In the excavation of which of the following ancient site the huge collection of iron materials is found related to Malava Republic ?
- (1)Nagar (Nainwan)
- (2)Nagari (Madhyamika)
- (3)Sambhar
- (4)Rairh (Tonk)
Answer
Why
Correct — option (4), Rairh (Tonk).
Rairh, on the Dhil river, was excavated for Jaipur State by K.N. Puri from 1938 to 1940, after a trial probe by D.R. Sahni. The ASI's list of protected monuments places the excavated site at Rairh (Newai), Tonk district.
Puri's report, Excavations at Rairh, records iron tools and implements 'of different types' and iron refuse 'weighing several maunds', with traces of numerous smithies and slag across the ruins. He concluded that the town's chief industry was the metallurgy of iron.
The Malava link comes from the same site: over three hundred coins of the Malava tribe from the surface, and a lead seal of the Malava republic from Trench E.
The idea to remember: Rairh = iron-working town + Malava coins and seal.
Why the others are wrong
- (1)Nagar (Nainwan) — Puri discusses a Malava site called 'Nagar or Karkota Nagar', in Uniara Thikana of the old Jaipur State, but what he records from it is coins, not an iron industry. He recalls that A.C.L. Carlleyle found coins there 'lying as thick as sea-shells on the shore' and recovered about 6,000.
Puri treats Rairh as another Malava settlement 'besides Nagar'. The iron workshops and smithies he describes are at Rairh.
- (2)Nagari (Madhyamika) — Nagari, near Chittaurgarh, is identified with Madhyamika, capital of the Sibi janapada, not with the Malavas. The Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology notes coins found there whose legend names Madhyamika and the Sibi janapada, which is how the identification was made.
Among the sculptures D.R. Bhandarkar found at Nagari are two carved pillars of the Gupta period.
- (3)Sambhar — Sambhar is ancient Sakambhari, the capital of the Chahamanas (Chauhans). Excavations there, by Hendley in 1884 and D.R. Sahni in the 1930s, found dwellings at six levels, from the 3rd–2nd century BC to the 10th century AD.
Iron objects did turn up at Sambhar, but the coins the Encyclopaedia lists for it are punch-marked, Indo-Greek, Kushan, Yaudheya and Indo-Sassanian. The Malava coins and seal belong to Rairh.
Concept
The Malavas were a tribe that governed itself as a republic. Puri describes them settling in eastern Rajputana in about the 2nd century BC and being subdued by Samudragupta in the 4th century AD.
Their coins are small and usually carry the legend 'Malavanam jaya', 'victory of the Malavas'.
Archaeologists tie a site to such a people through coins and seals; tools and slag show what the town made.
RPSC's 2023 syllabus lists "Historical Rajasthan: Important historical centres of Early Christian Era." under the history of Rajasthan.
Rairh was also rich in silver: Puri counts five buried hoards holding 3,075 punch-marked coins.
Among his surface coins were also 14 of Mitra kings, six 'Senapati' issues and a broken coin that Puri lists under the Indo-Greek king Apollodotus, though his coin table calls the attribution uncertain.
Key facts
- Rairh, on the Dhil river, was excavated by K.N. Puri for Jaipur State in 1938–40; the ASI lists the excavated site at Rairh (Newai), Tonk district.
- Puri recorded iron tools of many types, iron refuse weighing several maunds, and traces of numerous smithies.
- He concluded that Rairh's chief industry was the metallurgy of iron and the making of iron tools.
- Finds linking Rairh to the Malavas: over 300 Malava coins from the surface and a lead seal of the Malava republic.
- Rairh yielded five hoards totalling 3,075 silver punch-marked coins.
Only Rairh pairs a large iron record with Malava finds.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing Nagar because Puri names a 'Nagar or Karkota Nagar' as a Malava site: its record there is thousands of coins; the iron smithies are Rairh's.
- Mixing Nagar with Nagari: Puri's 'Nagar or Karkota Nagar' is a Malava coin site, while Nagari is Madhyamika of the Sibis, near Chittaurgarh.
- Picking Sambhar because iron objects were found there too: Sambhar is the Chahamana capital Sakambhari, and its listed coins are not Malava issues.
A question can describe a find, such as iron workshops, a coin hoard or a janapada's seal, and ask for the site.
A question can also pair ancient sites with the janapada or dynasty they are linked to, or ask which site yielded coins of a named ruler.
Related PYQs
UnlockIAS will link similar questions from RAS Pre 2018 and 2016 here once those papers are published on this site.
Practice
- practice — not a real PYQ
Madhyamika, whose coins carry the legend of the Sibi janapada, is identified with which present-day site?
- (a)Karkota Nagar
- (b)Rairh
- (c)Nagari
- (d)Sambhar
Answer(3) — Nagari, near Chittaurgarh, is identified with Madhyamika through coins whose legend names Madhyamika and the Sibi janapada. Options (1) and (2) are Malava settlements in K.N. Puri's report; option (4) is ancient Sakambhari. - practice — not a real PYQ
Consider the following statements about Rairh: A. K.N. Puri excavated it for Jaipur State in 1938–40. B. It yielded hoards of silver punch-marked coins. Choose the correct option:
- (a)Only A is correct.
- (b)Only B is correct.
- (c)Both A and B are correct.
- (d)Neither A nor B is correct.
Answer(3) — Puri's report covers his excavations of 1938–39 and 1939–40, and records five hoards of silver punch-marked coins totalling 3,075. Both statements hold, so options (1), (2) and (4) fail.