Vedic Age or Iron Age in Rajasthan:
From 1000 BC, Iron was used in Gandhara in Pakistan. Around same time, use of iron appeared in eastern Punjab, Western UP and Rajasthan. The Vedic literature mentions the Matsya and the Salvas as located near the river Saraswati and there is evidence to believe that by the close of the Vedic age Rajasthan had become fully colonized by the Vedic tribes.
The relics of Painted Grey ware culture have been reported from the dried- up beds of Saraswati and Drishadwati rivers. There is also evidence of Painted Grey Ware (PGW) from Noh (Bharatpur), Jodhpura (Jaipur), Viratnagar (Jaipur) and Sunari (Jhunjhunu). These sites represent the growth of Iron Age in Rajasthan.
Rajasthan during Mahajanapads Period (600 BCE -300 BCE)
The end of Vedic India is marked by linguistic, cultural and political changes. By the 6th century BCE, the political units consolidated into large kingdoms called Mahajanapads. The age is also referred to as period of second urbanization.
The term “Janapadas” literally means the foothold of a tribe, in Panini’s “Ashtadhyayi“, Janapadas stands for country. The Pre-Buddhist north-west region of the Indian sub-continent was divided into several Janapadas demarcated from each other by boundaries. Each of these Janapadas was named after the Kshatriyas tribe (or Kshatriyas Jana) who had settled there in Ancient Buddhist texts like the Anguttara Nikaya make reference to sixteen Mahajanapads and republics which had evolved and flourished in Indian Sub-Continent.
The modern state of Rajasthan was also part of several Mahajanapads mentioned below:
- The modern districts of Jaipur, Alwar & Bharatpur formed part of Mahajanapads of Machcha or Matsya.
- The capital of Matsya was at Viratanagari (present-day Bairat), which is said to have been named after its founder king, Virata.
- The kingdom came under the control of the neighboring Chedi Kingdom in the 5th century.
- The capital of Saurasena janapadas is located near modern day Mathura.
- It covers region of Alwar, Bharatpur, and Dholpur & Karauli.
Kuru Mahajanapads:
• The capital of Kuru Janpada was Indrapath.
• It covered parts of northern Alwar region.