Chapter 4: New Beginnings: Cities and States
A thousand years after the Harappan cities faded, India's cities rose again. In this chapter we explore the Second Urbanisation, the janapadas and the 16 mahājanapadas, early assemblies and republics, iron and the first coins, the varṇa–jāti system, and the great routes that joined north and south into one interconnected land.
In this chapter you will
- explain the Second Urbanisation
- describe janapadas, mahājanapadas and their governance
- explain the role of iron, coins and new ideas
- describe the varṇa–jāti system and developments across India
Topics
- The Second Urbanisation: Janapadas and Mahājanapadas NCERT 4.1
After the Harappan decline, cities rose again in the 1st millennium BCE: the Second Urbanisation.
- Early Democratic Traditions NCERT 4.2
Janapada assemblies (sabhā, samiti) advised the rājā.
- More Innovations: Ideas, Iron and Coins NCERT 4.3
New schools of thought spread across India along with travelling monks and pilgrims.
- The Varṇa–Jāti System NCERT 4.4
Jātis were occupational communities; varṇa had four categories from Vedic texts.
- Developments Elsewhere in India NCERT 4.5
The Uttarāpatha and Dakṣhiṇāpatha connected north, east, west and south.
Key words
- Janapada
- an early territory where a people settled, led by a rājā
- Mahājanapada
- one of the 16 large states of the 1st millennium BCE
- Gaṇa / saṅgha
- a state where the assembly chose the ruler; an early republic
- Moat
- a water-filled ditch around a fortified city
- Punch-marked coin
- India's first coins, of silver stamped with symbols
- Jāti
- a community tied to an occupation
- Varṇa
- one of four categories from Vedic texts
Summary
- After the Harappan decline, the Second Urbanisation began in the Ganga plains in the 1st millennium BCE.
- Janapadas grew into 16 mahājanapadas; most were monarchies, but Vajji and Malla were early republics.
- Iron, punch-marked coins and new schools of thought brought deep change; the varṇa–jāti system later grew rigid.
- Great routes joined India; southern kingdoms rose; by 300 BCE the subcontinent was interconnected.