Life in Villages and Towns Class 6

Topics Included:
• Difference between City, Village and Town
• Greater agricultural production
• Growth of crafts
• Increase in trade
• How did people live
• The second urbanisation
• Functions of towns
• Mathura
• Arikamedu

3. Greater agricultural
production
•The discovery of iron tools led to
rapid rise in agricultural production.
•It made it easier to bring more land
under cultivation by clearing forests.
•The use of iron ploughshare made it
possible to dig deep in those areas
where the soil was fertile.
•It led to significant rise in agriculture
production first in North India and
then in South India.

4. Growth of crafts
•Art and crafts flourished in every village.
•Each village had weavers, dyers, potters, blacksmiths,
basket-weaver, goldsmiths, carpenters and other skilled
craftsmen.
•Silk weaving, dyeing, coin- minting, ivory-carving, cloth-
making and bead- making became the popular occupations.
•Archaeological sources show extremely fine pottery called
the Northern Black Polished Ware.
•Most craftsmen organized themselves into organizations
called Shrenis.

5. Increase in trade
•The rapid rise in agricultural production and crafts led
to surplus production. This surplus in villages was
supplied to towns.
•All this led to growth of trade.
•Merchants and traders participated in both the internal
and external trade.
•All trading communities were orgainsed into guilds.
•Use of money gave rise to punch marked coins.
•Taxes collected from trade acted as an important
source of revenue for the king,

6. How did people live
•Very little information is available
about the life of the people.
•The main sources to know about
them include stories from books,
the accounts of sailors and
travellersand sculptures which
show scenes from the daily life.

7. The second urbanisation
•Large-scale agricultural
production, growth of crafts and
increased trade and commerce
led to emergence of new towns
and cities.
•It led to growth of urban centers
and is called the Age of Second
Urbanization.
•Some important towns of this
period were Vaishali, Ujjayani,
Hastinapur, Pataliputra, Mathura,
Arikamedu, Bodh Gaya, Rajagriha
and Kaveripattnam.
Town City

8. Functions of towns
•Each town was famous for some
particular activity.
•Some towns were religious while
others were administrative.
•Several towns like Soparawere trading
towns.
•Two such famous towns were Mathura
and Arikamedu.
•Mathura was the second capital of
Kushanasand a centre of temples
monasteries, arts and crafts. The
Mathura School of Art grew here.
•Arikameduwas an important coastal
trading centre, a port and a centre for
export and import. Traders from Rome
came here.

9. Mathura
Mathura has been a settlement for
more than 2500 years. it was important
because it was located at the crossroads
of two major routes travel and trade -
from the northwest to the east and
from north to south. there were
fortification around the city and several
shrines. Farmers and herders from
adjoining areas provided food for
people in the City.
Mathura was also Centre where some
extremely fine sculpture was produced.
Around 2000 years ago Mathura
became the second capital of Kushanas.
Mathura was also religious centre -
there were Buddhist Monasteries, Jaina
shrines, and it was an important centre
for the worship of Krishna.

10. Arikamedu
•Arikameduwas a coastal trading
center and a major port.
•It was an important bead-making
center.
•It was a prosperous settlement and
owed its prosperity to a thriving
trade with the Roman Empire.
•Textiles, beads, semi-precious
stones and glass-shell bangles were
the major exports from the port.