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Department of History, Pondicherry University

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Understanding the cultural transition from Iron Age to

Early Historic in South India, particularly in the region south of
Deccan comprising the present states of southern Karnataka,
Kerala, southern Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, is one of the
difficult tasks in the field of archaeology. The available
archaeological material suggests the existence of certain
amount of cultural uniformity. But, drawing a chronological
demarcation line between Iron Age and Early Historic has
become a complex issue. The beginning of Iron Age as well as
Early Historic is generally determined by the presence of a
specific cultural element namely iron in the case of Iron Age
and Brahmi script as a written document in the case of Early
Historic. Irrespective of the literary source, the epigraphical
data plays a decisive role in determining beginning of Early
Historic period. In general, the introduction of iron and the
availability of black-and-red ware generally are taken as the
beginning of Iron Age. The occurrences of iron are not uniform
throughout the south Indian cultural landscape. For instance,
the study area provides certain palaeographic peculiarities of
Brahmi script as one witnessed at Bhattiprolu and in cave
inscriptions of Tamil Nadu. The Sri Lankan linguistic
peculiarities also reflected in south Indian Brahmi script. The
non-availability of absolute radiometric dates to identify the
introduction of iron, black-red-ware and Brahmi script in south
2 K.Rajan

Indian cultural context eluded the scholars for long. The recent
radiometric dates obtained from specific stratigraphical
position help us to understand the chronological context of
these three important cultural elements.

The cultural transformation in a particular region covers

a wider chronological phase and it is unwise to expect
uniformity in its cultural expression throughout the landscape.
The transformation was achieved by the process of
acculturation that is more visible in an area of attraction and
less in certain pockets which can be labelled as areas of limited
attraction. These acculturation processes could be seen in
social, economic, political and religious domains with different
degrees of penetration. Thus, understanding the emergence of
Early Historic South India is a fascinating and a complex
affair.

The present evidence demonstrates that the emergence

of Early Historic period is not uniform throughout South India
and this is perhaps due to varied ecological settings. The
beginning of Early Historic south India is still a matter of
debate. The historians, linguistics, epigraphists, numismatics
and archaeologists are trying to draw their conclusion based on
data retrieved from their own source of study. The diverse and
complex primary sources still prevent the scholars to come to a
definite date for the beginning of Early Historic.

In general, the availability of the deciphered written

document is considered as the beginning of historical period. In
that sense, based on the Brahmi inscription of Asokan times,
3 Iron Age – Early Historic Transition in South India

3rd century BCE is considered as the beginning of Early

Historic period in south India. Therefore, the date of
introduction of Brahmi script is very crucial to understand the
beginning of Early Historic in South India. The historical
inputs extracted from these Brahmi inscriptions engraved on
stones, relic caskets, coins and inscribed potsherds are
considered as a chronological anchor. Due to over-emphasis on
a particular class of evidence, i.e., Brahmi script here, all other
social parameters like the usage of coins, formation of trade
routes, the size of the settlement, the formulation of various
clan groups, the emergence of state and so on so forth are not
seriously engaged. These parameters did not emerge as one
time cultural package within a short time span but developed
and evolved over a longer period as a social product. The
cultural traits formed during Neolithic-Chalcolithic and Iron
Age regime could be considered as a gestation period. The
remarkable developments that had taken place in different
spheres of the society during previous cultural phase
culminated into the Early Historic. Therefore, it is necessary to
study closely the cultures of a region that existed prior to Early
Historic to understand the real foundation of Early Historic.

In south India, the culture that precedes the Early

Historic is designated with different terms like proto-historic
culture or Black-and-Red ware culture or Megalithic culture or
Iron Age culture (Fig. 1). Among them, the labelling of
megalithic culture is the common feature in south Indian
cultural context. The term megalithic culture purely denotes a
type of mortuary practice prevailed in this region prior to Early
Historic and to larger extant followed in the Early Historic
4 K.Rajan

times. Understanding this culture in a given cultural context is

a crucial to understand the various cultural processes that had
taken place in different segments of the society.

The term “megalithic” as applied to a particular type of

burial complex is not only a misnomer but also stands as an
inadequate term to define a comprehensive and complex
sepulchral monuments that are found in different ecological
zones. Majority of the monuments are labelled and the cultural
identity of these monuments is established based on surface
indicators. There is a vast difference, both in content and in
chronology, exists in the sub-surface features of identical
graves. For instance, the surface features of the majority of
graves identified at Kodumanal, Porunthal and Thandikudi are
cairn circles. But, the excavations demonstrated that these cairn
circles entombed pit burial, urn burial, simple cist, transepted
cist, transepted cist with one or two subsidiary cists and double
cists (Fig. 2-6). Besides architectural variety, the graves also
differ significantly both in content and chronology. Thus, the
vague definition of megalithic and loose application have
compounded the difficulties involved in studying these burials.
It is just a system of burying the dead that followed in different
cultural contexts. It has been practiced with same intensity
during the Iron Age, Early Historic period and even today in
certain packets of the country. For instance, the occurrence of
inscribed potsherds with Brahmi script from a transepted cist
found at Kodumanal (Subbarayalu 2008:209-249) and
Porunthal (Rajan 2009:109-115; Rajan et.al 2014:62-85) and
from an urn burial at Marungur are the finest indicators of its
continuity in Early Historic times (Fig. 7). The survival of this
5 Iron Age – Early Historic Transition in South India

mortuary practice for more than a millennium in different

social and environmental contexts need not be designated or
restricted with a simple term as megalithic. First, we need to
differentiate the Iron Age megalithic monuments from the
Early Historic megalithic monuments. Then, we need to
differentiate early, middle and late Iron Age megalithic
monuments too. A number of questions related to Iron Age still
remains unanswered. In majority of the cases, the burial system
does express homogenous cultural traits like black-and-red
ware and iron objects. It is believed, exclusively based on the
grave goods collected from different mode of burials, that it
shows a homogenous culture. In fact, it does not show such
things if compared the habitation material with grave goods
obtained from the same habitation-cum-burial sites. For
instance, the habitation-cum-burial site at Kodumanal provided
a good picture on the nature of habitation and the burials. This
site was excavated in seven seasons in which 17 burials in the
graveyard and 61 trenches in the habitation were opened. A
Tamil-Brahmi inscribed potsherd, beads of carnelian and agate,
few pieces of russet coated painted ware and black-and-red
ware collected from graves are identical to the one found in
habitation. Besides the above repertoire, the habitation met
with innumerable cultural objects which demonstrated various
dimensions of the society. The furnace and crucibles
demonstrated the technological level of iron, steel and copper
technology (Figs. 8 and 9); graffiti marks and Tamil-Brahmi
inscribed potsherds established their literacy level and
linguistic pattern (Fig. 10); presence of Prakrit words and raw
materials like carnelian, cats’eye, lapis lazuli and agate proved
their external contact; the occurrence of Northern Black
6 K.Rajan

Polished ware (Fig. 11), silver Punch Marked Coins (Fig. 12)
and inscribed potsherds with Sri Lankan influence established
their trade dimension; the availability of beads in different
stages of manufacture attested the bead making technology
(Fig. 13); collection of cotton piece with woven pattern and
large amount of spindle whorls demonstrated the existence of
weaving industry (Rajan 1996:72-86). In all, the habitation
material gave a holistic view of the Early Historic society that
practised megalithism. Such is the case in all four south Indian
states. The multi-faceted and advanced nature of the society in
all spheres of life would not have been realised if graves alone
were opened. It is true, all the material that found in graves
were encountered in the habitation but the material remains
collected in the habitation were not surfaced in the graves. One
has to take note of this situation while studying the excavation
reports. If one studies the grave goods alone, leaving aside the
habitation material, then it would give altogether a different
picture such as nomadic or semi-nomadic way of life as
suggested by Leshnik (Leshnik 1974:247-254). The combined
examination of the material show a well-developed society.
This is the root cause of the problem in the study of Iron Age
or Early Historic culture of South India.

