Indian Antiquary Vol 62

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 263

DECEMBER, 1933]
GEOGRAPHICAL FACTORS IN INDIAN ARCHEOLOGY
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D. PENINSULAR INDIA. Though evidence of a definite chalcolithic culture is wanting in the Peninsula, remains of the Stone Ages and of a 'megalithic' culture are abundant. Palæolithic artifacts of early types and mostly of quartzite occur plentifully on and in the laterite of the Pālār plain behind Madras, and scattered over the Deccan plateau south of the Kistnā ; elsewhere the finds are not so numerous, possibly because they have not been looked for, but the distribution is wide. Neolithic celts of ordinary types are common in the uplands, especially around Bellary, and are also found in the plains, and the 'shouldered' type, characteristic of Malaya, have been found in the Godavari Agency and in Singhbhūm. "Pygmy' flints occur in Sind, Gujarāt, Bundelkhand and elsewhere. But in the present state of knowledge no inference can safely be drawn from these distributions (Fig. 14) of types so standardized.
The 'megalithio' culture, on the other hand, is more specialised, and cultural areas are well defined. Dolmens, kistvaens and stone circles are found all over the Deccan plateau from Nagpur almost to the Nilgiris and in the plains behind Madras. A rather different culture is found in the Nilgiris themselves. In Malabar the graves take the form of rockhewn tombs. Around Madras clay coffins are in fashion, in Tinnevelly urn burials. The grave furniture suggests that all these cultures are connected, and associated coin finds in N. Mysore and elsewhere indicate that the culture was in full swing at the beginning of the Christian era (Fig. 13).
So much for prehistory. The history of the Peninsula dawns with the edicts of Asoka at Girnăr and Sopārā in the Bombay Presidency, Jaugada in Ganjām and at four sites on or south of the Kistna (Maski, Kopbal, Siddhapura and Yerragudi). This distribution (Fig. 10) * suggests routes which follow the 'Z' pattern of other cultural distributions.
Gujarat is traditionally regarded as 'southern', though all but a little of it lies north of the Narbadā. Historically it is associated with Rajputānā, Mālwa and the Deccan. At Girnăr, in KĀthiāwār, are records of Asoka, of the Satrap Rudradāman and of Skanda Gupta. The Andhras, too, held part of it for a time. The coins of the earlier satraps bear legends in Greek, Kharosthi and Brāhmi script (all on the same coin), the Greek being used for transliterating Indian words. Cashtana's successors dropped Kharosthi, and their Greek degenerated into illegibility. These types the Guptas copied for their western provinces, substituting Hindu for Buddhist symbols. Gupta art did not reach so far.
Medieval Gujarăt conformed to the Northern Style', but enriched it with the most exquisite carving in stone. The passion for decoration, which transformed the severe traditions of Mauryan and Kushān into the exuberance of Sáñchi and Amarāvati, in Gujarat attained its highest expression, and had lost none of its vitality when Islām took possession. It is to this that the Muslim art of Gujarat owes its peculiarly Indian charm.
In the rest of S. India, there are five main cultural areas answering to the five chief lan. guages, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Kanarese and Malayālam.
1. In the Marathā country the early satraps and their successors, the Andhras, left something more than their signatures in the caves of Nāsik and Kārli. They transplanted there the tradition of Sāñchi and all that lay behind it, a tradition which inspired the sculpture and painting of Ajanta, till the Călukyas established their sway over the greater part of the Deccan and transferred the centre of Deccani life across the Dravidian border to Bādāmi. Centuries later, the Yādavas of Mahārāştra broke away from Kanarese rule, renewed contact with the North and dotted the lava plains with curvilinear towers.
2. As above noted, the Telugu Andhras' hold on Paithan placed them in touch with Sāñchi. In the Telugu country proper their capital was at or near Amarāvati on the Kistnā. Amaravati became a Buddhist centre probably in the second century B.C., and Buddhism