NCERT Notes for Class 12 History Chapter 2 KINGS FARMERS AND TOWNS

Class 12 History Chapter 2 KINGS FARMERS AND TOWNS

Textbook	NCERT
Board	CBSE Board, UP board, JAC board, HBSE Board, Bihar Board, PSEB board, RBSE Board, UBSE Board
Class	12th Class
Subject	History
Chapter	Theme Two
Chapter Name	KINGS, FARMERS AND TOWNS
Topic	NCERT Notes for Class 12 History Chapter 2 KINGS FARMERS AND TOWNS
Medium	English

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NCERT Notes for Class 12 History Chapter 2 KINGS FARMERS AND TOWNS

Kings Farmers and Towns class 12 Notes History

EARLY STATES AND ECONOMIES

Introduction

The Chapter Kings Farmers and towns shows that There were several developments that took place in parts of the subcontinent of India during the long span of 1,500 years following the end of the Harappan civilization. They are:

• Rig-Veda was composed along the Indus and its tributaries
• Agricultural settlements emerged in many parts of the subcontinent.
• The emergence of a new mode of disposal of the dead like Megaliths in central and south India.
• The emergence of new towns and kingdoms.

The Earliest states

The Sixteen Mahajanapadas

Between the sixth century BCE and the fourth century BCE, Magadha (in present-day Bihar) became the most powerful mahajanapada. This era is known for some crucial development such as:-

• Increased use of iron
• Development of coinage
• The emergence of early states and cities
• Rise of new religions, namely, Jainism and Buddhism

Features of Mahajanapadas

• The sixth century BCE is often regarded as a major turning point in early Indian history. It is an era associated with early states, cities, the growing use of iron, the development of coinage, and the rise of the sixteen Mahajanapadas.
• Most Mahajanapadas were used to be ruled by kings, while some known as Ganas or sanghas were oligarchies.
• Power was shared by a number of men, often collectively called Rajas.
• Both Mahavira and the Buddha belonged to such Ganas.
• In the case of the Vajji sangha, the rajas probably controlled resources such as land collectively. 
• Each had its own capital often fortified.
• Some states maintained permanent standing armies recruited from the peasantry and the regular bureaucracies.
• Dharmasutras laid down norms for kings and other people.
• The functions of the rulers were used to collect taxes and tribute from the people.

First amongst the sixteen: Magadha (The First powerful Mahajanapada)

Between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE, Magadha became the most powerful Mahajanapada in many ways:

• Having Powerful and ambitious rulers like Bimbisara, Ajatasattu, and Mahapadma Nanda.
• The availability of iron enabled the Magadha to make tools and weapons.
• The availability of elephants in forests constituted an important part of the army.
• Fertile soil is used to provide agricultural productivity.
• Ganga and its tributaries provided means of cheap and convenient communication.
• The location of Pataliputra facilitated routes of communication along the Ganges.
• Rajgriha, the old capital of Magadha was located amongst hills.

The Mauryan Empire

The rise of Magadha (the most powerful mahajanapada) culminated in the emergence of the Mauryan Empire. Chandragupta Maurya (c.321BCE) was the founder of the empire Chandragupta Maurya also extended control up to Afghanistan and Baluchistan. His grandson, Ashoka, one of the most famous ruler conquered Kalinga.

Historians have used a variety of sources to reconstruct the history of the Mauryan Empire They are:

• Archaeological find sculptures, Asoka’s inscriptions
• Literary sources like Indica account of Megasthanese, Arthashastra of Kautilya, and Buddhist, Jaina, and Puranic literature.

Asoka’s Dhamma

He was the most famous ruler of early India. He was the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya. He conquered Kalinga (present-day coastal Odisha).

Asoka tried to hold his empire together by propagating dhamma. This according to him, would ensure the well-being of people. The principles of dhamma were:

• Respect to elders
• Generosity towards Brahmanas and other sects
• Kindness towards slaves and servants.
• Respect for religions and traditions other than one’s own.
• Special officers known as dhamma mahamatta were to be appointed to spread the message of dhamma.

