EARLY CIVILISATIONS OF THE NORTHWESTAnother fact reported in the Mahabharata may shed some light on the
expansion of the Late Vedic civilisation to the east. The epic states that the
fifth king of the Pandavas who ruled at Hastinapura, after the Kauravas
had been deprived of this capital, shifted his capital to Kausambi (near
present Allahabad) because a flood of the river Ganga had destroyed
Hastinapura. Excavations at Hastinapura have, indeed, shown that a town
characterised by Painted Grey Ware was suddenly abandoned after a flood.
But the dating of these finds (around the end of the fourth century BC)
does not seem to fit in with the statement in the epic which would indicate
a much earlier time. However, excavations at Kausambi have shown that
this site contains traces of urban settlement in the early centuries of the
first millennium BC. Whatever future excavations may show, it is fairly
clear even now that the events and movements which occurred in the
eighth and seventh centuries BC in the Gangetic plains must have been
faithfully reported by bards for several centuries and were then recorded
by the poet who composed this part of the Mahabharata. The wealth of
detailed information which is contained in this epic must have been
transmitted by an unbroken tradition which the poet reflected but did not
invent.
The culture of the Late Vedic age was a rural one; evidence of an urban
culture as in the great cities of the Indus civilisation is totally absent in this
period. Even royal ‘capitals’ like Hastinapura showed neither fortifications
nor any traces of city planning. The houses were made of mud and
wattling; regular bricks were unknown. There are also no signs of a script
in this period. The art of the blacksmith and of the potter were, however,
very well developed. Some kinds of vessels which were found in the sites of
this period, though unknown in the age of the Indus civilisation, are
reproduced in essentially the same fashion today (e.g. the thali, a kind of
plate; the katora, a bowl; and the lotha, a small jar). Even the glass bangles
which Indian women still wear were known to the people of these Late
Vedic settlements.
The essence of wealth was cattle, which was in demand both for
providing milk and beasts of draught. Heavy soil could often be ploughed
only by large teams of oxen. References to such large teams in the texts
were thought to be exaggerations, but in parts of India one can see even
today about a dozen oxen yoked to one plough—particularly whenever the
animals are small and the work hard.
The emergence of Indian philosophyThe world-view in the Late Vedic age was totally different from that in the
early period of migration. The simple faith in the power of the Aryans and
of their gods gave way to a feeling of insecurity and scepticism. The bard
expressed this feeling in moving words: ‘I feel depressed by my