09 Chapter 2.Pdf

m CHAPTER II HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY PART I HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY PART II CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY studying Cultural History of a dynasty also entails dealing with its Historical and Cultural Geograpl^ and iiithnography* By means o£ this study# sonio light can be throvm on the History and Culture of the period and place* Geography defines the political boundaries* physical characteristics and nature of the earth*s surfaces* Besides this# it also combines otl^r (climate# productions# economic# population# agriculture etc.) aspects* Cê of them being Historical Geograp^* "Historical Geograp!^ is the correlation of huznan societies and their geographical settings**^* Apart from outlining the ad^ninistrative divisions# it has a social bearing on the ma)ce-up of the territorial divisicms of the period against a backdrop of its historical and geographical environment* The foundations of modem divisions were laid much earlier* To understand t!iera« it is essential to study the ancient place n^nes and the administrative 35 units• From this study and analysis of Inscrlptlonal place names# we can y«t a fair Idea of the various administrative divisims* units^ their size* dlstributicm* pattern of formation* etc. the basis of the identification of the place names in Inscriptions with their oiodem equivalents# wo can conjecture api^roximately the location and the area covered by the units and their cultural history* the cotnijarison may show the changes that the place names have undergone and the factors that Influenced it like language# etc* These factors will be discussed under Cultural Geography* Very often the size and lmix>rtance of the head quarters of an tmit is a conseîuent of the nature and extent of the area under its administration* Hence the site of the aAninlstratlon influenced the life of the people of the area# setting it apart frcxn other areas due to administrative officials and army officers based in that area and other political activities* The In^rtance of the place varied with change in the administrative set-up* From the records so far discovered we can conjecture that the cliSlukyan kingdcso was divided into divisions like Mandala# Visaya# Bhoga* Rastra# Xhara« * * * * Pathaka# Mada« Defia and Grabs* The relation between the 96 various units cannot be deduced as the inscriptlcms are not very eloquniit about their details* Hence# it is difficult to place them in any definite order as such* And since their (except for visayas and gracnas) occurrence is limited# we cannot even conjecture the slse of their units to draw any conclusions* ‘She only descending order we can safely arrive at is Mandalas# De&a# Visaya# Bhoga and GrSna« with Gratna as the smallest xuiit* Mandala — S.S_____ Mandala was the largest divisimi* It was bigger than a visaya« since it included several visayas in it* Xt %#as probably meant to signify a whole country or territory* The records of the Chalu<cyas mention Vanavasi mandala* Mandala was also the largest unit of the Cola • * ** na^^* So was the case in Oujarat^* But in Orissa even thought it was quite a big division with sub«<iivisions« it was not the largest unit* » Oe&a This unit was a larger division than a viMya# lUce Chwnul/a dela* This unit was Jmown in £astem Zndia^« OuJarat« Madhya Pradesh# Andhra Pradesh and Orissa* Xt soraetines denoted the entire country^ and soroetimes it was aynanynovm with visaya and nadu* Defta in Gujarat was 97 largor than defta in Deccan^* Vlsaya - • This unit was comnonly used all over the country* * “ Za Gujarat# it soraetiines denoted a country since a 5th ^ 7 century record calls Lata (mandala) a visaya • Visayas • • • • had sub-divisions called ahara« bhoga and draAga* Bat again the size of the visaya varied in different periods* « During A&oka's tinae« it was a division of ahara* Zn % Orissa it was bigger than ahara and bhoga* But the siae was much smaller than the present day district* since we can trace a number of virayas in one district* Zn the Chalukyan period# the visayas viere scroetines equal to the present day district e*g* Palayatthona visaya* But others may have been equivalent to our modem talulcas or even slightly bigger* However sotnetimes they were very small e*g* Aftvaranta v i M y a consisted of only twelve villages* Bhoga Bhoga was well known in Madhya Pradesh and 0 Orissa • Za Orissa# Bhoga %ias a smaller unit than a o visaya* In Gujarat it was a sub«division of a viMya * Zt was \ised more in the north since it occurred more in S9na<rlt inscriptions than ia those of the regional languages* Zn Andhra# it has occurred only in the 98 districts of srUcakulam# Visakhapatnam and Prakasam^^. From our records gat satlnala bhoga and srlnilaya Bhoga* Rastra __ tJ t__ This appellation generally Implied