The intriguing factors like availability of commercially

exploitable resources, the level of accessibility to the resources,
the optimum utilization of natural resources and the capacity to
transform the resource to their advantage by adopting a suitable
technology, formation of trade routes, continuous capital
inflow into the market and market mechanism and other such
sustainable factors played a dominant role. The ancient society
7 Iron Age – Early Historic Transition in South India

managed to adapt their life with ease by adopting a suitable

technology or exploitation of natural resources both in potential
agricultural zones and in dry commercial zones. For instance, it
is widely believed that the fertile agricultural zones had played
a dominant role in the social formation when compared with
dry zones. In contrast, certain dry zones articulated their
dominance in all spheres of life through the exploitation of
natural resources like semi-precious stones and iron ores. The
presence of considerable number of Neolithic and Iron Age
sites and later Asokan edicts in gold mine area of Karnataka
could be cited as an example. Likewise, the people living in
costal zones exploited the ocean resource, namely pearl and
chank as one observed at the ancient ports of Korkai and
Alagankulam in the Gulf of Mannar. As stated above, the
capacity to transform the resource to their advantage is the key
to their progress and it constitutes several micro-zones or sub-
cultural zones. Such a situation also witnessed in Deccan. The
Deccan, the ancient Daksinapatha covering south of the
Vindhyas up to the Krishna-Tungabhadra basins, witnessed a
three distinct cultural zones and sub-zones broadly
encompassing the western, eastern and southern. The western
Deccan met with more dominance of Chalcolithic culture and
near or total absence of megalithic tradition. In contrast to this,
the eastern Deccan has the Iron Age culture overlapping the
Chalcolithic culture. In southern Deccan and northern Tamil
Nadu, the Iron Age culture overlaps with the neolithic culture.
In southern Tamil Nadu, the Iron Age culture overlaps with
microlithic culture. Thus, the level of subsistence pattern that
existed at the time of introduction of iron differs at a large
scale. After the introduction of iron, one could witness change
8 K.Rajan

in growth pattern of each cultural zone. Thus, the change in

subsistence pattern or level of transformation differs from
region to region. The lack of region specific and goal oriented
explorations and excavations restricted our understanding of
south Indian Chalcolithic, Neolithic-Chalcolithic, Neolithic,
Iron Age and Early Historic cultures.

Thus, we have to reassess the whole south Indian

megalithic graves keeping these conflicting factors in mind.
Majority of the excavations conducted in South India
concentrated more on graves rather than the habitation that
resulted in giving an entirely different picture of the society. As
stated earlier, the graves were ritual in nature and it was a
single time deposit. Unlike habitation cuttings, the graves did
not produce much stratigraphy. The evolutionary pattern of
various forms of graves could be discerned, if one goes for
large-scale excavation of graves. The slow change in the
mortuary practice and in the placement of grave goods, still,
evades our understanding. Studying, therefore, one group of
material, either from graves or habitation, would not help to
understand this culture. No serious attempt has been made to
understand the composition of the inhabitants of South India
despite the advances made in historical and archaeological
studies in the last fifty years. Lack of written documents is
cited as the reason for this lapse. So, it has to be addressed or
reassessed the nature and potentiality of this culture with the
help of available archaeological material.

Drawing a chronological demarcation line between

these two cultures is still a very complex issue due to poor
9 Iron Age – Early Historic Transition in South India

evidence. The lack of region-specific chronological control led

to generalization of time frame that further aggravated the
problem. The Sri Lankan archaeologists attribute the
emergence of the Early Historic times around 6-5th century
BCE based on the date assigned to Brahmi script found at
Anuradhapura (Deraniyagala 1990: 149-168; Coningham
1996:73-97). The recent seven AMS dates obtained in
association with Tamil-Brahmi script at Porunthal and
Kodumanal also supports the early date (Rajan 2009:109-115;
2013:279-285; 2014:62-85). These radiometric dates
compelled us to have a second look on the beginning of Early
Historic South India. The emerging evidence suggests that the
emergence of Early Historic period in South India could be
assigned to 6th century BCE as of north India. The amount of
data accumulated over two decades slowly tilting the balance
in favour of early claims.

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The generalization of data prevented us to understand

the changing pattern that took place in the period between
introductory and terminal phase of Iron Age. The Early,
Middle and Late Iron Age phases are hardly identified in
cultural material. In the same way, designating a culture based
on one metal over a longer period of time, say over a
millennium, is unwarranted. It is true, the introduction of iron
into the society transformed their subsistence pattern
drastically. However, it is very difficult to accept the view that
this metal holds its sway with same intensity and utility over a
thousand years. The subsequent development that took place
10 K.Rajan

after the introduction of iron like enhanced agricultural

production and craft specialization with associated trade
mechanism would have dominated the society. Therefore,
understanding this culture in a given context is very important
rather than generalising the data based on specific cultural
material. The three important components of this culture are
black-and-red ware, iron and sepulchral monuments. These
three components, both individually and collectively, played a
crucial role in this cultural formation. In majority of the
archaeological reports, these three cultural traits were seen as a
package. The archaeological data was generalised based on
presence of one or two of the above components. These three
components have not been seen independently but they were
observed as a package. This situation led to the creation of
enormous discrepancy in understanding this culture. Even
today, scholars do not have unanimous opinion in designating a
single cultural name. This is perhaps due to its diversity. They
call them as Black-and-Red ware culture, Iron Age culture and
Megalithic culture based on the impact or prominence of one of
the cultural traits namely black-and-red ware, iron or burial
monument. In some of the excavations, the mere presence of
black-and-red ware alone was considered sufficient to call
them as Iron Age culture. For instance, the excavations like
Mangudi (Shetty 2003), Mangadu (Satyamurthy 1992), Perur
(Shetty 2003a), Vallam (Subbarayalu 1985) and
Adichchanallur (Satyamurthy 2007:55-66) could be cited. The
site Mangudi yielded three cultural phases, the excavator
designated them as microlithic, megalithic and Early Historic.
The availability of microlithic tools led them to designate the
first phase as microlithic. The second phase is designated as
11 Iron Age – Early Historic Transition in South India

megalithic merely based on the presence of the black-and-red

ware though the associated megalithic burials were not
reported at that site. The urn burial site Adichchanallur has
been designated as megalithic culture merely based on the
presence of urn burial associated with black-and-red ware (Fig.
14). In fact, several urn burial sites do not carry any massive
lithic appendage as one observes in the cairn circles or stone
circles of northern Tamil Nadu. The graves without any lithic
association, still, did not prevent them in labelling them as
megalithic culture. The introduction of iron or black-and-red
ware is merely a transfer of technology without disturbing the
existing society or replacement/dominance of new incoming
ethic groups is yet to be assessed. For instance, it is believed
that Mauryan incursion, though we get limited Mauryan
material close to Asokan edicts, is one of the major causes for
transformation. The language replacement theory also applied
in certain cases. The availability of Prakrit is quoted for this
theory. One must also keep in mind that the Prakrit language is
generally noticed in official/state records but not in common
public. The later disappearance of Prakrit in south India could
be seen in this background. Likewise, Prakritization process in
association with Budhdhism and Jainism is ignored much but
Sanskritization process associated with Hindusim dominates
the scene in south Indian Early Historic period.

The nature of material exposed in archaeological

stratigraphy and the information embedded in the written
documents or in literary sources, in some cases, differ widely.
This precarious situation created a dichotomy between
archaeologists and historians. The archaeologists are grappling
12 K.Rajan

very much in situating material culture of a particular society,

whereas historians are looking forward for the processes of
change. This process of change is also seen at different levels,
say, tribal society to civil society; pre-state to state; subsistence
economy to market economy; primitive to organised religion;
pastoral to agro-pastoral and agro-pastoral to agro-commercial.
Archaeological, literary, epigraphical, numismatic, linguistic
and religious data obtained from different sources are seen
through the prism of particular concept or theory. This led to
different type of interpretation of an identical set of data. For
instance, at Kodumanal, more than 500 Tamil-Brahmi
inscribed potsherds were collected from the 180 cm cultural
deposit. As per the convention, the total deposit should have
been designated as Early Historic based on the presence of
inscribed potsherds. But, the lower phase of the cultural deposit
is designated as megalithic as it is associated with megalithic
monuments (Subbarayalu 1988; Rajan 1996:72-86) and upper
phase as Early Historic. Even an inscribed potsherd collected
from the megalithic cist did not prevent it in designating this
particular class of data as Early Historic. At this site, the
presence of inscribed potsherd clearly points to the fact that the
burial system was continued and followed in Early Historic.
Based on recent AMS dates, the entire cultural deposit at
Kodumanal is re-designated as Early Historic. This site serves
as a good example to say that the mere presence of huge
megalithic monuments alone is not enough to designate a
culture as megalithic. So, burial system should be considered
as a way of expressing the faith or fear towards the dead which
resulted in the creation of monuments. The different sizes of
monuments and nature of goods that embedded in the graves
13 Iron Age – Early Historic Transition in South India

are related to their economic, social, political and ritual status.

One has to assign name of the culture based on the material
remains obtained from the habitation rather than on the
material exclusively collected from the graves. It seems the
rituals followed in the erection of megalithic monuments were
followed for a long time without much change. The material
life of contemporary society might have changed drastically to
meet the growing needs of the time. One may observe such
scenario in the habitation cuttings. The available data suggests
that it is advisable or preferable to disassociate the burial while
assigning the name to a culture. This would help to interpret
the site logically. According to this prescription, the
Kodumanal habitation material would have been easily
designated as Early Historic rather than megalithic.

