Prehistoric Maharashtra

The Hunter-gatherers
Some two or three hundred millennia ago, in the Lower Palaeolithic period, early man wandered through Maharashtra, as her did through other parts of the country. Small groups of people, organised into bands of 20 or 30, occupied the valleys of the Ghod, Bhima, Pravara, Godavari and Wainganga rivers. They led a nomadic existence, and subsisted on wild game, fruit and plants. They forged tools of stone, mostly of basaltic trap, which was abundant in the form of pebbles along the riverbanks. Their basic tool kit consisted of the handaxe, an all-purpose tool for cutting and digging, cleavers for scraping hides, and choppers. They may have used wooden sticks, sharpening the ends into points, for hunting. They hunted animals such as the wild elephant and the wild bull, fossil remains of which have been found at Nevasa (Ahmednagar District) and in large numbers at Dhanegaon on the Manjra, a tributary of the Godavari in Osmanabad district.

The climate then was more arid than it is today and the rivers were shallow; the Pravara, near Nevasa, flowed at a level ten to 20 m. higher than at present. The riverbed was comprised of pebbles. Later, some one hundred and fifty millennia ago, the beds of the rivers such as the Pravara, Godavari, and Krishna began to deepen because the climate had become humid and the rainfall had increased by approximately 30 per cent.

Nearly one hundred millennia ago, during the Middle Palaeolithic period, people began to develop smaller tools, comprising a variety of scrapers and points. These were made of fine-grained materials, such as chert and jasper, both of which are found throughout Maharashtra. Still smaller tools were used in the Upper Palaeolithic period 25,000 years ago. They consisted of blade and flake tools, mostly of silicaceous stones like chalcedony. An entire range of these tools has been discovered in the excavations at Patne near Chalisgaon (Jalgaon district). It was during this time that man discovered the technique of fishing. The climate was again becoming arid and the rivers shallow. In the Konkan Region, the sea began to recede, which resulted in the emergence of a large land mass, This perhaps is the scientific basis of the Puranic legend according to which Parshurama is supposed to have pushed back the sea along the western coast.

Once again, some 16,000 years ago, a wet phase set in, and with it began the Mesolithic age. Because of the resultant increase in heavy vegetation, the black soil characteristic of Maharashtra was formed. With abundant flora and fauna, subsistence became easier and, consequently, the population increased considerably. This is evident from the presence of numerous Mesolithic sites littered with blade tools of chalcedony made by the race. Mesolithic man hunted small game, assisted by a domesticated dog. It is also likely that the harvesting of wild grains led to a seasonally settled lifestyle.

The First Farmers
The tremendous increase in population during the Mesolithic period probably led to agricultural development. With more people subsisting on the resources available in a given area, it must have become necessary to increase food supply by artificial means; this could be achieved only by farming. Man must have observed how seeds fallen on the ground sprouted in the next season - he only had to copy nature. The cultivation of cereals began in Maharashtra some 4,000 years ago, if evidence from the Tapi valley is any indication. By 1700 BC, early farming communities of Malwa migrated not only to Khandesh, but also reached the Godavari and Bhima valleys. A heavy concentration of early farming settlements occurred in the Tapi valley; it was less intense in the Pravara-Godavari valleys and quite sporadic in the Bhima valley. A vast majority of these were small, self-sufficient villages with a population of about 100-200 people and in each area there was a large regional centre: Prakash in the Tapi valley (Dhulia district), Daimabad in the Godavari valley (Ahmednagar district) and Inamgaon in the Bhima valley (Pune district). Each of these appears to have supported a population of over 1,000 people.

In the middle of the second millennium (1500) BC, a new culture, named after Jorwe, the site in Ahmednagar district where it was first found, flourished in Maharashtra. As in the preceding culture, it was characterised by a distinct type of painted pottery, a blade-flake industry of chalcedony, as well as tools and ornaments of copper. However, due to the scarcity of the metal, copper was used sparingly. These people colonised almost the entire region of Maharashtra, with the exception of the coastal strip of Konkan and certain parts of Vidarbha. Their mixed economy was based on agriculture, stock-raising, hunting and fishing. They cultivated a variety of crops, including cereals. They practised crop rotation because it gave them the facility of irrigation - clear evidence of that has been unearthed at Inamgaon, near Pune.