a country# provi n g or kingdom* It occurred in Eastern India# Uttar Pradesh# Madhya tradesh and Tamil Nadtt^^* Xn Orissa# rastra was the largest unit followed by defta# • • mandala# visaya# bhoga# l^nikti# ahara# varttinT and • • • madaAba. In Madhya Pradesh again it was the highest xmit12 • Sat in Deccan# rastra•• is used for indicating • • a smaller unit than a visaya* for instance Ooparastra • • visaya and Kaxrna-rastra. • • Xhara This suffix 'ahara* had different cc«inotati<»n8. It soraatimes denoted a rastra^^* It occtirred with • # variations like hara* ara or vara in srikiikulam# Visa'chapatoain« west Godavari# Krishna and Kumool districts of Andhra Pradesh* It occurs in Oujarat# Maharashtra and in north Konkan^^* Shara# seems to have been used originally to denote a fiscal unit# and’ in course of time denoted a territorial division^^* In the time of Afioka it was a bigger unit with vlMya as its sub«division^^« In Gujarat it was a subdivision 9B of a vlsaya^^* Zn Orissa it was a f>art of a visaya • • like iOii^figahara * visaya^^* so also In our t.lmo it was a part of a visaya# like Talladahira« Talitatahara and sontatimes of a de&a# like Khetatiara de&a* Pathaka This unit was not very much in use* It was 19 known in Eastern India as a sub-divisi<») of a visaya and also used as a suffix of a village* In Oujarat the visaya was divided into ahara# ahara into pathaka and pathaka into yratna* Its existence in fact is kno%m for the first time in oujarat under the Ourjjaras 20* Front Chalukyan records we get only one instance of occurrence of this unit* That is Moshinlpathaka* It was probably a smaller unit than a vi^ya considering that this was so in other x>arts of India where it occurs* Hada __ Itoda or Nadu was very much in vogue in Tamil I9ad* In Andhra Pradesh# it occurs for the first tiroe in 7th 21 century A*D* * Later it became so popular that this appellation replaced the previous terms of visayas and rastras* But its size varied from a larger to a smaller 23 «• unit * Prom the meaning of the word n a ^ it appears that the cultivated and the settled aonos were called "nadus** at first# and at a later stage# was ax->plied to 100 the sntlrv land tract to sl^lfy th« people and the 23 land together** • Xt was very popular in the whole of south India* we get a few of these units lilce vaftganur»nadu« Tagadur-«iadu« etc* we have a nundber of administratis divisions with nuinbars affixed to them like Banavasi 12000# Kumbayija twelve# MSyarkhanda Seventy# etc* such divisions with numerical appellations occurred even much earlier in Madhya Pradesh than in Gujarat and Deccan^^* This custom exists even now in Madhya Pradesh in the form of Chhattisgadh and in Gujarat as Oiorasi • taluka#• * KapadvanJ * Chorasi 25 • In Orissa# we have ^ravati# Bayallsi Maiija and in West Bengal# Chabis pargana and in Maharashtra# Chalisgaon (Jalgaon district)* The implication of these munerical appellations among scholars has remained a controversial issue so 26 far* Zn the Boperial Cazettaer of India suggestims are made that the numbers were references to their revenue capaci^ or to the nundêrs of thoir *nadas*# that is subdivisicMis* This was seconded by Rice with the suggestion that since the *nada* divisiMis ware often called thousands in Kamataâ# hence Banavasi 12000 was so called because it ccmsisted of 12 nadas or divisions^*^* 72-3--1- 101 Aiyangar was of the opinion that th«y stood for revenue paid or tha value of the produce or somstlraes 28 the quantity of the seed required • According to ✓ Vaidya# it was probably tlie anount of land produce 29 paid as government share • Fleet suggested that the figuros referred to the naaiber of villages contained in the division^^* Both Alteicar and Kane agreed with Pleat's inter^retation^^* iran Nath was of the view that the *grStoa* was meant to be an estate# honce the figures denoted the nuoiber of estates in the division^^. The generally accepted view is that the numerical appellations stand for the number of villages and their hamlets of the division concerned. But it is difficult to agree with this interpretation when very big numbers ■ are involved like Banavasi 12000# Gaftgavadi 96000 • even though Altekar has tried to explain it away with **the usage may have differed from province to province and century by century. The figxires could have represented the units of measxure of cultivable land* This can well e9^:>lain the smallest to the largest unit* The system of land measure was well established as can see from the mention of various units of land measurement like 102 nlvartana# rajaroaoia# hala^ tlnq?«ri« etc* Hance the msnber could have stood for the units prevailing in that tine* For instance# Banavasi 12000 did not comprise a very biy territory as ve know* This area could not have coii^rised

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