Administration of Mauryan Empire

The five major political centres in the empire were the capital Pataliputra and the provincial centers of Taxila, Ujjayini, Tosali, and Suvarnagiri.

Administrative control was strongest in areas around the capital and the provincial centers. Taxila and Ujjayini were situated on important long-distance trade routes.

Suvarnagiri was important for utilizing the gold mines of Karnataka. Communication along both land and riverine routes were vital for the existence of the empire. Megasthenes mentions a committee with six subcommittees for military coordination activity.

A Committee with six subcommittees:-

• (i) One looked after the navy.
• (ii) Second-managed transport and provisions.
• (iii) Third was responsible for foot soldiers.
• (iv) Fourth for horses.
• (v) Fifth for chariots.
• (vi) Sixth for elephants.

The second committee was used to be arrange bullock carts to carry equipment procure food for soldiers and fodder for animals and recruit servants and artisans to look after the soldiers

Measures of Asoka to hold his empire

• Asoka tried to hold his empire together by propagating dhamma.
• He appointed Special officers known as the dhamma mahamattas used to spread the dhamma’s message .

New Notions of Kingship (Post-Mauryan period)

Chiefs and Kings in the South

By the second century BCE, new chiefdoms and kingdoms emerged in several parts of the subcontinent. Cholas, Cheras, and Pandyas in Tamilakam were known from Sangam texts. Several states including Satavahanas and Shakas took advantage of long-distance trade. Their social origins were uncertain, but the Satavahanas, once they acquired power, they attempted to claim social status in a variety of ways.

Chiefs and chiefdoms

• A chief is a powerful man whose position may or may not be hereditary.
• He derives support from his kinfolk. His functions may include performing special rituals, leadership in warfare, and arbitrating disputes.
• He receives gifts from his subordinates (unlike kings who usually collect taxes) and often distributes these amongst his supporters. Generally, there are no regular armies and officials in chiefdoms.

Divine Kings

• Kushans (C 1st century BCE to 1st century CE) ruled over a vast kingdom extending from central Asia to North West India.
• Their history has been reconstructed from inscriptions, coins, and sculptures. The notions of kingship they wanted to convey are well reflected in their coins and sculpture.
• Huge Statues of Kushan rulers have been found in U.P and Afghanistan. This indicates that the Kushans considered themselves godlike. They claimed divine status and adopted the title devaputra, or ‘son of god’.  
• 

History of the Gupta (4th century CE) has been reconstructed from literature, coins, and inscriptions including prashastis (For e.g.The Prayaga Prashasti(Allahabad Pillar Inscription) composed by Harishena, the court poet of Samudragupta.)

A Changing Countryside

Kings and Peasnts

The relationship between a king and his subjects, especially the rural population, was not friendly because kings frequently demand high taxes and peasants particularly found such demands oppressive.

• To meet growing demand for taxes, peasants used strategies which aimed at increasing production. This was discussed in the tales in the Jatakas and Panchatantra. The Jatakas were written in Pali around the middle of the first millennium CE.

Strategies for increasing agricultural production

• Use of iron-tipped ploughshare
• Introduction of transplantation of paddy
• Iron plughshare was restricted.
• Irrigation through wells, tanks, and canals
• Hoe agriculture in semi-arid parts of Punjab, Rajasthan, and hilly tracks in North-Eastern and Central parts.

Differences in rural society

With the increase in production, differences arose among people engaged in agriculture. The Buddhist tradition refers to landless agricultural labourers, small peasants, as well as large landlords. The term gahapati was often used in Pali texts to designate the second and third categories.

• Landlords and heads of villages were more powerful and had control over farmers
• Sangam texts mention – large landowners or vellalar, ploughman or uzhavar and slaves or adimai.
• Thus, differences in rural society were based on control over land, labour, and technologies.

Land grants and new rural elites

Grants of land were started from the early centuries of the Common Era. Land which was granted to a Brahamana was called agrahara. Evidences of this were found on inscriptions on stone and copper plates. These inscriptions were in Sanskrit. Land grants by kings were recorded in inscriptions.

The records suggest that grants were given to religious institutions or to Brahmanas only. According to Sanskrit legal texts, women were not supposed to have independent access to resources such as land. But Prabhavati Gupta, daughter of Chandragupta II had access to land.

