This chapter explores India's 'Second Urbanisation'. After the Harappan or Sindhu-Sarasvati civilisation (the 'First Urbanisation') declined in the early 2nd millennium BCE, urban life vanished for about a thousand years. Then, in the 1st millennium BCE, vibrant new cities arose in the Ganga plains and beyond. We know this from archaeological excavations and from late Vedic, Buddhist and Jain literature. As clans settled in territories led by a raja, these became janapadas ('where people have set foot'); by the 8th–7th centuries BCE many merged into larger mahajanapadas, the more common list naming sixteen, from Gandhara in the northwest to Anga in the east. Most capitals were large fortified cities with moats, many still living cities today. The chapter highlights early democratic traditions: each janapada had an assembly (sabha or samiti), and at least two mahajanapadas, Vajji and Malla, were ganas or sanghas — 'early republics' where the assembly chose the ruler. Key innovations included iron metallurgy, which boosted agriculture and weaponry, and the first Indian coins (silver 'punch-marked coins'). The chapter also introduces the varna-jati system of social organisation, noting it was more flexible early on and grew rigid over time, and traces trade routes like the Uttarapatha and Dakshinapatha that knit the Subcontinent together.
First and Second UrbanisationJanapadas and mahajanapadasEarly republics and assembliesIron, coins and tradeThe varna-jati system
Key terms
Second Urbanisation
The new phase of city-building that began in the Ganga plains in the 1st millennium BCE, long after the Harappan First Urbanisation declined.
Janapada
A Sanskrit term meaning 'where people have set foot'; an early territory or small state led by a raja, often associated with a clan.
Mahajanapada
A larger state formed when janapadas merged; sixteen are most often listed, ranging across north and central India.
Gana or sangha
A mahajanapada that was not a monarchy but an 'early republic', where the assembly took decisions and even selected the ruler, as in Vajji and Malla.
Punch-marked coins
India's earliest coins, made of silver with symbols punched onto them, introduced as trade grew.
Varna-jati system
A two-fold system of social organisation: jati, a community tied to an occupation, and varna, the four-fold Vedic categories.
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