The Middle Ganga corresponds to the eastern portion of the Upper Ganga Plain, in the eastern part of the north-central modern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and the state of Bihar. From the literature consulted, it is not entirely clear which polity occupied this region between the first century BCE and the first CE, though it was likely a relatively small kingdom resulting from the fragmentation of the Sunga Empire. This should therefore be considered a temporary "placeholder" page.
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| Year Range | Kingdom of Ayodhya (in_ayodhya_k) was in: |
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| (64 BCE 34 CE) | Middle Ganga |
The Arthaśāstra, which "probably arose in the first half of the first millennium AD" but probably largely "derive[s] from older handbooks", includes instructions for the proper layout of cities, including "public edifices such as treasuries, storehouses for material and food, arsenals, and prisons". [1]
[1]: (Schlingloff 2013: 15) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DAMFF2NV.
In the below quote, Rocher argues that professional lawyers did not exist in India for much of its history. Unhelpfully, Rocher does not provide dates or much in the way of temporal boundaries. However, the use of the word “ever” in the sentence “no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court” may perhaps be taken to mean that professional lawyers did not exist in India before the colonial era.
“Thus, we believe that at an early date—let us roughly say at the time of the dharmasutras—professional lawyers or, to be more precise, specialized dharmasastrins could not exist. The Indian sage in those days was a specialist in all of the texts related to a particular Vedic school. His specialized knowledge concentrated on a specific version of the Vedic samhita and all its related texts: brahmana, aranyaka, upanisad, srautasutra, grhyasutra, dharmasutra, etc. There were no specialists on dharmasastra, and, a fortiori, no specialists on law that were part of it.
“But the situation changed. The texts on dharma grew away from the Vedic schools. Gradually there may have come into being a specialized group of learned men whose main interest was dharma, and the various dharmasastras as such.
“Finally, as the amount of textual material increased, we may assume that certain experts, without detaching themselves completely from aspects of dharmasastra and from Hindu learning generally, accumulated a very specialized knowledge of one aspect of dharma: vivada and vyavahara, or, in modern terminology, law. It is very possible that at this stage the nature of legal representation (niyoga) also underwent a certain change. We do not want to exclude the possibility that, at that moment, in a number of cases legal competence played a role in the choice of a representative. We are even willing to accept that Vyasa refers to the very special circumstance in which the representative was paid for his services. However, no written source allows us to draw the conclusion that the experts on legal matters ever developed into a professional group whose regular activities consisted in representing parties in the court. The impression which we gather from the texts is that, even in cases where the representative was chosen because of his special competence on legal matters, and, a fortiori, in all other cases, the necessary condition for a person to represent a party was the existence, between the former and the latter, of a certain form of close personal relationship.”
[1]
[1]: (Rocher 1969: 399-400) Rocher, L. 1969. "Lawyers" in Classical Hindu Law. Law & Society Review 3 (2/3): 383-402. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QKMEMIHW/library
The Arthaśāstra, which "probably arose in the first half of the first millennium AD" but probably largely "derive[s] from older handbooks", includes instructions for the proper layout of cities, including "public edifices such as treasuries, storehouses for material and food, arsenals, and prisons". [1]
[1]: (Schlingloff 2013: 15) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DAMFF2NV.
Jain, Buddhist and Hindu canons. The Arthaśāstra "probably arose in the first half of the first millennium AD" but probably largely "derive[s] from older handbooks" includes instructions for the proper layout of cities, including "public edifices such as treasuries, storehouses for material and food, arsenals, and prisons". [1] "More by good luck than by design and by prominence, a few other texts have come down from the period between the empires. There are, to be sure, such texts of the Śuṅga/Kāṇva and the early Kushana periods, including the older parts of Arthaśāstra (which has additions up to the first century CE), early medicine (Caraka, Suśruta), some early astronomical texts (Yavanajātaka of Sphujidhvaja, ed. Pingree 1978, Paulīṣa, Romaka, etc.), the Bhāratīya Nāṭyaṣāstra (in part, first century CE), and some early Sanskrit poetry such as Aśvaghoṣa’s Buddhacarita and Saundarānanda, Bhāsa’s dramas, etc." [2]
[1]: (Schlingloff 2013: 15) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DAMFF2NV.