There were regional variations in the sizes of land donated. Some historians feel that land grants were part of a strategy adopted by the ruling lineage to extend agriculture to new areas. Others suggest that land grants were indicative of weakening political power. Land grants provide an insight into the relationship between peasants and the state.

Towns and Trade

• From c. sixth century BCE, urban centers emerged in different parts of the subcontinent. Many of these were capitals of Mahajanapadas.
• The majority of the towns such as Pataliputra, Ujjaini, Puhar, Mathura, etc. were located along riverine or land routes. Cities like Mathura were one of the most bustling centres of commercial, cultural and political activity.

Urban Popultions : Elites and Craftpersons

The kings and ruling elites lived in fortified cities. A wide range of artefacts have been recovered from these cities. These include fine pottery bowls and dishes with a glossy finish, known as Northern Black Polished Ware, ornaments, tools, weapons, vessels, figurines etc, made of a wide range of materials like gold, silver, copper, bronze, ivory, glass, shell and terracotta.

• In the towns, different types of people used to live such as washing folk, weavers, scribes, carpenters, potters, goldsmiths, blacksmiths, officials, religious teachers, merchants, and kings.
• Artisans and traders organized themselves in the guilds or shrenis. Guilds procured raw materials, regulated production, and marketed the finished product.
• Trade was not confined to the subcontinent but extended to East and North Africa and West Asia and to Southeast Asia and China.
• India used to export spices, fine pearls, ivory, silk cloth, medicinal plants, etc.

Votive Inscriptions give us an idea about town people and this inscription also record gifts made to religious institution.

Trade in the Subcontinent

From 6th century BCE, land and river routes crossed the subcontinent and extended in various directions both overland and overseas. Those who transversed these routes included:

• Peddlers They probably travelled on foot.
• Merchants They travelled with caravans of bullock carts and pack animals.
• Seafarers Their ventures were risky but highly profitable.

Some successful merchants were designated as Masattuvan in Tamil and setthis and sattavahas in Prakrit. A wide range of goods were carried from one place to another. They were salt, grain, cloth, metal ores and finished products, stone, timber, medicinal plants etc.

Spices such as pepper were in high demand in the Roman empire. Textiles and medicinal plants were also transported across the Arabian Sea to the Mediterranean.

Coins and Kings

• Exchangers were facilitated by the introduction of coinage.
• Punch-marked coins (6th century BCE onwards) made of silver and copper were amongst the earliest to be minted and used.
• Coins were issued by kings, merchants, bankers, and townpeople.
• The first coins bearing the names and images of rulers were issued by the Indo-Greeks.
• The first gold coins were issued in the first century CE by the Kushans.
• Hordes of Roman coins have been found in south India. This indicates that there was a close connection between south India and Roman Empire.
• Coins were also issued by tribal republics. For e.g. Yaudheyas of Punjab and Haryana (first century CE) issued thousands of copper coins.
• The Guptas also issued gold coins. These were remarkable for their purity. These coins facilitated long-distance transactions.
• From sixth century onwards finds of gold coins are fewer.

Economic Crisis

There are different views regarding the theory of economic crisis:

• (i) According to some historians, long-distance trade declined due to collapse of the Western Roman Empire, which affected the prosperity of the states, communities and regions.
• (ii) Some suggests that new towns and networks of trade started emerging around this time. According to them, even though there were few coins found belonging to this period, but they continued to be mentioned in inscriptions and remits.

Decipherment of Inscriptions

Deciphering Brahmi

• Most scripts used to write modern Indian languages are derived from Brahmi.
• This script was used in most Asokan inscriptions.
• From the late eighteenth century, European scholars, with the help of Indian pandits, could study several manuscripts in Bengali and Devanagari and compared their letters with older specimens.
• Scholars who studied early inscriptions sometimes assumed these were in Sanskrit, although the earliest inscriptions were, in fact, in Prakrit.
• It was only after decades of careful investigations by several epigraphists that James Princep, an officer in the mint of the English East India Company was able to decipher Asokan Brahmi in 1838.

