Page 62 - SST Class 06
P. 62
Life in Towns
and Villages 9
q Second urbanisation q Life in towns
q Life in villages q Agricultural intensification
Introduction
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You have studied that marvellous towns had been
set up during the Harappan civilisation. The A major advancement in history was due to the
Harappan people were essentially urban in nature. discovery of iron around 2000 BC. It was
The decline of the Harappan civilisation coincided discovered around 1000 BC in India.
with the rise of the Aryans; however, they were
rural in nature and liked to live in towns as their LIFE IN TOWNS
main professions were agriculture and herding. It is A number of villages grew into towns by virtue of
believed that many of the previous towns were
increase in population and size, in addition to
destroyed by the Aryans. These towns remained
some other reasons. For example, some villages
extinct for a long duration of almost 1,000 years grew into towns because of some particular art,
until about 5th century BC. craft or trade. For example, a village situated on
some river or sea beach grew into an important
SECOND URBANISATION trade centre. In the same way, some villages grew
The second phase of urbanisation started around into towns because they specialised in certain
6th century BC when once again towns and cities crafts, like metal work, embroidery, weaving etc.
emerged in different parts of India is called the Some towns became important because they were
Age of the Buddha , because Buddhism flourished made centres of administration. Similarly some
during this age. This is the time when we hear towns were important religious centres.
about urbanisation again, and when towns and In order to meet varying needs of the people, a lot
cities were founded again. Some of the important of new occupations came into being. Some of the
towns during this era included Ayodhya, important occupations in towns included
Kausambi, Vaishali, Rajgir (Rajgriha), Patliputra, weaving, dyeing of cloth, gold work, iron work,
Shravasti etc. silver work, carpenter, pottery, medical science,
The process of a village transforming into a town transport, art and music, priesthood etc. Many
and then into a city is a long drawn one, because towns were famous for their respective crafts; for
a village grows into a town which ultimately example, Gandhara was famous for woollen
grows into a city. However, some towns and cities clothes, Varanasi for silken clothes and Shividesha
are founded out of necessity, like capitals. The for cotton clothes.
cities of this period had some characteristic
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features. If not all, a large part of the cities was Info Bits
planned with roads, streets, drainage, fortification,
temples, monasteries, palaces and other Varanasi (Banaras) continues to be famous for its
residential and commercial complexes. silken sarees and clothes even today.
Contemporary Social Science-6
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