The Gangetic Plains See Urban Settlements

800–600 BCE

Agricultural clans and tribes led by rajans (military chiefs) spread across the Gangetic Plains. They lay the basis for proto-kingdoms and civil governance through the development of concepts of tribal land, inheritance, enslavement, complex ideas of metaphysics, and new rituals and sacrifices. Although little to no art historical evidence will survive from these early kingdoms, literary evidence will suggest the consolidation of political power in Hastinapur, Kaushambi and Shravasti in present-day Uttar Pradesh, and Champa in present-day Chhattisgarh in India. These polities had trade routes, markets and agricultural centres.

Bibliography

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