Deciphering Kharosthi

• Kharosthi is used in the inscriptions of the North-West.
• The coins of indo–Greek kings contain the names of kings written in Greek and Kharoshti scripts.
• European scholars could read the Kharosthi script by comparing the letters. The language used in Kharosthi was Prakrit.

Historical evidence from inscriptions-Interpretation of inscriptions by historians

• It is found that the name Asoka is not mentioned in inscriptions.
• Instead, the king is referred to as devanampiya (“beloved of the gods”) and piyadassi (“pleasant to behold”).
• There were a few inscriptions that also referred to the king as Asoka. These inscriptions are also containing such titles.
• By examining the content, style, language and paleography, of these inscriptions, epigraphists have concluded that they were issued by the same ruler.  

Limitations of Inscriptional Evidence

Inscriptions have some limitations:

• Technical Limitations Sometimes letters are very faintly engraved and thus doubts arise.
• Damaged or Missing letters Sometimes important letters are damaged or missing in the inscription. It makes the work of epigraphists more difficult.
• Lack of Clarity It is not always easy to be sure about exact meaning of the words used in the inscriptions, some of which may be specific to a particular place or time. So, scholars are constantly debating on alternative ways to read inscriptions.
• Undeciphered Inscriptions Thousands of inscriptions have been discovered, but not all have been deciphered, published, and translated. Many inscriptions were destroyed and only a fraction is available to us.
• Non-relevance of Inscriptions Inscriptions were composed in praise of kings and patrons. Not everything that is economically or politically important was recorded in the inscriptions, e.g. routine agricultural practice and the joys and sorrows of the common man were not mentioned in the inscriptions.  

Thus, it is difficult for epigraphists to give a complete picture of society by relying on inscriptions only.

ncert notes for class12 history chapter 2: Timeline

Timeline 1

Major Political and Economic Developments

c.600-500 BCE	Paddy transplantation; urbanisation in the Ganga valley; Mahajanapadas; punch-marked coins.
c. 500-400 BCE	Rulers of Magadha consolidate power.
c. 327-325 BCE	Invasion of Alexander of Macedon.
c. 321 BCE	Accession of Chandragupta Maurya.
c. 272/268-231 BCE	Reign of Asoka.
c. 185 BCE	End of the Mauryan empire.
c. 200-100 BCE	Indo-Greek rule in the North-West; Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas in South India; Satavahanas in the Deccan.
c. 100 BCE-200 CE	Shaka (peoples from Central Asia) rulers in the North-West; Roman trade; gold coinage.
c. 78 CE (not certain)	Accession of Kanishka.
c.100-200 CE	Earliest inscriptional evidence of land grants by Satavahana and Shaka rulers.
c. 320 CE	Beginning of Gupta rule.
c. 335-375 CE	Rule of Samudragupta
c. 375-415 CE	Rule of Chandragupta II; Vakatakas in the Deccan.
c. 500-600 CE	Rise of the Chalukyas in Karnataka and of the Pallavas in Tamil Nadu.
c. 606-647 CE	Harshavardhana king of Kanauj; Chinese pilgrim Xuan Zang comes in search of Buddhist texts.
c. 712	Arabs conquer Sind.

Timeline 2

Major Advances in Epigraphy

1784	Founding of the Asiatic Society (Bengal).
1810s	Colin Mackenzie collects over 8,000 inscriptions in Sanskrit and Dravidian languages.
1838	Decipherment of Asokan Brahmi by James Prinsep.
1877	Alexander Cunningham publishes a set of Asokan inscriptions.
1886	First issue of Epigraphia Carnatica, a journal of South Indian inscriptions.
1888	First issue of Epigraphia Indica.
1965-66	DC Sircar publishes Indian Epigraphy and Indian Epigraphical Glossary.

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Class 12 History ch 2 Kings Farmers and Town history revision notes will provide information about the several developments in different parts of the Indian sub-continent after the end of Harappan civilisation. You will also see the Agricultural settlements emerged in North India, the Deccan Plateau and parts of Karnataka. To understand all these developments, historians used inscriptions, texts, coins and visual materials available for that period.

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