India from 8Th Century to Mid-15Th Century
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Subject: INDIA FROM 8TH CENTURY TO MID 15TH CENTURY Credits: 4 SYLLABUS Early Medieval Economy: 8th to 13th Century Trading Communities and Organizations, Trade and Commerce, Urban Settlements, Agrarian Economy Society and Culture: 8th to 13th Century Development of Regional Cultural Traditions, Ideology, Social Organization Indian Polity in its Regional Variation: 8th to 13th Century South India, The Deccan, Western and Central India, Northern and Eastern India, Nature of Regional Politics Establishment of Delhi Sultanate Territorial Expansion, Establishment and Consolidation, Rise of Turks and Mongols in Central Asia Indian Polity: The Sultanate Problem, Crisis and Decline, Formation of the Sultanate Ruling Class, Administration of the Sultanate Economy of Delhi Sultanate Technology and Crafts, Rise of Urban Economy Trade and Commerce, Agrarian Structure, State and Economy The Regional Powers: 13th to 15th Century The Bahmanis, The Vijaynagar Empire, Regional Powers in South India and Deccan State, Administration and Economy in North India, Northern and Western India, Central and Eastern India Society And Culture: 13th to15th Century Lifestyle and Popular Cultures, Language and Literature Art and Architecture of Regional States Art and Architecture of Delhi Sultanate, Socio-Religious Movement: Sufi Movement, Socio-Religious Movement: Bhakti Movement Suggested Readings 1. John F. Richards, The Mughal Empire, Cambridge University Press 2. Thomas R. Trautmann, India: Brief History of a Civilization, Oxford University Press 3. Upinder Singh, A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India : From the Stone Age to the 12th Century, Pearson Education CHAPTER 1. Early Medieval Economy: 8th to 13th Century STRUCTURE Learning objectives Agrarian economy Urban settlements Trade and commerce Trading communities and organisation Review questions LEARNING OBJECTIVES After reading this chapter, you should be able to: Factors responsible for the expansion of agriculture in the Indian subcontinent. Chronological pattern of land grant organization. Ideology behind land grants. Character and role of several kinds of agrarian settlements. Growth and nature of land rights. Technological improvements in the sphere of agriculture. Interdependence amongst dissimilar groups related to land. Role of agriculturists in trade. Characterization of early medieval agrarian economy. Factors responsible for the rise of urban centers. Several phases in the history of urbanism. Criteria for identifying settlements as urban. Local variations in urban settlements. The importance of trade and commerce in the overall economic history of India throughout the six centuries flanked by c.a.d. 700 and c.a.d. 1300. The connection flanked by trade and commerce with i) metallic- currency, ii) village economy and iii) cities. The role of crafts and industry in the trade operations. Explain the relative location of traders and merchants in the society throughout the two major phases of early medieval India, viz. C.a.d.700-900 and c.a.d.900-1300. Explain the local features of trading communities. Explain the major behaviors of traders. Explain the kinds of traders and merchants. AGRARIAN ECONOMY Agrarian Expansion The agrarian expansion, which began with the establishment of brahmadeya and agrahara settlements through land grants to Brahmanas from the fourth century onwards, acquired a uniform and universal form in subsequent centuries. The centuries flanked by the eighth and twelfth witnessed the processes of this expansion and the culmination of an agrarian organisation based on land grants to religious and secular beneficiaries, i.e. Brahmanas, temples, and officers of the King‟s government. Though, there are significant local variations in this development, both due to geographical as well as ecological factors. Geographical and Chronological Patterns Farming was extended not only to the hitherto virgin lands but even through clearing forest regions. This was a continuous procedure and a major characteristic of early medieval agricultural economy. There is a view prevalent in the middle of some scholars that land grants started in outlying, backward, and tribal regions first and later slowly extended to the Ganga valley, which was the hub of the brahmanical culture. In the backward and aboriginal tracts the Brahmanas could spread new methods of farming through regulating agricultural processes through specialized knowledge of the seasons (astronomy), plough, irrigation, etc., as well as through protecting the cattle wealth. Though, this is not true of all regions in India, for, land grants were also made in regions of settled agriculture as well as in other ecological zones, especially for purposes of integrating them