[2]: (Witzel 2006, 482) Michael Witzel. 2006. ’Brahmanical Reactions to Foreign Influences and to Social and Religious Change’ in Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE, edited by Patrick Olivelle. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
"More by good luck than by design and by prominence, a few other texts have come down from the period between the empires. There are, to be sure, such texts of the Śuṅga/Kāṇva and the early Kushana periods, including the older parts of Arthaśāstra (which has additions up to the first century CE), early medicine (Caraka, Suśruta), some early astronomical texts (Yavanajātaka of Sphujidhvaja, ed. Pingree 1978, Paulīṣa, Romaka, etc.), the Bhāratīya Nāṭyaṣāstra (in part, first century CE), and some early Sanskrit poetry such as Aśvaghoṣa’s Buddhacarita and Saundarānanda, Bhāsa’s dramas, etc." [1]
[1]: (Witzel 2006, 482) Michael Witzel. 2006. ’Brahmanical Reactions to Foreign Influences and to Social and Religious Change’ in Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE, edited by Patrick Olivelle. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jain, Buddhist and Hindu canons.
The Arthaśāstra, which "probably arose in the first half of the first millennium AD" but probably largely "derive[s] from older handbooks" includes instructions for the proper layout of cities, including "public edifices such as treasuries, storehouses for material and food, arsenals, and prisons". [1]
[1]: (Schlingloff 2013: 15) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DAMFF2NV.
Inferred in previous polities.
Kautilya’s Arthasastra contains a chapter title "Measurement of Space and Time." [1] The Arthaśāstra "probably arose in the first half of the first millennium AD" but probably largely "derive[s] from older handbooks". [2]
[1]: (Subramaniam 2001, 79) Subramaniam, V. in Farazmand, Ali. ed. 2001. Handbook of Comparative and Development Public Administration. CRC Press.
[2]: (Schlingloff 2013: 15) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DAMFF2NV.
No persuasive evidence could be found, in the literature consulted, for the existence of a postal service of any kind in India, between the end of the Mauryan period and the fourteenth century, when Ibn Battuta visited the Delhi Sultanate and described its communication services. However, it is entirely possible that such systems existed in at least some polities, especially the larger ones.
No persuasive evidence could be found, in the literature consulted, for the existence of a postal service of any kind in India, between the end of the Mauryan period and the fourteenth century, when Ibn Battuta visited the Delhi Sultanate and described its communication services. However, it is entirely possible that such systems existed in at least some polities, especially the larger ones.
No persuasive evidence could be found, in the literature consulted, for the existence of a postal service of any kind in India, between the end of the Mauryan period and the fourteenth century, when Ibn Battuta visited the Delhi Sultanate and described its communication services. However, it is entirely possible that such systems existed in at least some polities, especially the larger ones.
"According to A. N. Bose (1961, 205-6), Saketa and Ayodhya, both celebrated in the Buddhist sources and the Ramayana, were the same city. The excavations conducted at the site in 1975-77 showed a burnt-brick fortification wall with a ditch outside dating possibly from c. BC 200 (IAR, 1975-76, 1976-77)." [1] Was stone used for fortifications, or was it all brick?
