Migration, Settlement, and State Formation in the Ganga Plain: A Historical Geographic Perspective
äºJournal of the Economic and Social History of the OrientSearch for other papers by Murari Kumar Jha in
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By a consideration of geography and environment, this essay raises questions about migration, settlement, and state formation in the Ganga plain from the first millennium bce to the early second millennium ce. It asks why Indo-Aryan speakers continued to migrate from north-western parts of South Asia towards the Ganga plain during the first millennium bce and precisely what route they followed. To understand better these largely misunderstood historical problems related to migration and settlement, the essay casts doubt on the utility of geographersâ tripartite division of the Ganga plain, proposing instead a division based on aridity and rainfall. Such a division helps explain why the transitional zone between the drier and the more humid areas of the Ganga plain became the linchpin of migratory movements, state formation, and urban development since at least the middle of the first millennium bce.
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13
See Ghosh, 2006: 77-86 for the archaeological finds of the Kushana coins that might have reached Bengal by way of trade. The existence of Kharosthi-speaking merchants and agriculturalists from the northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent has also been noted by Ghosh. Reference to kodihalika (i.e., a person having ten million ploughmen) metaphorically indicates agrarian expansion in ancient Bengal.
| å ¨é¨æé´ | è¿å»ä¸å¹´ | è¿å»30天 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| æè¦æµè§æ¬¡æ° | 2847 | 351 | 38 |
| å ¨ææµè§æ¬¡æ° | 356 | 8 | 0 |
| PDFä¸è½½æ¬¡æ° | 186 | 28 | 1 |
Migration, Settlement, and State Formation in the Ganga Plain: A Historical Geographic Perspective
äºJournal of the Economic and Social History of the OrientSearch for other papers by Murari Kumar Jha in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
By a consideration of geography and environment, this essay raises questions about migration, settlement, and state formation in the Ganga plain from the first millennium bce to the early second millennium ce. It asks why Indo-Aryan speakers continued to migrate from north-western parts of South Asia towards the Ganga plain during the first millennium bce and precisely what route they followed. To understand better these largely misunderstood historical problems related to migration and settlement, the essay casts doubt on the utility of geographersâ tripartite division of the Ganga plain, proposing instead a division based on aridity and rainfall. Such a division helps explain why the transitional zone between the drier and the more humid areas of the Ganga plain became the linchpin of migratory movements, state formation, and urban development since at least the middle of the first millennium bce.
| å ¨é¨æé´ | è¿å»ä¸å¹´ | è¿å»30天 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| æè¦æµè§æ¬¡æ° | 2847 | 351 | 38 |
| å ¨ææµè§æ¬¡æ° | 356 | 8 | 0 |
| PDFä¸è½½æ¬¡æ° | 186 | 28 | 1 |