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The analysis of earliest iron pieces that encountered in

Old World Civilizations like the one in West Asia, Iran, China,
etc., are mostly meteoritic in origin whereas the one observed
in Indian sub-continent is metallic in nature that demonstrates
the non-existence of technological connectivity. The recent
investigations push the origin of iron in India somewhere
around 1500-1400 BCE or much earlier in heartland and
peninsular India (Tripathi 2008:26). The iron smelting sites
Nala-Ka-Tila, Malhar and Lahuradewa located in the iron rich
mineral zone of Middle Ganga valley in heartland of India
pushes the origin of iron further back around 1800-1700 BCE
(Tewari 2003:536-544; Tewari et.al., 2002:54-62).
14 K.Rajan

The TL dates from Kumaranahalli and Tadahanahalli

placed the iron in south India around 1440-1130 BCE pushing
back from the long held view of 1100 BCE obtained at Hallur.
Based on the C14 dates obtained for the cultural materials found
at Paiyampalli, Arikamedu and Appukallu, the Iron Age culture
of Tamil Nadu was placed somewhere around 700 BCE
assuming that megalithic monuments are associated with Iron
Age. The Paiyampalli dates for the megalithic culture are 640 ±
105 BCE (TF 323) and 380 ± 105 BCE (TF 350) whereas
Appukallu is dated to 300 BCE. The terminal date of 300 BCE
is fixed for the Iron Age on the basis of on the Roman coins
collected from a grave at Chandravalli (Krishna 1942:16); in
the Nilgiris and Coimbatore region (Congrave 1847:92; Sewell
1904: 623) and an Eran struck coin collected from a grave at
Sulur (Beck 1930:166-182). Keeping these dates in mind, Iron
Age in Tamil Nadu was fixed for long time between 700 BCE
and 300 BCE/100 BCE and Early Historic between 300 BCE
and 300 CE ignoring certain important cultural elements.

The recent dates encountered in the excavated sites at

Adichchanallur, Mangadu, Thelunganur, Porunthal and
Kodumanal demanded a fresh look on earlier assumptions. The
recent OSL dates of Adichchanallur are 3670 ± 570 BCE i.e.
1570 BCE and 5750 ± 1200 BCE i.e. 3750 BCE (Satyamurthy
2007: 55-66) for the Iron Age culture. It is well known fact that
Adichchanallur graves are exclusively of urn burials without
any megalithic appendage. However, the presence of iron and
black-and-red ware did not prevent us in comparing these dates
with black-and-red ware of chamber tombs. Irrespective of its
complexity, the dates of Adichchanallur have to be taken
15 Iron Age – Early Historic Transition in South India

seriously as such early date of 2890±70 BP was reported at

Mangadu.

Above all, the metallographic analysis carried out in

2013 on the sword collected from Thelunganur in Mettur taluk
of Salem district throw a fresh light on the origin of high
carbon steel in south India. The metallographic analysis of the
sword and the AMS date obtained from the carbon extracted
from the sword throw interesting information. The AMS date
obtained for the sword is 3089±40 yr BP, which, when
calibrated, places the calendar date between 1438 and 1261
BCE. Irrespective of a solitary date, this date is so significant
in south Indian context both at cultural, chronological and
technical level. At cultural level, an attempt could be made to
understand the origin, evolution and assimilation of various
types of graves as the grave sites located in and around
Thelunganur yielded urn burial, pit burial and chamber tombs,
all placed in a cairn circle. At chronological level, the AMS
date obtained for the sword is the earliest datable object of Iron
Age so far obtained in Tamil Nadu. At technical level, the
sword was made of ultrahigh carbon steel with a controlled
microstructure consisting mostly of particles of iron carbide in
the ferrite background, which is almost free of non-metallic
inclusions. The date within the range of 1438-1261 BCE is
assigned to high carbon steel. The making of high carbon steel
is a highly developed skill which is considered as a
technological advancement made over iron. Therefore, there is
a possibility of getting early dates to the iron as it normally
goes prior to production of steel.
16 K.Rajan

To understand the cultural chronological and

technological significance of this sword, a team of
archaeologists has revisited the site on 23rd and 24th November
2013 to get further information on the nature of the site. The
team could able to identify two graves respectively measuring
3.60 m and 2.70 in diameter and are disturbed at the surface
level by dislocating the huge capstone. The capstone of the first
grave measures 140x80x26 cm and the second measures
145x120x36 cm. In both the graves, the pit was dug at the
centre of the grave to a depth of 65 cm. This oblong pit
measures 83 cm north-south and 62 cm east-west. Two pots
were placed in the northwest corner of the pit. The red pot is
placed facing south and another black-and-red ware pot placed
in a vertical position. Close to these pots, three iron arrow
heads were placed with tip facing north. A skull placed and two
long bones probably a femur are placed in the pit in north-
south orientation with head on the north. The placement of the
skeletal remains suggests that they were secondary burial (Fig.
15). The second grave is also identical to the first but the grave
goods are absent.

The occurrence of large number of Neolithic tools, the

occurrence of pit burials, and the rudimentary nature of the
grave goods suggest that these graves are at the early level of
the Iron Age. The west facing chamber tombs with round
porthole that encountered at Mulakkadu and Mangadu in the
vicinity of Thelunganur suggest that the pit burials observed at
Thelunganur is comparatively earlier to urn burials and
chamber tombs. The Thelunganur sword came from an urn
burial. The AMS date of 3089±40 yr BP (calibrated calendar
17 Iron Age – Early Historic Transition in South India

date falls between 1438 and 1261 BCE) obtained for the sword
well within the acceptable range. The Salem region is known
for iron ore. The present date suggests that steel might have
manufactured in this iron ore bearing region well before 13th
century BCE. Further research, some more AMS dates and
careful analysis would help to consolidate the present findings
on firm ground.

The two AMS dates of 490 BCE (cal. 520 BCE) and
450 BCE (cal. 410 BCE) obtained for the Tamil-Brahmi
inscribed potsherds collected from Porunthal graves go back to
5th century BCE (Rajan 2013:279-285; 2014:62-85; 2014a).
Further, five samples collected at the depth of 15 cm, 60 cm,
65 cm, 85 cm and 120 cm in a well established archaeological
stratigraphy at Kodumanal yielded uncalibrated dates of
200BCE (cal. 200 BCE), 275 BCE (cal. 380 BCE), 300 BCE
(cal. 370 BCE), 330 BCE (cal. 380 BCE) and 408 BCE (cal.
480 BCE). The range of date lies between 200 BCE and 408
BCE assigned to the cultural deposit that falls between 15 cm
and 120 cm (see table). At Kodumanal, the total cultural
deposit that yielding more than 500 Tamil-Brahmi inscribed
potsherds is 185 cm. There is still 65 cm thick cultural deposit
containing inscribed potsherds below this dated level. Based on
above dates and archaeological stratigraphy, one may easily
presume that, though hypothetical, it took an average of 2 years
for the accumulation of 1 cm cultural deposit at Kodumanal.
Thus, the 65 cultural deposit found below the dated material
would have taken another 130 years to accumulate, thereby
taking the earliest deposit to middle of 6th century BCE.
Therefore, there is an every possibility of pushing the date
18 K.Rajan

further back to 5-6th century BCE. Thus, the beginning of Early

Historic in South India goes back to 6th century BCE. The
availability of NBP, Punch Marked coins, a quite number of
personal names in Prakrit and the radiometric dates
encountered in the sites like at Alagankulam, Porunthal, Korkai
and Porunthal clearly suggests the 6th century BCE for the
beginning of Early Historic period in south India. Keeping
these new developments in mind, the cultural period that falls
before 6th century BCE is considered as Iron Age.

Interestingly, the above said dates suggest that even

after entering into the Early Historic times, the practice of
erecting the megalithic monuments continued in the society.
Thus, the megalithic monuments had its origin in pre-Iron Age
times and continued in practice in Iron Age as well as in Early
Historic period. The limited amount of radiometric dates
directly coming from different types of graves is becoming
increasingly problematic in dating different types of burial. In
the same way, as stated above, the basic three components
namely sepulchral architecture, black-and-red ware and iron
are having independent origin and also having a long life than
one anticipated. All these three components were finally
integrated into a single cultural complex at a later date.
Irrespective of these difficulties, the available archaeological
data suggests that the period of their maximum popularity lies
somewhere between 1500 BCE and 500 BCE. The upper limit
is designated based on recent radiometric and OSL dates
obtained at Thelunganur and Adichchanallur respectively. The
lower limit of 500 BCE is assigned based on the discovery of
inscribed memorial stones collected at Pulimankombai and
19 Iron Age – Early Historic Transition in South India

Thathappatti, Tamil-Brahmi inscribed potsherds, NBP, Punch-

Marked coins and personal names in Prakrit language
unearthed from the sites like at Alagankulam, Korkai, Vallam,
Porunthal and Kodumanal.