[1]: (Allchin et al. 1995, 298) F R Allchin. George Erdosy. R A E Coningham. D K Chakrabarti. Bridget Allchin. The Mauryan Empire and its aftermath. F. R. Allchin. ed. 1995. The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
"extensive traces of structural mounds within the fortification of ancient Ayodhya ... extensive excavations urgently needed at this site which is one of the most important of northern India ... there are still places which would bear extensive horizontal excavations." [1] "In the Middle Ganga valley all the city sites are fortified (e.g. Ayodhya, Rajghat, Kausambi, Sravasti, Patna, Kankarbagh, Rajgir, Vaisali, Champa, Balirajgarh) while the rural sites were not fortified (e.g. Piprahwa, Sohgaura, Khairadih, Chirand, Buxar, Mason, Sonepur, Apsad, Sarai-Mohna Prahladpur, Takiapar, Lakhneshwardih, Nandigram, Chechar-Kutubpur, Chandadih, Oriup)..." [2]
[1]: (Chakrabarti 2001, 253) Dilip K Chakrabarti. 2001. Archaeological Geography of the Ganga Plain: The Lower and the Middle Ganga. Permanent Black. Delhi.
[2]: (? 1994, 13) Shodhak. Volume 23. Part 1. Issue 67 - Part 3. Issue 69. Bhartiya Pragtisheel Shiksha Parishad.
Ramparts at Kausambi in the post-Mauryan period. [1] "earth ramparts faced with burnt brick or stone" known at Kausambi (period not stated). [2]
[1]: (Allchin et al. 1995, 298) F R Allchin. George Erdosy. R A E Coningham. D K Chakrabarti. Bridget Allchin. The Mauryan Empire and its aftermath. F. R. Allchin. ed. 1995. The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
[2]: (Allchin 1995, 223) F R Allchin. 1995. The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
"According to A. N. Bose (1961, 205-6), Saketa and Ayodhya, both celebrated in the Buddhist sources and the Ramayana, were the same city. The excavations conducted at the site in 1975-77 showed a burnt-brick fortification wall with a ditch outside dating possibly from c. BC 200 (IAR, 1975-76, 1976-77)." [1]
[1]: (Allchin et al. 1995, 298) F R Allchin. George Erdosy. R A E Coningham. D K Chakrabarti. Bridget Allchin. The Mauryan Empire and its aftermath. F. R. Allchin. ed. 1995. The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
Referring to a period of time that appears to begin with the Mauryan era and include the first millennium CE:"The royal residence is designated with an old name the “interior city” (antaḥpura) and is described as being just as fortified as the city itself. There are even expressions where the palace wall is confused with the city wall and the castle gate with the city gate. Nonetheless, it would be a false conclusion were one to consider the royal residence, on the strength of this description, to be a citadel. We know from the narrative literature that it was easy to negotiate the moat and wall of the king’s palace by means of a pole or rope. The palace wall formed a police and not a military protection. Once besiegers had breached the city wall, the city lay at their feet. There was no last stand for the palace." [1]
[1]: (Schlingloff 2013: 47) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DAMFF2NV.
Indian iron smiths invented the ’wootz’ method of steel creation between 550-450 BCE. The Greek physician Ctesias of Cnidus commented on an Indian steel sword in the possession of Artaxerxes II of Persia (c400 BCE). [1]
[1]: (Singh 1997: 102) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/ZU99575D.
Indian iron smiths invented the ’wootz’ method of steel creation between 550-450 BCE. The Greek physician Ctesias of Cnidus commented on an Indian steel sword in the possession of Artaxerxes II of Persia (c400 BCE). [1]
[1]: (Singh 1997: 102) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/ZU99575D.
According to a military historian (needs confirmation from a polity specialist) siege engines such as catapults were used by the Mauryans [1] which might have implications for technology available to later polities.
[1]: (Gabriel 2002, 220) Gabriel, Richard A. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Greenwood Publishing Group.
First historically known sling siege engines used by the Byzantine Empire.
Iron arrowheads found at Kausambi (of the post-Mauryan period). [1] Military equipment depicted on the Bhilsa Topes statues include bows and arrows. [2] The Bhilsa topes are Buddhist monuments from central India thought to date to c100 BCE. Bow ("drawn in the perpendicular fashion of English archers) known from later period illustrations in hill caves in Orissa (eastern India 200 BCE - 474 CE). [3]
[1]: (Allchin et al. 1995, 298) F R Allchin. George Erdosy. R A E Coningham. D K Chakrabarti. Bridget Allchin. The Mauryan Empire and its aftermath. F. R. Allchin. ed. 1995. The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
[2]: (Egerton 2002, 12) Wilbraham Egerton. 2002 (1880). Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
[3]: (Egerton 2002, 13-14) Wilbraham Egerton. 2002 (1880). Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
Javelins were a standard form of projectile delivered from war elephants. Not referenced but surely inferred present on the basis of elephants.
