cities, hills and market-towns in connection
with the celebration of religious ceremonies
or festivals in honour of the Buddha, Dharma
and Sangha.
E.I.,
X X X V , pp. 7-10. In r e c o g n i t i o n of the a t t r i b u t e s of a n y c i v i l i z a t i o n , the i m p o r t a n c e of u r b a n c e n t r e s h a s b e e n e m p h a s i z e d to d i f f e r e n t d e g r e e s b y v a r i o u s scholar s . T h i s is p a r t l y d u e to the d i f f e r e n t c o n c e p t i o n s of the w o r d ’c i v i l i z a t i o n ' i t s e l f.^ 1
In S o u t h Asi a, t he p r e h i s t o r i c u r b a n c e n t r e s of the I n d u s p l a i n s as w e l l as t h o s e of e a r l y h i s t o r i c a l (2 ti m e s s e e m to h a v e p l a y e d a v e r y i m p o r t a n t r o l e in c o n t e m p o r a r y culture s. V e r y f e w s c h o l a r s s t u d y i n g thi s r e gio n , h o w e v e r , h a v e a d d r e s s e d t h e m s e l v e s to the c o n c e p t u a l i z a t i o n of u r b a n i s m or to u n d e r s t a n d i n g u r b a n i z a t i o n as a pro c e s s . T h e i n f l u e n c e of the ten e l e m e n t (or trait) c r i t e r i o n1 See for instance, R. Redfield, 'Civilizations as Things Thought About', in
Human Nature and the Study of Society: The Papers of
Robert Redfield,
(ed.) M.P. Redfield, Chicago, 1962, pp.36U-375; Pedro Armillas, 'The Concept of Civilization',International
Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences,
Vol. 16, pp. 218-221.2 G.L. Possehl (ed.)
Ancient Cities of the Indus,
New Delhi, 1979; A. Ghosh,The City in Early Historical India,
Simla, 1973;R.S. Sharma, 'Iron and Urbanization in the Ganga Basin,
I.H.R.,
Vol. I, No. 1,197U , pp. 98-103.
110
of C h i l d e on I n d i a n s c h o l a r s is o b v iou s , a n d the n a t u r e of the a r c h a e o l o g i c a l e v i d e n c e f r o m N o r t h I n d i a s e e m s to h a v e m o u l d e d this l i ne of t h o u g h t . ^ W h i l e s u c h a n e x t e n s i o n of ideas h a s h a r d l y c o n t r i b u t e d to the h i s t o r y of u r b a n i s m in India, t h e r e h a v e b e e n no a t t e m p t s at all to do so in s t u d i e s on e a r l y S o u t h I n d i a . T h e r e l a t i v e i m p o r t a n c e of u r b a n c e n t r e s as s o c i o - c u l t u r a l c o n t e x t s c a n b e u n d e r s t o o d o n l y t h r o u g h d e t a i l e d l o c a l a nd r e g i o n a l s t u d i e s
.^ 5
S u c h an a n a l y s i s of the r e g i o n a l p a t t e r n of u r b a n i s m w o u l d h e l p in m a k i n g g e n e r a l i z a t i o n s at a w i d e r l e ve l for S o u t h Asia. N e e d l e s s to say, the f o l l o w i n g d a t a h a v e b e e n s u b j e c t e d to c o n c e p t u a l r igour, a nd the a t t e m p t to e m p h a s i z e the r e g i o n a l d i m e n s i o n ofh i s t o r i c a l p r o c e s s h a s b e e n c o n t i n u e d f r o m the e a r l i e r chapt ers . It is no t the p u r p o s e of this c h a p t e r to d e a l w i t h the r i s e of u r b a n c e n t r e s , w h i c h h a s b e e n d e a l t w i t h e l s e w h e r e in this thesis, a l o n g w i t h the t h e o r e t i c a l l y - r e l a t e d q u e s t i o n of the p r o c e s s e s of p o w e r in the r e g i o n u n d e r s t u d y . ^ H e r e w e s h a l l d e a l e x c l u s i v e l y w i t h u r b a n i s m in e a r l y A n d h r a P r a d e s h in o r d e r to d e l i n e a t e its c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s . T h e t e r m 'urban' h a s a n u m b e r of r e f e r e n t s . ^ It m a y r e f e r to a p h y s i c a l form: c i t y v e r s u s c o u n t r y s i d e . It c o u ld d e n o t e a c u l t u r a l pa t tern: u r b a n i s m v e r s u s r u r a l i s m as a w a y of life. T h e i m p o r t a n t m e a n i n g u s e d here, h o w e v e r , r e f e r s to a s t r u c t u r a l entity: the c i t y as a c o m p l e x of i n s t i t u t i o n s p e r f o r m i n g c e r t a i n f u n c t i o n s w i t h i n the c o n t e x t of a l a r g e r society.
