MPSC Rajyaseva 2013 CSAT — Question 2

Following the microlith groupings along the hill, one conclusion is unavoidable. These tools represent the pre-metal and pre-pottery stage when the valley bottom was not cleared of jungle. With herds of animals, considerable food-gathering, sporadic cultivation to eke out and some hunting, they may be called Mesolithic cultures. Such a population had to shift constantly from place to place. Permanent settlement could not come before the advent of cheap metal like iron. It is difficult to imagine the use of iron anywhere in the Deccan, earlier to the Mauryan conquest. The deposits of copper in this region are uncommon. Even the Arthashastra does not speak of iron in this area. The natural route of the savages before the swampy or forested valleys were opened for cultivation, must have been along the hillocks. The groups that moved along these tracks could not have been numerous. There was no question of their possessing land, for land-ownership is not a primitive concept. Fixed plots were meaningless till the plough had conquered the soil. For this, the fertile bottom lands had to be cleared of forest, which was not possible in our monsoon country without iron tools in plenty. Land to the savage is territory, not property. In my opinion the still revered Maharashtrian custom of 'gamva-sai' dates back to the presettlement days. This used to be the propitiation (at such date as the Bhagat might set) of all local deities, spirits and goblins. The characteristic feature was that villages used to get deserted as every human being had to leave the village for seven or nine days. After living in the fields or under trees for the period, and performing the required worship and blood sacrifices, the inhabitants would return with the hope of better crops, eradication of diseases and general well-being. The ceremonial return must be being conceived as resettlement. The fixed cult-spots for pre-agricultural people would necessarily be where their regular paths crossed, places where they met for barter, where the communities performed ceremonies or where they celebrated their periodic fertility cults together. Thus, the crossways were logically the sites for the mother-goddess cults.