"The hand crossbow was used on Indian battlefields probably from the third century A.D. It was mainly used as an infantry weapon and occasionally as a cavalry weapon. A Sanskrit inscription at Avanthipuram, in South India, reads: ’... Of him who has the name of Ananta impelled with speed and skillfully discharged from the machines of his bow fitted with the well stretched string....’ Obviously, the machine referred to was a hand crossbow." [1]
[1]: (Phillips 2016) Henry Pratap Phillips. 2016. The History and Chronology of Gunpowder and Gunpowder Weapons (c.1000 to 1850). Notion Press.
Inferred from use in preceding and succeeding polities. A bow shorter than the longer bows were used by infantry. One was straight in the middle and curved in at each end. [1] The composite bow came to India with the Kushanas but "after the collapse of the Gupta Empire, the use of composite bows died out in India." [2]
[1]: (Egerton 2002, 12) Wilbraham Egerton. 2002 (1880). Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
[2]: (Roy 2011, 122) Kaushik Roy. Historiographical Survey of the Writings on Indian Military History. Sabyasachi Bhattacharya. ed. 2011. Approaches to History: Essays in Indian Historiography. Primus Books. Delhi.
Sword represented on Indo-Scythian coins. [1] Military equipment depicted on the Bhilsa Topes statues include sword. [1] The Bhilsa topes are Buddhist monuments from central India thought to date to c100 BCE. Straight, medium-sized sword known from later period illustrations in hill caves in Orissa (eastern India 200 BCE - 474 CE). [2] Cave 16 at Ajanta c400 CE shows warriors with short sword. [3]
[1]: (Egerton 2002, 12) Wilbraham Egerton. 2002 (1880). Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
[2]: (Egerton 2002, 13-14) Wilbraham Egerton. 2002 (1880). Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
[3]: (Egerton 2002, 14) Wilbraham Egerton. 2002 (1880). Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
Lance represented on Indo-Scythian coins. [1] Military equipment depicted on the Bhilsa Topes statues include spear with triangular head. [1] The Bhilsa topes are Buddhist monuments from central India thought to date to c100 BCE. Greek historian Arrian c2nd century CE said that the Indian horsemen carried two lances. [2]
[1]: (Egerton 2002, 12) Wilbraham Egerton. 2002 (1880). Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
[2]: (Egerton 2002, 13) Wilbraham Egerton. 2002 (1880). Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
Inferred from use in preceding and succeeding polities.
Dagger represented on Indo-Scythian coins. [1] Military equipment depicted on the Bhilsa Topes statues include dagger. [1] The Bhilsa topes are Buddhist monuments from central India thought to date to c100 BCE.
[1]: (Egerton 2002, 12) Wilbraham Egerton. 2002 (1880). Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
Military equipment depicted on the Bhilsa Topes statues include axe and battle-axe. [1] The Bhilsa topes are Buddhist monuments from central India thought to date to c100 BCE.
[1]: (Egerton 2002, 12) Wilbraham Egerton. 2002 (1880). Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
"On a pillar of the Amravati Tope, 300 years later than that at Sanchi, is portrayed the scene thus described. ... part of the army is seen defending the walls of the citadel, and armed with straight and scythed-shaped swords, long spears, and long bows. In front the infantry is advancing, and the rear is brought up by horsemen and elephants. There are no chariots at Sanchi, but this is probably owing to some local peculiarity." [1] 300 years later than the Bhilsa Tope monuments so possibly referring to 200 CE.
