Northern Black Polished Ware

Also called: NBPW · Topic: Janapadas, Mahajanapadas and the Second Urbanisation · NCERT: Class 9, Ch 5 "State and Society up to 1000 CE"; Class 12, Ch 2 "Kings, Farmers and Towns"

Meaning

Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW) is a fine, costly pottery with a smooth, glossy black surface. It is found in the middle Ganga region, from present-day Prayagraj eastwards to eastern Bihar, and belongs to the second half of the 1st millennium BCE (broadly c. 600-200 BCE) [3].

It matters because it is the marker pottery of the Second Urbanisation. This was the time when cities and mahajanapadas rose in the Ganga valley. It also shows that some people were richer than others.

Explanation

Background: what came before NBPW

• Iron and farming made a surplus.
• Iron tools let people clear and till larger areas of land.
• From about the 6th century BCE, the iron-tipped ploughshare (the iron cutting blade of a plough) spread in the Ganga valley. Transplantation of paddy also raised rice output sharply. Transplantation means growing rice seedlings in a small nursery bed and then replanting them one by one in a flooded field.

• More grain meant some people could stop farming and become traders, soldiers, priests or craftsmen.

• PGW came first.

• The earlier marker pottery is PGW (Painted Grey Ware), a grey pottery with painted designs.

• PGW goes with the spread of settlements east into the upper Ganga-Yamuna valleys. By c. 750-500 BCE this spread had given rise to the first cities [2].

• NBPW generally appears at the end of the PGW phase [2][3]. So in a dug-up site, the NBPW layers usually lie above the PGW layers.

Main features

• Look: a smooth, shiny black surface. It is a refined "deluxe ware", which means luxury pottery.
• Use: it was like a costly dinner set, not everyday cooking pots.
• Users: probably the rich. This is an inference from how fine the ware is. No text tells us so directly.
• Name:
• "Northern" because it is found in north India, mainly the Ganga plains.
• "Black Polished" because of its glossy black finish.

How it spread

• Its core area is the middle Ganga region (Prayagraj to eastern Bihar).
• It is not limited to that core. At Ropar, more than 450 NBPW sherds (broken pieces) were found even though digging went only to a limited depth. This shows how popular the ware was [3].
• At Hulas in the upper Ganga-Yamuna doab, NBPW is present but only in a limited number of sherds [3]. It was thinner on the ground there.

Results: what NBPW tells us

• Surplus: a fine, non-essential ware means some people had more than they needed to survive.
• Social difference: if only some people could afford deluxe pottery, society was unequal. You can literally dig up inequality.
• Urban life: NBPW is found in the same region and period where cities, coins and kingdoms appear.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: the early historical period, broadly c. 600-200 BCE, which is the second half of the 1st millennium BCE [2][3]. This is the age of the Janapadas, the Mahajanapadas and the rise of Magadha.
• Core region: the middle Ganga region, from Prayagraj to eastern Bihar.
• Named sites:
• Rajgir (Bihar):
  • Real settlement at the site begins with the arrival of NBPW and of black and grey wares made in the same shapes.
  • The site was lived in from at least 500 BCE.
  • Black-and-red ware was found together with NBPW in the lowest layers [3].
• Ropar: more than 450 NBPW sherds came from limited digging [3].

• Hulas (upper Ganga-Yamuna doab): NBPW and black slipped ware were found, but only a few sherds [3].

• How we know:

• Archaeology: pottery layers, sherd counts, iron tools and grains.

• Literary sources of the period describe growing farming, more grain and more kinds of crops, especially paddy. Because the pots and the texts agree, the picture is firm.

• Debate on dates: one source links NBPW to a second urbanisation "around 900 BCE" [3]. The NCERT position is the second half of the 1st millennium BCE. Use the NCERT dating in the exam.

Don't confuse with

• Painted Grey Ware (PGW): grey pottery with painted designs. It is earlier, and the deposit at Hastinapura is dated c. 1100-800 BCE [4]. It is linked to the upper Ganga-Yamuna valleys. NBPW is later, glossy black, and centred on the middle Ganga region.
• Black-and-red ware: a different pottery type. At Rajgir it is found together with NBPW in the lowest layers [3]. It is not another name for NBPW.
• Black slipped ware: found alongside NBPW at Hulas [3]. It is a separate ware without NBPW's deluxe polish.
• First Urbanisation (Harappan cities): NBPW belongs to the Second Urbanisation of the Ganga valley, more than a thousand years after the Harappan cities. It is never linked to the Indus cities.

Prelims Hooks

• NBPW: glossy black "deluxe ware" of the middle Ganga region (Prayagraj to eastern Bihar), dated broadly c. 600-200 BCE [3].
• Chronological order: PGW (Hastinapura deposit c. 1100-800 BCE) [4] → NBPW (appears at the end of the PGW phase) [2][3].
• Rajgir (Bihar): occupation begins with NBPW; lived in from at least 500 BCE; black-and-red ware found with NBPW in the lowest layers [3].
• Ropar: more than 450 NBPW sherds from limited digging, which shows the ware was popular [3].
• Hulas (upper Ganga-Yamuna doab): NBPW and black slipped ware, but only a few sherds [3].
• Trap: NBPW is a marker of the Second Urbanisation (Ganga valley), not of the Harappan civilisation and not of the Vedic PGW phase.

Mains Points

• Pottery as a record of inequality:
• NBPW was a costly ware, probably used by the rich.
• It turns up where cities, coins and kingdoms appear.

• So it is material proof of surplus and social difference in the Second Urbanisation.

• Chain from iron to deluxe pottery:

• Iron tools and the iron ploughshare, together with paddy transplantation, produced a grain surplus.
• The surplus supported non-farming groups, towns and the mahajanapadas.

• Luxury goods like NBPW were a product of that surplus. Add a caveat: transplantation meant back-breaking labour for ordinary cultivators.

• Archaeology and texts agree:

• The spread of NBPW, the rise in settlements, iron tools and new grains match what texts of the period say about expanding agriculture, especially paddy.
• Add a note on method: dates vary across sources (c. 600-200 BCE in NCERT versus a claim of "around 900 BCE" [3]). Material evidence needs careful dating before you draw conclusions.

Related concepts

• Iron technology
• Painted Grey Ware

Read more

• Iron, agriculture and the new material culture