Cultural History of Ancient India (A Socio-Economic and Religio-Cultural Survey of Kapisa and Gandhara) (An Old and Rare Book)

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

The present book "A Cultural History of Ancient India" (A Socio-Economic and Religion Cultural Survey of Kapisa and Gandhara) is a critical survey of cultural history of the post Kushana and the Pre-Huna periods. The book embodies the result of best utilization of archaeological, and foreign and indegenous literary sources to make the study up to date.

As so far no systematic study has been made to form a comprehensive idea of the cultural history of those two regions at the beginning of the Christian era, different aspects of the cultural histoty of these regions have been discussed in the book as exhaustively as possible.

Now a days, the name of Begram of Afghanistan has got an international reputation for its objects of art especially ivory work and ceramics which have been dealt in the book. The importance of the book has been enhanced by copious illustrations.

Dr. Jaya Goswami who was a student of the Government Sanskrit College, Calcutta, in her three years Degree Course with Honours in Ancient Indian and World History passed her M. A., in Ancient Indian History and Culture from the University of Calcutta. Thereafter, she was a Research Assistant in the Sanskrit College, Calcutta. The present book is the outcome of her research work. Now she is a Curator, in the Department of Archaeology, Indian Museum, Calcutta, holding the charge of ancient Indian coins. She is engaged in the study of Ancient Indian Numismatics and their metrological problems. Her book has been highly appreciated by a scholar of international repute, Dr. A. L. Basham, Professor and Head of the Department of Asian Civilizations. The Australian National University, Canberra. (Dr. Goswami's) "thesis forms a useful contribution to knowledge in that it collects all the evidence on a dark area in the history of the sub-continent in a connected and logical forms It is a competent survey of the subject neatly and carefully presented".

This book is essentially a reproduction of my Ph.D. dissertation, completed in 1975. An attempt has been made to draw a picture of the various aspects of the cultural life of the people of the regions of Kapisa and Gandhara in the early centuries of the Christian era.

I want to avail myself of the opportunity of extending my sincere thanks and gratitude to all who have been helpful in various ways in different stages of the preparation of the book. My deep sense of gratitude are due to my respected Professor and supervisor Dr B.N. Mukherjee, Carmichael Professor and Head of the Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture, University of Calcutta, who is a constant source of inspiration to me. His outstanding scholarship, extraordinary labour, magnanimity and critical outlook have played a great role in guiding me in my endeavour. To Dr Sachin Roy, Director, National Museum of Man, New Delhi and Smt Nilima Roy, Keeper, Anthropology. National Museum, New Delhi, I owe immense sense of gratefulness for the ungruding encouragement and facilities received from them in connection with the publication of the work. I am deeply beholden to Sri S. K. Ganguly for making suitable arrangements to prepare the thesis ready for the press. I have also the pleasure of expressing my special thanks to Sri Shyamalkanti Chakravarti, my colleague and Education Officer, Indian Museum, Calcutta, for his keen interest and valuable assistance. To illustrate my thesis I had to depend on various published materials including the plates given in Art in Afghanistan by Benjamin Row land for which I acknowledge my gratitude to them. My thanks are also due to the authorities of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, the Archaeological Survey of India and to the staff of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta for the assistance so kindly extended by them in various ways. I also offer my hearty thanks to Dr. (Miss) Mira Roy whose discussion with me is always stimulating and analytical. A word of special thanks is due to Dr. V.P. Dwivedi, National Museum, New Delhi, for kindly permitting to utilize a few illustrations from his book, Indian Ivories. To Shri K.S. Ramachandran of the Archaeological Survey of India I am greatly beholden for all the help he rendered.

Dr (Miss) Jaya Goswami deals with the cultural history of two of the most important territories in the Udichya or Uttarapatha Division of Ancient India, viz., Kapisa and Gandhara. The former, the people and capital of which appear to have sometimes been called Kapisa and Kapiši respectively, covered the Kafiristan region of Afghanistan and probably had its headquarters at modern Begram, 40 km to the north-east of Kabul. Gandhara, the people of which were later usually called Gandhara, lay on the eastern border of Kapisa, and the old Gandhara people must have once lived on both banks of the Indus. The capital of Western Gandhara was Pushkalavati, Pushkalavata or Pushkaravati which stood at the site of modern Charsada, 27 km to the north-east of Peshawar, on the Swat river in the North Western Frontier Province of Pakistan while Eastern Gandhara had its capital at Takshaŝilă near modern Rawalpindi in the Pakistan part of the Punjab. Of course, the mention of a kingdom and its capital separately in the old lists of territories of peoples is not always important for determining their separate political existence because the mention may be in accordance with the principle known as the Mathara-Kaundinya nyaya.

We are glad that this interesting zone was selected as the subject of Dr Goswami's work while the selection of the period, i.e., from the occupation of the region by the Sassanians to the time of the Hūna conquest, is also commendable. Besides short sketches of the historical and geographical backgrounds, she deals with the social, economic and religious life of the people and also with the art and architecture of the region. She has tried to do justice to the subject in her own way and to the best of her ability. Her work is a welcome addition to the meagre literature on the subject.

The history of the extreme north-west of the Indo-Pak subcontinent, particularly of Kapisa and Gandhara, the former comprising Kafiristan and the valleys of Ghorband and Panjshir while the latter lying between the Swat and Indus rivers has had a hoary past, thanks to the incessant invasions and migrations of people result ing in the inevitable political vicissitudes, mingling of civilizations, customs, rituals, etc., and the concomittant trade and commercial activities. The intercourse thus generated between the native genius and foreign elements here gave rise to a new art form and style distinctive and yet homogeneous.

The political and cultural history of this region-Kapisa and Gandhara from the 3rd to 5th century A.D. will be recounted taking into consideration evidences culled out from several sources, viz., literary, archaeological, epigraphical, numismatic and art and architecture.

KAPISA

**Contents and Sample Pages**