[1]: (Egerton 2002, 13) Wilbraham Egerton. 2002 (1880). Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
"On a pillar of the Amravati Tope, 300 years later than that at Sanchi, is portrayed the scene thus described. ... part of the army is seen defending the walls of the citadel, and armed with straight and scythed-shaped swords, long spears, and long bows. In front the infantry is advancing, and the rear is brought up by horsemen and elephants. There are no chariots at Sanchi, but this is probably owing to some local peculiarity." [1] 300 years later than the Bhilsa Tope monuments so possibly referring to 200 CE.
[1]: (Egerton 2002, 13) Wilbraham Egerton. 2002 (1880). Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
In ancient India the buffalo, bullock, yak, goat, camel, elephant, horse, ass and the mule were all used for transport [1] [2] in different regions according to local conditions. [2]
[1]: (Mishra 1987, 83) Kamal Kishore Mishra. 1987. Police Administration in Ancient India. Mittal Publications. Delhi.
[2]: Prakash Charan Prasad. 1977. Foreign Trade and Commerce in Ancient India. Abhinav Publications. New Delhi.
In ancient India the buffalo, bullock, yak, goat, camel, elephant, horse, ass and the mule were all used for transport [1] [2] in different regions according to local conditions. [2] Were camels used in this region as pack animals?
[1]: (Mishra 1987, 83) Kamal Kishore Mishra. 1987. Police Administration in Ancient India. Mittal Publications. Delhi.
[2]: Prakash Charan Prasad. 1977. Foreign Trade and Commerce in Ancient India. Abhinav Publications. New Delhi.
"On a pillar of the Amravati Tope, 300 years later than that at Sanchi, is portrayed the scene thus described. ... In Pl. LXIX. of the same work are represented men bearing narrow oblong shields apparently of wicker-work." [1] 300 years later than the Bhilsa Tope monuments so possibly referring to 200 CE. According to a military historian (needs confirmation from a polity specialist) the earlier Maurayans carried shields made of raw oxhide stretched over a wood or wicker frame. [2]
[1]: (Egerton 2002, 13) Wilbraham Egerton. 2002 (1880). Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
[2]: (Gabriel 2002, 219) Gabriel, Richard A. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Greenwood Publishing Group.
Military equipment depicted on the Bhilsa Topes statues include the infantry and cavalry shield. [1] The Bhilsa topes are Buddhist monuments from central India thought to date to c100 BCE. The oblong shield is known from later period illustrations in hill caves in Orissa (eastern India 200 BCE - 474 CE). [2] Cave 16 at Ajanta c400 CE shows warriors with an ornamental shield. [3]
[1]: (Egerton 2002, 12) Wilbraham Egerton. 2002 (1880). Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
[2]: (Egerton 2002, 13-14) Wilbraham Egerton. 2002 (1880). Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
[3]: (Egerton 2002, 14) Wilbraham Egerton. 2002 (1880). Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
Kautilya’s Arthashastra mentions coats extending to the knees, one which reached the floor, and another without arm covering (Book II, The Duties of Government Superintendents").
Raw hide was used on shields. [1] Kautilya’s Arthashastra mentions armour made from iron, skins, hoofs and horns.(Book II, The Duties of Government Superintendents"). Kautilya’s Arthashastra mentions a head covering called sirastrana but not the material it was made from (Book II, The Duties of Government Superintendents").
[1]: (Egerton 2002, 13) Wilbraham Egerton. 2002 (1880). Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
Conical helmet represented on Indo-Scythian coins. [1] Kautilya’s Arthashastra mentions a head covering called sirastrana but not the material it was made from (Book II, The Duties of Government Superintendents").
[1]: (Egerton 2002, 12) Wilbraham Egerton. 2002 (1880). Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
Inferred from use in preceding and succeeding polities.
"Gradually the entire region comprising the Middle Ganga Valley was colonized. Kashi (Varanasi) and Ayodhya emerged as two great cultural and political hubs situated as they are on navigable rivers like the Ganga and the Ghaghara respectively." [1]
[1]: (? 1974, 4) ?. 1974. The National Geographical Journal of India. Volume 20. National Geographical Society of India.