Further the analysis of the samples collected at Mel-

Siruvalur (Sharada Srinivasan 1994:6) and at Kodumanal
(Sasisekaran 2004:29-30) clearly suggested the production of
steel at both the sites. The crucible furnace found in the Early
Historical level at the depth of 125 cm at Kodumanal is being
dated to 5th century BCE as stated above. The production of
iron and steel becomes crucial in south Indian context. The
antiquity of iron and steel now is relatively established in India.

Thus, the available material evidence suggests that

certain degree of cultural homogeneity is attained during Iron
Age. The usage of black-and-red ware, russet coated ware,
metal implements particularly iron, metal objects of gold,
silver, copper and bronze, beads of semi-precious stones,
graffiti marks and veneration of the dead by raising sepulchral
monuments express their thought structure, belief system and
technological attainment. Irrespective of broad cultural
uniformity, there still exists certain amount of cultural variation
in South India. Such cultural variation could be seen even
today. Leaving aside of these peculiarities confined to certain
micro zones, there is underlying conformity in its cultural
expressions.

Before drawing any conclusion based on the material

that were collected from the graves or based on the types of
20 K.Rajan

burial, one needs to take a through survey of the region and

supported by well planned excavations of habitation mounds.
The arrivals of black-and-red ware, iron and megalithism have
to be studied independently before arriving to a conclusion. So
understanding the cultural transition witnessed in Iron Age-
Early Historic cultural scenario is utmost necessary to
understand the emergence of Early Historic culture in South
India.

7KH HPHUJHQFH RI (DUO\ +LVWRULF

The usage of the term Early Historic in archaeological

context is not uniform and on several occasions it has been
used loosely. There is no unanimity among the archaeologists
in designating a cultural phase as Early Historic. The term
Early Historic is substituted with the terms like Mauryan
culture, Sunga culture, Satavahana culture, etc. with overtones
of political authority rather than social process. In few cases,
the occurrence of potsherd like NBP, rouletted ware (Fig. 16)
or Brahmi inscribed potsherds suffice to designate the culture
as Early Historic. For some, the establishment of the historicity
of the great personalities like Mahavira and Buddha are
sufficient to designate the culture as Early Historic (Dhavalikar
2002). In certain cases, domestic architecture, city planning,
construction of secular and religious monuments, use of
writing, coinage, introduction of Budhdhism or Jainism and
external maritime contacts are considered as the beginning of
Early Historic. The above arguments suggest that there is no
consensus among the archaeologists. As rightly pointed out by
B.D.Chattopadhyaya, historians themselves do not have any
21 Iron Age – Early Historic Transition in South India

consensus either (Chattopadhyaya 2008:3-14). Unlike in the

Deccan or North, the different cultural phases in Tamil Nadu
are designated as Black-and-Red ware, Megalithic, Early
Historic and Historic. It is so fortunate that none of the site in
Tamil Nadu is designated as Chera culture, Pandya culture,
Chola culture or for that matter as Tamil culture. The Sangam
literature is extensively used or corroborated with material
evidences of the excavated or explored sites but none of the
sites designated with a cultural phase called Sangam Age
culture. The broad consensus among the archaeologists of
Tamil Nadu to some extent helped the burden of undoing
certain dynastic or literature oriented terminology.

The evidences embedded in epigraphical, numismatic,

literary and archaeological records clearly points to the
emergence or formation of new social order henceforth
unnoticed in the previous Iron Age culture. The occurrence of
bronze objects, carnelian and agate beads in Iron Age context
well before the traces of NBP and Punch Marked coins suggest
that South India had long distance trade well before the so
called Mauryan incursion in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
Irrespective of this emerging scenario, majority of the sites in
South India have been dated to 3rd century BCE. In the sense,
the whole South India was urbanised in a very short span of
time say within a span of two or three decades, which is quite
unlikely. The reason for assigning all the sites to 3rd century
BCE is with the assumption that the script is introduced in
South India after Asoka. Unless one gets a pre-Asokan
inscription in Deccan, it is unlikely to push the date beyond the
anchor date of 3rd century BCE. It is almost clear now that
22 K.Rajan

Asoka did not develop the Brahmi script. The origin or

evolution of a script is a social process and it could not be
associated with a particular individual or dynasty. The present
mindset is that the pre-Asokan script does not exist in the south
unless one gets it in the north. The one-way southbound
cultural movement is the accepted norm in the archaeological
interpretation. Keeping the historical mindset of this
magnitude, all the archaeological sites irrespective of their
cultural deposit have been dated to 3rd century BCE. Though
several parameters like trade, technology, architecture, political
authority, territorial integrity, urbanisation, etc. are available to
designate a culture as Early Historic, the occurrence of Brahmi
script is considered as the beginning of the Early Historic
period in South India. So the date of Brahmi is crucial in
understanding the context. Therefore, an attempt is made to
throw some light on the various issues involved in
understanding the historicity of the Brahmi script. Although
script alone is taken here, it does not mean that all other
parameters are irrelevant. I am fully aware that all the
categories of evidences are equally important as of script and
all evidences have to be seen as a single component to
understand the past rather than isolating a specific group of
evidences. However, for the purpose of clarity and focus, each
region of south India is taken here for analysis.

$QGKUD 5HJLRQ

The distribution of Asokan edicts in rich mineral zones

at several sites of Karanataka and Andhra Pradesh reflects
more of their economic interest rather than their political
23 Iron Age – Early Historic Transition in South India

control. The near absence of Mauryan antiquities and structures

at the edict sites like Brahmagiri, Siddapura, Jatinga-
Rameswar, Yerragudi, Rajulamandagiri, Sannati, etc suggests
their contact rather than control (Thapar 2004:74). The
evidence of Buddhist sites with pre-Asokan inscriptions and
coins (PMC) in Lower Krishna Valley sites like Bhattiprolu,
Amaravathi-Dharanikota and Vaddamanu suggest spread of
Buddhism even before Asokan times. The presence of edicts in
economically potential zones suggests that these mineral rich
zones were in contact with the north well before the Mauryan
intrusion. The occurrence of agate, carnelian, steatite and
copper objects are suggestive of its contact from the time of
Iron Age. The transformation from Iron Age to Early Historic
is not probably due to the impact of Mauryans alone. The
sudden spurt of Buddhist structures in Andhra region is
probably due to systematic missionary activities that might
have accelerated during the time of Asoka. The external and
internal trade supported with organized missionary activities
served as a stimulus for the growth of urban centres in Andhra
region. The spread of political control of Satavahanas from
upper Krishna valley to lower Krishna valley might be due to
their political interest or economic interest needs to be studied
closely by taking into the consideration of feeder centers of
each economic zones. There are attempts in this direction to
identify the ancient territories like Assaka/Asmaka and
Mulaka. It is believed that janapada like localities existed
before the rise of the Satavahanas in Deccan. The title of rajan
assumed by the local chiefs like Kubiraka and Somaka as
indentified respectively in Bhattiprolu and Vaddamanu
inscriptions and the later Sadas also assuming the title
24 K.Rajan

maharaja as evidenced from Guntupalli and Velpur

inscriptions (Rajendra Prasad 1994:22-25) support this view.
The fair amount of inscribed coins issued by local chieftains
stand as a testimony to this fact. The existence of such
localities could be observed in and around Kotalingala-
Dhulikatta-Peddabankur in mid-Godavari river valley (the
ancient Asmaka/Assaka) and Amaravathi-Dharanikota-
Bhattiporulu-Veddamanu in lower Krishna river valley. The
occurrence of Punch Marked coins, NBP, early Brahmi
inscriptions at Bhattiprolu and other Buddhist sites suggest
their pre-Asokan nature (Sarma 1985:15-16). The Bhattiprolu
inscriptions also record the emergence of literate society (EI
II:323-324). The name of donors encountered in early Brahmi
inscriptions suggests the existence of well-established society
in lower Krishna valley well before the introduction of
Buddhism, Mauryan contact and arrival of Satavahanas. The
arrival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka has to be studied keeping
these factors in mind. The existence of the site well before the
establishment of stupa at Amaravathi is attested with the
occurrence of a group of seventeen urn burials below and near
the north circuit of a minor stupa adjacent to the main stupa
complex (Rea (Rea 1908-09:90-91). The transformation of
agro-pastoral into intensive agrarian as well as agro-
commercial economy might have been more aggressive in
lower Krishna valley than the neighbouring dry zones. The
occurrence of terms nigama and goshthis in association with
elites and chiefs need to be seen in this background. The
intensive agricultural activities might have supported other
religious activities. However, the archaeologists and historians
are carried away by the impact of material and non-material
25 Iron Age – Early Historic Transition in South India

culture. For instance, the impact of Sangam literature has

eluded any meaningful discussion on material culture of Early
Historic times in Tamil Nadu. In Gujarat and Rajasthan,
Harappa culture prevented for any meaningful dialogue on
Early Historic material. In the same way, the impressive
Buddhist monuments prevented constructive dialogue in
Andhra region.

