(The) Age of iron and the religious revolution c.700 - c.350 BC / by Krishna Mohan Shrimali

Includes chronology and index.

THE IRON AGE, SURPLUS AND ECONOMIC CHANGE, c.700-c.350 BC: Iron in Northern India -- Iron age in peninsular India -- Agriculture -- Other aspects of material culture -- Iron and production of surplus -- Metal money -- Trade -- Long distance trade, crafts and cities in the northwest -- SETTLEMENTS, TOWNS AND THE SOCIAL ORDER: Rural settlements in literary texts -- Towns in literary texts -- Cities: the archaeological perspective -- Social groups -- Gender relations, marriage -- Occupational divisions -- Acculturation and the growth of the caste system -- POLITIES AND FORMATION OF STATES: The Janapadas -- Polities in northwestern India -- Mahajanapadas as socio-cultural regions -- State formation -- The rise of Magadha -- THE RELIGIOUS REVOLUTION: The intellectual ferment -- Ajivikas -- The Jaina system -- The Dhamma of the Buddha -- Brahmanism and Brahmanical texts