The collection of surface finds, tracing of ancient routes, and
collation with local cults, myths, and legends is a main task. Digging in
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carefully chosen spots may be a consequence, and will then give the
greatest amount of information at minimuhi expense. The actual
technique developed by O. G. S. Crawford for England in his fine
book Archaeology in the Field cannot be transferred to Indian
territory.
Similarly, the standard patterns of sociological inquiry and of
the Enquete Lingudstique cannot be utilized here without considerable
and constantly shifting modifications. Many of us dream of a mobile base
completely equipped with cameras and dark room, tape-recorders,
anthroponaetric and blood-group laboratory and the like. Properly
handled; there is ntf reason why this should not produce excellent
results. In general, however, a fancy outfit without some other
ostensible and attractive purpose (say a travelling medical unit) serves
only to defeat the field worker’s aim by exciting cupidity or suspicion,
and eliciting copious misinformation.
On the other hand, there is no substitute for work in the field for
the restoration of pre-literate history. This extends to all historical
periods for any country like India where written sources are so meagre
and defective while local variations are indescribably numerous.
D. D. KOSAMBI
Poona
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
THIS book does not pretend to be a history of India. It is merely a modern
approach to the study of Indian history, written in the hope that readers may be
impelled to study that history for themselves. or at least be enabled to look at the
country with greater sympathy and understanding. To this end, the examples
given have been intensive rather than extensive, from my own (necessarily
restricted) experience and reading. They are the simplest examples, such as
anyone could derive from honest field-work, though each of them illustrates
some general point. Better illustrations may undoubtedly be found by the reader
from the lives and manners of his own neighbours, and the remains of antiquity in
his particular locality. Going over to the common people is not easy work.
Psychological barriers raised by many generations of the grimmest poverty and
exploitation are strengthened by the heat, dust or mud, and unhygienic
conditions. But, properly done, the task can nevertheless be exhilarating even for
one whose patience has worn thin and whose joints have stiffened painfully with
age. Such field-work has to be performed with critical insight, taking nothing for
granted, or on faith, but without the attitude of superiority, sentimental reformism,
or spurious leadership which prevents most of us from learning anything except
from bad textbooks.
The subtle mystic philosophies, tortuous religions, ornate literature,
monuments teeming with intricate sculpture, and delicate music of India all
xii PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
delicate music of India all derive from the same historical pro-cess that
produced the famished apathy of the villager, senseless opportunism and
termite greed of the ‘cultured’ strata, sullen un-coordinated discontent
among the workers, the general demoralisation, misery, squalor, and
degrading superstition. The one is a result of the other, the one is the
expression of the other. The most primitive implements produced1 “a
meagre surplus which was expropriated by a correspondingly archaic
social mechanism. This maintained a few in that cultured leisure which
they took as a mark of their innate superiority to the vast majority living
in degradation. It is necessary to grasp this in order to appreciate the
fact that history is not a sequence of ha^Jiazard events but is made by
human beings in the satisfaction of their daily needs. To be more attractive,
history must reflect man’s progress at satisfying his needs in cooperation
with all his fellow men, not the success of a few at satisfying them at the
expense of most of their fellow men. The supposed achievements of
other countries have been paid for by their down-at-heel ‘ragged-
trousered philanthropists’. In India, their counterparts have not achieved
so much as trousers or shoes for themselves.
To maintain that history has always been made by such
backward, ignorant, common people, and that they, not the high priest,
glittering autocrat, war-lord, financier, or demagogue, must shape it
better in future, seems presumptuous formalism. Nevertheless, it is true.
The proper stady of history in a class society means analysis of
the,differences between the interests of the classes on top and of the
rest “of the people; it means consideration of the extent to which an
emergent class had something new to contribute during its rise to
power, and of the stage where it turned (or will turn) to reaction in
order to preserve its vested interests.
Some readers will insist that man does not live by bread alone,
that history and society both depend upon the individual’s mastery of
his eternal soul, that materialism destroys all human values.
Unfortunately, man cannot exist without bread or the equivalent, which
is necessary to keep the soul (if he can afford one) in his body. An aggregate
of human beings constitutes a society when, and only when, the people
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION xiii
are in some way interrelated. The essential gelation is not kinship, but
much wider; namely, that developed through production and mutual
exchange of commodities. The particular society is characterized by what
it regards as necessary; who gathers or produces the things, by what
implements ; who lives off the production of others, and by what right,
divine or legal — cults and laws are social byproducts ; who owns the
tools, the land, sometimes the body and soul of the producer; who
controls the disposal of the surplus, and regulates quantity and form
of the supply. Society is held together by bonds of production. Far from
destroying human values, materialism shows how they are related to
contemporary social conditions, and to the prevalent concept of value.
