the lineage system would serve the function of cohering groups
        without their having to subordinate themselves to a state. The western
        Ganga valley, being favourable to such conditions, did not require the
        major changes which were necessary in the middle Ganga valley.
    • The use of iron does not seem to have influenced agricultural
        technology until the middle of the first millennium BC. Clearing by
        burning was evidently possible in the Doab. Iron technology was to
        become more necessary in the clearing of the marshlands and
        monsoon forests of the middle Ganga valley.
    • In the western Ganga valley, the resources were neither sufficient to
        finance the institutions required for the establishment of a state, nor
        were they directed towards the creation of such institutions.
Comparison of PGW and NBPW Settlements Archaeological evidence
from the Painted Grey Ware (PGW) culture points to the size of these
communities (although larger and more numerous than previous settlements),
being smaller than those of the subsequent period, that of the Northern Black
Polished Ware (NBPW).
Transition towards a full-fledged State The migration eastwards to the
middle Ganga valley presented a different ecological scene and one in which
the lineage system and the role of the grihapati, both underwent a change,
and particularly so with trade impinging as a new factor. In this new
situation, the kshatriya claimed greater power and prestations were
transformed into taxes. The formation of the full-fledged state therefore, took
place under changed circumstances in the middle Ganga valley.
Units of Polity
In the Rig Vedic period, the following units of the political organisation can
be identified. The family or kula was the basic unit of political organisation,
and was headed by the kulapa or grihapati. The next unit, grama or village,
was headed by the gramani. The vis or a group of villages was headed by the
vispatii. The highest unit, jana or tribe, which consisted of a group of vis was
headed by the rajan or tribal chief. In the Rig Veda the term jana (which
corresponds to the Greek genos and the Roman gens which means a group of
families claiming descent from