Book review: Krishna Mohan Shrimali,History,Archaeology and Ideology: Essays on Intellectual and Social History of Early India

There are but a handful of scholars of early Indian history today who command a hold over the primary sources, be they literary or epigraphic or visual or archaeological, covering a broad chronology and regional spectrum, and Krishna Mohan Shrimali is surely one of them. The sixteen essays brought together in four broad sections in this volume form a testimony to this. The tributes to the grand old scholars of ancient and early medieval Indian history, D.D. Kosambi, R.S. Sharma and D.N. Jha (Chapters 7–9), brought together in the third section, as well as to Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib and Bipan Chandra, among others, in different sections, truly provides the historiographical framework for Shrimali’s own scholarship. Foregrounding the Mode of Production (MOP) analytical frame, which finds a place in the appreciation of Sharma’s work and in a separate essay in this section, he eschews the fashionable terminology of ‘elite’, ‘hierarchy’ or ‘status’ in place of ‘class’ and ‘surplus’. The Feudalism debate in the Indian context is considered especially important to explicate the MOP. Rejecting unsubstantiated theories of free peasantry, Shrimali highlights the subjection of the peasantry crucial to agrarian production, which was the mainstay of the ancient economy as revealed by numerous sources. Discussing colonialism as a MOP, related to the transition to the modern period, caste-based production, imperialism and neo-imperialism are also brought in to contest the idea that historical materialist interpretations were reductive or merely presented monolithic structures (Chapter 10).

The presence of slaves in ancient India, as evinced in the references to primarily domestic slavery, did not suggest a slave MOP, although small but significant evidence of slaves in agricultural and craft production has come down to us. These and other issues form part of the masterly discussion in the chapter on ‘Dāsa-Dāsī and Dāsyatā in Early India’ (Chapter 11). The hypothesis of state-controlled labour and production in the Harappan civilisation has been suggested, but without a decipherment of the Harappan script, this must remain in the speculative realm. It is towards the end of the second millennium bc, in the later portions of the Ṛgveda and the Atharva Veda that the term dāsa in the sense of one performing servile domestic labour occurs. The later Vedic and post-Vedic societies witnessed complex social stratification, in which wage earners, hired labour/kammakāras and dāsa as slave labour definitely appeared. It is especially in the ‘early historic millennium’ (c. 500 BC–500 ad) that slavery as a form of differentiated and institutionalised labour makes its appearance and enslavement through birth and other mechanisms becomes visible. The nature of free labour in a society where the wedges between the upper classes and castes and those whose products of labour are appropriated are illumined through various references in Buddhist, Jaina and Brahmanical texts. Forced labour as a conceptual category is seen as an added meaning to the late Ṛgvedic term viṣṭi only in this period, prominently employed in the text exemplar on political economy, the Arthaśāstra. The ‘threshold times’ (4th–6th centuries ad) saw the growth of the institution, but it is from the early medieval period that slavery as an institutionalised form of labour extraction finds conspicuously visible traction in epigraphic records. From Vakataka to Maitraka, Chera, Chola and Chaulukya inscriptions, the range of the discussion of contextual analysis of terms is truly staggering.

The fourth section of the book raises fundamental questions related to social history, especially in the context of modern terminology employed in the study of premodern pasts. For instance, what are the terms to be used for those forced to serve in agricultural production, and how do we differentiate among these; what were the regional and temporal variations related to productive activities; what were the media and networks of exchange in different contexts (Chapter 12)? Particularly important is the rejection of sectarian labelling in art, the questioning of dynastic determinism of style and the interrogation of classicism or of the Sanskritic distinction between deśī/local and mārga/‘path’ (Chapter 13). Similarly, how do we understand urban presence and urbanism, given the range of named settlements mentioned in Pali texts (Chapter 14)?

The first section has two themes, with heritage management sitting awkwardly beside intellectual history. There are two essays each on the respective themes. It is the first two essays that once again bring that vast sweep and historical framing one expects from Shrimali. What were the intellectual roots of reason and rationality in India; what were the positions that were predicated on reason and the points of contention; to what extent did gender and caste play a role in upholding/undermining rationality; was dissent fundamental to reason (Chapter 1)? The great variety of sources cited in this chapter admirably brings out the tapestry of reason in Indian intellectual traditions. The next chapter on the transmission of knowledge in early India brings to the fore the role of memory and institutions within the Brahmanical and heterodox traditions, while also drawing attention to social biases and restrictions on knowledge acquisition (Chapter 2). One, however, misses here any reference to medical and other branches of scientific knowledge, or anthropological studies, the author focusing rather on religious institutions that use conventional methods of learning and ethnographic studies on artisanal techniques and knowledge. Shrimali critically examines etymology and cultural connotations, museum projects and sectarian and political influences in the projection of heritage. The two chapters forming the second section draw attention to the challenges before archaeologists and historians in the light of sectarian and political pressures.

Often acerbic, at times pedantic, Shrimali’s scholarship, as reflected in the essays presented at various points in time and collected here, may be criticised for some minor drawbacks, for example, unnecessary repetitions and even shadow-boxing, which draws attention away from his core arguments. For a serious reader, these are, however, not a hindrance, and the book will long retain its value for researchers and those interested in unravelling themes, methods and interpretive frameworks that throw such bright yet nuanced light on early India.