.DUQDWDND 5HJLRQ

The situation in Karnataka is not of much difference to

Andhra region. Mauryan influences were expected in the
material culture in the sites like Sannati, Banavasi, Maski,
Brahmagiri, Kankanahalli, etc., The Asokan edicts, similar to
those of Dhauli edict proclaiming Dhamma, found at Sannati
did not yield any appreciable Mauryan antiquities (Sarma and
Varaprasada Rao 1993:3-25). All other objects like ceramics,
coins and structural remains (Howell et.al 1995) mostly belong
to Satavahanas. The label inscription engraved at the base of a
sculptural panel found at Kanhanahalli mentioning Asoka by
name is not belongs to Asokan times rather it belongs to 2nd
century AD (Thapar 2008:249-262). The Asokan major and
minor edicts, structural remains like stupa, viharas, coins and
other archaeological findings clearly suggest that Mauryan
does not have complete control over the region. Several local
chieftains are known to have exercised their control over the
limited territories.
26 K.Rajan

7DPLO 1DGX 5HJLRQ

Unlike Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, the land south

of Venkatam presents a unique picture. The impact of Mauryan
state is almost absent in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The
occurrence of silver Punch Marked Coins and NBP also
restricted to capital cities, trade centres and port towns thereby
indicating its trade contact rather than their administrative
control. In case of language, the usage of Prakrit is restricted to
trade or religion related items. In Sri Lanka, several hundreds
of Prakrit inscriptions were brought to light, but not even a
single exclusive Prakrit-Brahmi inscription was discovered in
Tamil Nadu. The land sandwiched between Sri Lanka and
Andhra Pradesh maintained a unique language. Further,
majority of the Prakrit-Brahmi inscriptions noticed in
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Sri Lanka were having close
affinity with Buddhism whereas the Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions
of Tamil Nadu had close affinity with Jainism. Besides, there is
a well-established literary tradition namely Sangam literature
in Tamil Nadu and such tradition is absent in other parts. The
Deccan and Andhra regions have a significant number of
epigraphic and numismatic evidences for the Early Historic
period with a conspicuous absence of vernacular literary texts
similar to Sangam literature. Hence, attempts at correlating the
literary evidence with archaeological data have been found to
be more fruitful. Majority of the Early Historic archaeological
sites particularly port sites like Arikamedu, Kaveripattinam,
Alagankulam, Korkai and Pattinam, the capital cities like
Karur, Uraiyur, Tagadur and Madurai, trade centres like
Kodumanal and the other significant sites like Porunthal,
27 Iron Age – Early Historic Transition in South India

Mangudi, Thandikudi, etc., were identified based on literary

data (Fig. 17). Besides, several hundreds of sites yielding Early
Historic material in association with Iron Age material are
documented in Tamil Nadu (Rajan et.al., 2009a). The study of
the settlement pattern suggests that there is closed interaction
between several social groups with different level of
subsistence pattern. It seems each ecological zone emerged as a
distinct productive zone. The study of Sangam literature and
Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions engraved on cave-shelters, Jain
beds, coins, seals, rings and potsherds clearly points to the
existence several social groups as well as lineage groups in
Tamil Nadu during Early Historic times. Majority of social
groups interestingly did not claim any myth origin. At the
initial stage, there was no allegiance to a particular religion too.
The literary, epigraphical and numismatic sources are almost
silent on this aspect. The language of Tamil played a
significant role in unifying these diverse social groups. The
titles like ventar, velir and mannar adorned by the leaders of
certain social groups clearly points to the emergence of new
political order out of the existing social order.

3ROLWLFDO 6LWXDWLRQ

The Early Historic political situation could be discerned

from four major groups of ancient records namely Sangam
texts, 94 Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions including four memorial
stone inscriptions, about 600 Tamil-Brahmi inscribed potsherds
recovered from about 20 archaeological sites and considerable
number of Tamil-Brahmi inscribed coins with king names (Fig.
18). Unlike inscriptions and coins which are very short in
28 K.Rajan

nature, the Sangam literature still dominates the scene to such

an extent that scholars have been generally unwilling to resist
from describing that period as the Sangam Age. Besides
language and linguistic studies, the last five decades of
archaeological, epigraphical and numismatics studies provided
a new dimension to the study of Early Historic. These material
evidences have been compared and incorporated with the fact
embedded in the Sangam anthologies and the dark side of the
political history of Sangam Age got further light. Eṭṭuttokai
(The Eight anthologies) and Pattuppaṭṭu (The Ten Idylls) are
the two major groups of texts included in the corpus of Sangam
literature. Some scholars have included Tolkāppiyam, the
Tamil grammatical treatise, Patiṇeṇkīlkaṇakku, the eighteen
didactical texts, and Cilappatikāram and Maṇimekalai, the two
epics in the Sangam corpus. However, the epics are considered
as post-Caṅkam works. Caṅkam (Sangam) means an academy,
a story first mentioned in the commentary on Iṟaiyaṇār
Akapporuḷ, a grammatical treatise ascribable to 7th or 8th
century AD. Otherwise, the early commentators of
Tolkāppiyam designated them as Caṉṟōr ceyyul, poetry of the
nobles. The medieval poet Kambar named them as Cāṉṟōr
Kavi (Kambarāmāyaṇam III.5.1). There are altogether 2381
poems by 473 poets and 102 poems by anonymous authors,
besides the grammar and 18 minor works (Hart 1975:7).

Several scholars made an attempt to understand the

political situation that prevailed during Early Historic. The first
category of scholars were attempted to write the history
through glorification of Sangam literature. P.T.Srinivasa
Iyangar (1929), K.N.Sivarajapillai (1984) and S.Vaiyapuripillai
29 Iron Age – Early Historic Transition in South India

(1988) could be cited as an example. The second category of

scholars like K.Kailasapathy (1968), K.Sivathamby (1974),
P.Mathaiyan (2004), A.Arumugam (2008) and Rajan Gurukkal
(2010) attempted to view the Sangam through Marxist
spectrum. The third category of scholars like R.Poongundran
(1989), Iravatham Mahadevan (2003), P.Shanmugam (2003)
and Y.Subbarayalu (2008) tried to reconstruct the history based
on archaeological, numismatic and epigraphical sources.
Irrespective of mines of information available to us, there is
still an element of uncertainty lies in several primary sources.
The future discoveries in the field of epigraphy, numismatic
and archaeology may tilt the balance in favour of writing a
formidable history of Early Historic. Keeping these factors in
mind, an attempt is made to understand the political situation
of Early Historic.

The kings/chieftains are referred to variously by their

personal names, family names and honourific titles both in the
poems and colophons leading to certain controversies over
different interpretations and identifications. Irrespective these
lacunae, the poems provide a fair amount of details on political
situation of the contemporary Tamil kingdoms. According to
Kailasapathy (1968) 43 kings and 48 chieftains were found
mentioned in Puṟananūṟu. Of the 138 poems, 27 poems deal
on 18 Chera kings, 74 poems praise 13 Chola kings and 37
poems speak on 12 Pandya kings. Although 43 kings belonging
to the three dynasties are glorified in 138 poems, but hardly
two or three kings from each dynasty were treated well.
Likewise, one of the eight anthologies Patiṟṟuppattu (means
ten tens) also speaks exclusively on Chera dynasty. It is an
30 K.Rajan

anthology of 100 poems being divided into ten sections

(decades) and each section appended with an epilogue
(patikam) narrating the author, the king and his lineage. The
first and last sections were lost and the remaining eight deals
on eight kings in chronological order. Akanāṉūṟu, an anthology
of 400 poems, contains 288 historical allusions. Thus, several
of the Caṅkam literature is dotted with several historical
allusions. The available Tamil-Brahmi cave inscriptions also
supports this view especially the Mangulam, Jambai and
Puhalur inscriptions. Mangulam inscription refers to the
Pandya king Neṭuñceliyaṉ whereas the Puhalur inscription
provides information on three kings in chronological order.
The Jambai inscription speaks on Satiyaputras (Atiyamāṉ of
Takaṭūr) (Mahadevan 2003:115-120). The Asokan Rock Edict
XIII refers to four dynasties namely Cheras, Cholas, Pandyas
and Satiyaputras thereby indicating the existence of dynastic
rule. Though, we do have names of several kings and chieftains
but each one had different level of power and territory. A
cursory look on the existence of various political apparatus and
terms used to denote the level of hierarchy would help to
understand the state formation in Tamil Nadu.
The Sangam poems are broadly categorized into two
namely war poems (Puṟam) and love poems (Akam). The love
poems (akappāṭal) are compiled based on tiṇai concept. The
kuṟuñci (mountainous region), mullai (pastoral zone), marutam
(fertile zone), neital (coastal zone) and pālai (dry zone) are the
five ecological zones and the love poems belong to these zones
(Puṟanāṉūṟu 187). The geographical division of land into five
kinds is unique in the Caṅkam poems, unknown to the Sanskrit
tradition. Interestingly, the caste-system is totally absent in
31 Iron Age – Early Historic Transition in South India

