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Kings, Farmers And Towns
How do historians reconstruct the lives of ordinary people?
When we look into the sources of the past ordinary people has rarely left any account of their life's experience or thoughts. Hence it becomes very difficult for the scholars to construct their life, however scholars have tried various methods to understand ordinary people by:
1. Examining stories contained in anthologies such as the Jatakas and the Panchatantra. Although stories this tales tends to tell us lots about the ordinary people.
2. Different types of foodgrains and animal bones have been found during excavation. It gives us information about dietary practices of people.
3. Remains of houses and pots inform us about their daily and household life.
4. There is a mention of different types of crafts and craftsmen on certain inscriptions. It is a very good source of knowing economic life of people.
5. Some inscriptions and scriptures inform us about king-subject relations, different types of taxes and miseries or happiness of people.
6. Changing agricultural tools and equipments throw some light on changing life of ordinary people.
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This is a statement made by one of the best-known epigraphists of the twentieth century, D.C. Sircar: “There is no aspect of life, culture and activities of the Indians that is not reflected in inscriptions”. Discuss.
Discuss the notions of kingship that developed in the post-Mauryan period.
To what extent were agricultural practices transformed in the period under consideration?
Compare Maps 1 and 2, and list the Mahajanapadas that may have been included in the Mauryan Empire. Are any Asokan inscriptions found in these areas?
Collect newspapers for one month. Cut and paste all the statements made by government officials about public works. Note what the reports say about the resources required for such projects, how the resources are mobilised and the objective of the project. Who issues these statements, and how and why are they communicated? Compare and contrast these with the evidence from inscriptions discussed in this chapter. What are the similarities and differences that you notice.
Collect five different kinds of currency notes and coins in circulation today. For each one of these, describe what you see on the observe and the reverse (the front and the back). Prepare a report on the common features as well as the differences in terms of pictures, scripts and languages, size, shape and any other element that you find significant. Compare these with the coins shown in this chapter, discussing the materials used, the techniques of minting, the visual symbols and their significance and the possible functions that coins may have had.
What is meant by Janapada?
What were the Mahajanapadas? Name a few important Mahajanapadas.
Which Mahajanapada emerged as the strongest one? Name any three of its important rulers.
What was the early capital of Magadha? Tell its one feature. In the 4th century BCE, which city was made the capital of Magadha?
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