Like value, language itsdf (without which the idealist cannot even conceive
of his soul) arose from material exchange relations which led to the
exchange of ideas. The philosophic individual cannot reshape a
mechanised world nearer to heart’s desire by the “eternal” ideologies
developed over two thousand years ago in a bullock-cart country.
The class that rules India today, the paramount power, is the Indian
bourgeoisie. This class has some peculiar characteristics, due
primarily to the course of history. The Indian bourgeoisie is technically
backward. Its production (and mentality) is overwhelmingly that of a
petty bourgeoisie as yet. A glance from the air at the hopelessly inadequate
communication system over the interminable spread of roadless
villages suffices to prove this. Its government has a unique position
as by far the greatest owner of capital assets, and a monopolist wherever
it chooses to be. This seemingly absolute power is under compulsion of
reconciling the real needs of the country, and its professed socialist
goal, with the rapacity of both petty-bourgeois and tycoon sections
of the ruling class. Finally,” this class came to power too late, in a world
where the international bourgeois failure and crisis had already
manifested itself. An eleventh chapter commenting on these points and
their probable effect on future historical developments had reluctantly to
be deleted.
Official figures give the following daily food requirements per
Indian adult, in ounces (bracketed figures give the quantity actually
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available) ; Cereals 14(13.71); pulses 3(2.1); milk 10(5.5); fruits 31(1.5);
vegetables 10(1.3); sugar 2(1.6); fish and meat 3(0.3); eggs (number)
1 (-); vegetable oils and ghee 2(1). (INDIA 1954, p. 295; 1955 p.
.413; not found in 1956.) Recent official declarations state that Indian
food consumption continues to decline. This grim tale of a diet so
miserably deficient in every single particular is made still more tragic
by the fact that it is a.rare Indian who can afford to buy even the food
assigned to him by the statistical averages. The question is, whether this
situation of a, populace doomed to hunger and disease is permanent,
or whether Indian society is about to rid itself of such basic evils. How
long can any country remain a democracy with this little sustenance for
the average man ? The answer has to be worked out by correct thinking,
for which the study of history is quite indispensable. But the solution has
then to be made a reality by correct action, which means a step beyohd
mere study of the past. Control over history is not to be attained by
the passive suffering that has perpetuated Indian life from generation to
generation. The time has now come to make history, to a seriously
thought-out, conscious design in order to preserve the peace of Asia and
of the world.
To come to technical matters : The use of the first person singular
means that the statement is made on the writer’s personal
responsibility ; ‘we’ invites the reader’s cooperation, generally in some
bit of reasoning. The reader with insufficient previous knowledge of
conventional history should not neglect to acquire it from some of the
books cited in the first note to the first chapter. In names and words from
Indian languages, the usual system of Romanization (where c is always
pronounced as the palatal ch) has been followed, but nqt consistently
because many of the words are already familiar with spellings that would
have to be altered beyond recognition. The reader will have to accustom
himself to variations in orthography ; Rajagrha in Sanskrit is Rajgir in
Hindi. Published translations have been used even when I happened to
know the original language, but with such emendation as seemed
necessary. The danger lies in the tendency of translation to read their
own prejudices into the text. Thus, some discover feudal vassals in the
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION xv
Rgveda and the Arthasastra, which would give a completely different
picture of the society, with fatal consequences to any historical method.
The one indispensable warning is against direct rationalization of myth,
called Euhemerism after the Greek who tried it with the myths current
among his own people. The true content of a myth is difficult to obtain,
and rarely direct historical information. Indian historical figures and
events tend unfortunately to disappear into misty legend which comes
more and more to resemble pure myth with the passage of time.
I hereby express my gratitude to all those who encouraged and
helped me during the preparation of this book.
Deccan Queen D. D. KOSAMBI
December 7, 1956
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
THIS is the second edition of one of the
greatest works on Indian history. It is no exaggeration to state that this
unique work on Indian history has earned universal recognition,
honour and strature with a continually rising influence in the world of
learning.
In revising his work for the second edition, the author had
indicated a large number of alterations. He had pointed out, too, where
the new material — written by him — should be inserted. All these his
own alterations and additions have been incorported in this second
edition. But it is certain, and perfectly clear, that he had intended to
add a few more footnotes and perhaps some material too. But
unfortunately, in the midst of his labours, Professor Kosambi passed
away very suddenly. His unexpected and sad demise thus left the
manuscript of the second edition of his monumental work in a not
absolutely rounded off form. However, the revisions meant for the
second edition were practically complete; the lacunae being few and
far between — and it can be confidently asserted these do not affect
the structure of the revised work.
All the notes that the late Professor Kosambi had written
specifically for the revised edition have been incorporated in this edition.
But no notes by any other hand have been added where either the
intended revision was too ambiguous to be incorporated in the form left
by him or where he had referred to some authority in an incomplete
manner — for instance, a mere mention of a title, or an authority, or
a paper.
