Urbanization in Rajasthan (c. 600-1000 CE)

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Differing radically from the much projected postulation that c. 600-1000 CE was a period of urban decline, the present study reveals the synchronization of the phenomenal rise of Rajasthan on the Indian political scene with dynamic forces of urbanization, engendered by interactive economic, political and socio- cultural urban processes of transition, on the basis of the rich extant temple remains, epigraphs of the Capa, Guhila and Pratihāra rulers, religious endowments, coins, the Jaina Prakrit and Sanskrit works, brahmanical texts and Arab accounts.

The operation of catalytic urban forces in the modes of production, evidenced by extensive local and inter-regional trade in prestigious as well as everyday commodities, foreign trade, craft specialization, advanced araghatta irrigational technique, agricultural surplus, widespread usage of coined money not only by the elite but also non-elite classes and women, stands emphasized by presentation of factual data in lucid tabulated form. Their dynamic interaction with contemporary polity, social formations, material life and cultural ethos, as reflected in the growth of multi-functional urban centres, urban administration and widening of resource base, vertical as well as spatial social mobility, esteemed status of artisans, sculptors and traders; new patterns in temple patronage, artistic and architectural vitality, syncretistic outlook, materialistic ethos, secular culture, scientific achievements and literary creativity, stands duly highlighted.

Dr. Shanta Rani Sharma, Retd. Associate Professor, Department of History, Dyal Singh College, University of Delhi, holding a first class in M. A. and Ph.D. from the University of Delhi, has the research monographs entitled Society and Culture in Rajasthan, c. AD 700-900 and Origin and Rise of the Imperial Pratihāras of Rajasthan: Transitions, Trajectories and Historical Change and several research articles published in reputed journals to her credit.

The focus of the work is on the study of urbanization in Rajasthan between c. 600 CE to 1000 CE. Recent explorations into the nature of urbanism in different parts of the world, by specialists in different disciplines, such as economics, sociology, architecture, political science, geography and anthropology, have unveiled myriad dimensions of the urban phenomenon. Diverse facets of Indian urbanization have also received considerable attention from Indian as well as western scholars in recent years. A comprehensive historical analysis of the remarkable multi-dimensional features of urbanization in Rajasthan during the period 600-1000 CE has however remained a desideratum.

Dasharatha Sharma's monumental Rajasthan through the Ages took cognizance of the existence of towns, trade and guilds during the period. But the wider scope of the work naturally precluded a detailed analysis of the urban aspects. K.C. Jain listed several settlements in Rajasthan as early cities and towns, post Gupta towns and early medieval towns in the Ancient Cities and Towns in Rajasthan. There is lack of identification of urban characteristics and the operative urban forces of change. R.S. Sharma, who did not attach much credence to the evidence of the contemporary Prakrit sources, postulated in his Urban Decay in India that there was a phase of urban decline in Rajasthan, as in other parts of India, drawing attention to the evidence of decline at the excavated sites at Noh, Rang Mahal and Rairh. He did not take the emergence of new settlements distinguished by their urban characteristics into consideration. B.D. Chattopadhyaya, in The Making of Early Medieval India, took note of the presence of markets and merchants in early medieval Rajasthan, but posited that the first phase of this urbanization was characterized by the proliferation of local centres of exchange situated within the domains of emergent Rajput lineages, spatial contexts of which were agrarian, and that it was the second phase, from eleventh to twelfth centuries, which witnessed the establishment of wide intraregional and interregional networks by local merchant lineages. It is to be noted that Chattopadhyaya has not undertaken an integrated study of the operative urban processes in Rajasthan. His work on Rajasthan has remained restricted to a few articles, and he has not taken full cognizance of the epigraphic and archaeological evidences, or the valuable Jaina literature, pertaining to the initial centuries of early medieval Rajasthan.