The Vedic age and the centuries that followed have always fascinated me. Today, our religious discourses and mythologies have become the primary source of information on that era. This page tries to uncouple the myth from the reality. Our post colonial history is common knowledge but south Asia's classical history remains shrouded. This is because our oral tradition has lead to a loss and corruption of information. The Vedic Age will provide snippets and flashes from the bronze and iron age of south Asia. This page attempts to create original content to pique your curiosity and make this aspect of our history mainstream.
A mosaic of a beautiful, dark-skinned woman found in Sicily is thought to be a anthropomorphism of South Asia. In her left hand she cradles a horn of plenty and a tiger stands guard. On her right, is an elephant who pays obeisance with a peacock depicted as a phoenix.
(Ref: Anceint India in its wider world, Parker and Sinopoli,2011)
Not many ruins of cities survive from the Vedic age. It is thought that they were mainly constructed with wood and have disintegrated completely. Some excerpts from Arthashastra might throw some light on this issue. Arthashastra is seminal masterpiece of Ashoka’s political adviser Kautilya. This work is a treatise on statecraft and economic policies. It also has sections on the best way to lay out the infrastructure of cities and nations, describing plans to develop the security network from the micro to macro level in a State.
According to Kautilya’s advice in the Arthashastra, a royal palace should be quite a simple structure and should be built with wood, compacted earth, brick and stone. The layout of the palace complex was simple because it was purely functional and not extravagant, to maximize security.
The palace complex was surrounded by ramparts and moats which Kautilya specifically advised should not be built out of wood, since wood is extremely inflammable. The palace complex is set within a fortified city complex which is further surrounded by bigger ramparts of brick, stone with wooden spikes and three successive layers of moats.
It is repeatedly mentioned by Kautilya that fire was a huge concern. Blacksmiths and people who work with fire should be clubbed together and given a separate corner in the city. The crematoriums were to be constructed a considerable distance away from the city’s multiple moats.
Why did they use so much wood? Wood is cheap, easily manipulated and readily available. As you can see in the figure 15, there is an entire section of the city, south of the city centre, dedicated to forest produce. Obtaining the right kind of stone and cutting it is expensive. Kings were not obscenely rich during the Gupta period.
One has to also keep in mind that you’re talking about a period which existed 2300 years ago, when people were in peace with the impermanence of the body and existence. The architecture of a people is highly complimentary to their philosophy I believe and you will find that throughout the cultures of the world.
Buddha during the time of his passing (~400BCE) said,
“Ananda, so long as the Vajjians hold these full and frequent public assemblies, meet together in concord and carry out their undertakings…and act in accordance with their ancient institutions…so long as they honour and esteem, revere and support the Vajjian elders…and hold it a point of duty to hearken their words…so long may the Vajjians be expected not to decline but to prosper.”
– Mahanibbana Sutta, Buddhist canonical text
Buddha was referring to the republican government of the Licchavi clan of the Vajji state. One of the chief 16 states existing since 600 BCE in the subcontinent. He was so impressed by the house of of 7,707 representatives which discussed all important questions, by its conduct of proceedings and management of the Vajjian and other republican state affairs that Buddha adopted this democratic constitution for the Buddhist Sangha.
This is just and example of the multiple states which were republican in nature during 600 BCE in South Asia. The operation and management of the political theory of these states have been well recorded by the Greek and the Chinese historians and the indigenous scholars. Most of the states which repelled Alexander’s inavasion were in fact republican in nature.
Panini the grammarian, in his work Ashtadhyayi (~600BCE) recounts that atleast 14 states had republican governments. Firmly placing the history of South Asian republican governments 200 years earlier than Greek republican governments.
Very interestingly the author of Shanti parva (Chp 107) from the great epic Mahabharata states a fact about democratic republics that has remained relevant through these millennia. He proposes that democratic republics face two main dangers of disunion and dissension. To counter these the principal members of these states should have forbearance and tolerance. It is the internal dangers fomented by the enemies by creating disunion and corruption, that a democratic republic should guard against. The external danger is is not of much importance.
The Vedic Age 