Trade and cities in the post-Mauryan period

 Complete information about the post-Mauryan period

The Mauryan Empire completely collapsed in 185 BC. Many foreign powers (Sakas, Kushanas etc.) and native descendants (Shunga dynasty, Kanva dynasty, Satavahana dynasty, Pandya dynasty, Chola dynasty and Chera dynasty etc.) established their respective kingdoms in the country. The period of influence of Shakas, Kushanas, Satavahanas from about 200 BC to 200 AD, on the other hand the period of influence of the first Tamil kingdoms is about It continued from 100 AD to 350 AD. In Indian history, although the post-Mauryan period is not considered more important in terms of tying the whole country in the thread of political unity, but its study is very important from the point of view of art, craft, trade, literature and cultural progress.

Handicrafts, mining and metallurgy in the post-Mauryan period

There was an extraordinary development of arts and crafts during the post-Mauryan period. In the texts of the post-Mauryan period, we do not get the mention of such types of craftsmen as in the earlier texts. For example, only 24 occupations are mentioned in the Prang Maurya periodical text Dighanikaya, and according to the post-Mauryan Buddhist text Mahavastu (probably composed in the second century BCE), there lived 36 types of craftsmen doing different occupations in Rajgir (or Rajgriha city). Similarly Milindapanho (orOf the 75 different professions mentioned in Milid's question, 60 are related to different types of crafts. The major occupations in these are – gold, silver, lead, tin, copper, brass, iron, zinc, red numbers, ivory, work of pearls or precious stones etc. In literary sources, the mention of craftsmen mostly comes with cities, but it is clear from some excavations that they also lived in villages. Carpenters, blacksmiths, goldsmiths, potters, etc. lived in different tolas in one village of Karimnagar in Telangana, and agriculturalists and other laborers lived at another end of the village. The mention of various metals shows that at that time the country had made a lot of progress in mining and metallurgical industry.

Categories

During this period the craftsmen organized themselves into different categories. Mention of categories of craftsmen is found in inscriptions received from Mathura and West Deccan regions. His main center was a city called Govardhan in the western Deccan. Craftsmen used to deposit their savings with these categories and also took loans from them when needed. The craftsmen used to deposit money with these categories for giving donations to Buddhist monks and Brahmins, clothes, food and other food items. categories only Used to increase production by putting the savings of craftsmen in industries. These categories also played a role in providing prestige, respect and security to their members in the society. Each category had its own tag, seal and ensign. On the basis of various literary sources, it can be said that there were at least 24 craft categories of artisans at that time.

foreign trade

The most important economic event of the post-Mauryan period was the flourishing trade between India and the Eastern Roman Empire. In the beginning, a large part of this trade was done by land route, but from the first century BC, due to the operation of Shakas, Parthians and Kushans, put obstacles in the trade through land route. Although the Parthians of Iran imported iron and steel from India, He obstructed the Indian trade with the countries of the far west of Iran. But from the first century AD, Indian trade was mainly done by sea route. In the 1st century AD, a Greek navigator named Hippalas informed about the monsoon winds blowing in the Arabian Sea, which could travel through the Arabian Sea and thus the difference between the ports of India and West Asia was reduced. Now traders can easily access various ports such as those located on the west coast of India. They could anchor at Bharuch and Sopara and Arikamedu and Tamra Lipti on its eastern bank. From the point of view of commercial activities in all these Indian ports, Bharuch seems to be very important and progressive. Not only the goods produced in the Satavahana kingdom, but also those produced in the Shaka and Kushan kingdoms were brought there. Traders from the Shaka and Kushan states Two routes were used to reach the beach. Those two routes used to meet at Taxila.

urbanization

The increasing use of crafts, trade, commerce and currency, developing in the post Mauryan period, contributed to the development of innumerable cities and increasing their prosperity during this period. All the important cities of North India like Pataliputra, Vaishali, Varanasi, Kaushambi, Shravasti, Hastinapur, Mathura, Indraprastha (Old Fort of New Delhi) etc. find mention in the then literary texts. The existence of these cities is also confirmed by the descriptions of Chinese travelers (Hwan Tsang, Fahien, Itsing). Most of these cities flourished in the Kushan era in the first second century AD. The fine buildings of the Kushan period found in the excavations confirm that there are many sites in the state of Bihar like Mason. (Ghazipur) Chirand, Sonpur and Buxar and Ghazipur in eastern Uttar Pradesh were very prosperous cities during the Kushan period. Of these, the city of Chirand was probably the most prosperous because there have been found excellent houses made of baked bricks. Historians have described them as Kushan period. Similarly, in Uttar Pradesh, Sohgaura, Bhita, Atranji Khera, Meerut, Mathura and Muzaffar towns were on the rise.