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JANAPADAS AND MAHAJANAPADAS                         and  the  agricultural  techniques  continues  to

             The  kingdom  had  been  formed  from  groups  of      provide  employment  to  a  large  number  of  peo-
             people,  commanded  by  their  chieftains.  The        ple.
             people  or  the  jana,  now,  led  a  settled  life.  The
             leaders of some groups were, now, called rajas or
                                                                     1.  The agricultural crops continued to be domesti-
             kings.  Most  often,  early  rajas  were  selected  by
                                                                          cated over the years since man took to a settled
             people to lead to community. As a result of rituals
                                                                          life.  Do  you  find  any  new  crops  that  farmers
             and  sacrifices,  the  leadership  had  also  become
                                                                          grow now but were not grown earlier?
             hereditary. With the rise in number of clans and
                                                                     2.  What do you know about Painted Grey Ware?
             groups, they were named after the ruling clan in
             each area. Where these clans set foot and settled      Mahajanapadas
             down were known as Janapadas.
                                                                    The  Mahajanapadas  were  a  set  of  sixteen  king-
             Each clan occupied some major area, separated          doms  that  existed  in  ancient  India.  It  all  began
             from the other clan. The important janapadas are       when  the  tribes  (janas)  of  the  late  Vedic  period
             shown in the map on next page. Archaeological          decided  to  form  their  own  territorial  communi-
             excavations  have  revealed  that  there  existed      ties,  which  eventually  gave  rise  to  new  and
             japadas in the areas around Delhi such as purana       permanent  areas  of  settlements  called  states  or
             Quila,  in  Delhi,  Hastinapur,  near  Meerut,         Janapadas. In the sixth century BC, present day
             Atranjikhera,  near  Etah  in  Uttar  Pradesh.  They   Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh became centers
             have  also  been  able  to  find  out  as  to  how  the   of  political  activities  as  the  region  was  not  only
             people  lived  in  huts,  tended  cattle  and  other   fertile,  but  also  closer  to  the  iron  production
             animals. The people of the janapadas also grew         centers. Iron production played a crucial role in
             crops like rice, wheat, barley, pulses, sugarcane,     expanding  the  territorial  states  of  the  region.
             mustard and sesame. It may be mentioned as per         These  expansions  helped  some  of  these
             the Varna system described above that only the         ‘janapadas’  turn  into  large  states  or  ‘mahajana-
             warrior  class  people  or  Kshatriyas  owned  land    padas.’  Most  of  these  ‘mahajanapadas’  were
             and they employed farm labourers.                      monarchical in nature, while some of them were
             They also exercised enormous influence over the        democratic  states.  Many  prominent  ancient
             king and enjoyed this political patronage.             Buddhist  texts  make  frequent  references  to  the
             In  the  later  Rig  Vedic  period,  a  variety  of  new   ‘16  great  kingdoms’  (mahajanapadas)  that
             occupations had emerged, chiefly on account of         flourished  between  the  sixth  and  the  fourth
             discovery  of  metals  like  tin,  copper,  silver,  gold   centuries  BCE.  These  16  kingdoms  included
             and iron. A large number of new crafts had also        kingdoms  like  Anga,  Gandhara,  Kuru  and
             emerged. On the basis of archaeological excava-        Panchala,  which  are  mentioned  in  the  great
             tions,  pottery  of  this  period  is  described  as   Indian epic ‘Mahabharata.’
             Painted Grey Ware.                                     History of the Mahajanapadas
             Many  dishes,  saucepans  and  bowls  had  been        In order to settle down permanently, simple land-
             decorated and painted. As is obvious, the earlier      grabbing process was started by the tribes, which
             Black and Grey Wares, were now painted. Many           eventually turned into well-planned communities.
             designs  of  animals  and  geometric  patterns  were   These  communities  gave  rise  to  states  or
             drawn. These new crafts, pottery, improved tools       ‘janapadas’  and  tribal  identity  became  a  major


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