Our endeavour, as publishers, has been to bring out a second
edition, which is as dose to the one we would have brought out had
Professor Kosambi himself been alive to see it through the press. No
effort has been spared to achieve that end. All of Professor Kosambi’s
papers on related topics have been consulted, as also his last
published work on Indian history — The Culture and Civilization of
Ancient India.
ABBREVIATIONS AND

BIBLIOGRAPHY
AB Aitareya Brahmana; translation by A. B. Keith, in HOS 25.
ASIA Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology (Leiden).
ABORI Annals of the BhS^darkar Oriental Research Institute (Poona).
AI Ancient India (Archaeological Dept. Publication, nos. 1-11).
AIA Art in the Ice Age, Spanish Levant Art, Arctic Art by J.
Mariger and H. G. Bandi, in execution of a plan by Htigo
Obermaier (tr. R. Alien, London 1953).
Alb Albirurn’s India trans. Ed. Sachau, 2 vol. London 1910 ; 2 vol.
in one. London 1914. Albiruni was a Khwarizmian ( . D. 973-
A
1048); this work was written about . . 1030.
A D
ANT Antiquity, a Quarterly Review or Archaeology, founded by
the late O. G. S. Crawford.
Arth. The Arthasastra of Kautalya (otherwise known as Cicakya,
Vi§nudupta, and Kautilya). Ed. T. Ganapati Sastri, TSS.
79, 80, 82. Also, 2nd ed. (text) R. Shama Sastry, Mysore 1924;
the same scholar’s word index to Arth. (3 vol., Mysore 1925)
is indispensable, but his English translation (3rd ed., Mysore
1929) leaves much to be desired. The best available trans
lation, though not to be used uncritically, is still that of
J. J. Meyer: “Das altindische Buch vom Welt- und Staatsleben,
Das Artha&stra des Kautilya” (Leipzig 1926). cf. also
Meyer’s “ Ueber das Westen der altindischen Rechtsschriften
und ihr Verhaltnis zu einander und Kautilya’s (Leipzig
1927 : valuable analysis, without an index. The Niar&thl
translation of Arth. by J. S. Karandikar and B. R. Hivar-
gfiokar (2 vol. Karjat 1927-9) cannot be recommended.
ASWI Archaeological Survey of Western India ; particularly, vol. IV
(1876-9) where the caves used in the present work are de
scribed, though not too well, even with the supplementary
aid of Burgess’s Buddhist Cave Temples.
XX
ABBREVIATIONS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
AV The Atharva-vcda, mostly from W. D. Whitney’s translation, HOS. 7-8
; also the selections translated by M. Bloom field, SBE 42.
Bail Jungle Life in India, or the journeys and journals of an Indian
geologist, by V. Ball (London 1880).
BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research.
“Selections from the travels of Ibn Battuta (1325-1354)”, trans. H. A.
R. Gibb (London 1929, reprinted 1939; “The Broadway Travellers”).
Beal Ta-Tang’Si-Yu^Ki •*. Buddhist records of the western world, trans
lated from the Chinese of Hiuen Tsang ( . . 620) by Samuel Beal; 2nd
A D
vol., London 1884 ; the introductory portion contains a translation of
Fa Hian’s travels, and other documents.
BEFEO Bulletin de I’&cole Francaise de Fextreme Orient.
BI J. Burgess and Bhagwanlal Indraji : Inscriptions from the Cave
Temples of Western India (Bombay 1881).
BJ Francis Buchanan : “A Journey from Madras through the countries of
Mysore, Canara and Malabar performed under the orders of the Most
Noble the Marquis of Wellesley, Governor General of India for the
express purpose of investigating the state of Agriculture, Arts, and
Commerce, the Religion, Manners and Customs, the History Natural
and Civil, and antiquities, in the dominion of the Rajah of Mysore and
the countries acquired by the Honourable East India Company in the
late and former wars, from Tippoo Sultaun “ (3 vol. London 1807;
2nd ed . in 2 vol., Madras 1870)1
B-P. B. H. Baden-Powell : The land-systems of British India (3 vol. Ox-
ford 1892). The work is a handy digest of the Settlement Reports,
most of which are not available to the ordinary reader, though the
unsubstantiated theorizing about history and races should ignored.
The same author’s Manual (of the Land Revenue System and
Land Tenure of British India, Calcutta 1882) abbreviates the facts
without cutting down the theories.
BPL George A. Grierson : Bihar Peasant Life 2nd ed. Patna 1926.
Brough J. Brown : “ The early brahmanical system of gotra and pravara” (a
translation of the gotra-pravara-manjari of a medieval author,
Purusottama). Cambridge, 1952.
BrUp. Brhadaranyaka Upanisad.
BSOAS Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (of the
University of London).