into a new economic order. The chronological appearance of the land grant organization shows the following pattern: Fourth-fifth centuries: spread in excess of a good part of central India, northern Deccan and Andhra, Fifth-seventh centuries: eastern India (Bengal and Orissa), beginnings in Western India (Gujarat and Rajasthan), Seventh and eighth centuries: Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, Ninth century: Kerala, and End of the twelfth century: approximately the whole sub-continent with the possible exception of Punjab. Ideological Background Ideas relating to the gift of land emphasize the importance of Dana or gift. The thought of Dana or gift to Brahmanas was urbanized through Brahmanical texts as the surest means of acquiring merit (punya) and destroying sin (pataka). It appears to be a conscious and systematic effort to give means of survival to the Brahmanas. Grants of cultivable land to them and registration of gifts of land on copper plates are recommended through all the Smritis and Puranas of the post-Gupta centuries. There were dissimilar things of gifts: Food, granules, paddy, etc. Movable assets like gold, money, etc. And The immovable assets i.e. cultivable land garden and residential plot. In the middle of the gifts are also incorporated the plough, cows, oxen and ploughshare. Though, the gift of land was measured to be the best of all kinds of gifts made to the learned Brahmana. Imprecations against the destruction of such gifts and the resumption of land donated to a Brahmana ensured their perpetuity. Therefore land grants began to follow a set legal formula systematized through law books (Dhar mashastras). While the early land grants were made mainly to Vedic priests (Shrotriya fire priests), from the fifth to thirteenth centuries, grants were also made to temple priests. The temple, as an institution, assumed a more central role in agrarian expansion and organisation from the eighth century A.D. Grants to the temple, either plots of land or whole villages were recognized as devadana in the south Indian context. It needs to be stressed that what began as a mere trickle, became a mighty current. The procedure of acquiring landed property was not confined to brahmanical temples. Agrarian Organisation The agrarian organisation and economy were highly intricate. This can be understood on the foundation of rigorous studies of the local patterns of land grants and the character and role of the brahmadeya and non-brahmadeya and temple settlements. The growth and nature of land rights, interdependence in the middle of the dissimilar groups related to land and the manufacture and sharing processes also help in a better understanding of the situation. Character and Role of Several Kinds of Agrarian Settlements Brahmadeya A brahmadeya symbolizes a grant of land either in individual plots or whole villages given absent to Brahmanas creation them landowners or land controllers. It was meant either to bring virgin land under farming or to integrate existing agricultural (or peasant) settlements into the new economic order dominated through a Brahmana proprietor. These Brahmana donees played a major role in integrating several socio-economic groups into the new order, through service tenures and caste under the Varna organization. For instance, the rising peasantisation of shudras was sought to be rationalized in the existing brahmanical social order. The practice of land grants as brahmadeyas was initiated through the ruling dynasties and subsequently followed through chiefs, feudatories, etc. Brahmadeyas facilitated agrarian expansion because they were: Exempted from several taxes or dues either entirely or at least in the initial stages of resolution (e.g. For 12 years); Also endowed with ever rising privileges (pariharas). The ruling families derived economic advantage in the form of the extension of the resource base; moreover, through creating brahmadeyas they also gained ideological support for their political power. Lands were given as brahmadeya either to a single Brahmana or to many Brahmana families which ranged from a few to many hundreds or even more than a thousand. Brahmadeyas were invariably situated close to major irrigation works such as tanks or lakes. Often new irrigation sources were constructed when brahmadeyas were created, especially in regions dependent on rains and in arid and semi-arid regions. When situated in regions of rigorous agriculture in the river valleys, they served to integrate other settlements of a survival stage manufacture. Sometimes, two or more settlements were clubbed jointly to form a brahmadeya or an agrahara. The taxes from such villages were assigned to the Brahmana donees, which were also given the right to get the donated land cultivated. Boundaries of the donated land or village were very often cautiously