Akam poems whereas the Puṟam poems record certain social

stratification. Like Akam poems, war poems (puṟappāṭal) are
also all brought under five categories namely vetci, vañci,
uḻiñai, tumpai and vākai. The five ecological zones played a
dominant role in their life style and in their productive forces.
The mode of production differs from one ecological zone to
another. For instance, the mountainous people (kuṟuñci) live
basically on hunting and with rudimentary form of agriculture.
The cattle based agro-pastoral life is the main stay of the mullai
zone. The fertile zone (marutam) is known for intensive
agricultural production. The coastal zone people engaged in
fishing and dry zone people led their life on plundering. The
nature of subsistence pattern led to the formation of society of
its own. The expectation of the society on the leadership
quality of a particular zone differs from another. The
availability of natural resource and their ability to transform
these resources to their advantage guided to an uneven
development. The scarcity of the resource also led to frequent
frictions/skirmishes that led to the creation of leadership within
the society. Such leaders of different hierarchical order are
known as kiḻavaṉ (family/clan head), ūraṉ (village head),
maṉṉaṉ (leader/chief), ciṟūrmaṉṉan (chief of lesser
settlements), kuṟunila-maṉṉaṉ (chief of small territory),
mutukuṭi-mannaṉ (chief of ancient clan), vēlir (chief) and
vēntar (king). Thus, the Early Historic is considered as the
stage wherein the hunting-gathering/cattle raising society with
kin-based societal set-up slowly moved to a state society with
private community land holding pattern (Sivathamby
1971:342). The concept of kingship is started of emerging and
32 K.Rajan

the political situation also changes due to social leadership.

This is reflected much in Puṟam poems.

7KH KLVWRULFDO PRRULQJV

The Puṟam poems of Puṟanāṉūṟu provide a vivid

picture on three major kingdoms namely Chera, Pandya and
Chola. The first 86 poems out of 400 are compiled to give
prominence to these three kingdoms. In certain cases, the entire
poems are dedicated to a specific king/dynasty. In the
anthology Patiṟṟu-p-pattu, each ten poems are devoted to
delineate the political activities of a particular Chera king.

The next genre of poems Pattu-p-pāṭṭu provided

exclusive importance to a particular king. For instance, the
Caṅkam text Porunarāṟṟuppaṭai speaks on Chola king
Karikālaṉ. Likewise, Maturaikāñci on Pandya king
Neṭuñceḻliyaṉ, Ciṟupāṇāṟṟupaṭai on a chieftain Nalliya-k-
kōṭaṉ, Perumpāṇāṟṟupaṭai on another chieftain Toṉṭaimāṉ-
Iḷantiraiyaṉ and Malaipaṭukaṭām on Naṉṉaṉcēy-Naṉṉaṉ. Each
poem runs majestically like a mini-epic to provide information
on the political, social and cultural activities of the
contemporary Early Historic period. Thus, the Caṅkam
literature provided good scope to understand the nature of
kingship/state that existed during that time. It is reasonable to
have a broader view on the type of kingship that existed in
Early Historic Tamil Nadu.
33 Iron Age – Early Historic Transition in South India

Kingship

There are several lineage/clan groups attempted to

establish a state by carving a considerable portion of territory
which led to the frequent conflicts. In this act, different levels
of leaders were emerged. The terms like arasaṉ (Puṟanāṉūṟu
17:3, 35:5, 55:10, 73:3, 158:2, 183:7), iṟaivaṉ (Puṟanāṉūṟu
18:26,48:5, 152:19, 316:4), koṟṟavaṉ (Maturaikāñci 74), kō
(Puṟanāṉūṟu 9:8, 17:40, 22:33, 67:11, 141:11, 147:9), kōṉ
(Puṟanāṉūṟu 34:16, 54:1, 374:15), maṉṉaṉ (Puṟanāṉūṟu
26:14, 52:5, 54:9, 186:5, 299:5, 308:4; Akanāṉūṟu 54:1, 67:12,
77:17, 125:21, 188:4, 246:10) and vēntaṉ (Puṟanāṉūṟu 11:7,
Naṟṟiṇai 153:8, Akanāṉūṟu 426:1, Kuṟuntokai 380:1) denote
different level of hierarchical order in which vēntaṉ occupies
the top order. The multiplicity of the terms indicates that the
institution of kingship is just emerging or society learned to
live with different levels of authority. It is necessary to have a
brief understanding the status of each one in the given political
situation.

Ciṟūr-maṉṉar

The Puṟanāṉūṟu (poems 285 to 335) converses

ciṟurmaṉṉar as the clan leaders holding limited
territory/settlement in a rain-fed zone. He never possesses
anything for him rather he holds for the sake of his kinsmen.
Ciṟūr-maṉṉan of Paruttivēli and Karambai (Puṟanaṉūṟu 299;
285) could be cited as example. Dry crops like varaku, koḷ,
tiṇai and avarai are shown as their main productions.
Sometimes they were not in a position to pay the tax (puravu-
34 K.Rajan

vari) (Puṟanaṉūṟu 330:6). They were not quoted with personal

names rather specified with heroic names. Cattle raising, cattle
raiding and cattle retrieving are considered as their way of life.
Memorial stones/hero stones were raised for the heroes who
died in cattle raids (Akanāṉūṟu 67:6-15; 131:6-13; Puṟanāṉūṟu
306:2-7). Tuṭiyaṉ, Pāṇaṉ, Paṟaiyan and Kaṭampaṉ are some of
the clans (kuṭi) mentioned in the literature. These local leaders
and their kinsmen involved in cattle to fight against another
king and they got reward from the king for their support
(Puṟanāṉūṟu 306, 318-320). These local leaders sometimes
aligned with kings (Puṟanāṉūṟu 281, 314, 324) and sometimes
they refused to align with them (Puṟanāṉūṟu 327, 332). In few
cases, they had matrimonial alliance with the kings. Thus, these
local leaders were integrated with the kingdom through force
or peaceful manner.

Mutukuṭi-maṉṉar

The Puṟanāṉūṟu (poems 336 to 335) converses

mutukuṭimaṉṉar as the leader of a village/settlement and its
associated land in a fertile zone. The term mutu-kuṭi itself
suggests that there were the original settlers of the region (mutu
> ancient kūṭi > clan). The terms like taṇpaṉaiyūr, neṭunallūr,
katuvāimūtūr, kaṉṟumēintu ukaḷumūr, etc., indicate their
nativity (Puṟanāṉūṟu 341, 343, 350, 355). Like ciṟūrmaṉṉar,
they were also closely connected with their society. The major
difference between the ciṟūrmaṉṉar and mutukuṭimaṉṉar is
that the former is shown as the leader of dry zone/pastoral track
and actively involved in cattle raids whereas the latter as
settlers of fertile zone.
35 Iron Age – Early Historic Transition in South India

Kuṟunila-maṉṉar

These leaders/chiefs are generally associated with

mountainous zone containing natural rich resources and also
considerable territory (nāṭu) under their control. The chiefs like
Atiyamāṉ, Pāri, Kāri, Āy, Pēkaṉ, Kaṇṭīrak-kō-perunaḷḷi, Iḷa-
viccikkō, Ōri, Kumaṇaṉ and Piṭṭaṅkoṟṟaṉ (Puṟanaṉūṟu 91,
109, 123, 128, 143, 148, 151, 152, 158, 168) could be cited.
They were also known for their generosity.

Vēntar

Only three dynasties namely Cheras, Cholas and

Pandyas are designated with term vēntaṉ (also mūvēntar, the
three crowned kings). The Asokan inscription provides these
three names and in addition to Satiyaputō, the ruler Atiyamāṉ
of Takaṭūr (Tagadur) country. The Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions
found at Mangulam, Puhalur, Jambai provide information on
the name of the kings of Pandyas (Neṭuñceḻiyaṉ), Cheras
(Peruṅkaṭuṅkō) and Satiyaputō (Atiyamāṉ) (Mahadevan
2003:115-120). The non-occurrence of Chola king is probably
due to the non-availability of the Tamil-Brahmi cave
inscriptions in Chola country.