The people of Jorwe lived in large rectangular houses with wattle and daub walls and thatched roofs. They stored grain in bins and pit silos, cooked food in two armed chulas (hearths) inside the house and roasted animals in a large fire pit in the courtyard. They worshipped a mother goddess associated with fertility and another headless deity, who was probably connected with the welfare of children. They believed in life after death, and therefore interred the dead inside the house under the floor. Children were buried in two urns that were joined mouth-to-mouth and set horizontally in the pit, while adults were placed in a supine position with the head towards the North. Before the ceremonial burial, the feet were chopped off, possibly because of the fear of the dead turning into ghosts.

Around 1200 BC, the Chalcolithic people organised themselves into chiefdoms. The house of a ruling chief was discovered at Inamgaon. By its side was the public granary, where the grain collected by him as tax was stored as provision for lean years. The chief was also required to organise labour for such public works as digging moats and erecting defence walls. He also supervised the building of embankments and canals for irrigation (as at Inamgaon) and to control distribution of water to fields.

These early farming communities flourished for a millennium but, by c.1000 BC, we find that agricultural activity stopped. The reason for this was a drastic change in the climate, which became increasingly arid, and a sharp decrease in rainfall, which led to large-scale desertion of Chalcolithic settlements in the Tapi and Pravara-Godavari valleys. The people in the Bhima valley continued to survive, but under very inhospitable conditions. Their poverty is reflected in their small round huts and coarse pottery. There was a marked decline in agricultural production and people had to rely more on hunting. As their plight worsened, people resorted to sheep and goat herding and consequently began to lead a semi-nomadic existence. But by 700 BC they, too, had to desert their habitations.

Megalithic Horsemen
In Maharashtra, the Megalithic culture flourished from c.1000 to 500 BC. The horsemen from southern Deccan were partly responsible for driving away poor Chalcolithic farmers. They could accomplish this expediently because of their superior weapons of iron and their fast-moving horses. Although they flourished all over South India, in Maharashtra their settlements were located mainly in the Vidarbha region, particularly around Nagpur. They buried their dead ceremonially and erected huge stones in a circular fashion around the burial areas (hence 'Megalith'). The corpse was decked with jewels and even the horse, fully ornamented, was buried with its master. A number of iron tools and weapons were deposited in the burial pit.


First Urbanisation
The Iron Age, C.500 BC, was the precursor of urbanisation. The iron plough made cultivation of black cotton soil possible. The exploitation of iron, increased agricultural production and the development of arts and crafts, led to the formation of an exchange network with neighbouring regions. Already, in the time of the Buddha, Sopara, Near Bombay (Ancient Shurparaka), was becoming an important port and a gateway settlement. Whether Sopara was the Ophir of the Old Testament or not, there is little doubt that it was as important for commerce as Mumbai is today. Perhaps this induced Ashoka to install his edicts there.

One of the 16 great republics (Mahajanapadas), Ashmaka (the region around Ahmednagar and Aurangabad districts), was prospering in Maharashtra and, possibly at the same time, Tagara (Ter in Osmanabad district) was becoming a city state. With the inclusion of Maharashtra in the Mauryan empire, communication with North India increased. Two main trade routes connected Maharashtra with North India. One linked Sopara to Ujjain via Nasik, Pitalkhora, Ajanta and Maheshwar; the other joined Paithan, the capital city, to Ujjain, through Aurangabad, Bhokardhan, Ajanta, Ghatotkach and Maheshwar.

Within Maharashtra, the location of early rock-cut caves situated along ancient roads provides a fair idea of trade routes. Thus, the road from Paithan to Kolhapur can be traced through Nevasa, Junnar, Shelarwadi, Shirwal and Karad. Similarly, from Sopara, the coastal route to Kolhapur ran through Kalyan, Mahad, Khed and Karad.