3 V.G. Childe, 'The Urban Revolution',
Town Planning Review3
Vol. 21, Pt. 1, 1950, pp. 3-17.k
D.K. Chakrabarti, 'The Concept of Urban Revolution in the Indian Context',Puratattva3
No.6
, 197 , pp. 27-32; A. Ghosh,The City
.... pp.l8-31; R.S. Sharma, 'Decay of Gangetic Towns in Gupta and Post- Gupta Times',I.H.C.3
1972, pp. 92-10U.5 Romila Thapar,
Ancient Indian Social History3
New Delhi, 1978,pp. 36U ff.
6 Ch. VI.
7 I am grateful to Indrani Ganguly for a number of useful suggestions. (3
Ill
T h e n a t u r e of the e v i d e n c e is r a t h e r li mited . O n l y one u r b a n c entre, N a g a r j u n a k o n d a , h a s b e e n s y s t e m a t i c a l l y ex cava t e d . It
is the o n l y a r e a w h e r e h o r i z o n t a l e x c a v a t i o n s h a v e b e e n u n d e r t a k e n .
(8
T h e r e p o r t for the h i s t o r i c a l p e r i o d h a s n ot y et b e e n pu b l i s h e d . T h e fact that the s i t e is n o w c o m p l e t e l y s u b m e r g e d b y the w a t e r s of
the K r i s h n a , du e to a m a s o n r y dam, r u l e d out f i eld o b s e r v a t i o n . A m a r a v a t i , a s i te w h i c h has e n g r o s s e d a r c h a e o l o g i s t s o v e r the past
two c e n t u r i e s , h a s o n l y v e r t i c a l e x c a v a t i o n s . T h e r e c e n t a t t e m p t s u n d e r t a k e n to e s t a b l i s h a d e f i n i t e c h r o n o l o g y of the a r e a a r e not f u l l y pu b l i s h e d . T h e r e a r e o t h e r p l a c e s in A n d h r a w h e r e e x c a v a t i o n s h a v e b e e n c o n d u c t e d to e s t a b l i s h v e r t i c a l se que n c e s . In the f o l l o w i n g page s , w e s h a l l i n i t i a l l y d i s c u s s t he m a t e r i a l a v a i l a b l e for e a c h (9 s i t e a nd t h e n a t t e m p t to m a k e s o m e d e d u c t i o n s . * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * For its r o l e as a c e n t r e f r o m w h i c h c u l t u r a l i n f l u e n c e s p e r m e a t e d the s o u t h e r n p a r t s of I n d i a - as a m a r k e t c e n t r e w h i c h h a d a c o m m a n d i n g p o s i t i o n o v e r the t r a d e r o u t e s of the p e n i n s u l a , and as a p o l i t i c a l c e n t r e w h i c h h a d a c r u c i a l b e a r i n g on the h i s t o r y of d e l t a i c A n d h r a - A m a r a v a t i - D h a r a n i k o t a , the a n c i e n t D h a n y a k a t a k a , w a s the m o s t i m p o r t a n t u r b a n c e n t r e of e a r l y S o u t h India.
8
The first volume, already published, deals with the prehistoric period only. See R. Subrahmanyam et al.,Nagarjunakonda,
New Delhi, 1975- Brief reports and observations have been made in the annual numbers ofI.A.A.R.
between 195*+-55 and 1960-61.9
I have attempted field observations at some of the sites and have incorporated them into the text. I am grateful to Professor V.N. Misra and other archaeologists from Deccan College, Pune, who trained me in this technique.112
D h a n y a k a t a k a is l o c a t e d on th e r i g h t b a n k of the Kri s h n a , o n a l e vee w h i c h is not s u b j e c t to f l o o d i n g d u r i n g the rains.
A c c o r d i n g to l o c a l t r a d i t i o n s r e c o r d e d t o w a r d s the end of the e i g h t e e n t h centu ry, this a n c i e n t s e t t l e m e n t is s u p p o s e d to h a v e e x t e n d e d a b ou t