The kingship is transferred from father to son as

hereditary descent. The Patikams of Patiṟṟupattu refers to the
genealogical descent of Chera kings and the Puhalur inscription
also supports this view. The Chola king Karikālperuvaḷattāṉ
(Pattiṉappālai 227) and Pandya king Nēṭuñceliyaṉ
(Puṟanāṉūṟu 72, 77) got power as hereditary right. The
36 K.Rajan

succession dispute arose between Nalaṅkiḷḷi and Neṭuṅkiḷḷi, the

two sons of a same Chola king also supports this view
(Puṟanāṉūṟu 45). They ruled vast territory predominantly
occupying the fertile marutam zones (Puṟanāṉūṟu 2, 11, 13,
28, 35, 42) and coastal neital zones (Puṟanāṉūṟu 17, 30, 343).
They also waged war against the local chieftains like Pāri and
Ōri and try to take control over the natural resources of
mountainous kuṟuñci zones (Puṟanāṉūṟu 109, 209). These
kings, unlike local leaders/chiefs, did not involve in any cattle
raids. There is hardly any reference on cattle raid neither in
Puṟanāṉūṟu nor in Patiṟṟupattu. But there are several
references on their attempt to occupy the territory of chiefs and
they always wage war in economic point of view (Puṟanāṉūṟu
16, 15). They have been celebrated for carving a land from
enemies territory (Puṟanāṉūṟu 20:13).

One of the interesting points to be observed here is that

the local chiefs of pastoral zone were involved in cattle raids
whereas the kings were concentrated on land. The vēntar (king)
always attempted to capture the territory rather than plundering
the cattle which suggests that their main aim is to create a land
for themselves, one of the decisive factors for state formation.

In addition to the expansion of agricultural tracts, the

trade, both internal and external, are also received the attention
of kings. The famous seaports like Muciri (Pattnam in Kerala),
Korkai, Kaveripattinam were under the control of vēntars and
local chieftains like ciṟūr-maṉṉar, mutukuṭi-maṉṉar and vēḷir
hardly had such control over maritime trade. Thus, the
economic prosperity occurred through agricultural production,
37 Iron Age – Early Historic Transition in South India

technological development like gem stone cutting, iron and

steel manufacturing, pearl fishery, internal and external trade
led to the accumulation of surplus wealth. It created new social
order like aracar (ruler), antaṇar (Brāhmīn), vaṇikar (trader)
and vēḷāḷar (agriculturist) (Puṟanāṉūṟu 183:8-10). This is in
contrast to the earlier social order in which occupation based
order like paṟaiyan, tuṭiyaṉ, pāṇaṉ and kaṭampan are existed.

Thus, the analysis of status of political situation

suggests that the Early Historic is in transformational stage in
which the new political institutions started emerging and the
residue of the previous social order also continues to exist with
less authority. The close knit clan-based or kin-based society
started disintegrating and the surplus wealth created through
the expansion of agricultural production and trade led to the
emergence of powerful chieftains associated with new social
order. These newly emerged kings (vampa-vēntar) assisted by
various limbs of political organization slowly taken control
over the land and the people. The power transformed from
father to eldest son of the family. The attempt to capture the
power by breaking these traditions of royal succession also
recorded in Sangam texts. The Pāyiram of Tolkāppiyam refers
to the Tamil country as the region between Vēṅkaṭa (Tirupati
hills) on the north and Teṉ-kumari (South Kumari) on the
south. The region beyond Vēṅkaṭa is considered as moḻi-peyar-
tēyam, (the other language speaking area) (Akanāṉūṟu 211,
213). In accordance with this statement, all the Brahmi
inscriptions found within Tamil Nadu carry Tamil language
whereas the Brahmi inscriptions observed north of Vēṅkaṭa
hills had Prakrit as their language. This vast land was ruled by
38 K.Rajan

different kings/rulers/chieftains with flexible territories. In

general, the Chera-nāṭu, Pandya-nāṭu, Chola-nāṭu and Koṅku-
nāṭu are considered as the major territorial divisions. The
boundary of the state is not static and the realignment of
boundary had always taken place.

When these different tribal, ethnic and clan groups

begun to lose their separate language identities and become a
cohesive Tamil language group through replacement of other
languages is very difficult to answer. However, one may expect
these far-reaching changes took place in the previous Iron Age
phase. The common social, economic and cultural traits like
usage of black-and-red ware, metal objects, elite goods, graffiti
marks, megalithic customs and erection of memorial stones
observed in Iron Age suggest that the process of language
replacement would have taken place in Iron Age. It is quite
clear that during Early Historic times this language raised to
the level of literary medium. The references like perfect Tamil
(cen-tamiḻ) speaking area and imperfect Tamil (koṭun-tamiḻ)
speaking area found contemporary in literary sources suggest
that the process of replacement is not complete. It seems that
the dominant Tamil language speaking ethnic groups like
Cōḻar, Pāṇḍiyar, Cērar, Vēḷir, Āy, Maḻavar, etc., began to
assimilate other groups through language replacement
(Indrapala 2009:125). The dominance of this language group
occupying the southern part of peninsular India was referred to
as Damila/Dameda/Dravida in contemporary sources of
Andhra and Sri Lanka. Derivatives of the name Tamiḻ were
used in the Prakrit languages. For instance, Tramira in
Hathigumpha inscription of Kalinga Kharavela, Damila in
39 Iron Age – Early Historic Transition in South India

Amaravathi inscription, Dameda in Sri Lankan cave

inscriptions (Paranavitana 1970: Ins. Nos. 7, 28 and 37) could
be cited. However, the literary and epigraphical sources do not
mention the name Tamiḻ/Tamilaṉ/Tamiḻar rather this specify
the territory as Tamiḻnāḍu, Tamiḻakam and Tamiḻnilam. The
sources reflect the continuous inflow of various ethnic groups
carrying different cultural traits, traders, Jain and Buddhist
missionaries. The reference on ethnic groups like Yavaṉar,
Vaṭukar, Nākar, Kōsar and Paratavar and skilled labourers
like taṭchers (carpenter) and kollars (black smith) hailed from
Avanti and Magatha made their visit to this part of the country.
Such ethnic inflows are reflected in the form of Prakrit names
in Brahmi inscriptions. Of the 469 Tamil-Brahmi inscribed
potsherds, nearly one fifth of them can be recognized as Prakrit
names. Likewise, the cave inscriptions carry nearly fifty
percent of the Prakrit names and Tamilized Prakrit names
(Subbarayalu 2009: 95-122). Thus, the population was diverse
with new elements joining it. Nevertheless, the process of
amalgamation had set in motion and the new language group
was totally or partially assimilated with the existing ethnic
groups. This process is continuous and ever ending. The later
day Prakrit speaking Pallavas could be cited for early medieval
scenario who had also assimilated in the process. Irrespective
of these processes, the evolution of political identity was not
seen in Tamil Nadu even during the reign of Pallavas and
Cholas. The medieval south Indian empires like Pallavas,
Chalukyas, Cholas and Rastrakutas transcended language and
cultural barriers. The major lineages of South India aspired to
control territories not only in the area of their origin but also
the neighbouring regions. There was no room for any ethnic
40 K.Rajan

identity when they succeeded in establishing their empire as in

the case of Satavahanas, Pallavas, Chalukyas, Cholas,
Rastrakutas and many other such dynasties. In the realm of
unification, the state had priority over ethnicity. Members of
the south Indian empire married into Telugu, Kannada,
Malayalam, Tamil and Sinhala families cutting across ethnic
boundaries. These matrimonial relations paved the way for
claiming legitimacy to rule a region outside of their lineage.
The invitation extended to Kulotunga of Vengi to take over the
supremacy of Chola dynasty and the invitation extended to
Nissanka Malla to the Sinhala throne at Polonnaruva could be
cited as examples. Thus, the ethnic identities did not have any
political basis due to continuous cross-border movements and
subsequent assimilation for mutual benefits. The recent
language/caste/ethnic identities did make limited influence on
political system but they themselves did not become complete
political basis. The lessons learned from history suggest that
these activities are part of a cultural process and always remain
as dynamic one.

