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Kings, Farmers And Towns
Descriibe the technological progress made in the Mauryan period.
The following was the technical progress made in the Mauryan period:
(a) The view of Havell was that there were two distinct phases in the sculptured art of Mauryan period. The first phase was distinguished by great nobility of design cultured form of expression and the finest technical accomplishment.
(b) The so-called Persian bell-shaped capitol of Asoka pillars was symbolic motif which was universal in Indian art.
(c) The capitol represented a flower and not a bell. It was the blue lotus of the sky, the flower of Vishnu. The pillar had the same significance of word-dominior as the state umbrella which was a part of the paraphernalia of Indian royalty.
(d) According to the same writer (Havell), the second phase of Mauryan art was shown in profuse sculpture of the stupas of Bharhut and Sanchi which recorded current events and legends connected with the life of Buddha as lord in the Jatakas.
(e) It was less pure in style. It was expressive of the craftmen’s own racial character in combining many non-Aryan elements with the Aryan ideas which dominated it.
(f) The view of Sir John Marshall was that two different classes of artists releated with sculpture were to be found in the Mauryan period.
(g) The Sarnath capitol, on the other hand though by no means a master piece, is the products of the most developed art of which the world was cognizant in the third century B.C. The handwork of one who lad generations of artistic effort and experience behind him.
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Describe the salient features of Mahajanapadas.
How do historians reconstruct the lives of ordinary people?
Compare and contrast the list of things given to the Pandyan chief (Source 3) with those produced in the village of Danguna (Source 8). Do you notice any similarities or differences?
List some of the problems faced by epigraphists.
Discuss the main features of Mauryan administration. Which of these elements are evident in the Asokan inscriptions that you have studied?
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.
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