Thus, the evidences embedded in literary, epigraphical,

numismatic and archaeological records clearly point to the
emergence or formation of new social order henceforth
unnoticed in the previous Iron Age culture. The occurrence of
bronze objects, carnelian and agate beads in Iron Age context
well before the traces of NBP and Punch Marked coins suggest
that South India had a long distance trade well before the so
called Mauryan incursion in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
Irrespective of this emerging scenario, majority of the sites in
South India have been dated to 3rd century BCE. The reason
41 Iron Age – Early Historic Transition in South India

for assigning all the sites to 3rd century BCE is with the
assumption that the script is introduced in South India after
Asoka. Keeping the historical mindset of this magnitude, all
political personalities and the archaeological sites, irrespective
of their cultural deposit, have been dated to 3rd century BCE.
Though several parameters like trade, technology, architecture,
political authority, territorial integrity, urbanisation, etc. are
available to designate a culture as Early Historic, the
occurrence of Brahmi script is considered as the beginning of
the Early Historic period in South India. So the date of Brahmi
becomes crucial in understanding the context. The historical
inputs extracted from these Brahmi inscriptions engraved on
stones, coins and inscribed potsherds are considered as a
chronological anchor. Due to over-emphasis on a particular
class of evidence, i.e., Brahmi script in this case, all other
social parameters like the usage of coins, formation of trade
routes, the size of the settlement, the formulation of various
clan groups, the emergence of state and so on so forth are not
seriously engaged. These parameters did not emerge as one
time cultural package within a short time span but developed
and evolved over a long period as a social product. The
cultural traits formed during Neolithic-Chalcolithic and Iron
Age regime could be considered as a gestation period. The
remarkable developments that had taken place in different
spheres of the society during previous cultural phase
culminated into the Early Historic.

The formation of clan based society in the background

of kin-labour mode of production system, the control of
resource bases, the development of new technology, birth of
42 K.Rajan

vibrant trading system, marketing centres, port towns and many

other such activities accelerated to the creation of a state of
different magnitude. Each state wants to move forward by
retaining the power, society and their economy. This led to
frequent conflicts between the states and that get reflected in
the literature. The available material suggests that the political
situation in south India during Early Historic is very fluid and
complex.

The documentation of more than 3000 archaeological

sites in Tamil Nadu, the recent radiometric dates obtained in a
well stratified archaeological context at Thelunganur,
Mangadu, Adichchanallur, Korkai, Vallam, Alagankulam,
Porunthal and Kodumanal and palaeographical, linguistic and
stratigraphical analysis of Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions helps to
distinguish the cultural landscape of Tamil Nadu. The other
adjoining states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala
share the same material culture. The combined factors suggest
that Iron Age in South India is survived somewhere between
15th century BCE and 6th century BCE and Early Historic
might have began around 6th century BCE with element of
variation.

As concluding remarks, I wish to share my concern on

certain specific areas that needs our immediate attention. On
the social front, the process of interaction between the north
and south assumes much significance in recent years. It is the
time to focus on cultural interaction, mutual assimilation and
acculturation rather than entangling with issues like
Aryanisation or Prakritization or Sanskritization. The process
43 Iron Age – Early Historic Transition in South India

of Prakritization or Sanskritization has to be understood as a

cultural dialogue rather than cultural imposition. In the process,
the people make the dominant culture as a desired culture. The
shared ideas and traits are needed to be exposed in
archaeological data. On the economic front, the resource areas
need to be identified and documented. The technological
developments in the field of metallurgy, irrigation, transport,
navigation, gem stone mining, pearl fishing and other related
areas are not adequately addressed. Like iron technology, these
technological developments had far-reaching consequences for
the social development. Though, we identified sites like capital
cities, trade centres, and port towns but hardly could we
document trade routes and resource bases that connect these
potential archaeological sites. Another important area that
demands our concentration is of agrarian organisation. It is a
well-known fact that agrarian system is the base for all social
developments. The study of pollen and phytoliths are receiving
attention of archaeologists in recent years. Still the data are
sporadic and confined to a few sites. Unless we create a
sufficient database, it is difficult to understand the impact of
agricultural production in south Indian society. On the political
front, there are limited studies on the process of state formation
in South India. Scholars like Romila Thapar,
R.Champakalakshmi, Sudarshan Seneviratne, Rajan Gurukkal,
I.K.Sarma, P.V.Parabrahma Sastry, B.Rajendra Prasad,
Y.Subbarayalu and many more made an earnest attempt to
define the nature of state in South India. Thus, with serious
efforts of the senior scholars, we could get a skeletal frame on
the nature of cultural process that had taken place in this part of
the country.
44 K.Rajan

Hence, archaeologists and historians should make

earnest endeavour to understand the processes of
transformation through mutually supportive work and
interpretative techniques. The process of change from one form
to another has to be viewed as a dynamic and continuous one.
The archaeological, epigraphical, literary and numismatic data
need to be analysed within a given political, social, economic
and religious context. A particular aspect may be emphasized
more in a particular type of primary source. Therefore, each
class of source is important and each has to be seen in a given
context to understand its nature and content. Historians,
archaeologists, epigraphists, numismatics, linguistics and
literary experts should work closely to write and rewrite the
history of South India for the benefit of future generation.
45 Iron Age – Early Historic Transition in South India

Table
The AMS dates obtained for the samples associated with Tamil-Brahmi inscribed potsherds

S.No Laboratory Site Name Trench Dept AMS Convent Calibra Two Sigma
and Lab. Number h Date ional ted calibration
No. Age Date
(uncalib
rated)

1 Beta Kodumanal KDL- 15 2150 +/- 200 200 Cal BC 350 to 290
Analytic ZD20 cm 30 BP BCE BCE (Cal BP 2300 to
Lab. 2240)/Cal BC 230
351053 to 220 (Cal BP
2180 to 2170)/Cal
BC 210 to 110
(Cal BP 2160 to
2060)

2 AMS Kodumanal KDL- 60 2225 ± 275 380 Cal 389 to 199

Laboratory ZE10 cm 41BP BCE BCE BCE (Cal BP 2339
, to 2149)
University
of Arizona
AA99856

3 Beta Kodumanal KDL- 65 2250 +/- 300 370 Cal BC 390 to 350
Analytic ZD20 cm 30 BP BCE BCE (Cal BP 2340 to
Lab. 2300)/Cal BC 320
349958 to 210 (Cal BP
2270 to 2160)

4 Beta Kodumanal KDL- 80 2280 +/- 330 380 Cal BC 400 to 350
Analytic ZD10 cm 30 BP BCE BCE (Cal BP 2350 to
Lab. 2300)/Cal BC 290
330303 to 230 (Cal BP
2240 to 2180)

5 AMS Kodumanal KDL- 120 2358±40 408 480 Cal BC 731 to 691
Laboratory ZE9 cm BP BCE BCE (Cal BP 2681 to
, 2641)/BC 661 to
University 651 (Cal BP 2611
of Arizona to 2601)/Cal BC
AA99855 545 to 368 (Cal BP
2495 to 2318)
46 K.Rajan

6 Beta Porunthal MEG-I - 2440 +/- 490 520 Cal BC 750 to 680
Analytic 30 BP BCE BCE (Cal BP 2700 to
Lab. 2630)/Cal BC 670
302854 to 610 (Cal BP
2620 to 2560)/Cal
BC 600 to 410
(Cal BP 2560 to
2360)

7 Beta Porunthal MEG- - 2400 +/- 450 410 Cal BC 720 to 700
Analytic IV 30 BP BCE BCE (Cal BP 2670 to
Lab. 2650)/Cal BC 540
305904 to 400 (Cal BP
2490 to 2350)
47 Iron Age – Early Historic Transition in South India

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List of Illustrations

Fig. 1 : Iron Age sites in Tamil Nadu

Fig. 2 : View of the cairn circle
Fig. 3 : Thandikudi : Pit burial
Fig. 4 : Thandikudi : Urn burial
Fig. 5 : Kodumanal : Transepted cist
Fig. 6 : Kodumanal : Transepted cist with two subsidiary cists
Fig. 7 : Tamil-Brahmi inscribed potsherds recovered from
graves at
Kodumanal, Porunthal and Marungur
Fig. 8 : Kodumanal : Crucible furnace
Fig. 9 : Kodumanal : Copper smelting furnace
Fig. 10 : Kodumanal : Tamil-Brahmi inscribed potsherds
Fig. 11 : Kodumanal : Northern Black Polished ware
Fig. 12 : Kodumanal : Silver Punch Marked Coin
Fig. 13 : Kodumanal : Bead making industry
Fig. 14 : Adichchanallur : Urn burial
Fig. 15 : Thelunganur : Iron Age graves yielding steel sword
Fig. 16 : Kodumanal : Rouletted ware
Fig. 17 : Excavated sites in Tamil Nadu
Fig. 18 : Tamil-Brahmi inscription yielding sites in Tamil Nadu
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Fig. 1 : Iron Age sites in Tamil Nadu

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